TD Jakes - Shadows People
I want you to get your Bibles while you say, «Don’t sit back down,» because you know how your knees are. You’ve got those one-way knees. I thought I would start with a Bible class rather than a Sunday morning session and just ease into teaching and sharing something with you. The Lord has said something to me that I think is very important, and you’re going to have to be focused and really committed to receiving this word because God gave me this word, and it’s in my soul; I can’t get it out! Come on, come on, somebody!
I’m going to talk a little bit about Shadow People. Shadow People, go to Psalms 23:4. Shadow People, it is a very familiar scripture, but the fact that it has often been quoted doesn’t mean it has often been understood. In fact, the more familiar we become with a text, the less attention we pay to it because we assume so much about it that we do not realize the power of the frequency of the text itself. It is written by the psalmist David during a particular time in his life when he comes to know God through his own experiences. He begins the chapter saying, «The Lord is my Shepherd.» He says that because he can relate to the job of a shepherd since he is a shepherd boy.
So metaphorically, he compares his experience with God to his experience with the sheep. He says, «Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside still waters; He restoreth my soul. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.» He goes through this scenario of wonderfulness: «I shall not want, green pastures, still waters.» It’s just wonderful, just wonderful—until he gets to this one verse, the fourth verse, where we see the other side, the yin and yang of it all. In spite of the Lord being my shepherd and I shall not want, in spite of the favor on my life, in spite of the gifts on my life, he almost whispers and says, «Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.»
What is he doing? He just got through saying the Lord was his Shepherd and he shall not want, but then he whispers and lets us know that the dichotomous relationship with God does not preclude us from having shadows. You would think that if God was your Shepherd, there would be no shadows, but we are examining the dichotomous relationship between the shadow and the shepherd. The reality of the matter is that it doesn’t matter how gifted you are, how talented you are, how blessed you are, how many people like you or don’t like you, or what they think about you; the presence of the shepherd does not negate the reality of the shadow. For every person in this room who has the shepherd, you also have a shadow.
So I preach tonight. I teach tonight. I preach-teach, preach-teach, reach, reach, teach, preach each tonight about shadow people—people who are anointed, gifted, and appointed, who have God as their Shepherd. We admire them, we esteem them, and we exalt them, and they are always ready to pray for us and lift us up. We see the Shepherd in them, but we do not see the shadow. So tonight, if only for tonight, we are going to move away from just being engrossed with the power, the presence, and the preeminence and preexistent glory of the shepherd Himself—who has exalted Himself above every living creature, who stepped out on nothing and said, «Let there be something,» and it became whatever He said—the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God, He which is, and was, and is to come, the first, the last, forevermore—that God.
That God does not preclude the fact that we have shadows. For every person in this room, there is a shadow, and you have to walk through it; you have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Most of the time, they preach this at funerals, but it’s not the death you have to worry about; it’s the shadow. Nobody ever got beat up by a shadow. So you’re going to make it through it; you’re going to survive it. Nobody ever got punched in the mouth by a shadow, but the shadow must have some ramifications that challenge our existence. Because I have to walk through—bless you, baby—the valley. The valley. The valley! Sheep don’t graze in valleys, right? Sheep graze on mountain peaks, but I can’t be fruitful all the time.
Because every now and then, the same Shepherd that takes me to the mountaintops, where the green pastures are, where the sun is bright and the grass is preeminent, He also leads me into the shadows. So tonight, we talk about shadow people. Thank you, Jesus! I am one of them. Touch somebody and say, «I’m one of them. I have shadows. I have shadows that I can’t talk to you about. I have shadows that I can’t explain. I have shadows that I just wave my hand about and keep on going, and I have shadows that my haters don’t realize. They hate me because they see my shepherd, but if they saw my shadow, they would pray for me. They would pray for me because sometimes I can’t see my own shepherd for seeing my shadows.
Is there anybody who understands? Let me pray so you can get off your feet. Father God, if there’s a shadow person in this house, if there’s a shadow person online, if there’s a shadow person watching tonight, let this be the most transformative moment in their lives that they have ever seen. In the name of Jesus, we pray; somebody shout, „Amen!“ You may be seated. Most of us want to see our way clear. We want to see our way clear before we get married. We want to see our way clear before we have a child; we want to plan it out and make sure we can afford to have a child. They talk about having a child like they’re talking about having a car, like it’s a decision, right?
We want to see our way clear before we take a new position; we want to see our way clear before we buy a house. We want to see our way clear, but the Bible does not teach us to see our way clear. We want to be led in a plain path; we want God to answer all our questions. You know, you get in your car with your wife, and you say, „We’re going on a ride.“ She wants to know where we’re going. She wants to know how far away it is, how much gas we have, and if we packed everything we need. We want to see our way clear. We ask God questions like that: „God, show me clearly; I want to know what I’m doing.“ But God doesn’t talk clearly. God will stand out in the middle of a stormy night walking on water while you’re on a boat, and He’ll say, „Come,“ but He won’t tell you how to come.
He won’t tell you your feet are going to get wet and that the wind is going to be boisterous and that the people behind you are going to talk about you while you’re walking. But all He said was, „Come.“ Because God doesn’t tell you much about conditions; He doesn’t tell you about the conditions you have to walk through, but you have to walk through a lot of stuff. And the only thing you know for sure is that you don’t know how—you don’t know the velocity of the wind, you don’t know the depth of the ocean, you don’t know the turbulence of the storm, you don’t know how many meters you are away. You don’t know how far you have to go; all you know is that He said, „Come.“
Is there anybody in here that’s ever been called and God just said, „Come,“ and He didn’t tell you how you were going to come, and He didn’t show you where the money was going to come from, and He didn’t show you the people that were going to come? He just said, „Come,“ and you have to walk through the valley of the shadows of death. Because just because you have a shepherd doesn’t mean you don’t have a shadow. You see, every so often, we go through things; we want our discernment to be impeccable. And whenever you get into trouble, people say, „If you’d had discernment, you wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.“
But when people say that to you, don’t be wounded by their statement; understand that they’re saying that because they’re in a different season. I don’t care how much discernment you have; there are seasons of life that you go through that you never saw coming. You couldn’t see it coming because people changed. In January, they were one way, and by June, they were another way, and by the time you got to October, you wonder if you ever even knew them in the first place. Come on, talk to me! It wasn’t that you didn’t date them long enough; it wasn’t that you didn’t ask enough questions; it wasn’t that you didn’t meet their family. But in another season, they have a way of showing up in your life that makes you doubt your own discernment and doubt your own decisions.
Is there any real people in this place that understand that no matter how anointed you may be, no matter how bright your future may be, you may even be anointed to be king and still have shadows? You may be a bear killer; you may be a lion killer, but you still have valleys that come even to you, though you are valiant. I don’t care how valiant you are; I don’t care how many jiu-jitsu classes you took; I don’t care how much you can fight; I don’t care if you’re the Karate Kid; you still go through valleys in your life. They come even to valiant people, and we find ourselves walking through shadows. And the worst part about walking through shadows is everybody wants to walk through the sunshine with you, but when you get in a shadow, people will walk off and leave you by yourself.
Can I get a witness in this place? Can I get a witness in this place? As long as they perceive that you’re going up the mountain and walking in light, they’ll get right behind you and try to walk with you, glory to God. But when they perceive you’re headed for the shadows, Mary Magdalene wanted to touch Jesus as He was ascending, but I don’t see her trying to touch Him as He was being crucified. Everybody wants to go; everybody wants to touch you when you’re on your way up, but when you’re on your way down and going through shadows, you have to go through it by yourself. And most of us, when we’re dealing with a shadow, we deal with the silence of the shadow.
Now, a shadow is not a thing; it is the result of an obstruction. See, a shadow indicates that there is an obstruction between you and the light. You can’t measure the shadow; you can’t put the shadow in a jar; you can’t wrap it up in a box; you can’t put it in a shell. The shadow is just an indication that the light is being blocked by an obstruction. And it’s one thing when you can see the obstruction and the obstruction is tangible, but it’s another thing when the obstruction is invisible. There are things that are invisible that obstruct you from seeing the light. You could be in the presence of light, but something has happened in your life that has become an obstruction, and now you’re dealing with a shadow. And people don’t understand because they tell you, „You ought to be happy; you ought to be satisfied; you ought to be full.“
But you don’t see what’s obstructing you from seeing the light. You don’t know who you are; you don’t see yourself. „No, I can’t see myself because I’m walking through the shadows. I’m walking through the shadows. I’m walking through the shadows because something happened and somebody said something, or somebody did something that obstructed the light that He was shining in my life. And the shadow is a sign that behind this shadow, there is light. So if I can just keep on walking a little while longer, if I can keep on standing, eventually, I’m going to get through the shadow. Because there wouldn’t be a shadow if there weren’t a light behind it. That was somebody’s word right there, and you missed it! You’ve been going through months and months of shadows, but the shadow is only a sign that there’s light behind it. And if there wasn’t any light, there wouldn’t be any shadow.
Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying; God’s got something for you that you haven’t experienced yet. None of David’s gifts, his talents, his prophecies, or even being chosen by God stopped him from having periods of dark, dismal, lonely, silent shadows. Because the truth of the matter is, the truth of the matter is, God plays hide and seek, seeking Him from a dark place. „I’m trying to find You, Lord! I didn’t come to church to show off my dress; I didn’t come to show off my red-bottom shoes. I’m trying to find You, Lord. And it’s not much light, but I’m walking through shadows right now. I might not be as polite as you want me to be, but I’m walking through a shadow right now. I’m killing bears in a shadow; I’m fighting lions in a shadow; I attack giants in a shadow.“
My rock knocked him down and cut his head off, but that does not mean that I’m not walking in a shadow. I know I’m in a shadow and the enemy knows I’m in a shadow because he sent something to obstruct the light. He knew that if I saw the light, I’d be even more deadly than I am right now. I don’t know who I’m talking to; I don’t know if anybody understands what I’m talking about. I don’t know if anybody wants—oh, I don’t know if anybody watching online understands what it’s like to walk through a shadow. The enemy sent the shadow and thought I would stop walking because it was so dark, but the devil is a liar. You kept right on walking; you couldn’t see your way clear; you had to walk by faith and not by sight.
You didn’t know how long the shadow was going to last, but you knew that as soon as the shadow passed, God would give you some light. Make some noise if I’m preaching to you already! I’m seeking Him from a dark place; I’m praising Him from a dark place; I’m dancing from a dark place; I’m crying from a dark place. You can walk, and sometimes you find yourself stumbling while you’re walking. You’re groping after God, reaching for God, trying to touch God, and laying hands on God. I didn’t come to church to just want to meet you; I didn’t come to church so we could have a rendezvous. I came here because I’m groping after Jesus. I need, I need Jesus! I have so many shadows in my life. As long as Jesus comes to church, I’ll be there. I want to be wherever Jesus is.
I want to be wherever Jesus is. I want to be wherever Jesus is—wherever Jesus is. If the bishop ain’t here, it’s all right; if the elders ain’t here, it’s all right; if Pastor J ain’t here, it’s all right. But as long as Jesus is here because Jesus is the light—He’s the light of the world, and He’s ever shining in my soul. I know He’s here because I couldn’t have this kind of shadow if there were no light. So somewhere in this hell house, there’s got to be a Jesus; somewhere in this witch’s den, there’s got to be a Jesus; somewhere in this crack house, there’s got to be a Jesus; somewhere in this depression, there’s got to be a Jesus; somewhere in this affliction, there’s got to be a Jesus; somewhere in this pain, I’m looking for Jesus.
And if I have to walk through it, if I have to crawl through it, if I have to go on a walker, I won’t stop; I won’t double back; I won’t complain. I might stumble, but I’m going to keep on going till I find the light. Somebody who knows what I’m talking about, give the Lord a praise! Give Him a praise! Don’t make Him take it; give Him a praise! Don’t make Him wait on it; give Him a praise! Don’t make Him ask for it; give Him a praise! Come on, somebody, and give God a praise! God often plays hide and seek. I’m just getting started. That’s why I started early; I’ve got something to tell you. God often plays hide and go seek. We often cannot tell people—we can’t tell them that we are unsure because it doesn’t sound good for believers to say, „I’m not sure.“ But if you walk with God long enough, you’ll walk through a place of uncertainty. Which way do I go? Who can I trust? Who can I talk to?
I can tell them about my light; I can tell them about my shepherd. But who can I tell about my shadows? I’m walking through the valley; I’m going to the valley. Allison, I’m in the valley of the shadow. Everybody likes me when they see the light, but nobody calls you when you’re in a shadow. Do you hear what I’m talking about? I wish I had some shadow people! When I say that God likes to play hide and go seek, take your Bibles and go to Acts 17:26–27, and I want to show you a couple of things. I’m halfway there; I’m going to preach it, baby, no doubt about it! That’s why hell doesn’t like me because I’m a preacher. That’s why demons tremble because I’m a preacher. Yeah!
Luke is writing in the book of Acts, and for you Bible scholars, I might remind you that there is no difference between the Gospel of St. Luke and the book of Acts. It is really one book divided into two parts, written by one man. You must understand that the book of Acts does not start with a greeting because it is not really a new book; it is a continuation of the Gospel of Luke. So it starts out, „The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to do and to teach.“ It doesn’t start, „Unto the saints at Ephesus, I write,“ or „Unto the saints at Laodicea, I write.“ No, because it is a continuation. That’s right! You turn the page, but not the chapter. It is a continuation of Luke, who is known for his ability to be a scribe.
Most of the life of the Apostle Paul would never be written if it were not for the scribe that traveled with him, for the scribe records the plight of the Apostle. Yes, sir! He brings it to life for us. I want you to further understand that we are dealing with the first-century church, and I want you to understand that the first-century church had no Bible. Yeah, they had no Bible; it had not been written yet. We are reading the scribblings of a scribe that had not yet been canonized for a New Testament. Oh, they had the Pentateuch; they had the Old Testament; they had the Mishnah. Yeah, they had some understanding of who Jehovah was, but this man Jesus—this man! I feel like preaching! Are you with me?
This man Jesus, they had no ability to understand Him. So, He starts out by saying, „The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus.“ I’m in Acts 1:1. „The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.“ The word I want you to pay attention to is „He began,“ but He didn’t finish. I know you’re going to tell me He said, „It is finished“ on the cross, but that „It is finished“ is about redemption. He finished redemption on the cross, but He brought us to a church that was undefined. He brought us to a church that had no deacons. He brought us to a church that had no choir. That’s right! He brought us to a church that had no praise team.
That’s right! He brought us to a church that had no pulpit. He brought us to a church that had no building. There were no buildings; there were synagogues; there were no churches. Yeah, and He told them to go out to Jerusalem till you be endued with power from on high. And on the day of Pentecost, the church was born. Yeah, it was born, but it wasn’t finished! He left no directions. Wow! He left no details. He left no information. He just birthed it and left. Wow! So you see, the disciples are walking through a shadow; they were living with uncertainty. The systems were shaking; they were being killed and beheaded and murdered and shot down and hated. That’s right! And they had to walk while being slain. „Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death!“
We’re living in a time now like that time—a time of uncertainty. I hate to turn on the news in the morning. I have to get a cup of coffee in me because I wake up every morning wondering, „What shook today?“ The weather is unpredictable. Last week I was pulling out shorts and about to go swimming; this week, I’m pulling out coats and about to get pneumonia! You hear me coughing; it’s because the weather is unpredictable! Everything is unpredictable! People are unstable. Uh, the economy is in a conundrum. Eggs are jumping up in price. All hell is breaking loose everywhere! People are grabbing eggs like they were grabbing toilet paper! They’re getting into fights in the mall over cartons of eggs!
I don’t understand what’s going on! I don’t know what to eat right now! There’s something wrong with everything! If you eat vegetables, there’s something wrong with vegetables. I’m in the store with an app trying to see if the vegetable is healthy. It used to be that if you ate vegetables, you knew you were safe! Now you’ve got to wash your vegetables because they might be poisoned! I don’t know what to eat! I don’t know who to eat! „No pork! Don’t eat chicken!“ Don’t eat chicken, so I can’t eat pork, and I can’t eat chicken, and I can’t eat beef because it’s going to clog my veins.
So I thought I’d get me some vegetables, but now they say you can’t eat vegetables because they’ve been sprayed with poison! And you can’t eat hot dogs because they’ve been processed, and you can’t eat sausage because it’s been processed, and you can’t eat bread because it’s got flour. And as I scratch everything down off the list, I’ve got nothing left to live on because I’m finding myself in a situation that I’ve got to walk through it. Yeah, yeah! I’ve got to walk through uncertainty! Not to mention the uncertainty of people—the people you thought were friends, and you find out they were enemies—the people you trusted, and they got behind your back and tried to destroy you—not to mention the people that you work with and the ones who couldn’t wait for you to leave the break room so they could have you for dinner.
Not to mention the trouble that’s going on in your own house—the people you pushed out of your own body don’t stand beside you—the people you went through hell for and worked double time for and did jobs for—cursing you out like you were a stranger in the street! And you’ve got to walk through it! Touch somebody and say, „I’m going to walk through it!“
Christ did not finish His work. The disciples were leading through uncertainty. They had been with Jesus; they had been filled with the Holy Spirit, but the church itself was undefined. Go to Acts 4:32–37, let me show you a little bit more. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything that they had. With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. I want to stop there for a minute.
I want you to understand they’re setting up a government. You cannot have a government without an economy. They have decided to put all of their possessions, their worldly goods, together because they thought they were going to set up a government like the Old Testament church. Yeah, the Old Testament Ecclesia, the called-out ones, became a government. They thought they were going to set up a government, so they were setting up an economic system to sustain the government. And so everybody was going to put all of their money together. Then they found out they needed somebody to distribute it, so that’s how we got deacons. Because they needed deacons to take care of the widows, and the deacons were going to take care of the widows. They were putting a system in place, and they were building it! But they were doing it in the shadows. For now, we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.
There are sometimes when you’re working for God, and you’re anointed by God, and you’re called of God, but you’re doing it in the shadows. You’re building in the shadows. And when you build in the shadows, sometimes you build stuff that God doesn’t even want! This is why what you read in Acts in chapter 4 does not last into Acts chapter 6, because they were building something that God didn’t want. „With great power, the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.“
They were preaching right, but building wrong, and God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all, come on, that there were no needy persons among them. Yeah, they had all things in common—almost like what you call communism. Wow! Wow! Can I teach tonight? From time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them and brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet. And it was distributed to anyone who had need. Right! Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means „Son of Encouragement,“ sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet. Yeah! When he brought it and put it at their feet, everybody started giving everything, but they were doing it in the shadows.
2 Corinthians 5:6-7 says, „Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.“ Verse 7 is what I really want: „For we walk by faith, not by sight.“ So we grow a little bit; we grasp a little bit, and we grow a little bit. We grope a little bit; we grasp a little bit, and we grow a little bit in stages. We progress from faith to faith and from glory to glory. Can I preach on? Let’s go forward! You must understand that the groping, the grasping, and the growing all work together—that the stumbling is part of walking. Yeah! A baby doesn’t just jump up out of the crib and start walking. He has to grope, fall, stumble, and reach and hold on to whatever he can. I’m preaching a whole message right here!
A lot of words tonight; some of it is going over your head. Some of it you’re groping after, some of it you’re grasping, and some of you are growing depending on the level you’re on. Oh, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! You’re groping like Abraham, who took his son, saying, „Take now thy only son and go to a place I will show you,“ and he’s groping, trying to find his way. „I don’t know where we’re going, son. I have the servants with me, I have the animals with me, but I’m groping.“ I’m in the shadows; he gave me no address. He didn’t tell me about any trees, rocks, or ridges. God is playing hide and seek with me. I have to seek Him in the shadows; I have to reach for Him in the shadows, and I didn’t grasp it until I was three days away.
When I was three days away, I grasped, „That’s the place right there!“ Do you all hear what I’m saying? And once I grasped, I started growing. That’s why the devil will do anything to get your attention, because as long as he can distract you, you won’t grasp it. If you don’t grasp it, you won’t grow. He’ll let anybody text you; he’ll let you get on the phone; he’ll let you text him back, because the devil knows that the power of the word is in grasping the word. When you grasp the word, you grow from the word. While you’re sitting there winking at somebody, someone else is trying to grasp so they can grow from the word of God. You ain’t got time for no games. Don’t inbox me, don’t call me later, don’t send me any notes, don’t wink at me, because I didn’t come to church to meet you. I came to grasp something from God. I’m looking for something from God!
Who am I preaching to? I want something for my soul; I want to grasp it! I need to grasp it, because if I don’t grasp it, I’m going to go home and do something crazy. If I don’t grasp it, I’m going to take somebody out. If I don’t grasp it, you wouldn’t like me. If I don’t grasp this word, I need to grasp this word. I need a dose of this word! Don’t play with me about the word; I need some word! I need some word! I need some word so I can grow. I got to go so I can stop groping, so I can grasp the word of God. And when I grasp the word of God, I’ll start growing, and when I start growing, I can deal with the shadow. The shadow won’t stop me anymore, because I’ve learned how to make it to the top of the mountain, and I’m moving to the place that God has for me. Do you hear what I’m saying?
I need you to hear what I’m saying. I may start groping, then start grasping, then start growing. Talk to me, somebody! Is there anybody in here that’s growing? I said, is there anybody in here that’s growing? You’re starting to grow because the things you used to do, you don’t do anymore, and the places you used to go, you don’t go anymore. The way you used to live, you don’t live anymore; the way you used to go off on people, flip out, go crazy, and tear up your own stuff, you don’t do it anymore, because you’re starting to grow up. Now you realize you tore it up, and now you’ve got to buy it back again; so you’ve stopped acting a fool, because you’re getting enough word that you’re starting to grow. I don’t know who I’m talking to, but I’m talking to somebody, and whoever I’m talking to, this is your time to grow!
God brought you out here; you said, „I’m going Wednesday night!“ I made up my mind, I’m going to be in that house, because God’s got a word for me! I can’t stay on the same level I was at in 2024 in 2025; I’ve got to grow into another level of living. I refuse to be the same person I was in 2023! The devil is a lie! I’m going to do some growing in here. Somebody leap straight up in the air! I’m going to grow; if I’ve got to jump into it, I’m going to grow into it. If I’ve got to yell into it, I’m going to grow into it. If I’ve got to scream into it, I’m going to grow into it. If I have to have a fit in here, come on, talk to me, somebody! I’ve got to grow into it.
So here I am; I feel something in this place. I feel something in this place. The problem is this couple, Ananias and Sapphira, came to Peter. They saw everybody else laying money at his feet. They came to Peter and said they had sold all of their possessions in Cyprus, which mentions that he was a Levite. That’s right; the fact that it mentions that he was a Levite causes you to understand that he is used to walking in another realm of faith, because the Levites' inheritance was the house of God. So in his background, there is an attitude of faith. He comes in there and lays down everything because he was a Levite. But when Ananias and Sapphira came along, they tried to act like him.
Come on, y’all don’t hear what I’m talking about! See, people will see you do stuff, and they’ll try to act like you. Yeah, yeah, but you can’t act like me, because ain’t nobody me but me! Ain’t nobody me but me! You can get my stuff, but you can’t get me! You can get my tie, but you can’t get me! You can wear my shoes, but you can’t get me! There ain’t never going to be another, there has never been, and there never will be another you! You’re in a class all by yourself, and as soon as you figure out who you are and stop worrying about those shadows, you’ll know you have no competition because you’re in a class all by yourself.
I don’t know who needed to know that, but take a minute and give God some praise! Give God some praise in this place! Give God some praise in this place with your unique self, with your gifted self, with your anointed self! You might be in a bad situation, but you still got your anointing. You might have made some mistakes, but you still got an anointing. You might be going through some shadows, but you still got some power! I feel something about to turn over in this room! I don’t know who it is, but I feel something about to get loose in this place right now! I feel demons starting to tremble! I feel them getting nervous! God is about to do something in here tonight!
Touch three people and tell them God is about to do something in here! He’s going to do it with shadow people; he’s going to do it with people who’ve been in the shadows; he’s going to do it with people that have been left out; he’s going to do it with people who’ve been in the storm; he’s going to do it with people who’ve been through hell and high water; he’s going to do it with people who had to stumble; he’s going to do it with people who had to crawl; he’s going to do it with people who had to crawl to the pool and dip their face in the water. I don’t know who they are, but somebody in here is about to get a word from God!
This word is going to break a yoke! This word is going to tear down a barrier! This word is going to move a mountain! This word is going to change a situation! This word, this word, this word is going to shrink tumors, drive out cancers, and stop leukemia! It’s going to heal somebody’s mind! This word, this word, this word, this word! Somebody say, „This word, this word, this word!“ This word is real! It’ll work in the light; it’ll work in the dark; it’ll work in the shadows; it’ll work in the storm!
Somebody give him 30 seconds of crazy praise! You’ve got 20 seconds to stop being cute and give Him praise! You’ve got 15 seconds to give God praise! You’ve got 15 seconds to give God praise! You’ve got 12 seconds to give God praise! You’ve got eight seconds to give God praise! If you had five seconds left, how would you praise Him? Down to your last five, down to your last dollar, down to your last time! Somebody help me praise Him! Say yes! Say yes! Say yes! Say yes! Shout yes! So Ananias and Sapphira came in, trying to act like they had given it all, but they were not like Joseph; they had not given it all. They relied on Peter, and Peter looked at them and said, „Why has Satan filled your heart and caused you to lie to the Holy Ghost?“
And the man fell dead! Come on now, watch this! The man fell dead, and they carried him out. Then his wife came in and told the same lie, and she fell dead! Right, they carried her out. Look at how it switched from Genesis; in Genesis, it was the woman first and then the man; but oh, in Acts, it started with the man. Oh, y’all better get it! God’s about to reverse things! The last shall be first, the first shall be last. He said, „The same way I took out your husband, you’re going to go out the same door!“
I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but God is about to turn it around for you! Somebody give Him a praise! Praise Him in the back! Praise Him in the front! Praise Him online! Praise Him in the TX! Praise Him in your living room! Praise Him in your car! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! If you’re breathing, praise Him! If you’re walking, praise Him! If you survived, praise Him! If you feel Him, praise Him! Somebody give Him a praise! Nobody else’s praise! Don’t fake the praise! Don’t plagiarize the praise! Open your mouth and give God! I feel an anointing coming in this room! Glory to God! Shout yes! Shout yes! Shout yes! I dare you to shout yes! So this is what brought me to the text: „Why has Satan filled your heart and caused you to lie to the Holy Ghost?“
And both of them fell dead! Yes, sir! God killed both of them! Yes, sir! For lying to the Holy Ghost! Even though what Peter was building, God didn’t even want. Come on, come on! I could see it if God wanted it! Yeah, He didn’t even want it! What He wanted was their integrity! What He wanted was their honesty! What He wanted was their reality! Yes, sir! He never wanted them to have all things in common because, if you read on over, the Bible said that it worked with 3,000; but as the crowd grew, they found out it was too difficult to maintain, and they had to cut it off. Wait a minute, I feel a point right there! What works for you at one stage won’t work for you at another!
That’s why the Bible said, „Forgetting those things which are behind me and reaching for those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling.“ Just because it worked on Monday, don’t mean it’ll work on Tuesday! Lord, give me new bread! Lord, give me new revelation! Lord, give me new power! And they all fell dead! Sir, even though Peter was building in the shadows something that God didn’t want, even though his perception was off and his judgment wasn’t pure, he was still anointed! Until you respect the anointing—I’m going to say it for the people in the back! Until you respect the anointing, you will never prosper! It wasn’t that Peter’s decision was right; his decision was wrong, but his anointing was right! I want to talk to some people that get it wrong sometimes, but you’re still anointed!
And God’s going to deal with your enemies because you’re still anointed! I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but God said, „I still got my anointing on you,“ and if they lie to you, they lie to the Holy Ghost, because I put my spirit down inside of you! No weapon formed against you shall be able! Y’all got to stop now, because I feel, I feel, I feel, I feel like going old school on you! I know y’all are new school, but I feel a little old school falling on me in here! The battle is not yours; it belongs to God! And God will take them out before He’ll let you lose! If I’m preaching to you, open your mouth and just holler! Slap three people and tell them, „I got the Holy Ghost! I got it in my hands! I got it in my feet! I got it in my soul! I got it in my spirit! I might be a shadow person, but I still got the Holy Ghost, and nothing you try to do to me is going to stop me! It’ll backfire on you because if God before you, who can be against you?“
Who am I preaching to? I feel somebody growing right now! Holler at your boy right now: „Why has Satan filled your heart and caused you to lie?“ You thought you did it to me; you didn’t do it to me; you did it to the Holy Ghost! You did it to the Holy Ghost! You did it to the Holy Ghost! And because you lied to the Holy Ghost, the same men that took your husband out, they’re going to carry you out. People don’t preach about this because we don’t have any fear of God anymore. We do anything, any kind of way, because we have no fear of God anymore. We’ll say anything; we’ll get on the chat and fight. You’ll get on my chat line and start your own Bible class, trying to steal my crowd and draw your own attention, because we don’t have fear of God.
But you’re not fighting me; you’re fighting the Holy Ghost. You’ll say anything about anybody, but you’re not fighting me because I don’t care. You’re fighting the Holy Ghost. And if God be for you, He’s more than the world against you. I have to stop because I feel something pushing me in the back; somebody’s praying for me in this place right now. Somebody’s pulling on me in this place right now. Something’s going to happen in this place right now. God is going to move in this place right now. I wish I had some praises—some old-fashioned praises, some Holy Ghost praises—that would take a minute and praise Him until the Holy Ghost hits this place. Open your mouth! I dare you to open your mouth.
I double dare you to open your mouth and give God a shout! People don’t understand that nothing reveals a fraud like money. Don’t pay any attention to the dancing, because the devil can dance. Don’t pay any attention to the noise, because the devil can make noise. But nothing will reveal a demon like money. Wow! Money will do it every time. You say that Pharaoh left Egypt trying to get the slaves back, but you’re wrong about that. Pharaoh was not after the slaves; he was after the money because the Bible said that they borrowed all the gold and broke up the GDP for the entire nation of Egypt. Why would Pharaoh use 600 horses to get back a bunch of slaves when he could get slaves from anywhere? But the slaves had the money! Yes, and nothing will reveal a devil.
Wow! That’s excellent. You don’t know people until you start dealing with them about money. When you start dealing with them about money, you find out who they really are. Money will reveal the sentiments of your heart. That’s why the Lord asked us to bring all the tithes and offerings into the storehouse. It’s not that God needs the money, that’s right; He needs you to prove what is in your heart. I’mma wrap this up and sit down, but I heard Genesis 22 hit me in the face: „Take now thy son, thy only son, and offer him up on the mountaintop.“ It seems like God is schizophrenic, because Abraham did what He told him to do, and then when he got ready to do it, God said, „Abraham, Abraham, stay your hand.“ He said, „Now I know that you’re really with me because you wouldn’t withhold your offering from me.“
All God wanted—He didn’t need Isaac; Isaac was a shadow for Jesus. He was just using Isaac as a substitute. But He said, „If you’re faithful over a few things, I’ll make you a ruler over many.“ And sometimes, I’m going to challenge you because nothing will reveal what’s in your heart like how you handle money. If I worked for the FBI, if I worked for the service, if I worked for the CIA, the first thing I would investigate is your money because what you do with your money tells me what you value. If I follow your money to the strip club—wow! Come on, sir! It shows me what you value. That’s right! Come on now! If I follow you to the mall, it shows me what you value. Ain’t nothing wrong with the mall till you spend your rent money on it! Come on, sir! Ain’t nothing wrong with a nice car until you pull a nice car up to a shabby, raggedy place to stay.
And your values are in the wrong place because money is about what you value. Yes, yes! It proves what you value; it proves what you value. I don’t care whether you have a whole lot or a little bit; it will still do the same thing. It proves what you value. So when God asks you for something, the reason giving is worship is because it proves what you value. Hallelujah! Why has Satan filled your heart and caused you to lie? Wow! Hallelujah to the Holy Ghost! Why did you try to pretend like all of it was mine? When you are so narcissistic and selfish that I cannot receive your worship, because you only worship me when you want something. Some of you wouldn’t be here tonight if you didn’t want something. Wow!
And that’s why the Bible said, „To him that hath not, will I take away that which he seems to have.“ Because when your priorities are not in the right place, one of the quickest ways to tell is not in the worship service, because everybody who can sing will sing in the worship service. It’s not by the beat of the drum, because everybody who has rhythm can follow the drum into a beat. But when it comes to the offering, the room in the church gets quiet. What I wanted you to see is simple, and I say this: I’m through; it took Peter a long time to get it right. They had all kinds of problems. They tried to stay in Jerusalem; they ran them out of Jerusalem. Sir, they got into fights at Antioch, almost to blows, because they were seeing through a glass darkly.
It wasn’t that they were perfect, but they were filled. And when you are filled with the Holy Ghost, yes, God will always make a way for you. He will always—no, no, no, He will always. It may be a long time coming. Yes, sir! You may have to walk 40 years, but God will always—yes, sir! —make a way for you. I want to talk as I close to shadow people. You use the metric of what’s going on around you to prove what’s going on in you, when what was going on around Peter wasn’t even the will of God. Right? But what was going on in Peter was absolutely the will of God. For while man looks on the outward appearance, God looks on the heart. And He said, „Why has Satan filled your heart and caused you to lie to the Holy Ghost?“
If you want to go to the next level, you can’t buy it; the gift of God is not for sale. But if you want to see God move mightily in your life, trust Him in the area of your giving. Because I’m going to tell you something right now, and don’t you ever forget this: if you give God what you got, God will give you what He’s got. If you trust Him with what you got, God will trust you with what He’s got. He just needs to know that He can trust you in the shadows, when you can’t see good, when you’re groping and grappling and growing all at the same time. He will bless you when you become man enough to admit, „I’m scared, absolutely. I’m not sure that I’m building this right. I don’t have any instructions; I don’t have any manual.“
Yeah, but you got to be humble enough to admit, „I’m trying, but I don’t know everything.“ And some of the stuff I build, I might have to tear back down again because it was all right for Monday, but it’s not all right for Tuesday. Bow your heads with me; we’re in this place right now. And oh God, what a place we are in! I’m not talking about the building; I’m not talking about the ZIP code. I’m talking about the season of life we’re in, talking about what’s going on in this world. But I realize while preaching this that nothing going on around me is more important than what’s going on inside of me.
If I get it all wrong, but inside I’m right, you will refer to me as the Holy Ghost. Because while man looks on the outward appearance, You look on the heart. The truth is I’m not nearly as sure as I act like I am; the truth is I argue with people about stuff and fall out with them and then wonder, „Am I really right?“ The truth is I’m facing certain things for which there are no scriptures, and I’m groping after You, and I’m waiting on You to shine through the clouds so I can see what to do at this stage, at this season in my life.
I need Your direction; I need Your touch. I need Your touch more than anything, more than people, more than friends. I need to know that You are in me. As I cast my bread upon the water, as I lay myself out before You, I want You to know there’s nothing I got You can’t have—absolutely no talent, no skill, no finances, nothing I own—you can’t use, because without Your favor I am nothing at all. Now here it is, Lord: I’m through arguing with people about stuff I’m not sure about. I’m through trying to tell people off about stuff that’s just what I heard or what I read or what I heard somebody say. And I humble myself before You as I offer up this sacrifice.
Welcome into this place; welcome into this broken vessel. I lift my hands up to You; I want to offer up this praise. If You would accept it, I would lift it up; I would lift it up as a covenant between me and You that I’m through kicking myself around because maybe I built something You don’t even care about. But I still got the Holy Ghost, wrong turns, right turns, no turns—I bring it all to You through this seed, and I know if I plant it, somebody’s going to water it and You’re going to give the increase, because I’m standing on holy ground, and this is good soil. I have put my money in the hands of people who ripped me off. I’ve given myself to people who were just opportunists trying to tear me down. But here I am; I’m back to You with all that I have and all that I own. I lay it at Your feet. In Jesus' name, amen.