TD Jakes - Get Into Focus (09/12/2018)
Drawing from Jesus' seasons of miracles, message, and intimate moments, the preacher teaches that true commitment endures beyond easy miracles into deeper message and costly moments with God; many follow for blessings but fade at discipline—focus on moments of consecration where God meets you personally, proving loyalty when it costs, not just when it comforts.
The Miracle Stage: Easy to Follow
Greetings, brothers and sisters, in the name of Jesus Christ our King. I am so excited to have this opportunity to share the Word of the Lord with you. To be blessed of God and chosen of the Lord to present His Word to you is my highest honor.
I know that the Word of the Lord is a light unto my feet, that is a lamp unto my path, that it is my navigational system that directs me toward the future. I am not in the group that comes to church for the preacher to preach me happy because I do not need you manipulating my emotions, I need direction.
If I am lost downtown, I do not need a GPS system to give me a massage, I need direction. Do not make me feel good, get me out of this place I am in, so I can go to the next level. So my role is clear, my understanding is bright, my mind is concise, and my directive is specific.
I am here to challenge you to understand that you are in the middle of a transition. A dam has burst. Where you have been in a place of restriction, you are going from restriction to transition. Many of you are going from being held back and being repressed to being released. You have been through a tight place. But I told you last Sunday, I saw a crack in the wall and things are starting to burst open. Yeah. So you are in transition.
And this Word that I am going to share with you today is quite clear and quite direct. David is coming into transition. It is not a surprise. He has been anointed before to be king. His appointing is now catching up with his anointing. He was anointed when he was still a shepherd boy to be king, but it took years for the appointing to catch up with the anointing.
You can be anointed for something that you have not been appointed to yet. The anointing is just a prophetic utterance, a release that this is what destiny has mandated for you to come to. And sometimes you are anointed and sent back out there to take care of sheep, and you are a little frustrated right now because you are trying to make something happen prematurely.
Just because God anointed you to be king, does not mean for you to drop your shovel and forsake your sheep. You go back to doing what you were doing before and wait for the appointing to catch up with the anointing.
The Message Stage: Commitment Tested
One of the great frustrations of youth is often that you can see more than you can lay your hands on. You know how it ought to be done, but you are not in the position to do it. You have got an utterance, you have got a word, you have got a concept, but they have not been proven.
Every idea, every concept must be proven in the furnace of affliction. And so many times, God will let you know, "When this is over, you are going to be running that company. When this is over, you are going to be managing that offer. When this is over, I am going to put you in a," and there you go back to your little office... no, cubicle with all of those ideas and all of those concepts... frustrated.
I cannot tell you how frustrated I was in my little storefront church where I was serving. I was not a pastor, I was just a member of the church, and I was a minister, a licensed minister. For 7 years, they never asked me to preach a word. I had all kinds of sermons, I had all kinds of anointing, I had all kinds of stuff just sitting there boiling like a kettle, whistling like a teapot, sitting there frustrated listening to people who would go read out the book of Job. Took a text out of Habakkuk. Reading the Zephaniah.
And I had to sit there. I had to sit there and fester and bubble because God was humbling me because if you humble yourself, God will exalt you, but if you exalt yourself, God will bring you to abasement. And I learned how to get blessed off of people who could not study and did not study and did not read and did not have revelation, but I learned how to get a breakthrough off of songs and testimonies and prayers and prayer clothes and, oh, y'all do not hear what I am saying.
It was not time yet. It was not time yet. But in the fullness of time. God always does things in the fullness of time. In the fullness of time, God sent forth His son. When the Day of Pentecost was fully come. The fullness of time is when the appointing catches up with the anointing.
David is at that point. He has just been made king. Crowned. Now his reality has caught up with his vision. What you saw afar off yesterday, God will do now. I do not know who it is, but somebody is coming into a do-it moment. I prayed about it. I shouted about it. I saw it afar off, but I am on the verge of that thing coming to pass. I am right on the edge.
And things are the worst when you are the closest. The worst of winter comes when winter is almost over. The worst of labor comes when the baby is about to come. Oh, you think that morning sickness is something, you have that junk in the first trimester. I know y'all do not understand because y'all are that epidural generation, but them last few hours, especially with no epidural, you wish you could have some morning sickness. Pain comes the greatest when you are the closest.
The Moments Stage: Intimacy with God
And now David has been anointed to be king. And now the Bible teaches us with this power comes pressure. With this power. See, you did not see that when you were shouting about it. "Ooh, I am going to be king." You saw the power, but you did not see that the moment you moved into a new level, here comes a new devil for that level.
And the Philistines have now come to Rephaim to attack him when they heard that he was king. Everybody who hears about your blessing is not glad for you. Just because you are conquering does not mean you will not have conflict.
So here comes the Philistines. And it is amazing to me because one of the things you have to understand about David, David is a man of passion. Any men of passion? Hold your hand up. Men of passion, hold your hand up. Mm-hm. You are scared to put your hand up because you do not know what I am going to say. Uh-huh. But you either are or you are not. David was, he was a man of passion.
It was whatever he did, he was passionate about it. When he sang, he sang with passion. When he fought, he fought with passion. David was passionate. He created his own instruments. Not only could he play them, he could make them. David was so passionate that he wrote poetry. He was passionate.
Passionate people can walk into an empty place and see it filled. Passionate people can take a nothing job and turn it into something. Passionate people can take a blank sheet of paper and make something out of it. Passionate people can be creative until you make them mad. Passionate people will flip out on you and turn into something you have never seen before.
David would fight. David would kill. David would murder. In fact, one of his problems is that he shed so much blood that he could not build God's house. David was a killer. Oh, he was a lover, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was passionate about that, too. But he was also a killer.
And it seems to me, if the Philistines are coming up to fight a guy who has a long resume of killing folks, he would say, "You picked the wrong joker this time." But the first thing he does is fall on his knees. He does not fall on his strength, he does not fall on his past, he does not fall on his habits, he falls on his knees, and he humbly asks God a question, "Shall I go up? You want me to whip them?" "Shall I go up?"
Because David associates success with prayer, not power, not force, not anger... with prayer. Do you associate success with prayer? Or do you associate success with talent or ability or influence or recognition? Do you associate success with money or with prayer?
Maybe it is hard for you to pray during these 50 days because you do not draw a line between what you hope for and prayer. David says, "I do not want to engage in a battle without God. I want to be sure that the God of Israel is on my side. And if He is on my side, I do not care how many troops you got, I do not care how many men you got, I do not care how tired I am, I do not care what I am up against, if He just lets me know that He is on my side both to do and to will according to His own good pleasure, I will run out there and fight you by myself."
Three Stages of Following Jesus
Oh, y'all do not hear what I am saying. It ain't about you, baby, it is about God. "Shall I go up?" Oh, something is about to happen in your life that is so critical, not only must you do it, you must do it God's way in order to get the victory in your life.
Oh, bless His high name. I feel something in this place. Touch somebody and say, "Victory." This is your year for victory. I do not say that every year. Last year was not your year for victory, last year was your year for battle. This is your year for victory. But in order to get the victory, you have to go about it God's way.
"Shall I go up?" Because God does not ensure victory if He is not consulted. God says, "I want you to seek Me every day. I do not want you to rely on your strength, your abilities, your contacts, your resources, I want you to choose your battles this year. I only want you to fight those things that I have given you permission to fight. There are some things I want you to ignore. There are some things I want you to overlook. I only want you to go to battle when I have given you the nod that I am going to fight with you. And if I fight with you, you are going to get the victory." Shout "hallelujah."
So let me show you this quickly. I am going to take the quick road, and I want to show you this. David said, "Shall I go up?" And God says, "Go up, and I will deliver your enemy into your hand." And David goes up against them, and he wears them out in Rephaim. He wears them out! And I mean, he totally demolishes it.
And as he is wearing them out, he is praising God, talking about, "The Lord has delivered them into my hand." Now, you know it is one thing to die, but it is another thing to die while the other guy is rejoicing and celebrating. It is like getting a whooping. It was not that mama's whooping was so bad, it was her mouth while she was whooping. "Did not I tell... you made me do that. I got to do that."
God said, "When you defeat the enemy, do not fight him with your mouth closed. While he is going down, give Me the glory and the praise and the honor and the credit and lift Me up and keep on wearing him out." Glory, glory, glory!
The enemy comes back a second time. That is one thing you can count on, the devil will be back. You might have knocked him down, but he ain't out, he will be back. He comes back a second time. And this is what separates tradition from relationship.
Tradition assumes that since it is the same enemy fought on the same territory, fighting against the same individual who is calling on the same God, tradition assumes "I now know how to do this." But David prays again. Now I see why he is king. David honors relationship over tradition.
God said, "I found a man who is after My heart. I found a man who will seek My face. I found a man who will not rely on his own strength. I found a man that will call upon My name." And that is the only reason David gets the victory.
He goes back to God and says, "It is the same folks, it is on the same spot, I am the same guy, You are the same God, but I do not want to assume that You want me to go the same way. Shall I go up?" And to my amazement, God said, "No. Do not react to the same problem the same way. Alternate route in progress. I am going to take you another way this time. The last time I brought you out, this time I am taking you through. I am going to take you another way this time."
The Miracle Stage: Crowds for Blessings
Give us this day our daily bread says, "I need bread every day. I need direction every day. I must report to the office every day to get the assignment for today. I cannot be successful if I assume that I must fight today's challenge off of yesterday's information."
Let me tell you how strong what I am telling you is. Most of the people who lose their jobs, lose their jobs because they do not get updated information. They were good employees who continue to do things the way we used to do them and assume that nothing has changed.
The better employee who is the one who keeps getting updates and can evolve if the company evolves to the next level. There is nothing worse than having somebody in a position who is doing it the way we used to at a time that we have now decided to go another way. Not only are they antiquated, they will try to destroy anybody who is trying to take it another way because they love the old way the best way.
Nothing worse than being in a church that is giving God what He used to need. You know, you go in those churches, and you have gone back into a time warp. You have gone all the way back. "Well, the choir is going to do an A and a B selection, after which, the right reverend doctor is going to come and take us further into the service of the Lord." And you are sitting there, and you want to see a Mahalia Jackson fan because people do not understand, we are not in the '60s anymore.
Or they are arguing about whether women should wear makeup or a head covering. And you came because you got a real devil to fight, and there they are talking about, "Come out from the world and, ha, be ye separate, ha, and I, ha-ha, will clean the unclean thing. Throw down your Maybelline, ha, it is unclean, ha. Give up your lipstick, ha, and come out the world, ha." You fighting cancer, they talking about lipstick.
You fighting diabetes. Somebody know what I am talking about, shout "hallelujah." And God says to him, "I do not want you to do anything but get in the spot and wait. Wait on Me." Waiting is a war tactic. Sometimes doing nothing is doing something. Sometimes being still is a war tactic as opposed to pacing the floor and worrying yourself to death and getting upset and calling people who cannot help you and trusting people who are trying to betray you.
Hang up the phone, close the blinds, shut the door, wait on the Lord. God has got the victory. He promised to bring you out. Shout it out. Mm-hm. My God, my God, my God.
I do not know who I am preaching to, but something is about to happen in your life. And the Philistines have come against you at a time that God has promised to bless you. And you said, "Lord, this is the worse time for me to be in a fight because I am on the verge of a breakthrough, and why is the devil fighting me now?" But the Lord sent me here to tell you do not worry about it. He is going to guide you out of the situation, and He is going to give you the victory by faith.
Touch three people and say, "I am coming out of this." I am coming out. And when I come out, I am going to bring my money and my family and my kids and my stuff, everything connected with me. When I come out, I am going to bring it all out with me.
I do not know who I am preaching to, but God said, "Get all your stuff together and wait on a sign. And when you hear movements up in the top of the mulberry trees," I said, "Lord, why the top of the mulberry trees?" He said, "because I got warring angels over your heads, and the battle is not yours, it belongs to God. I do not want you to move until I move. When you hear Me moving in the heavenlies, that is when I want you to make your next step."
Come on. "Do not look at your enemy. Do not look at your problem. Do not look at your storm. Now looking unto Him who is the author and the finisher of our faith. And as long as you look up, you can go forward looking at Me, trusting Me to deliver you and keep your stuff with you. Bring your kids with you. Bring your money with you. Bring your joy with you. Bring your praise with you." Yes! Yes! Yes!
Somebody take a minute and give God a crazy praise. A praise. Give God! Give God!
Well, I hate to stop there, but I am out of time. I have got to stop. The reason I hate to stop is that it is so important that you have guidance. Above everything else, if you have guidance, you can make it through anything. The assurance, that voice speaking into your ear, "Turn left at the corner. Do not react to that problem. Do not be dismayed. Be still and see the salvation of the Lord," those little nuggets of guidance that come from God, prepare your heart in such a profound way that you are never the same again. May God bless you and may heaven smile upon you and keep you encouraged as you walk out your course.