TD Jakes - Finding Christ In The Chaos
When Peter and John come to the temple, it is not like you coming to church where you come into a room full of people who agree with you. They are coming to a service where their theology is not accepted, not appreciated, and not welcome; and they are coming to the temple not knowing whether God will use them like he used Jesus for this is a fast miracle since the day of Pentecost. Their power has not been proven. Now, had they been in a room full of people who agreed with them, at least they'd have the backup of other people. But sooner or later, you'll have to stand up and believe God for yourself, whether anybody believes him with you or not, or not. People say you have to have faith, I say you got to have stubborn faith, radical ridiculous faith. Faith that stand by itself and say, "I still believe. Laugh at me, talk about me, make jokes of me, look funny at me, but I still believe that he that have begun a good work in me shall provide. I believe it. I believe it. I believe it".
Is there anybody left in the church that still believes in the power of God? Tell your neighbor, "I got stubborn faith". You don't have to believe it. You don't have to believe it. I still believe it. Take my house and I believe it. Take my car and I believe it. Sicken my body and I believe it. Children on drugs, and I believe it. I believe it in a jail cell. I believe it in a boardroom. I believe it in a crisis center if God before you. Oh, I feel the spirit of church in here. Somebody help me praise him with stubborn faith. So, you have one group who's coming to the temple to say, "We've got to hold on to what we've been taught. The religious traditions of thousands of years are endangered by these new upstarts, this fresh generation of people in this new doctrine. We've got to fight to hold on to it". And on the other side, "I serve before you," that we have a group of untried, unproven apostles coming toward the temple for the first time without Jesus to see if the power of God will work for them in his absence like it did in his presence. They are the Elishas of the New Testament. They've caught the mantle, but they don't know whether it's going to work right or not.
Have you ever had God put you in a position, but you weren't sure how to work the position that God put you in? You are there, but you're nervously there. You're shaking in there. You're praying in there and say, "Lord, if you don't help me, I don't know. I saw you doing for bishop, but, Lord, will you do it? Will you do it for me"? So, Pastor Bonnie, they're moving to the temple expecting to fight but not the lame man, to fight the religious mindset that is waiting for them in the temple. But as is the case with much of life, it is not the destination that is important. It is the things that happen along the way. You're busy trying to get to a particular place in life and you say, "Once I get there, I'm going to get this and I'm going to be blessed and I'm going to have that and I'm going to see the power of God," but it is not the destination. God often shows up on the rest stop on the side of the road. It is the things that happen along the way. And along the way to the temple, there was a man.
Third course, there was a man. He was different from the first two courses. The first course comes to defend their position and their significance against the tyranny of this new theology. The second group comes to establish a truth that they believe will convert the Orthodox into the contemporary understanding of who Christ is. He didn't come for either thing. He came 'cause he's broke. He came because he's crippled. He came because he's destitute. He came because any crippled person will tell you that religious people are more apt to be benevolent than other people. The begging was good over there. Y'all don't like it when I tell the truth. This man has developed a pathology, a structure, a methodology, if you please, around his dysfunction. He does not come to the temple to be healed, he comes to the temple to get over. He is not like the woman with the issue of blood saying, "If I may but touch the hem of his garment, I will be made whole". He didn't even ask to be healed. He got up at the bed that morning, got some friends to get him dressed, they picked him up and carried him over where the begging was good, he got his cup out his pocket, and he started into his daily routine. "Alms, alms, alms, give me alms".
What I want you to see is it's a cataclysmic explosion that occurs when three different times of kinds of people show up at the same place each expecting something different and yet in the middle of this chaos, God is orchestrating the affairs because all of it ain't nothing but a setup. Now, brothers and sisters, I wish I could preach this like I feel it. This man had been lame from his mother's womb. He is obviously a grown man at this point. So he has had a lifetime of dysfunction, and God allowed it to be so. He allowed it to go on for years to set the stage for a miracle. I want to make note of that for somebody who's had a long-standing problem. Just because it's been there a long time doesn't mean it's going to stay a long time. Sometimes God will put your trouble on display and let everybody see you in trouble, be convinced of your trouble so that when he delivers you, there will be no doubt as to the authenticity.
Oh, yeah. Help me preach this this morning. I'm a little tired. I need you to help me preach this morning. Just touch your neighbor on your right and your left and say, "It don't matter how long it's been that way. It doesn't matter. It don't even matter. It doesn't matter how many nights you cried. It doesn't matter how sick you've been. It doesn't matter what they said about you. It doesn't matter how long you've been down. It doesn't matter that the odds are against you. It doesn't matter that you don't have what you need. This ain't nothing but a setup for a supernatural touching. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Slap somebody and tell them, "It's a setup". They don't believe you. Find somebody else and say, "It's a setup". Every night you cried, everything you endured, what's going on in your body, what's going on in your marriage, what's going on in your house, what's going on on your job, it ain't nothing but a setup!
I don't know who I'm preaching to, but whoever it is, yes, that's somebody's word right there. Yes, that somebody's deliverance right there. You've been all worried about the chaos and the confusion, but the Lord sent you out here this morning to tell you, "Don't worry about it, baby. I got control of everything. My first course has already got inside the temple, my third course is laid at the gate called Beautiful, and my second course is coming down the road at the 9th hour toward the temple. And when the second course gets ready to go through the gate, they run into the third course laying at the gate, and the third course asks the second course for some help and the second course says to the third course, "Silver and gold have I none".
You know, if you're going to operate today, you have to know what you do have and what you don't have. Look at your neighbor and say, "I may not have what you expected, but if you give me a chance, I got something to offer". Oh, God. "I may not have what you expected, I may not look like what you expected, I may not sound like what you had in mind, but I dare", Oh, about to feel like preaching. I better quit. "I dare you to give me a chance". Slap somebody and say, "I dare you to give me a chance". "Silver and gold have I none, but such that I have... In the name". I haven't said the name yet. But when I said in the name, I could feel demons tremble. In the name - when I said it, I could feel mountains rumble. I said in the name - when I said it, depression began to fall back. I said in the name - when I said it, disease began to move. In the name - there is a name that has been exalted above every name; that at that name, ever knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess. Anybody know the name? Anybody know the name? Shout out the name. Jesus. Jesus. In my storm, Jesus. In my chaos, Jesus.
Touch seven people and tell them "He's here"! Jesus is here! So he said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk"! You can't walk till you rise up. That's why you ought to tell every devil that had you bend over, "Enough is enough. I will get up. You think I'm going to stay here bent over and board over? Not when I got to a walking chance. I got a walking chance". In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he says, "Rise up and walk". What I like about it is that the second course spoke to the third course and said, "Rise up and walk". when the third course had never walked in his life. It's one thing when God ask you to do something that you've done before, but when he asks you to do something and you have never done this before, "Rise up and walk". What is walking? He was lame from his mother's womb. He's a grown man, and the power of the text to me is confined in one word: immediately!
That's what separates it from a 12-step program. That's what sets it apart from a halfway house. That's what sets it apart from 5 years of therapy and 10 years of counseling. That all of that is natural help, and that's good in its place, but I'm talking about supernatural help 'cause sometimes you don't have time to go through 12 steps to get out of your mess. All you need is one. Whoever I'm preaching to, God's going to bring you out in one step. Look at your neighbor and say, "You're one step away from your miracle". Slap them and say, "Immediately". The book says his ankles received strength, and Peter took him by the hand. It says, this is important. When you're on the verge of a miracle, only run with people, who can leaf you. The hand of God strengthened his ankles, but the hand of Peter snatched him out of his situation. It's one thing to have the hand of God, but sooner or later, you're going to need somebody that snatches you out of your comfort zone. I believe that's why God sent me in Dallas to snatches you. Get your neighbor by the hand and say, "You're coming out of there today immediately". Immediately. Immediately. Immediately. Come out now. Come out now. Come out now. He stood. He leaped.
See, that's why you can't get no miracle in your church 'cause y'all don't believe in leaping, but I gotta be in the church... Give him a praise! The first course was in the temple figuring out how they were going to shut the gospel down, the second course was on their way to the temple figuring out how they were going to defend the gospel, the third course was laying at the gate of the temple figuring out how he could make some money from the other two courses, but then the fourth course stepped into the situation and healed the third course. So before the second course could get in there to fight with the first course, the third course busted open the door and came in dancing and leaping and praying in God. Somebody I'm preaching to, you got a fight in front of you, but the fight is not going to be the fight you think of. If you would just praise God like it's already done, you can dance your way right out.