TD Jakes - Scattered
Over and over in Scriptures, when Jesus healed people, and they wanted to stay, he would send them away. He wouldn't let them stay. In our text today, something has happened in Jerusalem. Something has happened in Jerusalem. It was a culture shift, it was a move of power, it was a veil split, it was blood on the mercy seat, an old debt was settled, an old covenant had rolled into a new one. Mercy had collided with grace.
All of a sudden, there was a shift, and they sat around Jerusalem tryin' to figure out what does this mean? What just happened? A culture change has happened, because people who were outside of us understood us, each man heard us speaking in his own language. Oh, come on, come on. Watch this, it wasn't just something that happened amongst us. See, as long as you stay in this room, you're talkin' about what happened amongst us. It wasn't just that we had a good service, Oh, didn't we have a time, time, time? Didn't we have a time, time, time? Didn't we have a time? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. This happened on the day of Pentecost, which was a day that preceded the event. Pentecost was a time when devout men from everywhere brought in the harvest.
So it is a cosmopolitan moment of different cultures coming into Jerusalem to do business. So you had all of these people from different languages and different countries, and the thing that brought them to Jerusalem was to do business. This is a time of the harvest. God did it when they were in town. So it wasn't just about what was in the room, it was about what was in the town. God isn't doing things for your church, he's doing things for your region. God is not gonna bless your church until your church gets a vision for your region. You have been trying to get God to bless your church. Your vision is too small. God sent your church to bless your region.
Slap somebody and tell 'em it's a setup. It is, it is, it is, it is tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock. It is the timing of the Lord that you have to watch. He could've filled them with the Holy Ghost at any time, but it is the timing of the Lord. It is true that Pentecost is 50 days after the Passover, but it is also true that the Passover is a tradition whereby devout men from every nation has come, and all of this is colliding together, theology and sociology all coming together at the same time. It is a sociological tradition amongst religious people to come with their wares to do their harvest at the time. It is a religious time of the year when we go from Passover to Pentecost, and it's just so happened that Jesus was crucified around the Passover, and 50 days later the disciples are shut up in the upper room, and it's all coming together.
It's all coming together. It's all comin' together like my hands are coming together. And my right hand never miss my left hand, not because I got two hand. It's not two hands that make my hands clap, it's my sense of timing. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time, it's time. That's what God has said about your life, it's time. It is no accident that God brought you to this meeting, it is time.
I met a lady in the hallway. She said she was from Iowa. She said she watches me on TV all the time. I don't know she's in the room. If you're still in the room, stand up. She said she was from Iowa, and she said, "I watch you on TV all the time". And she said, "My girlfriend over here is from Canada," and I met the lady from Canada. Anybody from Canada in the room? Stand up. Somebody's from Iowa? Somebody from Canada? Stand up, and all that and we've come together. Over the next year in your life strategically, meetings, relationships, connections, opportunities. After you suffered a while, after you've cried a while, after you've labored a while, after you did without a while, God brought you down here so you can understand it's time.
It's time, it's time. That's why you're excited. That's why your spirit is jumping. That's why you had to be here. I don't care how tired you were. You had to come back because the Holy Ghost said it's time. Give him a praise. It's time, it's time, it's time, it's time. What I couldn't do before, I couldn't do it before because it wasn't the right time. I tried it last year, but it wasn't the right time. I saw it five years ago, but it wasn't the right time. I tried to do it 10 years ago, but it wasn't the right time, but right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, for such a time as this, for such a time as this, for such a time...
Who am I talkin' to? For such, for such, for such, for such. Touch eight people and say it's my time. It's my time. I couldn't build it before, but I can build it now. It's my time. I couldn't own it before, but I can own it now. It's my time. I couldn't receive it before, somebody give him three seconds of crazy praise! It's my time! It's my time! It's my time! Tell all your haters it's my time. If you're streaming, check it out. It's my time! It's my time! It's my time, Lord! It's my time, Lord! It's my time, Lord! It's my time, Lord! It's my time, Lord! It's my time!
Sit down. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove it to ya. I'm gonna prove to you this ain't no sight game. This ain't no mind game. This ain't no preaching trick. When Mary was pregnant, Elizabeth had been pregnant about six months, and the Bible said that she was shut up in the house, shut up in the house.
Josephus says she was shut up in the house because the baby wasn't moving. She thought the baby was dead, but when Mary knocked on the door, she opened up the door expecting just to bring in her cousin, but when they kissed, it wasn't that Mary and Elizabeth knew, the babies in the womb knew. And the Bible says that the baby's leaped. Somebody in this room, it's not that you know, but something down inside of you. My dream is leaping, my house is leaping, my company is leaping, my vision is leaping, my baby is leaping, my baby is, my baby is, my baby, my baby, my baby, my baby. Sit down, y'all keep jumping up.
It was in Jerusalem where the Holy Ghost fell, and so when the Holy Ghost fell in Jerusalem, it was falling on the same place of glory where the glory had fallen on Solomon's temple and the priests had laid prostrate in the floor, only this time it had fallen ushering in a new dimension. This is not just an individual being filled with the Holy Ghost, because we see them filled in Acts chapter 10, we see them filled in Acts chapter 19, and never again do we see a sound from Heaven, a mighty rushing wind, cloven tongues like as of fire.
Only in Acts chapter 2, because this is the inauguration of the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, and every inauguration needs a parade, and so God sent the wind and then he sent the cloven tongues and then he sent the fire, for it was the processional as the Holy Spirit came in and took its residence and set on this earth and begin to reign and rule and to push back the powers of darkness, so that we would be effective in ministry with that Jerusalem, where the council met after the day of Pentecost over and over again. They stay close to the place where it started, and they stay close to the place where it started so long that God had to do what he did at Babel. He scattered them.
So in Acts chapter 8, the Bible says that God used persecution to scatter them lest they stay. Lest they stay. Lest they stay in Jerusalem. The problem with the church today is that we stay in Jerusalem, and we stay to ourselves and we stay where we know all the songs, and we stay where the people worship like us. If we stay where we understand the customs, and we stay where we understand the culture, but God said, "I'm going to scatter you". Somebody holler scatter. Because I did not anoint you here to stay here, and the Lord told me to tell you in this message that he brought you here to anoint you, to empower you, to inspire you, to give you new language and new ideas and new concepts. He brought you here so you would experience a fire and the anointing and that your faith would break free. He brought you here so your baby would leap.
So your vision would be ignited. So you would see a new woman in you. So you see a new mother in you. So you see a new wife in you, a new missionary in you, a new evangelist in you, a new teacher in you, a new CEO in you, a new business owner in you, a blessed you, a wealthy you, a wise you, a stable you, a sound you, a dependable you. But when this meeting is over, he's gonna scatter you. And the Lord said for me to tell you to get ready to go into places that are not familiar.
Over the next eight months, I want you to break your pattern. If you always read church books, read business books. If you always read novels, read psychology books. If you always go to the same places in your city, go to someplace that's different. Go to the city council, even if you don't know what they're talking about. Just go to sit in the back, just go, 'cause God is getting ready to scatter you. He's getting ready to take you to new dimensions. If you always go to the Gospel concerts, go to a ballet. God is getting ready to scatter you. He's taking you out of your comfort zone. He's taking into new dimensions. He taking into new places. He's gonna put you in a place where you have to have new conversations, where you have to think again, where you have to learn again, where you have to grow in the room.
God said, "I'm going to put you in rooms where you feel stupid and you don't want to say the wrong thing, and I'm Gonna put you in rooms where you have to learn new languages". God said, "I'm going to put new words in your mouth, new ideas in your mouth, new concepts in your mouth, new ideas in your mouth. I'm getting ready to break your routine". Whatever you do all the time, change it. If you don't work out, start workin' out a little bit. If you work out all the time, start reading up a little bit.
It's time for you to break your pattern, because, because, because your pattern is your prison. Your pattern, your pattern is your prison, and the reason your life is not growing is because you go to the same places, you talk to the same people, you will have the same friends, you have the same traditions, you order the same thing on the menu, you eat the same foods, your diet is boring, your life is boring, your heart is boring, your mind is asleep. It doesn't have to work. It doesn't have to think. It doesn't have to learn, but God said he's getting ready to shake you up. He's getting ready to shake you. He's getting ready to shake you up. He's getting ready to scatter.
Somebody shout scatter. Now, your old girlfriend's gonna feel a little funny, 'cause you don't call every morning at 9:30, but that's all right. You can call her once a week at 9:30, that you need to irrigate your life with new idioms of thought, new ideas, new concepts. Don't be afraid to evolve, because after a meeting like this, the only thing left to do is scatter. Stand on your feet. If you are going to take over the world, if you are going to take over the world, you gotta take over banking and business and politics and theater and opera and art and creativity. The only way you can do that... you can't do that hugging Jerusalem.
Think about your life for a minute. You get up, you go to work, you go home. You get up, you go to work, you go home. You get up, you go to work, you go home. You get up, you go to work, you go to church, you go home. You get up, you go to church, you go home. You get up, you go to work, you go to church, you go home. If somebody was trying to kill you, you would be easy... Not only do you go to the same places, you go the same route.
Somebody holler scatter. I'm gonna really go deep. I'm really gonna go deep. How many married women do I have in the room? He knows you. You got a routine. You get off work, have dinner, you go take off your makeup, you roll your hair, you put on them raggedy flannels. You wear them shoes that got your toe prints in 'em. Somebody holler scatter. Y'all have sex every second Thursday. It's the same signal at the same time in the same way.
Somebody holler scatter. You preachers, you preach the same way all the time. You preach the same way so much so that the musician knows when you're getting ready to hoop. And Oh, Lord! And you have trained your people to only recognize God in one form, and the problem with the disciples is anytime Jesus showed up in another form, they didn't recognize him. When he came walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost because he showed up in another form. And you imprison the power of God with the traditions of men. You dumb down people into ignorance until they think there's only one way to do a thing. Somebody shout scatter.