TD Jakes - The Power To Change The World
Hey, everybody. Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ our king. We've got a Word for you today that's going to bless your life. More importantly, we have an experience that touched mine, and I believe it will touch yours, too. The message is "The Power to Change Your World", and I want you to understand you don't have to just sit back and hope that things get better. The Holy Ghost has come to give you power, but what will you do with that power you've been given? It is up to us to change the world. Take a look.
The Book of Genesis says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void". In other words, it was chaotic. It was a muddy mess. And in spite of the mess, the Spirit of God moved in the mess. We have a God who moves in spite of mess. You would think that everything had to be in order for God to move, that everything had to be just so-so for God to move. But God can step into a chaotic, confused, muddy situation and still move by his Spirit. Somebody holler, "Move".
You need to know that because sometimes your life will look like a mess. And the circumstances will be all muddy and you can't see how you're going to make it, but the Lord our God will move in a messy situation. He moved upon the face of the deep. And whenever you see God moving, be sure that he's going to speak. Oh, somebody say, "Speak, Lord". He doesn't just come in a praise service so you can have a good feeling. The praise service is just God moving so that he can speak. I came to bring you a Word today. God is getting ready to turn your life completely around. He's getting ready to do something so fresh and so new in your life that you're not going to be able to praise him with your old praise. You're going to have to sing unto the Lord a new song for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gotten him the victory.
Throw your hands up and say, "I'm ready, Lord". Whenever God moves, he moves in a situation to bring order where there was confusion. He brings structure where there was chaos. He separates the firmaments that were above the waters from the firmaments that were beneath the waters. He separates the lesser lights from the greater lights, and he names as he separates. Because if you are really anointed, real anointing will bring order in your life. Real anointing will bring structure in your life. Get away from people who tell you they're anointed, but they have a lot of confusion and chaos in their lives. Real power brings order, structure, and discipline into your life.
You can't say you walk with God and don't speak to me. If you walk with God, he's going to tell you how to love me. Shout, "Hallelujah". So when God begins to move, he moves in a sovereign and a powerful way. He moves in an auspicious way. The Bible says in the Book of Acts, "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach". Notice that it says he began to do it. It didn't say that he finished it. Because it is the plan of God that Jesus would start something that you and I would finish like a marathon race.
A runner runs with a baton knowing when he starts it is not for him to finish. He runs a certain distance and passes the baton to the next runner who is moving into position so that when the baton passes him he's already got the rhythm of the runner to keep pace with what God is going... I'm telling you, Kenya, God's getting ready to hand you the baton and you better be getting into position so that you can lay a hold. Glory to God. Shout, "Hallelujah". My God, I meant to appreciate Pastor Moses Sakuta. Give God a praise for him. I'm sorry, brother. He got to shouting, and I got to shouting, and we forgot. God is moving. And the people who are going to catch the baton are the people who are in position. When I came to preaching years ago, get ready, get ready, get ready, it meant that it's time for you to get in position. You don't wait till you get the baton to start running, you start running before he hands it to you so that you're ready to step. Touch somebody and say, "I'm already running".
Africa, it's time for you to start running now. Don't wait for the economy to change. Don't wait for the environment to change. Don't wait for the situation to get better. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get in position. On your mark, get set, get ready, it's time. Slap somebody and tell them, "Something is about to happen". Something is about to happen. Some of you, people have laughed at you and they thought you look foolish 'cause you were running. You didn't even have a baton. You were running and nobody was paying you any attention. You were running and you still had trouble in your home. You were running and you still had crisis in your life.
And they said, "Who is that nobody running? Who is he to be running? We don't know who he is". But you knew that you're next in line. Oh, I dare you to shout if you know you're next in line. Look at your neighbor and say, "I'm next. I don't have time to argue with you. I don't have time to be jealous of you. I don't have time to worry about what you think. I'm getting ready for the running. I'm getting ready for the move. I'm getting ready for the flow. Something's about to pass to me. I'm about to catch the mantle. Something is about to happen in my life". Somebody ought to shout right about now.
I'm telling you right now, God's got some folks who's been waiting in the wings. They've been getting ready. They've been in the background practicing. God's getting ready to move you from the background to the forefront. Oh, get ready. Get ready. Get ready. Your time. Shout, "Yes". Yes. "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach". It is God's will for you to understand your course. Paul said, "I have kept the faith. I have finished my course". I don't have to finish your course. I don't have to finish his course. I don't have to finish her course. I have to finish my course. God's looking for originals, not copycats. I said God's looking for originals, not copycats. You want to be an original. I'd rather be an original than a cheap copy. Do your own thing. Run your own course. Finish your course. Hallelujah.
God's been whispering in your ear. And if you're going to hear God, you've got to be willing to look like a fool to other people. You got to be able to run with nothing in your hand yet. You got to be able to preach and nobody listening at your preaching. You got to be able to call those things that are not as though they were. You've got to be able to speak it into existence. You got to declare the invisible. You got to step on absolutely nothing and say, "Let there be something". You got to walk into a dark situation and say, "Let there be light". You see, the power is in your mouth. You shall have whatever you say.
Oh, Kenya, your God is a speaking God. He's a speaking God. That's why he uses the foolishness of preaching to turn the world around, because preaching gives you a clue about God. Your God is a speaking God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Now, there was a man who was sent from God. His name was John. He was not that light, but he was sent to bear witness of that light, saying, 'There is one coming after me who's mightier than I. I baptize you with water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.' And the one was made flesh".
He is a speaking God. You ought to start speaking to situations that you want to see change, and command them to change in the name of Jesus. You ought to start speaking to your children. Speak right to them and tell them, "You shall go further than me. You shall be greater than me. You shall learn more than me. You shall own more than I do. You shall reach further than I reach. I'm going to get you started, but catch the baton, baby. Catch the baton. When mama come by ya, pass the baton. When daddy runs, catch it". Somebody holler, "Catch it".
Let me tell you what the Holy Ghost is. The Holy Ghost is a receiver. In our country, over here too, you have what is like a satellite dish. A satellite dish is a receiver. It is designed so that all of these signals that are going through the air that you've been missing... if you've got a dish, it will pick up the signal and bring it in so you can receive. Through the Holy Ghost, all the things you've been missing you can pick them up and receive them now. Receive the renewing of your mind. Receive a vision for your family. Receive a vision for your country. Receive a vision for your business. The Holy Ghost didn't just come to make you dance and shout. It gave you power.
"Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me". And let me tell you what Pentecost was. Pentecost was devout men from every nation coming together in one place. In its roots, it's the ingathering of the harvest. Harvest is coming in. Devout men from every nation gathered for the Feast of Pentecost and suddenly there came a sound from heaven. Now, the last time we had seen this kind of move it was when Nimrod was building the Tower of Babel. And when he raised his fist toward heaven, said, "I will build a tower to heaven", and they would have done it, the Bible said, because the people were one. But the Spirit of the Lord moved and confounded their language, and so all of a sudden people who were related couldn't understand each other, because they were speaking in different languages.
The Tower of Babel divided us, the power of Pentecost unites us. What Babel scattered, Pentecost gathered. It gathered them together in one place with one accord and suddenly they had power. Kenya, what are you going to do with the power that you have? Are we just going to shout another generation away or are we going to use this power to change our world? What? What did you say? What did you say to me? I can't hear you. I can't hear you. I can't hear you. It is the church that will change the world. It is the blood-washed church of the living God that will change the world. It is the prayer warriors and intercessors that will change the world. It is the righteous that will change the world, not the wicked, not the ungodly, not the greedy, not the selfish.
Hear me, Kenya. Fret not thyself over evildoers and how they prosper in their own way. The Bible said they shall soon be cut off. God is going to cut down the wicked, because you're next. The blessing is coming upon you. Don't worry about the evil ones that say they won't move out of the way. God is going to move unrighteousness out of the way. You are next. Make some noise in this house. When the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of his garment, she received power; power physically that healed her body, power financially 'cause she had spent everything and gone broke, power relationally because according to the Scriptures she was unclean and untouchable. But when she touched the power of God, everything that got away came back to her.
Now, listen. God is going to speak to you about things to come. Stop crying about how things are and start writing how things will be. Write the vision. Make it plain. Do you hear what I'm saying? Write down your business plan. Write down your goals. Design your house. Prepare your vision. Strategize where you're going 'cause God is about to do something new. God is about to do something fresh. God is about to do something mighty in your life. Write the vision and make it plain. Start talking about it. Talk about it at the coffee shop, in the beauty shop, and in the restaurants. Meet with people and share it one with another. Get away from people who aren't talking about anything. Find somebody who's got a vision. Find somebody who's hungry. Find somebody who's on fire. Find somebody who's excited. Find somebody who's ready. Stand on your feet and join hands with somebody.
Let me tell you what God's going to give you. Let me tell you what God's going to give you. The Bible said it is God that gives you power to get wealth. Let me tell you, from a descendant of a slave, slavery as it was is over in our country. It's gone. Our ancestors sang and prayed and praised it down. We were not considered humans. We were not considered people. We were considered property. We were not just workers. Slavery is more than working. Our women were raped. Our men were castrated, murdered in the field, run down by dogs, not allowed to marry, not allowed to own, not allowed to do anything except let the dumb slaves sing praises. But they didn't know what a praise will do.
So we got out in the cotton fields and started singing, "Steal away. Steal away. Steal away to Jesus. Ain't got long to stay here". We had no money. We had no government. We had no leadership. We had no nothing. All we had was a praise, but a praise opened up an underground railroad and at night we snuck away through the night and went through the underground railroad and came up free on the other side shouting the victory. And I came to tell you, slavery is over in America and most of the world. It's over, but there is a new slavery. Poverty is the slave master of the 21st century. And wherever it goes unchecked, it still destroys the will of whoever it captures.
The Bible says it is God that gives you the power to get wealth, the power to get wealth. Not that God gives you money, he gives you the power to get wealth. He gives you the ideas and the creativity and the energy and the strength and the relationships to get wealth. God's about to give you power, empowered to get wealth. God is about to stir up talents and gifts that you didn't even think were important, but God's going to use something that you've been overlooking to bless you in a mighty way. And all of a sudden when God blows on your gift, something in your belly is going to catch on fire and creative ideas and concepts are going to come alive in you. Squeeze your neighbor's hand and say, "Power".
Now as you join hands, I want you to understand something. God is making connections all around this park. You've got to be connected. Stop trying to do things by yourself. We're better together than we are apart. You'd be surprised what God can do when nobody cares who gets the credit. I said you'd be surprised what God can do when nobody cares who gets the credit. It doesn't matter who gets the credit, it matters that the job gets done. Join hands with your neighbor. That's your partner. We're making connections. We've reached from North America to Africa, from Dallas, Texas to Nairobi, Kenya to join hands with our brothers and sisters and to touch and agree with you that your quivers shall be full, and that your cup will run over, and that the God of all grace would bless and save and sanctify you and set you free. Squeeze that hand you're holding right there. That's a believer. That's a dreamer.
I'm out time. I've got to stop there, but I hope you've been blessed by the Kenya experience. My God, he does amazing things. I pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to touch you. If you can't touch the world, touch your world. It begins with the smile you place on your face. May the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit overshadow you and keep you going in Jesus' name. Go forth. Amen.