TD Jakes - The Door of Expansion (12/19/2020)
Drawing from Peter's visit to Cornelius in Acts 10, the preacher emphasizes that "doors" represent divine access points to new dimensions—often people, opportunities, or situations that seem unlikely—and when we recognize we are doors ourselves and simply do what God has gifted us to do in uncertain moments, breakthrough and expansion happen.
Now Peter is going down to Cornelius's house, and they are coming down from Joppa down to Cornelius's house to have an encounter with God. And Cornelius has invited all of his friends and his family to something, he is not really sure what he has invited them to but he is so excited that the house is full of people, and then he hears that knock at the door. What drew me to the text in the first place is not the meat, or the clean and unclean, and it is not the Italian soldiers, it is none of that that drew me to the text in the first place. What drew me to the text in the first place was the door.
Yeah, I was reading the text and I got stuck on the door, and I asked myself what is a door? What is a door? The word door is not used, it just says that, "Peter entered in," but I have enough sense to know that if you entered in you have to come in through the door, because doors are how you get in. Yeah, for anything I want to get into I have to find the... Yeah, if I do not find the door, I will never get in. And when I think about a door I think about a wood frame and a door knob and a handle, and something I turn and I open it and I come in and I walk in the door, and that is how my mind pictures the door until I remembered that Jesus said...
And so, suddenly, I began to realize that my understanding of the door is limited to my past experiences, that I see doors as wood and brass handles but God sees doors as access to new dimensions. Because when Jesus says, "I am the door," he is neither wood nor handle, he is a place of access to the next dimension. And for everything you are trying to get into there is a... there is a door. And I want to warn you that all doors are not made of wood and all doors do not have handles but all doors do access something that you were locked out from before.
And somebody in this room, the Lord said you are standing at a door, you are standing at the door and I want you to be careful that you do not think that a door is always a door, it might be a person, it might be a job, it might be an opportunity, it might be a place, but God said you are standing... Touch somebody say this is a door, you do not understand it but this is a door, this is a door. This is a door, this thing that is going on in your life right now, the Holy Spirit said this is the door.
Recognizing Unlikely Doors
This thing, this thing that you are contemplating right now, this thing that you are wrestling with and wanting, the Holy Ghost said it is a door. It is a door, is a door, it may not have wood, it may not have handles, it may not have a lock and key but it is a door, it is access, it is a point of entry, it is a door. I have met people that were doors, I have spoken places that were doors, that one place opened up a door. Preachers do not wait on the big engagements because doors are not always big, the room may be bigger than the door.
One time I spoke at a little place, did not have but 40 people, but one person heard me and brought me before thousands of people. The room is always bigger than the door, so do not save your best stuff for the big crowds, use your best stuff even when the door is small. Just because the door is small does not mean that the room is small, no matter how big the room is, Brother Oscar, you must come in at the door. Oh, you all are too young to know nothing about them old songs, but the old song says, "You must come in at the door".
So what drew me to the text was the door and I struggled to understand the door because when Cornelius opens this door and he sees Peter he prostrates himself on the floor, he prostrates himself on the floor and worships Peter. He is a man in and under authority, he is a man of power and influence; you have to be a big guy to go low. Only little guys stay puffed up because they do not feel safe enough to go low. You have to be strong to go low, you have to know who you are to be willing to get down low. Oh, you all do not hear what I am saying, what I am saying is so good I am about to shout myself.
I learned a long time ago that people who are arrogant are always small, that small people dress up in arrogant clothes to make themselves look big so that you will be distracted from knowing that inside I am small. You have to be big enough inside to get down low because you know if I got down I can get back up again. Oh, you all do not hear what I am saying. Oh, I feel like getting down this morning; Cornelius went down low.
You Are a Door
So what drove me to the text, Kelly, was I got stuck in the door. I got stuck in the door and suddenly I realized that God is stretching both of them, he is stretching both of them, he is stretching Cornelius with an opportunity that is beyond his wildest imagination. Cornelius's house is the icon, it is the app that opens up a new dimension of salvation to the Gentiles. An app is what you click on to access a program that is bigger than what you touch, Cornelius's house is the app Peter had to touch to open up the Gentile nation. Do you hear what I am saying to you? Oh, do you hear what I am saying?
And God is stretching Cornelius, he said, "Your alms have gone up before me, your prayers have gone up before me," I am getting ready to take you into a new dimension, a new expression of yourself. Can I teach this Word? Cornelius does not know that he is a door, he thinks he is at a door. See, some of you think that you are at a door and you do not recognize that you... So, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, I am about to get happy off my own preaching, because suddenly I realized I got a door at a door. Oh, I am going to drive this home, can I drive it home?
Lay your hands on yourself, say I am a door. Yeah, yeah, I am a door, that is what Jesus said, "I am a door". I want you to be like Jesus, lay your hands on yourself, say I am a door. It may be possible that the enemy may not be attacking you because you are you, it may be possible that the enemy is attacking you because you are a door. It may be possible that the enemy is trying to take you out because he is after what is behind you, you are a door. I do not know who I am talking to but you had to be here this morning because you are a door, that is why your childhood was so rough, that is why your life has been so tough, the enemy's been trying to stop you not just because you are at a door but because you are a door.
When you get loosed everything around you, touch three people and say I am a door, I am a door, I am a door. I am a point of entry, I am access, I am access to another dimension, I am a door. There is something behind me, there is something that I open up, there is something that I bring that nobody brings like I bring when I bring it, I am a door. That is why the devil hates me, because I am a door, that is why the Lord called me, because I am a door, that is why people are drawn to me, because I am a door, that is why people are attracted to me, because I am a door.
We had a door standing at a door, we got Peter, who preached the inaugural message on the day of Pentecost, who is also a door. Peter is a door because he unlocks the New Testament experience of the Holy Ghost, that is why Jesus called him a rock. "Peter, thou art the rock, and upon this rock I will build my church," the revelation you got is what I am going to build my church on. And so Peter, too, is a door coming to a door to meet a door, and they are all stuck at the door.
When Doors Meet Doors
And this is a place of expansion, when doors meet doors, I will say that to you all in the balcony, when doors meet doors, you have been meeting locks but you are about to meet a door, when doors meet doors things expand. When doors meet doors, things expand, God has a door coming to meet a door standing in a door because somebody's about to be expanded.
If you are about to expand give him a praise right now. This is a Word of revelation from the Lord saying to you that you have to be willing to give up on your past revelation to be stretched into a new direction. This is a Word from God preparing you that these will be unlikely doors, they will not be obvious doors, they will be doors that challenge the way you think and the way you perceive things, they will be doors that do not meet within the landscape of your normal philosophical ideas. This is a Word from the Lord warning you not to walk in what he has said, oh, this is tough now, this is tough now.
This is a Word from the Lord saying you cannot get there walking in what I have said, you have to get there walking in the Word that I am saying, because if Peter continued to walk in the Word that God had said he would have never come to Cornelius's house. Because it was God that said, "Do not eat with the Gentiles," in Leviticus, but now, in Acts, he has cleaned what was unclean, and what was wrong is now right; and you have to be broad enough to handle a God in transition and not just a God of tradition. Because doors are transition not tradition, doors are transition and you cannot have transition if you hold onto your tradition, and that is where God is stretching you, because if he does not break your old normal you will miss this new opportunity.
My God, I feel the Holy Ghost. Can I go deeper? Now the door has come to the door, everybody in the house and nobody knows what is going to happen. Here is my tipping point; no, I got two, can I give you two, can I give you two? First of all, before I give you the one I was about to give you, let me give you this one, let me tell you how good it is to be in the room. I may be confused but I am in the room, I may not have all the details, but I am in the room. Nothing happens if you are not in the room, if you do not get in the room I am not even talking to you.
Be Grateful You're in the Room
I do not know who I am preaching to but God said he put you in the room, he put you in the environment, he put you in the right place around the right people at the right time and something is about to happen, and it cannot happen if you are not in the room. If I am talking to you, thank God you are in the room. No, no, come on with me, come on with me. Come on with me, come on with me. You came a long way to be in the room, you paid a high price to be in the room, you came up some rugged hills to be in the room, now thank God you are in the room.
That is the only thing I know, Pastor Montell, that is the only thing I know, is that I am in the room. I do not know what is going to happen but I know I am in the room, I do not know who God is going to use but I know I am in the room, I do not know what God is going to do but I know I am in the room, my soul knows I am in the room. I came too far, I am in the room, ain't no devil in hell going to run me out. I am shouting because I am in the room, I am dancing because I am in the room, I am leaping because I am in the room, yeah. I could have been in hell, but I am in the room. Devil should have got me when he had the chance but it is too late now, I am in the room. Now we are clear of this confusion, I am...
What do you do when you do not know what to do? What do you do when you do not know what you are supposed to do? What do you do when you do not know what is going to happen? And you have been asking God, "What am I supposed to do? I am in a place of uncertainty, I do not know what I am supposed to do". And that is what Peter was saying, I do not know what I am supposed to do, and Cornelius said, mmm, I do not know what you are supposed to either, I just invited you here.
And this is the first time, watch this, in the New Testament that this happens: Peter just started doing what he does. When you are in a place of uncertainty, just do what you do, and if you do what you do, Lord, you all should not do me like this on a Sunday, you all should not do me like this on a Sunday. I can feel your spirit pulling at me, do not get in a place of uncertainty and stop doing what you do, because God brought you to that place to do what you do, and the expansion is going to occur, expansion is going to occur, expansion is going to occur when you do what you do.
Touch your neighbor and tell them I am getting ready to do what I do. Whatever it is you do, do what you do, whatever it is you do, just do what you do. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and do what you do, stop moaning and groaning and just do what you do, stop complaining to your friends, stop being angry with your brothers and sisters and just do what you do. Somebody holler, "Do what you do".