TD Jakes - Jump
I've been to the Sea of Galilee, it's big, but it's not like that big. It's big but it's just not that big, and I've seen fishing boats and they're not that big. And Jesus says to him, you're close to it but you've been casting your net on the wrong side. What that says to me, Ontario, is that God says, I have already gathered your fish. Y'all don't believe that, let me go, let me go on home, get off my feet, relax myself. Y'all heard it, didn't you? You heard it. You heard it, didn't you? God has already gathered your fish, your blessing is waiting on you, God is holding it, waiting on you to seek him for direction. He's holding it up, he's got his hand on your blessing, he's restricted anybody else from catching your fish. He's holding it, he's got a line drawn in the sand, they cannot get away, he's been waiting on you to acknowledge him.
The Bible says, "Acknowledge him in all thy ways, and he shall," what? "Direct thy path". God says, I'm going to show you where the fish are. I prophesy to somebody in this room, when you walk out of this door God is going to show you where the fish are. The thing you've been toiling and trying to get to and couldn't get to by yourself, God's gonna show you where it is; the thing that you have toiled and worked and tried, and tried to borrow money and tried to get loans, and tried to build and tried to advance and tried to go forward. And every time you take two steps forward, you get knocked three steps back, but God said I'm going to show you where the fish are. It's about to be a breakthrough in your life.
Who am I preaching to this morning? High five somebody and tell them your fish are waiting on you. Your customers are waiting on you, your members are waiting on you, your partners are waiting on you, your profit is waiting on you, your advance is waiting on you, your increase is waiting on you. I don't know who I'm talking to but I'm talking to somebody. It is not too late, it is not over, God has got it held up on the right side. Oh, somebody's about to get on the right. That's why you had to be at this conference this week, because God had to show you the right. From one side of the boat, that holds about 12 people, to the other side of the boat is not that far, but greatness is determined by little things.
There's very little difference between the Ritz Carlton and the Red Roof Inn. They both got a bed, they both got a bathroom, they both got a shower, they both got soap, they both got towels, but greatness is determined by little things. Big people care about little things, little people don't care about little things, that's why they remain little. Excellence is defined by little things, like mints on your pillow and turndown service at six o'clock, 24-hour room service, and a little room that you turn into a spa. Excellence is determined by little things. You could triple the price of the room if you started taking care of little things, your church could explode if you paid attention to little things. Little things, it's just little things, just little things, just little things, just little things.
So they dropped their nets on the other side of the boat. Footnote, if all roads lead to you, you will never grow. If you control everything, you will never grow. A fisherman who fishes with a rod and a reel will never take in a great draught or fish because he has control of everything. The way to catch a great draught of fish is to throw your net; net is networking, relationships, connections, interweaving. You've been throwing yourself at it, you need to throw your system at it. I wish somebody heard that. You've been throwing yourself at it, you need to throw your system at it. If you throw your system at it, you can get twice as much as you been getting throwing yourself at it.
So Peter threw a system into the sea, and because the sea is a part of a system it respected a system. And a system gave way to a system because the Sea of Galilee is a system that flows into the Jordan that flows into the Dead Sea and is fed by a system, and systems respect systems. And if you're gonna break into a system you have to throw a system at a system, and stop thinking like a person and start thinking about your systems. And he threw his net into the sea, and he took in, in King James Language, a great drought of fish. And the Lord meant for him to take in a great draught of fish, because what God is after is not fish, he wants to, once and for all, settle how Peter sees himself.
And here is the challenge, my friend. You cannot make a decision for Jesus in failure and it be a true decision, because then when success comes it will seduce you away from your decision. So he allowed him to take in a great draught of fish and then, having gotten what he thought that he wanted, the question then became, do you really want what you got? Because he then he stepped into revelation, my next point, my next point is revelation.
Now watch this, watch this, watch this, this is important. Peter didn't get the revelation, John got it, John got the revelation because John is a worshiper, Peter is a fighter but John is a worshiper. And if you do what the woman told you to do last night you can see what you've never seen before, your worship life is going to give you revelation that you didn't have before. And the one who is a worshiper looked out and saw Jesus walking on the land and he said, that's not a stranger, that's Jesus. God gives revelation to people who worship, not to people who worry. Watch this. Worshippers, how many worshipers I got? Make some noise.
Now, here's the good part. Because you're a worshiper, you're going to get revelation, but getting revelation and getting satisfaction is two different things. You will always know when Jesus is in the room, but if you're not a person who takes action you will worship him in the room and then never take action. Point 5, reaction. John has the revelation of who Jesus is but Peter is a man of action, John saw him but Peter jumped. Everybody who's been in this conference all week, you should've seen something this week that electrified you, that illuminated you, that inspired you, that motivated you, that set you on fire, that's got you thinking, that's got you stirred up. You ran around the building, I watched you dance last night, you almost danced out of your clothes, but if all you do is dance you're gonna dance your way back to where you were before. Slap your neighbor and say jump. It doesn't matter that you see it, if you don't react to what you see you'll still be where you are. The Lord told me to tell you, you've thought about it, you shouted about it but if you don't jump.
I'm not going to step into it, I'm not gonna crawl into it, I'm not going to gradually do it, somebody just... The Lord said, when you get back home, you gotta be radical about this thing, either you're gonna stay on the boat with the fish or you're gonna jump into your destiny. Shove your neighbor and say jump. This is your moment, this is your second, this is your hour, if you don't jump right now. The preacher, the preacher that was teaching the other day, Pastor Rochelle, was saying he jumps into his preaching, he said step, he steps into it, and I'm saying you got to jump into it. You gotta jump into your destiny, you gotta jump into it, you gotta jump into that role.
When Cynthia Marshall came to the Mavericks there were articles all over town, first woman, first black woman, first black woman, first woman that's black, first woman that's black, black woman in the first. She didn't have time to go and read all them articles, she had to... I don't know who I'm talking to right now, you don't have time to pat yourself on the back, the Lord told me to tell you... Jump at that business, jump at that opportunity, jump at your calling, jump at your ministry, jump at that open door. God told me, if you don't jump right now, if you don't jump right now you're gonna miss your opportunity. The Holy Ghost said jump.
Slap your neighbor and say excuse me, let me by, I'm getting ready to jump, jump. In Chicago, jump, in Memphis, jump, jump in Canada, jump in Norway, jump in Nigeria, jump in Ghana, somebody jump. They're gonna think you're crazy but jump, they're gonna think you lost your mind but jump, they're going to think that you're stupid but jump. When you jump, you're going to jump away from what you thought you wanted. See, wait-wait-wait-wait-wait, you don't get it. He didn't jump from an empty boat, he jumped from a full boat. When he heard it was Jesus, he said fisher of fish or fisher of men, he jumped. This is the moment where Peter caught up with his calling, said yes to his destiny, stepped into his purpose, one jump. Touch your neighbor and say one jump. You're one jump away from a multi-million dollar deal, you're one jump away from that new building you've been trying to buy, you're one jump away from an overflowing service, you're one jump away.
Slap your neighbor and say just one jump. Just one jump and every yoke is gonna break, just one jump and every door's gonna open, just one jump. And so when I read it, it said that Peter was naked and he put on a coat, and I thought this is weird, don't nobody I know swim in a coat. Who you know swim in a coat? I said, "Lord, why did he put on the coat"? He said tell my people that what I'm requiring of you is a jump, but I got you covered. Tell your neighbor, I'm gonna jump but I got a coat on, I'm gonna jump but I'm gonna cover myself, I'm gonna jump but I'm gonna be prepared, I'm gonna jump but I'm gonna be ready. I'm about to, I'm about, I'm about, ah yeah, ah yeah. Where my jumpers at? I'm not just a praiser, I'm not just a worshiper, I'm not just a dancer, I am a jumper. I'm a jumper, I'm gonna jump into my destiny, I'm gonna jump into my future, I'm gonna jump.
Now, Peter jumped, with his coat on, into the sea and he's swimming in a coat, and he's swimming away from the catch and it looks like he's swimming away from success, but Peter has decided, I'd rather have the Savior than to have success. And that's what Jesus wanted, he wanted Peter to prove motive. Jesus does not want people who follow him for the fish, he wants people whose motives are pure. So Peter is swimming saying, I don't care if I don't have no fish, I don't care if I don't have no boat, I don't care if I don't catch anything. I'd rather have Jesus than have a net, I'd rather have Jesus than to have a boat, I'd rather have Jesus than to have some fish; I'd rather have Jesus, I'd rather have Jesus, I'd rather have Jesus, I'd rather have Jesus.
And while he was turning his head to get some air to do his next breast stroke he smelled fish, and when he smelled fish, I don't mean raw fish, he smelled cooked fish. For the Bible says that Peter, who left the fish behind him, didn't realize that he had cooked fish in front of him. And the Lord said he's already prepared a blessing in front of you that's bigger than what you gave up behind you. If I preach it, do you say yes? And Jesus, watch this, who asks them for fish, already had what he asked them for. Like the woman at the well, Jesus, who asks her for water, already had water. Whatever God asks you for, he's already got, he just wants to know, are you willing to give it? "Abraham, take now your son," up to the altar and make him a living sacrifice. I'm asking you for a sacrifice but I already got a ram tied up in the thicket.
Oh, I'm about to fool around, I feel like preaching now. Oh. I hear God saying he's already got it prepared, what you're after is something that's raw. God's got a prepared place, let me prove it to you and I'll close. He said I'll give you houses that you didn't build, I'll give you vineyards that you didn't grow, I'll give you positions that you didn't create, I'll open up doors for you and set you into a prepared blessing. Peter gets out of the water and Jesus is sitting there, I'm gonna ebonize it, and he's eating some catfish with some Red Hot on it with some Wonder Bread, and he's saying, I had it all the time. What I asked you for, I already had, I just was wanting to know could I trust you? Could I trust you that you would always choose me over what you were after?