Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Fear can make you give up something that God is
going to use to bless you. Fear can make you
try to put away, as Joseph did, the only redemption
that was available to him. He was about to give
it away because of fear. Be careful that you do
not allow fear to rob you of God's gifts.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Heaves all.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of
this very special day as we commemorate the birth of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a great
time and I want you to understand how significant it
is to Christians all over the world to acknowledge the
entrance of the divine into the human Jesus Christ, the
(00:54):
Lord of Glory. The message don't be afraid of the gift.
May it bless you today. Enjoy your family and friends,
enjoy your life, and from our house to your house,
Merry Christmas. You know when we hear beautiful songs that
have been shared with us, Oh come all, ye faithful,
old holy night, old little town of Bethlehem. When we
(01:17):
watch the beautiful renditions that are depicted through the ostices
of Hollywood and the modern technology of television, DVD and VPR,
all come together in collaboration to bring to life the miracles,
the magic, the wonder and the splendor of Christmas, sharing
with us the great story of our Lord's entrance into
(01:40):
the world, that the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
and the Mighty God would step down from eternity down
into time, wrap himself up in flesh that he acquired
from the dressing room of marriage, womb and tabernacle. Amongst men,
Is calls for even angels to celebrate the glory and
the press of God. And because of this great gift
(02:03):
that God hath given to us, the world stands in
awe and the Church in spendiferous praise unto God, celebrating
the gift that He hath given us through Jesus Christ.
And that gift expressly is eternal life. Without his coming
into the world, and without him taking on human form
(02:23):
and becoming kin to me, he could not redeem me
as kinsman, redeemer from the eels. And the plight of
humanity and the consequences of sinful endeavors are all eradicated
in the presence of Jesus Christ. For wherever Jesus is
tis heaven there and whenever Jesus shows up deliverances bound
(02:45):
to happen. We celebrate his entrance into the world, but
be careful, and all of the splendor and all the
glitter and the pageantry, and the beautiful light, and the
gift giving and all of the wonderful things that we
do to commemorate the birth of the Lord, the depictions
(03:06):
of the mangers, and all of the holy scenes that
we have, be careful to understand that the First Christmas
was not quite as beautiful as the ones we see today.
The first Christmas was not feel with all the splendor
and all the wonderment, and all the fine foods, and
all the pageantry and all the wrapping paper that is
(03:27):
engulfing your living room right now. The first Christmas was
not even feel with all the joy and all the
praise and all the wonder that we feel right now,
particularly in the life of some people who were directly
affected by Christ coming into the world, you would think
that there would be joy. But the reality if most
(03:48):
in generally with the gifts God gives us, we have
joy in retrospect as we look back and see that
His plan was better than ours. I want to warn you,
my brothers and sisters, that Initially, when God gives you
a gift, it does not always evoke joy and praise
and splendor. It often causes confusion, mayhem, and chaos, and
(04:12):
you wonder in your own mind whether this is a
gift from God or a plot from the enemy to
destroy your very life. You would think that Joseph would
be filled with glee and excitement about the birth of
Jesus Christ. That God had chosen the woman, that Joseph
had chosen, that.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
God had set her aside.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Even if Joseph had set her aside, that God himself
had selected her, should have eased all ill in his
mind as to whether she was a virtuous woman.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
But sometimes being chosen.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Of God and selected of God and receiving gifts from
God leaves a fellow in disarray. And so when we
see Joseph, we don't see him dancing and celebrating. We
don't see him opening up gifts with joy and exuberation. No,
we see Joseph worried and upset, because generally, when God
gives a gift, it often worries you before it blesses you.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Oh, frankly, at the time that Joseph leaps on the
pages of this Holy writ He is not trying to
find a way to get closer to the baby Jesus
or his mother, his mother who is pregnant with him.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
No, he's trying to figure out, how can I get
out of this just as quietly and as calmly as possible,
without drawing any attention to myself.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Just show me the door so.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
That I can exit and get away from this gift.
I want to warn you that many times, when God
gives you a gift, instead of running toward it, our
propensity is to run from it, because, after all, who
knows what's in a gift given until it's unwrapped. Perhaps
(06:14):
it is not so much the gift that I want
to warn you about, because ultimately, God's gifts always will.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Pay off in the end.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Perhaps it's not the gift that I should sound the
alarm about and tell you to watch out for. Perhaps
it is the wrapping paper, because God's greatest gifts are
often wrapped in problems, in anxiety and worry and chaos.
(06:44):
God's greatest gifts often come to us camouflage in a
fine array of disgusting, perilous circumstances that seem insurmountable. Great
gifts can come wrapped up in being fired from a job.
Great gifts can come wrapped up in a package where
(07:05):
somebody you thought you couldn't live without walked away and
left you. In fact, God can give you a gift
and you not feel gifted at all. In fact, being
gifted can be a problem with God, because many times
when God gives you a gift, people are not happy
(07:26):
for you. They don't celebrate the gift that God has
given you. They don't come to worship the gift. They
often come to kill the gift, to destroy the gifts.
I suggest to you, my brother, and the sisters, that
we must move beyond the meek and murcy borders of
just discussing the birth of Jesus Christ from his historical perspectives,
(07:50):
as wonderful as it may be, But to extract from
this historical illustration some contemporary word of wisdom that we
can use it against the child is that we face
today is what makes our faith vibrant and relevant and effective.
We didn't come to just commemorate a historical God for
something that happened two thousand years ago. We came to
(08:13):
recognize a relevant God who is still affecting change in
our contemporary society. The very first thing the Angel says
to worry Joseph is fear not. Touch somebody and say
(08:36):
fear not. Why don't they tell them to fear not?
Because Fear can paralyze your faith. Fear can limit your perspectives.
Fear can intimidate you from growth. Fear can make you
give up on something prematurely, not recognizing that God is
not through working his magic and his miracle in the
(08:58):
gifts he's given you. Fear can make you give up
something that God is going to use to bless you.
Fear can make you try to put away, as Joseph did,
the only redemption that was available to him. He was
about to give it away because of fear. Be careful
(09:19):
that you do not allow fear to rob you of
God's gifts. There are three different types of fear that
I believe in Golf Joseph's mind, and I want to
share them with you today, not only so that you
might have a deeper and more intrinsic understanding of Joseph
as the propensity of fear on his life, but that
you might be able to effectively use him in your
(09:40):
own life as you face God's gifts new jobs, new marriages,
new children, new opportunities, new obstacles, new enemies. Can all
be gifts from God.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Still to come.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
On the Potter statue, he said in Revelations have set
before you and open door. Can you receive that word
for yourself that God has set before you in the
coming year.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
He has set.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
It's firm, it's anchored, its concrete. It's unbreakable, it's unreversible,
it's unmovable. He has set before you, and open door.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
He has a place in mind.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Somebody else of thank God for shutting.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Doors a peace in store.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
God can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And provision for your need.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
He already had the manger in place while man was
shutting doors.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So don't be afraid of the gift God gives.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Don't be afraid when he bypasses the hotel and takes
you to the barn, because God has a way of
turning a barn into a penthouse. Sweet, don't be afraid
of the gift God gives.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
For helping us reach others with your best gift we
would like to give you. Don't be afraid of the
gift God gives. On CD as well as a bonus
message The rain Maker on DVD, and when your gift
is one hundred and fifty dollars or more, receive our
Blessed in Love Calendar, a Blessed in Loved journal for
recording your experiences to new heights, and our Blessed and
Loved Inspiration Cup when you visit our website or call
(11:23):
one eight hundred Bishop to today.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I know you're used to the traditional gifts that come
wrapped in beautiful packages, but not God. He doesn't wrap
his gifts that way. There were three things that I
believe that called Joseph to be in a conundrum of
fear and adversity. Number one was the fear of perception.
What will people think? Often when God gives you a gift,
(11:57):
he gives you a gift that callless you to become
proversial in the eyes of people. And if you were
not so gifted, my brothers and sisters, you would not
be so hated. If you will notice, our society, we
(12:17):
seldom waste hate on people who are not gifted. And
if you understand it correctly, it's a privilege to be
hated for His namesake, It's an honor to be so
chosen and so selected and so gifted that somebody has
set out a decree to kill it. I want to
(12:38):
tell you somebody's on the hit list of hell. But
it's only because you're gifted. Tell somebody and say you're gifted.
Even if you didn't receive anything from Christmas, even if
you're in a nursing home and nobody came back to
see you, even if you're a lovely mother and your
kids didn't recognize you for Christmas, you are still gifted
(13:01):
with life and health and strength and integrity and ideas
and concepts that create a potential.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Oh my god, you are gifted.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
If you do not allow fear to rob you fear perceptions.
What will they think? What will they say, what will
they do? How will they feel about me? The fear
of misperceptions often robs us of the gifts that God
came to give us. So on this Christmas morning, I
would encourage you to shake off the fear of perception.
(13:38):
Because if you can shake off the fear of perception
on Christmas, then in the new Year, you'll be ready
to receive the abundance. I've got something to tell you.
There's something coming for you. In the new year that
will justify, But you can't receive it if you're more
(14:07):
concerned about perceptions than you are receiving the power of
what God has.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
To give you.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Number two, I want to warn you against the fear
for provisions. Can I afford this gift? Do I have
what it takes to maintain this gift?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I never will forget.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
As a young man just starting to work and make
a nice living, I decided to take my mother out
to dinner. Took her to a very nice restaurant. I
grew up in an age in the era where we
didn't go out to dinner very much, and I took
her to a very plush and pulse restaurant to show
her the depth and the height and the breath of
my love toward her. And we sat down if the
(14:58):
waiter dropped a white leanen into our lap and begin
to discuss the options and entrees that were available to us.
And I noticed, as I peaked over top of the
menu that my mother did not seem particularly happy.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Her reaction was not what I had expected it to
be at all.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
She peered over top of the menu, not to say
what a great son I was, She said.
Speaker 7 (15:22):
Child have you seen these praises? I was frustrated.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I said, mother, I didn't bring you here to worry
about how much it costs. I brought you here to
enjoy the meal. Be careful that God doesn't take you
a place of blessings and you're so worried about how
much it costs that you don't enjoy.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
The meal.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I am not trying to imply that Joseph had no
resources at all. Obviously he had enough resources to have
a diary in order to espouse the virgin to be
his bride.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Obviously he had.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Enough resources that as they traveled, he and his pregnant
fiance moving from place to place, he wasn't looking for benevolence.
He was looking for hotels. You don't look for hotels
if you have no money. But when you are dealing
with provisions, you must understand that sometimes you need provisions
that money cannot buy. Joseph had the money, but the
(16:35):
ends were all filled. And isn't it a frustrating thing
that by time, by the time you realize the money
you need for the places you need to go, suddenly
you find out that money is not the only provision
that you need to sustain.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You where God.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
In other words, I'm trying to tell you that God
can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
Touch your neighbor and tell them God's going to give
you something that your money cannot buy. Don't be afraid,
Fear not, Fear not. God has the provisions covered. He
(17:14):
already has a place prepared for you. He already has
a provision shut up for you. And when people shut
the door on you, it's only a sign that God.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is about to open another.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Door in your Like, Oh my God, I don't know
who I'm preaching to this Christmas Day, but somebody ought
to thank God for shut doors. Look at some man,
(17:49):
say he's shutting the door to open a new one. Lord,
I thank you for shutting doors. Say they shutting out.
You can't come to this hotel, you can't stay at
this motel. We're feeled for the night. No vacancies over here.
But God has an open door. When man closes the door,
God opens another door.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
To God, be the glory for the doors.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
He opens and for the ways He's made. How many
people are believing God for open doors? Oh?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
I thank him?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Oh, how I'm think him for doors he opens? No
man can shut, and doors he shuts, no man can open.
God will open a door for you, and you don't
have to live in fear of somebody shutting the door
that God has opened. He said in Revelations, I have
(18:49):
set before you and open door. Can you receive that
word for yourself that God has set before you in
the coming year. He has set It's firm, it's anchored,
it's concrete. It's unbreakable, it's unreversible, it's unmovable. He has
(19:13):
set before you at open door.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Touch your neighbors say.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Don't be afraid of the gifts God gifts.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yes, it is true.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Wherever God's he will provide. I wish I had some.
He will provide folks in here today.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
He will.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Provide Number three, the fear for providence. The fear for providence,
providence simply God's guidance. The fear if I go, will
you go with me? If I say yes to this
(20:15):
new door and this new opportunity and this new direction.
If I seize the gift that I used to run from,
if I embrace the thing that historically I've been terrified of,
I could do it better if I knew for sure
that you were going to go with me, because I
know if you go with me, the storm can break out,
the lightning can flash, the thunder can roll, and the
(20:38):
boat still will not sink as long as I understand
that you.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Are with me.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Maybe I should understand that Christmas looks better in retrospect
than it did in reality. And maybe life looks better
when you look back I had it, then it does
while you're going through it. And maybe there's somebody in
here right now who's rejoicing about something that you used
(21:08):
to cry about. Maybe it's in retrospect that God calibrates
the issues and the vicissitudes of life. Maybe it's when
we look back at it that we say, you know what,
it was good for me that I was afflicted, because
if I didn't go through what I went through, if
(21:38):
I had not gone through it, if I hadn't faced it,
if I hadn't endured it, if I hadn't have been fired,
if I hadn't have been rejected, if I hadn't have
been turned down, if I had not been oustracized, I
wouldn't have found the door that God had in store.
In fact, thank you for hating me, Thank you for
(22:01):
leaving me. Thank you for rejecting me. Thank you for
disappointing me. Thank you for shutting the door and telling
me you can't stay here, you're not welcome here.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
If you had not done that, I would have never
gotten to spend the night in a barn, serenaded by angels,
illuminated by stars, and behold the wondrous splendor of God's provision.
Often takes you away from normal places, because where God
(22:46):
is going to bless you maybe outside of the box,
outside of the system, away from the norm, in a
place that you never thought a blessing could be. God
may bless you in an unlikely place. Don't be afraid
of the gifts God gives. Don't be afraid when he
(23:07):
bypasses a hotel and takes you to the barn, because
God has a way of turning a barn into a penthouse. Sweet,
don't be afraid of the gifts God gives. I know
it's Christmas morning and you're excited, and you're all dressed up,
and you're you're ready to hurry up and get home
(23:28):
and open up gifts and eat turkeys, but touch three
or four people and telling God is up to something. Yes,
God is up to something in every barn, in every manger,
with the mooing of every cow, the gathering of every lamb,
in the midst of every gathering of hey and gulps
(23:49):
and sheep. God is up to something. Any Time God
takes a holy thing and puts it in a mundane thing,
God is up to something. Any Time God you a
blessing and you see yourself going down instead of up,
God is up to something. Anytime God takes you outside
of the system.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Who am I preaching to God? God is heaves up
to something.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Stop being afraid of change, because whenever God is getting
ready to rearrange your life, You've got the omen. I'm
un say. Change whatever needs to be changed, Move whatever
needs to be moved, Shake whatever needs to be shaken.
I'm available to you.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I trust you. I open this dift by faith. God
is up to something.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Take a look inside. Fear not, Joseph, fear not. Calm down, Joseph.
(25:13):
You're so troubled that you're worried in your sleep. And
I had to speak to you in your dreams because
when you're awake you're so worried you're not listening to me.
And so I invaded the only space left available to
speak to you when you finally give up on your
thoughts long enough to hear my thoughts. I spoke to
(25:36):
you in the night because you're not listening at me
in the light. Fear not, Joseph. Hold somebody's hand and say,
fear not, The Lord is with you. Here are a
(26:00):
few takeaway points that I want you to get out
of this text, he says. Fear not, Joseph, that that
is within Mary has been conceived by the Holy ghost.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
What he is saying, stop.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Worrying about how things are going to turn out, because
whatever God starts, he will finish it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Hate the stuff you right there, but I'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
He has a place in mind.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Somebody ought to thank God for shutting.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Doors a peace in store.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
God can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And provision for your need.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
He already had the manger in place while man was
shutting doors.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So don't be afraid of the gift God gives.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Don't be afraid when he bypasses the hotel and takes
you to the barn, because God had the way of
turning a barn into a penthouse.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Sweet, don't be afraid of the give.
Speaker 6 (27:01):
God give for helping us reach others with your best
gift we would like to give you. Don't be afraid
of the gift God gifts on CD, as well as
a bonus message The Rainmaker on DVD, and when your
gift is one hundred and fifty dollars or more, receive
our Blessed and Love Calendar, a Blessed and Loved journal
for recording your experiences to new heights, and our Blessed
and Loved Inspiration Cup when you visit our website or
(27:22):
call one eight hundred Bishop Too.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Today, just in time for the holidays, Bishop td Jakes
and the Potter's House present this Christmas complete with your
favorite Christmas classics like Silent Night, The Christmas Story, Oh
Holy Night, with a special holiday prayer from Bishop Jakes
and more. Receive your CD today when you visit us
(27:45):
online or call one eight hundred Bishop Too. Also check
out this CD and other holiday specials when you log
on to Tdjakes dot org.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
As we come to a close today, I pray that
God's choicest blessings would be given to you and that
you would have the grace and the faith to receive
the gift, because it does take courage to receive what
God has for you. Our series Don't Be Afraid Of
the Gift is challenging you to be all that you
can be. May God bless you, May Heaven smile upon you.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It's my prayer.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
He is the Mas
Fear can make you give up something that God is
going to use to bless you. Fear can make you
try to put away, as Joseph did, the only redemption
that was available to him. He was about to give
it away because of fear. Be careful that you do
not allow fear to rob you of God's gifts.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Heaves all.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of
this very special day as we commemorate the birth of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a great
time and I want you to understand how significant it
is to Christians all over the world to acknowledge the
entrance of the divine into the human Jesus Christ, the
(00:54):
Lord of Glory. The message don't be afraid of the gift.
May it bless you today. Enjoy your family and friends,
enjoy your life, and from our house to your house,
Merry Christmas. You know when we hear beautiful songs that
have been shared with us, Oh come all, ye faithful,
old holy night, old little town of Bethlehem. When we
(01:17):
watch the beautiful renditions that are depicted through the ostices
of Hollywood and the modern technology of television, DVD and VPR,
all come together in collaboration to bring to life the miracles,
the magic, the wonder and the splendor of Christmas, sharing
with us the great story of our Lord's entrance into
(01:40):
the world, that the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords,
and the Mighty God would step down from eternity down
into time, wrap himself up in flesh that he acquired
from the dressing room of marriage, womb and tabernacle. Amongst men,
Is calls for even angels to celebrate the glory and
the press of God. And because of this great gift
(02:03):
that God hath given to us, the world stands in
awe and the Church in spendiferous praise unto God, celebrating
the gift that He hath given us through Jesus Christ.
And that gift expressly is eternal life. Without his coming
into the world, and without him taking on human form
(02:23):
and becoming kin to me, he could not redeem me
as kinsman, redeemer from the eels. And the plight of
humanity and the consequences of sinful endeavors are all eradicated
in the presence of Jesus Christ. For wherever Jesus is
tis heaven there and whenever Jesus shows up deliverances bound
(02:45):
to happen. We celebrate his entrance into the world, but
be careful, and all of the splendor and all the
glitter and the pageantry, and the beautiful light, and the
gift giving and all of the wonderful things that we
do to commemorate the birth of the Lord, the depictions
(03:06):
of the mangers, and all of the holy scenes that
we have, be careful to understand that the First Christmas
was not quite as beautiful as the ones we see today.
The first Christmas was not feel with all the splendor
and all the wonderment, and all the fine foods, and
all the pageantry and all the wrapping paper that is
(03:27):
engulfing your living room right now. The first Christmas was
not even feel with all the joy and all the
praise and all the wonder that we feel right now,
particularly in the life of some people who were directly
affected by Christ coming into the world, you would think
that there would be joy. But the reality if most
(03:48):
in generally with the gifts God gives us, we have
joy in retrospect as we look back and see that
His plan was better than ours. I want to warn you,
my brothers and sisters, that Initially, when God gives you
a gift, it does not always evoke joy and praise
and splendor. It often causes confusion, mayhem, and chaos, and
(04:12):
you wonder in your own mind whether this is a
gift from God or a plot from the enemy to
destroy your very life. You would think that Joseph would
be filled with glee and excitement about the birth of
Jesus Christ. That God had chosen the woman, that Joseph
had chosen, that.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
God had set her aside.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Even if Joseph had set her aside, that God himself
had selected her, should have eased all ill in his
mind as to whether she was a virtuous woman.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
But sometimes being chosen.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Of God and selected of God and receiving gifts from
God leaves a fellow in disarray. And so when we
see Joseph, we don't see him dancing and celebrating. We
don't see him opening up gifts with joy and exuberation. No,
we see Joseph worried and upset, because generally, when God
gives a gift, it often worries you before it blesses you.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
Oh, frankly, at the time that Joseph leaps on the
pages of this Holy writ He is not trying to
find a way to get closer to the baby Jesus
or his mother, his mother who is pregnant with him.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
No, he's trying to figure out, how can I get
out of this just as quietly and as calmly as possible,
without drawing any attention to myself.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Just show me the door so.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
That I can exit and get away from this gift.
I want to warn you that many times, when God
gives you a gift, instead of running toward it, our
propensity is to run from it, because, after all, who
knows what's in a gift given until it's unwrapped. Perhaps
(06:14):
it is not so much the gift that I want
to warn you about, because ultimately, God's gifts always will.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Pay off in the end.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Perhaps it's not the gift that I should sound the
alarm about and tell you to watch out for. Perhaps
it is the wrapping paper, because God's greatest gifts are
often wrapped in problems, in anxiety and worry and chaos.
(06:44):
God's greatest gifts often come to us camouflage in a
fine array of disgusting, perilous circumstances that seem insurmountable. Great
gifts can come wrapped up in being fired from a job.
Great gifts can come wrapped up in a package where
(07:05):
somebody you thought you couldn't live without walked away and
left you. In fact, God can give you a gift
and you not feel gifted at all. In fact, being
gifted can be a problem with God, because many times
when God gives you a gift, people are not happy
(07:26):
for you. They don't celebrate the gift that God has
given you. They don't come to worship the gift. They
often come to kill the gift, to destroy the gifts.
I suggest to you, my brother, and the sisters, that
we must move beyond the meek and murcy borders of
just discussing the birth of Jesus Christ from his historical perspectives,
(07:50):
as wonderful as it may be, But to extract from
this historical illustration some contemporary word of wisdom that we
can use it against the child is that we face
today is what makes our faith vibrant and relevant and effective.
We didn't come to just commemorate a historical God for
something that happened two thousand years ago. We came to
(08:13):
recognize a relevant God who is still affecting change in
our contemporary society. The very first thing the Angel says
to worry Joseph is fear not. Touch somebody and say
(08:36):
fear not. Why don't they tell them to fear not?
Because Fear can paralyze your faith. Fear can limit your perspectives.
Fear can intimidate you from growth. Fear can make you
give up on something prematurely, not recognizing that God is
not through working his magic and his miracle in the
(08:58):
gifts he's given you. Fear can make you give up
something that God is going to use to bless you.
Fear can make you try to put away, as Joseph did,
the only redemption that was available to him. He was
about to give it away because of fear. Be careful
(09:19):
that you do not allow fear to rob you of
God's gifts. There are three different types of fear that
I believe in Golf Joseph's mind, and I want to
share them with you today, not only so that you
might have a deeper and more intrinsic understanding of Joseph
as the propensity of fear on his life, but that
you might be able to effectively use him in your
(09:40):
own life as you face God's gifts new jobs, new marriages,
new children, new opportunities, new obstacles, new enemies. Can all
be gifts from God.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
Still to come.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
On the Potter statue, he said in Revelations have set
before you and open door. Can you receive that word
for yourself that God has set before you in the
coming year.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
He has set.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
It's firm, it's anchored, its concrete. It's unbreakable, it's unreversible,
it's unmovable. He has set before you, and open door.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
He has a place in mind.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Somebody else of thank God for shutting.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Doors a peace in store.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
God can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
And provision for your need.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
He already had the manger in place while man was
shutting doors.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So don't be afraid of the gift God gives.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Don't be afraid when he bypasses the hotel and takes
you to the barn, because God has a way of
turning a barn into a penthouse. Sweet, don't be afraid
of the gift God gives.
Speaker 6 (11:03):
For helping us reach others with your best gift we
would like to give you. Don't be afraid of the
gift God gives. On CD as well as a bonus
message The rain Maker on DVD, and when your gift
is one hundred and fifty dollars or more, receive our
Blessed in Love Calendar, a Blessed in Loved journal for
recording your experiences to new heights, and our Blessed and
Loved Inspiration Cup when you visit our website or call
(11:23):
one eight hundred Bishop to today.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
I know you're used to the traditional gifts that come
wrapped in beautiful packages, but not God. He doesn't wrap
his gifts that way. There were three things that I
believe that called Joseph to be in a conundrum of
fear and adversity. Number one was the fear of perception.
What will people think? Often when God gives you a gift,
(11:57):
he gives you a gift that callless you to become
proversial in the eyes of people. And if you were
not so gifted, my brothers and sisters, you would not
be so hated. If you will notice, our society, we
(12:17):
seldom waste hate on people who are not gifted. And
if you understand it correctly, it's a privilege to be
hated for His namesake, It's an honor to be so
chosen and so selected and so gifted that somebody has
set out a decree to kill it. I want to
(12:38):
tell you somebody's on the hit list of hell. But
it's only because you're gifted. Tell somebody and say you're gifted.
Even if you didn't receive anything from Christmas, even if
you're in a nursing home and nobody came back to
see you, even if you're a lovely mother and your
kids didn't recognize you for Christmas, you are still gifted
(13:01):
with life and health and strength and integrity and ideas
and concepts that create a potential.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Oh my god, you are gifted.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
If you do not allow fear to rob you fear perceptions.
What will they think? What will they say, what will
they do? How will they feel about me? The fear
of misperceptions often robs us of the gifts that God
came to give us. So on this Christmas morning, I
would encourage you to shake off the fear of perception.
(13:38):
Because if you can shake off the fear of perception
on Christmas, then in the new Year, you'll be ready
to receive the abundance. I've got something to tell you.
There's something coming for you. In the new year that
will justify, But you can't receive it if you're more
(14:07):
concerned about perceptions than you are receiving the power of
what God has.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
To give you.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Number two, I want to warn you against the fear
for provisions. Can I afford this gift? Do I have
what it takes to maintain this gift?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
I never will forget.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
As a young man just starting to work and make
a nice living, I decided to take my mother out
to dinner. Took her to a very nice restaurant. I
grew up in an age in the era where we
didn't go out to dinner very much, and I took
her to a very plush and pulse restaurant to show
her the depth and the height and the breath of
my love toward her. And we sat down if the
(14:58):
waiter dropped a white leanen into our lap and begin
to discuss the options and entrees that were available to us.
And I noticed, as I peaked over top of the
menu that my mother did not seem particularly happy.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Her reaction was not what I had expected it to
be at all.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
She peered over top of the menu, not to say
what a great son I was, She said.
Speaker 7 (15:22):
Child have you seen these praises? I was frustrated.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I said, mother, I didn't bring you here to worry
about how much it costs. I brought you here to
enjoy the meal. Be careful that God doesn't take you
a place of blessings and you're so worried about how
much it costs that you don't enjoy.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
The meal.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
I am not trying to imply that Joseph had no
resources at all. Obviously he had enough resources to have
a diary in order to espouse the virgin to be
his bride.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Obviously he had.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Enough resources that as they traveled, he and his pregnant
fiance moving from place to place, he wasn't looking for benevolence.
He was looking for hotels. You don't look for hotels
if you have no money. But when you are dealing
with provisions, you must understand that sometimes you need provisions
that money cannot buy. Joseph had the money, but the
(16:35):
ends were all filled. And isn't it a frustrating thing
that by time, by the time you realize the money
you need for the places you need to go, suddenly
you find out that money is not the only provision
that you need to sustain.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You where God.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
In other words, I'm trying to tell you that God
can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
Touch your neighbor and tell them God's going to give
you something that your money cannot buy. Don't be afraid,
Fear not, Fear not. God has the provisions covered. He
(17:14):
already has a place prepared for you. He already has
a provision shut up for you. And when people shut
the door on you, it's only a sign that God.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Is about to open another.
Speaker 1 (17:28):
Door in your Like, Oh my God, I don't know
who I'm preaching to this Christmas Day, but somebody ought
to thank God for shut doors. Look at some man,
(17:49):
say he's shutting the door to open a new one. Lord,
I thank you for shutting doors. Say they shutting out.
You can't come to this hotel, you can't stay at
this motel. We're feeled for the night. No vacancies over here.
But God has an open door. When man closes the door,
God opens another door.
Speaker 3 (18:09):
To God, be the glory for the doors.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
He opens and for the ways He's made. How many
people are believing God for open doors? Oh?
Speaker 3 (18:24):
I thank him?
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Oh, how I'm think him for doors he opens? No
man can shut, and doors he shuts, no man can open.
God will open a door for you, and you don't
have to live in fear of somebody shutting the door
that God has opened. He said in Revelations, I have
(18:49):
set before you and open door. Can you receive that
word for yourself that God has set before you in
the coming year. He has set It's firm, it's anchored,
it's concrete. It's unbreakable, it's unreversible, it's unmovable. He has
(19:13):
set before you at open door.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
Touch your neighbors say.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Don't be afraid of the gifts God gifts.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yes, it is true.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
Wherever God's he will provide. I wish I had some.
He will provide folks in here today.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
He will.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Provide Number three, the fear for providence. The fear for providence,
providence simply God's guidance. The fear if I go, will
you go with me? If I say yes to this
(20:15):
new door and this new opportunity and this new direction.
If I seize the gift that I used to run from,
if I embrace the thing that historically I've been terrified of,
I could do it better if I knew for sure
that you were going to go with me, because I
know if you go with me, the storm can break out,
the lightning can flash, the thunder can roll, and the
(20:38):
boat still will not sink as long as I understand
that you.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Are with me.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Maybe I should understand that Christmas looks better in retrospect
than it did in reality. And maybe life looks better
when you look back I had it, then it does
while you're going through it. And maybe there's somebody in
here right now who's rejoicing about something that you used
(21:08):
to cry about. Maybe it's in retrospect that God calibrates
the issues and the vicissitudes of life. Maybe it's when
we look back at it that we say, you know what,
it was good for me that I was afflicted, because
if I didn't go through what I went through, if
(21:38):
I had not gone through it, if I hadn't faced it,
if I hadn't endured it, if I hadn't have been fired,
if I hadn't have been rejected, if I hadn't have
been turned down, if I had not been oustracized, I
wouldn't have found the door that God had in store.
In fact, thank you for hating me, Thank you for
(22:01):
leaving me. Thank you for rejecting me. Thank you for
disappointing me. Thank you for shutting the door and telling
me you can't stay here, you're not welcome here.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
If you had not done that, I would have never
gotten to spend the night in a barn, serenaded by angels,
illuminated by stars, and behold the wondrous splendor of God's provision.
Often takes you away from normal places, because where God
(22:46):
is going to bless you maybe outside of the box,
outside of the system, away from the norm, in a
place that you never thought a blessing could be. God
may bless you in an unlikely place. Don't be afraid
of the gifts God gives. Don't be afraid when he
(23:07):
bypasses a hotel and takes you to the barn, because
God has a way of turning a barn into a penthouse. Sweet,
don't be afraid of the gifts God gives. I know
it's Christmas morning and you're excited, and you're all dressed up,
and you're you're ready to hurry up and get home
(23:28):
and open up gifts and eat turkeys, but touch three
or four people and telling God is up to something. Yes,
God is up to something in every barn, in every manger,
with the mooing of every cow, the gathering of every lamb,
in the midst of every gathering of hey and gulps
(23:49):
and sheep. God is up to something. Any Time God
takes a holy thing and puts it in a mundane thing,
God is up to something. Any Time God you a
blessing and you see yourself going down instead of up,
God is up to something. Anytime God takes you outside
of the system.
Speaker 3 (24:10):
Who am I preaching to God? God is heaves up
to something.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Stop being afraid of change, because whenever God is getting
ready to rearrange your life, You've got the omen. I'm
un say. Change whatever needs to be changed, Move whatever
needs to be moved, Shake whatever needs to be shaken.
I'm available to you.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
I trust you. I open this dift by faith. God
is up to something.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Take a look inside. Fear not, Joseph, fear not. Calm down, Joseph.
(25:13):
You're so troubled that you're worried in your sleep. And
I had to speak to you in your dreams because
when you're awake you're so worried you're not listening to me.
And so I invaded the only space left available to
speak to you when you finally give up on your
thoughts long enough to hear my thoughts. I spoke to
(25:36):
you in the night because you're not listening at me
in the light. Fear not, Joseph. Hold somebody's hand and say,
fear not, The Lord is with you. Here are a
(26:00):
few takeaway points that I want you to get out
of this text, he says. Fear not, Joseph, that that
is within Mary has been conceived by the Holy ghost.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
What he is saying, stop.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Worrying about how things are going to turn out, because
whatever God starts, he will finish it.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Hate the stuff you right there, but I'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
He has a place in mind.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Somebody ought to thank God for shutting.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Doors a peace in store.
Speaker 1 (26:34):
God can give you some things that your money cannot buy.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
And provision for your need.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
He already had the manger in place while man was
shutting doors.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
So don't be afraid of the gift God gives.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Don't be afraid when he bypasses the hotel and takes
you to the barn, because God had the way of
turning a barn into a penthouse.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
Sweet, don't be afraid of the give.
Speaker 6 (27:01):
God give for helping us reach others with your best
gift we would like to give you. Don't be afraid
of the gift God gifts on CD, as well as
a bonus message The Rainmaker on DVD, and when your
gift is one hundred and fifty dollars or more, receive
our Blessed and Love Calendar, a Blessed and Loved journal
for recording your experiences to new heights, and our Blessed
and Loved Inspiration Cup when you visit our website or
(27:22):
call one eight hundred Bishop Too.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
Today, just in time for the holidays, Bishop td Jakes
and the Potter's House present this Christmas complete with your
favorite Christmas classics like Silent Night, The Christmas Story, Oh
Holy Night, with a special holiday prayer from Bishop Jakes
and more. Receive your CD today when you visit us
(27:45):
online or call one eight hundred Bishop Too. Also check
out this CD and other holiday specials when you log
on to Tdjakes dot org.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
As we come to a close today, I pray that
God's choicest blessings would be given to you and that
you would have the grace and the faith to receive
the gift, because it does take courage to receive what
God has for you. Our series Don't Be Afraid Of
the Gift is challenging you to be all that you
can be. May God bless you, May Heaven smile upon you.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
It's my prayer.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
He is the Mas
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