Purpose in my Prison - Bishop T.D. Jakes

[Music] I want you to go to Ephesians 3: 7-12 Ephesians 3: 7 through 12 in this moment we interrupt Paul in mid sentence as he writes to the Beloved church at Ephesus a word a confirming word a centralized word that sets him in the center of his purpose individually and theirs collectively and what he will call the Eternal purpose of God beginning at verse 7 whereof our was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me who am less than the

least of All Saints is this Grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the Fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God who created All Things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in Heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the watch this eternal purpose which he have purposed in Christ Jesus our lord come on somebody in whom we have boldness

and access with confidence by the faith of him good God all Mercy I want to talk a few moments about purpose in my prison purpose in my prison let's pray while we're standing Spirit of the living God thank breathe on us breathe on this word like a smoldering flickering flame breathe on it till it blazes with the fire of your presence I thank you I extal Thee I Adore Thee I exalt thee I honor Thee I humble myself before you to speak in this place today in Jesus name amen you may be seated about 33

34 years ago I guess I was living in St alans West Virginia and contemplating making a move to Dallas but in the meantime was traveling around the country preaching I was travel by myself everywhere all the time andtime by the time I got back to my room I was wet and I was tired one time I was so tired I slid down the wall onto the floor and fell asleep in my clothes wet but I traveled by myself when I got back home a gentleman named Holloway gray who was my senior deacon at the time

came to me and said I want to quit my job and go with you and travel with you everywhere you go and I said that's nice but I didn't I wasn't really sure I wanted nobody to travel with me everywhere I went that's number one number two you got a good job working for Columbia Gas Company and you've been there a long time and you're going to get a pension you going to be well I don't want to be responsible for a setback number three I'm living by faith I I don't know what's going to

happen from day to day and I don't want to invite you into the Vortex of this Faith experience because this is not for the Fain of heart sometimes it's Feast say it again and sometimes it's famine sometimes they don't tell you the truth and sometimes the check bounce hi Denise I didn't know you would sit out there talking about her husband yeah he was he was my best friend and he got hallay had a temper so I don't know what about my answer gave him an attitude but he had an attitude I I mean a

big old attitude he said I'm just as called of my ministry as you are to yours got smart with me walked out the door and slammed the door and went on about his business and I thought to myself could that be possible that somebody is actually called to help you see I was used to be surrounded by people who were called to help themselves and I it it sounded foreign to me that somebody could feel that convicted about helping you and as we traveled we went all over the world together we went all over the

world through time zones and airplanes in helicopters in boats and canoes with water no water with toilets no toilets we went everywhere together and as he would go from place to place people would tell him you going to be a preacher he said no I'm not he said I'm not don't be no preacher they they they recognized that there was an anointing on him and they wanted to ascribe an assignment to him but he was so sure of his purpose that he did not see being a preacher as an elevation if it meant forsaking his

purpose it is rare to find somebody who is sure that they are living on purpose that you are doing that thing that you were created to do that thing that releases endorphins when you do it that thing that gives you energy when you do it that thing that makes you Innovative and creative when you do it that thing that you think about and you enjoy doing and you don't even realize you're working because you're doing the thing you were created to do the thing that God has inventoried you with talents and gifts and resources that

accommodate what he designed you to do in the earth that thing is your purpose and whether it's a big thing or a small thing to settle into your purpose is to be comfortable in your own skin to be sure of yourself to be envious of no man to know that God has put you in a place where he wanted you to be and you are at your best when your feet are planted right in the center of your purpose when you are in your purpose the check is just a byproduct of the Blessed Assurance of

knowing that you are doing the thing that you are created to do and when we talk about purpose most people there is a certain Paul uses in the text the word mystery there's a certain mystery as to whether I am living on purpose or not am I in my purpose am I doing the thing I was created to do because most of the time we only acknowledge the purpose of God in what we call big things but sometimes the purpose of God is demonstrated in big things and other times the purpose of God is demonstrated

in small things the little Maid you would have never thought that she was living on purpose she was making up the bed but God had planted her in close proximity to non's wife because she knew Elijah and it might she didn't write any books of the Bible she didn't prophesy she didn't do anything she was just in her purpose in the right place at the right time on station ready to do something that only she could do and she saved the king because she made the bed for some people the purpose of God is to

raise a child that nobody could raise but you but you have the giftings and the grace and the wherewithal and the wisdom to raise that child to guide them through danger seen and unseen and you are you are not just a mother because you gave birth you're a mother because you're filled with all the tenacity that's necessary to raise that child to completion every woman can have a baby but every woman is not a mother or the little boy had he skipped church that day with his two fish and five loaves of bread who would

have known that he would have wrecked the whole service and shut down the meeting had he not been on place with a sandwich or David who goes down to bring lunch to his Brethren never realizing that he is living on purpose in leaving the sheep and carrying a lunch he enters into another Dominion of purpose because he was obedient in the small things God made him ruler over many things because he wasn't trying to be big he was trying to be in his purpose lift your hands and say set me in my purpose I'm best

in my purpose the world is better when I'm in my purpose I feel better when I'm in my purpose I function better when I'm in my purpose my moods are better my attitudes my emotions my disposition my character my personality is all affected by allowing me to do what I was created to do whatever it is whether it's big or small or whether I'm in Midstream or whether it's in one stage of development and it's going to ultimately go to another level but I have been warehoused to do this Paul calls it the grace of

God the grace of God simply means that God has warehoused inventor you to do that it's within your power to do it that doesn't mean it's going to be easy purpose can be painful purpose can be problematic the first time I rose up in front of a decent sized crowd to preach my hands were shaking so so bad I couldn't hold the mic and if I had judged Myself by the my feelings I would have quit because I was trembling all on the inside and trying to keep people from seeing it on the outside and

the more I thought they saw it the more nervous I got and the more nervous I got the more my hands Shook and it just did not look like it was going to go well getting into your purpose doesn't always mean getting into your comfort the purpose of God can escape the parameters of your comfort and put you in a position to cause things to come up and out of you that have never been challenged before being in your purpose challenges you to discover in your inventory things that life has never brought out of you

before in your purpose you are fruitful in your purpose you are Bountiful in your purpose you are fulfilled or F full because everything that you do in your purpose is a reflection of how God formed you he told Jeri before I formed thee in the belly I knew Thee I ordained thee and I Sanctified thee to be a prophet unto the nation being in your purpose doesn't mean that you won't have problems purpose and problems go together the more you're in your purpose the more problems you're out to have because hell hates you in your

purpose I'm going to say that again hell hates you in your purpose it does not want you to be in your purpose it wants to drive you away for your purpose so that you can do lots of work and get no reward because you were never in your purpose purpose God does not reward me for doing what he didn't call me to do God does not reward me for what he didn't create me to do God does not reward me for needing to please you so bad that I succumb to the need to please you

more than the need to please God and I get out of my purpose to satisfy you you that I have made you God and God said thou shall have no other God before me so if I'm a people pleaser more than I'm a God pleaser I'll never discover my purpose because I will live to make you smile he says Jeremiah I knew Thee I ordained Thee I Sanctified thee to be a prophet unto the nation before you got here I equipped you for Omega while you were still Alpha somewhere inside of you are the clues

the ingredients that are necessary to collaborate together to form the essence of your purpose sometimes those things inside of you are complaining and murmuring and pushing and nudging you and making you take risk and chances that you wouldn't take because they know the fact that God knew you ordained you and Sanctified you to be something that you are not being and sometimes you have to break barriers in order to be sometimes you got a job grinding at the meal or you got a job where you are uh harvesting in the field and you are plowing

ing the land but there's a prophetic unction in you like Elijah and you're waiting for the right moment to pass by and I believe this is a pass by moment where people are going to come into a realm of destiny that is going to be disruptive that's going to change your circumstance going to break ties with friends and even family to be in your purpose may require you relocating you moving you you you overcoming fear you learning to hold a mic it may require that you leave feeling not enough with two fish and five loaves

of bread but if you're in your purpose God will amplify your gift to the level of your purpose when you're in your [Applause] purpose put me in my purpose that's where I want to be I want to be in my purpose and if I'm in my purpose my problem loses its ability to be my focus the reason we are so sensitive today and so on edge today and so upset today and so offended today is that we have very few people living in their purpose you must realize that that that that Paul has had had

a hard road to hold he has had a lot of suffering he's had a lot of Agony he's had a lot of pain he's had a lot of problems he he has been beaten half to death he has been thrown into a prison lacerations have covered his body swelling has engulfed the lacerations blood is oozing out the pores of his skin not a soft mattress to lay on but a Stony bed to lay on and yet he does not write to us saying God get me out of prison he writes to us saying God get

me into purpose wow wow I admit if they had beat me and thrown me in the inner sanctum of a prison my first letter wouldn't have been to Ephesus my first letter would have been to my attorney my second letter would have been to my mama get me out of here pay the Bell do something whatever's got to take do you know anybody can you work anything out because a lot of times we think that our conditions ought to be the object of our prayer rather than our purpose well well well being the object of

our prayer he had gone through things that were unspeakable and as he writes this letter footnote he is writing from a prison but it does not stop him from writing about his purpose it it it is oxim Ox it's an oxymoron that he is in a prison talking about Freedom it is a dichotomous situation to recognize that he is talking about purpose while he is incarcerated he thought it was so important and so necessary that he writes to us about the purpose of your life being far greater than your own personal fulfillment see a lot

of us call God's purpose our purpose and we are praying for our purpose to be accomplished which is witchcraft anytime you try to manipulate the situation according to your will that's witchcraft but when you pray not my will but thine be done that's holy I I I want to be where you want me to be I want to have what you want me to have even if it's a big thing and it's a high thing if it's not my thing let it fall apart let it break away let it fall to pieces cuz I would

rather have a lower thing and be in your will then go after a big thing if it I all money ain't good money all success is not good success David said I don't fool with things that are too high for me in other words nothing is too high for me if it's in my inventory if it's in my power to do it it's it's so natural to me that I don't know I'm extraordinary yeah that's true that's true it takes somebody outside of you to tell you it's extraordinary because you have been so equipped to

do it that when you do it you don't know what the fuss is about because you are you are living your life on purpose it makes sense to you it is organic to you it is natural to you you are equipped for it you are prepared for it and even when you got problems with it the problems can't stop you from doing it because greater is the purpose than the prison I like it you can't put parameters is own purpose right a prison is parameters it it put guard rails it puts limitation but if you

let me get in my purpose there is no limitation on what I can do if I if I'm in my purpose the jail cell can't stop me from being effective I can be effective and hated all at the same time and be good with both of them I I can be okay with you hating me I can be okay with you talking about me I can't be okay if I'm not in my purpose touch somebody say I'm bad when I'm in my purpose the truth of the matter is most of us are not sure many

of us are not certain we we don't know why we're here and if we were to be honest often we ask God why am I placed on this planet you ask God because he placed you here stop asking people they don't know you must begin with God because he has determined the end from the beginning and according to Jeremiah he says that you might have an expected end so that God God has so fixed things that he has not only an end for you but he expects you to get there he doesn't shout when you

get there he doesn't dance when you get there he's not shocked when you get there he planned for you to get there and he has an expectation for you to get there and if you could just get your expect expectation to line up with his expectation so that you stop being shocked [Applause] too Rick Warren wrote a book The Purpose Driven Life what on Earth am I here for until I can answer that question I cannot feel successful I cannot feel accomplished I cannot be fulfill and Lord please don't let me die not knowing why

I'm put on this Earth God has a purpose and a plan for your life not just for the things that go right yeah yeah but also for the things that go wrong in fact the Bible is Bodacious enough to say all things work together for good for for them that love the Lord who are the call according to his purp that means if I'm in my purpose it might not look good it might not feel good it might not sound good but it's going to work together for my good it might be a season of

discomfort it might be a season of Tears it might be a season of pain but if I just just just have patience eventually I'm going to look back and say it was good that I've been Afflicted it was good that I've been through the divor it was good that I was forsaken it was good that you walked off and left me if if if I really look back at it I can now understand in hindsight what I didn't see in foresight because God has a plan for your life God doesn't exempt us from problems we

all have them stop being jealous of people who don't have your problem they got their problem but there is not a person in this room that doesn't operate within the parameters of some confinement yes sir some limitation some guard rail some prison because purpose is often manifest in prison it's manifest in prison the last thing Joseph went through before he became the Prince of Egypt was a prison because the prison was the incubation place for purpose manifested when the 70 Souls descendants of Abraham came into Egypt as long as they were in Egypt they were

in a prison enslaved en captured and the more they Afflicted them the more they beat them the more they ostracized them the more they humiliated them the more they grew yes sir because purpose grows in prison bless you sir bless you purpose grows in confinement Susan purpose grows in restriction yeah yeah purpose grows in pain I know you don't want to hear that I know it's not popular I know it's how to style because we run away from anything that is contrary to what we had in mind that's true we don't get incarcerated and start

writing letters to people who are on the outside encouraging them because we are narcissistic by Nature it has become a into the culture with them what's in it for me this is not a Whi him letter Paul does not write about what's in it for him he he doesn't he doesn't spend a lot of time talking about his problems he understands that problems are often used to introduce you to a deeper ability to discern your purpose often your passion aligns with your purpose but sometimes your passion resists your purpose father if it be thy will

pass this bitter cup for me I don't want sometimes my purpose is in being obedient to something that is inconvenient because through my obedience I discover a purpose that may not be witnessed by how I feel about it maybe God meant for me to be married to that person just to produce that Offspring oh y'all y'all not going to talk to me he makes the difficult decision the choice that all of us have to make he makes the difficult distinction between focusing on the humiliation the Injustice the Betrayal the deeply painful but temporal discomfort of

his inhumane treatment the many lacerations on his body the scars freshly inflicted liable to be infected not even his eventual death would deter him from his purpose am I talking to anybody in here often changing our adversity dismisses the opportunity to soar to higher consciousness of God you see God is a present help in times of trouble so if you never get in times of trouble you never get a manifestation of God I I I don't mind if you don't like this I don't like this but it's true anyhow I have learned more about God

through tears than I have ever learned about God through running dancing leaping and praising God in fact I would dare to say I have seldom learned anything about God in a praise I have never danced my way into a revelation but I have cried my way into a revelation I have been wounded I have been stoned I have been forsaken I have been left for dead and then all of a sudden got up and shook myself sh shook myself and found out greater is he that is in me than he that's in the world but

I learned it through tears Paul had to learn to use his pain as a catalyst to catapult him into a deeper richer revelation of the purpose of God it's it it's easier done it's easier said than done but it is necessary for you to understand when you are weak you are strong when you are poor you are rich when you are sick you are healed oh oh my God I'm talking to somebody I'm talking to somebody I didn't get my drive at the top of my life I got my drive at the bottom of my

life I got my drive when we were frying chicken down at the Women's Club trying to get up $200 to pay the rent to keep the church open another month I got my drive where we were painting on ladders wearing coveralls I got my drive when we were nailing wood and most of the time I was nailing my thumb building the first P I got my drive building a baptism pool that leaked all the water out and the whole church was flooded overnight I got my drive through adversity trials and tribulation you don't have to

fight Bishop T Jakes you have to fight Elder Jes yeah yeah Bishop Jake is easy to whip but that old Elder Jake is Relentless he's tenacious he's Reckless he's Rous that old Elder J will work all day at work get off work drive up the road teach Bible class to a handful of people and then after they leave paint the bathroom before you go home cuz you got to be back at work at 7:00 in the morning Elder Jake is Pretty Tough you can't tell what he might do he might bite your ankles he might

pull your ears he might pull on your nose that old Elder Jake that radical Jake don't have to have a choir a crowd a band a group an assembly oh Elder J to stop his foot yes sir and start playing the piano that that that that that that that that that that is there anybody in here that's had enough struggle to understand the words that are coming out of my [Applause] mouth look at your neighbor like you half crazy and say you don't even know who you fooling with do you know what I survived do

you know what I endured do you know what I did without do you know I know how to make cornbread with no milk oh y'all don't hear what I'm talking about do you know anything about hot water cornbread do you know anything about slow cooking grits that take 45 minutes to get done no you a quick grit person if it doesn't happen right now you don't think it's going to happen but some of us have had such setbacks such delays such obstacles such trials that it did something to us on the inside we may be

down but we're not out we may cry but we'll still hit your back we may be delayed but we're not denied because we had to fight to get where we are I wish I had a 100 people that would bear witness with me and and here's the crazy part now that I reach the point that I get interviewed people often ask me is there anything in your life that if you could you would go back and change it and even though there were many things in my life that hurt that I regret that caused me

discomfort that delayed my arrival I wouldn't change Hallelujah anything because it took everything to get me where I was and if I hadn't had to go through the hell I've been through I wouldn't be where I am the Bible said if the princes of this world would have known what they were doing they would have never crucified the Lord because the more you crucify us the more we become the more you afflict us the more we grow The More You Nail us down the more deadly we are in Resurrection we will walk through doors we

will show up in cities we will appear on the road to IM Massac we will show up and do a amazing works because you nailed us thank you for every nail thank you for every drop of blood thank you for every time I sweated thank you for every time I almost gave up do you know there were times I like to die there were times I wished to die there were times I prayed to die but let me tell purpose woke me up purpose woke me up this morning is there anybody in here that purpose

woke you up this morning purpose purpose purpose tou three people say I got purpose I got [Applause] purpose I got purpose I got purpose Paul makes the decision to focus on his purpose and not his prison it's a decision you got a choice either you can look at your prison or you can write about your purpose it's a decision most people spend too much energy focusing on the prison and not enough energy focusing on the purpose and if you focus on the purpose whatever the prison is is going to work for your good I feel

a shout coming on if you came in here worried this morning if you logged on the broadcast worried this morning if you're upset about something and tossed and turned all night long I got one thing to tell you it's going to work for your good if I'm talking to you you praise him if I'm talking to you prais him if I'm talking to you prais him if I'm talking to you prais him praise him if you got to cry while you're praising him praise him if you have to get on your knees and praise him

praise them if they ston you and left you for dead it's still going to work for your good if they bypass you and overlooked you if they never gave you a chance and ignored you praise God anyway CU it's going to work for your good you didn't need to be in the circle no way the circle was toxic God brought you out for a reason to God be the glory for the things he has done his right hand and His holy arm have gotten him the victory sing unto the Lord a new song for he

has done marvelous things somebody open your mouth and [Applause] holler when I was a little boy sit down when I was a little boy we didn't have commercials like we do today the commercials we have today tell everything you can get sex education watching commercials they talk about everything then you got to explain to your kids what that is it didn't used to be like that remember back when we used to have the Gerber baby it was a beautiful little fat jaw baby on the cover of baby food and it was the Gerber baby it

was their logo it was her Mantra it was their example the Gerber baby so when my wife got ready to have a baby I was looking for I thought the baby would come out smiling I thought the baby would come out with eyelashes and hair and grinning and smiling and a little buff the baby was bloody and covered with mucus and had to be cleaned up before it could be presented because birth write this down birth is a Bloody Business birth is a Bloody Business you can't birth the Gerber baby and you keep throwing away

babies cuz they don't look right whether the baby is a dream or a business or a company or a marriage it doesn't look like what you had in mind it wasn't advertised to you that way you got an idea of how marriage works cuz you watch Days of Our Lives and you got a feeling that the days of your life are to line up with for script but birthing is a Bloody Business type it on the line birth is a blood Bloody Business Ezekiel 163 and5 take a look at this and yes thus sayth the

Lord God unto Jerusalem thy birth and thy na Nativity is of the land of Canaan Thy Thy father was a Amorite and your mother was a hittite and as for thy Nativity in the day that thou was born thy Naval was not cut neither was thou washed in water to suff for thee thou was not salted at all nor Swallowed at all nobody cared for you you didn't look no good because birthing is a Bloody Business if you're going to be birthed it's what you come through it is birthing is a celebration of what you

came through to get where you are and this is why this book is birthed in a prison because birthing is a Bloody Business hit somebody say birthing is a Bloody Business If you start anything it's going to be bloody if you start a business it's going to be bloody if you start a church it's going to be bloody if you start a Ministry it's going to be bloody I always get tickled at people who run out to start churches cuz they think you start here but you don't start here you start way back there you're

coming in at the end of the movie you missed three4 of the movie and you think this is natural or normal birthing is a Bloody Business starting your own company is bloody it's painful it's stressful it's can I make payroll it's can I get caught up on the rent it's can I get the right customers your relatives want to hook up your friends want to hook up your neighbors want to hook up up everybody wants a hookup except the bank the bank don't want a hookup they want a cash payment and birthing is a Bloody

Business hit your neighbor and say birthing is a Bloody Business If you waiting on the Gerber baby to come out it ain't coming if you're going to live your life on purpose it's the prison is a part of the process he he is expressing to us the mystery of godliness that's what the text is that he would unveil to us Mysteries and the Mystery is birth in a prison God gives you Revelation in a prison in fact the Book of Revelations is written in a prison in a grotto in a cave rejected and ostracized surrounded

by murderers and rapists and killers and John ignores all his surroundings and says I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and saw things that were not lawful to be uttered how did you get in the spirit when your body is in the cave it doesn't matter where my body is it matters where my head is and my head is in Heavenly places I want to talk to somebody in this room whose body can be in one place and your head can be in another place and the enemy has trapped you in one way

but God has strengthened you in another way and they call the book The Book of Revelations apocalypse literally means in the Greek unveiling that God unveils himself that God strips himself in the furnace of Affliction that God shows himself when things are at their worst God shows himself in times of trouble he shows himself in the fiery furnace he shows himself when they Stone you he shows himself when they leave you for dead he shows himself when they when you're captive for 400 years he shows himself shake your neighbor like you're about to shake them

off and tell them God's about to show himself God is about to show himself I don't want nobody to praise him except people who are in a prison help help I feel the glory of God about to hit this place I need some power I I feel the glory of God about to hit this place open your mouth and give me 30 seconds of crazy pra praise him if you're an inmate praise him if you've been in confinement praise him if you've been stuck praise him if you've been down praise him if you've been sick

praise him if you've been alienated praise him cuz it's good for us to be afflicted these light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding weight of Glory for we look not at the things that are seen for the things that are seen are temporal and the things that are not seen are Eternal can I get a witness in here that means God's going to get some Glory out of this I don't know when I don't know where I don't know how I don't even know who he's going to

use but God is going to get some Glory out of this and I'm praising him in the middle of my prison cuz I got a purpose there's a reason I'm here there's a reason my mother didn't raise me there's a reason my father didn't raise me there's a reason I was rejected Ed that the reason my life fell apart it was good for me I want all the good for me people the good for me people to give God a praise I want you to praise him until hell gets confused until demons are frustrated until

they call a board meeting and say what is she doing praising to God I thought we left her in prison and there she is getting a re ation and unveiling of the mysteries of God the wisdom of God the manifold wisdom of God [Applause] shout can I go a little bit deeper you see Paul now says it is the grace of God to minister to the Gentiles when a few years ago he wouldn't even eat with them but look at how his character has changed that now he considers it's a privilege to lead people that

he wouldn't eat with just because you think about it one way today doesn't mean you're going to think about it the same way tomorrow he said I am less amongst all of them imagine that he spoke five different languages he was part of the Sanhedrin Court he was a Hebrew amongst Hebrews concerning the law he was zelus he was a fery and yet he says I am least of the Gentiles look at how God has humbled him in the prison God puts you in some situations to get your head on straight preaching is good counseling

is good therapy is good medication is good but trouble is better because trouble will get you to the bottom line trouble will make you humble yourself trouble will make you stop looking down your nose at anybody else trouble will make you careful trouble will make you Relentless if I had 10 Witnesses in here I would preach this place on fire cuz I feel a blessing about to break loose in its place somebody shout A Hallelujah Tex threee people and tell them there's purpose in my prison I'm not in here for no reason I'm not in

here by mistake there's purpose in my prison God's going to get some Glory out of my prison there's purpose in my pain for every night you cried for every night you set up wondering which way to go God's going to get some glory in your life there's purpose in your prison in fact the Lord brought you here this morning to get this message as a witness it's not that God didn't hear you it's not that you didn't pray the fact that he didn't move doesn't mean that he's deaf it's just that he works all things

together after the counsel of his own will and when he gets finished with it you going to come out looking good take a little strut around just just take a little strut like you going to come out like that you going to come out with your dignity you going to come back with your joy you going to come back with your power you going to come back with your shoes on you going to come back wearing your heels you going to come back talking in Tong you going to come back with more Victory you going

to come back with more power somebody shout yes I need five seconds of Praise In This [Music] Place he says in the text that I am least amongst all and then he calls himself not an apostle not a doctor not a PhD he doesn't call himself as having a Dem man he says I'm a servant and the word servant in Greek is Deus where we get the word Deacon it means to serve and let me tell you what it's going to serve everything you're going through is going to serve your purpose it's going to serve

your purpose it's going to Usher you into your destiny it's going to serve a purpose in your life and let me tell y'all something for every night you cried for every time you did without for every time they laughed at you and thought you'd never make it for every time our hell is going to break loose it's going to serve his purpose for every person who walked away is going to serve his purpose stop leaving the door and stop waiting on them to come back stop texting them asking them will you let me back in

it's going to serve his purpose all things work together for the good of them that love I I don't even know who I'm preaching to but I feel like I'm talking to somebody I'm talking about something that I don't even know in my head but I sense in my spirit God's about to do something can you feel it I said God's about to do something can you feel it is there any evidence in your life look like things been going crazy first one thing and then another as soon as you're straight out this you go

through that if it's not you it's your kids if it's not your kids it's your spouse if it's not your spouse it's your dog if it's not your dog your fish died all kind of hell is breaking loose you go to work and you got hell you come home and you got hell you go to church and they're trying to get your parking space all hell is breaking loose but all of it's going to work for your good cuz God's about to do something in your life my pain has a purpose my my pain has

a purpose in my life my wisdom is born out of my journey it's born out of my Affliction my strength comes from my struggle if I didn't have a struggle I wouldn't have any strength go to the gym and watch them working out in the gym the muscle doesn't even begin to tear down until it gets to be a struggle that's why they'll tell you to push it to the point of exhaustion because when the muscle exhaust itself it expands itself I want to talk to some exhausted people you're exhausted because you're expanding you're exhausted

because you're growing Your Capacity to endure more is becoming stronger greater is he greater is he greater is he that is in you than he that's in the world I'm about to feel like preaching and if I feel like preaching something is going to get set off in this place today this prison can't stop me from preaching the gospel because I got a purpose and I'm walking in my purpose uh and if I walk in my purpose I can walk through the fire and not get burned uh I feel a praise about to break Loos

uh in this place uh somebody help me Praise Him anybody help me praise him everybody help me praise him I feel a blessing about to hit the 's house PT's house will you receive the blessing of the Lord I got Grace for this I can handle this I can stand this if somebody else had to go through it they would lose their mind but I got the grace for this marriage I got the grace for this condition I got the grace to have this baby I got the grace to deal with this boss I got

the grace to do itth slap three people and say I got Grace for [Music] this if you don't have Grace for it get out of it if you don't have Grace for it walk away from it if you don't have Grace for it stop making everybody else miserable and quit if you don't have the grace for it get out the kitchen you got to have Grace to do this I got Grace to do this I got the power to do this I got the anointing to do [Applause] this come hell of high water I got

the grace to do this talk about me all you want to but I'm Grace for this I got enough Grace I got enough fire in my own belly I'll shout for myself I'll say amen for myself I'll dance for myself I got the grace for this slap the neighbor and holler Grace it brought me through the fire Grace it brought me through the bloody stuff Grace it brought me through the prison Grace uh it brought me through the divorce uh Grace uh it brought me through the chaos and Grace is going to bring me through

this uh I feel a praise about to get loose in Zion and if a praise get loose in here all you dead be people going to have to get out the way cuz us crazy folks about to take over the church uh I feel a blessing about to take over this place cuz somebody just hit some Grace somebody just hit some strength uh somebody just hit some [Applause] power so I was in a meeting the other day with the foundation and we were talking about our prison ministry and I got confused because I got two

I got the Tory which is the re-entry program and then I got the church and what they don't realize is all of us are in prison somewhere and we've learned how to survive the prison of loneliness the prison of singleness the prison of being married uh the prison of being confined the prison of not being believed in the prison of not being supported uh the prison of not not being encouraged the prison of not being raised in a perfect environment the prison of dropping out of school the prison of hard times the prison of being

dyslexic the prison of being born bearen the prison of not being able to have a child the prison of having a child that cuss you out the prison the prison the prison the prisons you don't talk about the prisons you don't mention the prisons you don't speak about God is going to use those prisons uh to show himself strong in your life I need a minute can I have a minute can I borrow a minute [Applause] [Applause] tell your neighbor say neighbor there are a bunch of devils looking at you right now they don't want

you to move they don't want you to Rejoice they don't want you to get a breakthrough but if you pray right now you going to drive the devil crazy you going to drive him out of his mind you going to drive him to have a nervous breakdown if you praise him right now if you praise him right now everything in you is going to come out everything in you is going to come out everything in you everything in you everything in you is got to come out everything in you everything in you everything everything [Music]

everything in you has got to come out everything in you has got to come out if you want to go to heaven and you want to go right everything in you got to come out everything in you got to come out everything in you got to come out if you want to go to heaven you want to go right everything in you got to come out come on everything what everything got to come out yes if you want to Heaven Got go right everything in you got to come out well everything you got to come

out well now everything you got to come out if you want to go to heaven want to go right everything in you it's got to come it's in you got to come out it's in you everything you got to come out well if you want to go to heaven to go right everything in you got is in there everything in you got to come out tenacity everything in you got wisdom consistency gratitude everything in you got to come out everything in you everything in you got to come out well if you want to go to

[Music] heaven I dare you call it for call it [Applause] for come on out come on out lay hands on your stomach and say everything in you has got to come out everything in you has got to come out if you want to go to heaven and you want to go right everything in you has got to come before you finished everything in you got to come out before it's over everything got to come out well if you want to go to heaven you want to go right everything in you got to come everything in

you got to come out everything everything you got to come out well if you want to go to heaven you want to go right [Music] [Applause] everything I'm going to stop there I'm not finished but I'm going to stop there what I'm trying to say is that there's purpose in my prison what got me into this mess message that Paul spends virtually no time talking about prisons all he talks about in the book of Ephesians is purpose purpose Ephesians he says he wants having made known unto us the mystery of his will that we might

seek him to abound in all prudence and godliness that he works all things out after the counsel of his own will that which he have purposed in himself before the foundations of the world are now made manifest in us the manifold wisdom of God which is the Eternal purpose of God bring me that chair bring me that chair bring me that chair God says I'll already set this chair that when it's all over she going to be sitting right here she may be way back there right now she might be crawling on her belly right

now he might be jobless right now he may be at his wits end but I tell you what I'm holding you a seat [Applause] when I get through bringing you and pulling you and tugging you if you stop looking for profit and start looking for purpose the prophet is going to follow the purpose we got it backwards we're trying to make profit where we don't have purpose you got to have purpose in order to have profit if you get the purpose right the Prophet is going to come on its own don't pay the prison no

attention don't pay the pain any attention and for God's sake don't pay any attention to potential the potential to be a great mother doesn't help any child the potential to be a great husband doesn't help the wife the potential to be a great wife doesn't help the husband because potential is inborn is never delivered potential just means it's in there but it's still got to come out and the reason I sung everything in this got to come out is that in order to end up here everything your pride your ego your self-esteem you're worrying about

what people think about you everything in you's got to come out your Strife your jealousy your self-righteousness everything in you got to come out that's why I put you in prison so it could come out it's going to come out I locked you up so it could come out I shut you down so it could come out I shut you down so you could think about it and before it's over everything in you is going to come out it's not going to be easy it's not going to be nice and it's not going to be

cute like the Gerber baby but when it's all all over is going to come forth as pure gold pure goal pure goal everything in you who am I preaching to I feel like I'm talking to somebody I wish I knew who it was if it's you online type it on the line he's talking to me everything in you the Porter walked up to Katherine kman and asked her what did some of y'all don't know what Katherine kman is uh how many of y'all know who Katherine kman is okay to the ones who don't Katherine kman

was a Pioneer one of the first pioneers of women in Ministry she headed the Full Gospel business men's association and spoke in places that women were forbidden to speak in she she laid hands on people and they came out of crutches and came out of braces and out of wheelchairs and they asked her what does it take to have your ministry cuz everybody want what somebody else got what does it take what does it take to have you and she looked at him and said you remember how she talked simply everything darling darling it takes

simply everything it takes everything godc not one tear you shared has been wasted the Bible said that he captures them in a vow if there was nobody there to wipe your face don't worry about it holy spirit got it they that sow in tears shall reap in Joy do you hear what I'm saying to you and I'm just trying to tell you nothing you've been through has been wasted there is purpose in your prison I came home with clothes I knew she couldn't wear right then I knew she couldn't wear them right then but I

wanted to remind her of who she was you're not braces and ice packs you're not pain and swelling you're not going to always be confined to a chair your leg is not going to always be lifted up in the air you're not going to always miss service you're going to drive your car again you're going to put on your heels again you're going to live your life again you're going to live your life sometimes you need somebody to remind you who you are cuz the prison will make you act like an inmate the amazing thing

to me L is that Paul never acts like a inmate he never stopped acting like an apostle he's in jail and he's bloody and he's bleeding and he's swollen and his cheeks are all torn and emaciated his flesh is all jacked up there is no medicine there is no anes anation of the pain that he carries there is no anastasiz of the pain that he carries there are no painkillers there are no Pharmaceuticals there are no Physicians there are no medicines there are no blankets there are no quilts there are no thermometers and he doesn't

even act like he's in pain and he doesn't act like he's a prisoner he never forsook being an apostle wow because he knew his strength was in his purpose his strength is in his purpose when you know who you are don't you let nobody talk you out of who you [Applause] are lift your hands up and say there's purpose in my prison purpose in my I will not quit quit being who I am being who I am to succumb to my prison to suum to my prison I will find my purpose my purpose I will

live on purpose I will live on purpose I will teach on purpose I will teach on Pur and I will die on purpose [Music]