A Living Sacrifice - Bishop T.D. Jakes

hey everybody we're back and we're ready to go into the word of god and i'm really going to focus on one verse today i'm going to be in the book of romans i'm going to romans 12 verse 1 a very familiar passage of scripture one that probably if you've been in church a long time you could quote without me but i'm gonna go into it and i'm gonna try to dig some treasure out of it and some understanding out of it so that we can put the text in context it's romans 12 and one and

i invite you to go there with me now in the book of romans chapter 12 verse 1 the apostle paul writes to the roman church and he says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto god which is your reasonable service okay let's do two verses and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is a good and acceptable and perfect will of god amen amen amen so says the word

of god we're going to open up this text and we're going to deal with some aspects of this text about being a living sacrifice a living sacrifice uh that's my subject and i'm believing god with you for for revelation in the word today let's pray father thank you for the word that we're about to open up uh let it be strength to us and help to us in jesus name we pray amen okay first we need to understand that the gospel is migrating as it were it is migrating more than it is integrating it is

migrating from the perspective of it has first come to the jews the jews by and large have rejected it they've rejected jesus but even after jesus has risen from the dead in the early efforts for peter to evangelize the jewish community many of them have walked away and they had largely rejected the christian message and and by default the more they rejected it the more the gentiles received it because god has a way that if you don't want what he has for you he will find somebody maybe even less qualified than you and raise them

up and bring them to a place the gentiles had no background with jehovah they had no rich historic history of abraham they had no pedigree that had been passed down from generation to generation whereby they would serve the lord or anything like that they didn't have any of that but god brought them in and he started saving them and he started filling them with the holy spirit and peter was at first uncomfortable with that and you will remember how god had to show him in a dream before he went to cornelia's house how dare you

call what i've cleansed uncommon or unclean sometimes we like to think that we can control who god loves and who god saves but we really can't do that god will save whoever he wants to save use whoever he wants to use and he doesn't have to meet with you and they don't have to look the way you think they have to look and they don't have to dress the way you think that they are to dress and a lot of times you have some preconceived religious ideas that are a result of your training and your

background and your perspective and your experience that limit god to only functioning within the continuity of how you experienced it but god is not a prisoner to how you experienced him god will move however he wants to move and touch whoever he wants to touch and you can't always judge who god wants to use so god started opening up the doors to the gentiles now you have to understand opening up the door to the gentiles it's like running a revival in a strip club the gentiles were wow they were wild the jews had good reason

to turn up their nose about some of the things that they did you know the early uh the early orgies and a lot of the other things that were going on during that time uh were not the kind of things that that most jews would take to they didn't even eat with the gentiles they didn't even eat what the gentiles ate their customs were different their backgrounds were different their values their morality was totally different the gentiles were extremely extremely liberal okay just to put it mildly okay they were having oranges they were doing all

kinds of things drunken parties that went on for days and days and days and days they were having a good old high ho hotel and god got right in the middle of that and started saving them and filling them with the holy ghost and as he started filling them with the holy spirit they were like at the church in corinth they were praising god they were praying in tongues they were operating in the gifts of the spirit they had had a transformative experience with christ that had not yet affected their lifestyles fully so first corinthians

ii corinthians paul was trying to get them to mature to let them understand there's more to god than gifts there's some sacrifice required there there ought to be a difference between how you were before you got saved and how you are now that you're not safe i mean now that you are safe there ought to be a difference between those two things there ought to be some sort of change in your life and and uh and he began to talk about that that's kind of stuff that makes people uncomfortable everybody wants to love jesus everybody

wants to give honor to god everybody says oh god i love you and thank god and i praise god for every day but when god starts getting into your life and your lifestyle and your behavior a lot of people get uncomfortable with that because they they don't think that relationship has responsibility but every relationship has responsibility if you have a child you have responsibility you don't get to have the good part of having a baby and not change the diaper and not be home to make sure that they're fed and taken care of and sleep

at a certain time every relationship has a responsibility you can't have a husband and not take on new responsibility you can't have a wife and not take on new responsibilities where's she gonna stay how are you going to take care of her how are you going to be an ass hitter and not a liability you can't have the fun of the relationship and not the responsibility of the relationship that it's a package deal it doesn't it doesn't come apart the chinese twins are connected of relationship and responsibility the more relationships you have the more responsibilities

you have that's why i don't always uh run to take on new friends because new friends are new responsibilities and i'm a limited resource i can only do so much and because i know how much it costs to be a good friend you can't take on more weight than what you can carry even though it's a good person and even though there's chemistry and even though they're very nice and even though it'd be advantageous to you in some ways if you're not willing to sign up to the responsibility don't start the relationship that's what romans

12 1 is really all about theoretically these are people who have a relationship with god but not the responsibility and here the apostle paul who speaks in uh most theologians say five different language perhaps more than that uh was taught at the feet of the male was known for his intellectual capacity was known for his scholarly approach to the word of god and his understanding uh was of the tribe of benjamin was concerning the law azaleas as a pharisee he was steeped in tradition and purity and and and and holiness and and all of the

sanctimonious uh things that went away went along with how they served god in his time and now the apostle paul who is the antithesis of the romans is now sent to the romans isn't that crazy how god will take somebody who is totally opposite and sends it now into this wild environment to minister and causes him in all humility to acquiesce down to people who are ground level zero trying to train them in the ways of god and and and really and so doing he's not only trying to bring he's not only trying to bring

the gentiles up he is also trying to bring paul down humbling him bringing him to a place of humility causing him to understand um that that that that that that god works in a lot of different ways anyway so he starts his text and he says i beseech you therefore brother what would take a man who speaks five different languages and concerning the law is of the tribe of benjamin from which all the kings of israel proceeded a man who is known in the gates for his wisdom and his intellect has now dropped down to

his knees you say well how did he drop down to his knees bishop it doesn't say that he went down to me but the word beseech means to beg so now paul has become a beggar he says i beg you i beseech you i i i i get on my knees to you by the mercies of god now think about that let's let's say first of all we've got paul begging we've got paul begging we've got a guy who raises the dead begging the roman church by the very mercies of god plural not one mercies

of god mercies of god the mercies of god the bible said that god's mercy is new every morning uh it's by his mercy that we're not consumed the bible said his mercy endeareth forever when you start talking about the mercy of god everybody listening at me ought to start shouting i'm here by the mercies of god i'm teaching by the mercies of god i'm pastoring by the mercies of god i am alive by the mercies of god hey god dealt with me according to my sins i wouldn't even be here and god dealt with me

according to my competence i would have never been able to do this but i am here by the mercies of god aren't you aren't you a witness that god has been merciful to you so when paul makes an appeal based on the mercies of god that is the umbilical cord that attaches us to god we are connected by his mercy we're connected by his grace we're connected to him because he's merciful we're not connected to him because we're worthy we're not connected to him because we have such talent that he couldn't do without my talent

he couldn't find anybody else that could preach like me no no no you couldn't find anybody that couldn't sing like you no no no no no no no no no god can raise up a rock replace everybody in here we are connected to god by the mercies of god so he says i beg you by the very umbilical cord that attaches you to god i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god let's backtrack about it because we got to go back and get some these half-living half-committed half-focused half-stable half-taught people he still calls

him brethren he does not withhold the benefit of the relationship in this the position that they have in god just because of the condition that they're in he said i beseechy therefore brethren he does not deny them uh excommunicate them from the family or give a deniability to the authenticity of the fact that they have been born again he calls them brethren that means that you can be a brother and still be wrong you can be a brother and still need to be corrected you can be a brother and still be malnourished you can be

a brother and still be underdeveloped you can be a brother and still have worldliness and and wretchedness and still be a brother you don't get to tell me who is and is not saved based on what you see because if we had judged the romans based on what we see we would have thought oh no they didn't have a real experience with god if you have a real experience with god it ought to look like this it ought to be like that it ought to be like the other but the truth of the matter is

he says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god he gave them the fact that they were brethren he acknowledged that and he also goes on to say that their brethren by the mercies of god yeah they are brethren by the mercies of god we are brethren by the mercies of god you are brethren by the mercies of god even if your sister the bible doesn't just make the distinction between women and men as we would today in our vernacular because positionally when he calls you brethren or behold beloved now are ye the

sons of god it doesn't deny the fact that god has daughters but it says that you are sons and thereby heirs on a level that is exemplified in the scriptures it's talking about a position more than a gender okay so he says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god now what do what are you on your knees for paul what are you begging me by the mercies of god about he said that ye present your body now i want to deal with you present because ye present is a powerful thing at first

he calls them brethren that's one level of relationship but when he says that ye present he's now calling them priests so the text has migrated from me just being a brother to being a priest how can you say that because nobody can present anything to god save they be priests the bible says that we are a royal priesthood a holy nation so we are priests unto god we are priests and kings unto god and so that means that we minister before the throne that we that we can offer before god you just got through giving

and offering because you are a priest unto god you sowed into the kingdom because your priest under god some people are just watching the broadcast they're just watching the brown kids they're looking for inspiration that's one thing but when you know that you are a priest under god you have to present priest present that's what priests do that's what they do all day long there was no chair in the tabernacle there's all kind of furniture in there the brazen altar the brazen labor the altar of incense the table of shoe bread all of that is

in there uh the the the the veil and then the holiness of holies in there all of that the the candlesticks are not there's seven pieces of furniture in the tabernacle not one chair why is there not a chair in the tabernacle because god didn't mean for you to sit around in his presence taking it easy eating a ham sandwich having some catfish no god wanted you to be busy presenting always doing something going in and coming out and going in and coming out that because a priest present so if you are truly a priest

unto god you have to present something before him whether it is presenting a praise presenting an offering presenting yourself you're presenting something before god interceding for other people you're presenting something before god some of you are operating as brethren but you're not operating as priests i beseech you therefore brethren that's one level by the mercies of god let's graduate that ye present that ye present you can't just hang around the house and sleep on the couch and say i'm in the family of god no you have to get up off the couch and start working

i tell you there are no chairs in the tabernacle that ye present okay you don't come before god empty you don't come before god with complaints you don't come before god murmuring and complaining you come before god not just because you're a brethren but because you're a preacher priest that ye present now the priest presents normally turtle doves were were were the presentation of poor people the peasants could afford turtle doves so they would present turtledoves before god because they were easily acquired but they were still sacrificial on their level they might not always present

lambs because if you were a peasant you might not own lambs okay so you presented turtledoves but everybody presented something it wasn't equal giving but it was equal sacrifice okay so most people that were able presented a lamb as an offering because it's a shadow and a type of christ can i go deeper now you have to understand then that the priest and the presentation are normally two different things the priest is a man he presents a lamb okay so so let's go back to the book of exodus for every house that god rescued through

the passover there was a lamb for every house and god told every man to take a lamb and to take the blood of the lamb and apply it to the doraplos and to the lentil and the death angel was going to pass over and he said when i see the blood i will pass over you so every man had a lamb and so the man presented the lamb as a sacrifice let's go deeper not only is the lamb a sacrifice the lamb is also a substitute because the death angel is killing humans okay but the

lamb becomes a substitute instead of because it is a type of christ who stood in my place for me that when justice demanded that i die christ stood in my place for me instead of took my punishment took my execution died that i might have the right to the tree of life that's what this is all about okay so normally i want you to understand the priest comes in with something in his arms that represents himself or his family and he offers it up there is the offer and there is the offering okay there is

the offer there is an offering they were distinctive they were completely different though they represented one another they were not the same thing the offerer and the offering we just got to giving a few moments ago you you gave an offering you are the offerer you didn't climb into the computer you didn't climb into the phone you didn't put yourself in an envelope you didn't give yourself away over the phone you gave an offer ring because you are an offerer you are an offerer because you're the priest don't worry i'm headed somewhere and and whatever

you gave whatever the holy spirit touched on your heart to give you gave it to exemplify that i'm not just a brethren i'm also a priest and as a priest i offer up to god during the worship service you were worshiping god and you're offering up praise you're offering a praise to god you offered the praise to god you are the offerer this is the offering later in hebrews it says by him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise from the fruit of our lips continually with thanksgiving unto god so that's what we do

when we praise we're offering up praise unto god offering it to him does not mean he accepts it we want to offer him something that is acceptable to him okay we want to offer him something that expresses the value that we see in him we want to offer him something on his level my friends say i'm a hard to shop for uh and and and and and that is to say that they have a hard time going out picking out something that they think i would like that is a respect for who you are offering

it to so you don't offer to somebody just anything i know it's a thought that counts but you don't offer just anything when you value somebody it could be your wife it could be your husband i'm not going to give serena just anything i'm not going to let her stay just anywhere i'm very very picky when i take her out she's my wife so when i present to her something i want it to be reflective of how i value her okay i value her i value her too much to let her stay in a dangerous

place i value her too much to let her be in a in a condition that is is subordinate to what i think about her i tried to the best of my ability to honor her on her level and i offer it to her okay so the same way he says i beseech you therefore brother by the mercies of god that you function as a priest now i am a brother now i have just learned in the text i am a priest that the brother is called to a higher calling to go from just being in

the family laying around on the couch the chair's been removed and now i ought to be busy with my offerings offering my praise offering my time offering my finances offering my wisdom offering my gifting i'm offering it up to god because i am a priest and that is my function and there is no day off and there is no weekend off and there is no chair in the tabernacle i want you to remember that there is no chair in the tabernacle so there's no place for sitting down you ought to continually be offering up praise

to god in some way form or fashion because you are a priest let's go deeper there's more in here there's more in here there's a lot more here that ye present your body is a graduation of thought because before you presented turtle doves you you presented goats you presented lambs you presented scapegoats you presented uh barley loaves you presented we you presented something other than yourself but this graduation now says that you present yourself oh my that means that i am both the offerer and the offering so so i'm not just presenting other things now

he says i want you to present yourself we don't see this language anywhere in the scriptures other than when we start talking about jesus who is our high priest who presented himself that's what the cross is all about the crowd no man takes my life i lay it down so i i i'm laying it down they didn't take it from me they didn't murder me they didn't destroy me no no no no no i became the offerer and the offering that he presented himself the bible says once and for all and perfected forever them that

are sanctified in the book of hebrews he's perfected forever them that are sanctified that he went in once and for all by himself with himself he offered up himself unto god so this sets up a new presidency this is not what aaron did this is not what the uh uh nader of abahu itamar eliezer did none of them did that they went in with an offering but christ went in with himself good god and mercy now we understand why when he rose from the dead he told mary uh when she saw him in the garden

he says touch me not for i have not yet ascended unto my father he said don't touch me no no no she saw him in the garden and and and and and and recognized him i believe by his voice he she she said mary he said he said he said mary she said rabona and he says no no don't touch me if i've not yet ascended to my father don't contaminate the purity of this offering i'm i'm going up now so don't touch me you can love me but don't touch me because i'm going to

offer myself up before god oh my god that's good the side note i want you to get out of that is that people always want to touch you when you're on your way up people always want to touch you when you're on your way up and you have to be careful who you let touch you when you're on your way up when god is taking you up to the next dimension when you've gone from being a brethren to being a priest you have to be careful who you let touch because they'll contaminate what god is

doing in your life so even though he loved her and even though she loved him and even though they knew each other there was still a certain distance that he had to maintain even within that distance was to avoid contamination because he is going offering up himself a living sacrifice so what paul is really asking the roman church to do is to be like jesus to be like dude now we know to be like oh how i long to be like him yeah yeah that's good but he wants us to be like him and that

we are both the priest and the offering he says i want you to offer yourself don't tell me that you're offering yourself and you can't offer your stuff it is much easier to put a lamb on the altar and tie him down and take a knife and rip him open and let his blood fall into a pan and then burn his flesh as a burnt offering that's how they did in the old testament as they burnt offering before god it would be much easier to do that than to lay my son on the altar like

abraham did when he brought isaac a couple to untied him down and got ready to slay him in the same fashion that that's much harder than offering up a lamb so on one hand we're offering up a lamb graduation now abraham is offering up his son graduation now jesus is offering up himself you didn't see that okay so he offered up the lamb we saw that all the way back to the book of genesis and cain and abel we saw the offering up and land we saw the lamb first mentioned with adam when the bloody

coats of skin covered his nakedness we saw god offering up the lamb that's the lamb then we move up and now abraham now offers up his son he takes isaac in genesis 22 up on the mountaintop and isaac says to his father daddy i see the knife i see the wood but where is the sacrifice and he says god himself shall provide the sacrifice that the old man kept on walking up the hill and he laid his son down on the altar and tied him to the altar and lifted his hand with the knife to

slay his son and god called out of heaven abraham abraham stay your hand behold i've got a lamb tied in the thicket look at that but abraham was offering up his son because this is the shadow of of john 3 16 god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life genesis 22 is an enactment of what god is going to do in john 3 16 offer up his son so you went from offering up a lamb to offering up a son

that's much harder than offering up a lamb i could give up a lamb now i could give up a land but giving up my son uh i don't know about that that that's that's a little tougher to do to raise my knife to slay the sun i waited for all my life abraham had waited all his life to have isaac and now as as obedience to god he is that of no wonder he's the father of faith in obedience to god he's not ready to slay his son and had abraham walked in old revelation isaac

would have died because god told abraham take now thy son that only son and take him to a place that i will show you in genesis 22 and he and he was offered the word of god that he was offering up his son but as he raised his hand to slay his son god hollered out of heaven abraham abraham stay your hand now this is the proceeding word of god now he's got new revelation the problem in a lot of our churches is that we're operating off of old revelation we're we are teaching what god

has said and not hearing what god is saying imagine if abraham had not heard what god was saying the proceeding word of god that's coming out of his mouth he would have operated an old revelation and killed his sons i suggest to you today that the church is killing her sons because we're operating in all revelation give us this day our daily bread give us the bread we need for today give us the revelation we need for right now give us a revelation for this generation for this moment for this hour lest the fathers slay

the sons and think they're doing god's service the reason god didn't want him to go through with it though he told him to do it he didn't want him to go through with it he wanted him to do it so that he could be his friend and understand what god was going to feel when he offered up jesus but he didn't want him to go through with it because isaac's blood was contaminated by sin he was born in sin and shaping in inequity just like anybody else and his blood would not be redemptive it would

be substituted but it would not be redemptive you understand what i'm saying so this is an exercise in faith it is not the fulfillment it's just shadow it's when when we call old testament images that teach us new testament truths we call them shadows am i going too fast for you i got a lot to give you i'm kind of excited okay okay so we call them shadows now i have a shadow a shadow is anytime an object stands in light it casts a shadow but if you take a knife and stab my shadow i

won't start bleeding because my shadow is not my reality isaac is a shadow of jesus christ so there's no need to stab him because he's a shadow crisis reality now watch how it graduates we've gone from taking a lamb to offering up a son to christ saying no man takes my life i lay it down christ is offering up himself now we don't hear that kind of terminology about anybody other than jesus until paul arrest us in romans 12 and says i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that ye present yourself so

this is not about walking your son up on the hill and laying him down on the altar this is not about bringing a lamb up on the hill and laying him down at all this is about you fixing the altar up and getting it ready and then climbing on top of it like christ did and and becoming obedient under death i want that to soak in this is not the kind of bible place that's gonna make you shout i can tell you that right now but for those of you who really want to understand the

word this is gonna be the kind of bible class that unlocks truth in a supernatural way that causes you to grow and to develop in the things of god that you present yourself a living now this is where we're coming to a living sacrifice you could not offer a dead animal to god it had to be brought to him living it had to be a living sacrifice coming to a living god that she present your body a living sacrifice wow that you present your body a living sacrifice that the the lamb would be tied to

the altar squirming tied to the altar the old testament would show you that there were four prongs on the brazen altar and the lamb is tied by his hind legs and it's it is four legs it's tied to hoofed to the hoof to hoof to corner hoof the corner tied the bottom legs tied to the altar gatling spread out on alternate squirming he's alive paul said that's the way i want you to live i want you to live a restrained life i beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of god that you present your body's

a living sacrifice i'm just not getting to the good part jesus teaches his disciples when he calls them he the call of god to the disciples is quite strange to me because he says to fishermen fishermen now not take up your boat or take up your net and follow me he says take up your cross. and follow me fishman i have crosses not all the disciples died on a cross a few did but not all of them died on the cross what does jesus mean when he says take up your cross and follow me what

restrains you what are you tied to that makes you squirm i i'm trying to to get this into your spirit that the crosses we have are not always made out of wood that the crosses we have today are made out of situations that we're tied to sometimes you're squirming because you're tied to a church that won't grow and god won't release you to go and there you are pastoring and teaching and preaching and ministry a living sacrifice and you're doing all the work that other pastors are doing with the big churches of big christ you're

doing all the work without the reward you you're doing the service you're doing everything you can do uh but you but you but you're not getting any of the reward from it you're not seeing the increase you're not seeing the fruit of your labor you're not seeing the blessing of the lord fall on your life be because it's not growing and you start to doubt yourself and you start to wonder did god call you and you start to wonder am i enough and your flesh is dying on that cross and god is using that cross

to kill out your flesh or you're tied to a relationship that is not satisfying a marriage that's not fulfilling a child that doesn't appreciate you a job that advises you whatever constrains you whatever kills your flesh whatever humbles you down whatever you're tied to and you can't get away from that's your cross and the call of god to you tonight is to take up your cross not run from it not hide from it not get away from it not back up from it but to take up your cross and follow me follow me unfulfilled follow

me frustrated follow me unappreciated follow me unrecognized follow me through loneliness follow me through singleness follow me going home alone at night you got to take out your own trash you lay in the bed and hug a pillow and you're alone and you're not even somebody who wants to be alone but you you that's your cross i beseech you therefore brother by the mercies of god that you present your bodies are living sacrifices that's my cross what is your cross tonight what is the thing that won't work the way you want it to work they

won't give you back what you want to get back that won't hold you the way you need to be held that won't reward you like you need to be rewarded what is the thing that kills your pride and in every other area of your life you're amazing but that one area of your life humbles you brings you to your knees makes you cry out to god and it is heavy on your soul and you're there and it's there and neither one of you will move that is what makes you a living sacrifice i don't know

but i sense through the holy spirit that i'm speaking right to somebody and that this particular bible class above and different from all others is the answer to something you've been praying about father if it be that i will pass this better for me get me off of its cross i don't i don't want to be restrained like this this is not who i am i don't want to be the lamb wasn't made to be tied to no altar why did you give me legs and then tie me to an altar why did you give

me all this talent and then send me to this handful of people who just want me to entertain them why did you send me through school and then send me the uncoast uneducated illiterate people to pass or lead or minister or work why did you put me in this marriage that's so unfulfilling and it looks good to everybody else that is visible to me that is your cross and the challenge tonight is to take up your cross and follow me i'm not talking about staying in an abusive relationship where somebody's hitting you over here with

skilling or somebody that's got a gun in your face in the morning i'm not talking about that kind of stuff i'm talking about invisible unhappiness i'm talking about internal frustration i'm talking about um you grew and they didn't grow i'm talking about and you're stuck and you're squirming on it and it's killing your flesh everything else is working but that you got to have something in your life that crucifies your flesh and makes you a living sacrifice a smiling sacrifice a singing sacrifice a preaching sacrifice a building sacrifice a working sacrifice an entrepreneurial sacrifice some

where in your life you must have a squirming place god who somewhere in your life you must have a squirming place a wrestling place a wrestling place jacob somewhere where you wrestle it's part of being a child of god it's part of being called to the priesthood it's part of giving god service i beseech you therefore brother brethren by the mercies of god that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy not w-h-o-l-l-y though that would be good too h-o-l-y holy which just means to be consecrated to be set apart exclusivity you're asking me to

be exclusive to something that's painful for me holy acceptable under god now it's the difference between being an offering and being accepted we have gone from offering to him receiving he says i'm going to receive you on a level that people who don't suffer won't get i'm gonna receive you on a level that people who don't have a cross won't get i'm going to receive you on a level that people who don't sacrifice won't get and they'll become haters and they'll become envious of you but until they squirm like you squirm until they square them

like you squirm they won't get what you got you're gonna be acceptable under god you're going to be rejected to me and that's your cross you're going to be rejected a man but you're going to be accepted unto god i don't know who i'm talking to but god is opening doors because of your cross he's rolling the stone away because he's endured the cross he's exalting you to new levels of grace because of how you suffered some of your head crosses in your childhood you had pains that you would do you suffered you were nailed

to something you couldn't get out of it's still with you today it's there in the back of your mind it's still resident in your life the scars the trauma the pain all of the crushing went on in your life and then you say i don't no matter how high i get i can't get away from that thing i squirm with i wrestle with i'm talking to you tonight god said you're rejected of them but you're accepted unto me acceptable under god oh when i found out i was accepted unto god it ceased to bother me

whether i was accepted by you it's halfway through my ministry before i really begin to appreciate being accepted by god it's better than being accepted by men doors open ways were made favor was given blessings were given supernatural crazy ridiculous don't make no kind of sense blessings bless is where you can't tell nobody about it blessings where you pick up the phone and call your friend and you're not sure you can trust him with your blessing not your secret your blessing you can't tell them about your blessing because the blessing is so so powerful and

so divine and so sacred and so fulfilling and so satisfying particularly after you've been through the parched scorching parts place of being tied to the altar of living sacrifice and then all of a sudden the reward comes after you suffered a while god said i'll establish you and make you perfect i just want you to know that your labor is not in vain that's all i just want you to understand that that squirming place and that place of desolation and persecution uh it's not in vain that god is not unjust to forget your labor of

love and he remembers you because you have made yourself a living sacrifice in some area of your life some area of futility and frustration and aggravation culminates itself in a moment of acceptance by god that separates you from everybody else and for this we're grateful and for this we're thankful i want to pray with you right now i just want to pray with you that you would embrace both the living sacrifice and the acceptability that comes out of it in god you have to embrace both things you can't be bitter about one and then be

blessed by the other you have to accept that this is my love and this is my cross and this is this is my dying place this is the place where my flesh is crucified that god might be glorified and i thank you lord that the glorification is it's worth it paul said that i'm persuaded that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us have you got your glory yet it's coming it's coming it's coming it's coming in ways that i can't prophesy it's

coming it's not always in tangible ways it's not always in money it may be in peace it may be in your children it may be in your legacy it may be in your lineage it may be in the depth of glory that permeates your soul it may be in your business and i can't choose how god decides to return it but i can promise you that he will not forget the fact that you have been a living sacrifice let's pray right now father in jesus name i thank you for all that squirmed tonight tied to

things they cannot move dealing with issues they cannot fix i thank you tonight for all of those that in spite of the pain of what they go through or don't go through or don't get or don't have that they still have a resolve to walk with you hallelujah i thank you tonight that all things are possible to him that believes that i thank you right now that somebody got an answer from god tonight that satisfied their soul and decree and declare increase over their lives increase of wisdom increase of favor increase of finance increase of

peace increase over their life tonight because they have stayed in the squirming place they have been a living sacrifice and now success is imminent because they are accepted in you and being accepted by you is really all we need and we receive it humbly and with thanksgiving in jesus name amen i'm bishop t.d jakes the senior pastor of the potter's house and whether you're a member or an e-member or somebody who just logged on tonight it was god's will that you hear this message for such a time as this now may the grace of god

and the sweet communion of the holy spirit rest ruled and abide over your life until you and i meet again take the lord with you god bless you good night you