This is the place, My destiny (sermon by TD JAKES)

How do you discern it when you are in the right place, at the right time with the right people to experience the level of God that you haven’t experienced before.  Be careful before you walk out of it coz it maybe the place where eternity and time collide

Genesis 28: 10-17

Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. 11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. 12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. 13 There above it[a] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.[b] 15 I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” 17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”


It is almost as if the text occurs in the major intersection in the crowded city of life experiences and yet it is in actuality in a barren place. This principle, if God , one of the worst possible people, Jacob at the worst possible time-at night, in the worst possible situation- no place to rest, in the worst condition- he is tired, and in the midst of this destruction and  degradation and humiliation, God does something.


As a little boy, I measured the presence of God by the sensation I felt.  But I ask you something this morning, if that is true…then where is God when you feel nothing. If the manifestation of God is proven by the movement of flesh, where is God when you cant move? And you cant feel and you cant see. I had to grow in my faith. I learnt not to measure the presence of God by the circumstance of men. I learnt to realize that God ….that I wasn’t anymore anointed when I had money than when I didn’t have money . I learnt that I was just as anointed with no job , I can be anointed when people didn’t like me …that it didn’t take public consensus inorder to get me the approval. I learnt not to measure God by goosepimples, chill bumps, circumstances, ……


You have to stumble upon some hard times and feel like everbody has forsaken you and you are living in the convergence of all hell breaking loose and yet God shows up……  you know that in church he shows up when two or three are gathered in His name, you know he shows up when the choir sings….  But the test does not come when the lights are on and the saints are gathered , ushers are ushering and the choir is singing…NO  the test comes when all hell runs into all crisis, when all dilemmas converge on you, and you are tired!!! I know we are Christians and we are not supposed to admit that we are tired. But since it is just us, can we talk? Have you ever been tired? Iam not talking about a biological situation… you didn’t get a sleep and you want to rest….that is not the kind of tired iam talking about.  Iam talking about where you have travelled so far and gone through so much and faced so many issues and you are tired…. Iam not talking about night time tired, iam talking about early morning tired, 3 0 clock in the afternoon tired.


Jacob was tired, he was weary. Weary of people. I didn’t want to say it out loud…when I was young I never thought I would ever get tired of people. Have you ever got tired of smiling, have you ever got tired of being faithful, have you ever got tired of turning the other cheek? Have you ever got tired of the lies. Have you ever got tired of explaining… have you ever ever ever????  Somebody who understands me touch your neighbor and say…. Iam tired…  I don’t mean to be moody but I get tired. I don’t mean to be cranky but I get tired. I don’t  mean to be short temepered but I get tired.


Jacob was really tired and Jacob was not really sure who he was. He was a grown man. Still not sure of himself. His daddy knew he was, his grandfather knew who he was…  but Jacob had to fight all his life…. Fightimg in his mammas belly, fighting all of his life… in war all of his wife…he had to fight everything . Jacob was slick. He was slick not because he was a bad person, but if he wasn’t slick, it wouldn’t happen.  Slickness was all he knew. All his mamma knew. All  his uncle knew. It runs in the family.  You cannot rise into greatness until you can master dealing with slick. Its somewhere on the road to greatness, you come to the intersection and find yourself dealing with slick people. Jacob was a slick person. People are not wicked because they want to be. They re wicked because they are desperate. They are wicked because that is all they are exposed to … they are wicked because that is the only tools that has been vested into their hands and only know how to manipulate in order to survive. It is one thing to do when you are 15 and another thing to be 40 and still desperate.  Desperate people do desperate things. Desperate people fight in ways you never expected because ……


Jacob was desperate. Have you ever thought to yourself … I should have been better for my age. I didn't expect to be in this condition  at this stage.  I thought I would be in a more comfortable place.  I am tired. Tired of dealing with issues. You push me too far, i am tired of looking the other way.  In the tiredness and in the confusion and in the instability of the circumstance…..


It was night and he could not see his way clear. When night comes, you cannot see your way clear. When its dark and you cant see any brightness ahead of you and you are tired. … and you are confused… and you are going to a blackout period…  that is the environment for  which this text is extrapolated.
It is dark, he is tired, he is confused, it is night..  tired…. I don’t get this tired often…. I get the kind of tired where you cant sleep… but this kind of tired you can sleep on anything…. Go to sleep and you don’t even know you are sleeping…. You go to sleep and you didn't even know you went to sleep…  you were watching  the TV and now the TV is watching you. …. The kind of tired that makes you so weary!!!! That he has taken a rock for a pillow.  He makes the bed in a hard place. …making the best of the situation in a bad place. This is not the kind of situation I desired for myself.  Fell asleep in a hard place, laying in a hard place…


He goes to sleep and God appeared. I want to talk about the God. Not the God of the past, not the God of the crusade, not the God of the revival….. but the God of the hard place. The God that shows up when all the conditions are hopeless and when all the hell is breaking loose …. When you cant brag about your faith, your bible study, your commitment, you didn't fast him up, you didn't pray him up,  you weren't consecrated and frankly, you weren't even living holy and yet ….. I want a God who can show up at a place where I cant take credit of…. I need a god who can show up in the middle of a blackout experience. I need a God who can show up when all hell is breaking loose in my life and frankly my faith has gone to sleep and here He comes.


Here comes Jesus right in the middle of your storm. He says Iam the God of Abraham, iam the God of your grandfather.  Iam the god of your father.  He didn’t say he is Jacobs God. That is yet to be determined.  That relationship has not been established yet. Buton the path of your background…on the prayers of your ancestory,  iam going to talk to you not because of you but because your mamma prayed , because your grandmamma prayed, because somebody prayed for you…  you wouldn't have been here if somebody else had not prayed for you.


He says to Jacob, “I am going to bless your seed . I blessed your daddy, I blessed your grand daddy, iam going to bless your children.  I am going to set it off…  you're sneaky but i am still going to bless you.  You made a mistake but i am still going to bless u. you are confused but i am still going to bless you.  “  and as he lay on his bed, the heavens opened up . when it said the heavens just opened up that is when I realized, this is not just a rock . this rock is Jesus. Whenever you see a rock,  and the heavens open up then u know te rock is not a rock…the rock has Jesus in it.


Turn and say…this is it, this rock has Jesus in it. This pillow will become the pillar of your experience in God when you see it correctly, you can be it correctly  but you cannot be it if you cannot see it as a pillow that will become a pillar of your faith. This is the place and the rock is Jesus.


And whenever you put your mind on the rock, the heaven will always open up.  I dare you to drag your weary head and lay it on the rock . heavens will open up. Touch your neighbor and say “ somethings gonna open up” don’t give up, don’t give in, you are in the right place and in the right time.
Praise him in your dark place, in your confused place, praise him in your weary place. That’s what God wants.  God doesn’t want the praise of this tooty fruity people who has everything going right .  God wants a sacrifice of praise from somebody who is laying on the rock. Touch your neighbor and say “I got this praise” coz I know what it is to praise him in trouble. I know what it is to praise him with my back against the wall. I know what it is to praise him when I cant see the way clear. I know what it is to praise him when you are tired and weary.


Somethings gonna open up. This is the place where the door opens for me. This is the place where the yoke is broken. This is the place where the enemy is destroyed.  Stay where you are. This is the place.
The heavens opened. That which was closed just opened up for me. That which I couldn’t see into just opened up for me.  Tat which existed in another realm just opened up for me.  That which existed in another dimension, just opened up for me. It opened …. I didn’t have to push it, I didn’t have to kick it, I didn’t have to trick it, it just opened… who am I preaching to?


When it opened, the first thing that showed up was not an angel. It was a ladder. A ladder is a way, a ladder is a bridge between where iam and what I see. I don’t want to see it if theres no way to reach to it. God said iam gonna show it to you . I praise him for he is the kind of God when I could reach him, he reached me.  The book says that when the ladder dropped down, there came messengers…. Sent from God… “ I saw you in the dark, I saw you in your confusion, I saw you in your crisis, I saw you in your dilemma. I got a message for you” the interesting thing to me was not just the angels descended, but they also ascended . he introduced to us that he is going to set a cycle … saying this is not going to be a onetime experience . I am not going to touch you and leave you but I am gonna set a cycle, a system  that perpetuates itself and all u gotta do is everytime I send you a blessing, send me back a place.


This place was the gate to the next dimension.  Angels were ascencing and descending. And Jacob looked up. O my god, this is the place . God was here. I was so busy looking at my circumstance, describing my situation. I was so caught up in my presence that I did not detect his presence. God  was here and I knew it not. Imagine that. The congressmen was here and I knew it…the pastors were here and I knew it…  how could I know the presence of men and not know you..


He was here before the heavens opened. He was here before the ladder fell. He was here before the angels came.  He says, give me the rock. This pillow shall be the pillar of my faith. I will call this place bethel. It was called luz before. Bethel means house of god. This shows God lives in hard places.


This is a hard place. This city is a hard place. This community is a hard place. And buying this building is a hard place. This is the house of God. And I know it’s the house of God…because of how hard it was. Jacob says I have found the gate of heaven and this is the place. Watch the demon run. Watch hells scatter. Watch satan scratches for the gate of heaven is always revealed in a hard place. I came down here to tell u in case there is any doubt in my mind. Don’t let the rock fool you….this is the place. Don’t move don’t run, don’t duck, don’t hide and whatever u do, don’t quit coz I declare you this right here, this is the place where your destiny unfolds, where your prophecies come to pass. This is the place where heaven opens up, where the yoke is destroyed. This is the place.


I thought I had poured all over but the last drop is for you. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life and I would dwell in the house of the Lord.


If theres someone who is weary and tired and you need the heavens to open up, you need to operate in another dimension. If you are trapped, you came to open up the gates…your bondage will be removed and the captive set free.
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