Sticks & Stones - Bishop T.D. Jakes

Scorecard

Summary

A Resurrection-Sunday sermon built on Exodus 17:1–6 (Moses striking the rock at Rephidim). Jakes develops a typological chain — stick + stone → cross + tomb — arguing that the OT rock-and-rod pattern foreshadows Calvary and Easter morning. The back half is an extended altar-call exhortation to 'get up out of the grave' and 'roll the stone' of depression, pride, lust, addiction, and insecurity. The sermon is pastorally oriented (personal deliverance, resurrection life, autobiographical testimony from his West Virginia childhood) rather than politically or culturally oriented; it contains minimal engagement with contemporary political issues, no named out-groups, and a notable explicit critique of scapegoating. Closes with a Potter's House membership / sowing appeal.

Timeline

Each marker = a flagged finding. Click to jump to the finding; hover for the title. Color indicates severity.

Findings (5)

Whole-Bible Engagement (3)

For each major framing in the sermon, the pastor's claim is placed side-by-side with what Jesus said in the Gospels and what the wider Bible says (OT + NT non-Gospel). Surfaces cherry-picking, omitted counter-voices, and places where the canon itself contains tension the pastor did not acknowledge.

Factual Claims & Evidence Check (5)

Empirical claims the pastor made during the sermon, with a verdict on whether independent evidence supports them. Verdict scale: Supported · Partially supported · Contested · Misleading · Unsupported · False. “Evidence the pastor cited” records whether any source was named in the sermon itself.

Tenets affirmed

• Bodily resurrection of Jesus is proclaimed plainly and centrally: 'HE GOT UP OUT of the grave… he got up out of the grave' [00:43:30].
• Universal scope of grace is affirmed without qualification: 'There is nothing in your life, on your life or in your past that God cannot forgive' [01:04:30].
• Exposition of Exodus 17:1–6 stays close to the text: the setting (Rephidim), the murmuring, Moses's cry, the command to strike the rock, and the provision of water are all rendered faithfully.
• Scapegoating is explicitly named and rejected: 'the human brain if it cannot find a reason to explain the turmoil will make up a reason… You'll be mad at the immigrants. You'll be mad at white people. You'll be mad at black people' [00:31:00] — framed as pathology, not prescription.
• Altar call is inclusive of the socially marked: 'I'm coming if I got to come with liquor on my breath. I'm coming if I was smoking a joint last night' [01:01:00].

Counter-signals

• No named political party, politician, or movement is endorsed or attacked.
• No flag, pledge, or civil-religion imagery anywhere in the sermon.
• No anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ, anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, or misogynistic rhetoric — and the sermon explicitly names ethnic scapegoating as displaced anger.
• Self-deprecating recollection of small-church origins ('seven people was a big crowd… 30 people on Easter counting pregnant people and dead folks') [00:19:30] cuts against crowd-metric boasting.
• Grace language is unusually expansive: 'He didn't die for you to have church. He died for you to have life' [01:00:30].
• Communal accountability is affirmed: 'we need one another to be holy, to hold each other accountable, and to keep growing' [01:06:00].

Christian Nationalism marker rubric (Whitehead/Perry, Du Mez, Alberta)

Other Axis-2 sub-rubrics

• Anti-Muslim framing: Not present in this sermon
• Anti-LGBTQ framing: Not present in this sermon
• Misogynistic framing: Not present in this sermon — Brief gendered affirmation ('make women of God cry unto God') is complementary rather than subordinating.
• Anti-Jewish framing: Not present — Passing 'Jew and the Gentile coming together up under one gospel' language is unification-framed rather than supersessionist; no replacement-theology claims are asserted.
• Prosperity-gospel indicators: Low / adjacent — Obedience-→-enviable-job/spouse promise (see f1-1) plus the sermon's closing 'act of sowing is an act of faith' partnership appeal sit in the softer prosperity register rather than the hard-sell 'seed for a miracle' variety.

Full transcript

Highlighted paragraphs contain flagged content (color = severity). Click any timestamp to jump to that moment on YouTube.

[00:00:00]Welcome to the house. We're so glad you joined us today. Choosing to tune in to this sermon was not by accident. And I believe God has a word just for you. >> That's right. God is always using the people of this house to speak his word. So whether you're watching from across the street or maybe you are across the world, you are not just a viewer. You are our family >> and we believe that worship doesn't have

[00:00:30]walls and experiencing the goodness of God's spirit doesn't always require a commute. >> So, are you ready to join us as we fellowship and unite in spirit and in truth? I want your hearts to be open because we are going to encounter God together. >> Amen. We see you. We love you. And we believe this word is going to change your life.

[00:01:00]Exodus chapter 17 verse 1-6. It is so good to see you this morning. It's just good to see you. You didn't have to be here this morning. I didn't have to be here this morning. But God was good enough to let our moments roll on. You ought to say yes. Somebody, >> we're going to start reading at the first verse of the 17th chapter of the

[00:01:30]book of Exodus. The book of Exodus describes the exit of the children of Israel out from the bondage of the Egyptians where they had been oppressed for 400 years. They had lived in Egypt for 430 years. The first 30 years they were not oppressed. But when Joseph died and another Pharaoh came in, a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph nor his God, he be to oppress him.

[00:02:00]People will change on you, won't they? >> And they lived in oppression for 400 years. I know you can't imagine 400 years. I can't either. That's a long time to live up under oppression. And they had almost forgotten who they were, >> their customs, their ceremonies, their language, their rituals. But they cried unto God >> in a haphazard way, >> not knowing fully what to call him, h

[00:02:30]how to use his name, how to stand on his word. But he heard the cry. He told Moses, "I have heard the cry of my children. Go down into Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let my people go." God was gonna release somebody in here today. I feel it. I feel it. I feel it. I feel it. God's gonna release somebody in here today. And so they they left out of Egypt going into the promised land by

[00:03:00]way of the desert. >> God doesn't always let you choose what route he takes you to deliver you. It's not always comfortable. It's not always convenient. is not always cool. And just because you get out of one trouble don't mean you won't have to face another one. >> And so they got out of one kind of hell to run into another one. Now they're going through the desert and it is scorching hot during the day, hot enough

[00:03:30]to die in the walk during the day. And it is freezing cold at night. But they were free. But they were free. >> Look at somebody say, "I still got problems." >> But I'm free.

[00:04:00]Everything is not going right, but I'm free. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. My money's kind of funny, but I'm free. My husband walked out on me, but I'm free. My my my my my parents are sick, but I'm free. My refrigerator's half full, but I'm free. And I have learned whatever state I'm in, therewith to be content. That's maturity. When you can praise God when everything isn't quite right.

[00:04:30]We interject into the experience at a time and at a moment that they are adjusting to a new reality. And I I chose this text. I believe the Lord put it on my heart because we are adjusting to a new reality. It's not that the past was perfect, but now we have a new kind of problem to fight. And it's going to take a new kind of ingenuity, a new kind of wisdom, a

[00:05:00]new kind of power to be able to deal with it. And Moses is trying to lead a people who are one displaced and two confused and three frustrated and they're not sure of their leader and they're not sure of themselves and they're not sure of God because they had not walked with him long enough. See, you have to walk

[00:05:30]through God through a whole lot of situations to be sure of God. Anybody can be sure of God when all the bills are paid and your body's feeling good and your kidneys are working right and you got no cancer. But when all hell is breaking loose, the devil has a tendency to say, "Where is your God now?" Am I talking right to somebody in here? And the verse one says, "And all the ch and all the congregation of the children

[00:06:00]of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord and pitched in Refiddm, which was a little camp in the wilderness, and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore, because of the fact that there was no water for them to drink, the people did chide with Moses. See, whenever things get tight, people get nasty.

[00:06:30]I I better not start into this text. I'm going to start something. See, the reason there's so much vitriol in this country right now is that things have tightened up a little bit. And when people get tight, they need somebody to blame. So, so they want to blame this folk and that folk and this person and that person. And so they begin to blame Moses and to begin to pick on him and chide him and said, "Give us water that we may

[00:07:00]drink." And Moses said unto them, "Why chide ye with me?" Haven't you ever wanted to say that with to somebody? Let me translate it into Ebani. Why you fooling with me? You want some of this? Don't start nothing. Won't be nothing. Don't make the nice man mad. Why? Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? If you tide with me,

[00:07:30]you tempt God. >> If you mess with me, >> you mess with God. You may think I'm in here by myself, but I I'm surrounded by God all around me. And the people thirsted there for water. >> And the people murmured against Moses. Those two things go together. Thirst and

[00:08:00]gossip. >> Thirst and murmuring. See, when when you are satisfied, a whole lot of things don't stick to you. But when you are not satisfied in your own life, you have a tendency to be cynical >> uh to be condescending, >> to be acrimonious, to have the kind of attitude and disposition that you are hard to get along with. You have to understand then

[00:08:30]that when people are mean to you, they are mad at themselves. >> I'm preaching. I'm preaching and I'm just reading the text. Lord have mercy. Let me go on about my business. They murmured against Moses and said, "Wherefore is this that thou has brought us up out of Egypt?" Now they they was in slavery, >> so anything's got to be a upgrade to kill us and our children and our

[00:09:00]cattle with thirst. And Moses cried unto the Lord. You can say things that make men of God cry unto God. You can say things that make women of God cry unto God. And when they cry unto God, something is going to happen. He He said, "What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me." Amen. >> And the Lord said unto Moses, "Go on

[00:09:30]before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river. Take in thy hand, and go. Take your rod, and go in front of the people. Behold, I will send I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock." I want you to pay attention to that. I want you to take

[00:10:00]your rod and smite >> the rock. >> Lord, they thirsty. Why you got me hitting rocks? >> Have you ever had God give you an answer that didn't make no sense? >> You you you talking to him about the rent and he's telling you to give water to the puppy. Sometimes God will command you to do something that don't seem like it has nothing to do with your situation. But he said, "I want you to smite the rock."

[00:10:30]That's why when pastor was talking about obedience, he was really hitting on something. Sometimes God will tell you something that don't make sense to you. It passes all understanding. You can't stand under it, but you got to obey it. >> Smite the rock. Take your rod, take your stick, and hit the rock, and there shall come water out of it. Oh, I could dance right there. >> Cuz I never I've never seen a rock that

[00:11:00]was supposed to be a water cooler. But but God said, "If you if you obey me, I'll make things that's not supposed to bless you." Let me tell y'all, if you obey me, I'll give you jobs that you're not supposed to have. If you obey me, I'll give you the kind of spouse that make folks jealous when you walk in. And they say, "What is she doing with him?" God God said, "I'm going to bring water out of it that the

[00:11:30]people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Can you say, "Amen?" >> Amen. I'm I'm interested in that. Take your rod and smite the rock. And my subject this morning, remain standing. I'm going to pray. But my subject this morning is sticks and stones. Sticks and stones. My God, I feel something in this place.

[00:12:00]Spirit of the living God, fall fresh in this place right now. I thank you for what you're going to do. Move in the midst of your people. Great God that you are. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Somebody shout thunderously, "Amen." >> You may be seated. Oh, y'all sound like the potter's house. You sound like the potter's house. Somebody shout, "Amen."

[00:12:30]I have been in Dallas for the last 30 years. I was raised in Charleston, West Virginia. I am 69 years old come June. I have been preaching for nearly 50 years. It'll be 50 years in September.

[00:13:00]50 years of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. But when I was a boy, I grew up on the side of a hill in the area we call Vanelia in Charleston, West Virginia. And our house was the last house before the hill dropped over the cliff. And so we would from time to time uh go play. Now, I cannot remember a toy that I had

[00:13:30]that plugged up. I I know y'all don't understand this. I I I'm going to say that again. I cannot remember a a toy I had that plugged up no Nintendos, no nothing. No, no, no laptops, no nothing like that. I might have got a train set one time, but most of it most of it didn't plug up. Most of it didn't have battery. In fact, we had

[00:14:00]very few toys that came out the store. You You might get a plastic train, you know, that you could run back and forth with. My sister would get a dog baby or something like that, but most of the time mama would send us out with no toys and she would tell us, "Go outside and play." Now, you don't hear too many mamas telling their children to go outside and play today because they especially in

[00:14:30]Dallas cuz it's hot outside. But the reason we didn't mind going outside to play is because it was hot inside. I'mma talk to y'all. They bougie over there. Let me when the house is hot, it's a different kind of hot from the hot outside cuz at least a little breeze will blow every now and then or you can get up under a tray a shade tree. But when that

[00:15:00]house gets to smoking and you start feeling like a turkey and you start basting in your own juices, it was hot in the house. It was hot in the house. There were there there were no there was no air conditioning for a long time and there was just a fan. One would be turned this way and one would be turned the other way and they were trying to be scientific, you know, to to get a breeze to blow through the house

[00:15:30]and and that was normal. >> Last year the power went out in Dallas and I almost had a fit. I said, "Oh, God, if you don't turn this electricity back on, I'm going to die right where I am." And then I it occurred to me, "Fool, you was raised in a hot house. I had forgotten where I came from. I had forgotten what God had done. I had forgotten how to withstand discomfort.

[00:16:00]And a few days of discomfort didn't compare to decades of living in that hot house. It was so hot we got where we didn't pay no attention. Hot was normal. My neighbor's house was hot. The the pages that lived up the street, their house was hot. Miss Hutcherson's house was hot. Everybody Miss Timberle's house was hot. Everybody on the street lived in a house that was hot. And we still sang and we still got along. And

[00:16:30]we still had fun. And we still had life. And we still got up in the morning. And we were still brothers and sisters. And we're still together today in spite of the heat. Everything doesn't have to go your way for you to have peace. Mama sent us outside to play with. I already told you no kind of toys or nothing. and you you would grab some sticks and and make them into bows and arrows and and and y'all don't know what I'm

[00:17:00]talking about. You would you would make some castles out of rocks or or sand. One year I had a magnifying glass. I was chasing ants. Not too long ago, I sent one of my grandchildren outside to play. I I bought him a little uh uh motorbike, a little mud bike, and I sent him outside to play. He played for a minute or two

[00:17:30]and Yeah. And then he whled back around and went back in the house and got on his iPad. And I thought, don't you want to play outside? But see, he was raised inside in comfort, in air conditioning with iPads, and he knew how to run the iPad, but he didn't know much about withstanding heat.

[00:18:00]Is there Is there anybody in here that knows something about withstanding heat? See, people who live in a hot house don't cook till it's late at night. That's why we started cooking oven. We start cooking turkeys at night cuz it was too hot during the day to heat up the house, cooking a turkey or baking a cake or doing it. So, your mama did all the baking at night when the house had cooled down. Y'all don't understand

[00:18:30]that, brother. I have to explain this to you. This was before Jiffy Cornbread. This was before Quick Grits. We We just We just made do with what we had and went on about our business. These children that I'm preaching about, they was like me. They They was out there in the wilderness. I played in the wilderness with sticks and stones. I played in the creek bed pulling rocks out of creeks and trying to catch

[00:19:00]salamanders and and y'all don't know what I'm talking about. I I I played with boxes and and and caught toads and brought them back home to mama and c brought a turtle back in the house. That those were my toys that I played with cuz I was raised in the wilderness. Now, it's hard to hurt somebody that's been raised in the wilderness.

[00:19:30]>> Because when you've been raised in the wilderness, what would send other people back home, you can take it. All you got to do is default back to where you came from and say, "I'm going to be all right." Somebody said, "How could you preach in the church for two years and it was empty?" I said, "Oh, there was no problem. I was raised preaching in a church that didn't have no people. If I had seven people, it was a big crowd.

[00:20:00]We might have had 30 people on Easter counting pregnant people and dead folks. And And I know how to make the best out of a bad situation. And and and I and I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed of that. That's given me uh uh stickuitedness, >> stab stability that's given me fight and drive and tenacity that's given me a certain relentlessness

[00:20:30]that's given me an attitude. I don't have to have a Hammond B3. I can have a upright piano with a microphone stuck down in it tied to a amplifier and stomp my foot and still praise the Lord. I could have a triangle and a washboard and start praising the Lord with a washboard. And we would bring down more glory with a washboard than you all do with all this technology you got right now. I don't have to have I can be in my house. I can be in my living room. I can

[00:21:00]be in my car with no music at all and get happy all by myself. I can get happy in the bathtub. I can start speaking in tongues in my car cuz I I wasn't raised with all of this fancy stuff. I I I was raised where the praises of God was in your mouth and you didn't have to plug it up. It would just come out of your out of your belly would flow rivers.

[00:21:30]So the children of Israel were were were adjusting to to the heat of the desert. They they were used to being slaves. They didn't like it, but they were used to it. They had had 400 years of it, which is 10 generations. 10 generations of slavery. And they asked God to deliver them. And sometimes we ask God to deliver us and we think that deliverance is going to be comfortable. >> But deliverance was not comfortable.

[00:22:00]Pharaoh was chasing them, >> trying to get them back. Deliverance brought them to the Red Sea, >> a stoppable place. >> They got to a stoppable place being delivered. >> Some of you have asked God to deliver you and now you're at a stoppable place, but you don't understand that God's miracles are generally instoppable places. And so Moses being a young leader

[00:22:30]himself, not having had much experience leading people, not being familiar with people that he's related to, is trying to lead them through a stoppable place. And he says, "God, what am I going to do? Pharaoh is behind me and the mountains are on either side of me and we have no weapons. I got a bunch of farmers with me and they're murmuring against me." And God said to him, "What is that in your hand?" >> So God had given him, now let me go

[00:23:00]back. Pharaoh had 400 chosen chariots. That was the best fleet he had for warfare. They were riding on chariots and horses with swords and shields. And God gave Moses a stick. God must have a sense of humor. And and God said it like he had a a nuclear bomb or something. What is that in your hand?

[00:23:30]He He said it like it was an atomic bomb. What is that in your hand? Moses said, "I got a stick." God said, "Lift up what you got." Touch somebody and say, "Lift up what you got." Don't wait for things to get better. Don't wait for things to get nice. Don't wait for you to have confidence in your weapon. If you don't have nothing but a stick, lift up the stick. Moses is just learning what the stick will do. He has practiced a little bit in the

[00:24:00]wilderness. He's done done a few things with with Jethro out in the wilderness where God was showing him how to work what he had. Sometimes God will put you in isolation to teach you how to work what you got. He He'll give you a dress rehearsal, a practice. And and God had told Moses, "Put your hand in in your bosom and it came out white as snow. Pour out water and it turned to blood." He said, "Throw down your stick and it turned to a serpent. Grab the serpent by the tail

[00:24:30]and it turned to a stick." See, I lost right then. Cuz when God said, "Grab the serpent by the tail." The the miracle would have been over right then. Okay? But but but but grab the serpent by the tail and it turned into a stick. So he has a weapon that he is still learning how to use. So fast forward when he comes down to the Red Sea, God is still examining, trying to get him to examine what is in his hand. He said, "Lord, I got this rod

[00:25:00]in my hand." He says, "Stretch forth the rod, Lord. The Pharaoh's coming." and he's got chariots and and I can hear the hoof prints galloping behind me. God said, "I don't care about what you hear in your senses. Obey my word and stretch forth what's in your hand." I'm preaching to somebody already. I don't know who it is. Your senses are telling you one thing, but your spirit is telling you something

[00:25:30]else. And so Moses stretched forth his rod, just nothing but a stick. And the Bible said that the waters parted this way and that way. And he made the waters stand at attention. And when Moses stepped down into the when he stepped down into the Red Sea, he stepped down into dry ground. Y'all didn't get that. See, you still stuck at the fact that the water stood up. You don't You

[00:26:00]haven't even gotten to the fact that who dried up the land that was sitting up under the water. Will God not drive the land for you and make a way out of now way and put you in a position that he'll make your pathway smooth? He'll make your p I wish I had a witness where God made something smooth that you thought was going to be hard and God brought them through on dry ground. Having brought them through on dry ground, God now has them in a position where they

[00:26:30]come out on the other side. By the time Pharaoh gets to uh the Red Sea, the walls are collapsing. The dry ground has turned to mud and they are drowning in the Red Sea. >> They are drowning in what you walk through. >> I said they are drowning in what you walk through. They they are drowning in what you walk through. And ma'am, you

[00:27:00]know what she did? She started she grabbed a tambourine and I wish somebody had one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She grabbed a tambourine and started doing like that. Yeah. She start beating her tambourine like that. See, praise is a weapon. And and the more she beat the tambourine, the more Pharaoh's army drowned in the Red Sea. Y'all don't hear what I'm

[00:27:30]talking to you about. Glory to God. If you would just start praising God over them bills, God would drown them bills in dry ground. If you would start praising God in the hospital, I know they going to think you're crazy, but if you just just give that tambourine a couple of taps in there, God would do something with that cancer. He would move that tumor. He would shrink that disease. Cuz greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. I wish→ Warfare-praise framing: enemies 'drown' as you praise; Praise as warfare — Ex 15 typology without Matt 5 counterweight

[00:28:00]I had a witness in here. You didn't have nothing but a praise. But while you were praising God, don't you know while you're praising God, God is drowning your enemies. If you knew what I'm talking about, you would dance right where you are. Cuz when when you start praising God, devils start growling. When you start praising God, bodies get healed. When you start praising God, God starts opening doors.→ Warfare-praise framing: enemies 'drown' as you praise; Praise as warfare — Ex 15 typology without Matt 5 counterweight

[00:28:30]We're not just dancing to be dancing. We in a fight. I I'm not dancing cuz I got new shoes. I'll kick off my shoes and dance barefooted cuz I'm in a fight. Anybody in a fight? Give them about 15 seconds of warfare praise. Oh, warfare. Warfare in this place. Warfare in the

[00:29:00]balcony. Warfare in the back. Warfare in this place. I'm going to dance while the devil drowns. I'm going to dance while it drowns. And God brought them through. >> The Bible said he brought them through on eagle's wings. >> He He gave them first class service. He

[00:29:30]brought them through on eagle's wings. Now they have made it through the desert. They have survived slavery. They went in slaves and came out sons. Y'all didn't hear that. They went in slaves and came out sons. They were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and under the sea. There was a cloud above them. There was water all around it. God calls it baptism. Some of

[00:30:00]the things you call trouble, God calls baptism. >> And they come out on the other side and the problem is they're in the wilderness. And since they're in the wilderness and they're thirsty now, you've been a slave. >> You've had to make bricks with no straw. >> You built pyramids and had all kind of warfare. And now you're complaining because you're thirsty.

[00:30:30]>> And they chided against Moses. Thirsty people are angry people. I want to drive that in real deep. I realize I said it before, but I'm going to say it again. Thirsty people are angry people. Sometimes, even if you give them some water, it will not stop the anger. Because the the the thirst is not coming for the lack of water. The thirst is coming because they are angry→ Obedience promised to yield enviable jobs and enviable spouses; What does obedience yield? — selecting Mark 10's first half while omitting 'with persecutions'

[00:31:00]people. They're frustrated people. And they'll take it out on you because they need something to bring. I was studying on the human brain and the study that I was reading said the human brain if it cannot find a reason to explain the turmoil will make up a reason because it needs to rationalize to you why you are going through what you're going through. So you can't even trust what you're thinking sometimes because sometimes→ Obedience promised to yield enviable jobs and enviable spouses; What does obedience yield? — selecting Mark 10's first half while omitting 'with persecutions'

[00:31:30]you're thinking just so you'll have something to be mad at. You you'll be mad at the immigrants. You'll be mad at white people. You'll be mad at black people. You'll be mad at short people. You'll be mad at fat people. You'll be mad at anybody to explain why you're there. Therefore, for you feel justified to be in your condition because you have blamed somebody for that condition. So, they blame Moses. It it wasn't Moses' job to

[00:32:00]get them some water, but they blamed Moses for bringing them out there where there was no water. And God Moses cried out to God and said, "Why are the people chiding me? Why are they chiding me? Why are they chiding against you?" And God told Moses, "I'm going to show you something else. I'm going to do something with your stick that's never been done before." And the Lord told me to come here and

[00:32:30]tell you this morning that he's going to do something with your stick that's never been been done before. There is a relationship set up in this text that is a preview of Calvary between the stone and the stick. you you can't see it cuz it's in the shadows, but there's something there between the stone and the stick. Deliverance always happens whenever you

[00:33:00]see a stone or a stick. There's something about the way God moves through a stone or a stick. And he has a way of opening up a door. So he told him, "Take the stick and hit the rock and water is going to come out. I've been showing you a little bit about your stick, but let me show you a little something about your rod. Let me tell you something. God did all kinds of stuff with with with rocks.

[00:33:30]David picked up rocks, smooth stones out the riverbank and killed Goliath with a rock. He didn't have a sword or a shield. All he had was a rock. Jacob laid his head down on a rock and the heavens opened up. I'm talking about what God can do with a rock. God has a way of doing things with rocks that will blow your mind. The these these weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God. It's not normal for water to come out of a rock.

[00:34:00]But God has a way that if you take the stick and you take the rock, it brings water out of the rock. And all through the Bible, this pattern continues over and over again. We see God delivering his people with rocks and with sticks. We see God opening up doors and making ways. We see God moving mountains. We see God opening up revelations. In fact, we see God as a rock. The Bible said he

[00:34:30]is the chief cornerstone. Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. Elijah slept on it. David threw it. Moses hid in it. God said, "Moses, get over in the rock, and I'm going to cause my glory to pass before you." Jonathan climbed through the rock to fight the enemy. Solomon took the rock and built the temple. The spies climbed over the rock. The Hebrews shouted till the rocks

[00:35:00]came tumbling down. The Pharaohs dropped their The Pharisees dropped their rocks. Y'all don't hear me. Lazarus leaped out of the rock. God has a way of doing things with rocks that you don't even understand. And when you take the stick and you put it with the rock, water's going to come out. Touch your neighbor and say, "Water is about to come out. This whole pew is about to get wet. This

[00:35:30]whole pew is about to get wet. this this this this this resurrection Sunday because what God did on Calvary is foreshadowed in the Old Testament. If you think about the resurrection story, it is really a story about a stick and a stone. It's just a story about a stick and a stone. Let me show you in Genesis. The Bible said that Abraham took his son, his only son, Isaac, and he put on him

[00:36:00]the wood. That's the stick. And he took the stick and brought it to a stone and built an altar with a stick and a stone. Genesis 22 is a picture of Calvary. What God can do with a stick and a stone. Like Isaac carried the wood, Jesus carried the cross. But the cross was just a stick. And the Bible said, I'm about to feel like preaching in a minute. And the Bible said

[00:36:30]that Jesus understood the power of the stick. So no man took his life. He laid it down. But he laid it down on a stick. He He knew the power of the stick. All through the Old Testament, it has taught us the power of the stick. Elijah sent a stick down to the widow's house to heal her son. There's power in the stick. So Jesus laid down on the stick and they

[00:37:00]hung him high and they stretched him wide and the Bible said they drove a nail into his wrist on the right side and the left side that they took a spike and drove it through both feet symbolizing the Jew and the Gentile coming together up under one gospel and they nailed him to the cross. But that ain't the bad part. If

[00:37:30]they' have left the cross laying down, I wouldn't have been saved. But they messed up when they lifted it up. Cuz the Bible said, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw men unto me." If you're getting something out of this, give him a little praise.

[00:38:00]They hung him from the 6th to the 9th hour. They hung him till he hung his head in the locks of his shoulders and died. They hung him until graves all over Jerusalem begin to open up. They hung him until the veil in the temple was rent from the top to the bottom. They hung him to the Old Testament fainted over into the New Testament. They hung him until the law was

[00:38:30]fulfilled. They hung him. Oh, didn't they hang him? They hung him. Oh, yeah. Yes. They hung him. And they hung him till he just gave over to death. He submitted to death. The death of the cross. And he died for your sins. I'm not talking about the sins you testify about. I'm talking about the sins you don't tell nobody

[00:39:00]about. He died for your secret sins. He died for your private sins. He died for your personal sin. That's why God doesn't understand when you can come out on Easter and not praise God. Because he knows that you know what he did in your life. He knows what the church folk don't know that happened to you when you→ Sin restricted to the secret/private/personal register

[00:39:30]was a child. He died for a little bit of this. And he died for a little bit of that. And he died till it was over. And he died till it was finished. And he died until he said, "Tell Celesti, it is finished." Slap your neighbor and say, "It is finished." You can talk about it, but it's finished. You can bring it up, but it's→ Sin restricted to the secret/private/personal register

[00:40:00]finished. You can roll your eyes, but it's finished. You can post postage, but it's finished. When God finishes something, it is finished. Don't expect me to walk around with my head down because I know it's finished. Expect my head to be up. Expect my back to be straight cuz I know it's finished. I can come boldly to the throne of grace and

[00:40:30]find mercy to help me in the time of need cuz it is finished. I can get in the house of God and shout like I didn't do what I know I did cuz it is finished. I wish I had about a hundred people that knew what I was talking about. You got to praise him cuz you know what he did for you. You know how he delivered you. You know how he set you

[00:41:00]free. Grab your neighbor one time and say, "When I think of the goodness, when I just think about it, when I just think about it, when I think about where he brought me from, when I think about domestic violence, when I think about child abuse, when I think about agony, when I think about eating tomato sandwiches, when I think about eating mayonnaise sandwiches, when I think about the hell he brought me through MY

[00:41:30]SOUL. MY SOUL, MY SOUL CRIED OUT, HALLELUJAH. THANK GOD. THANK GOD for saving me. Oh, I'm almost finished now. I'm not going to take up much time, but I feel something pushing me in the back. I feel something stirring in my soul. The Bible said that

[00:42:00]he borrowed a grave from Joseph of Arma. But let me understand something here. Anytime you borrow something, you don't plan to stay there. He borrowed it cuz he only was going to use it for three days. When I came to earth on June 9th, 1957, I borrowed this body cuz I didn't plan to stay here. For I know if this earthly

[00:42:30]house or tabernacle shall be the Lord, I got another building eternal in the heavens somewhere over in glory. I already understand somebody's going to drive my car. Somebody's going to wear my clothes. Somebody's going to sleep in my bed, but that's all right cuz I just borrowed it. I've got a mansion over in glory and it's mine.

[00:43:00]Yes, it's mine. I got a mansion somewhere beyond the Jordan and it's mine. Yes, it's mine. They took Jesus to a bar tomb and they rolled the stone in front of him and they left him there all day Thursday, all day Friday, all day Saturday, but Sunday morning.

[00:43:30]Yes. >> Sunday morning. Sunday morning, Michael. Sunday morning. Sunday morning. HE GOT UP >> OUT of the grave. Yes, he did. He got up out of the grave. I never could understand how he would

[00:44:00]later appear in a gardener's suit. He didn't get to go to the store. He didn't get to stitch anything. But when he rose from the dead, he spoke him some clothes into existence. I couldn't understand how he could walk around in the grave because they wrapped him in 1in strips of linen. And you remember Lazarus had to be loosed. But who loosed Jesus? He

[00:44:30]loosed himself. He set himself free. He spoke him a new code into existence and he was walking around in the grave. But it didn't stop there because it's not enough to get out of your grave clothes. It's not enough to wake up out the grave. If you're still stuck behind the stone and as I get ready to close, some of you have been resurrected, but you've

[00:45:00]been living behind the stone. A stone of doubt, a stone of poverty, a stone of insecurity, a stone of pride, a stone of lust. But the Lord said, "I'm getting ready to roll the stone out of the way." I know you're in there. You've been in there a long time trying to praise me behind a stone, but I'm going to roll

[00:45:30]the stone out of your way. Slap your neighbor and say, "Get out of my way. I got to get up out of this grave. I've got to get up out of this depression. I got to get up out of this state I'm in. I've got to get up out of this situation. I'm tired of walking around in depression. I'm going to roll the stone away.

[00:46:00]Hallelujah. Is there anybody that's got faith in the room? I want you to take your faith and just roll the stone out of your way. God's getting ready to roll the stone out of your way. He's getting ready to move it out of your way so that you can come out of the grave. And when you come out of the grave, you ought to come out

[00:46:30]praising God. You ought to come out giving God the glory. You ought to come out lifting him up. They nail you to a stick. They hid you behind a stoneh. But God's going to bring you out of everything they had you locked up behind. Who am I preaching to? Somebody that I'm preaching to. Take about 30 seconds and start leaping in the presence of God.

[00:47:00]Start leaping. Start leaving till the stone knows he can't hold you. Start leaping till the sickness knows you got to turn me loose. Start leaving till depression comes out of your body. Start leaving till suicide leaves your spirit. Start leaping till you get a new

[00:47:30]joy. Start leaping till you get a new dance. Start leaping uh leap your way out. If you can't leave, then crawl. If you can't call, then walk. But touch seven people and say, "I got to get out of here. I got to get out of here. I got to get out of here. I've been down too long. I got to get out of here. There's

[00:48:00]a power that's pulling me out of my situation. Ain't no grave going to hold my body down. Gravity can't hold me down. Enemies can't hold me down. Situations can't hold me down. Death can't hold me down. When God says get up, I'm going to get up. I'm going to

[00:48:30]get up. And the nails can't hold me. I'm going to get up and the grave can't hold me. I'm going to get up and your stairs can't hold me. I'm going to get up. Roll your eyes, but I'm still going to get up. Break your notes, but I'm still going to get up. Lord, I feel something about to break loose in this place. If I had a hundred radical

[00:49:00]people that made up your mind, you're not going to take it anymore. If I had a hundred radical people that would give God the praise, something would break in here this morning. Something would break in here this morning. Something would break in here this morning. He's stronger than witchcraft. He's stronger than roots. He's stronger than Satan. He's stronger

[00:49:30]than the enemy. He's stronger than trouble. He's stronger than turmoil. He's stronger than disease. He's stronger than sickness. Whatever you need from the Lord. He's stronger than that. You ought to break loose from your bands and give God the praise. Uh leap up and say he's stronger. He's stronger. He's stronger. He's stronger. He's→ Brief othering of African diasporic folk-religious practice

[00:50:00]stronger. I've been down too long. He's stronger. He's stronger. He's stronger. He's stronger. I don't know what you're going to do on your pew, but as for me, I'm going to praise the Lord right in this pew. I'm going to give him a praise right in this balcony. I'm going to praise him cuz something's→ Brief othering of African diasporic folk-religious practice

[00:50:30]about to break. Get a lock of my hair, but you can't curse me. Get my DNA, but you can't stop me. Talk about me, but you can't stop me. Because when God says, "Get up, ain't nothing for me to do but >> but

[00:51:00]>> Grab your neighbor by the hand and say, "Neighbor, get up. Get up. God still wants to use you. Get up. God's got something he wants to do. Get up. He still wants to anoint you. Get up. He's got a plan for your life. I'm about to

[00:51:30]take my seat. But for the next three minutes, I want the wild radical. Don't care what I got on folks to give God a praise. I'm going to give you about three minutes to find a way to get up out of your grave. Throw your stone away. Pull your nail down your fingers and give God the praise. On your mark,

[00:52:00]on your mind, get set. go, go. I got to get up. >> I got to get up.

[00:52:30]I got to get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. Get up. out of that grave. Get them get them out of that grave. Get them. Get them. Get them. Get them out of that grave. Get them. Get them. Get them. Get them out of that grave. Get them. Get them. Get them. Get them out of that grave. Get them. Get them. Get them. Get them out of that grave. Get them. Get them. Get

[00:53:00]them. Get them out of that grave. Get them. Get them. >> YOU GOT ONE MINUTE. >> You got one minute left. You got one minute left to give God the praise. You got 45 seconds uh to give God the praise. You got 40 seconds to stop worrying about these people and break loose. This is your Sunday to break loose. You got 30 seconds uh to

[00:53:30]break everything that held you, EVERYTHING THAT TIED YOU UP. 20 seconds to give God the glory. I can't hear you.

[00:54:00]5 4 3 2 1 Give him a praise.

[00:54:30]Glory. >> Give him a praise. Glory. >> Give him a praise. >> Glory.

[00:55:00]than being in the grave is to be resurrected and can't get out. To have the knowhow and the knowledge But you can't get out. You walk so far and you run into something and you have to go back. >> And the enemy's got you convinced that that stone in your life

[00:55:30]away. I don't know what kind of stone it is. It might be a stone of depression.

[00:56:00]>> but you hit it every time you try >> to get out. And some of you have decided, I'm just going to live in the tomb. God said no. Lift your hands for a moment and worship him. >> All over this room. Worship him in spirit and in truth.

[00:56:30]I see you here on Sunday. Glad to have you. >> But let's get real for a minute. That stone that's in your life need not stay in your life. That stone that's in your house need not stay in your house. Lift your hands. Open your mouth.

[00:57:00]And if you do like the Egyptians did and cry unto God, >> he'll move everything out of your way >> to deliver you. You might be watching online, but God will move everything out of your way

[00:57:30]>> And your pride has stopped so many blessings from coming in your life. And you hold on to it for dear life because all you've ever done was live behind the wall >> of your image. But if you give up your image this morning,

[00:58:00]>> if you get sick and tired of being sick and tired, >> if you get to the point that you want to come out of that grave early in the morning, the women came down to the tomb to get Jesus where he used to be. And the angels sitting on the stone said, "He is not here. He is risen." I can just imagine people

[00:58:30]coming to where you used to be. And and the angel says, "She not here. She's not here. She's not here. She I know the girl you're talking about, but she's not here. I know the woman you're talking about, but she's not here. I know that brother you're talking about, but he's not here. He has risen.

[00:59:00]>> I cut my message short because I'm led of the Lord to pray for somebody who wants to rise up out of it. who seriously means I'm tired of walking around in this tomb surrounded by corpses. I go out to eat with them. I go out to party with them. They come over my house. I'm tired of being around dead things.

[00:59:30]>> I'm not talking about them. I don't mean no harm against them, but I'm I know better >> cuz he's done too much in my life. for me to live another day >> in the tombs. If you're in this room >> and you want out bad enough not to care

[01:00:00]about your image, >> you want out bad enough to increase your parameters, >> enlarge your borders, >> to have the abundant life that Jesus died >> for you to have life. >> He didn't die for you to have church.

[01:00:30]>> He died for you to have life. You're existing, but you're not living. >> How many birthdays you think you going to have? >> How many more Christmases you think you're going to have? >> You're wasting time. He said, "The day you hear my voice, >> hard and not your heart,→ 'Resurrection life' defined privately — Isa 58, Matt 25, Acts 2, Jas 2 all unreferenced

[01:01:00]>> this Sunday morning, I don't care who's standing beside you. Tell them, move out of my way. I can't let you be a stone at a moment that God is trying to work something out in my life. And I'm coming if I got to come out the balcony. I'm coming if I got to come down the steps. I'm coming if I got to come out of the corner. I'm coming if I got to come with liquor on my breath. I'm coming if I was smoking a joint last→ 'Resurrection life' defined privately — Isa 58, Matt 25, Acts 2, Jas 2 all unreferenced

[01:01:30]night. I'm coming this morning because I want a change in my life. Touch your neighbor. Tell them stones go roll this morning. Stones are going to roll this morning. They're going to roll. this morning.

[01:02:00]>> It's God's job to call And it's your job to answer. >> Now God is doing his job.

[01:02:30]Come on. I'll wait on you. You're not going to use me as no excuse. Come on.

[01:03:00]>> Let me let me let me let me let me let me let me let me make this real clear so you can understand it. >> When I go into prayer, it's going to be too late for you to come. This this space we got right here is a grace space. >> Grace don't last always. >> Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

[01:03:30]>> God forbid. For if we are buried in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. And you had he quickened who were dead in the trespasses of sin. He gave you new life. He gave you something that the drug dealer can't give you, that your chick on the side can't give

[01:04:00]you. He gave you something that nobody else can give you. >> And I want you to come. >> It's a grace space. This is the space that proves that you can't go to heaven and I mean go and stand before God and say I never got a chance. This is your opportunity.

[01:04:30]There is nothing in your life, on your life or in your past that God cannot forgive.

[01:05:00]There is nothing on your mind, no matter how hideous or dark it might be, >> that the word can't penetrate and change your life. There is nothing, there is nothing that's hindering you. He will roll that stone.

[01:05:30]And there's nothing out there. There's nothing out there but trouble and they want to come home.

[01:06:00]At the Potter's House, we are invested in you. Not just what you do, but who you're becoming. >> We believe that in this house, we are better together. We need one another to be holy, to hold each other accountable, and to keep growing. >> As God positions us to serve every soul, we believe that an act of sowing is an act of faith and agreement right where God is speeding up. And we're honored that we get to partner with you in reaching lives near and far. This is

[01:06:30]your official invitation to not just be a spectator, but to be a partner. Be a member of our family that seeks kingdom solutions during the challenges of every season. >> Amen. Your giving, your service, and your love to this house isn't just generosity, it's ministry. If this message spoke to you and you believe what God is doing in this house, we invite you to become a member today. We

[01:07:00]want to do life with you and share this message with someone you care about, someone who needs it the most. I believe that it could be the catalyst for the breakthrough that they're seeking. No matter where you are, remember, God sees you. He loves you and so do we.