Transcription
Open your mouth and begin to praise God and to just worship Him in the most intimate and personal way that you know how. Thank Him for the ways He made to get you here. Thank Him for the obstacles He moves so that you can have this moment. Thank Him for the grace over your life. Somebody give the Lord glory tonight. Somebody honor Him.
While you're standing, just take a moment and realize that as we worship God in this Dome, and we've come from every walk of life, some have driven miles, changed quickly, some didn't change just to be here tonight. The men are over in the Georgia World Congress Center. Those that are not in here, they're worshiping over there. The young people are in the Phillips Arena, and the children are in Megaland. And a good square mile of Atlanta is covered with worshippers lifting up the name of the Lord.
Let's just thank God that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ. While we were worshiping, we were joined not only by the heavenly host and the presence of angels and the royal diadem of heaven, but I want you to know that while we were worshiping, my wife just welcomed the God Channel, who's joining us tonight, along with Trinity, Brother Casting Network, The Miracle Channel, TCT World, Miracle Net. It's all going on in the house right now. People all over the world have stepped into Megafest here in Atlanta, Georgia, where the Spirit of the Lord is moving in a supernatural way. And throughout the service, you might see the screens go to different locations. One of them might be the Smith State Prison in Glenville, Georgia, or Shelby County Correctional Center in Memphis, Tennessee, or Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois. They're worshiping with us in Toronto, Canada. The Reverend Dr. James is lifting up the Lord there in Toronto. We love you. Give God a praise for all of our guests and friends that celebrate the Lord with us tonight.
Now, when I said, "Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord," I'm not just talking to the Georgia Dome, but I'm talking to the Phillips Arena and the Georgia World Congress Center and Toronto, Canada, and Smith State Prison, and Shelby County Correctional, and Logan County, and all of the TBN and God TV and Miracle Channel, TCT, Miracle Net. Let everything that hath breath praise ye the Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I'm happy to be here. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord.
What a privilege, what an honor tonight it is that the Lord has afforded us an opportunity to assemble ourselves, I'm going to say, in the house of the Lord. For I don't know what they built it to be, but tonight, I don't know what it's going to be next month, but tonight, because the saints of God are in here, this has become the house of the Lord. Come on and give God glory tonight. This is a sanctuary of praise, a habitation of excellence, and God is just going to do so many wonderful things. I'm just excited. I don't really, there are so many generals and sergeants and lieutenants in here tonight. I don't want to take a lot of time calling names. It's not out of disrespect, it's just that if you start it, you can't stop it. Amen. But I thank God for every one of you all, the pastors and preachers and teachers and elders and ministers that have come to be with us tonight. I'm just grateful to have you.
I do want to mention one of my dear friends. It's his first time being with us in an assembly like this, and I just want to mention Pastor John Hy and his wife, Diane. Would you just help me appreciate them? Would you stand tonight? Amen. Very, very special friends of mine. God is so good. You're going to be hearing from him this week, and it's just so, we're blessed to have so many wonderful men and women of God. If you don't get saved in here, you just don't want to be saved. We've got the teachers and the reachers and the preachers and the evangelists and the prayer warriors. It's just a wonderful gathering of believers. I'm having a good time already. How about you?
I want you, if you will, to get your Bibles as we prepare to go to the word of the Lord. And I want to challenge you to take full advantage of this opportunity to get everything that you can over the next few days. Amen. Sleep fast, eat quick, shout hard, take notes, receive everything you can, because after this, you're coming into your kingdom. And I believe that this is going to be a preparatory meeting for God's men and women as He gets you ready for the days to come and the things that He's going to release in your life. You're going to see why you had to go through what you had to go through to get to where you're about to go in the kingdom of God. Somebody give God glory! Glory!
I want to look at two scriptures. I want you to look at Genesis chapter 49, verses 5-7. Genesis 49:5-7. And then I want you to look at Genesis chapter 34, and we're going to read about 13 verses of the 34th chapter of the Book of Genesis. Again, Genesis chapter 49, verses 5-7, and Genesis 34, verses 1-13. Hallelujah! It is my custom to stand for the reading of the word of God. I would ask you to indulge me tonight out of respect for His word and the triumphant power that exists through the word of God itself.
Again, Genesis 49:5-7, and then we're going to look at Genesis chapter number 34. I will read in your hearing Genesis 49:5-7. I will read it in the Living Bible, but you can follow along with your eyes and whatever translation you may have. And then we will read the 34th chapter in concert. If you're watching from a cell in a prison, if you're watching in a chapel in the prison, or in a church service around the world, or in your living room, look in the word of God. There's something in this word for you tonight.
Genesis 49:5-7 says, "Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; they are men of violence and injustice. They weren't right. Injustice, you, it wasn't fair, it wasn't right. Oh my soul, stay away from them! May I never be a party to their wicked plans, for in their anger they murdered a man and maimed oxen just for fun. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce and cruel. Therefore, I will scatter their descendants throughout Israel." Can you say amen?
Look at the 34th chapter of the Book of Genesis. The 34th chapter of the Book of Genesis, verses number 1 through 13. And let us read together as a family out of the word of God. "And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her. And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel. And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter: which thing ought not to be done. It wasn't right. And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. And make ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you. And ye shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you: dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein. And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor her father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister."
Can you say amen? For the next few moments, I just want to talk to you from the subject, "The Shechem Incident." Say that with me. "The Shechem Incident." One more time. "The Shechem Incident." Mhm. Let's pray.
Father, in the name of Jesus, I would ask You to use me tonight for Your glory. Hide my flesh behind the cross tonight. I would ask You to speak in a supernatural way tonight. Give answers to somebody's dilemma. It is not important that I be glorified. It is only important that You be glorified. Establish Your word in the lives of Your people tonight. Somebody came looking for answers out of Your word. Speak tonight as only You can do. I trust You now. I'm turning it over to You. Have Your way in this place. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Somebody say amen.
You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. The Shechem incident. It is interesting when we read in the 49th chapter of the Book of Genesis that as Jacob has come to the end of his life, about to die, that he has gathered around the bed his sons that he might dispense his final words to them before he folds his legs in the bed and goes to the land of his fathers. It is a father's final opportunity to summarize the remaining grains of wisdom to the intent that his sons might understand their destiny and their purpose. Generally, in a moment like this, this is a time to settle all accounts, to bring a sense of finality and closure to disruption and confusion, so that his sons might have a sense of peace and destiny as it relates to their purpose in the kingdom of God.
And yet, when we read about Jacob in this summary of his life, we know that he is a man of God because he fought death off long enough to bless his sons. And the Bible said, "And Israel sat up in the bed, and strengthened himself." And we know that God has been with him. That there's been a great transformation in his life. Forever, throughout all eternity, God will be referred to as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has come into alignment with the divine order in his family. Now, admittedly, it took him a while to get there, but he has finally evolved into a man of God. Admittedly, there was a time that he was a ruffian, a scoundrel, a scout. He was a kind of person that looked like he was not going to flourish after the tradition of his father and grandfather. But it's amazing how the word of God, if it is planted in your life, you may run for a long time, but eventually, it will snare you, apprehend you, and the righteous seed that is down inside of you will eventually arise and bring you to a place of fruition in God.
Jacob has developed that tenacity and that prayer life and that communion with God. He has seen storms and tests and trials, famines and pestilence, storms and crisis. He has evolved into a man of wisdom. That's all the more reason it is shocking to me that in the final summary of his life, when we hear him speak in the 49th chapter of the Book of Genesis, you can't help but notice a sense of anger and frustration in his voice as he refuses to release his sons from what they did. He speaks to Simeon and Levi almost as if he were angry with them, and he brings up an incident out of their past and calls them cruel and unjust, insensitive. And he says that their descendants will be cursed over what we will call tonight, the Shechem incident.
Now, you must understand, there are some things that we can do that we can kind of move along and get over and go about our business. But there are some principles that if you violate them, it will affect you and your children and your children's children. There are some things that you cannot violate. There are some walls that you cannot break down. And the Bible talks about in the King James version, it deals with how they have dug down a wall, they have, they've messed up some things that Jacob says is irreparable. And they are in a state where, even as he is dying, he's almost pointing his finger at them. They're expecting a blessing, but he says, "You're still cursed." Gasping for breath, heart pumping slowly, pulse getting weak, eyes rolling up in his head, a cold sweat on his brow. Death has reached out with her cold fingers and attached herself to his lungs, and the air is escaping his body. And in the final moments before he takes his flight from time into eternity, he says, "You're still cursed." What an embarrassing moment for them, surrounded by all of their brothers. What a moment of disdain. What a moment of despair. This is their father's final words. And you have to wonder in your mind, what happened in the Shechem incident that Jacob, even when he is old, is still pointing his crooked finger at them and saying, "You're still wrong, and you'll never get the blessing that you should have gotten because God remembers the Shechem incident."
You see, this is an interesting issue because this issue centers, as we read in the text, the 34th chapter, it centers around a young lady named Dinah, who is one of Jacob's daughters. And it is interesting because according to the patriarchal tradition of the times, the blessings are commended primarily to sons as opposed to daughters. And yet, these boys are denied their blessing over something they did to a girl, to a sister, to a woman. The way they treated her. What went down in Shechem. God is still holding against them because God does watch how you treat other people. Oh, I know that's not popular because we think that as long as we praise Him, we can be mean and hateful to other people. But God does care how you treat other people. It's not just an Old Testament principle. It's not just something that's housed in the Pentateuch before appropriate blood was sprinkled, but all the way over into the New Testament, God warns us about how we treat one another. He warns us that we have love one toward another. He warns us, even as husbands, how we treat our wives. God does watch over His, not just His sons, but He also watches over His daughters. I know people don't like to admit that, but God will watch over His daughters just like He does His sons. If you don't believe it, ask Moses about the daughters of Zelophehad, and when the women came to him and said, "We don't see why we shouldn't receive the blessing just like the men, even though we are women." It was so confusing to Moses because it was inappropriate for these radical women to ask to be blessed like a man, that even Moses had to get down on his knees and say, "God, what do I do with these radical women that insist that You're there?" God did. And God opened His mouth and cleared His throat and said, "The woman is right." I want every woman in here to holler, "God will bless me too!" Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm not replacing men, but I'm standing right beside you and saying that God will bless me too. The blessing of the Lord is going to fall tonight. I don't know who I'm preaching to tonight, but I feel like God is going to release some things in your heart and in your spirit tonight, break some curses over your life, and get you ready for what He wants to do in you. Shake somebody and say, "This curse must be broken!"
I never knew too much about curses and things like that. I didn't know a whole lot about that sort of thing, primarily because I grew up in a neighborhood where they didn't talk about cursing people. They talked a lot about cursing people, but they didn't say a whole lot about cursing them. And as I begin to learn about curses, I've concluded, I really don't want neither one. But I would rather you curse me than curse me. You can curse me and never cuss at all. You curse me when you speak to my destiny and speak negativity over my future. You curse me when you tell me I'll never be anything. You curse me when you say I'll never have anything. You curse me when you tell me to go sit in the back of the bus and shut up. You curse me when you tell me to stay in my place. It's not my place; it's the place you want me to stay in. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying to you. And it's a terrible thing to live with a curse over your life.
Think about it a minute. This thing with Dinah doesn't really start with her. The Bible talks about Dinah beginning to move and to wander around Shechem. But before we talk about the young lady, I want to reach back. I've talked a little bit about her father, but I want to talk a little bit about her mother. Dinah is the daughter of Leah. She grew up in the house with Leah. You remember Leah? Leah was Jacob's wife, the first woman that he married. Not the woman he wanted, but the woman he married. Not the woman he was in love with, but the woman he married. Not the woman that he wished for, craved for, longed to be around. Not the woman that he was so desirous of that he said, "I worked 14 years to get this woman." Leah was the consolation prize. She was the booby prize. She was the trick. She was the toy. She was the result of conniving Laban's opportunistic attitude. Leah was what he sent to Jacob's bed, and Jacob didn't know who she was until in the morning. The Bible said, "In the morning he saw it was Leah." In the King James version, it describes Leah as being tender-eyed. When I first read that, I thought they were saying she had beautiful eyes, but when I got into the translation, it meant that she was tangle-eyed. She was, yeah, my grandmother would say she was cockeyed. She was not particularly beautiful. She was not voluptuous. She was not lovely. She was not sensual. But isn't it funny how, in spite of that, Leah had the favor of God over her life? It's a funny thing about favor. God will give you favor when you are hated and ostracized. The Bible says something that when the Lord saw how Leah was hated by Rachel, that He opened up her womb. And I know you all have never been hated, and so you don't understand what I'm saying. But if there's anybody in here who's ever lived in an environment where you've been hated and mistreated and ostracized and alienated and criticized, and people snickered when you came in the room, and you can see them passing notes and winking when you pass by, talking about, "That's her there, she goes. That's him, look at him, he's the one over there." It's funny how you can live in a hated situation and yet, some kind of way, God has a way of making it up to you. I believe that God will do you some favors to compensate for the rejection and how you've been ostracized. Some of you right now, the reason you are as blessed as you are is because you have been hated like you've been hated. And if you hadn't been, I'm going to try to take my time tonight, but I think there are a few folks in here that understand what I'm saying. It's almost like the more people persecute you and the more they afflict you, the more God opens doors and makes ways for you and says, "You might not like him, but he's still my son. You may not like her, but she's still my daughter." Is there anybody in here that had God do you some favor?
In one way, it was the best of times in Leah's life, and in another way, it was the worst of times in her life. It's amazing how things can be good and bad simultaneously. When you look at your life from one perspective, you say, "I'm more blessed than I've ever been in my life." And yet, when you think about certain other issues, anybody ever had some issues that when you think about certain of the issues, you say, "Oh God, what am I going to do? This is the worst moment in my life." Being a friend to a person like that, you would think that your friend is schizophrenic because one moment they're smiling and happy, and the next moment they've got tears running down their face. Folks don't want to be bothered with you because they think you're crazy. And it's not that you're crazy, it's just that when you think about this, it makes you want to laugh, and when you think about that, it makes you want to cry. And it's a good day on this foot, but it's a bad day on that foot. When you look over here, you say, "I'm blessed." But when you look over here, you say, "I never did find the love I was looking for." You say, "Lord, I thank You for the job, but I sure hate the fact that they hate me on the job." You bless me with. I wonder if there's anybody who's ever been trapped between two worlds.
Leah was so blessed of God that even Rachel, the beautiful, sucking wife that Jacob attached himself to, even Rachel was envious of how God blessed Leah. Leah was blessed, but she wasn't free. There's a difference between being blessed and being free. The difference between having blessings and enjoying the freedom that only comes from sealing up your past and moving away from your issues. There's a difference between being able to buy a steak and digest a steak. There's a difference between being able to buy a big bed and being able to sleep in the bed you bought. Oh, y'all don't understand what I'm saying. When you're not free, you can't enjoy the blessings because all you do is take the blessings and use the blessing to try to prove to somebody else that, "See, I am somebody." It's not about the fact that God blessed you with the car. You can't enjoy the car for trying to drive past the neighborhood where your ex lived so he can see that you made it too. You ought to drive somewhere else, turn up the music, flip the air conditioning on high, and enjoy the blessing of the Lord. But when you're not free, but somebody's going to get free in here tonight. Touch somebody and say, "I got to get free." Oh, you don't just have to say it in the Georgia Dome. You can say it in the prison. You can say it in the cell block. You can say it in the prison chapel because the kind of freedom that I'm talking about doesn't have anything to do with bars and cells and wardens and police. I'm talking about free from your past and your mistakes and your failures. Y'all ain't help me, but I feel something in here tonight. Touch somebody, say, "I got to be free."
Something's about to happen. I feel it in my soul. I feel it in my spirit. I feel an unction coming from the Lord. Something is about to happen in this place. Somebody say, "Yes!" The Lord opened up Leah's womb. She had a son named Reuben, and she named him Reuben because Reuben means "He looked upon my affliction." She's simply saying that maybe now the Lord has looked upon my affliction, and maybe now Jacob will love me. But he didn't. So she had another son and called him Simeon, and Simeon means "The Lord hath heard me." And maybe when he sees I produce two sons, and she hadn't had any sons, maybe he'll love me like he loves her. But he didn't. And so she had a third son named Levi, and Levi means "joined." She said, "If I have three sons for him, baby, he'll join with me and connect with me, and we'll have it together." But he didn't. And she had a fourth son named Judah, which means "Now will I praise the Lord." She said, "Surely, if I give him four sons, surely I'm going to enter into that state where I finally get my praise on and have peace and deliverance and joy." But she really didn't. She had a son named Issachar. He was the fifth son. Somebody say, "The fifth son." And she said, "Maybe God has given me my hire." This boy is a hire. The fifth son. I want to take a moment and talk about how she got Issachar. See, by the time she had Judah, Jacob wasn't staying with Leah at all. He was spending all of his time over at Rachel's house. And so she got Reuben to pick some fruit called mandrakes. And Rachel wanted some of the fruit. And so she said, "I tell you what, I'll give you the fruit that my son picked if if if you'll let Jacob..." Y'all can't handle this. Y'all are not old enough to understand. Y'all don't understand desperation. Because you got on your silk dress and your nice hat and your pumps and your glory of Vanderbilt, and you don't know anything about desperation to make you do things you said you would never do, say things you would never say. And I know you got to sit there and act like you've never compromised your own principles or done anything crazy. But there are a few sisters up in the back row that'll tell you that love will mess up your mind, make you act crazy, do ridiculous stuff. The Bible says that Leah ran out to meet Jacob when he got off work and said, "You coming to my house tonight? We already worked it out. I hired you for the evening." She had Issachar. She paid a price, but she had him. And she had Zebulun, the sixth son. And then sixth son means "you're a good hire." Now that I've had six sons, maybe the one I'm married to will really be married to me. Six sons, no love, lots of work, no acceptance. Then she has a daughter. She looked at her. She said, "I call her Dinah." No prophecy, no purpose, no word over her life. She wasn't expecting much to come. This baby was a girl. A girl that ain't going to do anything for it. The seventh child should have been the completion. This Dinah. She walked away. It was this Dinah, yeah, who was born out of the embittered womb of a frustrated mother, that begins to wander. Because this Dinah has no place to rest in her own house. Her mother is distracted and preoccupied. Her mother's got unresolved issues. And when you are reared in an environment where your parents are kind of... Y'all can't handle this stuff. It's hard for you to rest and be stable and be secure and hold it together. Oh, you can look like you got it together. You can walk like you got it together. You can spray perfume on and smell like you got it together. But when you're in an unstable environment, it affects your ability to get it together. On one hand, she had a mother who was just having babies, trying to hook up with a father who was in love with somebody else. And then the father had his own issues. Dinah was in a mess. Dinah was in a mess. I'm wondering if there's anybody in here who's ever been dressed up but in a mess. Driving to work but in a mess. Going about your business but in a mess. Smiling at people, "Good morning," but you're in a mess. Going through the motions, but you're in a mess. I'm wondering if there's anybody in here that's had to live with a secret, an issue, a scar, a problem. You waited till nobody was looking to cry because you didn't want anybody to know that you were smiling, but you really weren't happy. I'm wondering if there's anybody in here who's ever lived your life in a mess. Oh, there are obvious messes. There are people who are watching me right now in prison. It's an obvious mess. There are people who are watching me who are getting food stamps, their own welfare. They're in an obvious mess. People who have been through suicide, almost suicide victims, have been through a crisis, had a nervous breakdown. It's an obvious mess. But I'm going to tell on the rest of you. You good-looking, self-righteous, holy, and my, some of y'all in a mess up in here too. Preachers in a mess, evangelists in a mess, deep book full, but down on the inside, you're still a mess. Still messed up. Locked up in a crazy house, dealing with crazy folks. Everybody in the house acts like they've lost their mind. Everybody in the house is looking somewhere else. The place where you ought to be safe and be nurtured and be stable was a crazy house. I know you can't hold your hand up because you don't want nobody to know that you grew up in a crazy house. Now that you got your degree, you moved on past that. But behind all of that paperwork, you came from a people. Think you just shout because you're emotional. You just shouting because you're just glad you didn't lose your mind. Anybody been through what you've been through should have lost their mind. Had it not been for the Lord that was on your side, you wouldn't be sitting up here with your cute dress on. God, God delivered you. God brought you through. God. Tell somebody, "You better praise Him. You better not sit up there and act all cute and funny and self-righteous. You ought to praise Him till we can't smell your cologne. Praise Him till you shake down them braids out of your head. You ought to praise Him where God brought you from." Somebody say, "Lord, don't let me look like where I came from." I'm going to try that again. Say, "Lord, don't let me look like where I came from." Give Him some praise if you feel me.
I have to apologize to Dinah myself. I didn't treat Dinah right either. I slandered Dinah as a preacher. I misrepresented Dinah as a preacher. I didn't look at Dinah deeply enough. I preached Dinah, and I suggested things about this girl that wasn't true. I thought that Dinah had gone tramping about in Shechem because she was a... I thought she was looking for the men of Shechem. I thought she'd gotten out in the street looking for a date. I criticized her for wandering out in Shechem because I didn't understand that when you read the text, she didn't go into Shechem looking for men. The Bible says she was looking for daughters, she was looking for sisters, she was looking for women, she was looking for connection. She's looking for mothering, she's looking for nurturing, she's looking for affection, she's looking for what Leah couldn't give her. She was looking for somebody who would help her find her purpose and her destiny. I'm wondering if there's anybody in here who's ever searched to find the missing link in your life, traveling everywhere, everywhere. She wasn't looking for a date. She was looking for Leah, for nurturing, for affection, for completion. Have you ever left home looking for one thing and ended up with something else? Have you ever left home looking for love, and people just made assumptions about you and thought they knew what you were and labeled you and started rumors on you? They don't know who you are. They don't know what you've been through. Have you ever stumbled around trying to find what you should have already had? Looking in Shechem, she was looking in the city trying to find what she should have found in the house. I said she was trying to find what she should have found in the house.
I have to apologize to her because the Bible says that when she came to Shechem, the city was named after the prince, Shechem, who was the son of Hamor. And when she came down into Shechem, she ran into the prince. Now, he was from Shechem. He wasn't a part of her family or her house. But he saw her, and he slept with her. And I have to apologize to brother Shechem too, because I thought that he just brutalized her and raped her and ostracized her. But no, no, no, that's not exactly how it was. He did sleep with her, but the Bible said he fell in love with her. Oh, I know, I know he fell in love with her. This strange, broken girl who was looking for something. Maybe he needed to be needed. I don't know. But whatever it was, he fell in love with Dinah. This purposeless, wandering, wilted woman. He fell in love with her. Fell in love with her. He told his daddy, "I got to have this woman. I want her." It wasn't a fling. It wasn't a midnight rendezvous. He said, "I want her to be my wife." He said, "Daddy, get me this woman. I want to make her my wife." The Bible said he loved her. He did for her what her daddy didn't do for her mother. Y'all can't handle me tonight. I said, he did for her what her daddy didn't do for her mother. She had never seen a man love a woman. Blew her mind. He loved her. He loved her. She finally found where she fit. Now, I know, I know what you're thinking. You're saying, "He went about it wrong. It would have been all right for him to sleep with her had he married her first." You, you, you, you're right. He should have married her and then slept with her. You, it wasn't right. It wasn't right. I can't make excuses for it. It was out of order. It wasn't divine order. It wasn't right. And then the Bible scholars are saying she didn't have no business fooling with the men of Shechem, no way. She should have married somebody in her house. And I know it wasn't right. It wasn't right. It wasn't right. It wasn't right. It should have been in the house, but it wasn't right.
You see, sometimes God has to take you outside of the house. I wish I had a Dinah in here, somebody that God had to get you outside of the box, had to get you out of your city, away from your folks, away from the folks who knew you when, away from the place where you thought... Have you ever had God bless you in a strange place? Some of y'all, they didn't even want you to come to this meeting, but God will take you out of your environment. It wasn't right. It wasn't right. It wasn't right. It wasn't right for Rahab the harlot on now to lie about the spies. It wasn't right. It wasn't right for Samuel to lie to Saul about why he was looking for David to anoint him. It wasn't right. It wasn't right for Jonah to head toward Tarshish. It wasn't right. It wasn't right for you to have a baby out of wedlock. It wasn't right for you to end up in that situation that you had to pray for months to get out of. It wasn't right. And I know you got to sit there in that holy seat with that sanctimonious look on your face, with your holy Bible and your holy light, with your holy glasses on, and act like everything you did was right. But I want to blow the whistle on you today. Some of the mess you got into. Where are the real folks in here? You don't have to tell them what you did, but touch three people and say, "It wasn't right." Yeah, you in the prison, you do it. Touch them and say, "It wasn't right." It was some of that stuff you brought on yourself. It wasn't right. No need in making excuses and trying to rewrite the Bible and change the scriptures and appeal to court. It wasn't right.
But I need to tell somebody that one of the reasons that I love the Lord is that God can take something that was wrong and slip it all the way around and make it turn out. I know you can't act like you know what I'm talking about, but somebody in here knows what it is for God to take your mess and turn it into a message. Spit around right fast and say, "Turn it around, Lord." People think you shouting over your car. You're not shouting over your car. People think you're shouting over your house. You're not shouting over your house. You're shouting because God turned it around. It wasn't right. But see, you all are sitting out here, walking around free, and you can act like you don't need this message. But somebody's watching me in the prison right now. They need to know that God can take something that's wrong and turn it around and make it come out all right. Let the witnesses holler. Yeah. Shake somebody's hand like you're going to shake it off and say, "He turned my life around." He turned my life around. He turned my situation around. He turned my credit around. He turned my finances around. He turned my marriage around. He turned my children around. He slap somebody and say, "Turn it around!" Somebody take 60 seconds and praise God for a massive turnaround. Prophesy to somebody and tell them to get ready for a turnaround. They made it for evil, but God's going to make it good. Get right, get out. I don't know who it is, but somebody's getting ready to turn your money around, your finances around, your home life around. Give God a praise right now. Somebody shouting in the prison, "Get ready for a turnaround!" Somebody shouting in your living room, "Get ready for a turnaround!" Press down, sit it together to the brethren. Oh, I feel the anointing in here. Something's about to happen in this place. Just somebody say, "Something's about to happen in here tonight." Can I go deeper tonight? Sit down, let me go deeper. My God, I feel a turnaround spirit up in here. I said, my God, I feel a turnaround spirit. Somebody came here with a mess on you, but...
See, sit down before you shout me down. What I'm interested in, I want you to get this because this is important. What I'm interested in is the sixth verse. It says, "And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him." Hamor, the father of Shechem, went out to commune with Jacob, the father of Dinah. Said, "Now, I know what they did wasn't right, but we got to get them out of this." And Hamor said, "I tell you what, we want to marry your daughter, and we'll give our sons and daughters to marry your sons and daughters. And what you all are looking for, we already got. We've got the vineyards and the houses and the land and the property, and y'all don't have to work for none of it. Just come in and receive it, and we're going to give it to you because we're happy about this union." And Jacob said, "I can't let my sons find out about this because they'll mess this up with their carnal mind. They'll step in and get in God's way." We're about to walk into a blessing. God's about to turn some mess into some blessing. I wish somebody came here with some mess on them so you'd understand who I'm talking to today. God's about to give you beauty for ashes, and all joy for mourning, in the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. God's about to... But Levi and Simeon got in the middle of the blessing and messed it up because they thought they were doing God's service. When they got through, it wasn't just that they had killed the men of Shechem. They had stopped Dinah's blessing from coming to pass in her life. And Jacob wasn't just angry because these boys had a temper tantrum, but Jacob was angry because they were cruel and they were unjust, unjust, unfair.
Have you ever had somebody do something that sabotaged your blessing and hindered you from getting something that should have been yours because God decided to bless you without them? See, people get an attitude when they can't take the claim for the blessing that God gave you. But whoever I'm preaching to, God will bless you outside of the house. I want to tell somebody in this room, you about to get a crazy blessing, a ridiculous blessing. And I know you didn't get it when you thought you should have got it, and you didn't get it from the people who should have gave it to you, and everybody you thought loved you turned their back on you. But God's got somebody else He's going to raise up. I want some people that's been in spiritual warfare, been in a real battle, been up under attack by faith. I want you to get up and praise God for a supernatural blessing. Oh, touch your neighbor and say, "Neighbor, the reason I'm shouting is God is going to break every curse off of my life and give me the blessing I've been waiting on all of my life." I know the devil said it's too late. I know the devil said it's too old. I know the devil said it's not going to happen. But I came to tell you, the devil lied. God's going to restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten. Give Him a praise right now. Where are my folks that's been persecuted? Are you in here tonight? Let me tell you what the enemy tries to get you to do when you're persecuted. He wants you to sit up and look sad and get depressed and feel sorry for yourself because the enemy knows that if you start praising God, not when you get out, but right in the middle of your trouble, if you praise Him in spite of your problem, if you praise Him in spite of your situation, the devil knows that God will... I want some folks that's been in the fight of your life to give God a praise right now. What Dinah should have done, will stand there in the middle of all of her fields and all of her houses, all of that love, and say, "Lord, I thank You for Your mercy. I thank You for Your blessings. I thank You for Your favor." For when praises go up... Let me show you something quickly, and I'll get out of your way. The next time you're up under attack, don't you say, "When I get out, I'm going to shout the victory. I'm going to praise the Lord. I'm going to give God the glory." No, no, no. Stand right in the middle of the mess. Lift up your eyes unto the hills from whence cometh your help. Throw your hands up in the air. Act like you just don't care. Bend your back, hold your head up, and shout. Touch your neighbor and say, "Neighbor, if you were just craving, you won't have to fight back. The battle is not yours, it belongs to God." Give God the praise right now. Give Him the praise. Praise it. Praise it. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. Praise Him. No, you ain't got to praise it. If they can praise Him in the prison, in a uniform, in a cell, I know you ought to be able to give God... Reach out, lay hands on seven people and say, "You are blessed. You are blessed. Quick. You are blessed. You are blessed. You're blessed in the city. You're blessed in the field. You're blessed in your uprising. You're blessed in your down-setting. You're blessed in your coming in. You're blessed. Blessed. Blessed. You're blessed. You're blessed." Find them seven people and touch them again and tell them, "Your enemies are cursed. Your enemies are cursed. Cursed be believers. Cursed be sons. They are cursed. The hand of the Lord is on you." Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Your enemies are cursed. Your enemies are cursed. Your enemies are cursed. Yy yyyy yo yo. Look at your neighbor and say, "Give me some room. I'm going to give God some praise tonight. I'm going to break every curse and seize my blessing. Open your mouth and give God praise. I dare you to. I dare you to. I dare you to."
She Dinah. I needed to know how to reverse the curse. I need a thousand folks that want to reverse the curse tonight. Throw your hands up in the air. Tell your neighbor, "I'm getting ready to reverse this curse." For the next 60 seconds, I want you to praise God until you reverse every curse in your life. Fifty, something, four, sh, twenty, six, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Give Him a praise. I said, give Him a praise.
Now, I realize why Jacob was so angry with Levi and Simeon. Levi and Simeon did not believe that God could take something that was wrong and turn it around and make it turn out right. But Jacob knew that God could take something that started out wrong and make it turn out right because Jacob started out wrong and God turned him around and made it turn out right. And if you've ever been wrong and seen God turn you around and make it turn out right, you hate to see anybody come up and judge somebody that God is still working on. There's somebody in this room right now, you've gotten yourself in a mess. Everyone standing, I want you to join hands with somebody all over the building. Leave no one untouched. No, no walking, no foolishness. I don't know who's touching you, but somebody on your row has experienced the mercy of God. They might not want to own up to it right now because they're real important and stuff right now, but somebody on your pew has had their life turned around, and they know that if God could turn them around, He could turn you around. I know you don't want nobody to know it's you, but if you've ever experienced the grace of God, just squeeze somebody's hand as a signal. It's me. It's me. It's me. It's me. It's me. God can save in the prison. God can save the crackhead. God can save the liar, the backbiter, the dope dealer. It don't matter who it is because there's some folks in here that know that if it were not for God's mercy, God can reach right in that prison and save tonight and deliver and fill with the Holy Spirit. And yes, He can even bring them out of there. Squeeze your hand if you're a witness.
Lord, there are folks who are watching us on television who need a miracle. They're watching all over the world. They need a breakthrough. If it's not them, it's their son. If it's not the son, it's a daughter. Some mama, some daddy's been standing in the gap like Hamor and Jacob, saying, "Turn it around for my children." I know I didn't do everything right when I was raising them, but turn it around. Turn it around. Turn it around. The enemy is trying to destroy their blessing. Turn it around before Levi and Simeon mess it up. Turn it around. Squeeze that hand. Father, don't let one person watching me, whether they're in Canada or Africa, in Europe, Australia, it doesn't matter where they're watching right now, South America, from LA to New York, from Maine to Portugal, God, touch by Your Spirit, from the balcony to the front row, from the east to the west, the north to the south, even the person who will hear this message on the tape and the video, turn it around. Before we have a Shechem incident, turn it around. Before Simeon and Levi can destroy. Lord, there's a backslider in this house tonight, and this is the night that's written in the books of heaven for them to come to You. There's a sinner listening at this message, and tonight is the night that they're to come to You. There are some things You've ordained to turn around in their life. Some of them never got what they should have gotten when they should have gotten it. They were not nurtured. They were not raised. They were not loved. They were not held. They were not touched like Dinah. They've had a wandering spirit from thing to thing, from place to place, from woman to woman, from man to man. Stop the wandering tonight, Lord. Stop the wandering before they are destroyed. Stop the wandering. Holy Spirit, break down every barrier and every wall that would stop them from coming to Christ. Set them free tonight. Go in the prison, save in the sanctuary. Go in that living room, in that kitchen, in that dining room. Turn that dining room table into an altar. Set them free tonight. I thank You for miracles. Work of miracles in here tonight. In Jesus name, amen.
Now, this is what I want. No clapping. No clapping. Look right this way. Open up the aisle. This is what I want right now.