After The Fire Goes Out - Bishop T.D. Jakes

[Music] Once you'd open your hearts and open your minds, as we prepare to go to the Word of God. This is my new point out of the book of Exodus, chapter 4, verse 18 through 21. As we go to it, I want the Word of God to speak to your life in a profound way, that your life has changed, that you're strengthened, that you grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And as I shared with you, I think you'll better understand why the Lord put me on this text, Exodus 4, 18 through 21.

When you have a child, a man, yeah. And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said unto him, "Let me go, I pray thee, and return unto my brethren which are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace." And the Lord said unto Moses, "Said Midian, go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead which sought thy life." And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set afire and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. And the Lord said unto Moses, "When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that I'll do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I had put in our hand, but I will harden his heart. I put it in your hand, but I will harden his heart, and he shall not let the people go." Can you say, "Amen"?

I want to use for a subject this morning, "After the Fire Goes Out." After the fire goes out. Let's pray. It's rid of the Living God, bless and change in your word today. Let it bring forth fruit in our lives in such a way that we're never the same. We believe you for increasing. We trust you for tomorrow. Tomorrow belongs to you, and we believe you for it. We esteem you more than we do unnecessary food. Let your word have preeminence in this place today. In Jesus name, somebody who loves him, shout, "Amen."

Well, my brothers and sisters, here we go again, praising the Lord. I want to preface this message by setting it in the context that one of the things I'm enjoying about life is, as I get older, I have points of reflection that I can look on for comparison that perhaps younger people don't always have. I remember after the death of Dr. King, how the churches all over the country were filled to the brim. The uncertainty of the times and the way that it shook up, particularly our community, brought people out to church who normally didn't come to church. I call them Easter Christians. All the Easter Christians came to church that Sunday because Dr. King was there. They were nervous, and they were shaking. They were riveted. They were uncertain. People were crying. School teachers bursting out in tears. People we knew that normally didn't express themselves emotionally would distraught. They were under pressure, anxiety. And when people get up under anxiety, whether they are normally church people or not, they turn to the church. As well they should, and as well they can, and as well they ought to. But wouldn't it when the pressure receded, they disappeared?

I remember after 9/11, for about six to eight weeks after 9/11, you couldn't get in our church. We had to put chairs out. Every Sunday, it was jammed and packed all the way up to the roof, far as you can see. People were coming to church because they had been shaken. They'd been stirred. They were upset. They were uneasy. And they started coming out to church. It's almost like the kind of prayer that you pray when you say, "Lord, if you get me out of this, I'll never do that again. If you get me out of this, I'm gonna serve you. If you get me out of this, I'm gonna seek your face." Whenever people are upset, they start seeking God.

Now, we're in the moment of COVID-19, unlike anything we've ever seen in the world, and churches everywhere are closed down. Some people are fighting, "Open it up, open it up, open it up! I want in, I want in!" And I want other people are streaming on, saying, "Keep it closed, keep it closed. I don't, I don't want in." But I want to receive. Regardless of whether you're receiving it online or whether you're going into a building, there is a new hunger for God's Word. And it's amazing how a disease can create a hunger and an awakening to the fact that my life could be lost or shaken, that I'm not certain causes all ambiguity to dissipate. Agnostics become converted. All of a sudden, we started looking at these differently because we started looking for something stable to hold on in times of need. And I'm happy, and I'm glad to be that, and I'm excited that the church is able to have that opportunity to comfort our communities, and feed our communities, and serve our communities, to help our communities in whatever way we can. But that's not what I came to talk about. I came to talk about, "After the fire goes out, what do you do?" What do you do? What'd he do when the fire goes out? After the fire goes out.

I've hired new employees, and when they first come to work, you have to pull them away from their bed. Everybody's left, and they're still there working. "Give me something else to do. Give me something else to do." Ever, oh God, I want to do. Sometimes they're doing their job, two or three people. And it goes on like that, maybe, maybe six, eight months. Maybe if you're lucky. And then, then the fire goes, the fire goes out. I've seen, I've seen couples, they could take their hands off each other on the plane on the honeymoon, groping all over each other. She got a seat for a paid-for seat, she's not sitting in the seat, sitting in his lap. We just got married. They tell everybody, giggling and grinning. They drink it out the same cup. They, they drink from the same water fountain. One time to go to the restroom, that was knocking on the door, "Honey, come out." Yeah, yeah, that's what they do for a while. They celebrate anniversaries. "It's our fifth week." Yeah, it's our fifth week anniversary. You can't find a card for a five-week anniversary. But they have anniversaries. Where are our anniversaries? Because, because the fire is still going on. You know, you know they spent all the time locked up in the room, fire, fire, fire. But the real test of time has yet to come. And when time prizes fire, the question is not how do you behave when the fire is there. The question becomes, how do you behave after the fire goes out? Goes out. Mine and ever go out here. Every fire goes out. Every fire. The fires in California burned up neighborhoods, communities, mansions, houses, properties, fields, trees. They were flying overhead, and helicopters dumping water on it. Other firemen coming from around the country. The wind was sweeping it. It was on the news every day. But as much territory as, as much forestry as it burned through, its much crops as it divided, but property as it demolished, eventually the fire goes out. Every fire goes out. Yeah, yeah. You can't stay on fire. No, no. You have to come out sooner or later.

The priest goes into the Holies of Holies. He goes past the outer court to the inner court to the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement. But God says, "You can't stand here. You can't stay up under the anointing and up under the glory. The real work is outside." And so when you leave here, that's where the work starts. In Him. And in my text today, there's nothing in my text about fire. So it seems kind of, kind of odd to me that you would take a text like that and call it, "After the Fire Goes Out." Normally, the text should complement the subject, and there ought to be some continuity between the two. But Acts 4:18-21, you just read it, there's nothing by fire in the text either. My mind is getting old and and failing me, or there must be some point to it. I would not just knowingly pick a subject and text that had no relationship with each other. It is perhaps the fact that that Acts chapter 4, verse 18-21, it deals with, with Moses going to Jethro, telling Jethro that I've stayed out here as long as I can stay. Spent 40 years on the backside of the desert working for Jethro and Miriam. And now he announces to Jethro abruptly and treadily that he has to go back to Egypt to deliver a message to Pharaoh and to see about his people. And all of a sudden, things begin to change.

Because it was a nice Exodus chapter 3, that Moses was taking care of the sheep. And as he began to take care of the sheep, the Bible says that he came to a place, leading the sheep by the way. Leading the sheep was prophetic to what he was going to do the rest of his life. He's not interested in that. Interesting how God will give you glimpses of your future. He will let you practice on your destiny. He'll give you opportunities to do little things before you do big things to see if you can be faithful over sheep before I give you millions of people. He sent him out in the desert to lead sheep when ultimately he would be out in the desert leading people. But despised like the day of small beginnings. You don't see Moses complaining about the sheep. You don't see him saying, "Oh God, I got a problem with a wolf. I got a problem with four-line." Because he understands that that the sheep are practice. But he doesn't know for what. That's a word right there. I'm just getting started. But that's a word for somebody right there. You're all upset about something that God gave you to practice with. It's not your purpose. That's not your destiny. It's your practice. He gave you something to play with so you could work on your skills, so your leadership skills could get better, so your communication skills could get better, so your judgment could get better, so that when you get into your destiny, you won't mess up people. He gave you sheep to play with so that later, when he gives you people, here you'll know what you're doing. Experience, working pace, of patience, the experience, experience, hope, and I hope making herself about shade.

If Moses goes to, to Jethro, and says, "Jethro, I got to go. I got to leave. I've been here 40 years, but I got to lead. I've got to go down to Egypt and see about my brother and see." See, Moses is not a Midianite. Yeah, yeah. He's an Israelite. He's not a Midianite, but he's been with these people a long time. But he says, "I gotta go see about my brother." Because you are who you are. You can watch it with everybody you work with, everybody, but you are who you are. And sooner or later, you come to a point that your hunger to get with your people. Make sure that, okay, so I want to go see about my people. And what you have to understand, this is not just a craving in Moses. It's hard to reconnect with the people that he is related to because he is related to somebody that he's not kin to. You must realize that Moses grew up in Egypt, so he grew up like an Egyptian. Done by blood, he was a Hebrew. So he is related to them by blood, but he is not connected to them by experience. And even though he's not connected to them by experience, God wants him to have a cosmopolitan worldview so that he can interact with all types of people. So he takes a Hebrew boy and lets him be educated by the Egyptians and listen, be mentored by the Midianites, so that Moses can deal with all kinds of people. There's always a reason why God takes you through the process that he's taking you through in preparation for what he's going to do in your life. Nothing happens by accident, and nothing that you've been through will be wasted.

So he goes to Jethro and says to him, "I got to go." And the reason I read that text is the more familiar chapter would be chapter 3, when Moses has faked here taking care of sheep. And while he's taking care of sheep, the Bible said that he noticed a bush that was burning, and the bush was not consumed. And the Bible said that he turned aside to see the bush that was not consumed. You remember that, man? He turned aside to see. See, when, when God causes a bush to burn, a bush to burn and not be consumed, it was not unusual for a bush to burn in the desert because it doesn't get so hot and the sun rays so intense that it would set a bush on fire. What was unusual is that the bush didn't stop burning. And it occurred to me that it's not unusual for people to get sick. People get sick all the time. To get the flu all the time. To get a cold and get asthma. They have an asthmatic attack. They have an aneurysm. People get sick, they die all the time. That's not unusual. But what's unusual about this is that so many got sick, and so many started dying, and so many were contagious. When COVID-19, it should have been over if it was just a flu, but it kept on burning. And I thought, in some ways, it might be a bush that cannot be consumed, instead of burned out. But it kept on burning. It should have been stopped in China. Better kept on burning. And should have been stopped in Europe, but it kept on burning. Should have been stopped in Italy, but it kept on burning. As long as it'll burn over there, when they said that was their business, and we're praying for you with a census of money. But it kept on burning and burned on over into New York, and it, it burned on over in the Vegas, it burned into California, and it kept on burning. And as it kept on burning, we started to get nervous. We started getting nervous. We started talking to our allies and our enemies because the bush was not consumed. And it occurs to me that when God gets ready to get your attention, you'll know not because the bush is burning, but that the bush is not. Come on here. It won't stop. It was not consumed. Whenever something starts and it won't stop, God is trying to tell you something. Whenever it starts burning and it's not consumed, God is after your attention. And the hardest thing for God to get sometimes is your attention. Yeah, because we're so busy doing something, anything. I told a friend of mine the other day, I said, "The most amazing thing to me about being a pastor is noticing all the things we were doing that God did not need." God said, "I don't need your programs. I don't need your crowds. I don't need your buildings. I don't need your order of service. I don't need your dancers. I don't need your choirs. I don't need your greeters. I don't need your officers. I'm gonna shut all of that down and show you that I'm God. I can do this without all the stuff you built your conferences, your Crusades, your cruises. I don't need none of that stuff. When I get ready to do something, I'm God." It was a humbling experience to recognize how little of what we do God needs in order to get our attention. And God got everybody's attention. It's almost like, like, like your mama sent your two-year-old. God said, "The world to their room." And everybody's in lockdown. Everybody's in solitary confinement. And God says, "Can you hear me now?" Almost a commercial for a phone. "Can you, can you hear me now?" "I'll shut down your job. I'll shut down your movement. I'll shut down your transportation. Can you hear me now? I'll shut down your finances. Can you hear me now? I'll put your relatives in the hospital. Can you hear me now? I'm gonna keep going till I get your attention." And God is saying, "Can you hear me now?" And obviously, many of you that are watching online, you're saying, "Yes, I hear you. I hear you. I hear you." You're wise to say yes. Let's a greater thing come upon me. Whenever you're stubborn and you refuse to hear God, he has to send something worse to get you to turn around. America, hear me. If we don't hear God here, it's going to get worse. If we don't stop bickering, who politically, it's going to get worse. If we don't stop killing innocent people, it's going to get worse. When we don't, if we don't stop calling wrong right and right wrong, it's going to get worse. If we don't get a sense of justice, irrespective of who it is, it's going to get worse. God is going to get our attention, and I don't care what it takes. The bush is gonna burn until you turn aside.

Let me go on record that God is a just God. He's against all injustice. He's against all immorality. I'm not speaking to the guilt or the innocence of any man. I'm talking about the lack of due process of law. If there's not due process, there can't be justice. While you argued about maybe there's another side to the story, I'm arguing about they've never even arrested the man in the first place. And they will smash me in, in jail, if I go two miles over the speed limit. I'm talking about justice. And then so, something, something has, something has to be done. Not only in America, it's around the world. Inequities. People starving to death beside people who live in mansions. It's inequity in every sphere of life. I'm not talking about having enough or even more than enough. I'm talking about having such a surplus and employees can't get a raise. I'm talking about big companies paying off stockholders and off the backs of people who are making minimum wage who can't even pay the rent, working for you every day. Some enough, something has to be done with injustice. Something has to be done when the people who protect the city can't afford to live in the city they protect. Something has to be done when I have to drive an hour where they get to work because I have to stay out of town to find something cheap enough to accommodate the wages that you pay me so that I can come in and protect you in a city and you don't respect me. To away with your flowers and your songs and your "God bless you" and call me a hero. I don't need a title, I need a raise. Whenever injustice goes on long enough, after a while, God will have to do something to get your attention to make you appreciate people that should look down on. They should have went back to school. They should have got more education. And all of a sudden, we're thanking God for truck drivers and checkout girls, the people we were looking down. I know the hood. God has a way of getting your attention. And the bush started burning, and nobody could stop it. It burned into the hotel business, and it burned into Hollywood. My God, it burned. It burned into the music industry, and all the concerts were canceled. It burned into the opera houses, and all our singers had to sit down. It burned into New York, and all of a sudden Madison Square Garden closed us down. And all of a sudden, everything begins great. Burned into Vegas. It burned in the Florida, and all the snowbirds had to come home. It burned and kept burning and burning. This is a burning bush.

[Music] Moses saw a burning bush. And the Bible said he turned aside to see. And that's all God wants us to do, to turn aside to see. See, well, that means to change direction. In order to turn aside to see, you have to change direction. That's all repentance means. Repentance does not mean tears. It does not mean crying. It has nothing to do with emotions. It means changing behavior, changing direction, changing direction. And burning bushes always require a change of direction. I was on the phone with a bunch of preachers, and they were telling me, "We need to all get together, and I'll pray at the same time." But they're gonna distribute praise, and we're gonna read prayers on Sunday morning, and we're gonna pray about not knowing that Sunday morning was about to close down. And when they got through having this big conference call, these global preachers, real big, important, significant preachers, sincerely trying to do something to stop the pandemic from coming, they asked me to have remarks and do the benediction. And when they started talking about the plagues and so forth and so on, and that that the plagues were stopped through prayer, when I got down to the benediction, I said, "I just want to insert something into your thinking." It was not the prayers that stopped the plague. It was the repentance. We, we can all pray the same prayer at the same time, but if we don't change our behavior, the plague is going to continue. We don't find the prayer, but the prayer was not the point. It was not the prayer. It was of repentance. It was repentance that stopped God from destroying Nineveh. Oh, come on, somebody. The Bible said Nineveh repented, and because Nineveh repented, judgment was spared. It was repentance that will turn it around. Repentance will make the angel put his sword back in his hose. Of repentance will stop the plague. Repentance is to change.

So in your life, periodically, in your life, and in my life, and in your life, in your life, in your life, in your life, there have been burning bushes. Look back over your life every now and then. Something started burning and would not be consumed, and God uses it to get your attention. I would be a Christian today if it weren't for burning bushes. Burning bushes made me humble myself. Burning bushes made me shut my mouth. Burning bushes brought me down to my knees. Burning bushes stopped me from thinking too highly of myself. Burning bushes humbled me down from thinking that I knew everything. Burning, burning bushes, stuff that don't make no sense. A burning bush that will not be consumed, it's something that happens in your life that don't make sense, and you cannot ignore it, and you cannot stop it, and you got to deal with it. And then it makes you throw your hands up, and it'll make you get down on your knees, and then it makes you get on the phone and call people you normally ignore, and it will make you stream online to get a word from God because you got a burning bush in your life. And it doesn't have to be COVID-19 to be a burning bush. No, no, no, no. For somebody, for burning bushes, breast cancer. For somebody, a burning bush is a divorce and a broken marriage. For somebody, a burning bush is the death of a loved one. They didn't have to be international calamity to be a burning bush. And the whole world did not know that Moses's bush was burning. And the whole world might not know, but you got a burning bush in your life. A private display of God's insistence to get your attention. An undeniable declaration of, "I'm gonna have your attention if I have to get it in a wheelchair. I'ma have your attention if I have to get it in a hospital room. I'm gonna have your attention if they have to cut your legs off. Over half your dinner, I'ma win this fight." I'm talking about burning bushes. And Moses turned aside to see. And what amazed me, even though I've really many, many times, a preacher over many times before, it's a conversation that it sued. God told Moses, "Take off your shoes, for the ground who's standing on is holy ground." It was holy because God was there. That's the only thing that makes the place holy. It's because God is there. Your living room could be holy if God is here. You could be in the shower, you can be holy if God gets in there. You'd be in your car if God gets in the car. It can be holy because God is there. It's not holy because it's got pews and stained glass windows and crosses and ditches are somebody's idea of Jesus. Although that's not what makes the holy. It's alright because God is. "Take off your shoe, for the ground you stand on, it's holy ground." God's gonna make holy ground in your house, holy ground in your living room, a holy ground in your apartment, holy ground in your car, holy ground on your brake, on your job. God says, "While I am holy ground, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." It is the first time that God says that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God has never referred to himself as being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob until Moses. He does not even tell Jacob that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact, he told Jacob that his name was not Jacob, that his name was Israel. But God does not say, "I am the God of Abraham, Lincoln, Israel." He says, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." In other words, I'm not just a guard of the best in you. Yeah, yeah. See, Jacob, Jacob was not the good part of Israel. Jacob was the tricks, the con-artist, supplanter, to the, the rocketeer. He was, he was like his family, Rebecca and Laban, all of 'em. Jacob was a part that wrestled with God. Yeah, and, and Israel was who he was destined to be. And God said, "Your name is really Israel, and you're a prince, and you have power with God." But every prince has got a Jacob. So all of a sudden, when God gets ready to identify himself, the God who told Jacob that your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, says, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Oh, thank you, thank you, Lord, for being the God of Jacob. Thank you for being the God of the worst part of me. Thank you that I don't have to hide my Jacob. Thank you that you love my Jacob. See, I know you want to argue with that, but God who commended his love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. The theology is absolutely right. God does not love you because you are holy, and because you read your Bible, and because you go to church all the time, and you fast from thirst and stuff, and you only eat collard greens on Wednesdays. God does not love you because you sing in the choir and you work on the Usher board. God loved you when you were lying and cheating and stealing and, and hanging off a pole and going striptease in a cheap hotel room. God loved you when you were shooting dope up your arm and laying in gutters in alleyways and burn the hair out of your nose. God still loved you when you were high, and God loved you when you were locked up in jail, and God loved you when you were in your perversions and your field and your muck and your mire. God loved you in the decadence of your life. God didn't wait till things got better to love you. He loved you in your mess. He is some card of Abraham, Isaac. And off your shoes. Take off your shoes because the ground you stand on is holy. But you ain't holy. You ain't holy, but the ground, the ground is holier than you. The ground you stand on is holy ground. That's how God started his conversation off with Moses. And they start entering in the conversation, a God and a man in a desert alone. Can you imagine a god, a man in a desert alone? And there he is, having a conversation with Moses to help Moses understand who he is. And God begins to tell Moses what all he's going to do with him. Now, you must understand that Moses is a murderer. He's a convict. He's on the run. He's an outlaw. He's hiding on the backside of the desert, and God found him. You can't go nowhere where God cannot find you. If you make your bed in hell, he is there. If your sins are the most parts are there, if he is there, yeah, okay. If you're locked up in the bottom of a jail cell, God is here. They can put you in the inner sanctum of a prison, God is here. They can fly you off to the mountain peaks, and God is here. You can be an astronaut and fly away out of the Earth's orbit, but God is up there too, and he will find you and flush you out. God found Moses on the backside of the desert and said, "They calling you a convict and an outlaw, but I have a plan for your life." And he tells him, "I am the God of Jacob. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." So don't run off, you convict, you fleshly prophet who tries to enact God's will in your own way and ends up an outlaw on the run because you thought you could do it without me. I am the god of your mistakes, not just your miracles. And the god of your mess, not just your message. Take off your shoes, for the ground you stand on is holy ground.

And then the conversation ensues where God allows the man who is practicing leadership, now he starts practicing miracles. And God takes his rod, something that is very ordinary, and does extraordinary things in it to let Moses know that you don't have to be an extraordinary man to do extraordinary things if you're watching this broadcast, you want to write that down. You don't have to be an extraordinary man to do extraordinary things because you have an extraordinary God. So God does all these extraordinary things with Moses's rod to let him know that it's not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. And he wants him to understand that I can use something natural and do something supernatural. That I can use something ordinary and do something extraordinary. That I can use your frailty and your flaws. And Moses is having trouble understanding that. He performs some miracles. He thrusts his hand into his bosom, and it comes out white as snow. He thrusts it in again, and he's cleansed. He turns out the water and he turns it into blood. He throws out his stick, and it turns into a serpent. He picks it up by the tail, and it turns back into a staff again. And all of a sudden, Moses starts working, walking with the rod. What he calls the rod of the Lord. It was really Moses's rod, but it was the Lord's rod, but it was Moses's rod, but it was the Lord's rod, but it was Moses's rod. And they shared this rod. God had put some in your hand, and it'll be yours, but it's His. And as he is, but it's in your hands. Gotta make you steward over something. Let's go where. Absolutely amazing. I don't know who this is for, but God's gonna put the ability to make great wealth in your hands. It's gonna come from a natural place, but it's gonna blow your mind. In fact, it's already started to happen. You thought it was a stick, but it's turning into something else. Hallelujah. But knit into your hands. I see God putting blessings into your hand. I see God putting prosperity into your head. I see God opening doors into your hand. I see God making ways into your head. And you're standing there feeling unworthy, and you're right, you're not worthy, but He's worthy, and He's your rod, but it's His rod, but it's your rod, but it's His rod. Is His rod, but it's your rod. And God, he's gonna put it in your hand, in your hand, in your hand. It's enough. I can do this. That God will do extraordinary things out of ordinary things. That God will do supernatural things out of natural things. That God can use me in spite of the fact that I'm a criminal and an outlaw. God could still use me. But because the root of insecurity was so deep, Moses is still talking to God. They talked a long time. God and Moses talked a long time. They got, they talked so long that God told Moses what to say when he went down to tell Pharaoh this and tell Pharaoh that. And when he told Moses what to say, then Moses came up with another excuse. He said, "I can't, I can't go down there and talk because I felt like God didn't know." He started and did not. And then God said, "Did not I make your mouth?" Listen at God and man talking in a desert. God and man talking through a burning bush. God and man talking to coronavirus. God and man talking to you while you're shutting in. God and man trying to get your attention. Now that I got your attention, I'm gonna show you how I can use yours better for my glory. Now that I got your attention, I can show you that I got a supernatural plan for a natural man's life. Now that I got your attention, I want you to start thinking extraordinary thoughts. You thought enough ordinary stuff. You practiced with the ordinary long enough. I'm getting ready to do some extraordinary in your life. And he's standing in front of the bush, and the bush is burning. And as it's burning, it's burning out his fear, and it's burning out his doubt, and it's burning out his uncertainty, and it's burning out his shame, and it's burning out his insecurity. And what we need is for the fire to burn out all your excuses. All of your excuses that you make as to why you can't do or be or say what God told you to do and be and say. The fire has come to burn out all your excuses. This is our burning bush. America, America, this is our burning bush. I know it's affecting other countries and other places, but you gotta worry about you right now. America, this is our burning bush. Our racism and elitism and politicization has gone as far as it can go. This is our burning bush. God is after our attention. We cannot keep using power to destroy families, leave people trapped in the border, separate families, fathers from daughters and mothers from kids, and then say we're pro-life. You can't just be pro-life in the womb and not be pro-life after birth. You can't be pro-life and then before the death penalty. Come on, if you go, come on, America. We got to look at ourselves. We got to look at our stuff. We got to look at the way we fellowship, and the way we get quiet when other people are dying and in trouble, and we say, "That's their problem and not our problem." When it is our problem, we're wrong. If we say that we are African Americans and Mexican Americans, that we ought to all be Americans, but then when we start dying, we all die like Americans. When we go to court, we don't go to court like America. America, this is our burning bush. This is our burning bush. And we have to take off our shoes and humble ourselves, lest we die. For the ground we stand on, it's holy ground. God is after our attention. Yeah, because absolute power absolutely corrupts. We're not a monarchy. Just because you got an opinion that means controls me and diminishes me, your mind, you're not the benchmark standing of right. We gotta take off our shoes. To take off your shoes in the desert is to be vulnerable, to be naked, to be exposed. It's painful to, 'cause the sand is hot. Sometimes truth is painful. This is our burning bush. We must take off our shoes until you love my children and I love your children like they were my children, and you love my children like they were your children. We must, we must take off our shoes until we care about people who don't look like us, no matter what their color or age. And this is not just about black and white, because you can be white and be poor and still be overlooked and still be ignored. It's about an attitude of arrogance, a pride that we have where you can buy justice if you have enough money. We must take off our shoes, America. We have shook our fists in the face of God. We must take off our shoes, America. We have no respect for human life, not in the womb or out of the womb. We must take off our shoes, America, and stop throwing away babies like toilet paper. We must take off our shoes, America. We must take off our shoes. We're drunken with our own success and accomplishments that we keep telling ourselves that we are exceptional while we lag behind in education, while we lag behind in economy, while we land behind in social service, while we lag behind in cyber technology. We keep telling ourselves we're exceptional. Take off your shoes. Take off your shoes. Take off your shoes. God wants to have a naked conversation with you. Overall conversation. A covenant-keeping conversation. He wants to get your attention. You want to know who he is. He said, "I am that I am. I'm bread. I'm water. I'm life. I'm peace. I'm power. I'm judgment. I'm mercy. I'm grace. I'm forgiveness. I'm the solution. I'm the answer. I'm the stars. I'm the lily of the valley. I'm the bright morning star. I am the shield and the buckler. I am whatever I need to be to get your attention. I'll be playing, so I'll be wars. I'll be earthquakes. I'll be lightning. I'll be thunder. I'll be rain. I'll be flood. I'll be winds. I'll be everything I have to be to get your attention. And God, no matter how many times you try to call me the universe, I'm God. No matter how many times you try to call me Mother Nature, I'm God. No matter how many times you try to fix it up in some ecumenical terminology, I'll show you who I am. My God, and you can't write a check and get out of this. And you can't call a friend and get out of this. And you can't jump on a private jet and get out of this, because I'll sit it all over the earth. I'll shut down every door and every way of escape. Don't you remember the flood? When I get ready to get your attention, I can shut down everything and anything. I've God. And the fire, if the whole bush was on fire, and Moses started confessing his limitations, "I'm flawed, Lord. I'm flawed. I want to do it, but I'm flawed. I want to do it now, but I'm scared. And I want to do it because, but last time I did it, I'm not stupid. And I don't want to do here no more 'cause last time I tried to help, I messed up." There's somebody you had a bad experience and you stopped living. You had a bad experience, you stopped living. You know, spend the rest of your life lamenting over the mistake you made. Moses made a mistake, but his life wasn't over. His ministry went over. And God sent a burning bush to say, "I still got a plan for your life." There's a preacher watching me right now, you went through a terrible scandal, and you feel like your life is over. And I know you're hurting, and I know you're in pain, but God is not finished with you yet. God has a plan for your life. And I know you've been embarrassed, and I know you've been ashamed, but God loves you. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and yes, I am the God of Jacob. Moses, take off your shoes. If I can be the God of Jacob, I can be your God too. If I can be the God of Jacob, I can be the god of a convict. If I can be the God of Jacob, I can be the god of a misfit. If I could be the God of Jacob, I can be the god of the mistakes you made. If I can be the God of Jacob, I can be the god of you. Take off your shoes right now. Yeah, I'm talking to you. Take off your shoes. You're about to have an encounter with God. Take off your shoes. God is about to change your life. Take off your shoe. God is about to get charged. Can't you take off your shoe? Off your shoes on the ground you stand on was a holy crown. His holy ground. I'm gonna answer your questions. And God Almighty sat down and talked to Moses face to face. God Almighty talked to Moses face to face and talked to him about his fears and his insecurities, and talked to him about his doubts and his limitations, and talked to him about his uncertainty and his depression, and talked to him. I'm behind giving up a life and giving up on his purpose and his destiny. God himself sat down and counseled Moses like a psychiatrist. God himself said, "Our Moses," and reasoned with him like two lawyers in a courtroom. And he said to Moses, "Face to face, Moses said, 'My mouth stutters.'" God said, "Did not I make your mouth? Did not I'd make your tongue? Don't you know that I know what's wrong with you, and yet I call you to speak? Don't you know that my strength is made perfect in weakness? I call the stuttering man to speak to kings and princes because I knew you would be humbled. I knew you wouldn't be arrogant like the rest of them. I knew you wouldn't write no books about what you did because you lose it. You started and you knew that had it not been for me, you wouldn't be able to do nothing that you did. And I know you would give me the glory. Don't you know that I know you had a baby out of wedlock? Don't you know that I know that you're HIV-positive? Don't you know that I know that you've made mistakes? Don't you know that I know who you are? I know your secret. I know your dot. But I still want you." And the amazing thing is not what we do when the bush is burning, because I've seen us do this before. I've seen us rally to the church after the murder of King. I've seen us rally to the church after 9/11. I've seen us rally to the church. Pearl Harbor was born. History says we rallied to the church. I've seen us rally to the church when we're scared. I've seen us come to Jesus when the bush was burning, and your mama got cancer. I've seen sinners and vinyls and dope dealers and drug dealers and club owners come to church because your mama got cancer. I've seen, I've seen how we act when the bush is burning. But the question becomes, what are you gonna do after the fire goes out? It was not what Moses did when the fire was burning that made him a great man of God. It was what he did when the fire went out. Whether if I went out, he took his stuttering self of to Jethro's house and he said, "Throw, I got a call. I gotta go see about my brother." And he had a sense of purpose. He had a sense of destiny. He still had stammering lips, but he knew who he was, and he knew what was gonna happen in his life. And he went to Jethro and he said, "Let me go. I gotta go down there and tell Pharaoh, God said, 'Let my people go.'" And as he turned to go, God said, "By the way, all of them that were I have to you or did I wish I knew who I'm preaching to, but God said, 'All them that were trying to kill you are dead. I dealt with your enemy. Show enemy, it's gone. This ain't even the same Pharaoh that you left. All them that remember your mistake, I swiped them out of the earth. The slate is clear. The door is open. The way is made.'" My God, I feel like I'm talking directly to somebody. I can almost call your name. God said, "All your enemies are dead. I took the teeth out the lion. I shut them off in a cage. I've rendered them powerless. I left them distracted. I made them impotent. No weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper. Every tongue that rises against you, God said, 'I'm going to condemn it.' Your enemies have become my enemies. I'm going to drive them out from in front of your face, and no man will be able to expand you all the days of your life." I don't know who I'm preaching to, but God said he's already dealt with your enemies. If I'm talking to you, give God a praise right now. I said, if I'm talking to you, give God a praise. If your enemies are defeated, give God a praise. If the curse is broken over your life, give God a praise. If the spell is broken off of your house, give God a praise right now. I curse every witch, every witch doctor, every soothsayer, every enemy. God said your enemies are defeated in the name of Jesus. I need 30 seconds of crazy praise in this house.

[Music] [Music] My God, my God. I dare you to praise it. Praise him until demons.

tremble, raise them until hell gets nervous, crazy. And please, your body gets healed, praising to your mama, 'cause she's in the hospital. Prays until you get a breakthrough. Prays until they take off the bitter. Later, pray that the God opens up a door. Raise it to the cancer shrieks. Praise until you get a job. Raise until you open up a door. I feel the power of the Holy Ghost in this place. I dare you to praise Him right now, right now, right back, right back.

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I want you to realize it was not so much what Moses did when the fire was burning that changed his life. Beth got his attention, that arrested him. But what really changes our life is what we do after the fire goes out. Anybody can be fascinated for a moment. Anybody can be a draw for a moment. Anybody can be inspired for a moment. But that's not what God is looking for. God is not interested in entertaining you. God didn't do all of this so He could entertain you in a spiritual way, amuse you while you're bored at home. God sat down to have a conversation with you that will change your life after the fire goes out. God sat down to get your attention, to break the strongholds of the habits, so that after the fire goes out, you would not be the same man or the same woman you were before. God's in all of this to break through all of your excuses that I came, and I didn't have, and I didn't see, and I wasn't loved, and they didn't raise me. God wants to break the back of every excuse you have used all your life to be less than what He created you to be. Their excuses, they build monuments of nothing. And God sent the burning bush. They tell you He already knows what your voice sounds like, and what you look like, and what you don't have, and what you've been through, and He still wants to use you. In the spirit, I see tears rushing down somebody's face because this is a word from God to you, and it's speaking to you in a very deep way. And I understand my Moses is scared, and I understand why Moses feels limited, because to be used of God is absolutely horrifying. It's absolutely horrifying. While other people are clapping, it is absolutely horrifying, 'cause you know how little He has to work with, using you. But the question is not, will God show up? God has always shown up. He's been in every burning bush you ever had in your life. The problem is when the bush stops burning, you go back to being who you were before. And the Lord said, "Mom, this time, after the fire goes out, He wants you to be on point. After the fire goes out, He wants you to be on purpose. After the fire goes out, He wants you to be on task. After the fire goes out, He wants you to have courage where you had fear before." And if you think the bush burning was scary, let me tell you what's really scary is watching the fire go out. Because as the fire goes out, that's when the real test begins. What did you learn while you were locked down, shut in, set apart, isolated? The test doesn't happen while the bush is burning, it happens after the fire goes out. And so Moses takes his knife and saddles an ass and goes to confront the thing that he's been scared of all his life. And his ability to confront his fears is what justifies the fire. He couldn't fulfill his purpose while the fire was burning. He fulfilled his purpose after the fire goes out.

As I close this message today, I want to tell somebody somewhere, the numbers are receding, the arc is diminishing in most places, the deaths are going down in some places, the infections have declined. I'm so glad for all the people. But what does that mean to us when the fire goes out? The real work begins. How do we build our country and our world back better than it was before? And who do we want to build it through and with? And what have we learned at the expense of thousands, did suffering in every tongue, language, and kind around Earth? What have we learned after the fire goes out? We've clapped it be pans for the nurses and nurses, and janitors, and first responders, and grocery people, and technicians, and all of that. And we've done little wonderful things like made little smiles and hearts for them. But will we still not pay them? We've appreciated teachers who have taught through cameras and long distance, and honored their flexibility and their commitment to give graduation the moments to kids that got no graduations. Teachers driving by in cars, waving at their students. We appreciated them. But will we now pay them? America, the real question is not, can we withstand the fire? We lost some terrible losses, but I always know that some of us would survive. The question becomes, what have we learned? What will we do? Who will we be after the fire goes out? Now, I'm not totally sure. It's how the embers are still red-hot, a good win, and they would ignite all over again. We're not as free as we think we are. So before you go back to the club and going back to business as usual, you should be careful. Because every goodbye's and gone, every closed eyes, my sleep. I'd hate for us to have to take this class again, but it's possible. And some people say probable, that this downturn is just for a season. Have we learned how the federal government interacts with the state government, with the city government? How the city can work with the church? Do we speak the same language? How does the finances flow? Who's responsible for BBE? Who's responsible for ventilation? Have we got a system in place should this ever happen again? What will we do when the fires go out? I know, I know you say, "Preach your mind, your own business, just preach the gospel, shut up." But I'm also a citizen and a taxpayer, one too. Have we, have we learned anything? This made us better, or are we destined to go through another burning bush because we've lost our tongues to speak out against craziness and destruction and disorder? And we sold our souls for photo, for an opportunity for name mention. We've walked away from our principles for power. Who will you be, Moses? I'm not gonna burn the next 40 years of your life. I'm gonna burn one time, and you gotta keep burning the next 40, 80 years of your life. You gotta keep burning. Who you gonna be, Moses? Who are you going to be? If you find this challenging, if it spoke to you, if it challenged you, if God is saying something to your heart about your future before the embers blow out or blow up, why don't you pray with me? There's nothing that's valuable as a second chance, oh, a fresh opportunity, a new perspective. That's what God has afforded you right now. I know you lost some stuff, some business kind of went down, and you lost your job. You're having to retool yourself. But don't worry, don't worry about none of those things. Seek ye first the kingdom, and all these things are gonna be added unto you. You're putting all your energy into the things and not the King. Go after the King, and the things are gonna come back. All of them are coming back. Will you seek Him now? Will you come to Him now? As they begin to minister in music, give me a good song and say, "Be getting a minister in music." I wanna, I wanna have a moment with you, a moment with you of deep spiritual reflection, a moment with you where you look down inside of your spirit and challenge yourself on the blood of all of those body bags in New York and all around the country, on the blood of all of those funeral homes who have bodies, Maktub, hidden in garages, overwhelmed, don't know what to do with them, calling in help, can't manage all of you. They say, they say nothing but the flu. The flu ain't never done that to us. The flu has never made us half the storm bodies and body bags and feel of 18-wheelers and shutdown funeral homes with the flu. We have never seen this before. Don't be foolish. This is a burning bush. I will be. God wants you. He wants you back. He's got a plan for your life. Yes, I know you got church hurt and all that kind of stuff. Hashtag Church hurt. You don't have no hashtag God hurt. You left God over people. Don't you feel the Holy Spirit? Would you ruin your back, Lord? I shared with Him. I shared with them. I share with them the things that you shared with me to share with them. And I prayed today in the name of Jesus that we wouldn't walk with you after the fire goes out. Anybody can be mesmerized in a moment where they're threatened, men, insecure, and in danger. But after that initial fascination has dissipated, there should be a lingering consecration that continues to abide in our lives. And I ask His concern that one that feels unworthy and incapable and incompetent and dirty and ashamed, wash them in Your blood and bring them all back to You. You can do it. Do it in their life right now in the name of Jesus. Transform a life. Yes, Lord. For somebody, it's gonna be a career change, but transform their life. For people, it's gonna be some friends that fall off, but transform their lives. We don't need another burning bush. We're humble before You. We're prostrate before You. We're not so smart. We're not so bright. We're not so powerful. We're not so good. We're not so wonderful. We confess right now, we're better. We got problems. We got issues. We got inconsistencies. We got, we got problems, Lord, have mercy. In Jesus' name, Amen. Sing it again. I won't.

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me for he

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Ah, thank you for washing with us this beautiful Sunday morning. Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the only wise God, our Saviour, be glory, dominion, and power, world without end, throughout all ages. In Jesus' name, Amen. Trust in me. Why don't you trust me? Me, me, me.