He Still Wants You - Bishop T.D. Jakes

[Music] and I'm gonna give you a warning. I'm gonna give you a disclaimer. This message goes deep. For all of you that are faint of heart, just want to shout and jump, this is not gonna be your message. This message will invade your privacy. It will get into your business. It will go into crevices and corners that may be uncomfortable. But it is the word that the Lord has given me. And in as much as God has chosen to give me this message, I must assume that somebody needs his message. I want to go into areas that we don't talk about, and I want to deal with them the way the Holy Spirit directed me. Will you release me to do that?

Today, we're going to the Gospel of Saint John, chapter number 18, verse number 25 through 27. And there we will find the word of the Lord. Very simple. Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, "You aren't one of his disciples too, are you?" He denied it, saying, "I am not." One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the garden?" And again, Peter denied it. And at that moment, a rooster began to crow.

I want to talk to you from the subject: He still wants you. He still wants you. And I'm talking about shameful disciples. Let's pray.

Spirit of the living God, I pray that you would fall fresh in this place. Anoint these lips of clay that they may be endowed with the kind of power that enables me to penetrate the hard, calloused areas that we have built up, not because we're mean, but for survival's sake. Help me to penetrate the way we medicate our pain. Help me to penetrate down to the depths of the spirit of men. I feel you wanting to do some surgery this morning. Have your way, as only you can do. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Let all the people of God say, amen. You may be seated in this presence.

I must say, brother in the church said, "Let's go to work." So if you're out there, just type it: Let's go to work.

Several years ago, I preached a funeral. And I preached a funeral for, uh, a young man, a minister, who had gone through a scandal that had cost him his life. And they found him dead. And it was all over the newspapers. And it was everywhere. And it was a very difficult funeral to preach. It was a very difficult funeral to preach because the people's minds were everywhere, and the public was everywhere, and it was all in the papers, and all in the press, and everything. And everybody was waiting to hear what I had to say. And when I walked out there, my opening sentence is the way I want to open this message. I said, "There is not a person under the sound of my voice who does not have something in your life that you would not want to read about in the front page of a paper." Immediately, people responded to that. I'm going to say it again. There's not a person listening at me right now who does not have something somewhere in your life that would make you uncomfortable to have it read in the front page of the paper. And yet, somehow, when we get somebody else's dirt, [Music] we go absolutely bananas. We attack them. We laugh at them. We join in. We just at them. And the people who are speaking about them are also guilty themselves.

What I love about God's word is the fact that God is open when he reveals to us in moments like this that the men that he used were simply that, that they were men. This is a very shameful moment in the life of a great man. Now, great and shame don't seem like they go together, but they do. You can be great about this and still have shame about that. Come on, talk to me, somebody. This is Peter. This is the guy that Jesus said was the rock. He's let down himself. He's disciplined himself. He's disappointed the other disciples. He's disappointed Jesus. He's denied that he even knows him. And he has to live with it.

This text comes to ensure that we do not deify humanity. Because when we deify humanity, we exempt ourselves from the possibility of being used. Oh, you don't understand how profound what I just said was. These men, the apostles, would become the foundation of the church itself. It would be through them that the world would be evangelized. Once filled with the Holy Spirit, they would be the ones who cast out devils. Their mere shadows would fall on men, and they would be healed. They would do the kinds of stuff that would make them look like gods. But they were still men. They would move in power. They would subdue nations. They would upset cities. They would shake prisons. They would start churches. They would open ministries. They would do amazing things. But the Bible is careful to give us moments of humanity to balance the opulence of the anointing, so that you can make a distinction between the treasure and the vessel. The Bible says that we have this treasure in earth and vessels, that the excellency may be of God and not of us. And so, just because the vessel is human doesn't mean that the treasure isn't good. Do you hear what I'm saying?

While their ministries were fabulous, these, these small glimpses into their lives would divulge the complexity of what it means to be human. To be human is to be complex. These were handpicked by Christ, but they were still men. And somebody else would have picked him. I said, "You made a bad choice." But Jesus himself picked this dude. Jesus chose him. Hand-picked him. Called him, "Take up your cross and follow me." And yet, when the heat got hot enough, yes, warmed himself by the fire of the people he used to fight. He has switched uniforms. At the moment that Jesus needed him most, he felt Jesus doesn't need a boat ride. He doesn't need a fish sandwich. He doesn't need a tour of Nineveh. No, Jesus needs his disciples to be loyal. At that moment, the complexity of his humanity kicked in. He was scared. Human capabilities allow us to love, speak wisdom at one moment, stare down danger at a moment, another moment, and still have moments of fear. You cannot judge him in the isolation of this one moment. He will ultimately, ultimately experience martyrdom and give his life for Jesus. But at this particular moment, he runs like a little girl. He lies through his teeth, and he is filled with shame.

The Bible generously allows us to add both their assets and their liabilities in how we look at the men in the Bible. This David, a mighty man of valor, a giant-killing David, but also a lust-written David who ends up sleeping with Bathsheba and killing Uriah, and yet becomes the king of Israel. Come on, somebody. There's Jonah, who could preach with so much power that cows repented, that cattle repented. He preached with such anointing that this livestock repented. The king repented. Everybody turned to God because of him. And yet, and yet, he was a bigot. He was a bigot, and he ran from God and ended up being swallowed by a fish. And when God saved Nineveh, the one who preached to him was mad at God. And you tell me people aren't complicated? People are complicated. At one moment, they say, "Hosanna!" and the next moment, they say, "Crucify him!" And sometimes it's hard to tell your friends from your enemies because sometimes your friends act like your enemies, and your enemies act like your friends. And it is hard to tell who Peter is because of the shame that is on this moment. The shame that's on this moment.

And you have not lived until you felt shame. It's not like a pain where you can take a pill for it. It's not like an ache where you can get a prescription for it. It's not something you can go to the doctor and eradicate. Shame is personal. You can put makeup over it. You can put hair over it. You can shave and get your beard trimmed over it. You can look good over top of it, and nobody will know that behind it all, the reason you didn't do more or go further or climb higher is because it was shame. We live in a culture, in a society today, that people are afraid to run for office because if there's anything you ever did or sorta did or smiled at somebody or hugged somebody, you could lose your position. Who wants to run for an office to be shamed and humiliated in public? Even though you may be smart and be gifted and you, you could have been king. It is becoming less and less popular to be powerful because people are looking for heroes that are bigger than them. They want you to be what they can't be. They want you to be Jesus. And when you take a position, or you take a role, or you take a job, or you raise a family, or there's always somebody who's got you on their hit list, who's ready to dig up something on you to say, "Oh, he ain't such much. She's not so much. They're not so good. They're not so bad." And it's one thing when it's a lie, but it's another thing when it's true.

Peter was warming himself. You can rebuke a lie. You can stare a lie down. It almost will bother me when they allow me, because when you allow me, I got a quick comeback for you. The truth shall set you free. I'm good. But what about with what they're saying about you is true? Peter is warming himself at the fire of the people he used to fight. What a contradiction. And you must understand that people are full of contradictions and complexities. And what we do with people is, once we discover that there's a complexity or contradiction, we throw them away. And you generally never hear. Think of all the people that used to be up that got thrown down that you don't even hear of anymore. Forget their position. We don't even treat them like they're human anymore. They disappear. [Applause]

And the young people say, "Keep it 100." Keep it at 100 will get you killed. Keep it at 100 will take your job. Keep it at 100 will destroy your life. Keep it at 100 will knock you to your knee. You better keep it 100 with Jesus. [Music] If you got somebody that you can give 55, you're doing real good. [Music] But 45, you got to. I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. How can I bear these burdens alone? I must tell Jesus. I must tell Jesus. Jesus can help me. Jesus alone. There are some things that you must tell Jesus, because only Jesus has the ability to weigh the assets against the liabilities and not to judge you through one slice, one moment, one period, one stage of your life. And it's not just the judgment of the masses. And it's not just a judgment of the crowd. It is also the judgment of yourself. Shame equals a negative self-judgment and viewing yourself as worthless. Shame stops you from going after your dreams. Shame stops you from living your life to the fullest. It makes you punish yourself. It's not just that you say to repent is to say, "What I did was wrong, and I'm sorry." But shame goes beyond repentance. It says, "Because of what I did, I am worthless." And the truth of the matter is, behind all of our clapping and skipping and jumping, there's not a person in this room that then from time to time wrestle with. Oh, it's easy to talk about when you talk about dead people. Dead people. We can forgive their shame. We don't have any trouble with David and Peter and Nehemiah and all of those people because they did. But when they are living, they are destroyed. And when they are you, sometimes self-punishment is the worst sentence any judge could execute on you. The way you see yourself, that's shame. It ruins relationships because if anybody comes along and tries to love you, you won't let them love you because you don't love yourself. If anybody tries to receive you, you push them away because you don't understand why anybody would want somebody who is worthless. And so you self-sabotage promotions on jobs and careers and relationships and even family life because even though they don't even know you think you're worthless, they think you're an amazing woman. You think you're a [ __ ] a [ __ ] some woman. Listen to and said, "He's a great man. He's a good man." And you think I'm worthless because I failed. So we self-medicate, and we drink, and we smoke, and we get high, and we shoot up, and we do other things, and we do church even to medicate the pain of shame, because church can be a narcotic. [Applause] Y'all are going to talk to me this morning. I wish I had to talk back. Church, church can be a narcotic. It can be a way to anesthetize your pain.

And then there's guilt. Guilt is when you evaluate an action or behavior you did as unfavorable, but as a person, you still feel valued internally. But if you're not careful, guilt will turn to shame, and it will affect every relationship in your life. The daughter you didn't raise. The son you gave away. Let's take it away from presidents and kings and prophets and let's bring it down to earth. Let's bring it down to the level. The house you lost because you gambled the money away. [Music] I'm talking about shames that we carry around with us. The son we had out of wedlock that doesn't fit into the family we now have, and we don't know what to say to him because we create these shameful situations that become weight on our back, that presses us down to the ground, that leads us in a state of being where we are not sure how to deal with the messes we made. And I know I've been saved, and I know I've been washed in the blood, but he's still standing there accusing me. What do I say to him? So I run the church and clap my hands and talk about the blood prevails. The blood prevails. But that boy don't care nothing about no blood. [Applause] And every time you hear a baby cry, you think about the ones you aborted. I'm talking about shame. I'm talking about shame. I'm talking about the degree you got up under false pretenses. I'm talking about shame. You got the title, but you don't know deadly about it. I'm talking about shame. And how do you live with it? And how do you process it? And I hate to tell you this because it's going to mess with your theology. You can't dance it away. No, no, no, no, no. You can't shout it away. You can't speak entire and make it go away. You can't prophesy and make it go away. In fact, some of the most judgmental, self-righteous people in the church do it as a disguise to camouflage their own shame. And they would rather come up with receipts on you than to admit who they are themselves. I'm talking about shame affects the way you treat your daughter. Shame, you're punishing her for stuff you did. You drove away the man you got over the man you lost. I'm talking about shame. Peter was utter shame. The kind of torment that sometimes church doesn't help. One man comes to Jesus and he says, "I brought my son to your disciples, and church didn't help him." After he cast himself into the water, after he cast himself into the fire, and I brought him to you, church people, and you couldn't help him because it was too deep for you.

The importance of of the prodigal son story that Jesus told is quite profound because he openly talks about a boy who thinks he's bigger than he is and thinks he's more ready than he is and says, "Give me the portion of goods that fall to me." And he goes out to do his own thing. And he has all these harlots, and he has all of these friends, and he has all of this money until it ran out. And when it ran out, they ran out with it. And he ends up in the hog pen. And you'd have to be an orthodox Jew to understand how low a hog pen is to a Jewish boy. They won't even eat swine. They don't even touch wine. And now this boy, not only is ready to eat swine, he is ready to eat that which the swine did eat. And at the time he gets ready to come back home, "How do I face the father? I failed. How do I explain what happened to the things the living he worked his whole life for? He didn't have any more life to work. April, he's old. I wasted his life with hookers and strippers, and I got nothing to show for it. I got nothing." And he's still alive, and I gotta go home to this old man, broke. It's one thing to blow your own money. It's another thing to blow mine. Tip lightly when you come to my house and you blew my money. That's my money. That was my life. That was my lifesaver, and you wasted it on what? Worse still, he has to go home smelling like a pig. Smelling like something his dad would not touch. Smelling like something his daddy raised him not to eat. What do you do when your shame affects the people you love? Affects the way they look at you. Affects the way they handle you at the Thanksgiving dinner. And yes, they invited you, but you know the way they look at you, and you know what they think about you. And you have shame.

And the power of the prodigal son story is that while the boy is rehearsing, he's so afraid of his daddy that he's rehearsing what he's gonna say to his father. That's a level of shame when you're trying to figure out what I, I would say, "I am no more worthy. Listen to that. I am no more worthy to be called that son. Make me a hired servant." He's trying to get his message ready because he is full of shame. And what blows the story wide open is, while he has yet a great ways off, the father sees him coming and tears off the porch like he's a young man and runs out to meet him. You know why he ran out to meet him? Because he still wanted him. [Applause] In spite of the fact that he smelled like swine. In spite of the fact that he had spent his substance and righteous living. In spite of the fact that he had given his father's living to horse. He said, "You're a shameful disciple, but I, I still want you. You messed up, but I still want you." And I want you bad enough to put a clean robe on a dirty boy without a shower, without a bath. Bring him the robe and the ring, and let's celebrate him, funk and all. [Music] No shower, no bath, no cleansings, no ceremonies, no rituals, no communions, no church service, no prayer meeting. He put the robe on [ __ ] because he was still his son.

What is Jesus trying to tell us about shame and God? That God still wants you. That he has, he has a plan for your life. That he already knows the inconsistency of humanity. And no, I'm not making excuses for sin. And no, I'm not taken down for righteousness. And yes, holiness is still right. It's just that we are not holiness. We are human. [Music] Holiness is still right, but that don't mean I'm always right. Holiness is right, but humanity goes wrong. And some of you just hollering, "Holiness is right." You got some stuff too, because I grew up with you, and I know. I, I got the receipts. [Applause] You ain't so such a bad. Don't tell me you're so such about. Just cause your dress go down to the floor, don't mean you can't yank it up. It don't mean. I found out a long time ago, dresses that go down, go up. [Applause] Y'all ain't gonna talk back to me this morning, cause y'all won't stand by the truth. But Jesus said, "He shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Them church hats come off. Yes, they do. And prayer cops and prayer bodies, all of that stuff comes off. Because when you strip all of that down, you're human. You have to wrestle every day between your holiness and your humanity, between your intentions and your realities. Come on, talk to me, somebody. Because this that I am preaching about today is just as real as anything you want to talk about. The inconsistencies of man. That's why marriages fail. Because you married, you, you married an idea, and you went home with a man. You married a concept, but you went home with a woman, a flawed woman, a flawed man, who don't always tell you everything. To how to tell you, who's not always open about what they ought to be open with. Who's a mother and may really love her kids, but may not be a great, may only be a good mother, maybe a fair mother, maybe a bad mother, but a mother nonetheless. Maybe a great mother, not a great wife. He may be a great father, not a great husband. And all of a sudden, can you live with somebody who has disappointed you? Do you have the kind of love that runs off the porch to grab and hug a funky son with tracks in his arms or a dress around his way? Do you have the kind of love that Jesus was talking about in the Bible?

Peter was warming himself by the fire of the people he used to fight. Watch out for people who fight stuff all the time. [Music] Because when you're always preaching about something, when you are always talking about something, [Music] don't be surprised when you find them warming themselves by the fire of the very thing. Y'all ain't gonna help me preach this morning. You're not gonna help me preach this morning, but I'm dealing with some stuff this morning that's deep, and it may be dark, but it's true, and it's eating at us. [Applause] It's eating at us. It is not what we are eating that's making us gain weight. It's what's eating at us. It's eating at our peace. It's eating at our rest. It's eating at our joy. It's eating at our marriages. It's eating in our careers and our commitments and our self-esteem. And somebody has got to preach about shame because the suicide rates are going up while we are quiet and silent and politically correct and beating our tambourines and dancing all over the world. Our kids are blowing their brains up. And I will not keep sowing. [Applause] [Music] I'm tired, y'all. I'm tired of short caskets. I'm tired of 15-year-olds being killed in drive-by shooters. I'm tired of three-year-olds getting shot through a door in our own house. Plan because we won't talk about life. Somebody has got to have the courage to talk about life that is not just a straight line and everything that just fall into place. And Peter, the great apostle of the New Testament, is warming himself by the fire of the Romans, denying Jesus. [Music] And not just saying, "I'm not his disciple." He said, "I don't even know him." It's a shame, but it's true.

And what if Thomas? Thomas, who said, "We must go and die with him." Where is he? Where is Thomas? Not in the upper room. Later, when Jesus rose from the dead, where is he? At the cross. Because when Jesus left for Jerusalem, Thomas said, "Look it up. I must go and die with him." But when that dying got real, a lot of people say a lot of stuff until it gets real. "For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, to richer and for poor, until you pee on yourself when it gets worse." [Music] [Applause] Don't be so carried away about what people say. Because Thomas, who was ready to die for him, turns up M.I.A. at the cross. I see John. I see Mary. I see the Roman soldiers. Where is Thomas at the cross? No wonder he doesn't show up in the upper room. Shame. No wonder he is not gathering with the rest of the disciples because they hide him. Saying, "I will die with him." And they know he had shrunk into the bushes and ran down the path and went over the hill and swam across the creek to get away from death.

And what about Judas and his infamous betrayal of Jesus? I was reading a non-canonical book called The Gospel of Judas that has been discovered in the antiquities of history. And then it, it purports the ideology that Judas really wasn't trying to betray Jesus. He was trying to put Jesus in a situation where he would have to overthrow Rome so that the kingdom could come. And he thought that if he got Jesus in an open confrontation with Rome, that Jesus would show his power and rise to power, and he would finally take on politics and stop healing sick people. Because I'm tired of you healing sick people. That's not why I'm following you. I'm following you because I want political power. And the trick blew up in his face. [Music] He didn't know they were gonna kill him. [Music] If he knew they were going to kill him, then why did he hang himself? He hung himself because he got caught in his own web, and it cost somebody their life. And some of us have made decisions that cost other people their lives and their careers and their futures. And it's hard to live when you got the masterful plot, and the plot goes wrong. Can I go deeper? I want to submit, just for your curiosity, it could be possible that had Judas not hung himself, he could have got the same. He could have come and fallen on his knees and said, "Forgive me." And I know you don't believe it, but I will defend it. If Jesus could be dying on the cross and say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," while they nailed him to the tree, then surely, [Music] Judas didn't have to spill his blood. He could have been cleansed by the blood. But he, he didn't do it. Because see, it wasn't Judas that was bad. It was Satan that had entered Judas. For the Bible says, "Satan having entered into Judas," which means that Judas wasn't always filled with Satan. And Jesus knew when Satan had entered into Judas. And the Bible says so. But the problem with us is, we can't tell when Satan has entered. We can't tell when our friends turn jealous. We, we can't tell when our wives fall out of love. We can't tell when our husbands stop caring. I'm talking about shame today. I'm talking about a guy who couldn't get rid of his shame, so he got rid of his life. I'm talking to somebody out there who has a hard time living with a dark secret in your life. And I am telling you that Judas didn't have to hang himself, and you don't have to blow your brains off. I am telling you that Jesus died for your kind of shame. For what you did to yourself. For what you did to your family. For what you did to your body. For what you did to your future. You do not have to go to the potter's field and hang yourself or blow your brains out or OD. That you could come to Jesus, because he still wants you. He still wants you. The blood of Jesus is stronger than the blood of Judas. The blood of Jesus is stronger than the blood of Judas. God still wants you. He still cares about you.

And finally, as I come to my text, Peter, the complicated betrayal of Peter. Peter's name means the rock, but the rock is now warming himself by the fire of his enemies. Isn't it funny when your name gets bigger than you? When you got a great name as a great woman of God, and a great person, and a great professional, and a great this, and a great that, and a great deal, and you got a great name, but you got a messy past. Peter couldn't live up to his name. He wasn't. Jesus called him the rock, but he was knighted like a rock. He was scared. In the text, I love the text because I love the word. I love, love, love the word. See, I don't have to have the crowd. I have to have the text. If I have the text, I don't have to have the crowd. I love the text because it shows that we get to see men like Peter in fluctuations that could possibly affect our admiration of them, and yet we begin to understand how life really works. We get to understand that Peter is in a situation of fluctuation, and somebody right now is in a situation of fluctuation, and you are not living up to your highest ideals. And God sent me to tell you, he still wants you. Smell like swine, but he still wants you. You warmed yourself by the fire of the enemy, but he still wants you. You see, Peter didn't know that was in him. He didn't know that was in him. And a lot of us don't know what's in us, what we're capable of, because we buy into the myth and the legend and we believe our own headlines. You ain't such a rock after all. You're a rock about this, but you are scared to death about that.

Peter didn't know. There's a text. Put my text up. Where Jesus was questioning him before this happened. And and he said, he said to him in John 21:15, "When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Jesus loves to get you at dinner. Jesus, when they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "You know I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Again, Jesus said to Simon, "Son of John, do you love me?" He said, "Yeah, Lord, you know you mean you're cool, Jesus. You know I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." The third time he said, "Simon, son of Jonah, John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know, you know I keep telling you the same thing. You know all things. You know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." Verily, verily, I tell you, when you were younger, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. Jesus said this to him to indicate the kind of death by which Peter was to die. Then he said, "Follow me." Later, Jesus says to him, "Before the [ __ ] crows, you will have denied me three times."

And in my text, while Peter is warming himself by the fire, he's warming himself by the fire because it's morning. It's early morning. And you know how it's a little chill in the air in the morning. And Peter's a little cold, and he's trying to be comfortable while Jesus is about to be crucified. Are you trying to be comfortable while Jesus is being crucified? And I asked him one time, "Weren't you with him?" "No." "Oh, no, no, no. I'm not one of them." "Aren't you one of them, Galilean?" "No, no, no. I'm not one." Said, "I remember you in the garden." "I remember you in your strength. I remember when you were cutting off the ears of the men you're hanging out with now." Max ladder. God remembers you when you were on his team. And now you're warming yourself by the fire of the people you used to fight. And Peter said, "I don't even know what you're talking about." Girl, get out of my face. And he went to custody. He gave me an essence. He cursed her out. Peter, Peter, the rock, Peter, who would write the epistles, Peter, who would deliver the inaugural message on the day of Pentecost, cursed her out. He cursed her out. [Applause] He cursed her out to convince her. I with Jesus stuff, I ain't got nothing to do with that. I don't have nothing to do with that. And he walked away because his name was better than his life.

And all of a sudden, we see Peter in utter shame. The disciples didn't know it, but he knew it. Bartholomew didn't know, but he knew it. James didn't know it, but he knew it. He knew that he was in with the wrong people while Jesus needed him most. He knew it. No wonder he later says, when Jesus rises from the dead, Peter is one of the guys who said, "I go fishing." Because when you are full of shame, you just want to get away. Who am I preaching to today? What are you running away from that God has for you? That God wants to do in your life? That God has purposed for you? But because of the nagging memories of your, of your own inconsistencies, you find yourself in a dilemma. I am sent here today to talk to you. God told me to tell you, I still want you. Jesus rose from the dead with Peter on his mind. Do you all hear the words that are coming out of my mouth? Jesus rose from the dead with Peter on his mind. He rose from the dead and said, "Go tell the disciples." I think it's Mark 16:7. He says, "Don't be alarmed. He spoke to the women. Don't be alarmed. He said, 'You're looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen. He is not here. He is not here. He is not here. He's gone. He's up from the dead. See the place where he laid. This is where he used to be. This is where he is. But go tell the disciples and Peter.'" It's one thing, but out of all 12 disciples, he calls Peter by name. He calls Peter by name because Peter doesn't think that he's still a disciple. He thinks that he's messed up so bad that he's lost his place and he's lost his destiny. And he's lost. God told me, there's somebody I'm preaching to today, you think you messed up so bad that you ruined your destiny. It's a lie. The Lord sent me here to preach to you to call you by name. "Go tell the disciples and Peter. Go tell the disciples and Mary. Go tell the disciples and Shawanda. Go tell the disciples and Helen. Go tell the disciples and Fred. Go tell the disciples and Robert." God is calling you by name. [Music] [Applause] God is saying, "Simply, I'm going to meet you in Galilee. There I'm going to show myself to you, just as I told you." And in spite of your shame, in spite of your shame, I still have a plan for your life.

Can you imagine, as I close, what it must have been like for Peter to preach the inaugural address on the day of Pentecost? Out of all 12 disciples, Peter is chosen to preach on the day of Pentecost. Oh, woman by the fire, betraying, shameful disgrace. Peter is raised up to speak to all of the people that he used to warm himself by the fire with and said, "Oh, house of Israel, know assuredly that this same Jesus whom ye crucified have been made both Lord and Christ." He preached the gospel to them. He preached the resurrection to them. He preached the power of God to them. You can turn around from disgrace to grace. You can come from failure to victory. You can get rid of your shame. [Music] [Applause] And it begins when you understand. It begins. Marcus, when you understand. It begins when you understand. He still wants you. He still wants you. Your voice in the choir. Your message. Your service. He still wants you. He still wants you. You're still his daughter. You're still his baby girl. Mistakes and all. He still wants you. He's still got a plan for your life. I'm not excusing your shame. I'm not justifying your mistake. I'm telling you that his grace is bigger than your disgrace, and that he still wants you. I'm telling you that God is bigger than your deepest secret, your darkest night, your daughter out of wedlock, your disgrace, your drug addiction, your problem, your pain, your self-medication, your trauma, your family crisis, the scandal in your family is not bigger than the grace of our God. I came to tell you, he still wants you. I came to get to you before you end up in the potter's field, self-destructing, self-medicating, self-destroying every opportunity over something you can't get rid of. God loves you. Man, that God actually loves you. He still wants you. And you thought you just zoomed in to be zooming in. God wanted you to hear this word. This particular message has got your name on it. [Music] I can't help this. She don't want you. He still wants you. I can't help that they talking about you. He still wants you. I can't help how they stare at you. God said, "I still want you." And so Peter becomes one of the most powerful apostles of the New Testament, whose shadow falls on people, and they are healed. People are delivered because of him. Entire cities are transformed because of him. And none of his shame stopped his destiny from coming to pass. Look me right in the eye. None of it. Not the drugs, not the affair, not the disgrace, not the turmoil, not the flaw, not the failure, stops you from being a candidate for the grace of God to put your feet back on course. Daddy told me to tell you, he said, "Go tell my son that I'm running off the porch to get you. That I want you. And I know you ain't had a bath. And I know you've been with the pigs, but I want you. And I know you've been warming yourself by the fire of the enemy, but I still want you. And I know your dirty little secret. And I know about your abortions. And I know about your pain. And I know about your nightmares. That I know about your tears. [Music] And as bad as all of that is, I still want you. [Music]

There is not a person in this room that doesn't need this word. There is not a person in this room that doesn't have to climb over top of something you know about yourself to do what you do, like you do it. He still wants you. What are you gonna do about it? What are you gonna do? Are you just gonna fake the funk and self-medicate and not go after your dreams and not climb too high and not let anybody come too close and not let anybody in and not let anybody love you and not let anybody have access to you because you know about your shame? Or are you gonna come to him right now? [Music] There's no broken heart his loving hand can't heal. [Music] He is waiting. [Music] He still wants you. [Music] There's [Music] [Music] He still wants you. And that daughter that shamed you and embarrassed you and hurt your feelings, [Music] his loving hands can't heal. [Music] [Music] [Music] Right. No broken heart his loving hands can't heal. No empty soul that he [Music] He's been up every night looking out the window, waiting on his son to come back. I know you come to church, but do you really come to him? He is waiting. He's waiting. [Music] His arms are outstretched right now. [Music] Some of you have been Christians for years, but you are still carrying deep shame. It shows up in your relationships, and it shows up in your situation, and it shows up in what you won't go after, and what you won't do. He doesn't have to love what you did to love who you are. [Music] I gotta go, but I feel the power of the Holy Ghost in this place. Ow. God is here. [Music] He's still. He's still watching. [Music] Can I pray with you? I gotta get my head right. My heart is right. I gotta get my head right. My heart is right, but I'm haunted in my head. I got images and memories in my head. I got scars. I got inhibitions. I got insecurities. I'm warming myself by places I shouldn't be warming myself. I'm looking for comfort in the wrong places. I need your help. [Music] I know you got something great for me, but if you and I don't fix this, I won't. I won't be there. I won't get there. I won't get it. And so I'm coming to you. I'll lay my hall on the altar, and I give it to you. And let the angels write down that this was the Sunday that I dropped my shame. That I was set free. That I was made whole. That I finally stepped over my path. That I finally made it to who God meant for me to be. I am a rock. I am a rock. I am a rock. I am a rock. I am [Music] you.