Two Realities, One Truth x Sarah Jakes Roberts
When we live in a world that insists our perspective is the only truth, we rob someone else of the validity of their own experience. But Sis, God’s Word teaches us that two realities can coexist. Someone may have meant it for evil, but God has a greater context—His will, His purpose, His glory. Don’t miss this: what we see as suffering, God sees as the setup for glory. What feels like the end to us is just the beginning to Him. We only see a fragment of the picture, but God holds the full canvas.
Holy
[Music]
Ghost if we are going to
be a
people who bring the fullness of who we
are into relationship with the
Lord we must also
be the type of
people who don’t settle for someone
else’s this limmited
context we must also be
people who don’t make judgments about
people based on the limited context we
possess we must
understand
oh that no one but the Lord really knows
the full
context of why a person is the way that
they
are my husband and I we were in
Johannesburg this
summer and we wanted to make it we
wanted to make it a point to not just go
and preach we wanted to experience the
country and we knew that part of
experiencing the country me that we had
to go look at the life and work of
Nelson
Mandela and we went to the Nelson
Mandela
foundation and I knew Nelson Mandela as
a South African anti-ap partite activist
I knew him as a Statesman the first
president of South Africa I knew all of
these things about him and we were
walking through the
foundation and we were looking at his
life’s work and though he did so many
incredible things things that are
outliving him even now there was
something that really stood out in my
mind from an
unpublished
autobiography written while he was on
Robin
Island Nelson Mandela said I have often
wondered whether a person is
Justified in neglecting his own family
to fight for opportunities for
others there was something about that
quote that resonated with
me because while I knew him as this
incredible anti-apartheid activist while
I knew him as one of the first the first
black men president of South Africa it
helped me to understand that I had
limited
context because there was a part of him
that grappled with the reality that his
presence for the world meant an absence
from his
home sometimes
we fall for the illusion of the context
we
see not
recognizing that one person can have
many
contexts your perspective of a
person it all depends on the context in
which you engage with
them if you’re working with someone you
may think that they’re an incredible
boss and incredible co-
coworker in that context you’re right
but in another context they could be
struggling with childhood wounds and
have terrible
relationships we must make it our
mission to not limit ourselves to just
one context of who we
are the full context of who we are is
something that we must be willing to
engage we must see that one individual
can have many context you can be an
incredible educator but still need work
when it comes to Parenting there’s all
of these different contexts to Who We
Are
are and there was something about this
realization that helped me to understand
s simultaneous context existing at one
time y’all can sit down we just
talking simultaneous
context
existing at the same
time a Savvy business person
someone working through
trauma an
educator still working on how to be a
parent it helped me to understand that
when there are simultaneous contexts
taking place that it is also a
reflection of how we as Believers or
people who are flirting with belief and
trying to figure out what it means to be
a believer it means that we must also
recognize that we exist in the context
of simultaneous context Lord help me
I don’t think that there is a scripture
that unpacks it quite like genesis
1520 when Joseph tells his brothers you
meant it for
evil but God meant it for
good I love this scripture and I love
church but one of the things that church
had me believing is that this scripture
says you mended for evil but God turned
it for good
but the scripture doesn’t say
that the scripture says you meant it for
evil but God meant it for good that
means that there were two contexts
taking place there was a context in
which someone meant something for evil
but God had another
context and if I would have got stuck in
the limited context of what you meant
for evil if I didn’t realize that two
context can exist at the same time then
I would have missed out on the reality
that though you meant it for evil that
God meant it for good I don’t just trust
God I trust God’s context oh I wish I
could say that better sometimes we trust
God and we trust God within our context
I trust God right here but a deeper
level of faith says that I trust that
God has a context that won’t just meet
me in despair but doesn’t even see this
as despair to begin with for I reckon
that the sufferings of this pres I see
it as suffering but he sees it as Glory
that means I just got to wait a little
bit longer so that I can see the
context that God
sees cuz God’s Not Looking from a
limited
perspective God sees the full
context so he can cry with you but he
doesn’t get devastated like you because
he knows the full
picture oh I wish I could say that real
good I wish that I could help someone
understand that what you’re calling
Devastation what you’re calling betrayal
what you’re calling Revenge what you’re
calling bitterness that heaven is
looking back and saying I see how you
got there with your limited context I
wish I had about five people who looked
back over their life and said there was
a season in my life where I thought that
thing was going to break me but I had
limited context but knowing what I know
now I see that my context was limited
that when you walked away from me you
really blessed me that when you took
that Revenge that you actually hurt
yourself you didn’t hurt me I had
limited context
we must
understand simultaneous
context that what you see is not all
that there
is so don’t make a decision based off of
what you
see don’t count God out based off of
what you see your context is limited so
sometimes our job is to surrender our
context and to trust that though I don’t
know what’s going on I know who is in
control I know he hasn’t forgotten about
me I believe him when he says I’ll never
leave you nor forsake you I believed
what he said in Isaiah 55 that my
thoughts are not your thoughts my ways
are not your ways as far as the heaven
is from the earth so are my ways from
your ways I believe that because what it
shows to me is that he has a different
context and because he has different
context his thoughts don’t look like
mine my job is to make my thoughts look
like his
my job oh I want to talk to somebody
who’s been prophesying death over their
situation I want to talk to somebody who
hasn’t been prophesying at all are you
robbing god of the opportunity to speak
through your mouth what he has already
assigned to happen in heaven on Earth as
it is in heaven when you get afraid and
you stop speaking you think that if I
don’t say nothing then I won’t mess
nothing up but I hear God saying
sometimes you’re not saying nothing
means that I can’t release anything
through you I need you to start opening
your mouth by faith I know your life is
falling apart but I need you to start
opening your mouth by faith we going to
get to the other side of this we’re
going to have restoration when it’s all
said and done these are not my words
these are God’s words flowing through me
that no weapon formed against me will
prosper sometimes when I start quoting
scripture I’m not quoting my scripture
I’m going back to the word of God cuz
the word of God has never failed me and
sometimes the word word of depression is
coming out of my mouth sometimes the
word of Doubt is coming out of my mouth
so I have to let the word of God speak
over my
doubt cuz there’s two
contexts taking place in
Ephesians I didn’t study and I got to go
in
Ephesians Church teach Paul teaches the
Church of
Ephesus that they have limited
context as it relates to what they have
received from the
Lord and Ephesians chap 6:12 we love
this scripture but it just goes to show
that there’s two different contexts in
which we exist in right
now he tells the Church of Ephesus I
want you to understand that we are not
wrestling against flesh and
blood
what their only context is flesh and
blood cuz that’s all they have context
for for but because Paul is positioned
in such a way that he hears God’s voice
and he’s an outlet to the people God has
called him to he says I want you to
understand that up underneath all of
this up underneath all of this
transition up underneath all of this
Roman rule up underneath all of this
there’s another battle going on and that
battle is against principalities against
Powers against the rulers of the
darkness of this age against spiritual
hosts of wickedness and Heavenly places
I need you to understand that two
context exist at the same time it’s not
just what you’re going through there’s
also a devil assigned to make sure that
you go through it and if you make your
life about fighting the bank if you make
your life about fighting the
relationship and miss the underbelly of
what’s going on here your weapons will
not work but I dare you to start
speaking to the principalities I dare
you to start recognizing that this
battle is not just flesh and blood it’s
not just against institutions that there
is a devil assigned to make sure that
you do not break this generational curse
there is a Darkness assign to making
sure that you do not walk in the light
but the devil is a liar God will not
allow you to stay ignorant God will not
allow you to stay in the dark If my
people who are called by my name will
humble themselves and seek my fa turn
from their Wicked Ways and seek my face
I will insert myself
I need you to
understand that even right now he wrote
this almost 2,000 years ago even right
now we are not wrestling against flesh
and
blood so there are some things that
you’re not going to be able to
strategize your way out of there are
some things you’re going to have to be
willing to rebuke the devil in order to
get
done you didn’t just receive Jesus as
your Savior and if you hadn’t you going
to have a chance when it’s all said and
done here today you didn’t just receive
Jesus as your savior when you receive
Jesus what you received is the same
power that raised Jesus from the grave
alive on the inside of you if you make
this about strategizing your way into
the next you’re going to miss the
reality that you’re going to have real
Warfare and that
Warfare is going to require you to get
more spiritual than you have ever
been I got so much to
say
Jesus you’re going to have to be more
spiritual than you have ever
been not more churchy not more
religious more
spiritual than you have ever been I want
you to know that it’s not just being
churchy cuz you’ll be trying to write
down this sctive things you should say
but I want you to understand that God
wants to meet you in spirit and in truth
that means if you come to me using a
language that’s not even authentic to
who you are I can’t really meet you you
don’t have to have all the fancy
language I know your grandmother was a
prayer Warrior and maybe one day you
will be too but right now you got to
release what you got into the atmosphere
God I don’t really know how to do this
but I do believe that you are my Lord
and Savior I believe that you will go
ahead of me and make my crooked path
stra I believe that you’ll place a hedge
of protection around me God I’m praying
that you would dispatch angels to my
circumstance dispatch Angels God teach
me your ways teach me how to walk in
your countenance show me who’s for me
and who’s against me because I can’t
afford to have anybody
sabotaging what you’re trying to do in
this season of my life God give me
discernment help me to see who carries
your light and who’s a worker of
Darkness God help me to understand Who’s
On Assignment from the enemy in their
own Brokenness in their own pain they
become a gate for the enemy to take away
my joy to take away my anointing God
help me to
understand where the threats
are oh I’m about to get to my
text child
[Applause]
I’m going just say what God told me to
say and we going to see what happens
Peter Peter doesn’t even
realize what’s
happening he’s going about his day as a
disciple one of my favorite disciples
cuz he liked to
fight I love me a fighting Christian
y’all some of my
favorites every everybody need at least
one fighting Christian where you got be
like don’t do it don’t do it go ahead go
ahead Peter’s going about his life
trying to serve what Jesus is doing in
the earth and out of
nowhere Jesus says to Peter you’ve got
limited
context about what’s happening in this
season of your
life Luke 22:31 says
that when the Lord called Simon over
Simon Peter he says Simon
Simon indeed Satan has asked for
you he didn’t ask
Peter but something was happening that
Peter didn’t even realize what happening
in another
context Satan has asked for
you can I just tell you part of being in
relationship with
Jesus is being able to recognize being
having an
Insider when Satan has asked for
you have you ever thought that you were
going through something and you thought
it was maybe just your friends and you
thought it was maybe just the politics
of your organization but all of a sudden
in your prayer closet you started
praying and you realize that this is not
just regular someone Satan has asked for
me this is Warfare have you ever had
Jesus say you’re trying to fight The
Wrong Enemy I’m telling you that Satan
has asked for you
says he’s asked for you that he may sift
you as
wheat but then Jesus says but
I that word is so good to
me but I says God he asks for you but I
don’t just give him what he asked for he
said but I have prayed for you he asked
for you but I prayed for
you I want you to to know that in
another context that Satan is asking for
you but I want you to understand that
I’m praying for you because I know Satan
has asked for you and it would be easy
if I just told Satan to back off but I
need you to understand that no weapon
formed against you will prosper so I
need you to feel the threat of what it
feels like when Satan asks for you but
how the power of my prayer can intervene
on Satan’s request Satan asks for you
but I prayed for you Satan asked for you
but I covered you Satan asked for you
but I won’t just let him have you I’m
praying for you I’m not praying that
you’ll keep your stff I’m praying for
you I’m praying that your faith won’t
fail you I’m praying that you’ll
remember where you came from I’m praying
that you’ll remember what I exposed you
to I’m praying that you’ll remember the
Miracles that you seen work I’m praying
that you’ll remember that the same God
that saw you through the good days will
also show up in your bad days I’m
praying for you
Jesus sits at the right hand of the
father making intercession on our
behalf why is he making intercession
because he knows that Satan is going to
ask for us and I just want you to be
strong enough to withstand the plan of
the enemy I don’t know who you are and
maybe you feel like nobody’s covering
you maybe you feel like no one fully
understands what you’re going through
but but I want you to understand that
you have a high priest who understands
what it’s like to be you and because he
knows what it’s like to be you he’s
sitting down watching you be you and
he’s saying God I pray right now that
they would remember that I have not
forgotten them God I pray right now that
you would stir up the gift of God that’s
on the inside of them I rebuke you Satan
right now in my name he don’t have to
say in the name of Jesus we say that cuz
we’re not worthy to come to his throne
but thank God for the blood we can come
but when Jesus prays he doesn’t have to
do it with a cover he’s under he’s out
of cover now when Jesus starts praying
Jesus gets to pray as
himself with full
context of what it means to be
you of what it means to experience
pain
betrayal I know what you feel like grief
J is a sweatball I know what it feels
like to be you so when I pray I pray
with
specificity lost and confused I know
what it’s like to be you do I stay or do
I go I know what it’s like to be you to
not want to step in obedience to what
God has called I know what it’s like to
be you but Jesus knows what’s on the
other
side so when he
prays he prays that you’ll make it to
the other
side he prays that you’ll be
aware that even when it looks like
you’re in it on your
own that you’ve just got limited
context that he sees
you that he knows
you that he wants to transform you he
wants to change
you that he’s created a way of Escape
for
you that there’s strategy
that you don’t have to follow God and
have it all
together you can follow me in your
broken
State we’ll figure it out along the way
says God I don’t need you to clean up to
come to me the dirtier the better the
more confused the better I don’t need
you to get it together before you come
to me you had it together in one season
now you’re falling apart I don’t need
you to get it together to come to
me cuz when I look at you I don’t look
at you with limited conf
context I see all that you
were and all that you can
become which is why I never gave up on
[Music]
you you can’t convince God that you’re
worth giving up
on cuz God knows who you can become when
you partner with
him when you make it your mission to
model your life after Jesus I know who
you can become I will pull things out of
you that you didn’t even know where in
you God says I am your maker your
creator I know what’s inside of you I
know you better than you know
[Music]
you so much
so that when he sees the
disciples and they’re just
fishing he says to the
disciples follow
me and I will make
you Fishers of Men I don’t even know
what that is I don’t even think that’s
possible Jesus says follow me I’ll show
you what’s sent
you if we’re going to follow
Jesus we have to be willing to be taken
out of our
context we have to be willing to abandon
the context of what we
know to make Jesus our
context oh
I got to abandon the
context of my family of my community of
what other people do when they’re in
this position I have to abandon that
context if I’m going to follow Jesus
otherwise I’m going to be trying to make
God fit in my
context and he’s too big to fit in your
limited
context you you are too big to fit in
your limited
context the disciples have to follow him
because when he gets finished enlarging
them you won’t fit in that context
anymore what God wants to do in your
life is going to require that you
abandon the context of your
unbelief the context of what you think
your life should look
like God says I want to take you out of
context I want you to
forget what you thought you
knew so that my thoughts can become your
thoughts let this mind be in
you that was also in Christ
Jesus if the mind that is in me is going
to be like the mind that is in Christ
Jesus I got to abandon what I currently
is my
mind I’m closing my text I’m closing
it’s going to be sermonette here we go
we
finished I really like this
text because the disciples followed
Jesus they abandoned their
context now Jesus is their context and
he’s given them power and he says heal
the sick and he tells them cleanse the
lepers he gives them power to do all of
these things
and yet now they’re
standing in front of an obstacle in
front of a
demon in front of
opposition that isn’t responding to the
power that’s inside of
them they’re standing at the threshold
of
Destiny but they don’t have the power it
takes to overcome what’s standing in
front of them
man and
when Jesus comes down you got to
understand the mindset Jesus is in when
he comes down he’s left the mountain of
transfiguration and where Elijah and
Moses has
appeared he’s so deep in who he is as
the anointed one in the context of where
he came from that when he comes down and
he sees the disciples he doesn’t even
see the
disciples God showed me the disciples
didn’t even tell him that they didn’t
have the power to cast it
out the man the father comes to him and
he says I brought them to your disciples
and they couldn’t do
it if I wouldn’t have took up too M too
much time I would have talked about how
this man would not accept no for an
answer sometimes our breakthrough
requires us to not take no for an
answer but the disciples
don’t tell Jesus that they have
experienced a power
failure
us that it didn’t
work they’re
present but not
honest and Jesus says oh you faithless
and perverse
generation that’s like new King James
never
mind that’s a read if I call you a
faithless and perverse generation I said
you raggedy you ain’t nothing in you
your mama ain’t nothing you ain’t going
to never be nothing that’s a read he bre
them for fth oh you faithless and
perverse
generation how long must I suffer with
you why was Jesus so
upset because Jesus had taken them out
of the
context of unbelief and had brought them
into the context of there being
Limitless possibilities God has shown
them their his power Jesus had shown him
what was possible Jesus had shown them
these Miracles these signs and wonders
and yet the moment they had some
opposition they went back into
[Applause]
unbelief how could you go back into
unbelief after all that you’ve seen
after all that I gave you don’t you
trust who gave this to you
if you trust who gave this to
you then you will not accept defeat from
the
enemy I’m about to close but I need you
to
understand that the disciples were
willing to accept defeat from the
enemy that they were going to say I just
can’t cast out this demon so the devil
won don’t you trust what I gave you
there’s nothing wrong with the power
there’s something wrong with the context
you’re making the power exist
in and God’s power cannot
exist in the context of your unbelief