In this sermon from the series, Finish Strong, T.D. Jakes delivers a highly-motivating message, intended to “strengthen and fortify” believers.
coming up on the Potters touch did you
know your blessing is already ready that
is that it’s already in place that God
isn’t fixing it up right now it’s
already done
that the work doesn’t have to be applied
to where you’re going the work has to be
applied to you so that when you get
where you’re going you can handle what
you got a handle and so God help me
preach the steps the steps the steps
touch three people say the steps the
steps the steps he sees the greetings in
the name of Jesus Christ our King I am
so blessed to have the opportunity to
share the word of the Lord with you the
message that I’m going to share with you
today I believe will strengthen you
fortify you bless you even help your
friends you ought to call text tell
everybody
he’s on get ready for this word the
message is stay on track say neighbor
God said stay on track
don’t deviate don’t procrastinate
don’t become frustrated all you have to
do to win this battle is stay on track
there are a moments that try the human
soul so violently and so perplexing that
if the truth were told all of us have
had moments that we wanted to throw up
our hands and walk away
discouragement can creep in secretly
hide behind clothes makeup hairdos
discouragement is so bold that it will
even hide behind a smile it will always
ride to work with you
and if it doesn’t catch a ride going to
work
it’ll catch a ride on the way back home
discouragement will go into a tent into
a garage apartment
it’ll going to subsidize living it will
walk right into a section-8 neighborhood
it will come in but but but don’t think
that it stops there
discouragement will walk right into a
middle-class house and sit down at the
dining room table and have a cup of
coffee early in the morning it won’t
just stop there it’ll go in a mansion
and sit on the side of the jacuzzi stick
his feet in the hot tub and tell you
life is not worth living if you listen
at discouragement it will cause you to
make bad decisions it will cause you to
think that life is not worth living and
secretly behind the facade of a smile
and a good morning and a praise the Lord
and how are you you will wonder if
you’re ever going to get out of what
you’re into particularly painful is
discouragement and the life of the
believer because as we travel from
season to season it is not just the
perils that we face but it is seeing the
wicked go forward
while the righteous are held back I
don’t know him I don’t know if you’ve
ever thought like that but sometimes I
see people succeeding who didn’t pray
nearly as hard work nearly as long have
not been faithful at all and it seems
like they seemingly have moments of
victory placed in close proximity so I
could see it their victories are
flaunted in my face not while I am
having a similar experience but while
all hell has broken loose in my life and
I am going through agony and tragedy
seemingly they are having victory and
triumph and if you are not careful the
very sight of their prosperity becomes
you’re a guinea and seeing them go
forward will be a source of such
continued frustration that it is not
your test that baffles you but their
success agonizingly displayed before you
makes you despair of life until David
says and 37 and one fret not thyself
over evildoers how they prosper in their
own way they shall soon be cut off
he says in other words don’t make a
permanent decision over a temporary
circumstance he says don’t allow a
moment of agony to make you draw a
conclusion about life prematurely
because if you just keep on walking with
God God has a way of making everything
all right but he warns us and declares
to us that the steps of a good man are
ordered by the Lord steps somebody steps
now this the term steps implies process
means it’s gonna take a while
means that you can’t get to the
destination just because you want it
just because you saw it just because you
like it just because you need it in fact
we are often tormented by vision mm-hmm
yeah we are tormented by vision it’s a
painful thing to be a visionary because
the visionary sees what shall be and
wakes up to deal with what is
sometimes the visionary cries out on the
inside and says God don’t even show me
what she’ll do because every time I
shout and dance over what you showed me
I go home to a harsh and painful bleak
dark reality and the fact that I am torn
between what shall be and what is
creates agony in my life the Bible said
Hope deferred makes the heart sick there
are moments that I’d rather not know
that I’m going to be king if you’re
going to send me back out into the field
to take care of sheep why didn’t you
just hide that I was going to be king
so I could be satisfied taking care of
sheep but because you told me you had
more for me I wanted to hasten the
process to get to my destiny now now I’m
not happy doing what I used to be happy
doing because I’m tormented by what
shall be I want to hasten my process so
that I can get to an expected end but
that cannot be done because a blessing
given too soon is not a blessing at all
I could give my son the car keys now and
tell him to go to the store but had I
given it to him when he was 5 it would
not have been a blessing at all same car
same Sun giving too soon he can’t handle
it
the car can handle it the road can
handle it I can give it to him but he
can’t handle it so would I be a good
father if I gave him a good thing too
soon
sometimes my goodness is proven by my
ability to say not yet
the younger brother of the prodigal son
teaches us in fact eclis that if we get
what is ours too soon we cannot handle
it that the same thing that should make
us praise the father will drive us away
from the father if we get it too soon
the Bible said he said give me the
portion of goods that falleth to me
the father gave in and gave it to him
and the blessing drove him over the edge
my prayer has always been Lord don’t
give me more than I can handle you know
when to bless me you know how to bless
me you know when I’m ready to be blessed
teach me patience with the process go
through the process
God has ordered steps that the thing
that I’m thankful for is to know that
God orders the steps it helps me to
understand that I am NOT wandering
aimlessly that I’m not just moving on my
own that there is a course for me to
take and that I can’t graduate till I
take it that there is the path for me to
trot that God isn’t making this thing up
as he goes I thought he was making it up
as he went that’s why I prayed so he
could make it up my way I prayed to
abort the process I prayed to speed it
up I prayed to get out of things that he
wanted me to stay into I prayed that I
wouldn’t have to endure some things that
he wanted me to endure I was working on
the destination but he was working on me
and and sometimes he made me wait he he
made me slow down said no you skipped
that step go back go back and do that
again if you skipped it with Jimmy I’m
gonna send it back with Freddie
if you skipped it with Willie you gonna
have to go do it with Roger if you
skipped it with Sally you won’t go
through it with Suzy because all of
these are tools that I’m using the work
on you I’m not preparing the blessing
for you I’m preparing you for the
blessing the blessing is already
prepared oh my god the blessing is
already prepared eyes have not seen ears
have not heard neither has entered into
the heart of man the things that God
have prepared for them the love it did
you know your blessing is already ready
that is that it’s already in place that
God isn’t fixing it up right now it’s
already done that the work doesn’t have
to be applied to where you’re going the
work has to be applied to you so that
when you get where you’re going you can
handle what you got a handle and so God
help me preach the steps the steps the
steps touch three people say the steps
the steps the steps you wanted a good
husband but you wasn’t a good wife
you wanted children but your wasn’t a
good parent
you wanted that wife but you wasn’t a
good man and anytime you get anything
too soon you will trip on the steps so
God puts us in process and order steps
still to come on the Potters touch press
toward the back on the prize of the high
calling slap your David televised press
press press over depressin aggressive of
rejection and press over fear i press
over loneliness devil you thought you
had me but every time you tried i press
before I died in a cage I want to run in
the wild we can do what it is without
limit without being boxed in a cage
without being hindered I want to run in
the wild of my destiny I want to run in
the wild of my purpose telling us to
branch out and it’s time to shift it
just about taking it to the next level
and just thinking outside of the four
walls I got to get out of this cage God
has given us a place around where we are
pastoring to take over that region we
look for the king of God you’re
frustrated about something that’s just
an incubator to take you to the next
dimension
now we’re gonna grow and go to global
missions no more limits no more
boundaries the cage is open you don’t
have any excuses anymore on why you
can’t fulfill your purpose and complete
your assignment to register for this
international gathering visit pastors
and leaders org or call 1-800 Bishop 2
steps a good man are ordered by the Lord
even Jesus had steps they tried to crown
him too soon and he disappeared
because they were trying to make him
skip the steps she said no no you can’t
crown me before you cross me
it is my cross that makes my crowd
it is my agony that makes my ecstasy it
is my sickness that makes my healing it
is my poverty that illuminates my
prosperity makes me appreciate where I
am oh god help me makes me appreciate
where I am right now you don’t know this
good help till you’ve been sick you
don’t even notice it you don’t even
understand the words that are coming out
of my mouth until you have been sick you
will never thank God for feeling good
until you felt bad you’ll never paint
God for your back for your neck for your
hand so you kick this for your lip up
until it’s been Charlie but after a
while you start taking on some crazy
stuff thank you come back and sheet is
loaded ha ha ha yeah yeah yeah yeah the
truth of the matter is it’s a whole lot
of folk in here that are thankful for
stuff that they can’t testify about
because people wouldn’t understand your
testimony
I mean dumb stuff like Lord I think yeah
I can’t afford to get my hair done
Oh y’all are the say let me talk to
these people over here lord I thank you
I got the book money to send the kids to
school I know that ain’t a big testimony
but when you been to hell and back
you can face
God for little stuff the steps of a good
man are ordered by the Lord and I don’t
have to be on the stage to be grateful I
can praise Him on the step because every
time I make a step touch the neighbors
had praise him on the steps don’t wait
til you get to the stage don’t wait til
you get finished
don’t wait till everything is in order
but every now and then you ought to stop
right in the middle of the step and say
Lord I take it I’m not where I’m gonna
be but I’m glad I’m not where I used to
be lord I thank you is there anybody in
here
that’s praising God on the steps look at
your neighbors how I’m not there yet I’m
not finished yet
I haven’t arrived yet but when you see
me praising God I’m praising him on the
steps somebody praying on the steps
the devil hates step praise
I said the devil hates their praise
Satan hates step praise praise the stops
in the middle of the step as they like
hell not myself to have apprehended but
this one thing I do forgetting that
which is Muhammad and reach into that
which is before me
aah crash aah
press I press I was a handsome
determined bogan here I press toward the
mark on the prize of the high calling
slap your name and televised press and
press and press over depressive
oppressive of rejection I press over
fear and press from a loneliness devil
you thought you had me but every time
you tried I press
you
look at the neighbors and know I’m not
perfect I am not perfect
but one day I do I’ll crash every
morning I get out the bed every day I
get in my car I don’t care what they say
I don’t care what they do
you better not go to sleep on the steps
you better not start crying on the steps
you better not give up on the steps
you cannot collapse on the steps they
will find you on the steps if you lay
down there run on the top of you on the
steps I don’t care whether there’s
sunshine or rain players your pain when
you get up in the morning put your pants
on and crash slap your name in
holographs
I measure the value of a man by how hard
he presses and how you can determine who
you fight me about how hard they press
how hard you press tells me how hard you
hit uh-huh you can be all big and
muscle-bound and still not have no force
behind your punch uh-huh force kinetic
energy energy in motion you can’t have
energy sitting energy is measured by
motion that’s why the devil wants you to
sit sit down and shut up and feel sorry
for yourself but your honor brother
Devils – Lord
oh you are a bloated Elmas – not it just
what do you think he got you down you
are the Sultan and crash I feel a
prescient spirit in here this morning I
feel a determination in Hill this
morning I feel a fighting it is longing
look at the neighbors say get on up them
steps get on up get up get on up get up
get on up get on up them steps get on
get on get on up them steps get on up
them steps get get get on up them steps
get on up get on up them steps
get on up them steps get on up them
steps get on up themselves don’t you get
40 and you’re tired don’t you get 50 and
get tired don’t you get 60 and get tired
don’t you get 70 and you’re tired don’t
you get 80 and get high jail not just
the steps of a good man I’m not talking
about a bad man I’m talking about a good
man don’t you sit there with your good
self and say oh that won’t happen to me
cuz I’m good no it’s gonna happen to you
because you’re good the steps of a good
man order ordered by the Lord not
offered ordered he ordered you to go up
the steps he wouldn’t let you bypass
your process all those people who
offered you quick deals
the reason the deal went down is because
God ordered you to go up the steps he
didn’t intend for you to go up the
elevator he knew if he got there –
fashion was gonna be ready for it she
slowed down your process he let the deal
go down it wasn’t time yet when it’s
time it’s gonna happen
ha ha ha when it’s time
is gonna come to pass when it’s time
you’re coming out of trouble when it’s
time ain’t no grave hold your body down
when it’s time God is gonna resurrect
you when it’s time Oh y’all don’t hear
what I’m saying
Oh hallelujah so what I do what do i do
what do I do in the meantime
in the meantime while our weeks to reach
my destination the only thing I have to
worry about is Lord let me stay on track
they met brother Joe one day they said
Joe your children are dead your cattle
are dead your wife has despised you your
name has gone down he said that’s all
right I’m right on track the Lord knows
the way that I take and when he has
tried me I shall come forth as pure gold
I don’t know who God wanted me to preach
to this morning but the Lord sent me to
tell you you’re right old tribes having
an older stand stand there for anyway
and whatever happens just love I take
you you ordered this step I won’t murmur
in it I won’t complain in it I won’t be
fearful I won’t be frightened in it I’m
right on track
high five somebody said I’m right on
track
got a clothes there it’s been a real joy
to have this opportunity to share the
word of the Lord with you I trusted
something that’s been said or done
throughout this message has reverberated
in your soul and will bring forth fruit
in your life I believe that the best is
yet to come this is no time to be weary
in will knowing you must stay on track
god bless you and may heaven smile
nobody wins the Olympics by mistake
success is always intentional it’s all
been leading up to this moment it’s time
for you to run your race do not allow
the cares of this
to destroy your passion for living but
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you’ve got to untangle all of the things
that you have been through reset start
over reboot and go to a whole new level
I did God say put on the whole armor the
helmet of salvation the breastplate of
righteousness feet shod with the
preparation of gospel sword of the
Spirit which is Word of God
shield of faith why did he have me put
on all that stuff and then tell me stand
while you put shoes on and then tell me
to be steel while you give me a sword
and a shield and tell me to stay he said
is gonna take all of that stuff for you
to stay on track I gave you all of that
equipment for you to stitches just fight
the good fight of faith the fight is to
stay on track