Caught - Bishop T.D. Jakes

[Music] thank you get your bibles if you would and join me in the gospel of Saint John chapter number 8 verse 1 through 11. pay attention to that one through eleven the gospel of Saint John chapter 8. chapter 1 verses 1 through 11. and when you have it stand on your feet as we read from the word of God glory to God everyone's standing if you're not incapacitated thank you Jesus isn't it a blessing to be able to stand glory to God yeah that's good yeah even if your feet are sore stand up thank you Jesus ain't nobody ever died from a coin I answer made me think I was gonna die oh Hallelujah what's the continuity of this story closely it is only given to us once it is not discussed in Matthew Mark or Luke John takes us into this into this traumatic moment this episode that only becomes real if you put yourself in the place of the character if you stand outside of the text and watch it like a boy you're watching a film then you can remain detached and uninvolved but if you become the character this is one of the most traumatic humiliating moments in scripture for an individual to face in a crowd so much has been said about Will Smith and Chris Rock but most of it is only said because it was it happened in a crowd when people get to see our Humanity they get to have an opinion about our Humanity and our opinions can be weapons we can be cruel and we can be vicious and we can be mean because it's not us but I did an interview yesterday and I told her I said if somebody followed all of us around with the camera we would shut up because all of us have had those moments they didn't get printed in the paper they weren't on the six o'clock news they weren't on TMZ but we have all had those moments that we have not been our best selves and to display your your worst self in front of people can be humiliating I have never read a Bad resume quit my job I'm unstable I'm a liar I can't get along with anybody but I need a job no no we always present ourselves as Flawless and perfect and then you hire them and you get the reality uh you don't hear what I'm saying this is real this is real about Humanity it's real about life it's real about the struggle between the spirit and the flesh it's real about what crowds can do when your future is turned over to men it is a dangerous thing Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives and early in the morning he came again into the temple and all the people came and all the people came and all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them and the scribes and the Pharisees oh they're always around brought unto him a woman taken in adultery bear in mind this is a crowd and the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery amen not suspected of it not accused of it not allegedly they snatched her right here in the act of adultery and when they had set her in the midst they say unto their master this woman was taken in adultery in the very Act we caught a red-handed now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned but what says Thou this they said tempting him that they might have to accuse him but Jesus stood down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them not you know God is an actor so when they continued asking him they kept on relentlessly he lifted up himself and said unto them go ahead he that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground and they which heard it being convicted by their own Consciousness went out one by one beginning at the illness the old folks left first even until I see when you get older you know well I'm not gonna and and Jesus was left alone and Jesus was left alone leave me alone leave me alone Lord Jesus was left alone and the woman standing in the midst when Jesus lifted up himself so he must have stayed bent while they were leaving never said another word to them just planted a seed that woke up their consciousness Jesus lifted up himself and saw none but the woman he said on that one man well I thought those sign accusers have no man condemned thee she said no man Lord and Jesus said unto her neither do I condemn thee go and sin no more can you say Amen I want to use a one-word subject for this message and the word is caught have you ever been caught the word is cut somebody shout cut I fear that the Living God Falls fresh on us now as we Endeavor to extrapolate from the text those things that you have commissioned unto us we thank you for your power we thank you for your anointing we thank you for your glory we thank you for your unction we thank you for being The God Who intervenes when all hell breaks loose minister to the needs of your people great God that you are in Jesus name we pray amen you may be seated in the presence of God this question arises whenever we are caught in a compromising situation are you sorry that you did it have you ever heard that or are you truly sorry for the illicit act or are you really sorry that you got caught now it implies that they're the choice that either you are sorry because you did it or that you're sorry that you got caught often this is a false choice one feeling is not mutually exclusive from the other the in reality I mean it is possible to be sorry that you did it and sorry that you got caught sorry that you allowed yourself to yield to your foolish fleshly side and sorry that it ended in such a debacle you can be sorry for both now In fairness you can be sorry for neither there are some people that aren't sorry about anything they're not sorry that they did it they're not sorry that they got caught but there are some that are sorry for everything in fact it is possible to be sorry that you allowed your impaired judgment to create the situation and also be sorry that your secret sin has been exposed leaving your sin not just in the hands of God where it belongs but in the hands of men David said I would rather fall into the hands of God than to fall into the hands of men and it seems like a strange statement for David to make that he would rather fall into the hands of God because God has all power and because God is Holy and because God is pure and because God has given us the laws and God has given us the Commandments and the mandates and the Pharisees are quoting out of the word of God what God has said concerning the law and still David said I would rather fall into the hands of God not because of his laws but because of his character his character then can often supersede his commandment that is to say he can be merciful to whom he will be merciful he can be gracious to whom he can be gracious the truth of the matter you missed a shouting moment because everybody in here is in here because God overlooked some iniquity in your life to be here you shouldn't leave me out here by myself when you know [Applause] when you know you're online and you know and you know and you know that the goodness of God we just got through singing about was not the goodness of you if God had dealt with us according to our sins we would have all been destroyed so our backup logic then defaults to God expose your sin to teach you a lesson that's the other comment we get God exposure God exposes your sin to teach your love now certainly this is possible there are times that according to Romans 6 and 1 that God gets tired of our continuous habit of sin you just wear God out Romans 6 and 1 says shall we continue in sin that Grace May abound God forbid how can we that are dead to sin continue therein and today nobody talks about Sin so sin can drape itself in church clothes and finery and point its fingers at other people without accusation because the church has muted its voice about Sin less conviction come too close to home but you don't get taller by lowering the ruler the standard is what it is and if anything you have to be willing to say I fell short of it not that I lowered it today we have arranged our theology to fit our predicament uh it's quite not what what we believe about God has been tailor made to fit our reality when in fact God is God and he always will be God and he will never change it is not within our power to bring God down to our dysfunction it is God that calls us up to rise up to his requirement it is what it is the culture may change the society may change the times may change but it is what it is we have been warned and then ignored the warning we have been nudged and ignored being nuds he has whispered to us you're going too far you're getting out alive you need to get yourself together and yet we ignore it because we hear God when we want to when you tell the church to praise God the whole church will blow up when you ask the church to give people will start looking the other way we hear God when we want to hear God and we think that God is a god of our convenience but God is still God there are many times that God's judgment is not so much to destroy us eventually worse than destroying us God will give us over to ourselves what the Bible says is a reprobate mind to have your conscience seared with a hot iron to get to the point that wrong doesn't feel wrong and so we're living in a day that we call wrong right and we call right wrong and instead of having to defend your ownness now you often have to defend your rightness because if you say what is right it's now wrong and if you say what is wrong it's now right and y'all don't hear what I'm saying to you [Applause] this however is not an example of either situation it is not about God being weary of This Woman's hard and hard her rebellious disposition it is not about God bringing her to an open shame and humiliating her because of the repetitive of her obnoxious behavior it is not that this woman is even a prominent woman she has written notebooks of the Bible she is not said to be a leader or a teacher or exalted herself above measure she is not even given a name she is referred to as a woman caught I wish I wish I could ask if there are any women in here that's ever been caught yeah yeah the woman caught the woman caught maybe it wasn't adultery but but caught with the IRS about your taxes or or cut going too far and how you handle your children or cut cussing out your husband's or cut yelling she is the woman caught in the acts to be caught in the act is a grievous thing not just for a woman for anybody to be caught is a painful thing the feeling of being trapped alone is a painful thing psychologists teach us that the most uh humiliating trauma is public trauma all of us have gone through private trauma trauma that stayed in the house most of us from my inner generation was raised in a generation that taught us what goes on in this house stays in this house because whatever it was they wanted to close it in within a range that they could reach it and handle it before it was left to the court of public opinion because when it gets in the courts of public opinion there is no end to the ridicule you can receive when trouble goes public caught have you ever been caught I started to tell a story on myself I'm still trying to decide whether to do it or not [Applause] I was a young man in the grocery store and they had a family pack of pork chops and I don't know why why I can't explain why I'd like to say I was starving and broke or something but I wasn't that broke but but but but it was that I just decided to take the pork chops I didn't know that the mirror overhead allowed the manager y'all don't want me to Pastor no more see that's I'm sorry so the manager caught me and when I realized that he caught me it was either a fight or flight and I couldn't choose between fight or flight so I did both of them I hit him with the pork chops foreign with the pork chops till I knocked him over in the floor and then I ran I did some traveling gonna tell you but I just brought in a moment of weakness I just decided to convert I ran because I had delayed him with the hit but if he caught if he caught up with me I would be caught and I didn't want to go home and tell Mama that I had been caught come to think of it I don't know if I ever told Mom about this I just thought about that I'm almost 65 years old and she did well mom if you're listening to be caught was terrifying so I ran like I have never ran in my life and because I was so young and he was so old I knew he couldn't catch me and I ran away and just because I didn't get caught doesn't mean I was innocent [Applause] so when I go into the prison ministry I don't go into the prison ministry with my nose up in the air but for the grace of God and some heavy one and a half inch thick pork chops I would have been locked up too but the pork chops were thick enough to hold him long enough that I didn't end up in cell block me and I don't even know why I did it I can't even justify why I did it except for the fact I was around people who were doing it and when you get around people who are acting out in certain ways in order to be accepted as really being one of them and being the clicking in the club I wanted them they dared me I wanted to show them I got just as much courage as you do so I stole the pork chops still didn't get to eat them because I had to drop them so I could run human depravity escapes no one it reaches everybody it reaches every level but imagine with me if you have ever been caught wrong if the IRS has ever caught you if the boss has ever been there at the door when you came in at 10 o'clock and you would do it eight you know how your heart begins to race in your chest because you've been caught anytime you get caught doing anything that is perceived to be wrong there's a certain amount of anxiety involved in it but in this particular case today this is magnified to an extreme degree because one moment she is in the Embrace of her lover loving her and loving him and there they are intertwined in the Embrace of the most ultimate expression of intimacy enjoying their debauchery amongst themselves caught up in the Bliss of their intimacy and then she was snatched from the euphoric feeling of sexuality to the degradation of being disabled nude and captured and if captured were not enough she has to bring herself out of the stimulation of that intimacy only to run into the terror yanked from one thing into another with no preparation no warning no chance to get ready no chance to make an excuse no plea she's have you ever had life yanked you I didn't expect to get many amens because I know you can't blow your cover because it's important to you that you protect your image but there is many people in this room that have had to flee out of a window or run out of a door or run down the back steps or delete a text or hide a memo or oh oh no no no not you you too holy but I'm talking about that one over there that one that one over there in the balcony where ain't nobody sitting that's why I'm talking about those invisible people there are many people who know the terror the emotional trauma that comes on you when you are caught especially when you know you've been a fool and you brought it on yourself and whenever you are caught you don't get into a police car feeling cool and comfortable you don't get a handcuffed feeling good about yourself your heart is racing your pulse is racing your mind is beating you up and you wonder will I ever get out of this especially when you understand that they have not only caught you but caught you nude at least let me get dressed at least let me cover up even though I've been exposed if I have on cover I don't feel as exposed as I am exposed when I'm exposed and exposed imagine what this woman In This Moment imagine now it is just according to the law that they catch her but notice the injustice that they only caught her [Applause] see when it comes to men we can be right and still be wrong it is wrong that what she did what what she did like she did when she did it but it is an absolute fact that she couldn't do that by herself but they caught the woman in the act of adultery laughs she has to suffer the injustice that they let the man have a pass [Music] and they brought the woman to open shame and in front of a crowd and told her story without allowing her to speak for herself it's a terrible thing when you believe what you read about somebody without hearing the extenuating circumstances that created the Dilemma we live in a society now that people make a living catching you you wrong and it's not hard to catch you wrong it's it's hard to catch you wrong in church but if I follow you around long enough if I bug your house and put cameras in your house I tell you it wouldn't be so much dancing going on if we started playing videos of moments in your life oh I know some of you got too old now we could follow you around it's cool but if we go back far enough Bill Cosby if we go back far enough if we go back far enough there's not a person in this room that hasn't lived through a scene that if it showed up on the screen you want to because you don't want me to see you in the light of your worst moments you want me to see you in the light of your best moments what do you do when your worst moments go public when your most private vulnerable human proclivities are exposed for public scrutiny and everybody's got an opinion about yourself after I told you I told you you wouldn't know I never did believe he was in good I knew it all the time and everybody was running I thought I'd tell you not to marry him I tell you he was a dog all of his dogs girls all of a dog all of them all men adults excuse me who was that jeep with it is true we are living we are living when we're living in the scriptures we're living in a misogenic society that tends to have a sliding scale of Justice one for the man and one for the woman but we are also living in a society today where it has become popular to ridicule the man and let the woman go free in fact you can sleep with the man and testify against him as a victim and I keep wondering how do you get to be the victim [Music] oh they ain't saying much now Jesus I'm not talking about rape I'm not talking about rape I'm not talking about abuse I'm not talking about Trump I'm talking about stuff you willingly did and then change your mind about it and decided to play victim and you saw me too and you wrote me too when you know you instigated the situation and then tried to benefit from it Justice left to men is often unjust because depending upon where we are in our sociological evolution what we call right at one moment we locked you up for at another my grandmother got married when she was somewhere between 13 and 15 years old and it was right the same thing today is wrong I noticed that Congress is considering legalizing marijuana okay but what about all the brothers and sisters that are locked up in jail right now for smoking a joy when you change the law does that exonerate the person [Applause] we still have people in jail for laws that have now changed and they're still caught there she is her hair is all over her head her makeup is smeared she's lost in the earrings she's trembling with fear tears are running down on her face she's humiliated in disgrace she is traumatized in a way for which it will take years if ever for her to recover from the humiliation she can't go in the grocery store anymore without people saying yeah that's her that's the one right over there right over here right over there good looking got the mirror to be looking for some green beans I wish she would come in here you know how we do when we get some dirt on people whenever we see them we won't let them grow beyond what we so she is she is put in a place where the rest of her life she has to build the inner fortitude to live with The Whispers of men but that is not the immediate problem the immediate problem is according to the law she was to be stoned can you imagine this woman went from being kissed to being stoned from being loved to being hated that's the way life is one moment you're feeling one thing and one text one phone call one statement one picture One Moment One quote One mic left on and all of a sudden you're in crisis mode is there anybody in here who has ever been in crisis mode you don't even have to say what it was about but if you've ever been in crisis mode stand up and clap your hands crisis mode will scare you to death crisis mode will take away your appetite crisis mode will make you stop eating or drinking crisis mode will rob you of your sleep at night crisis mode will make you hypertensive crisis mode does things to your body not just to your mind for which you do not easily recover and some people never recover crisis mode if you survive the stones will leave you cutting yourself crisis mode will take away your self-esteem crisis mode will leave you with a feeling of unworthiness crisis mode will knock you down to your knees crisis mode will make an atheist break out in a prayer that says Lord if you could hear me if you get me out of this or you ain't never prayed that prayer let me talk to the real people love love you just get me out of this [Applause] we don't know whether the woman was married or the man was made but one of them was married in order for it to be adultery let me just use my imagination how what does she say to her daughter what does she say to her son how do you tell your mother will I live to make amends and everybody in the crowd got their rocks isn't it amazing how quickly we will get our rocks and he said oh basically get out of here come on now Bishop we don't Stone no more Twitter is a rock the comments sections at the bottom of an article is a rock a rock that does damage because when you are in crisis mode you have a tendency to read the comments looking to to evaluate the damage but being hit by the rocks of people who are just as guilty about something as you are but because they have not been caught they joined the Lynch Mob and begin to attack you when we in reality this is not about a crime it's about a sin and there is none of us that can say we have no sin no not one and yet you got Sinners ready to Stone a sinner they're stoning her for the in the midst of the knowledge of their own guilt it is barbaric it is terrible it is traumatic it is disturbing and I would think that it was ancient had I not been to a particular country where the president of that country told me that in their culture if a young girl loses her virginity before she gets married they throw her in a well and there are people today that they love you till they get something on you and if they get anything on you whether they saw it or not if they just heard about it see the crowd didn't see her the crowd didn't catch her the Pharisees caught her but the people who stoled her were ready to Stone her over what they heard about her have you ever had anybody Stone you over a rumor [Applause] it is interesting as we become more civilized our ways of responding to crime and sin has evolved in the early days they would bring you before the guillotine and shoot you in front of a firing squad earlier still they stoned you which means she died rock by Rock they stoned the Apostle Paul that means that Paul was only guilty of preaching people Stone you because they disagree with you or bring you before a guillotine and a firing squad because of the uniform you wear or the skin you're in and you didn't get to pick the skin you're in and later we started hanging people and if we caught you wrong we would try you right there on the spot no jury no judge no laws we just hang you and it is just in the last month or so that lynching has become a crime can you believe that we have been to the moon and lynching was still not a crime can you believe that we've got phones that operate like computers but lynching was still across Do You See How Far Behind law is on life [Applause] I can quote several laws that are on books in certain states that are reprehensible like looking at a woman especially a white woman caused Emmett Till to be killed I'm talking about when Justice falls into the hands of wicked men you could die for something that the woman who accused him on her deathbed said I was just joking and I believe he was 13 13 year old boy is now dead over alive the danger thing about taking a life is that you can't give it back if you find out you were wrong they were going to kill this woman we've gotten better now we went from hanging people to the electric chair so you could fly and then we decided we would be a little bit more Humane and put you in the gas chamber so you could choke and now in most places we inject you with serum if you get caught so that means whether you do anything or not you live your life with the looming hovering possibility that you could be caught and that is stress in and of itself I belabor the point because I want you to understand that stress doesn't always come from what you did stress comes from what is possible anxiety is to worry about something that has not happened anxiety not only affects you psychologically it affects you physiologically so that your body goes out of whack your immune system goes down you are prone to more diseases you can get more infections just because of what is possible to happen to you if you get caught all of that is alive in this text and they've already picked out their rocks and it is almost the kind of feeling the kind of exuberance that comes from Mob mentalities I don't have it in my head right now but there's a term how we will act in a mob in a way that we would never act as an individual we will burn and loot and kill and shoot and climb and Destroy because everybody else is doing it we will climb up the walls of the White House we will do all kinds of stuff we will burn down stores that we would never do as an individual but in a mob a mob mentality takes over a rule and people start doing things because it is part of the mob and it is true of church there are people that only praise God because other people are praising God they would never praise God alone but when they see other people praising God they praise God and there are people who do not praise God because the person sit next to them is standing there like a mummy and you're afraid of being rejected by them so even though God is nudging you to your feet for a praise you won't give God a praise because you don't see anybody else giving God a praise and the mob is sitting on the move of the Holy Ghost that is what is happening glory to God but look at somebody saying I ain't gonna let you worry me that's not good English but it's a good attitude I'm not gonna let you worry me you can sit there with your nose in your hand your legs cross and Act important but if I get ready to praise him I get I'm going to praise him if I get ready to lift him up I'm going to lift him up if I get ready to clap my hands I'm gonna cut my hair I don't care if you can't see around me I don't care if I make you nervous I don't care if I get on your nerve you can move if you want to move but you can't stop me from praising God I'm not gonna let you mob me and to not praising God he's been too good foreign I want to see some people that are independent enough to resist the temptation of the mob whoom coming to God I feel the holy ghost coming in this place I feel the holy ghost coming in this place one of the things that I enjoyed the most about our International Leadership Summit I didn't know how it was going to work I had CEOs and billionaires and millionaires in the room with church folks and Saints and elders and Bishops and archbishops but when the Holy Ghost hit that place you couldn't tell the billionaire from the Pauper everybody was laid out everybody was crying everybody was crawling across because when the Lord gets ready you got to move you may be high you may be low but when the Lord gets ready [Applause] yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah I feel some independent people in this room I feel the spirit of Independence in this room I run if I want to run I can't help it that you don't run if I'm a runner I'm a run if I'm a Clapper I'm a if I'm a leaper I'm a leap because I'm not going to let you intimidate me with your funny looking stairs from doing what I do like I do when I do it cause can't nobody do what I do like I do when I do it because I'm a person I'm an individual I'll stand by myself somebody [Applause] foreign [Applause] they brought the woman to Jesus the Pharisees and the Sadducees brought her to Jesus to tempt him foreign wait a minute you thought when I said caught I was talking about her but I wasn't talking about her being caught he was just debate this text is not in the Bible about catching a woman in adultery this text is in the Bible because they use the woman to try to catch Jesus it is not really her sin that is on trial it is his wisdom if he said don't Stone her he would have spoken against the law if he says Stoner he would have defeated his purpose for coming he didn't come to Stone The Sinner he came to save The Sinner he didn't come to annihilate the sinner he came that the sinner might have life and have life more abundantly it's not the woman that they're trying to catch it's Jesus that they're trying to get caught foreign interested in your human struggle because he wants to use you as click bait [Applause] they weren't fishing for the woman they were fishing for Jesus they caught the woman like you catch worms to go fishing she was debate and they asked Jesus what saith thou am I in the word of God what says Thou because we gave you the bait and the bait is laying on the floor trembling and the rocks are in the hands of the crowd you let us Stone her and honor Moses or do you discredit Moses whom God sent see the whole Bible is built and the Bible stories begin with Satan's desire to catch God in a trap that's how sin entered into the world in the first place Satan in Canon about no forbidden fruit Satan didn't about no apples say no care nothing about your behavior he's just trying to put God into a position because God hates sin and God loves man and as long as they're divided God has no conflict but when you put what God hates into what God loves now God is in a problem because hell is trying to catch him that's how the book starts press three people say don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate I know you're human but don't be the base I know you're alone to pay I know you get weak but don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate don't be debate don't be the baby don't be the baby cause it's not about your ex-husband it's not about your wife it's not about your children the hell is trying to find something that they can use on God to put God into a dilemma but let's God save what he hates or God kills what he loves that's how the story starts it is the law of first mentioning and since it is the law of first mention and since it in Genesis and express ion Jesus started doing what God was doing in Genesis he stooped down shut up here I'm our Sunday to the Messiah can I teach this word of God they said what do you say he said oh so you gonna use old tricks I'm going to use old answers and he stood down in the dirt when we first met God he was playing in the dirt the first time God he is playing in the dirt shaping man from the dust of the earth breathing into him the breath of lies and so since Satan wanted to take it back to the first fight do stood down and start playing in the dirt again and all of this is acting out in front of you boomeranging mirroring what happened in the Book of Genesis guilty man glorious God and the Glorious creator of the universe the CEO of Heaven the executive of the Angels the head magistrate of the celestial two down that's what the Incarnation is all about when God came in the form of Jesus it was God scooping down the Bible said he poured out of himself his glory and his honor her and he came down to his lowest common denominator that through his poverty we might be made rich he stooped down and acted because God is an actor as if he did not hear them how do you get the God as a doctor God is always active he is like ass a mighty rushing wind he appeared like cloven tongues of fire oh y'all don't hear what I'm saying on the road to Emmaus he made as if he would go further God is always acting sometimes God will act to see your reaction Jesus acted like he was going to keep on walking to see if they would invite him to come in God is always acting he act like he was going to pass by The Woman Within your blood because since he had enough Faith to chase him I wish I had some God chases in this room you're not gonna walk past me and not give me what I want this Sunday morning if I had to crawl through all of the dignity I'm going to Touch the Hem of this garment somebody giving 30 seconds of Crazy Praise [Applause] here is the Dilemma sit down I'm gonna go further can I go further here is the Dilemma in the text the text is written in transition even though it is divided into your Bible as the New Testament it actually occurs under the Old Testament because the book of Hebrews says that the Testament is not enforced until the testator dies so Jesus couldn't operate upon the New Testament theology because it occurred upon the Old Testament law and they were trying to get him to break the law when he came to fulfill the law not break the law if he broke the law he wouldn't be the righteous lamb that was slain for our sins because they would have on against him and they sought to catch him so he's stoop down I feel like preaching now he stood down on the ground as if he did not hear them how can a God who knows your thoughts are far off not hear your words close up now there are two people on the ground thank you [Music] the woman is already on the ground and when Jesus stooped down on the ground he came down to her level he knew she couldn't come up so he went down that's why I'm praising him today because when I could never come up to his standard he came down to where I was he said if you won't be on the ground baby you ain't gonna be on the ground by yourself I'm gonna stoop down on the ground where you are I would rather be on the level of the adulterer than be on the level of the rock drawer and so Jesus stood down and now we got two people on the ground and like Christ being on the cross he exercises the power of Silence silence is powerful you ain't got to answer every question you have not got to absolve every curious bystander stop making it your mission your mission to change the mind of your Accuser Jesus did the same thing on Calvary when he got ready to go to the Cross he answered them not a word sometimes your greatest strength is in your ability to shut up you don't have to get them told you don't have to get them straight you don't have to get even you don't have to respond to everything they say sometimes you just don't say nothing at all I was reading through the comments for we were talking about next year's ILS is going to be in Orlando and we've got about 24 I think 48 hours you can get a reduced rate on next year's registration and down in the comments somebody was saying when are you coming to Boston and I explained to them this is not a regional meeting that travels from City to City it's an international annual meeting that happens once a year we would love to have you come I went on a little further but I was losing Paces when I saw somebody from Miami say when are you coming to Miami now maybe you don't know much about Florida but but the distance between Miami and Orlando is close enough that if you had any real hunger you could get in your car and drive down the road to Orlando but because you're so lazy and you don't value God enough to go out of your way to get it I decided to act like I didn't read it so I didn't answer it at all so if you are screaming on the reason I didn't answer is because the Bible said avoid foolish and unlearned questions for they do gender Strife so I made as if I didn't see it [Music] I can't tell you how many times I asked my mother a question and she said nothing at all and I press the issue and all she can do is look up and say I heard you which was I was saying that was stupid so Jesus acted as if he didn't hear them which was his way of saying that was stupid but they pressed it and they pressed it and people will press you and press you and press you and you're trying to be nice and you're trying to be Christian and you're trying to be loving and you're trying to act like the Bible tells you you have to act it ain't true you acted because if you came out of your ax and gave them you you would pull your earrings off your ears and shake your head out and say girl or pull your jacket off and say you want some of that but but you gotta act you gotta act right even when you don't feel right you gotta act nice even when you don't feel nice because I'm trying to let this mind be in me which was also in Christ Jesus but there's a war going on in my mind one part of my mind is quoting scriptures and the other part of my mind is cussing you out and so I'm not gonna say nothing because I don't know which one of these Wonder Twins is gonna leap out of my lips so thank you y'all ain't gonna let me preach it here I need some real people this morning I don't want to talk to no church people I need some real people in this room I need somebody to help people in this room and then Jesus stood up watch this and they thought they had caught him but Jesus used the greatest weapon you can use against an enemy and I am going to give it to you and I want you to write it online I want you to remember this I want you to keep it in your head the greatest weapon you can use on an enemy is wisdom [Applause] it's not knowledge it's wisdom Jesus said okay stoner just he that is without fault cast the first stone now there's a cry around this woman and then he got back down on the ground with her thank you Lord I want to thank you I want to thank him I want to thank everybody I want to thank him anybody I want to thank him thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord thank you Lord for coming down where I'm at thank you that if I'm going to be humiliated you're going to sit in the humiliation with me if I'm going to be in pain you sat in the pain with me if I'm going to be Weeping at the tomb of Lazarus you're going to come in and weep with me why did Jesus cry at the death of Lazarus when he already knew he was going to wake him up because we have a god who will have Koinonia with you fellowship with you when you are in pain and I want to say to every person who's in pain who's in the humiliation who's in struggle who's in agony if everybody's standing above you ready to Stone you look for Jesus to be sitting down in the dirt with you [Applause] looking to myself not by myself I don't know how this is going to turn out but I'm not by myself my heart is racing but I'm not by myself I've lost all the color out of my skin but I'm not by myself I'm biting my fingernails but I'm not by myself I'm in grief over my mother but I'm not by myself I lost my child but I'm not my by myself because when I'm down on the ground so is he thank you Lord for not leaving me by myself thank you Lord because you said lo I am with you always thank you Lord for being with me anybody can be with you when you're on the Mountaintop but I need a God that will be with me when I'm in the valley I need a God who'll get down in the dungeon with me I need a God that'll go into the jail cell with me I need a God who I'm going to courtroom with me I need a God that'll go in the hospital with me I know it's visiting hours over but you can't stop him from being in the hospital with me I have a god that'll go into the emergency room I have a god that'll go in the operating room I have a god that'll go into the courtroom I have a god that'll go into the welfare office I don't have to face it by myself I have a god that'll go in the divorce court with me I have a God that are going to counseling with me I have a god that'll go into the therapy with me he got down where she was now when he asked him he that is without fault cast the first stone it only left one person eligible to Stone her watch this he never said another word he never looked up again he went back to playing in the dirt you don't understand the power of this this is Satan trying God on his turf because Satan is a prince and the power of the air in the Earth so he said I couldn't defeat you in heaven I got cast out of Heaven I couldn't defeat you in the garden maybe now I can defeat you in this place and Jesus is down there writing in the dirt I don't know what he was writing it could have been made sweet [Music] love that say Lord arrests wow but now I am fine words [Music] [Applause] [Music] bad thoughts my heart to be [Music] and Grace my fears release foreign [Music] Grace [Music] but if it was me I would have been right through me [Music] everybody been through some Danger ous [Music] I dare you to think about it [Applause] was me say far whatever you're worried about Grace will lead me the shutter you don't believe me now the Bible doesn't tell me what position the woman was in but she had to be down here like this because she wasn't looking up and the Bible said he wasn't looking up but when he stood up he had to touch her and said woman where are your accusers she was waiting on the rocks somebody in here had been waiting on rocks but God sent me to tell you the Rocks ain't coming [Applause] slap your name and tell him the Rocks ain't coming I know you've been worried about the Rocks but the Rocks ain't coming I know you saw the rocks in their hands but the Rocks ain't coming I know you prepared yourself and covered your head but God said your rocks they will not come you're us they will not come up they made it to evil but they will not come to destroy you but they will not come he had to tap on the shoulder so he had to tap on the shoulder he had to tap on the shoulder some of you are so ready for the worse that God has to tap you on the shoulder and ask you a question and the reason he has to ask her a question because everybody else was gone watch this the Bible said immediately they begin to drop the rocks and then it tasted not just the what the what is they dropped the Rocks but why it's their conscious because everybody in here has something that if you remembered you would shut up and sometimes God has to do something to you to make you remember what's the order the folks who are supposed to remember beliefs remembered the best from the eldest to the youngest the old people thought about something they say well it ain't that bad another one dropped the right way out God is a god of Second Chances another one's here he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and when the young people saw the old people dropping their rocks they had a lot to remember they said well I ain't gonna say nothing either because I don't want him to tell my business and I get stoned because what measures you meet will be met unto you remember that what judgment you give out will always come back to you it never fails I'm 65 years old almost and I can never see a time that somebody who went after somebody didn't end up getting gotten you're gonna get God you're gonna get got you rock me today it's gonna be you tomorrow that's why I'm rocking nobody I pray for everybody you can't never say you heard me rocking nobody glory to God because blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain Mercy if you want Mercy you got to learn how to give Mercy glory to I'm scared of judgmental people I'm scared out of you I'm scared for you because whatever you send out against me Harper foreign do unto others as you would have them do unto you it's going to come back to you baby it's going to come back to you boy brother it's gonna come back to you it's going to come back to you it's fun when you throw it but it ain't fun when you receive it so the only one left that could throw a rock was the one in whom there was no sin he said where are thy accusers she looked around said my God I have none Lord and then he says neither do I condemn me now watch this in the Old Testament they said if they caught you they Stone you but in the New Testament in Galatians 6 and 1. it said brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of come on meekness meekness not arrogance meekness not self-righteousness meekness wait a minute remembering yourself remember yourself baby consider yourself [Applause] and then he told her go your way and don't be clickbait again go your way and learn from this how to be better go your way and learn not to be baked for the Pharisees to use against me I got you out of it doesn't mean I approved of it I got you out of it that don't mean I condone it I didn't let them kill you that doesn't mean you wasn't guilty learn from this go thy way and sin no more stand to your feet [Applause] whether you're watching online or whether you're in this building God wouldn't have had me preach this if you didn't need to hear it whether you are a person living with the threat of what somebody wants to do to you help me judge this what is that they call it when somebody threatens uh to exploit you exploitation when when when maybe you're living under a cloud of the words of an enemy or maybe you're living up under the cloud of a memory or maybe every so often you get a threatening text or word that obliterates your peace that sends Terror through every fiber of your being maybe you're living your life faking a smile to hide the fear that any moment everything you have could vanish away Satan is an accuser of the brethren and maybe you have lived your whole life tense and bowed over or maybe you have lived with someone who will never let you forget what you did while they have amnesia about what they did and all of your life your crossover in the corner first thing you ain't there by yourself Jesus is with you second thing whoever's trying to Stone you got a secret too and you don't have to live your life like that you don't have to spend the rest of your life in shame and humiliation and disgrace even though you were wrong you don't have to spend the rest of your life afraid to come outside or be around people or to move or to be your better self just because somebody said I'm going to Stone you if you go up I want to minister to people who are dealing with the threat it had happened but it's a threat hanging over your life you gonna go back bro you ain't gonna never have nothing you're not smart enough to be in that position you don't deserve what you're asking for you filthy slimy thing how dare you try to be happy you call somebody misery and now you want to be happy and the threat is hanging over your life and no matter what you wear what you do or where you go there's always somebody bringing you back to the ACT they caught you in when Jesus said the spirit has come upon me to set the captive free today is your day of liberation [Applause] I am not I cannot and I will not condone sin Sin is Sin but it is not incurable it is not Everlasting it can be washed away what can wash away my sins nothing but the blood oh gee why can't make me what can make me whole again put that picture back up with that woman crossed out what can make me whole again you see her your soul looks like that [Music] and you're wondering if you can ever be whole again wait a minute wait a minute your soul looks just like that your emotions just look just like that your rest looks just like that you can't sleep at night because of that there's some antagonists some extortionist who seeks to Stone you for doing something that they are guilty of one way or another and today this Sunday God doesn't want you balled up in a knot he didn't tell her stay in a knot he said God and you haven't been able to go and you haven't been able to enjoy and you haven't been able to be free and you haven't been able to be whole because you're guilty you had a baby out of wedlock you had an abortion you've done some illicit things some wrong things some perverted things some illegal things some inappropriate thing that haunts you [Music] and people don't know that you have to fake your smile every morning and say good morning welcome to JCPenney's but down on the inside you look just like that if this position looks like your soul about something that you did or something that was done to you in this position looks like how you live your life it will affect your relationships because you will always be attracted to somebody to save you from the agony of your history if this message is reaching out to you Jesus did not die and shed his blood for you to stay in a crouched position waiting on the next Rock to hit you in fact the Bible said be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication make your requests made known unto God says I do not want you to be anxious I don't want you to have anxiety yes you were wrong you were wrong as two left shoes you're guilty as hell I'm not trying to change your guilt I'm not trying to rewrite the script I'm not trying to change the Bible but you can be guilty and not be condemned there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus and I want to have prayer with you as your pastor I want to have prayer with you because I understand what it feels like to be balled up in a knot every time I drove past paycheck I thought that man was gonna get me till I made peace with him and peace with God and peace with myself because I cannot live my whole life like that sitting at Thanksgiving dinner table feeling like that driving down 30 feeling like that going to college feeling like that trying to start a business but inside I feel like that because if you feel like that when good things come you will self-sabotage yourself because if nobody else rocks you you will rock yourself I want to talk to some people I want some people on this altar who have been stoned in yourself it's not that God hasn't forgiven you it's not that people haven't forgiven you you have not forgiven yourself and every time anything good happens you feel too filthy to receive it and they're teaching you you have a lack of faith no you have a lack of forgiveness and I want you to receive forgiveness and be made whole anybody else if you're coming don't you stand there Undercover and need to come and be so worried about your dead gum image that you don't have the courage to step over top of what people think and come get what you need [Music]

Channel: T.D. Jakes

Views: 1,039,368

Keywords: td jakes, faith, wtal, woman thou are loosed, megafest, potters house, bishop jakes, pastors and leadership, pastors, leaders, instinctbishops, village, how to face my sins, learning we make mistakes

Id: WytPYHayk8Y

Length: 88min 12sec (5292 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 03 2022