TD Jakes - Get Out of Your Feelings (08/02/2024)
Offense contaminates the heart, blocking our vision of God and entangling us in bitter roots like the wide-spreading sycamine tree, passing patterns across generations. Drawing from Jesus' teaching on confronting offense and forgiving seventy times seven, the preacher urges believers to increase faith to release unforgiveness, untangle systemic wounds, and maintain open-hearted flow for healing and breakthrough.
Unity Affects the Atmosphere
It matters whether you get along with the other singers. It matters whether the drummer likes the guitar player. It changes the atmosphere. When there is ought against your brother the Bible said, leave your gift at the altar. I do not care how gifted you are. If you have got a bad attitude, God said, I do not want your gift until you get that bilateral connection, that horizontal connection together. God said, I do not want to hear no more vertical stuff coming out of your mouth as long as you are not speaking to the person that you are shouting beside. God says, it does matter how you feel about one another.
Can I go deeper? So then he says to the offended, he has moved away from the offender to talking to the offended. And when he talks to the offended, he talks to us about how to get the contamination out because it is easy to get contaminated. If there is no way to escape offense, then everybody in here has been offended at some time or another. Can we be honest?
The Reality of Offense
It is hard to get church people to be honest because we have our reputation at stake and we do not want anybody to know that we are human. But to all the real people in the room, hold your hand up if you have ever been offended. I have been offended. Sometimes I do not read the comments because when I am offended, I have a tendency to say something back and I have to struggle down inside of myself to shut up because I can think of a whole lot of good stuff to say back to you. And even when I do say something back, I have to edit it so that I can keep my day job. Because if I let the full theory of what I could say back, just let it flow.
But I have to telling you what I thought about you, I would have to tune up. And so I have to shut my mouth. Now, Jesus moves from talking to the offender to talking to the offended. And he says, if someone offends you and you confront them, I want to stop there because most of us do not have the courage to confront the person we are offended with. You can confront people without being confrontational. Burying stuff does not heal it. Covered wounds do not heal well.
Confront and Forgive
Oh, I struck something that time. I felt it. At least ten couples had a seizure. I mean, an absolute, just an absolute, just a seizure right there on the floor. Covering it up will never make it better. You have to have the courage to speak up and do not let anybody take your voice away. Do not let anybody out talk you to the point that they take your voice away because just because you out talk me does not mean you changed my mind.
Jesus said, confront them and if they repent, forgive them. And the disciples were cool with that. They were cool with that. And then he messed around and said, and if they do it again and again and again and again and again, and then he gave them a number: seven times seventy and they did some quick math and said, "Increase our faith." Because I am good only like maybe a couple of times or three times or maybe even seven times. But when you go from addition to multiplication, I am not sure that I do not need a touch of the Lord to help me to be able to do that.
Faith and Forgiveness Interconnected
Because seven times seventy, Lord, that is getting like way up into some big numbers there and I do not know, I do not know. I mean, I love you and everything but I do not know. I mean, I am not saying that I will not do it, but I am not sure that I will do it. And so I do not want to overcommit myself and I do not want to lie to you because you know everything from the beginning and I do not want to offend anybody, but I just do not know if I can sign up for seven times seventy. Maybe three times seventy but seven times seventy might be above my quota.
And then they said to him, "Increase our faith." And I said to myself, what does faith have to do with forgiveness? The disciples saw faith and forgiveness interconnected. They said in order for me to develop the ability, the ability to be able to purge my heart of the way I feel, I need faith. I need to believe that nothing you did stopped me from getting there.
Believe Your Destiny Prevails
I need to believe that my destiny is not altered by the things you said or did or left or did not give me, I need to decide irrevocably that the promises of God are yea and amen and that no man or no woman coming or going or leaving or staying or paying or caring can stop me from turning out at the destination that God has for me. In fact, I need to believe that it was good for me that I was afflicted. Some kind of way God used what you did to fertilize my dreams and I became stronger now and richer now and better now and fuller now.
And I have got to learn how to glory in tribulation. I have got to dance when I am falsely accused. I have got to learn how to praise God even when you do not like me. My defense is to believe God and say, "Devil, you meant it for evil, but God made it good. To God be the glory. You threw me in the pit. You threw me in Potiphar's house. You put me in prison and I landed the prince of Egypt. I still got to where I was trying to go. You did not help me, but I made it. You lied on me and I made it. You betrayed me and I made it. You left me and I made it. You excommunicated me from the family and I made it. You said I was dead but I am back. I am back. I am back. I am back."
Declare Your Comeback
Is there anybody that made it back through something and you have been through something and all hell was breaking loose and they thought you would not make it? Jump on your feet and holler, "I am back." We are gonna make a declaration tonight that is gonna make demons run out of every exit door in the room. We are gonna make a declaration tonight that brings depression out of your spirit. Suicide is gonna have to flee out of this room. Anxiety and hypertension is gonna have to get up and get out of here. Glory to God.
Look at your neighbor and tell him, "I am gonna be all right." Tell your other neighbor, "I am gonna be all right." Hell gets nervous, hell gets nervous when you start talking faith. Demons start trembling when you start talking faith. Witches lose their power when you start talking faith. Sickness loses its grip when you start talking faith. High blood pressure comes down when you start talking faith. Tumors shrink in your body when you start talking faith.
Pure in Heart to See God
When Jesus says none but the pure in heart shall see God. The word pure comes from a Greek word where we get "Kath." "Katharos" is the word. The root word is "Kath" where we get catheter. None but the pure in heart. Nobody but the people who have a catheter in their heart shall see God. A catheter whereby they measure the heart to make sure that the heart is flowing blood properly and there is no blockages. A catheter.
I will not tell you about the other uses but... All the men said, "Ouch." Yeah, yeah. The catheters are designed that you have a flow. And God says, I want your heart to be open to a flow. And I do not want you to allow any blockages to get in your heart because if you allow a blockage to get in your heart, it will stop you from seeing God. None but the pure in heart shall see God. If that is not enough motivation to make you get it out of you, I do not know what is.
Unforgiveness Blocks Vision
I am not sure whether he meant none but the pure in heart shall go to heaven. But I am sure that he means you will not be able to see God in your situation if your heart is blocked up with unforgiveness. And I need to see God to figure out how to make it through the wilderness so I can move when he moves. So I can walk when he walks. So I can flow when he flows. So I can step when he steps. I gotta see God if I do not see you because he shows me the path. His Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my pathway. And if I let something get in my catheter, a catheter in my heart will affect my eyes.
God says none but the pure in heart shall see God. God says, if you get it in your heart, it will hinder your vision. So the enemy sends things to get in your heart to shut down your vision. Oh my God! This is so good. I am gonna shout off my own preaching. God said, I have made your heart to flow. I made your heart to flow unrestricted. I do not want you to gather plaque or anything else that slows the flow because everything God does is in a flow.
God's Creation Flows
Everything God created was in a flow. When God created the earth, he created it in a flow and the river spread the streams and the streams fed the lakes and the lakes fed the ocean. And God did not create new water, he just let it flow. It goes up, it rains down. It goes up, it rains down. It is a flow. Everything God created has a flow. When God created man from the dust of the earth, he did not have to keep creating blood. He let the blood flow through the most elaborate highway system that you call the cardiovascular system. Your blood was made to flow.
And I do not have to check your heart to see if your flow is right. I can touch your wrist and tell what is going on in your heart because of pulse. The rhythm of your pulse tells me the activity of your heart. And God said, if things are shutting down, the first thing I want you to do is check your heart. What have you allowed to get in your heart that has closed down your vision.
The Sycamine Tree of Bitterness
So if I was the devil and I wanted to shut down your vision, I would not have to attack your eyes. If none but the pure in heart shall see God, then all I would have to do is contaminate your heart until you lost your vision. And if you lost your vision, you could not find your way out. And the reason Jesus says seven times seventy is not a particular number that he is after, he is talking about keeping your heart open so that whatever happens, you keep flowing, you keep flowing.
You might have the feeling, but as quickly as you can, you let it flow out. You do not let things stay in and contaminate you and block you up... Let me show you how quick Jesus was. They beat him until he was unrecognizable. They beat him until his entrails were hanging out. They beat him so long that Josephus says he should have died on the whipping post. But had he died on the whipping post, we would not have been redeemed because the Bible said, cursed is he that hangs on the tree, not the whipping post.
So he fought death on the whipping post refusing to die. But when they hung him high and stretched him wide and nailed him in his right hand and nailed him in his left wrist and nailed his feet together. And when they put him up on the cross, Jesus is not on the cross cussing at them, yelling at them, telling them, "I curse your unborn children. I curse your future. I curse your destiny. I curse your mama." Jesus did not say that. I probably would have said that. Jesus did not say... Do not judge me. Jesus would not say that.
Jesus Keeps His Heart Open
Instead of allowing them to contaminate his heart while they are killing him, he says, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He said, I am gonna keep my heart open no matter what I go through. I am gonna keep loving. I am gonna keep my nature. You are not gonna change my nature from being the person that I am. You are not gonna turn the lamb into a lion. I can call 10,000 angels and kill every last one of you, but I am not gonna do it because a lion cannot deliver the people. I have gotta be a lamb to get this done. And in order to be a lamb, even though you are nailing me, I am gonna forgive you because I understand that it is not you that is doing it, it is the spirit of the enemy that is working through you.
And I ask my Father to forgive you for hurting me because I know it really was not you. If you knew what you were doing, you would not hurt me like that. You are just carrying out orders and the orders are coming from Satan and I am under attack. And why would I fight the soldier when the war is not with the soldier, it is with the enemy. And the enemy is trying to get me to mess up what I am about to do on the cross. I do not know who I am talking to, but the enemy is trying to mess up what you are about to do in your ministry.
And the reason you are up under attack is that he wants you to contaminate your heart. And the Lord sent me from Dallas to tell you, do not you do it. Do not get bitter, do not get even, do not get mad, do not get upset, do not respond, do not react. Hold your peace. I know you look weak. I know you look helpless. I know you know something you could say. I know you can fight. I know you can defend yourself, but this is not a battle that you are gonna win with your fist. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness in high places." The weapons that we use are not carnal.
Faith Uproots the Sycamine Tree
You got a weapon to fight with. And there Jesus is bleeding to death on the cross talking about, "Father, forgive them." He is interceding for murderers. Glory to God. That is what he means by seven times seventy. And so they said, "Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith till we believe you when our feelings are hurt." Anybody can believe you when they are happy. Increase our faith till we believe you when we are in pain. When the nails are in our wrist. When we have been publicly humiliated. When we are at our wits end. Increase our faith to believe that some good is going to come out of this.
He says, if you have the faith, increase our faith, Lord. They thought the bigger the faith, the better the fight and Jesus says, it is not gonna take that much faith. He said, "If you have the faith as of a grain of mustard seed," now watch this. Before he said, "You shall speak to the mountain and the mountain shall be cast into the sea." But this time, he said, "If you have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall speak to a sycamine tree and command it to be cast into the ocean and it will be cast into the ocean and it will be removed."
And I said, why did you go from a mountain to a tree? And he said, "Because a mountain has no roots." So I started digging into a sycamine tree. And I want to tell you... can I tell you, can I tell anybody? Anybody want to know what a sycamine... a sycamine tree is a very unique tree. It is not that the roots grow deep, only about 24 inches deep into the earth, but they grow wide, they grow very wide, they take over territory. And when they grow wide, they twist and tangle and so it is almost impossible to uproot the tree because the roots are twisted and wide.
Untangling Bitter Roots
So when a sycamine tree is growing, it is not the trunk you have to worry about, it is the root. And Jesus is saying... oh, I feel the Holy Ghost. God said, if you have the faith as of a grain of mustard seed, I will demolish the system that has you stuck. You tried to shake yourself loose and you could not get loose. You tried to pray yourself loose and you could not get loose. You tried to talk yourself out of it and you could not get loose. The reason you could not get loose is that your roots are intertwined.
The only thing that will untangle your roots is your conviction of faith in God. He said, if you have the faith as of a grain of mustard seed, I will untangle the system. Can I go into the system? You are hurt over your husband because your husband hurt you, but it is rooted into something that happened with your father. And now all of a sudden, everybody that reminds you of your father gets tied into the system and now you are raising a son and he is taking on characteristics like your ex-husband and the enemy is tangling your roots.
Am I helping somebody? If I am helping you, holler at me. If you will notice your life has a system of attack, there is something consistent in the DNA of the things that happened to you. It is the roots of the sycamine tree and they get tangled up until you cannot tell one from another. And the same thing that happened to you before is happening to you again. And the thing that happened to your father is happening to you. And the thing that your uncle went through is now happening to your son. And you can see a pattern because the sycamine roots go wide.
A Root-Untangling Service
That is why Jesus did not ask for the mountain because when it comes to forgiveness, mountains do not have roots and unforgiveness has roots and the roots are the roots of bitterness and the bitterness gets so entangled that sometimes you even forget what you are mad about. You are just angry. It is all tangled up together. But the Holy Spirit said tonight, I am gonna untangle your roots. I am gonna set you free. I am gonna bring you to a place of wholeness. I am gonna bring you to a place of healing. I am gonna bring you to a place of restoration. I am gonna untangle patterns that have been going on for generations and generations in your life.
This did not even start with you. This started with your mother and your grandmother. This started with your grandfather and your granddaddy and the roots have gone wide and your past is trying to reach over and mess up your future, but the devil is a liar. This is gonna be a root untangling service. This is gonna be a root untangling meeting. You watching on the internet, your roots are about to be untangled. Things that have been in your life and you could not get loose and they are all in the ground and it is everywhere and it is all tied up and it is around rocks and it is around ridges and it is around dry places.
And you love the Lord, but you cannot get loose. And you love Jesus, but you cannot get loose. And you love your son but you cannot tell him. And you love your wife, but you cannot express it. And you love what you do, but all hell is breaking loose on your job and it is affecting every area of your life. If you are seeing the same spirit show up in different dimensions of your life, it is because your life is the sycamine tree. But the Lord sent me here tonight to preach a liberating word that is about to loose you from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. Somebody jump up on your feet like you lost your mind.