TD Jakes - This Season Will Not Destroy You
We blame other people for the things we break. The third group is we blame ourselves for everything—stuff we had no control over, things we couldn’t fix. We beat ourselves up about everything. We defend ourselves in front of the attacker, but when we get home alone, we blame ourselves: I’m not enough; impostor syndrome; I’m inadequate; I can’t do it. Look at me; I mess up everything. We go all the way back to the first grade. That’s why I flunked first grade; that’s why I went through a test; that’s why I made an F on my report card. We go all the way back, reading a whole résumé to validate why we are no good, and we start attacking ourselves.
In our text, it is clear; it does not leave it to our imagination to conclude what category this is in. Peter is definitely in trouble. Yeah, he’s going to die in the morning. Yeah, that’s right, he’s going to die in the morning. But it is not the devil; it is not the other disciples, and the worst part is it’s not even Peter. Peter has done nothing wrong. Why do bad things happen to good people? And you find yourself in this situation where not only are you trying to endure the problem, but you’re perplexed because you don’t understand the problem. I don’t understand why you don’t like me, and I’ve done everything for you, my child. I don’t understand why you don’t like me, and I’m your son. How could you not like your child?
You go through all of these questions in your mind, and when you come to church, all we do is tell you to give Him praise. But let me tell you what praise won’t do: praise won’t answer your questions. Praise won’t always resolve your issues. Praise won’t take the place of an apology. You dance all over the church, but you still didn’t apologize, and you don’t have any peace. And I don’t care how fancy you feel; you can run around this church until you need a water bottle that says «Poters House» on it, and it still won’t solve the problem. Because praise won’t fix what you need to fix. I knew nobody was going to shout; give them a big shout—they need to shout.
Let me tell you something, you’re trying to figure out what is going on, and the church comes to you and just tells you to praise the Lord. Hey, I got a lump in my breast, and I’m going to give God the praise, but when I got through dancing, I still had a lump in my breast, and it’s growing. What do I do when I find myself in a situation and I don’t know who to blame? I don’t know how to pray, and I don’t know how to respond to it, and I don’t know how to talk about it. I don’t have language for it. I’m going through it. I’m going through something. Peter is going through something that the other disciples cannot relate to, and he’s going through it alone. Even if they could relate to it, he can’t talk to them.
I want to talk to some people who are going through some stuff alone. You’re going through some stuff alone, even though other people are around. You’re going through it alone, even though other people have an opinion. You’re going through it alone, even though other people may be talking about it. You’re going through it alone. Peter is going through this alone. There’s no James; there’s no John in the room. There are no people standing around him because misery kind of enjoys company. If I have to go through it, let me go through it with somebody. Let me go through it with somebody. But most of the things that torment the soul we go through alone. We go through alone.
Single people think they go through it alone because they’re single, but married people know that being married doesn’t mean that you’re not going through it alone. Having somebody lying next to you doesn’t mean that they’re going through it with you. That’s right. Thank you for the ten people that aren’t hypocrites—the ten people that can admit that you can lay next to somebody and still feel alone. This is a keen test for men, ladies: when you ask him what he’s thinking, and he says nothing, it doesn’t mean that we’re not thinking anything; it just means that we figure we are going through this alone. Peter is going through this alone. What did he do to go to jail?
Thank you, Luke, when you wrote the book of Acts; you do not leave me to guess about how Peter got in jail. He got caught in the crossfire of Herod Agrippa I. He got caught in the crossfire of a political decision where the king decides to attack a church member for strategic advantage to rise higher in rank amongst the Jews. The backstory is that King Herod Agrippa I was partly Jewish. He had been sent to this outpost; he wanted to be their king, but the Jews did not legitimize him as being authentically Jewish.
So he’s trying to gain some Jewish points; I don’t know if Jewish people have points, but he’s trying to get some points. He knows that the Jews don’t like the Christians, so he is hating on who they hate to gain status, so he’ll have more power to get where he’s trying to go. He doesn’t even know Peter. He doesn’t even care about Peter. He’s not thinking about Peter. He doesn’t care about Christianity; he doesn’t care about what they’re trying to teach. He doesn’t really care about Orthodox Judaism; he cares about his career. If you don’t understand why you are being attacked, you don’t know how to respond to the attack. If you don’t understand that the bloggers get paid by the hits they get, then you’ll think they’re talking about you because you’re you. No, they’re talking about you because people know you, and people are going to argue about you. The more clicks you get, the more they get paid.
You don’t understand that talking about people has become a business. Some people don’t do anything for a living except talk about people. I mean, this is your full-time job. What do you do for a living, sir? I talk about people. That’s what I do, and it pays really well. If I talk about famous people, I get a lot of hits, and if I get a lot of hits, I get paid a lot of money. If I get paid a lot of money, I don’t need to work any other type of job. All I need to do is say something titillating and salacious enough to get you to click on it, and the more clicks I get, the more checks I make.
Thank you for clicking; thank you for arguing both sides of the issue; thank you for responding because you’re driving my algorithms up, and I am getting paid. They pick you out not because you are Luther Vandross or whoever you are. No, they pick you out because everybody knows you, and everybody’s going to click on it. You got caught in the crossfire. Peter had preached at Pentecost. He was an influential Christian. He had ignited the switch that provoked the outpouring of the Holy Spirit down on the people that caused 3,000 souls to be added to the church that day. Peter had influence. Peter had such influence that Herod figured if he killed the first disciple they liked, if he got the ringleader, he would really be on top. I’m going to really be on top.
See, that’s why every neck has to pay for every head. You can’t get into a fight between the neck and the head and argue about position. You need to understand that heavy is the crown that rests upon the head. The higher you go, before you pray about going up, realize that the higher you go, you’re going to get caught in fights that you didn’t start. You don’t even know the person; you don’t know what’s going on. I called a friend of mine one day, and I was reading an article in the Chicago Sun, and the guy was just giving me the blues. I mean, it was an entire op-ed, and I was at least a third of the op-ed, and I didn’t even know who he was. I called a friend of mine and asked who this guy was. He told me who he was.
You know, I said I never even met the guy. He said it doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do when you’re in the crossfire of somebody else’s ego. There’s something about what I just said that felt prophetic as it was coming out of me. It felt prophetic like somebody in this room is in a situation right now, and you are bearing the brunt force of other people’s decisions that are affecting you, but they are not because of you. They have their own agenda, and you have to stop worrying about yourself and worrying about your efficiency.
Just because somebody is trying to get in with the Jews so that he can set up his kingdom, it has nothing to do with Peter’s theology, his preaching, his teaching, his gifting, his power, or his favor. Yet Peter is in jail, and it has nothing to do with him. But he’s in jail; it was not even his fight, but he was in jail. It was not even his problem, but he was in jail. He has had no argument with Herod, but he is in jail. He has not ticked off the city, but he is in jail. Bad things do happen to good people. God does not always order sunshine in the morning. God does not always order blue skies, and he doesn’t order sea waves and seagulls flying over your window. That’s not the way God works. God will order trouble for your life and allow you to get into trouble because God is a present help in trouble.
If you want to be where God is, God will let you get into trouble so He can show Himself strong in your situation. I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but God has put you in trouble just so that He can show you how strong He is and that He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. See, Herod was king, but Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And what you have to understand is the accountant doesn’t have the last say, the lawyer doesn’t have the last say, the judge doesn’t have the last say, and the court doesn’t have the last say. God is going to have the last say. It may take some time, it may take some tests, it may take some trials, but what God has for you is for you.