TD Jakes - Side Effects
Get your Bibles and turn to Judges chapter 13, verses 1-8. The book of Judges chapter 13, verses 1-8. And when you have it, say amen. I want you to listen very closely and attentively to what is being said here because it recognizes and acknowledges the end of an era and the beginning of another one. We are standing right at the hinge of a door of a great shift as we are now, as we are right now. And again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh gave them into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years. I have to stop there and thank God that God has a beginning and an end to trouble—that trouble does not last always. If you had a going-in date, you have a coming-out date.
Come on with me, somebody. Okay, there was a certain man from Zora, from the tribe of the Danites, and his name was Manoah. His wife was infertile and did not bear children. An angel of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her, «Behold, you are infertile and have not borne children, but you"—oh God, he will put that but in there in a minute—"but you will conceive and bear a son.» So then, be careful and do not drink wine or strong drink, and do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and bear a son. No razor will touch his head because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth. And it is he who will begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.
And the woman came and told her husband, saying, «A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God—very awesome.» I believe it’s a theophany. Anytime it looks like a man of God yet she calls it an angel, a theophany is just a manifestation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. I did not ask him from where he came, and he did not tell me his name. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. I’m onto something. And he said to me, «Look, you will conceive and bear a son. So then, do not drink wine or strong drink and do not eat anything unclean.» For the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death. Good God. Then Manoah prayed to Yahweh and said, «Excuse me, my Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we should do concerning the boy who will be born.» Can you say amen? Amen. Now I’m going to preach from a subject that doesn’t even seem relevant to the text, but when I finish with it, it’s going to make sense. I’m going to preach the side effects. Side effects. Let’s pray together while we’re standing.
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us now as we delve into the word of God. We thank you, Lord, for what you have prescribed for us, for what you have designated for us will shortly come to pass. You are God and God all by yourself. You need no one to vote you in, and nobody can put you out. They cannot impeach you. You are sovereign. You are Yahweh. You are the absolute God. You are before there was where or when or this or that, or Alpha or Omega. You alone are God. Nobody can take you. Nobody can move you. Nobody can break you. You are our God, and you dwell amongst us. Have your way as we tabernacle under the tent of your word that we might hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church because we need a word from you. We wrestle with unreasonable men. We live in unreasonable times. We live in times, Lord, where the Philistines are upon us, and we need the anointing to break the yoke. Step in, great God that you are, and move in the midst of your people. We have no other God to call on but you. If there be any ratification, if there be any justice, if there be any righteousness, it must come down from heaven above. And so, therefore, God, we commend our future into your hands. Have your way, God, in the name of Jesus. I thank you in advance for what you’re going to do. Do it. Do it like nobody else can do it but you. Do it until we’re praising God all the way home. Do it until we’ve got tears running down our faces. Do it until yokes are broken and demons are defeated. Do it until witches are pulling their hair out. Do it until curses are broken. Do it in the name of Jesus. I thank you for it in Jesus' name. Somebody shout amen.
You may be seated. Great God. Great God. Great God. Great God. Great God. There’s been something on me lately I just can’t hardly control. I’ve been feeling God pushing me in the back. My God, I feel the anointing of the Lord in here right now, right now. I want you to notice, first of all, that this presence—this man, as she said, appeared as an angel of God—reminds us and is reminiscent of the theophonic manifestation of Jesus Christ himself. Not only that, but I want you to know that not only is the messenger a theophonic presentation of Jesus Christ himself, but the situation reminds us of something that will later be acted out in Jesus Christ because the woman that he’s talking to is barren and has not been able to produce a child. And God overrules the barrenness. You will notice the story repeated over and over in the Bible with Abraham and Sarah and various characters in the Bible where God opens that which is shut down.
With Hannah, God opened that which was shut down. With you, God opens that which is shut down and causes the unfruitful to become fruitful. One of the signs of the presence of God is when an area of your life that is unfruitful suddenly becomes fruitful, and you can give nobody credit for it but God. You have a different kind of praise. You have a different kind of praise. Panina couldn’t praise God like Hannah did because Hannah knew that what was in her was there by the power of God. And when you know it was there, but when you know God did it, when you know God did it, when you know God did it, come hell or high water, you will stand on the integrity of God’s word and watch him perform it in your life.
Just like Jesus' mother, who encountered an angel alone, this woman encounters the angel alone, receives the word, and brings it back to her husband. She tells him there’s something that God does with women who are willing to be alone. I know you like to run in packs, but I’ve noticed something throughout the Bible: when God catches you by yourself, and you’re not influenced by the voices of other people and other women in your life, there’s a way that God will speak to you. He’ll speak to you while you’re driving the car. He’ll speak to you after everybody’s gone to bed. He’ll speak to you early in the morning and talk to you. He has a way of showing up with women alone, like when he said, «Hail Mary, you have been highly favored among women. You shall bring forth a son, and his name shall be called Jesus.» He speaks to you in a way that causes other people not to believe that he spoke to you. But their unbelief does not make God’s word of no effect.
If God has spoken to you, he’s spoken to you. Manoah came along and said, «Speak once again.» He wanted to hear. But what God has for you is for you. God has a way of speaking to you. If you’re smart and a man, when a woman speaks something, especially if she’s a praying woman, you pay her some attention. You pay her some attention. Even if you act like you’re not paying attention, you pay some attention because she’s been right so many times that you at least give some consideration to her perspective because she’s a praying woman. If you’ve got a praying woman, give her a hug right now. Because a praying woman is a treasure.
A praying woman is something special. A praying woman can produce things that couldn’t be produced any other way. A praying woman can have doors opened up for her by herself because she’s a praying woman. If you’ve got a praying woman, you can be sick in your body, and God will heal you. I was talking to my wife; her knee didn’t get healed until I collapsed. And the moment I collapsed, she got healed right on the spot. When you’ve got a praying woman, God will give you a miracle immediately, suddenly, without reservation. She’s been walking ever since, wearing heels ever since, doing what she wanted to do ever since. When you’ve got a praying woman, and the odds are all against you, if you’ve got a praying woman, she’ll turn that thing around, and all of a sudden, God will do a new thing in you.
Oh, the power, the power, the power, the power, the power of a praying woman. I use the term side effects because I was watching TV, and it used to be that when you watched TV, they would advertise the medicine but not the side effects. But they started getting sued so much that now, even if they have to speed up the voice and talk real fast, they make sure that you understand that with the prescription come side effects. And I’m glad they do it because sometimes the side effects are worse than the problem. They say if you have dry eyes and a runny nose, you take this pill. You may experience bleeding. You may have insomnia. You may break out in sweats in the middle of the day. You may not be able to walk. You may only have two toes. And I started thinking I’d rather go ahead and have the dry eye than deal with the side effects.
My God, maybe it’s just me, but them side effects—those side effects are things that people try to leave out that go along with the prescription. Prescription is a term that is used when the doctor has written out in advance something that you’re going to take that’s going to change your tomorrow. You take it today, it changes your tomorrow. It is a prescription. In theology, we would call it a prophecy—a word that, over time, begins to work in your life. But even with the prophecy, understand that God doesn’t always give details. Even God doesn’t tell you about the side effects. Abraham, take now thy only son to a place that I will show you. He didn’t tell him about the side effects. He didn’t tell him about the trouble he would run into. He didn’t tell him that the servants would leave him halfway up the mountain. He didn’t tell him that he’d have to tie him down and raise his knife to slay his son. He didn’t tell him about the ram in the bush.
Because the trying of your faith doesn’t give you details. The trying of your faith doesn’t give you details. He just gives you the preview, but he doesn’t give you the details—the prescription, side effects, the circumstance, and the situation. I read this text, and I said, «Lord, you didn’t tell them about the side effects.» You told this barren woman that she would bring forth a son and that her son would save his people from 40 years of Philistine domination. But you didn’t tell them. You didn’t tell them that they were going to have all kinds of trouble out of that son. You didn’t tell them that that son was going to have to fight for it, that he was going to have to prove himself, that he was going to be tested. You didn’t tell them. And so we are so preoccupied with the prescription that we don’t notice the side effects.
I went to Sunday school. They taught me about Samson when I was a little boy. And they had this big burly guy standing up there as a picture. He had triceps and biceps and muscles and everything, and he looked all muscular. They showed him lifting up gates, throwing gates on people, and taking the jawbone of an ass and killing 10,000 Philistines. They showed him like he was a superhero, like he was a Marvel character. But that diminishes the power of the text because if Samson had been powerful outwardly, then Delilah would have never had to ask him where his strength came from. That means there is a strength that you can’t see. That means he might have been tiny and scrawny because she couldn’t figure out how a man that looked like him could do what he did. Just like your haters can’t figure out how a person like you can do what you do. Because it is not obvious to people that you have as much as you have.
You don’t walk in arrogance. Your nose is not up in the air. You don’t flaunt your ability in front of anybody. But when it is needed, you have a way of rising to the occasion. And the enemy doesn’t understand you. Shame on you for confusing the devil. Shame on you for shocking the devil! Shame on you for coming up just when he thought he had you down, fooling him. You popped back up again! Just when he thought you were going to die, you jumped up and lived again. Just when he thought he had you truly depressed, you got joy and started laughing—didn’t even know what you were laughing about! But the joy of the Lord is your strength, and he doesn’t understand why you’re happy! Hallelujah! Because God has a way of doing things that boggles the human mind! It leaves the human speechless.
The most talkative person has a way of shocking people with how you can find strength in strange places. It’s something to be a strong person. To be a strong person frustrates the devil because what should have broken you didn’t break you. What should have killed you didn’t kill you. What should have made you collapse didn’t make you collapse. What should have made you an alcoholic didn’t make you an alcoholic. What should have made you blow your brains out didn’t make you blow your brains out. There’s something about being a strong person; that’s the prescription. But let me tell you about the side effects. There are side effects to being a strong person. People take you for granted when you’re a strong person.
People put more weight on you when you’re a strong person. People bring you their problems and somebody else’s problems when you’re a strong person. People don’t comfort you when you’re a strong person. «Oh, you just made like that. Oh, you just can handle it. That’s just how you are.» The side effects of being a strong person means that many times you have to encourage yourself in the Lord because you’re a strong person. Are there any strong people in the room? You’re the one the whole family calls on, no matter what goes wrong. When things go bad, they call you because you’re the one who comes in with sobriety of mind and stillness of spirit. You make decisions and execute judgment because you’re a strong person. They don’t think the weight bothers you. They don’t think that the weight intimidates you. They don’t think that the weight is powerfully applied to your shoulders. They don’t think that you have any pain. They don’t think that you have any problems. They don’t know that you stay up at night, at 2 and 3:00 in the morning. They don’t know the things that you endure because you make hell look easy.
I’m going to say it again since I’m out there—you make hell look easy. You make it look like it doesn’t bother you. Well, it’s the side effects of being a strong person. They don’t ever cuddle you. They don’t ever comfort you. They call you and immediately tell you about their problems. They don’t even ask you how you are or how you feel. What’s going on in your life? These are the side effects of being a strong person. To whom much is given, much is required because you are a strong person. Are there any strong people in here? The problem with being a strong person is strong people get tired too. Strong people hurt too. Strong people bleed too. You can be strong and sensitive. You can be strong and weary. You can be strong and empty. You can be strong and isolated. You can be strong and struggle with something that nobody even understands.
They are so busy getting you to take care of their struggles that they don’t even worry about yours. Samson did not ask for this fight with the Philistines. He wasn’t even asking for it when he was born; it was decided before he got here. It was prescribed for this cause; he came into the world. The fight was picked out for him before he made his first sound. Some of you have a fight that was picked out for you before you made your first sound. You didn’t choose your mama. You didn’t choose your daddy. You didn’t choose the age you were born into. You didn’t choose the city you were in. You didn’t choose the rape. You didn’t choose the trauma. You didn’t choose the situation. You were chosen for adversity.
God told Jeremiah, «Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and I ordained thee to be a prophet unto the nations.» Before you cried your first cry, before you took your first step, and before you took your first swallow of milk, I had already ordained your steps. I had already chosen you. I’d set you aside. In that same way, Samson was chosen, and his enemy was chosen. The fight had started before they ever met. My God, there was a fight picked out for you before you ever even came here. You don’t understand why you go through what you go through, why you feel what you feel, or why you endure what you endure. It was picked out for you before you got there.
The Philistines were waiting for you to be born. You were born into a struggle. You were born into a test. You were born into a dilemma. You were born into a crisis. It was set aside for you. But God equipped you before He birthed you. God equipped you before He birthed you. And you can walk through hell and not get burned. You can stand in the fiery furnace and not be singed. You can lay down and go to bed with lions and wake up in the morning yawning, and you don’t even understand how you can do it yourself. But God equipped you for it. He built you for it. He built you to raise that child. He built you to handle that circumstance. He built you to handle that situation because you’re a strong person. But the side effect is just because you’re strong doesn’t mean you don’t get tired.
Silence is often perceived as weakness. People who talk a whole lot and say a lot of things—I learned a long time ago, not in the church but in the street—don’t watch the guy who keeps talking about how if you walk over here, you’re going to limp back and if you want some of this, you should come over here or you’re going to run into something. Don’t watch that guy putting on a big show, breaking a beer bottle in the club, and saying, «I wish you would.» I don’t watch him; I watch the guy who’s sitting over there calm and not saying anything. That’s the one you need to watch out for. Because even though silence is often perceived as weakness, it actually takes great strength to hold your peace. It takes a great deal of strength not to speak your mind.
I listen to people talk to me sometimes, and I think of a thousand things to say back while they are saying their ten. It takes all of my strength just to sit there and nod because if I let that thing rip, you’d be crying for two years if I told you what I was thinking. If I told you what crossed my mind, you wouldn’t want me to open my mouth. You don’t want me to open my mouth because while you were drawing your breath, I had already thought of a hundred things I could have said back. Silence does not mean weakness, ignorance, or intimidation. It takes great power to be silent. It takes great power to hold your peace. It takes great power to go through a storm and not retaliate. It takes great power not to defend yourself when you go to war. Silence is a great strength. Silence, silence. The Bible says, «In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.» When you are quiet and confident, you have strength. You know who you are.
I went into a building where they were trying to make a seat for me on the stage. I said, «That’s all right; I can sit anywhere, because I am no more sitting on the stage than I am sitting on the floor.» I can sit anywhere because I knew who I was when I came here. You don’t have to give me a certain seat for me to be what I already am. I know who I am. And if you don’t call my name, my name still has power in it. It still has authority in it. Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying. Silence is a great strength. Don’t let people define you because if you let people define you, they’ll turn around and break you. But you have to know who you are when you walk in the door. You have to know you’re strong before they ever start talking. And I need not the commendations of men to define what God has already declared. If God declared it, it is so. If God declared it, it is what it is. Hallelujah to God!
I went to preach somewhere years ago, and I didn’t do that well because I was nervous; they had all these titles, and it made me anxious. I didn’t do well. I came back several years later, and I said, «When I came the first time, I was nervous 'cause I thought I needed you. But now I’m ready for you because I realized you need me.» Once you start to understand who you are and understand your place, I’m not talking about arrogance; I’m quoting Scripture: «In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.» I ain’t scared of none of you! In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. You have an opinion; I have one too. You think this, I think that. I have just as much right to think that as you do to think this. Glory to God! I’m a grown man; I’m as grown as I’m ever going to be. I know exactly who I am, and I don’t have to tell you who I am—I can show you who I am. I don’t have to prove who I am because that doesn’t have to be proven. It just is. It just is.
Can I get a witness in here? Y’all can’t handle this kind of preaching! But some of y’all need this kind of preaching because you’re always trying to prove something to people that don’t even matter. Always trying to impress people that don’t even matter. Always trying to move people who aren’t going to help you one way or the other. They’re not going to be there one way or the other. And there’s no need for you to say anything because they’re not going to do anything anyway. Hold your peace and let the Lord fight your battles. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. The enemies that you see today, you shall see them no more. I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but I feel like I’m preaching to somebody. Oh my God! High five somebody and say, «You ain’t got to say nothing; it is what it is. You ain’t got to say nothing; it is what it is. You ain’t got to say a word. The truth is gonna stand when the world’s on fire; it is what it is.» Hold your peace and watch God work it out. You ain’t got to say nothing! High five somebody else and say, «You ain’t got to say nothing. Don’t write no note. Don’t send no email. Don’t send no text. Just stand still. You ain’t got to say nothing.»
Now, Samson was prescribed a battle he didn’t cause. In fact, the Bible says the Lord had sent the Philistines to attack Israel. I’m not going to say a lot about this. Maybe I shouldn’t say anything, but it is not true that just because Israel is God’s chosen people, God never punished them. He was always for them, but that didn’t mean He didn’t punish them. That didn’t mean He didn’t send armies to chastise them. That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t send armies to chastise us. Just because you have the favor of God doesn’t mean that God won’t correct you sometimes. Where, where, where are my real people at? You know you belong to God. You know you’ve been washed in His blood.
You know you’re chosen of God, but won’t He get you together? Won’t He humble you and bring you to your knees? Won’t He bring you down to the floor and make you call on His name? Just because you have His favor doesn’t mean you don’t face correction. In fact, the Bible says, «Spare the rod, and you’ll spoil the child.» And the more you belong to God, the more God will get you together. Other people can do it, and it’s just fine, but when you do it, you have to pay for it and can’t figure out why. It’s because you are God’s, and the chastening of the Lord proves that you are His. He will get you together; that’s how you know you’re saved. It’s not your tongues; it’s not your dance; it’s not your clothes; it’s not your outfit; it’s not your jerking or shaking! It’s how He corrects you. It’s how He pulls you in. It’s how He gets you together. It’s how He brings you to your knees. That’s how you know you’ve been chosen.
God, I better hold it because I feel something—I feel something, I feel something, I feel something! Now, Samson was chosen to deliver the Israelites, to begin their deliverance from the Philistines. He was chosen for that. The problem is, Samson is also attracted to… Y’all don’t want to hear the truth. Let me give you the Sunday school class. The problem is, Samson is attracted to the people he’s supposed to defeat. This creates conflict because on one hand, he’s supposed to destroy them, but he thinks they’re kind of cute. There was a woman from Timna, and he saw her and came home, telling his parents, «I met this girl from Timna, and I want to marry her; I want to make her my wife.» They asked, «Of all the daughters of Israel, couldn’t you find one of your own people?» He said, «No.»
Now, look at the conflict. The conflict: I am created to destroy what I am also attracted to. Come on! See, it’s easy to kill what you don’t like, but when God calls you to kill what you are attracted to, it creates a dilemma. I’m not going to bother you because I know you can’t act real. I know you have to fake and be phony and act like you don’t understand. When you get confused and don’t know whether to slay them or hug them, you’re in a situation. You’re in a dilemma; I’m attracted to a Philistine woman. The Bible doesn’t even give her name because her name is not important; her ethnicity is important because it proves a point that we can have mixed feelings about any situation.
I love the job; I hate the job. Come on! Come on! Real people—real people talk to me! Real people talk to me! Real people talk to me! You get on my nerves, but I feel sorry for you, and I’m in conflict! I’m in a strait; I don’t know how I feel about it because I was prescribed to attack but I’m trying to attack what I’m attracted to. He was going to marry her! Save for the riddle, he would have married her. He was going to make her his, despite his parents' discontent. But he gave a riddle that caused a rift to break out among the Philistines, because Samson gave them a riddle about the honey and the lion; that brought them into a place of confusion and broke up the whole thing.
Look at the things that almost happened to you! Can I talk to somebody? Can I talk to anybody about the stuff that almost happened to you? The decisions you almost made—if it wasn’t for the grace of God, you wouldn’t even be sitting beside who you’re sitting beside. You wouldn’t even be standing where you’re standing. You almost—you almost, you almost fainted, collapsed, or gave in! That’s why I don’t understand why you’re looking down your nose at other people because there, but for the grace of God! There, but for the grace of God! There, but for the grace! There, but for the grace! There, but for the grace go you and I!
Because you were drawn to a girl from Timna, a Philistine; you were born to destroy what you were drawn to keep. In between that, we keep showing his strength—he’s throwing gates on Philistines! Y’all didn’t get it! He likes a Philistine girl, and yet, he’s throwing gates on Philistines! He’s crazy! He took a jawbone of an ass and destroyed thousands of Philistines, but he was drawn to the Philistines. Y’all don’t hear me! He was crazy. He was strong, but he was weak! Oh, y’all are not saying much to me now. When I was asking who was strong, y’all were jumping up and hollering. Y’all were making all kinds of noise. You were doing jumping jacks, flipping, and landing in the middle of the floor. But every person, every Superman, has kryptonite! Every Superman has kryptonite! And if they find out what the kryptonite is, it puts you in a dilemma because you can be strong with a gate and turn around and be weak as water in another situation.
The paradoxical reality of the psychological existence of humanity creates complications that make it hard to know. Because if I catch you throwing gates, all I think you are is strong. But if I see you peeking over the fence at Timna, all I think you are is weak. And both assessments are wrong because you’re not as strong as they think you are, and you’re not as weak as they think you are. You are somewhere between strong and weak. And how can you live in your strength and deal with your weakness because they both exist in the same person at the same time? Can I go deeper? Can I go a little bit deeper?
Because the truth of the matter is, the reason you got quiet is that I hit you right in the gut; I hit you right in the belly. Because when I was talking about strength, you were proud to stand up, but when I expose that strong people have weaknesses, you sat down because you don’t want to acknowledge to anybody that half of your strength is used trying to prove that you’re nothing but strong. In reality, you’re looking for somebody who can deal with your strength and your weakness. Because everybody’s drawn to your strength, but not everyone’s drawn to your struggle. And you don’t want anyone to know that there’s a soft spot in you. There’s a spot in you that cries at night. There’s a spot in you that wants to give up. There’s a spot in you that wants to collapse. There’s a spot in you that wants to cry. There’s a spot in you that makes foolish decisions, trusts bad people, has bad ideas, and gets yourself in trouble.
You show me how strong you are! But a friend is someone you can show how weak you are, how unsure you are, how tired you are, how scared you are, how worried you are. I didn’t go to bed until 3:00 in the morning, and you think I’ve got it all together? You think I have all the answers? Yet, there I am at 2:30 trying to figure out which way to go, which door to move in, and which direction to take. I’m not as strong as you think I am! And we are spending our strength trying to prove something that isn’t true! We’re spending our strength trying to show everybody that we can handle everything, and you’re exhausted! Because the camouflage of your strength only serves as a conduit to hide your frailty. God! And the person who can deal with both sides is the person you talk to the most. Because if I always have to be strong, I’m going to get tired of talking to you.
And if I always have to be weak, I’ll be tired of talking to you. But if I could give you three strong sentences and two weak sentences, we can make a paragraph. Come on, come on, somebody! We can make a paragraph 'cause I ain’t lying about neither one of them. Sometimes I know exactly what to do, and I wish you would if you come over here. I wish you, I wish you would. But on the other hand, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go. And it’s much easier to find somebody who can deal with the strength in you than it is to find somebody who can deal with the weakness in you. Because as soon as they find the weakness in you, they drop you like you’re trash. The Philistines sent their army against Samson, and he ate their lunch. He tied the tails of the foxes together, set them on fire, and burned their fields. He lifted up gates and threw them on them.
See, if you throw the right thing on me, I’ll tear you up! I tear you up! I tear you up! Then they got together, and they had a meeting, saying none of that strong stuff is working, so they hired Delilah. He laughed at me; he made me laugh. They had here Delilah come switching in. Everybody else came in. They got all kinds of armor; they got swords, they got shields. Delilah came in, and all of a sudden, the strong man has to admit that his strength has side effects. Did you know that your strength has effects? In fact, you cannot find intimacy until you show your side effects. As long as you can only handle my camouflage, then I have to be a hero 24 hours a day. You know what’s wrong with most of our women? They’ve had to be heroes 24 hours a day. They are so tired of being heroes that they have lost their ability to be vulnerable. They don’t even respect vulnerability.
You only respect it the more you don’t need nobody. The more you can do it for yourself, the more you can buy your own car, your own house, your own stuff. The more you can do it, the more you are respected. When you don’t understand that sometimes your strongest strength is in your vulnerability, can I go deeper? If Christ would have come as the lion from the tribe of Judah, he wouldn’t have redeemed anybody. But because he knew that his greatest strength was in his greatest weakness, he became the lamb of God. And when he became the lamb of God, he delivered more people as a lamb than he could as a lion. What’s wrong with our men is that all we want to do is roar. And we don’t know that sometimes a soft answer turneth away wrath. And we don’t know how to understand how to be vulnerable sometimes and say, «I’m tired!» Woo! They’re quiet on me, Jesus.
You didn’t tell me that one of the side effects of preaching this message was going to make people get quiet. But I don’t care; I don’t care, because you’re not balanced until you can operate in both graces. Until you can operate in both graces, when you can still be strong, and that’s true. And on the other hand, you can be vulnerable, and that’s still true. And you don’t think any less of yourself because you understand that sometimes it takes more power to be vulnerable than it does to be powerful. And you never learned that because nobody modeled it in front of you. They either were extremely powerful and showed no mercy, or extremely merciful and showed no power. And now you’ve got a lopsided fight. You’re not using the fullness of what you got. So they hired Delilah because they knew that he couldn’t handle the side effect.
Can I preach this text? I feel like preaching this text. I feel like I’m talking to somebody. I’m talking to somebody. The strong display of power was in the prescription: his ability to be vulnerable. The character weakness, his side effects, the great deception is that it wasn’t the big stuff; it was the little things. Isn’t it funny how you can get in an argument, they can cuss you out, and you can handle it? But if they said you weren’t a good mama, you would rather call them names, and you’ve come right back at them: «Your mommy was a…» «Your grandmama was a…» But when they said you weren’t a good mama, it hit a soft spot! Come on, come on! It hit a soft spot, and all of a sudden, tears overflow. What do you mean I’m not a good mother? I was always a good mother! I did my side effects, and they hired Delilah to be a side effect, and it brought him to his knees.
Now here’s the killer part: I assumed that the coming of Delilah was about sex, but I cannot find in the scriptures where Samson and Delilah had sex. Maybe they did, but they didn’t tell us. Every time I see Samson with Delilah, he is laying his head—come on, I know this word! I know this word! He is laying his head in her lap. So he compromised all that he was as a judge for—now, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! Y’all don’t, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! See, see, see, he found some place; she could have taken all that switching back home. He found the place where he could lay his head. And I don’t know who I’m talking to, but I’m after somebody that your real problem is not your carnality; it’s your weariness. You don’t have a safe place to lay your head. You don’t have a place that won’t criticize you and tell you, «You just need to man up.»
You don’t have a place where you can be a girl again. You’re scared to death to be a girl again because you don’t trust anybody else to take care of you but you, 'cause you’ve always had to take care of you, and it’s the only role that you’ve learned the script to. And if you’ve learned the script for one role, you can only play one part. Yes, sir! You have never had the luxury of being scared, the luxury of being tired, the luxury of being vulnerable. And you do good with God 'cause you can’t see him. But to make yourself vulnerable to somebody you can see, you can’t; you just— you ain’t hearing it because you never were scripted to be human. And you know what the problem is? You’re tired. And you don’t understand being tired is a side effect of being strong. When you’ve been strong too long, when you’ve been tough all your life, when every morning you had to fight, you don’t know how to just relax and say, «I’m tired.» He knew, watch this; I’m almost done! He knew she was trying to kill him. Still, he laid his head in her lap. She asked him where his strength was; he lied to her over and over again.
Now once I find out you’re trying to kill me, all attraction goes, okay? All attraction goes! As long as I don’t think you’re trying to kill me, I’m good! But when I find out that you’re really trying to hurt me for real, you ain’t nearly as cute as you were a minute ago. All of that goes away. All of that dries up 'cause you’re trying to kill me. But he was so desperate! Y’all don’t hear you. I—God, make them hear it, 'cause I can’t do it without you. Make them hear it! You don’t hear how desperate he was for a place to lay his head. And my assignment this morning —what God called me to preach to you this morning—is that there would be many people in this room and watching on stream right now who do not have a safe place to lay your head. And it’s been so long since you’ve had it, you convince yourself you don’t need it. And even if you got it, you don’t know how to treat it.
And now you push away what you could rest in because you don’t know how to be tired. You don’t know how to be tired. You know how to fight. You know how to kill, absolutely! You know how to destroy. You know how to attack. You don’t know how to be tired. And for a moment of laying his head, he risked his life to lay his head. He lost his eyes to lay his head. He went blind and lost his vision to lay his head. And I’m wondering how many people in here are praying for vision, but you can’t get vision because you are so desperate to find a place to lay your head that you’ve lost your vision. And I’m wondering how many people in here are treading at the meal with the oxen when you are a judge over Israel. You are the end of an era; you are the last judge before we see kings. And you cannot be the judge that brings us into kings because you’ve lost your vision.
And when Hollywood does it, they try to make it lurid, sexual, vivacious, and all of these kinds of things. They try to make it salacious; they try to appeal to our human lust when they don’t realize that this is not about lust! This is about a lingering tiredness that will not go away. And the Lord told me if I would preach this, that he would crack through your camouflage. And he said, if you would open up and admit that you’re tired, Delilah would not be your side effects. Delilah would not be your side effect. Delilah is more than a woman. Don’t think—don’t think about her as a woman. She’s a woman, but she’s more than a woman. She’s a spirit—she’s a spirit! She’s anything you have to lay in to rest; she’s anything you got to rest in. She’s anything that you’re willing to give up everything just for a moment of rest, and you know it’s killing you. She’s a drug. She came by. She’s an addiction; she’s a high. She’s anything you go to to lay your head; she’s the kryptonite you go to where life is killing you.
And that’s why church is not working for you. Because when you get ready for church, the last thing you put on before you leave is your camouflage. And you know why we can’t have real worship? Because real worship will strip you! Real worship will bring you down to your knees. Real worship will make you lay prostrate on the floor. Real worship will bring tears gushing out of your eyes. Real worship will make you cry out before God. Real worship will make you open your mouth and scream. Real worship will make you expose the thing that you hide from everybody else. Real worship will make you say, «I don’t know which way to go; I don’t know what to do; I don’t know how to fix it.»
Real worship will make elders collapse on the floor like sinners. There won’t be anybody to pray for anybody because the elders will collapse just like sinners. Real worship will bring you down to your knees until the singers sit down beside the prostitutes, and the prostitutes start sitting down beside the deacons, and they’re all laying out on the floor because real worship will get down in you! But you can’t take off—you’re watching! Look, I’m looking at you right now! You can’t come out of your Superman suit! I’m challenging you this morning to find your phone booth so you can stop being Superman. I came to preach to Clark Kent! I didn’t come to preach to Superman!
I came to preach to somebody who’s tired. I came to preach to somebody who’s dry. I came to preach to somebody who’s empty. I came to preach to somebody who’s frustrated. I came to preach to somebody who’s tired of acting like you got it all together when you ain’t got nothing together! You can handle scriptures, but you can’t handle money. You can handle money, but you can’t handle your own kids. You can handle your kids, but you can’t handle your job. I came to preach in a phone booth! I didn’t come to preach at the potter’s house; I came to preach in a phone booth! I want you to find a safe place where you can change out of your boots and leave your cape off and come before God just as I am! I came to preach till you’re naked and not ashamed! I came to preach until tears are flushing down your face! I came to preach till you find someplace you can lay your head!
I came to preach till you feel the glory of God fill up a room! I came to preach till something gets down in your spirit and makes you fall on your knees! I came to preach till you don’t care who’s looking at you, and you don’t care what they think about you, and you don’t care what they call you! I came to preach till you don’t care about your title! I came to preach till you don’t care about your position! I came to preach till you don’t care what your husband thinks! I came to preach till you don’t care what your wife thinks! I came to preach till something in your belly opens up and cries out before God! I came to preach until you say, «I won’t let you go till you bless my soul! I won’t let you go till you fix me! I won’t let you go till you heal me! I won’t let you go until you touch me!»
I came to preach till something opens up in your belly! I came to preach until you feel the power of God fall! I came to preach until the anointing falls in your seat! I came to preach until the Holy Ghost touches you from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet! I came to preach! I came to preach till the anointing of God begins to fall. I came to preach until you come out of all of this hard stuff, this tough stuff, this stony stuff, this vicious stuff, this angry stuff. I came to preach until anger goes away. I came to preach until you lose your anger and you lay on your face and say, «God, I need you like I never needed you before.» I came to preach, hallelujah, until your side effects get out of your way. I came to preach so you can find at least one place, one day out of the week, one hour where you can lay before God and say, «Before I go to work Monday, I got to have this moment where I can lay my head.»
I came to preach. I left my house so I could lay my head. I left my car so I could lay my head. I left my job so I could lay my head. I left my business so I could lay my head. The truth is, I’m tired, God. I’m tired, God. I’m tired, God. I’m tired of everybody calling me. I’m tired of everybody pulling on me. I’m tired of everybody needing me. I came to preach until something gets down in your belly and you say, «I’m going to get the blessing. I don’t care what it costs; I’m going to get the blessing.» Are you in this place today?
I’m going to count to three, and you got to decide: either I’m going home like Superman or I’m coming to the altar like Clark Kent. One, you got a few minutes to make up your mind. Either I’m going to get what God has for me, or I’m going to stand here, be cute, walk around in my high heels, try to be important, and try to impress people. Either I’m going to open up my spirit and cry out to God until He blesses my soul, blesses my mind, blesses my spirit, until sleep comes back, until rest comes back, until joy comes back. The truth is, I’m not happy. The truth is, I’m not happy. The truth is, I’m not happy. The truth is, I got joy, but I’m not happy. The truth is, I don’t have peace. The truth is, I need a touch from God. The truth is, I need a move from God. The truth is, I need a move from God. The truth is, I need a move from God. The truth is, I need a move from God. And I’m going to stand here until I get a touch from God. I’m going to stand right here until He blesses my soul. I’m going to stand right here.
If I’ve got to lay on the floor, if I’ve got to get on my knees, if I’ve got to lay prostrate, I’m going to stand right here until heaven opens up above my head. I’m going to stand right here until I walk into my promised land. I’m going to stand right here until heaven moves, until hell shakes, until demons tremble. I’m going to stand right here until the power of God moves all over my body. I want my anointing back. I want my power back. I want my glory back. I want a touch from God. Just touch me. If you touch me one time, if you touch me one time, if you touch me, you’ll heal me. If you touch me, you’ll bless me. If you touch me, you’ll deliver me. God, if you just touch me, I’ll be all right. One touch from you. One touch from you, Lord. One touch from the Lord. I’m down to my last one. One touch.
How bad do you want it? How bad do you want it? Do you want it bad enough to move? Do you want it bad enough to come out in the balcony? Do you really want it? Here it is. Three! Everything in here that wants something from God, come out wherever you are. Come out with your hands up. Come out in total surrender. Come out saying yes to God. Come out saying yes to God. Come out saying yes. Come out saying yes. Come out saying yes. Come out saying yes. Come out saying yes. You’re watching online. The anointing is in this house. It’s in your house. It’s in your living room. It’s in your car. It’s in your spirit. Glory to God! I want every tough guy to fall out on his face. I want every hard woman to break down on your knees. I came to preach to Samson. I came to preach to Samson. Come out wherever you are. Come out wherever you are. Come out wherever you are. Come out!
If you come out, the Philistines will die. The Bible said that he killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his life. And it’s just like Jesus. Jesus was at His greatest hour when they hung Him high and stretched Him wide, and His flesh died. If your flesh dies right now, you’re going to kill every demon in your house. If your flesh dies, every yoke will be destroyed. If your flesh dies, every disease is going to leap out of your body. If your flesh dies, God’s going to do a new thing in you. I want you to open your mouth and holler like you lost your mind. Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Come on! Help me holler! Help me holler! Help me holler! Help me holler! Help me holler! Help me holler! I got to break out of this! I got to break out of this! I got to break out of this! I got to get out! I’m tired of being a prisoner. I’m tired of being an inmate. I’m coming out! I’m coming out! I’m coming out!
And at midnight, Paul and Silas prayed, and suddenly there was a noise, and suddenly there was a shaking! Come out! Come out wherever you are! Come out! Come out with your hands up! Come out with a surrender! Come out with a praise! Come out! Shout unto God with the voice of triumph! Oh, clap your hands, all ye people! Shout unto God with the voice of triumph! I feel victory! Victory is coming in this place! I feel victory coming in this place! I feel victory coming in this place! I feel victory coming in this place! If you shout, victory is coming! If you shout, victory is coming! Open your mouth and shout! Stop being cute and shout! Stop being fancy and shout! Shout till the walls come down! Shout till the walls come down! Shout till the walls come down! Shout till the walls come down! Shout! Shout! I said shout! I said shout!
Shout to the wall! Shout to the wall! Shout to the wall! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! Shout in your living room! Shout in your car! Shout in your house! Shout in your bathroom! Get in your kitchen and shout! Get in your car and shout! Open up your mouth and begin to shout! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! Shout! Demons are trembling! Shout! Hell is leaving! Shout! Depression is headed out of here! Shout! Shout! I say shout! I say shout! Shout! Shout till it breaks! Shout till it cracks! Shout till it rips open! Shout till it rips open! Shout! Hey! Shout! Shout till it rips! I’m going to shout till it rips! I’m going to shout till it rips! I’m going to shout till it rips! Shout till it rips! Shout till it rips! Shout till your roof comes off! Shout till your living room flies open! Shout till your kids come home! Open your mouth and shout! Open your mouth and shout! Open your mouth and shout! Open your…
I can’t hear you! I can’t! Shout it out! Shout it out! Shout it out! Shout it out! Shout it out! Every stain, shout it out! Every pain, shout it out! Every bit of trouble, shout it out! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! I can’t hear you! Shout it out! Shout it out! Shout it out! Something is leaving your body! Something is leaving your mind! Something is leaving your heart! I can’t—! Shout in your living room! Shout in your living room! Fall out by your couch! Fall out of your bed! Slide out on the floor! Lay down in the kitchen and shout it out! Somebody that believes God all the way in the balcony, shout! Shout! Shout! Shout! Somebody help me! Somebody help me! Somebody help me! The walls are coming down! The walls are coming down! The walls are coming down! The walls are coming down! Shout, choir! Shout! Shout, church! Hallelujah!
Shout, deacons! Shout, preachers! Shout, pastors! Shout out! Shout out! Shout! The devil don’t like it, but shout! The devil don’t like it, but shout! Shout in this place! I feel victory! I feel victory! I feel victory! I feel victory! I dare you to shout! I dare you to shout! I dare you to shout! I dare you! I dare you! I tell you I got to quit, but I feel the power of the Holy Ghost in this place! The Holy Ghost said shout! Thank you! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Hey, thank you! Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Shout! Shout! Shout out! We thank you for victory this morning! We thank you for your power! Yes, we thank you! You’re going to get loose! You’re going to get loose! You’re going to get loose! You’re going to get loose today! You’re going to get loose today! You’re going to get some help! Today you’re going to get deliverance! Today you’re going to get a breakthrough! Today you’re going to get it! You’re going to get it! You’re going to get it! You’re going to get it!
This is for you! God did this for you! This is your Sunday! This is your Sunday! This is your Sunday! Shout glory! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! My God! My God! My God! Yes! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! My God! My God! My God! What I want you to understand is that you’ve been predestined, predetermined, prescripted to drive out the Philistines that are in your life. But you can’t drive them out till you get honest. You can’t hug what you’re trying to kill. You either got to be hot or you got to be cold. You got to make up in your mind: do you love your image or do you want to be changed?
Lift your hands up right where you are! Lift them up! This is a moment of surrender. You’re watching on television. This is a moment of surrender. It’s a moment of complete surrender. It’s a moment of complete surrender. You didn’t realize you had side effects. It’s good to be strong. It’s wonderful to be strong, but you didn’t overdose. You overdosed and lost part of yourself because Christ is just as much lamb as He is lion. And He wasn’t afraid of His lamb! And He wasn’t afraid of His lion! And you got to be good with opening up your heart. When the Bible says none but the pure in heart shall see God, the word pure there is where we get the word catheter. It means that God wants to clean out your heart so you can see God. None but the pure in heart shall see God! You hear me on television? You hear me on your phone? Do you hear me on your iPad? Do you hear me on your computer? Do you hear me?
None but the pure in heart! And hell is doing everything it can to take away your purity because you used to be pure. You used to know how to be sorry. You used to know how to say yes. You used to know how to open up and you could see God. But your vision is coming back! I prophesy to you right now that your vision is coming back! It’s coming back! It’s coming back! You hear me? It’s coming back! It’s coming back! It’s coming back! This thing is real! It’s coming back! It’s coming back! These things that keep coming up in you—this stress, this anxiety, this insomnia—these bouts of anger, these mood swings, these depressions are nothing but side effects. All you got to be is who you really are. That’s all you got to do: just be who you really are. That’s all you got to do is open up your heart to God and say, «I’m going to rest in you. I’m going to rest in you.»
If you don’t do it, it can’t be done! I’m going to rest in you. I’m going to rest in you! Do you feel that peace coming in this room right now? There’s a peace! There’s a peace coming in this room right now! Oh my God, I wish you were in here! I don’t know whether you can feel it where you are, but there’s a peace coming in here! There’s a peace coming in here! There’s a peace coming! There’s a peace coming for you! It’s coming right now! It’s coming for you! Lift your hands! My Father and my God, it is in the invincible, all-powerful, eternal, everlasting, immutable, unchanging name of Jesus Christ we pray! Hallelujah! We all like sheep have gone astray. We’ve turned, we’ve gotten turned out of the way. We’ve forgotten what matters most. We’ve turned into what we thought we had to be because of the onslaught of what we’ve been through. But today, we shake it off!
Today, we shake off the side effects of being who we were called to be. And today, right now, we receive your peace! Hallelujah! We receive your power! Hallelujah! We receive your love! This is going to be a Sunday we don’t ever forget because this is going to be the Sunday that I dropped my camouflage and I came to Jesus just like I was! I was weary! I was worn! And to be honest with you, Lord, I was sad! I was sad, and I didn’t know how to get out of it! But I found in you a resting place. It’s not in my deal! It’s not in my coping mechanisms! It’s not in the pseudo things that I take on to help me get through the moment! I found in you a resting place! I found in you a resting place!
There’s somebody in the balcony, God is touching you right now in a special way. You didn’t even come down for the prayer, but God is touching you right where you are. I found in you a resting place. This stuff I’ve been carrying is too heavy; it’s too hard; it’s too much. I cast my cares on you because you care for me. I will rest, Lord. Thank you for my rest. Thank you for my rest. Thank you for my rest. Thank you for my rest. Right in your living room, right where you’re watching, I’m going to rest. I’m going to rest. I’m going to rest. I’m going to practice it. I’m going to practice it. I’m going to work on it. I will practice it until I get good at it. I will rest in the Lord. Hallelujah! If you’re around this altar or out in the pews and you don’t know Jesus, Jesus said, «Come unto me, all ye that are weak and heavy laden,» and he said, «I will give you rest, not worry; I will give you rest.»
If you want Christ to come into your life right now, I don’t care whether you’re backslidden; I don’t care if you’re broken. If you raise your hand, I’ll pray for you that Christ will come into your heart right now. Right now! Right now! Father, hold that hand up right now. Father, I’m tired of being my own savior, my own doctor. Hallelujah! Being my own lawyer, I’m going to rest in you. I will rest. I will rest. I pray salvation would fall on every raised hand, that the blood of Jesus would wash away all sins. We confess our sins; we forsake them, and we open up our hearts to you. Leave your hand up; we open our hearts to you. Come in, Jesus. If you don’t do it, it can’t be done. Come in, Jesus. That spirit that encamps about me— that angry spirit, that bitter spirit, that distrusting spirit, that jilted spirit— I’m not going home with that today. I will rest. I will, I will rest. I will.
Now I’m yours. I’m yours. I’m yours. Before I close this service, I want to ask you: Do you have a church home where you can come and get the word? I’m not asking you where you were baptized when you were 12; I’m asking you if you have a place where your soul can rest in the Lord, where you can come in heavy and leave out light. The doors of this church are open. If you make your way to my left, to your right, you will find a lap you can rest in.
Go right now! Make your way through the crowd and come to my left. The doors of this church are open. I will, I will, I will rest. I’m coming home, Lord. Come on, I will rest. I want everybody to clap your hands and say, «Come, I will rest.» How many people are glad you came to church this morning? Lift your hands up because I want you to go home with this anointing on you. I want you to go home with this anointing on you. You who are walking, can you wait one second for me to pray over you before you go? Just one second.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. My Lord God, it’s so much easier to live for you here than it is out there. The phone is ringing; the people aren’t talking; the bills aren’t coming. Life isn’t life. But I pray that as we walk out of this place, we will take this with us in the car, to the house, to the restaurant, to the grocery store. We will take this rest. We’re going to leave it at the altar. We’re going to leave her at the altar in whatever form she comes in. And let the rest of God and the peace which passes all understanding rest, rule, and abide now, henceforth, and forevermore until we meet again. In Jesus' name, Amen.