TD Jakes - It's Up to You (10/18/2020)
In John 5, Jesus encounters a man impotent for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda who explains his stagnation by blaming others for blocking his healing; the preacher challenges believers to reject ritualistic "cheap grace" and self-victimizing stories that shift blame, declaring that true breakthrough comes when we take back control of our narrative and decide to be made whole.
Rituals vs. Real Reformation
Because we do not want to broach the subject that our rituals do not always work. Spin around three times and you are going to be healed. Hop on one foot and holler, Jesus! And I declare you are going to get a breakthrough. It is not grace—it is cheap grace. It is not the blood of Jesus—it is Kool-Aid.
It is all the stuff we do that suggests faith but it is really rituals. For 38 years brother no-name had gone to the church at Bethesda and substituted rituals for reformation.
As long as you keep the ritual you are in the clique, because after all there is a sociological need to belong and I am accepted here. This is where society put people they could not heal—at the pool of Bethesda.
See there were no hospitals, there were no doctors, there was no medicine as such, and so whenever anything was wrong with you they segregated you from other people and they treated you in colonies of infection so that you would have the benefit of sociological involvement without the embarrassment of being different.
The House of Mercy
So Jesus, at the end of the festival, stopped by the pool of Bethesda. The pool of Bethesda is the house of mercy. Mercy. Mercy. And there he saw the halt, the lame, and the blind and the lonely.
Because it is lonely when you are impotent. It is lonely when you say for all of these years I should have been further—I never thought I would get to this age and still be in the same place.
The Bible says, when Jesus saw how long he had been there—it was not just that he was there, it was how long. How long you have had bad credit, how long you have been without love, how long you have been without accomplishment, how long you have been in debt, how long you have been angry with your sister, how long you and your mother have not been speaking. It is not that we are not speaking—it is just how long!
Thirty-eight years is a long time to be mad. Some of you have been mad so long you cannot even remember what you are mad about—you are just... Thirty-eight years is a long time to put up with stuff that does not work.
Jesus Observes in Silence
In John chapter 5 verse 1, 2, 3, 4, 5—the whole text is silent. There is no conversation, there is no communication because Jesus is just looking around.
Have you ever been hurting? And come on, we can be honest, because nobody is here but us. Have you ever been hurting and felt like your God was just...? Do you not see how lame I am? Do you not see how blind I am? Do you not know how broke I am? Do you not know how hurt I am?
And all of these church folks and all of these rituals are getting on my nerves because I have been in it for 38 years and I need something to happen for me. Somebody holler, I need something to happen for me!
And you finally come, Jesus, and you have not said nothing. Jesus was just looking around.
The Provocative Question
And then the sovereign God, the omnipotent omnipresent God, the omniscient—which means all-knowing—God, the God who knows everything, asked him a question. Why would God who knows everything ask me a question? Do you really think there is anything you can teach Jesus?
So why would a God who is all-knowing ask you a question? When a teacher asks the student a question it is for the student to evaluate his advancement. So he asked him a question. It is a very simple question: Wilt thou be made whole?
It is a simple question, but it is kind of a crazy question—all due respect. But respectfully, sir, why would you ask me, wilt thou be made whole, when you see what is wrong with me and you know how long it has been wrong? Why would you ask me wilt thou be made whole? I did not come here to take a test, Jesus.
The Power in the Man's Answer
But it is not the question that is the most provocative. To me, as amazing as the question is—as complex and complicated as it is—I with all diligence will step around the temptation to spend time dialoguing about the question, because the question is revelation within itself.
I must move quickly to the man’s answer because the power of the text is in his answer—because his answer tells me why he has been there so long. When the wife asks you a question, it is how you answer it that explains why you are where you are.
And I want to make sure that when you leave here that you leave here on a whole another level. I do not just want you to come down here and go to this big old church thing like you have been to Disney World and then go back and resume your place on the porch.
Tell your porch, I am leaving. Tell your porch, I am leaving. Tell your porch, I am leaving.
Rejecting the Victim Story
And all the systems that you have built around yourself to protect yourself from the expectation of wanting what you see other people with—I will not be on this porch next year. I will not be on this porch next year.
Tell everybody you can reach, I will not be on this porch next year. When you see me next year I will not be in this same condition. When I get back next year I am going to be on a whole another level.
By this time next year you are going to be sitting beside a brand-new sister up in here. I will not be in this place again. I may have to deal with something else, but it will not be this same old devil I have been dealing with for 38 years.
The man says—listen to this, this is important—this is what I want you to get. Listen to how the man explains why he is stuck. He says I have been like this.
And this is what I want you to get because this is what the Lord told me to tell you. Everybody has a way of explaining why they are stuck. This story is not a story that he created in the moment—it is a story of the impotent folk. It is how you explain to people why your life has not changed.
Challenging Your Personal Gospel
So when Jesus asked him a question—which really had nothing to do with his answer—Jesus asked him, wilt thou be made whole? Which is really a yes or no situation, but he could not say yes or no because of the story that he told to himself.
And the Lord sent me here to challenge the story you tell yourself—how you explain what you lost. The narrative that you have given to yourself to explain why you have not grown. The way you tell the story of your first marriage.
Tonight I do not want to examine the gospel—I want to examine your gospel, because there is a great deal of difference between the Gospel and your gospel.
And I know I am treading on tough territory, but I came to realize it is not the devil. It is not the devil that has got you stuck. That is why all them spiritual warfare classes you took did not change your situation.
Because it is not the devil nor any of his assistants that have got you stuck in the same old place. It is not a witch that causes people not to like you on your job. It is not demonic.
The Blame Story Keeps You Stuck
That is why knowing yourself every morning has not changed your circumstance. It is not demonic—it is not spiritual—it is the story. The impotent, afflicted, crippled, lame, blind story that you tell yourself about what happened and why you are still in the same place.
He said when the waters are troubled, Jesus—it is not that I do not want to be better, but while I am coming the reason I am like this is that somebody... See, all of us have somebody that we blame.
All of us have somebody that we blame as to being the reason why we did not get any further than we got. I would not have been like this if my father would have stayed with my mother. I would not have been like this if I had had a good education in the arts. I would not have been like this if my mama would have supported me like she did her sister.
The reason I am stuck—and as long as you point at somebody else as the reason why you are not moving, it means you cannot go forward until that somebody comes back. Because you have given the power of your story to some other character that does not have anything to do with your deliverance.
No One Can Block God's Blessing
But have you ever considered that your story could be a lie? I am not saying that it does not have truth in it, but have you left out some significant things that you need to know in order to be able to change?
See this man says, it is not my fault I am like this—it is the people who blocked me. It is not my fault I am like this. It is not my fault I am this size—them kids drove me crazy, I had to do something.
He says, the reason I am like this is every time I got ready to move forward somebody got in my way. That means even though it was God’s will to heal me, somebody blocked me from getting what God...
Do you really believe that junk? Do you really believe that anybody could block you from getting what God has for you? Do you really believe that them two or three people who hate you could curse what God has blessed?
Do you really think that the reason you have not gotten any further is because you got haters? Please get a life baby—everybody got haters, everybody got somebody that hopes you choke, everybody has got somebody who lies on you and talks about you like a dog.
I came to tell you that when God gets ready to bless you no devil in hell...
Taking Back Your Story
Touch five people and tell them you cannot stop this—you cannot stop this. You cannot stop it. When I get ready to get up, you cannot stop it. When I get ready to stand up, you cannot stop it. When I get ready to go forward, you cannot stop it.
When I am getting ready to change my life, you cannot stop it. When I get ready to move up, you cannot stop it.
You can roll your eyes, but you cannot stop it. You can send your notes, but you cannot stop it.
Your sister cannot stop it. Your mama cannot stop it. Your ex-husband cannot stop it. Your knobby-head children cannot stop it. Your haters cannot stop it. If God be for you.
For the next 60 seconds I want every woman that has got a mouth to give God a praising praise.
Touch five women and tell them, I am taking it back. I am taking it back. I am taking back my authority—I am taking back my control, I am taking back my story, I am taking back my decision.
It is not up to you—it is not up to you. Slap your sister and say, it is up to me, girl! It is up to me. It is up to me. It is up to me.
I might not be able to control my story starting, but I am going to control...
It's Up to You
I am running out of time so I am going to get you to help me preach. So tell everybody your preacher says it is up to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah—it is up to you. The next year is up to you. Your destiny is up to you. Your future...
Slap somebody and tell them, I am not blaming anybody. I am taking it back. Give me my joy. Give me my peace. Give me my power. Give me my dignity. Give me my strength.
I got strength! Touch your neighbor and say, I know I get on your nerves shouting and hollering like this, but my praise is not up to you—it is up to me. I will bless the Lord at all times.