The WEIRDEST T.D. Jakes Sermon EVER!

T.D. Jakes, the Prosperity Gospel, and the Sermon on 1 Samuel 30

Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to Fight For Truth, the channel where we bring you Christian commentary about the things that matter. In today's video, we're going to be talking about a disaster of a sermon from T .D. Jakes.

Now, Jakes is the pastor of the Potters House Church in Dallas, Texas. He is most commonly accused, and rightfully so, of preaching the prosperity gospel. In this worldview, there's a tremendous overemphasis on making you inexhaustibly wealthy and healthy as long as you have enough faith.

But this usually brings up a new problem, especially for those who preach this prosperity gospel. Namely, what do you do when we encounter trials and tribulations? How do you deal with that? Well, in this sermon from T .D. Jakes, we get a very interesting, yet completely unbiblical, answer.

The clip you'll be seeing is from a sermon entitled, quote, I Have Permission. And this sermon is based on a passage about King David, specifically a time in his life where he experienced a great trial.

In order for you to understand Jakes' clip, you first have to see this passage. For context, David was being heavily persecuted by King Saul. As a result, David had to flee into Philistine territory along with his wives and 600 men as well as their families.

The territory of Ziklag was given to David by the king of the Philistines. He and his men, they dwelt there. At one point, David and his men are away from their home territory in Ziklag on a military campaign.

When they return, here's what happens. First Samuel 30 verse 1 says, quote,. When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their sons and wives and daughters taken captive.

So David and his men have lost their families to an Amalekite raid where they happened to kidnap all of the women and children. The next verse says that these men, quote, raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

To make a long story short, David's men are angry with him and murmur about stoning him. And verse 6 says this, quote,. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

And this is the topic, roughly, of T .D. Jake's sermon. But as we watch, let's ask ourselves the important question. What does it mean to encourage yourself in the Lord as David did? Well, here's the answer from Jake's, and really, it's pretty shocking.

Watch this.

Self-Encouragement as Self-Reliance

Must come from within you. When it doesn't come from around you, it must come from within you.

So the courage to survive must come from within you. Okay, interesting.

Let's hear more about that. Check this out. You're not a grown woman until you learn how to encourage yourself. I don't care how old you are, but until you've gone through something that stripped you of all other resources and backed you in a corner where you had to come fighting out of there and say, I will not die today, tell hell you're a liar, I'm getting back up.

If I got to crawl on my knees, if I got to take one step at a time, if I have to push myself, if I have to roll in a wheelchair, if I have to walk on a walker, if I have to get on crutches and hop in, I will not die right here.

I'm coming up. Somebody, anybody, make some noise in this house.

Notice here the examples that TD Jakes gives about what it means to encourage oneself as David did. Quote, the strength to survive must come from within you, he says. Your back is against the wall, but you have to say, I'm going to make it no matter what.

Yet every practical example that TD Jakes gives of this phenomenon is that of relying on your own strength, crawling forward, pushing yourself, walking on a walker, rolling in a wheelchair, hopping on crutches, etc.

And all because you refuse to give up. You're just too strong. But all of these examples, again, they have something in common. They depict a situation where you are unwaveringly relying on your own strength.

Now I'm not saying that it's bad to use a wheelchair or to use a walker or crutches in real life. Not at all. Jakes is talking about this with a spiritual analogy. So there's several issues here. First off, this is not what David did when he encouraged himself.

He did not stand up in the passage and defiantly say, I know these things have happened to me, but the strength I need to survive is within myself. I don't care if I have to crawl forward. I'm never going to give up.

That's not what we read in the passage. Not even close. Remember, in the actual text, we find David weeping with his men until they had no more strength to weep. David was, quote, greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him.

That seems to be lost in T .D. Jakes's version. Yet, David did not merely encourage himself with a motivational speech. Specifically, 1 Samuel 30 verse 6 says, quote, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

David did not use the kind of self-affirmation that T .D. Jakes is talking about here. No, David found strength not in himself or in his motivation or his personal desire to keep pushing forward. That's not what we see.

He found strength in who? God. That's what the text actually said. You see, David was the very same man who wrote Psalm 18 verses 1 -2 which say this, quote, I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Now does any of this sound anything like what T .D. Jakes just said? Did David, quote, find the strength to survive within himself? No. Did David offer vague self-affirmation, making declarations that he'll never give up and never say die because he's just great?

No. None of that ever happened. T .D. Jakes is reading that into the passage artificially, and an actual study of the Scripture in context proves that definitively. But speaking of taking Scriptures out of context, watch this next clip.

Taking Yourself Out to Dinner and Being Your Own Valentine

I'm going to encourage myself. I'm taking myself out to dinner. I'm going to be my valentine. Y 'all not going to help me. I'm going to be my valentine. So encouraging yourself is taking yourself out to dinner and, quote, being your own valentine?

I don't know about you, but that sounds really, really weird to me. But let's keep watching so that you can get the full effect. Check this out.

Three seconds. If the kids don't bring you no roses, get yourself some roses. If they don't send you no card, get yourself a card. Encourage yourself.

So now, encouraging yourself means getting yourself roses and a card? There are so many problems with this, it's hard to know where to begin. First off, as we've already covered, this is the most important point, none of this has anything to do with the story of David and his men in 1 Samuel 30.

Not a single shred of it. In the NASB, it is said that, quote,. But David felt strengthened in the Lord his God. That's their translation. That's all it means, that he encouraged himself in the Lord. He felt God's providential grace and strength.

It wasn't some weird effort to buy himself chocolate and flowers. No, he meditated on the goodness of God. It's that simple. But T .D. Jakes, he just can't have it that way. In true prosperity gospel fashion, he has to make everything materialistic.

You could pray, or read scripture, or simply trust God to be encouraged in the Lord. That would actually make sense, that would actually be biblical. But no, according to T .D. Jakes, apparently you have to order yourself at least ten things on Amazon and take yourself out to dinner.

The problem is that T .D. Jakes seemingly cannot think in spiritual terms. He's interpreting everything in terms of money, possessions, and physical things. That's why David's spiritual encouragement in the passage is changed, it's manipulated, and instead it becomes a consumerist desire to buy yourself tons of stuff.

Additionally, I think we need to recognize again how weird this actually is. If you legitimately write yourself a card to make yourself feel better and then receive it as if it's being written by someone else, I think you need to evaluate your mental health.

Seriously. And by the way, a card doesn't mean anything if it comes from you. It has to actually come from another human being. It's not generous to buy yourself something because you are you. That's why when someone else buys you something, it's called a nice gift, and when you buy yourself something, it's just called making a purchase.

Not only is T .D. Jakes' advice here unbiblical, it's also really weird, and it's never going to work. The whole sermon is so self-absorbed, so self-focused, it's difficult to even listen to. It might as well be entitled Narcissism 101, How to Only Think About Yourself.

The Biblical Call to Look to Others and Comfort the Brokenhearted

Contrast this with what the Bible says. Philippians 2 .4 says, quote, Let each of you not only look to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. And this idea seems to be completely lost on T .D. Jakes, who instead really wants you to focus on buying yourself flowers and a Valentine's Day card.

But if you thought that was the end of the weirdness here, think again. Watch this next clip.

All of those are the reasons that David had to encourage himself. I want you to do something right now. I want you to throw your arms around yourself and hug yourself. And I want you to walk from side to side and say, I got you.

Now please, let's pause here, because we really can't miss what just happened. It's a little bit under the radar, but the mother in the crowd was hugging herself. She's next to her son. And the moment she opened her eyes and saw her son next to her, she instantly and instinctually stopped and hugged him instead.

It was just amazing. It's exactly what you'd expect to see. Because even those who sit under the so-called teaching of T .D. Jakes cannot escape reality. And the reality is that any good mother is not going to focus on hugging herself, but hugging the child that she loves.

This is true of all good deeds. They don't focus on hugging yourself, or helping yourself, or praising yourself. It's about taking care of others. First John 4 .11 puts it simply, Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

T .D. Jakes can't escape this, try though he may. But let's keep watching, because it gets even weirder by the second.

I got you. In this season you're in, in your life, hug yourself, say I got you. I got you. You're going to get through this. I got you. Your heart is broken, but I got you. Your feelings are crushed, but I got you.

Your home is in shambles, but I got you. Your house is on fire, but I got you. Squeeze yourself, and say I got you.

This is absolute, motivational-speaking, self-help garbage. None of it is biblical, and none of it will work. He says that you should hug yourself when you have a broken heart, squeeze yourself, and say, it's going to be alright, I got you.

But what does the Bible say? Psalm 34 verse 18, quote, The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and He saves the crushed in spirit. You cannot heal yourself when you have a broken heart. That's the whole point.

If you could, you wouldn't have a broken heart. We're supposed to run to God, run to Christ, run to the Word, run to prayer. These things are actually commanded to us as Christians. Not hugging ourselves and making weird false promises and self-affirmations into the mirror as we repeat after motivational guru T .D. Jakes.

2 Corinthians 1, 3 -4 says this, quote, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all of our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction.

So who comforts us in our affliction, according to this passage? God, not ourselves. And in turn, we are able to comfort others, and they are able to comfort us. This is basic Christian teaching on the subject.

But T .D. Jakes doesn't even come close. And of course, it's worth mentioning that, again, none of what Jakes said had anything to do with David being encouraged in the Lord. None of that was in the passage.

David didn't buy himself flowers. He didn't hug himself. He, quote, felt strengthened in the Lord his God. That's what we were told. And in typical false teacher fashion, Jakes takes a passage about the strength of the Lord and makes it all about the strength of you.

He took a passage focusing on God and put the focus on man instead. He says that you can comfort yourself when your heart is broken, but the Bible says that God is our great comforter. This bizarre infatuation with oneself being offered by T .D. Jakes will only lead to one thing.

Pride. What else would you call a person who hugs themself, who buys themself a special card acting like it came from someone else, who takes themself out to dinner and calls it a date? What would you call someone who says that, quote, they are their own Valentine?

That person is extremely prideful, and potentially they need serious psychiatric evaluation. The problem here is that many modern churches and preachers are missing the whole point. They have lost the focus on God and have entirely dedicated their ministry to puffing up the pride of man.

And it really shows in the ministries of people like T .D. Jakes. So stay away from this motivational self-help fake Christian teaching. Do not get wrapped up in this nonsense. I pray that this has been a blessing to you, and please know that this video isn't meant as a sinful attack, but rather as a Biblical critique.

And let's pray for T .D. Jakes, that he would stop this false teaching by God's grace and turn to the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching that video. Please give us a like and subscribe so that you don't miss any content.

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