TD Jakes: The Power of A Thought (Full Transcript)

Following is the full transcript of TD Jakes’ speech or sermon titled “The Power of a Thought”. 

Note: There are some instances in the transcript where we couldn’t discern the terms correctly. If you know the right words for them, please do notify us. Thank you.  

 

TD Jakes – FULL  TRANSCRIPT

I was teaching some young men the other day. Can I just give you a 5-minute little seminar?

I was teaching some young men the other day and I was teaching them about the power of a thought. THE POWER OF A THOUGHT. And how I evolved into teaching them on the power of a thought is that I was teaching them about corporations.

I said a corporation is not a building. IBM can move to another building and they’re still IBM. A corporation is not a person. The founder or the president can die and the company can still exist.

So if a corporation is not a building, and it is not a person, the third thing it is not, it is not a product. It is not a product, it can exist without the product. It can change from one product to the other and continue to exist.

So if it’s not a product and it’s not a person, and it’s not a premise, not property, what is a corporation literally? It’s a thought.

A corporation is so real that if I set up a corporation and you enter into that corporation with me, the very fact that I set up a corporation means that you can’t sue me — you have to sue the corporation because the corporation is an entity unto itself. But a corporation is a thought.

And then I took it a step further. I said The Potter’s House is not a building. We could leave this building, they can have this building but they couldn’t have the church. The church is not defined by a building. The Potter’s House is not a building. The Potter’s House is not a man. I can die and The Potter’s House could continue right on. The Potter’s House is not a man. It’s a thought. It’s an idea. It’s a conviction. It’s a premise.

I said that to say to them: can I take it a step further with you? For the last 300 years, if you would imagine yourself 300 years back from where you are right now, you would be about in the 1700 or so, how many things would disappear out of your life? Car’s gone, television gone, phones gone, electricity gone, refrigerators gone, microwaves gone, cellphones gone. Look at all the fabrics that would be gone, polyesters gone, [bullions] gone, look at all the stuff that would be gone.

In 300 years, almost everything you call normal happened in the last 300 years which is a short time out of the thousands of years of our existence, it all happened within the last 300 years, it was ideas bursting at the scenes, ideas and concept creating fabrics and concepts that maybe we take this seed and this seed, we can produce a hybrid and here come subpoena and here comes the phone and here comes electricity and here comes all of this stuff born out of fertile minds. Are you following what I’m saying?

What scares me about this generation right now is that we are going into a dumbing down of ideas. We don’t feed our minds anything. We don’t invigorate ourselves anymore with everything in every genre music everywhere else television, it’s gone down enough to — just reality TV we sit up for hours to watch people like [Faasil].

So the people who studied to do the arts and to do dance and to do drama are searching for a job, while [Docoo] they sit up in front of the camera… we got people in our generation who are famous for nothing. They don’t do anything, they don’t produce anything, they don’t have anything; they’re just famous — famous because you’re cute.

So it is the dumbing down of ideas and when idea stops, economy stops, creativity stops. Buildings, corporations, all stop because everything happens that’s important to you between this year and this year.

You are one thought away from a great reformation in your life, one thought away from being a millionaire, one thought from overcoming, one thought from starting a ministry, one thought from building a business, one thought — the cure for AIDS is one thought away. The cure for cancer is one thought away. You serve the Lord with your mind. You serve humanity with your mind.

If you sow into the kingdom, you’re not asking God to give you money. What is money? Give me a thought. Give me an idea. Give me a strategy. Give me a plan. You are one thought away from the greatest experience you’ve ever had in your life.

Do you have the courage to think? Because if you can think, you can change, you can move, you can evolve, you can grow, you can become, you are one IDEA away. Your credit is not a problem. Your house is not a problem. Your car is not a problem. Your situation is not a problem. Your thoughts are the problem. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”.

[WomenAreNew] was a thought. Manpower was a thought. Mega First was a thought. The Potter’s House was a thought. Everything starts in the thoughts you think. You are no better than the thoughts you think. If you think little, you go little. If you think weak, you go weak. If you think up, you go up. One thought. Swab yourself in the head, one thought. That’s how close you are.

So now is a season for you to move distractions, confusion, turmoil out-of-the-way to find a peaceful place where you can meditate and think: what am I going to do at this season in my life? What am I going to do with his age? What can I do with the circumstances of my life? What would you do with what you have to make it better? One thought.

If God whispers in your ear once every 10 years, it would change the last half of your life. He won’t have to say something to you every day and it would take you 10 years to work out what he said one time in your life. You are one thought away. God thought I’ll make me a world. He spoke.

I want to pray over the thoughts you think. Because if you think wrong, you go wrong. If you think down, you go down. If you think you can’t get up, you can’t get up. If you think you can’t be free, you can’t be free. If you think you can’t learn anymore, you’ll never be able to learn. Your thoughts are either dragging you down or taking you up.

It is not what she thinks about me that makes any different. I think she thinks good about me but it does not matter. If she did not think good about me it would not impede my ability to do what I do, because I am not moving out of her thoughts, I am moving –

Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? So why would I waste my energy trying to change how you think about me when your thoughts have no direct gearing — you’re working on the wrong stuff. Stop trying to change people’s mind. Let them think whatever they want to think. You don’t have time to be a steward over somebody else’s thoughts. Get your head together. Are you following what I’m saying?

I want to pray over the thoughts you think — the plans you have, thoughts become reality. Hallelujah! Glory to God!