Bishop T.D. Jakes Preaches on Spiritual Thirst at Joel Osteen's Megachurch
Bishop T.D. Jakes, lead pastor of The Potter's House, preached as a guest speaker at the Houston megachurch belonging to Pastor Joel Osteen over the weekend.
Jakes delivered the sermon for all three English services at Lakewood Church, once on Saturday and twice Sunday morning.
The prominent evangelist is well known in the Christian community for his fiery preaching and has been invited several times to pray with President Obama, most recently at the Easter Prayer breakfast in April.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
At the 8:30 a.m. service at Lakewood Sunday, Bishop Jakes took a few moments to praise his friend Osteen before delving into the message.
Osteen is a "person of integrity, honor" and "has the charisma," said Jakes. "He really does. You should be proud to be here."
Jakes then delivered a message on John 4:5-15, the biblical passage about Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman, to speak about the spiritual thirst that is rampant among today's generation.
"The one thing about thirst is that it carries no sign ... it does not announce itself," the Dallas pastor said.
"You can't tell who is thirsty. It is an inner craving. It is an inner need. It is something ticking inside of you. People around you will never know that you're thirsty."
The Samaritan woman is extremely thirsty when she arrives at the well of Jacob where Jesus is sitting. Through her conversation with Jesus, readers learn that she is unable to satisfy her deep thirst despite going through five men and currently being involved with a sixth.
"The symptom of a thirsting soul ... will make you go to person after person after person to fill the emptiness," explained Jakes.
There was no one who could satisfy the Samaritan woman's thirst until she met Jesus. He offers her water from his "well" and quenches her thirst.
Jakes told the congregation that nothing else in the world will satisfy the "ravenous, craving" thirst of people other than the water offered through Christ.
"Religion doesn't satisfy! It does not satisfy. It's going to take relationship," he said.
God knows a person's thirst and exposes it.
During the message, Jakes shared his own testimony of being called by God at the age of 17. At that time, he thought God "has lost his mind" and doubted that anyone would believe God called someone who was crazy, weird and messed up.
For two years, Jakes said he ran in the opposite direction, visiting every club, smoking every joint and watching every little nasty, filthy thing. He couldn't understand why God wouldn't just call "one of them nice church people" who hadn't committed the sins he had to do God's work instead. Despite his attempts to brush God off, God still found him and pulled him out of his racy lifestyle.
"When God wants you, He will find you anywhere," said Jakes. "He specializes in weirdos and rejects and freaks and messed-up deranged people."
"Despite all your inabilities, God has a plan for your life."
He concluded his sermon by urging dried-up Christians, back-sliding Christians, and those who have yet to know Christ to quench their unfulfilled spiritual thirst by coming to the well of living water.
Following Jake's message, Osteen led his congregation and visitors in a prayer aloud to accept Jesus into their lives: "Lord Jesus, come into my heart, make me clean, I give you my life, I make you my Lord and Savior. Amen."
Other than being the pastor of the 30,000 congregation at The Potter's House, Jakes is also an accomplished Christian entertainment entrepreneur. The megachurch pastor is gaining attention for his latest movie "Jumping the Broom," which has grossed over $34 million since its release in early May.
