TD Jakes - What Makes Me A Witness of Christ?
What I’m trying to tell you is that you have a whole lot of Passover but not enough Pentecost. You have a whole lot of Passover but not enough Pentecost. If I’m outside, yeah, oh excuse me, you have a whole lot of Passover; you have that part down—the death, burial, and resurrection. You have all of that down pat, but you missed the download. The reason you haven’t heard much about the Feast of Pentecost is that you are still stuck at the Passover. You’re stuck back there at the Passover, and all of your songs, and all of your celebrations, and all of your festivities, and all of your faith is back there where God was and not where God is. This is the reign of the Holy Spirit for the end times. You’re going to have to have the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit that withstands the spirit of the Antichrist. Thessalonians: He that led us shall continue to lead until he is taken out of the way, that the hand of Christ can never take over as long as the Holy Spirit is reigning. This is the reign; oh, I’m about to mess up a good Sunday morning service. This is the reign; this is the reign and the rulership of the Holy Spirit. I will prove it to you in Acts chapter 2. There was a sound from heaven like a mighty rushing wind, and cloven tongues appeared like fire and sat upon each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Now they were filled again in Acts chapter 10, verses 44 through 48, but no wind, no fire, no sound—just filled.
They were filled again in Acts chapter 19, verses 1-5, no wind, no fire, no processional of any kind. Why did the procession happen in 2 but it didn’t happen in 10, and it didn’t happen in 19? Because in Acts chapter 2 it was more than a filling with the Holy Ghost; it was the beginning of the reign of the Holy Spirit over this era, and you are still back at the cross talking about the Passover while we have come into Pentecost, and you’re missing this. This is not a denomination; this is not a denomination. This is no more a denomination than the Passover was. This is not a doctrine; it’s no more a doctrine than the Passover was. It’s for every believer. Every believer; God has a download for every believer. It’s just like your phone; they notify everybody who has an Apple phone to get a download at the same time.
It’s not my fault if you don’t download it. You get the notification that it’s there, but you have to do the download. I came to notify you, hey, it’s here. And for these devils we’re fighting right now—these COVID devils, these suicide devils, these depression devils, this spouse-abusing devil that is loose in this earth right now, this crazy devil that’s loose in this earth right now—when in all your life have you seen the whole world shut down at the same time? You couldn’t go anywhere, or fly anywhere, or drive anywhere to escape it. Don’t you know this is not ordinary? You run around talking about this is the flu. I’ve never seen the flu shut down the planet. You need the download; you need the download because God only knows what is going to happen next. God only knows what is going to happen next. Jesus, God only knows what is going to happen next. And now is the time; if you got a notification, you better take this download.
If He is knocking at the door of your heart, you better take this download because this last whipping that came through this earth—I don’t care if you had a black card; you couldn’t pay it off. I don’t care if you were a billionaire; you couldn’t fix it. I don’t care if you were the prettiest woman in the world; you couldn’t fix it. I don’t care if you were a king or a potentate; you couldn’t fix it. Nobody could fix it, and then none but God showed you when I get ready to do something, can’t nobody handle me. All of your doctors, and all your scientists, and all of your stuff, and all of your learning can’t do anything with me. If I shut it down, just shut down. If I shut it down, I’ll shut it down. You need the download; you need the download. Everything else you’ve trusted in—"I don’t believe in God.» «I believe in signs.» That’s nice; how’s that working for you? «I don’t believe in God; I believe in what I can see, what I can touch, and what I can count.»
How’s that working for you? How’s the stock market working for you? How’s that working for you? How’s the airport working for you, and the airlines, and the cruise industry? How’s that working for you? All the stuff that you believed in because you didn’t believe in God, because you couldn’t see Him and you couldn’t touch Him, how is the stuff you believe in working for you now? It ain’t working at all; none of it’s working; none of it’s working. I want to pray for you. See, I’m almost glad that most of the churches are closed because too many people have a relationship with the church and not with God. You’re real good at church, but you’re real poor at Jesus.
You have a big name in the transaction but no name in the book of life. For years we’ve hidden behind who we were up front—how many people we had, how loud our choir was, how many degrees our pastor had, how many locations we had across the country—all of them shut down now. And they’re opening back up, but ain’t nobody coming down. All in all, you want to check. I looked; you opened, yeah, but two-thirds of your people ain’t there. You think you have the power to open a door that God has closed or close a door that God has opened? Don’t you know this is out of your hands? When God says it’s over, it’ll be over until He says it’s over. All we have to do is humble ourselves and get someplace and sit down and shut up. Shut up!
I’m glad I was raised by old folks because when it was thundering and lightning, old folks would say, «Shut up! God is talking.» Shut up! God is talking! God is talking, America! God is talking, Russia! God is talking, Great Britain! God is talking all over the world! South America! God is talking! North Korea! God is talking! Japan! God is talking! China! God is talking! He doesn’t care whether you believe it or not; He doesn’t care what you post on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. God isn’t scared of you deleting Him. Your unbelief does not make God’s word of no effect. You’re so used to being powerful. «I just don’t believe.» Who cares? Okay, I just said nothing. The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him. I told Him, «Whatever you do, I’m good with it.»
I have to trust you; I’ve got no choice. But depression ain’t nothing I can do about it; I gotta trust you. I’m not bragging about having faith; I ain’t got nothing else to have. I gotta have faith; you do too. You do too. I know you’re in the big office uptown in New York overlooking the city, with all your employees; you gotta trust Him too just like the janitor downstairs in the basement. You see, faith is a great equalizer. It doesn’t belong to the elite; it doesn’t belong to the mighty; it doesn’t belong to the political; it doesn’t belong to the great. White folks don’t own it; black folks don’t own it; brown folks don’t own it. Faith is a great equalizer; it may be the only thing that’s fair. Illiterate or intellectual, you don’t come through this door because you’re smart. You come through this door because you believe.
What do you believe? Where do you stand with God on this Pentecost Sunday? I hope I gave you enough word for you to begin to understand what Pentecost means, what it really means. I hope somebody studies it and dissects it and breaks it apart. I hope I whet your appetite to go deeper, because even those of us who come from the tradition really lack understanding, and some of us have been filled with the Holy Spirit, but we don’t understand what we have. It’s just like having a car and not being able to run it. A dog can chase down a car, but he can’t drive it.
You must understand, this is a moment for you to come into an understanding that you need a personal encounter with God. It ain’t based on your goodness; nobody’s good but God. Nobody’s good but God. That’s why He said, «Except you become like a child and just believe Me,» because you can’t earn it; you have to receive it. To be honest with you, when I get a download, I don’t know how they do it; I don’t understand it. I don’t know whether it’s algorithms or javadoc rhythm. All I know is how to receive it. God is going to do some things that you don’t understand, and you have to have faith to receive it.