TD Jakes - Whatever God Commands
Let’s have some fun today! Are you ready to have some fun? Today we’re going to get fed, but we’re going to have fun. We’re going to have a good time. If you have your Bibles, bring them up and stand up. I didn’t tell you to wear those stilettos, so endure, heart! It says, «A good soldier.» We’re going to Psalms 133. Oh, I didn’t—I’m sorry; serve the people of God. You can tell it’s been a while since I did Sunday morning! Okay, thank you. I’m hungry. I’m hungry right now. You got a candy bar? No, I’m trying to live. Y’all feel me?
Psalms 133:1-3 is a very familiar passage of Scripture, but for some reason, I find the Holy Spirit drawing my attention to the text in the hopes that I might be able to extrapolate from the components therein some grain of rhema—some grain of rhema that has transformed from just logos, thought, and idea into a word that is cut to the core of your situation, that we might hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church. We need to hear from Him; our ears are open. When you have it, say amen. Amen!
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there, the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. Look at your neighbor and say, «Whatever God commands.» Whatever God commands! Say it again—whatever God commands. Whatever God commands. If my daughter were preaching this message, she would put some kind of word around it that centered around surrender, but they mean the same thing. When you say «whatever God commands,» you have to surrender what you had in mind in order to be open to whatever God commands. Say it again—whatever God commands! Whatever God commands…
Speak, Lord, for Thy servant hears. Open us up to receive the engrafted Word of God, not the word that falls on stony ground where the birds eat it and take it away, but let it stick to us. Let it be nourishment to us. Let it counsel us, guide us, carve us, shape us, and mold us, and make us. I thank You in advance for what You’re going to do. I believe You for great things. In Jesus' name, somebody shout amen! You may be seated.
Yeah, let’s go to work. Behold! It’s almost like the blaring of a trumpet at 6:00 in the morning, waking the troops up. It says, «I want you alert! I want you focused! I want you to see this! I want you to get this! Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren.» And I got stuck on that. I thought it was interesting that He is saying how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. But just because we are kin doesn’t mean we’re connected. In fact, the disconnect can be all the more pronounced when it exists among brethren.
Some of us are grieved in our hearts today because we see on television, Instagram, and other places beautiful families having a wonderful time. And when your family gets together, you know, and you love them—it’s not that you don’t love them—but somebody has a way of saying things that triggers you, just triggers you, just bothers you. And just because you are kin or you work in the same building or the same profession, some of the greatest attacks I’ve ever received have come from preachers. Doctors don’t always like doctors. They criticize each other’s work, saying, «She didn’t do that right; she left it in too long.» Some of the greatest criticism comes from the people that we are brethren with.
We are connected to one another. It is difficult to find someone secure enough in themselves to accept you, support you, and reflect you in such a way that your insecurities are diminished. They have to be secure enough to complement you. They don’t know that as gifted as you are, your gift is your normal. So you might not really realize that you’re gifted, and you can do something that’s incredibly talented and walk away wondering, «Was it okay?» If you don’t surround yourself with an inner circle of people who are comfortable enough to reaffirm what God has done in your life, you start to wonder, «Am I enough? Am I enough?» So even among brethren, among people that you would think would readily protect you and embrace you… I mean, look at Joseph. His brothers tried to kill him.
Now, I don’t want anybody to try to kill me, but I certainly don’t want my brother to try—that’s insult to injury when somebody who’s supposed to love you tries to take you out. They threw him in a pit, lied about him, convinced their father he was dead, and kept the lie for years. That’s why you can’t trust everything people say; they will keep the lie. I’m talking to the wrong church. Let me find some… I had never paid attention to the word «brethren.» Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! My assumption is that if we are brethren, surely we ought to be able to dwell together in unity. The big word here, the great word here, the powerful word here is unity—unity! It’s such a simple little word; say it with me: unity, unity. But it’s so hard to capture.
Somebody bought me one of those little fly swatters that electrocutes flies, but it’s not very big, you know? I want a real big one so that I can increase my chances of attack, okay? Because my fly sits on the wooden part, laughing at me, saying, «You thought you had me, didn’t you?» Yeah, I go through that kind of stuff. You wouldn’t think, though, that you would be electrocuted by your own. Unity is important, and it’s hard to maintain because you cannot have unity without individual sacrifice. Do not confuse unity with conformity; most of us think of unity when we win the argument, and the person comes over to our side. Then we feel united because we are more concerned about winning than being connected.
When being right becomes more important than surviving, you’re in trouble because you’ve thrown out the baby with the bathwater. Your ego is so strong that you want to be right at the expense of losing unity. Unity is an utmost passion of God. Unity is something that God respects and moves upon in such a powerful way. If this church got on one accord for a minute, it would be unimaginable what would happen in this place if we united. If we all got together and said «Hallelujah» at the same time, the unity would be impactful.
If we all prayed for the same thing at the same time, the unity would be impactful. If we all fell flat on our faces and laid before God, the unity would be impactful. It’s not just what you said; it’s the unity of doing the same thing at the same time, whether you feel like doing it or not, whether your knees hurt or not, whether you normally pray that way or not. But for the sake of unity, there has to be a certain amount of willingness to give up your individuality for the greater good of connectivity. Some of us are so intent on being an individual that we never learn the power of a group. You brag about being an individual. «I’m my own woman. I’m my own man. I can do for myself. I don’t need anybody to do for me.»
That’s not right. It might have been right when you said it, but it’s not going to be right in the nursing home. It’s not going to be right in the hospital. It’s not going to be right when you’re having a baby. It’s not going to be right in a car wreck. It’s not going to be right when you need a promotion on a job. You’re going to need somebody sometime, and you’ve got to learn how to come out of yourself. If you come out of yourself, God will help you. Let me go a little bit deeper. Can I go a little bit deeper? I was reading an interesting article, and it suggests that isolation is more deadly than cigarettes, and we are living in an increasingly isolated society. I’m not just talking about us grown folks who don’t trust anybody; I’m talking about little kids isolated with an iPad.
«Me and my iPad, I don’t need a friend,» so I can’t learn how to resolve conflict. I can’t learn how to have a dispute. I can’t learn how to reach an agreement because whatever I punch on my iPad does what it says. Then, when I get out in the real world and do a little thing and don’t get the reaction I need, I don’t know how to get along with people because I don’t understand unity. We are not training people to be unified because you would have to give up some of yourself. «Okay, maybe we won’t have biscuits tonight; we’ll have cornbread. I’ll put the biscuits in the refrigerator; we’ll have them later.»
«Maybe we won’t have chicken; we’ll have pork chops.» In order to have unity, sometimes you have to give up what you had in mind. In other words, in order to have unity, you have to fight for it. You have to work on it. You have to fight yourself for it, shut up, and bite your tongue sometimes. You can’t say everything that comes to mind; sometimes, you’ve got to be quiet. Sometimes you have to say «yes» to something that you wouldn’t normally say «yes» to in order to have unity. So if I’m going to pay that much for unity, it has to be valuable. Unity is so valuable that we can understand how thousands of people in this church, if we start praying in the same way, God will hear it.
But let me tell you, let’s reduce the numbers down. He said, «If two or three are gathered together in my name, I don’t need everybody to be connected with me.» That’s what’s wrong now: you’ve got too many people connected with you. I just need two or three. I need an inner circle; I need a Peter, James, and John. I need somebody I can reopen with. If we come together and touch and agree on anything, the Bible says it shall be done. That means unity is so powerful that if we come into agreement and alignment, we can do anything. If you don’t believe me, believe Nimrod. He got ready to build a tower toward heaven, and it wasn’t even for a good reason, but as he built the tower toward heaven, God said, «I have to stop him because the people are unified.»
If the people are one, there is nothing impossible for those who are unified. That’s why the devil wants hell in your marriage; because there’s nothing impossible for people who are unified. That’s why you and your daughter keep falling out with each other; there’s nothing impossible when you’re unified. That’s why you and your son can’t get along; there’s nothing impossible when you’re unified. The object of the text is unity; the pursuit of the text is unity; the fight of the text is unity. The realization of unity has to be something that you want badly enough to give up your opinion. I remember years ago I was taking my girls out to eat somewhere, and I asked them where they wanted to go.
One of them wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory, and I can’t remember where the other one wanted to go, but they had a different opinion about where to eat. For unity’s sake, we couldn’t go both places; we had to choose. Somebody had to compromise because I’m not going to be running all over town. You know I’m good, but I’m not that good. Okay? For unity, somebody had to give up their preference so that we might be able to have the power that comes when we unite. The problem is, who’s going to bend? Who’s going to bend? Who’s going to bend? Who’s going to bend, especially when you have been trained that winning is more important than being effective?
You’re not going to let me meddle with you today. I can hoop and get out of here, but I’m after something with this unity. Let’s go a little bit deeper. Can we go deeper? What is a church? What is a church? A church is not pews or stained-glass windows. A church is not a preacher; there are people who have church without a preacher; they still have church. What is church? It’s not a choir. Jesus lived his whole life and never heard a choir. It’s not a Hammond B3 organ; Jesus never saw an organ in his life, and yet he preached 5,000 people out into the desert with no microphone, no organ, no praise team, no dancers, no flyers, no tweets, no anything. He just preached with power, and the word all by itself drew them out. They came because Jesus had a word; he spoke with authority, conviction, and power.
A church is not a building; they could turn this into a skating rink, an auditorium, or anything they wanted. It is not the stone walls that are sacred; they are just concrete. I was here when they poured it; it’s just concrete, tilt-wall concrete. They poured the concrete on the floor and then stood it up side by side until they built what we call the Potter’s House. But the real essence of the Potter’s House is not a building; it’s not Bishop Jakes. The reason it can’t be Bishop Jakes is that Bishop Jakes is expendable. Bishop Jakes is not infallible; he is not eternal; he is not everlasting. It can’t be built on a person. Anything built on a person will come down. Anything built on a person will come down.
A marriage built on a person will come down. A company built on a person will come down. Apple is still producing all kinds of telephones; Steve Jobs is dead, and they’re still going on about their business. Let me tell you why. I was down in Disney not too long ago. Walt Disney has been dead. If he came back to life, he wouldn’t even recognize Disneyland or Disney World. He wouldn’t recognize the rides; he wouldn’t recognize the movies; he wouldn’t recognize where they came from because it wasn’t built on a man. You cannot build things on a person and expect them to be powerful. It cannot just be your way or the highway.
It can’t just be built around Grandma; Grandma can’t have the last word about everything. She can’t be right about everything, and you can’t tell your children everything because you messed up enough in your own life that you know you’re not so sure which way they ought to go. Glory to God! If you told them the real truth about how many times you took wrong exits and had to get back up again, you’d portray yourself as if you were an expert. In reality, unity causes humility. You have to be humble enough to consider the fact that you might be wrong. I could be wrong in how I’m handling this. I could be wrong in what I said. I could be wrong about what I did.
Just because you think differently doesn’t mean you’re wrong. Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. What is the church? If Jesus came in here today, you’d have to explain to him what this is. You’d have to explain. Jesus never saw a deacon; deacons came in the first-century church, which did not exist in the days of Jesus Christ. He did not see a deacon anywhere. Jesus never saw a pulpit; he ministered outside, in the street, and in the synagogues. You would have to take Jesus around and explain everything in the building.
«That’s the balcony, Jesus; that’s for the people who came in late and want to be discreet.» Or «that’s for the people who want to see everything because from the balcony, you can see everything.» «Okay, so that’s the balcony, Jesus, and that’s how that works. Those are drapes, Jesus. This is outside; this is where we go to get coffee.» «What is coffee?» Jesus would have no concept. So what is church? Church could be in a living room, a car, a house, in Kroger’s, in Walmart, or in Kmart. Anywhere we assemble together, that’s church. That’s church! Wherever we get together, that creates church.
Look at this scripture quickly: Ephesians 2:19–22. I want you to look at this scripture so you begin to understand what God means when he says church. Ephesians 2:19, when you have it, say amen. It’s on the screen. Y’all act like you really did something, like you found something, and you’re looking up at the screen. It’s on the screen! «Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God.» Okay, so we were strangers, we were foreigners, and we were not citizens with the household of God. He said, «But now it’s changed and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself.»
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. «Come on, in whom all the building fitly framed together, growth unto a holy temple in the Lord.» This is not the kind of construction we do on a building. The Bible says that every time God adds to the church, that makes the temple of God. The temple is you. The temple is you! When you walk in, you become the temple. Our collective expression of God is like the temple, while our individual expression is like the tabernacle. When all of our tabernacles, which just means God on the move, come together into one place, we form a habitation for the Lord. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people, so that when we all get together, God inhabits our praises.
Isaiah 6 states that the cherubims went around and around, and they weren’t even talking to God; they were talking to each other. They were saying, «Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.» And the Bible said that God came down, and his train filled the temple. When we stop talking about each other, and start talking about the holiness of God, the power of God, and the glory of God, and we achieve that unity we’re discussing—where we are in one place with one accord—God will come down and sit in the midst of you. The Bible said that his train filled the temple.
You must understand that if you were a king of a small kingdom, you had a small train. If you were a king of a medium-sized kingdom, you had a medium train. But if you were a king of a huge kingdom, you had a massive train. So the Bible says that His kingdom was so strong that His train filled the temple. This means your God is King of kings; He is Lord of lords; He is the mighty God; He is the Prince of Peace, and of His kingdom, there shall be no end. There is no beginning and no end; His kingdom goes on regardless of this or that or the other. And it is this God who says that whenever we get together and unify, things begin to happen.
The reason we don’t see the miracles we used to see is that somebody is playing on their phone while the service is going on. Someone is texting their daughter, saying, «Put the pot roast in the oven.» Someone else is humming a hymn that they used to sing years ago, while another person’s mind is occupied with where they parked and how far they have to walk to get back to serve. Because we never bring our minds into one thing at one place or at one time, the spirit of division acts like a spirit of witchcraft. Satan wants to divide us, distract us, worry us, get on our nerves, and get us thinking about other things because he knows that if we got in one accord, we could drive diabetes away, cancer away, leukemia away.
He knows that if we ever got in one accord, every demonic force that has been attacking you would have to leave. He knows that if we got in one accord, we could speak peace over your body, and that lump would come out of your breast. He knows if we ever got in one accord, we could speak to your family, and your whole family would end up at the altar and get saved. The enemy is so afraid of unity, and it’s so rare and difficult to achieve because we are so opinionated and self-consumed. It’s hard to achieve unity because we’re so egotistical; we would rather keep our ego and lose our miracle than give up our ego and receive our miracle.
But I believe there’s someone here today who is humble enough to give up your ego for a move from God, something so powerful that things begin to change, because that is the church. Touch somebody and say, «You are the church; I am the church.» When we get together, we are built together. Ephesians 2:22 says, «Ye also are built together.» God builds us together; God builds us together; God builds us together. Now, in the biblical days, they didn’t have cinder blocks when they built together; they had to cut the rocks to make them fit in layers.
So God has to cut all of us to get us to fit. For some, He has to cut your mouth; for others, He has to change the way you think. Some need to change how they won’t talk to anybody and hold everything in. But God is steadily cutting so that we can fit together, finally being jointly tied, because when we get together, something is going to happen. I can feel it in this room right now; something is about to happen. I can feel the density of the Holy Spirit; I can feel the complexity of the Holy Spirit; I can feel a change in the atmosphere right now because we’re starting to bring our minds together. We’re starting to get on one accord. We’re done texting each other and writing notes about where we’re going to eat after church.
The more we come together, the higher the wave of the Holy Spirit. At first, it’s going to be ankle-deep, but if we keep on unifying, it’s going to be up to our knees; and if we keep on being unified, it’ll be up to our waist; and if we keep on going, there’ll be water to swim in. Don’t you know if two or three of us get together, we don’t have to have the whole church? If two or three—your section, your corner, you and the three ladies on your row, or you and the three gentlemen on your row—decide to come together, you could change the situation.
Peter and John came to the hour of prayer, which was the third hour of the day, and encountered a lame man who was laid at the gate called Beautiful. They said, «Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee.» In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk! Let me show you the unity. The text says, «Look on us; look on us, for we are together in your healing.» That’s why I come to church—because I want to find somebody who’s committed to me getting better, stronger, healed, and rising up out of a ditch. That’s why I need to come to church. I can praise God at home; I don’t need any of you to praise God.
I can praise God in my living room; I can praise God in my shower; I can praise God in my house; I can praise God in my garage; I can praise God in my car. I can praise God all by myself. I don’t have to have a drum; I don’t have to have a tambourine; I don’t have to have a piano; I don’t have to have a musician; I don’t have to have a song; I don’t even have to have a good voice. I can take my raggedy, cracked, out-of-tune, broken-down voice and make a joyful noise unto the Lord. And if I make a joyful noise unto the Lord, He will come in this place, shake it up, and do something amazing in my life. It’s not how melodious you are; it’s not how talented you are; it’s not how many words you know; it’s not how well you preach.
But if you get serious with God, He will do something amazing with you. I wonder what would happen if we got together in this place. I wonder what would happen; wonder who would get healed, wonder who would get set free, wonder who would have a yoke broken in their life if we just get together and gang up on the devil like he gangs up on us? If we would gang up on him, we could drive him out of your house, drive him out of your mind, drive him out of your emotions, drive him out of your spouse, drive him out of your life. All we’ve got to do is get together.
Look at somebody and say, «Let’s get together.» Because the scripture teaches this. Can I go deeper? The scripture teaches that if we can achieve unity, we will get oil. Unity brings the oil! Say that with me: Unity brings the oil! The reason we don’t have more oil is that we have too many agendas. Unity brings the oil, like the oil that fell upon the head of Aaron, onto his beard and onto his skirts. Once you get unity, God’s reward is to give you the oil. Now, you have to understand God’s oil: when God says that He anoints Aaron, He doesn’t mean He made a cross on his forehead. He doesn’t mean He stopped by Kroger’s and got a little dot of oil and poured it down on his hair—no, no, no.
When they poured oil on you, it was heavy, full of incense, and full of aromatic senses that touched your smell. The anointing had a smell; the anointing had a smell. You didn’t hear me—the anointing had a smell! Young folks, you need to catch this: just because somebody gets loud doesn’t mean they are anointed. The anointing has a smell; the anointing has an unction. When the anointing is real, when the anointing gets real, you don’t have to fight, pull, or yell because the anointing has a smell. «Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.»
That means the same oil that hits the head goes to the beard and to the skirts. Do you hear what I’m saying? The priest wore a linen ephod. Linen is what we used to make tablecloths out of, and we used them for tablecloths because they wouldn’t hold the stain; they were designed to make the oil slide. So God said, «I didn’t anoint you for you to soak it up for yourself. I anointed you so that anything that got close to you would get under the anointing of the Holy Ghost.»
I better stop because I feel something pushing me right now. If you’re sitting beside somebody with a little linen, if the oil falls on them, you don’t have to fight for it; it’s going to slide! It’s going to slide! Your cup is going to run over; your saucer is going to get full; your body is going to get healed; you’re going to feel better and not even know why. Because when the anointing falls on you, it changes everything. Depression has got to go; heartaches have got to go; worry has got to go. Worry and the anointing cannot stay in the same place.
If you’ve been worried all week, I dare you to stand there and get anointed—because if the anointing comes down, the worry will have to run out of the room. If the anointing comes down, the weakness will have to run out of the room. If the anointing comes down, that headache, that migraine, has to leave the room. If the anointing comes down, my God! Let me sit beside somebody that has some power; let me sit beside somebody that has some anointing; let me sit beside somebody that I can touch and agree with so that yokes can be broken, bondages can be destroyed, and the enemy can’t consume.
I need your help right now! I want you to touch three people and tell them, «Something is going to happen in here this morning!» Something is going to happen in here this morning! Something is going to happen in here this morning! I feel us coming into agreement; I feel us getting on one accord; I feel us coming into agreement. I feel our minds coming together; I feel us forgetting about ourselves. If two or three agree as touching anything on earth, it shall be done! Look at your neighbor and say, «Can you agree with me that every yoke will be broken, that every weapon will be destroyed, that every demon will be defeated, and that every sickness will flee?»
Look at your neighbor and say, «Can you agree with me that I’ll leave here better than I came? Can you agree with me that whatever generational curses have been on my life will break off of me before I leave this room today? Can you agree with me that my childhood will not destroy my adulthood? Can you agree with me that my little boy won’t kill my grown man?» Can you agree with me? Can you agree with me? Wait for an answer; if you don’t get the right answer, move and get beside somebody who can come into agreement because the text is talking about agreement. And if we get into agreement, the oil is going to flow.
Touch your neighbor and say, «Feel this oil!» I have oil in my hands; I have oil in my feet; I have oil in my soul. I wouldn’t have made it if I wasn’t oily. I would have died if I wasn’t oily. I would have committed suicide if I wasn’t oily. But every time the devil tried to take me out, the oil started coming out of my skin; it started coming out of my pores. It’s not that you take oil and put it in; oil comes out! The oil comes out of my spirit and keeps me alive. The old folks used to say, «He’s all over me, and He’s keeping me alive. He’s all over me, and He’s keeping me alive. That’s why the witch didn’t get me; He’s keeping me alive. That’s why the sickness didn’t get me; He’s keeping me alive. That’s why you ain’t going to get me; He’s keeping me alive! And if God be for you, He’s more than the world against you! I came to tell you that God is on your side!
Slap your neighbor and say, „God is on your side!“ If your husband’s not with you, if your boyfriend’s not with you, if your wife is not with you, if your boss doesn’t like you, if your coworker is against you—God is on your side! Somebody holler it again: God is on my side! God is on my side! He’s here to deliver; He’s here to make a way; He’s here to set you free!
And the Bible says it’s like the oil! Let me show you this; I’m getting excited! I’m getting excited; y’all are getting me all excited right here! Y’all get me all exhilarated; I feel something about to accelerate in this place! Something is about to accelerate! Something is about to accelerate! The thing about oil is that it will accelerate. You can put oil in a glass and turn it into a lamp because oil will accelerate. But when he says that it fell and slid, this teaches about acceleration to alignment. There’s no need for you to be jealous of anybody; all you need to do is get in your place! And if you get in your place and stay there, the same oil that fell upon the head will reach down to the skirts.
Look at your neighbor and say, „Don’t move!“ The devil is trying to move you out of your space, but hell is a liar! All I’ve got to do is stay right here, and if the oil hits the head, it will fall to the beard; it will fall to the skirts. Why would I be mad because the oil hit the head when I know that if I’m in alignment: the same oil that falls on you will fall on me if I stay in alignment, if I refuse to move, if I don’t give place to the devil, if having done all to stand, I just stand. If I don’t run, if I don’t fly, if I don’t leap, if I just stand here, the oil is going to hit me right where I am. Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you; you don’t know where you’re standing. You’re standing in a place that if you just stand there, be still and see the salvation of the Lord, the oil is headed your way.
Touch everybody down your row and say, „The oil is headed your way! The oil is headed your way! The oil is headed your way! The oil is headed your way! The oil is headed your way!“ Don’t get frustrated, don’t give in, don’t give up; the oil is headed your way. Neither give place to the devil; I’m not going to give you my territory. This is my territory; God gave me this territory, and if I stay where He put me, He won’t have to walk through the garden and say, „Adam, where art thou?“ He wants you to stay where I left you, because if you stay where I left you, the oil is going to fall on you.
My God! Who am I preaching to? The devil’s trying to move you; he’s trying to shake you; he’s trying to break you. But the oil is headed your way! My God, it’s coming! It’s coming in the balcony; it’s coming in the choir stand; it’s coming in the pulpit; it’s falling on the elders' board; it’s falling on the deacons. Wherever God finds unity, the oil is going to fall on them. All I’ve got to do is get it in alignment. God don’t care whether you’re black; God doesn’t care whether you’re white; God doesn’t care whether you’re brown; whether you’re a millennial; whether you’re Gen X, Gen Q, Gen W, Gen Z.
All God cares about is that you get in unity, and if you get in unity and stay in your place, the blessing will fall on you. The oil is not prejudiced; the oil does not prefer rich people over poor people, beautiful people over ugly people. You can be as ugly as you want to, but if you stand there, the anointing will fall on you. And the Bible said He beautifies the meek with salvation. God said, „I’ll make you beautiful! I’ll make you shine! I’ll make you bright!“
Who am I preaching to? Take three seconds and give God a praise right now! Just a praise, just a praise, just a praise, just a praise! Any kind of praise, any kind of praise! Look down your row and see if they’re in alignment. If everybody praises God on your row, something is going to happen if they get in alignment! If they come into agreement, the Spirit is going to detonate in this place! I feel something about to break loose in this place that the devil doesn’t want! The devil is a liar!
You’re sitting up there with your legs crossed, but if you would uncross your legs and open your mouth and praise the Lord, I’ll cut your therapist bill in half! I’ll cut your psychologist bill in half! I’ll get you up off that couch! If you open your mouth and start praising God, every yoke in your life has got to break off of you! Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you! Y’all don’t hear what unity will do! God’s got something for you! God’s got something for you! God’s got something for you! God’s got something for you! God’s got something for you! You think you’re here on assignment, but God’s got something for you! There’s something God wants to show you in this place today! If I’m preaching right, holler at your boy!
Take me back to my main scripture, Psalm 133. There’s one more thing I want to get to, and I’m almost done, I’m almost done. It says, „Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that went down to the skirts of his garments.“ Come on! It is like the dew of Hermon, as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. Hermon is a mountain that collected dew down at the bottom, and all kinds of flowers just automatically grew because of the descent of the dew down the mountain.
In the New Testament, it was called the Mount of Transfiguration, but in the Old Testament, it is called the Mount of Hermon. It’s a mountain where God moves! Once you get in the flow, God will move! If anybody gets in the flow, God will move! But I want you to see something, and I’ll be done. I want you to see something, because you could get into Aaron’s beard and get stuck, and you can get into Mount Hermon and Mount Zion and really teach three weeks of Bible classes talking about Mount Zion. I don’t have time to do that! I want to get into this, as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion; for there the Lord commanded the blessing. Say that with me: „For there, the Lord commanded the blessing!“
I want to tell you this: that whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to happen in your life! Whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to happen in your life! You can stop swiping those witches on Instagram to tell you who your enemy is and who’s coming back in your life! Whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to happen! You might as well calm down and stop trying to manipulate people and just wait on God! They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint! When you go to the doctor and he tells you you’re sick and that you’re going to die, look at him and say, „I thank you for your opinion, but whatever God commands, if God says live, I can’t die; and if God says die, I can’t live. I’ve learned, in whatever state I’m in, to be content!“
Hallelujah to God! When I had my attack, I had the strangest peace you ever saw in your life because my future is God’s business. Do whatever you want to do; whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to be done! You can get a lock of my hair, but whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to be done! You can try to sabotage my job, but whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to be done! I decree and declare in this place today that the will of God will be over your life! When God commands it, it will be done! The centurion said, „Don’t go to my house; just stand in the middle of the road and command it, and if you command it, my servant will be healed!“ Whatever God commands! With a withered hand, He commanded, „Stretch forth your hand!“
Whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to happen! Lazarus had been dead so long he was stinking, and a stone was rolled on top of him, but whatever God commands! When God stood there and said, „Come forth,“ the dead man came back to life! The blood started moving through the veins, the veins started moving through the arteries, the heart started pumping blood! The muscles came back to life, and all of a sudden, a stinking, rotting dead man started leaping! I see somebody that’s been in a dead place, but God is getting ready to make you leap! God is getting ready to make you leap! God is getting ready to take you in a new direction!
Peter was out on the boat, and he said, „Lord, if it’s You, bid me to come!“ Because whatever God commands, if God says come, I can walk on water! If God says come, I can get a house with bad credit! If God says come, I can get a spouse in my old age! If God says come, I can get a miracle from the Lord! Whatever God commands, hallelujah! Go on and play with your tarot cards; go on and burn your incense; go on and do whatever you’ve got to do, but when you get through burning, whatever God commands that’s what’s going to happen in your life! Whatever God commands, that’s what’s going to be done! I’m about to close now; I’m finished!
Because your life is in His mouth, and whatever He says you’re going to get, you’re going to get it! If God speaks life, nobody speaking death will be able to stop you! If God speaks death, all the doctors in the world cannot bring you back! And if I had a God that whatever He commanded was going to happen in my life, and all I had to do was unify, I would get unified right now and give God a praise like I never praised Him! Whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever, whatever!
As I come to a close, I started wondering what was going on in David’s life, and several theologians believe that this was the time after David had been anointed. David was anointed three times: first by Samuel to be king, second to be the king of Judah, and finally to be the king of Israel. Judah and Israel had split apart; though they were related, they had split apart. And David was king of Judah, but he wasn’t king of Israel. So what David did is he got the Ark of the Covenant and he brought the Ark of the Covenant back, but he didn’t know how to do it. That means that you can be assigned and still not know how to do it! Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying to you! As he was learning how to do it, Uzzah died. David got discouraged, and he went and put the Ark of the Covenant in the house of Obed-Edom, and God blessed Obed-Edom so that David got jealous and said, „I’ve got to get the Ark of the Covenant back!“
Because it’s not about leading people; it’s about getting you together! And the better you get at getting you together, the better you can get them together! So David said, „I’ve got to get the Ark of the Covenant back, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get it back! I’m willing to dance out of my clothes! I’m willing to give up my dignity! I’m willing to look like a fool as long as I’ve got God’s presence! The only thing I’ve got to have, the only thing I’ve got to have is God’s presence!“
And he brought God’s presence back! David has Judah behind him and Israel in front of him, and he brought them back together! After years of warfare, you may have had years of disunity in your own house; years of fighting and damage and bruises and blood and trouble, but David kept on going till he got it right! Here’s the weirdest thing: David was a warrior! Hallelujah! He was known for being a warrior! He killed Goliath; he cut the foreskins off a hundred Philistines and threw them at the feet of Saul! He snuck into Saul’s tent while he was sleeping, could have killed him, and didn’t do it.
David was a warrior! David was a warrior! David was a warrior! David was a warrior! He was bad; he would fight; he would kill you with a rock! David would kill you with anything! But something happened; him warring wouldn’t bring back the glory! And so the warrior stopped warring and started dancing! And when he started praising God, the anointing rested, and he was able to bring it back with a praise because that was what God commanded!
This is the key of David! This is the key of David! This will unlock the door; this will make the way! The key! Let me stop! Jesus, the key of David! Moses had to kill animals—turtle doves, goats, sheep—kill them in basins, wash his hands at the laver, go to the table of showbread, go past the altar of incense, and on the Day of Atonement, he might get all the way into the holiest of holies! David didn’t kill a turtle dove, a goat, a sheep, or anything! No blood on his hands, no washing, no table of showbread, no altar of incense! David found out that I can bypass all of those commandments with a praise!
Y’all didn’t hear me; y’all didn’t hear me! David found out I can bypass all of that with a praise! And the difference between the temple of David and the temple of Moses is Moses had to do everything right to get in, but David said, „Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him and bless His name!“ Because David had a key! And the key of David means that you can be in your living room, and if you start praising God, God will come in between the couch and the chair and manifest Himself! Because that is the key of David!
Now I’m through! I’m through! But I’ve got one thing I’ve got to do! I’ve got to do it! I want to know if you’re going to take your key home or if you’re going to use your key right now to unlock a door! I want to know how many people have got the key of David, because if you’ve got the key of David, whatever God commands is going to come to pass! It will come! It shall come! It must come! It’s got to come! Use your key! Use your key! Use your key! Not your sister’s key, not your brother’s key—use your key!
Lift your hands up! Surrender to unity. I will curb and curve to fit into where you want me to be. I will trust you to place me where I fit jointly to be a habitation unto the Lord. Whatever it takes—whatever it takes—I just want your spirit to fall fresh on me now. Whatever you command, I will obey; whatever you say, whatever I have to do, Lord—whatever you’re doing on this earth, don’t do it without me. Whatever, whatever, whatever you’re doing in this place, don’t do it without me. Don’t do it without me, Lord—whatever you do in this season, don’t do it without me. Don’t do it without me; don’t do it without me. Lord, whatever you’re doing in this season, don’t do it without me. Say it again, Lord—whatever you’re doing in this season, don’t do it without me.
I’m almost finished. You all know that for years I have been talking about it. It may not work out the way I plan it, but I get on my knees and pray, and I plan my life in decades. How many of you remember me saying that—not days, but decades? Because major moves take time. It may look like it was sudden, but you don’t know about the background work. About six years ago, I started talking to Pastor Toré and Pastor Sarah because I did not want all that I had spent my life—and your life, and our lives—building, to get old and go with us. This is generational. And even though she was busy with Woman Evolve and he was busy pastoring in LA, about four years ago they moved out here just in time.
God has a sense of humor; He throws you in the water and then says, „Swim.“ So for the last four years, they have been swimming. I talked to the board because I was concerned. I have seen too many men build something and stay so long that they kill what they built. What you have to understand is that it’s not so important that you know when to grab a hold; it’s knowing when to let go.
Now, there are some other things that I’m assigned to do, both here and outside, but I cannot afford—especially after November—to risk something happening to me and you being sheep without a shepherd. I cannot afford to hold on to all the work of all the saints, living and dead, so tightly for so long that I wither away. So I’m suggesting to you—I’m recommending—that you receive Pastor Toré and Pastor Sarah. Come on, come on, come on! This is legacy—not because they’re kin, but because they have immersed themselves into the DNA of this church for years. They sat quietly and preached, but you didn’t know that from November forward, they’ve been running the church anyway.
Now, they’re not meant to replace me, because nobody can. But if they step into this position, they may extend me. There are some things I want to do in the community before I get too old to do them, and the clock is ticking. There are some ways that I want to prepare us for the days ahead that I can’t completely do from the pulpit. Every now and then, I think they will let me preach, but there is some work in the vineyard that needs to be done.
I want you to see it like this: Jesus said, „If a man is cold, don’t give him a sermon; give him a coat. If he’s hungry, feed him.“ We have always done that. We’re about to take it to the next level, and we are going to be a multi-racial, multi-generational, interdenominational Church of the Living God. One man plants, another man waters, but only God gives the increase. Just like they can’t be me, I can’t be them. I came to plant. I think I planted pretty well. This September, I will have been planting for 48 years. I’m coming up on 50 in a year and a half, two years—50 years of ministry.
We need fresh vision, fresh blood. We need the ability—as the world changes—to adapt to technology and media. Whether we like it or not, and there are things I like and things I don’t, the world is changing. Now, at ILS, our theme was „The Changing of the Guard.“ I’m thinking that probably by the church anniversary, we’re going to formalize this, but I wanted to introduce to you your pastors. Yes, I know you might be a little scared. I know you might feel the weight sliding from my head to you. I know the crown is heavy, but I also know that if God is for you, who can be against you? As long as I can, I’ll be somewhere in the shadows, on the stage, wherever you need me to make this vision come to pass.
What say you to this moment? It’s hard to put into words, but we feel deeply honored that God and you, knowing how much you love the people assigned to you, have chosen us to carry forward this legacy. You have shown how deeply you love them and how you don’t play when it comes to them—as you have evidenced and proven for decades. It is not something to take lightly. We are thankful for the few who have come together for this moment.
I didn’t get here by myself. Let’s celebrate! So we stand on solid ground and a sure foundation, and we will honor it, respect it. The scripture says that we ought to be careful about how we build on another man’s foundation, and so we will build on it with humility, prayer, integrity, holiness, and sacrifice. We will become everything we have to be in order to take your legacy to the level that God envisions.
We’re honored. I think we can all agree this isn’t exactly how we saw my life panning out. I saw my parents sacrifice their lives for this church. I saw them give their bodies and their strength, and I know you guys are so tired. You had a heart attack on stage and still asked for the microphone to make sure they would be okay. I know what this cost, and if I’m honest, I’ve been wondering whether or not I have what it takes to do it the way you guys have—or even take it further.
But then God showed me that you all didn’t always know if you had what it took either, but God gave you GPS to find what you needed to stand up to the assignment. I believe that the same God who ordered your steps to find what it took to stand up in any given moment is going to order our steps to find what it takes to stand up to whatever is on the other side of this.
Yes, my commitment to you and our commitment to you is that we will seek God every step of the way, that we will pay the price to lead this community, and that we will make decisions not just with you in mind, but with the people who haven’t even come into this room in mind. I believe that collectively, we could turn this city upside down and right side up, and that what happens in Dallas will overflow and saturate the state of Texas. When the state of Texas can’t hold it anymore, Oklahoma, get ready! Get ready! Get ready! And when Oklahoma gets to the overflow, you better move over, Nevada!
I believe that this nation will be changed by the collective anointing—not just because of what we carry, but because of what we carry in unity. So I am asking that you bring your oil into this room, that you bring your vision into this room. And if you’re nervous like me or anxious like me, that’s okay, because together we can do this with strength.
There was this moment when Mary Magdalene was at the tomb and found out that it was empty. The angel of the Lord came to her and said, „What you’re looking for, He’s not here; He’s risen.“ He gave her a message to go and tell the disciples, and it says that she went with great fear and joy. Whenever we’re moving from one season to the next, sometimes we do it with great fear, because we don’t know how we’ll deliver the message. We don’t know if they’ll receive us; we don’t know whether or not we’ll be ready; we don’t know what God’s going to do in that season.
But what God has highlighted to me is the great joy part. I believe that we can do this not just with fear and respect and honor, but that we can do this with radical joy, because you all have gone ahead of us and made our crooked paths straight. You have been a good shepherd and a good steward, and what you have placed in the earth will not fail; generation after generation will declare the works of the Lord. Thank you for letting us build this on your shoulders.
As your pastor-elect, co-pastor, co-senior pastor-elect, I’m grateful and honored. As your doctor, I’m so happy you’re going to get some rest! There’s a promise in scripture that speaks to what will happen before the return of the Lord, and it’s in Malachi chapter 4, around verse 4 or 5. Read your whole Bible, and you’ll find it, but it says that God will turn the hearts before that day. One of the last few things in scripture is that God will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.
This is the sequence: God will begin to turn one generation’s hearts from the fathers to the children. The fathers will initiate it, which will then turn the hearts of the children back to the fathers. There is the imagery of generations walking together, each group supplying wisdom, strength, and experience, while the other provides innovation, energy, and vitality. And as those two come together, we will see fruit unlike anything we have ever seen before. So thank you for initiating what it’s going to take to get it done.
What say you? Some of our board members are in the room. When I shared the vision before they even came, I didn’t see then what I see now. The Roberts are a blended family, and a blended family is hard to make fit. The Potter’s House is a blended family. This is a beautiful moment for me. I’ve been preaching since I was 19—scared to death but unbelievably relentless. There were times I wished I had been home instead of on the road.
I felt like it was my job and my calling to build something that I had never seen under my leadership. This church owns 1,000 acres of land; our borders are protected. We have maintained integrity; everything we said we would do, we’ve done, and we built it right here in South Dallas. There’s more to do, but I want to pace myself now.
I want to say thank you to my leaders, my staff, our pastors, our elders, our musicians, our PMTs, and our volunteers. You have been faithful to God and you have been faithful to me. I’m so grateful. Thank you! I never counted on anybody standing by me to ensure that you would never have the disappointment of them walking away. You filled that void. I love you for it! Thank you for being an amazing woman.
We buried our parents here, we raised our children here, and we gave our lives here. You never complained—you might have fussed a little bit— but I could have never been me without you. You’re absolutely amazing. Okay, you’re not going to make me cry all day!
Let’s go while we can, while I can, before my glasses fall off completely. Yes sir, you got this! Whatever little voices pop up in your head at 2:00 in the morning, telling you you’re not enough—they’re lying to you! You haven’t begun to unearth who you are. You need to begin to unearth it. You’re just getting started! Thank you for letting me keep you over a little bit. I wanted to share this, and we started not to do it this way, but what moved me was the desire to share it with our e-church. Well, I guess we ought to go home. Please be good to our people. Please help them.
The humility that you see is real; the weight is unbelievable; the demands are endless, and the times are the darkest I have ever seen. Intercessors, cover my babies before this turns into an absolute funeral. Would everybody please stand? You’re still on the job; I’m still on the job. Are you going to drain these last six months? Do you know how afraid I was of letting God down and letting you down? Even to miss a service would make me sick, because somebody might need me. Even when I was dying in my last breath, I was blessing you. And if I died blessing you, I was okay with it. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, this house. I love you!
Now unto Him that is able to keep us from falling and present us faultless before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ—to the only wise God, our Father, be glory, dominion, power, world without end. In Jesus' name, amen!