TD Jakes - Just Do It
Greetings, in the name of Jesus Christ, our King. I'm so delighted, and so pleased to have an opportunity to share the Word of the Lord with you. The flower fades, the grass withers, but the Word of the Lord will stand forever. The message today is called, "Just Do It". It is hard to bring things from thought life to action. How often do we assume that we have tomorrow to get things said or done? You don't always have that, you have right now, you have this moment. "The people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits". This is your season to do it. Take a look at this.
I wanna explore Daniel 11:32 with you this morning. I wanna consider Daniel 11:32. It's the b clause of the text, but I'll read the whole thing. "And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries, but the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. But the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits". I had 'em highlight three words: knowing, being, and doing.
There's something in that order that's powerful. Knowing, the people that know their God have a relationship with their God. They know their God. They are settled in their relationship with their God. You'd be surprised at the people who come to church every Sunday and are not settled in their relationship with God. They love the idea of God, but not necessarily the reality of God. They have unresolved issues with God. You'd be surprised at the people who clap, and sing, and shout, and are not convinced that God even likes you.
Because many of us have been taught the kind of faith that is a meritus understanding of faith that you have to earn his love, and in the back of your mind, you're not sure that you've paid the bill to be good enough to have his love. And because you're not settled in your relationship with God, you can't work the promises of God, 'cause you're really not sure he is talkin' to you. 'Cause every time the promises of God come up, there's a little voice on my other shoulder sayin', "You know what you did. God doesn't love you. God doesn't care about you. If God cared about you, why would you be in the mess you're in"?
There's all of those voices that come to you that say either you're not good enough for God, or God hasn't been good enough to you for you to be sure that he loves you. "If God loved me, why am I livin' in this house I'm in"? Do you know your God or do you just know church? 'Cause most people know church better than they know God, and if the Scripture is understood correctly, the prerequisite for greatness is the people that know their God. It didn't just say a generic people, the people that know their God. Know, not believe. "For the demons believe and tremble". He said I will not bless you over what you believe, I will bless you over what you know. The people that know their God, not hope their God, but know their God. I know him, I know him, I know him. Somebody say, "I know him".
Somebody was talkin' to me the other day and was tellin' me somethin' that someone had said, or they were tellin' me somethin' that they wanted me to believe that they said, and I said, "Hmm, hmm, no, he didn't say that," you know. When you know somebody, you just about know what they said. I tell people, "You can't really tell a mother much about her child". She might be in denial, but you can't raise a child and not know them. You might have painted yourself into some kind of delirious, fictitious ideology of what you'd like for them to be, but the truth of the matter is, if I come to your table and your child is a liar, they lied at home before they lied here.
Why are you up in my face all shocked when there is something when you know somebody, you know whether they did it or not, you know whether they said it or not, you don't have to see 'em, you don't have to hear 'em, because when you know them. The Bible said, "Unto Moses he showed his ways, and unto Israel he showed his acts". I'd rather know your ways than to know your acts, because if I know your ways, I already know what you're capable of doin'. I know you, I know it. I said, "Oh no, he didn't say it. I know he didn't say that, that's not even his language. That's not even what matters to him. That's not him. I know him. He wouldn't say that".
The people that know, somebody shout know. "The people that know their God shall be strong". Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. You cannot have the peace of God until you have peace with God. You're asking God to give you peace, and you want the piece of God, but you don't have peace with God. You want to understand the gift, but not the giver. Give me your peace. Why would I give you my peace when you and I don't have peace? Don't you understand that I didn't just go to the cross to be cool, to be edgy, to be hip? I went to the cross so that it would leave an indelible impression of what love looks like. Who else went to the cross for you? I said who else went to the cross for you? Nobody did. "The people that know their God shall be". Knowing brings you into being. The people that know shall be. The being comes out of the knowing. I can be it 'cause I know. Glory to God.
Let's go to Luke 4, 2 through 4, because this is what happens out of Jesus' moment of being. This is where Satan tries to put a detour to his destiny. The Bible said, "He was lead of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted". Why does Satan tempt him right now? Because of the strong being moment. Satan knows that out of this strong being moment will come a doing moment. Have you ever noticed that when your faith is the strongest, you come up under the greatest attack? Because every time the devil senses that you're about to walk into who you'll be, he knows next, you're gonna do somethin', and he's tryin' to stop you from doin' it.
Slap somebody and say, "Just do it". The enemy's tryin' to stop you from doin' it, because every time you have a being moment, he tries to detour you, because as soon as you figure out who you are, you're gonna do exploits. Slap somebody and say, "I got somethin' to do". That's why all hell is breakin' loose in my life, that's why I keep goin' through storms and setbacks, that's why I keep gettin' sick in my body, that's why the devil keeps bringin' up my past, 'cause I got somethin' to do. That's why he's tryin' to break my heart, 'cause I got somethin'. Oh, do you hear what I'm teachin' this mornin'? Shake your neighbor's hand and say, "I got somethin' to do". If you got somethin' to do, give God some kind of praise.
In Luke 4:2, the Bible says, "Being 40 days tempted of the devil, and in those days, he did eat nothing, and when they were ended, he afterwards hungered. And the devil said unto him, 'If thou,'" oh, you got it before I could even... "If thou be". See, the devil knew that the doing was based on the being, so now he questions his being. "If thou be the Son of God". What do you mean? Did you not hear my daddy speak from heaven and say, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"? How dare you question my being by my doing.
There are three tests, and in this one, Satan is trying to take his being and make it performance based. If thou be, then do, which suggests I am what I do. He is trying to move my I am from being to doing. Yes, yes, if thou be, then do. If God loved you, then do. If you were really a Christian, then do. Any time it goes performance, it left the promise. Performance-based ideologies says I am what I do, and what Satan is trying to do is move Jesus from a being to a doing.
Again, he takes him up into a high place, and let's look at the second test. "And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time," showed him everything. "And the devil said unto him, 'All of this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered unto me, and to whomever I will give it.'" Possession based, from performance based, that didn't work, now possession based, he's trying to teach him "I am what I have". I'm gonna give it to you, man, I'm gonna give it to you, I'm gonna give you all of this stuff so you can prove you're the Son of God.
He was the Son of God in the water, dude, before the conversation ever broke out, he was the Son of God right then. It was about being, not doing. It was about being, not possessing. He's moved from trying to tempt him with a performance-based understanding of who he is to a possession-based understanding who I am. I must be great, I make money. I must be great, I drive a Ford. I must be great, I have a big house. I must be great, I'm pretty. I must be great, I have this. I must be great, I have that. Validation that comes from stuff is never God. Now, I'm really rubbin' the grain. Are you all with me? Are you still with me?
So, he's tryin' to get him to identify with possessions, and this generation is drunk with this. You can't wear a watch until, "Who made it"? You step on the runway, "What are you wearin'"? You got everybody's name on you but your own. "Oh, that's a Gucci right there, that's a Say Laren right there, oh, I know what that is, that's a Christian... you know everybody's name but yours. So, if you wear Christian Louboutin, and if you wear Gucci, and if you wear Nike, then you must be somebody? No! You cannot have a possession-based understanding of who you are, because if you do, you'll sell your soul for a bowl of soup. Give me that watch, it will make me important. Give me that job, it will make me important. Give me that car, it will make me important. If you weren't important before you got it, you won't be important after you get it. I am what I have.
Let's go a little deeper. Let's go a little deeper. Luke 4:9, "And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said, 'If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, because it is written, he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee, and in their hands, they shall bear thee up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'" What is he tryin' to get Jesus to do? He's tryin' to get Jesus to show off in front of Jerusalem, in front of the temple where they had rejected the very notion of him being a Messiah, because he thinks that if he does that, he's offering him popularity.
If enough people like me, then I am. How many people are following you on Twitter? I got to get my followin' up. I got to get my friends up, because if I have popularity... ooh, you all got quiet again. Let me show you how many people follow me. Do you Bishop started followin'... oh, Bishop followed me! So, I am because of who follows me, who likes me, popularity-based identity. Ooh, performance-based identity, if you do this, you'll be the Son of God. If they like you, you'll be the Son of God. If I give you enough possessions, you'll be.
Now, let me show you somethin'. I'm teachin' "Just Do It," okay, and yet, I'm criticizing doin' it to define who you are. Well, I'm confused. Should I do it or not do it? You just said, "Just Do It," and then you turned around and said not to define myself by what I do. Can I critique my own text? Which way is it, Reverend? Do it do it or not do it? The problem is not about doing it, it is why you do it. What I am criticizing is putting the doing before the being so that you think that if I do this, I will be somebody, if I buy this, I will be somebody, if they like me, I will be... you got it backwards!
The people that know their God shall be and then do. And because your doing doesn't come from the deeper place of being, it hasn't worked for you. Because you are who you are, you can do what you can do, but if you're tryin' to find out who you are by doing things, you will never find out who you are by doing, you'll have to start with being. Are you getting it? I want you to see this. I don't wanna lose you in this, because the difference between the two determines the direction of your destiny.
If you're always seeking a certain status to validate who you are, you're never gonna have peace. You have to know who you are, and then you can climb to the status. You can't climb up to find yourself, you have to find yourself so you can climb up. So, you can be who you are before anybody knows who you are. So, that means you could be rich while you're broke. You could be healed while you're sick. You could be loose while you're bound. It does not yet appear what you shall be. It hasn't showed up, what you shall be, but you got to be it before you can get it. "Woman, thou art loosed". I know it looks like you're tied up, I know you've been bowled over for 18 years, I know your conditions don't validate you, but let me tell you about who you are. You are loosed. Not gonna be loosed, not shall be loosed, you're loosed on the inside before you are loosed on the outside. I'm delivered right now. I'm whole right now. I am it so I can do it. I can do.
Gotta stop there, it's been a real joy to share the Word of the Lord with you, but these are our opportunities laying dormant inside of all of us, and he's waiting on you. You're not waiting on God, please, you're not waiting on God. God is waiting on you, that's why I preached this message, "Just Do It".