TD Jakes - In Harmony with God
If you read the first chapter of Acts, the last disciple it mentions in the list is Judas, but it's not Judas Iscariot. It's Judas the brother of James, poor brother of James. This is bad time to have the name Judas. Yeah, because Judas has messed up things. Judas Iscariot has messed things up so bad that going forward Judas the brother of James always is referred to as "Judas the brother of James" to give him distinction from Judas Iscariot. Judas Iscariot is the guy who failed to be a good disciple, failed to do a transaction with the Roman soldiers, tried to kill himself, tried to hang himself and failed at that. Rope snapped and his guts spilled out. Wasn't good at anything, but he was perfect at his purpose.
People that you think that aren't good for anything are perfect at they purpose. Remember that Jesus picked Judas. Jesus couldn't have made a mistake. Judas was perfect at his purpose. Can I teach a little bit more? He is the son of perdition. God, he is the son of perdition. You never in the Bible will see anybody else called the son of perdition except the antichrist, so many people would suggest that he is the early embodiment of the antichrist and that the antichrist, who will appear again, will appear even as Christ will appear again, That he is a continuation of Judah Iscariot.
And it is plausible seeing as Satan cannot create. He can imitate, but he cannot create, because if he could create he would be a creator, which would make him a god. He can imitate, but he cannot create, and everything he ever did is something he's done before, so his appearance in the antichrist as Judas requires an encore as the antichrist. Judas was perfect at what he was chosen to do. That's the way you gotta look at the bad things that happen in your life. They were perfect at what they were chosen to do, pushed me into my destiny, shaped my personality, moved me from faith to faith, brought me out of my comfort zone, made me have to trust God, made me have to become self-reliant. I'm so glad you were in my life. You were chosen to hurt me. You were chosen to betray me. When you betrayed me, you liberated me. Thank you for being the hater you've been in my life. Do y'all understand what I'm saying to you?
Oh, my God. Stop being mad, stop being angry, stop being upset, and start thanking God for everything that you went through. In all things give thanks: the good, the bad, the ugly. Say, "Lord, I thank you". I learned something I couldn't have learned any other way. I was exposed to things I couldn't have been exposed to any other way. I learned that I had more power than I thought I had. I thought I had lost my mind going through that. I'm stronger than I thought I was. I'm tougher than I thought I was.
Let me hurry on. See, if you go to Acts 2 and step over Acts 1, you miss the process that they went through of being in harmony with God. That they had to get in harmony with God, so by the time they list Judas the brother of James, they say, "Oh, wait a minute. That reminds me we're down to 11, so we gotta get restoration. We lost something". Give me back what I lost, so they say they chose by the drawing of straws another disciple. In the original language, it says "another of a different kind". This is interesting, when you refer to the Holy Spirit, you refer to the Holy Spirit in Greek as "allos parakletos," another of the same kind, saying that the Holy Spirit is another of the same kind of Christ. Now, when they're picking another disciple to replace Judas, they don't say allos parakletos, because we do not want another of the same kind. How many of you have been through something but you don't want another of the same kind?
Yeah, I thank you for my lesson, but that's enough of that. Yeah, been there, done that. If I get to pick again, I do not want another of the same kind. So I want another of a different kind. I want another of a different kind. They cast lots. They pull lots and choose Matthias to continue the succession of the bishopric. Matthias is chosen. The criteria of being chosen, they said, "We want somebody who was eyewitness to the resurrection of our Lord. We want somebody who was there at the death, burial, and resurrection. We want somebody who was there at the moments, who has a personal stock in it," and there must have been several people that met the criteria because they had to come into agreement as to who was to be chosen. If there was only one person who met the criteria, you don't choose lots when there is just one. They mentioned a guy named Justus who is a possible candidate, who meets the criteria, but there must have been several who fit within the...
What do you do when you've got a hard choice and there is many options, you don't know what to do? See, they're trying to bring their team into some sort of harmony, 'cause no doubt one of 'em is saying, "I want Justus. Well, Willie James would fit. What about Matthew? What about Paul Rogers? They said, "Wait a minute. Let's..." Because we cannot have Pentecost in disagreement. Thank you for the ten days you gave us to get our act together, so we can figure out how to move forward as a team.
See, sometimes God doesn't give you what you want when you want it, so you have time to bring yourself into agreement, so that you're aligned and ready to move forward in your life. So, praise God for the space between the promise and the performance of that promise, because grace lives in the gap. O God, I wish I had time. See, I'm trying to get to God. Let me show you this. I'm trying to get to God, but I fall short of reaching him. I'm trying to reach this brother right now, but I'm falling short and, like, I fall short as being a child of God. I fall short of God's righteousness, but don't worry about when I fall short because grace lives in the gap.
Grace always lives in the gap between my effort and God's requirement. Grace lives in the gap, so don't go from 40 to 50, because grace is in the gap. Grace giving me time to get it together. Grace giving me time to settle old grievances. Grace giving me time to pick out where do I go from here? Grace delivers me from gazing upward when I ought to be walking outward. Grace giving me time to get my head on straight, get my focus back, get myself together. Lord, I thank you for grace. I thank you for the gap. Oh, I thank you for the difference between my effort and your ability. I thank you that you taught me to stretch and even when I stretch I'm limited, but you make up the difference between my limited and your maximum. Thank you for the gap in my life.
Touch your neighbor and say: He's the God of your gap. So, they've had some time to deal with some old issues, to stop them from being divided before they ever started, because in order to experience what God has for you there has to be unity. There has to be agreement. Watch this, because I'm just now getting to the good stuff. It's about to get good now, because I want you to understand that Satan is a divider, okay? God is a multiplier, Satan is a divider. God tells Abraham, "Surely blessings I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee". God is a multiplier. "Give me the two fish and five loaves of bread. I'm God. I'll multiply". God is a multiplier, Satan is a divider. A house divided against itself shall not stand. Satan is a divider, so wherever there is the hope of unity, Satan says division, because if you can come into agreement you can do anything. If you can come into agreement, you can do anything, so any time there is more than you Satan will test it with divisions to limit your power and stop your anything. So, the moment you take a partner, get married, take a group, make a family, join a committee, get on a board, join a church, the moment you do it, Satan will send division and the reason he sends division is because he knows the power of unity.
Unity. Oneness. Sameness. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were in one place with one accord". Now, they have come into one accord having just resolved the issue about Judas. They couldn't have come to one accord with Judas, because Judas was off-key. He was off-key because he had another purpose. His purpose was not to preach the gospel. His purpose was to expose the gospel, but not to preach the gospel, so when he came over and kissed Jesus on his head, he had accomplished his purpose, 'cause he exposed the gospel. He wasn't called to preach the gospel.
When you have Judases, whether it is a Judas within you or a Judas connected to you or a Judas in your group, it doesn't mean you can't sing the song, but it just means that when everybody doesn't have the same agenda it sounds like this.
♪ "Mary had a little lamb Little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb Its fleece was white as snow". ♪
Same song. They're all singing the same song, y'all. They're singing the same lyrics. They've got the same vocal inflection, but because all of them had a different agenda it was disturbing to the ears because there is a dissonant sound because they are disconnected in terms of purpose, so the day of Pentecost cannot fully come until we eradicate the Judases out of our lives, and we all come into agreement. We can't even have the day of Pentecost while you're trying to promote your God, and I'm trying to promote my God, and she's trying to promote her God, so whatever we gotta do - cast lots, roll dice - we gotta come into agreement, or we won't have unison. Sing it again in unison. Sing it in unison.
♪ "Mary had a little lamb, Little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb, Its fleece Was white as snow". ♪
That's the way you want your life to sound. That's the way you want your insides to sound. When you lay down at night, that's the way you wanna go to bed at night. When you get up in the morning, that's the way you wanna get up in the morning. You wanna be at peace with yourself. To be at peace with yourself is to be at one with yourself, not yourself trying to do this while your other self is trying to do this, and I'm trying to be this, but I'm trying to be that. No, no, no, you wanna be at one with you. That's unison.
I got one more thing to show you, and I'll be done. The problem with my illustration is that the Bible does not use the word "unison". It says that "they are with one accord". There is a difference between a chord and a note. Everything that we just showed you in unison is multiple people singing one note, but that one note is not a chord. It's a melody and when you come together as a team with people everybody doesn't have the same range. And, see, we got sopranos up there, we got altos up there, we got tenors up there, and even though they all sang in unison it was difficult for them to do it because they don't all have the same range, so somebody struggled to sing that in the key of C in unison. They had to compromise being at their best because it really wasn't within their range to reach unison.
Come on with me somebody. Your problem is that you're trying to get your team to have unison, because the synergy of your ability, having worked by yourself historically, creates the idea that everybody can sing your note, so you forced me into acting like you in order to be on your team because you have no appreciation for my range. The difference between a C note and a C chord is that a C chord allows me to sing in harmony with the key of C, but do it within the context of my range, so that means that harmony means I can be different as long as I fit.
I know you didn't come from music class, but I'm after something. Now, in the key of C there no sharps or flats, and the reason that they sounded so bad before was that they started singing sharps and flats in the key of C. You cannot sing sharps and flats in the key of C and it still be the key of C. When the person on the piano hit the note C, that meant that you cannot do B flat, you cannot do A flat, you cannot do G flat. All of those notes are not lawful in that key. In order to have harmony and you're going to be form a chord, you can hit a C, you can hit an E, you can hit a G, and now you got a chord. There are different notes that harmonize to produce a certain sound. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So, what I'm telling you is while I appreciate the distinctiveness of your differences, you must understand that you cannot be so different that you valid my purpose. Touch your neighbor and say, "You got ten days to get in tune". You gotta take your unique range and ability, but it's got to fit within the complexity of where I'm trying to go, or we're not gonna get from heaven what we want from heaven if we don't have the right sound on Earth that we need to make. Come on somebody. Tell your neighbor, "It's all about sound". It's all about pitch. It's all about sound. You can't sing it right if you don't hear it right. The reason the pianist plays the key of C first is because they can't sing any better than they can hear. There are some folks that can't sing, not because they don't have vocal cords. The problem is not in their throat. The problem is in their ear. If you don't hear right, you can't make the right sound. Come on somebody. Oh, give me five more minutes. I'mma rock you with this. Glory to God.
I'm gonna explain to you why so many people had to fall off and fall out and walk away and desert you and leave you, because God is getting ready to bring you into your 50th day experience with God so you can get with one accord. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were in one place". They had gotten rid of their Judases. They had stopped their disagreements, they had recognized their ranges, they had appreciated their distinctions, and they were with one accord. The Holy Ghost said, "I can't come and make a sound from heaven until you make the right sound on Earth, but when you make the right sound on Earth I can release a sound from heaven".
When they were with one accord, slap your neighbor and say, "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven". God said, "I wanna release my sound in your life, but I'm waiting for you to be with one accord, and as soon as you get with one accord I'm gonna release a suddenly blessing". Slap your neighbor and say, "Suddenly". That's how fast your life is gonna turn around. That's how fast your situation is gonna turn around. That's how fast God can heal your body. That's how fast God can bring you out. That's how fast God can break that curse. That's how fast God can turn it around. That's how fast God can restore your joy. That's how fast God can give you your house. That's how fast God can bring you out.
"When the day of Pentecost was fully come, and they were in one place with one accord," the word "accord" is a musical term. It means that when they finally came in harmony with their purpose and their destiny, when they finally came in harmony with what God had called them to do, when they finally came in harmony recognized Judas from Judas, when they finally came in harmony understood the purpose of women in the kingdom, when they finally came in harmony recognized who they were in Christ Jesus, God said, "That's what I've been waiting for and as soon as you get with one accord now I'm gonna roll back the heavens". And suddenly there came a sound from heaven. I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but God said he's ready to make the sound. He's ready to release the healing. He's ready to release the blessing. He's ready to open up the door. He's ready to make the way. He's ready to move the mountain. But he's waiting on you to be with one accord. Stand to your feet, I'm finished.
Let me show you something. I know I said I'm finished, but let me show you something. Stand up. Sin, sinners, it's just a good man making a bad note. It's just a woman who's lived her life off-key, out of tune with God's purpose and what you were created to do and be in the earth. It's not that you're not making a sound. It's not that you don't say Jesus things. It's not that you don't know the lyrics. You know the words. You know all the clichés. You know how to talk the Jesus talk. You got the lyrics, but you're tone deaf to what God wants to do in your life, and you've been living your life out of tune and asking God to make a sound from heaven while you make a noise in the earth. God cannot make a sound from heaven while you're making a noise in the earth. The suddenly from heaven is a reflection of the accord on Earth. "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven". God says, "I can release my sound when you get yours together.