TD Jakes - The God Code
And for the first time, I began to realize that the sun rising on the good and the evil wasn't about the good and the evil, it's about the Father; that the rain falling on the just and the unjust wasn't about the behavior of the just and the unjust, it's about the Father. And Jesus says that if we learn to be like that, then are we our Father's children. And I thought of Maury Povich. You didn't know I was gonna preach about Maury this morning. I thought about Maury Povich because it seems like to me there's a question of fatherhood.
So I thought, Maury, if there's a question as to whether these are legitimately his kids, what do you do to test it? So Maury said in order to be absolutely sure, you can't trust what they say, you gotta do a DNA test 'cause DNA doesn't lie. So I started studying DNA and it said DNA is a self-replicating material which is present in nearly all living organisms. I wanna get this just right. As the main constituent of chromosomes, it is the carrier of genetic information. So you don't have to have the whole body. If you have the toothbrush and it's got a little saliva on it, whatever is on the toothbrush is in the fingernail, is in the hair follicle, is in the skin cells on my leg, because it is my DNA code.
You can steal my driver's license, but you can't steal my DNA code. You can take my car, but you can't take my code. It is my DNA code. Every living organism has a DNA code, through which people have been exonerated on death row. Been held in prison for 30 years and let go because they had the DNA code. Once they proved that it was not their DNA, you had to let them go. Are you hearing what I'm saying to you? So what I'm calling the God code is divine DNA. And Jesus says you have your Father's code when you are consistent like your Father. Praise me in the sunshine. Praise me in the rain. Praise me in your pleasure. Praise me in your pain. Praise me when things are going right. Praise me when all hell is breaking loose.
You don't have the God code if you only praise him when you got a pay hike and a raise, or a boyfriend and a check, or car and a house. You have the God code when you can praise him with no job, no husband, no groceries, no shoes. "Though he slay me, yet shall I trust him". I wanna do a little DNA test in here. Who's got the code? This level of consistency, I wanna get into this. Can I get into this? This level of consistency has something to do with you knowing who you are. People who do not know who they are depend on other people. And depending on where you catch them, that's who they are. But some of us, it just is... It just is what it is.
Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. This goes deeper. I wanna go deeper with this because I was teaching some preachers and said, "You don't let the crowd control the sermon". Away with that, away with that, away with that. The Word of God oughta come from within you, not controlled by you. You could sit there right now and be as evil as you choose to be, roll your eyes all while I'm preaching, text your girlfriend on the fifth row behind you, call me all kinds of names, and all while you textin', I'll be preaching all over top of your head because I refuse to allow your facial expression to control the glory of God that's coming out of me.
Touch your neighbor and say, "I don't need you for this. I got this". Yeah, yeah, I don't need you to make me feel good about myself. I feel good about myself. I don't need you to give me confidence in me. I've got confidence in me. I don't need you to tell me who I am. I know who I am. Oh, I feel something about to break loose in here. I feel something about to break loose in here. Somebody's about to move their thermometer away from their enemies and put climate control within your reach. You have the power within yourself not to allow other people, other circumstances, other seasons, other times in your life to change who you are, not to allow age to change who you are, not to allow your bottom line to change who you are.
You've got the God code when you can take a licking and keep on ticking. You've got the God code when you can go through hell and still talk about heaven. You got the God code when you can praise him in the midst of worry, and strife, and confusion. You got the God code. Oh, my, my, my, my, my, my. And Jesus says if you react to people on the basis of how they react to you, you are no better than the publicans. You're no better than the hypocrites. You're no better than ordinary people. You have no reward. You are not really your Father's child. When you are your Father's child, you will react like your Father. Pushed into a corner, shoved to the wall, you will react like your Father
You might try to react like you would like to react, but before you can really give them the full intensity of what you would like to say, something on the inside will grab you by the reigns and pull you back and say, "It's not even worth it". I wish I had a witness in here. I need somebody who's a real disciple. I don't need a church member, I need somebody who's a real disciple. And you know how you can't go off, but every now and then God snatches you back. Touch somebody and tell them, "I got the God code". I want to cuss you out, but I got the God code. I would have drove my car right into your living room, but I got the God code. That's why you ought to let me go to church. You wouldn't like me if I didn't take my... high five somebody and say, "I got the God code". He's all in my DNA. He's all in my spirit. He's all in my thoughts. He's all in my walk. He's all in my talk. I got the God code. Somebody shout, "I got the God code".
What do you know about you that's consistent? What do we get when we get you? I'm not tryin' to make you feel bad, I'm just askin'. What is solid in you? Are you a protector? Are you a provider? Are you creative? Are you thoughtful? What about you has matured to the point of having the God code? Because that will determine how your story ends. That it's what maturity is. Maturity is consistency. I go to work when I feel like it. I go to work when I don't feel like it. I preach when I want to preach. I preach when I don't want to preach. I get on the plane when I want to get on a plane. I get on the plane when I gotta get on the plane. I got to do what I gotta do. If I gotta walk, I've gotta walk. It hurts, but I gotta do it. If I gotta eat, I gotta eat. I don't wanna, but I gotta do it.
What part of you has moved beyond your mood? Because that is the only part of you that is the God factor. In order to have your Father's code, you must be consistent, always abounding in the work of the Lord. That's what the Scripture said. Always, not sometimes. Always abound. What do we get from you always? The part of you that is consistent is the part of you that has been converted, transformed by the engrafted Word of God. Now, you heard all the Word, but the Word you do it's the Word that stuck. The Bible says... can I teach this morning? The Bible says the engrafted Word of God is able to save your soul.
What does "engrafted" mean? It means the Word that stuck, the Word that knit to you, the Word that became one with you, the one that connected with your tissue, the Word that became a part of your life. That's the only Word you can use under attack. You can't use what I said under attack. Y'all don't want the truth. You can't use what you heard somebody else say under attack. The only part of the Word that you could use is the Word that stuck to you, got engrafted in you, became a part of your DNA. That is the Word that becomes your Word, your conviction, your faith, your tenacity. The other stuff is just echo. It's parakeet. It's repeating. It's hearsay information. It's inadmissible in court 'cause it is not yours.
I am throwing Word out right now. I'm throwing Word out right now and different things are sticking with different people. Whatever sticks with you, that is able to save. Do you get that? The Word that sticks with you, that stays with you, that gives you an aha moment, that's the only Word you can use. You cannot use things that are not yours. The engrafted Word of God is able to save your soul. That's why I don't understand people who will go to church anywhere. They'll go anywhere. It don't matter. Church is church. I'm going to church. Church is church. No, a church is not a church. It doesn't matter about the pews.
Some people say, "I can't go to a big church". You're goin' for the wrong reason. It doesn't matter about the size. It can be a tiny church. It can be a big church. It can be a storefront church. It doesn't matter about that. It can be Black folks. It can be White folks. It can be Brown folks. It can be folks who ain't sure what they are 'cause they're mixed up with everything. It don't make no difference 'cause that's not what I came to church for. I like you, but I didn't come to church for you. I think you're nice, but I didn't come to church for you. I like your smile, I didn't come to church for you.
I can do this if you didn't come. It wouldn't interrupt my flow 'cause my flow is not built on you. This is about God. And until it becomes about God, you won't get the results you should get acting like a Christian, talking like a Christian, walking like a Christian, sayin' Christian stuff. Putting Christian stuff on your Instagram don't make you a Christian. When you go through the fire, when you go through the flood, when you go through hell, when you're standing there crying, saying, "Though he slay me, yet shall I trust him". Are there any real believers in the room?
So Jesus is teaching, and he's on the Mount of Olives, and he's trying to get the children to understand what their Father's like, and then he says this. Go to Matthew 7:24-29 and I'll close with this. This is good. Matthew 7:24-29. See, the reason this is good is because we got a generation now who has been raised on popular preaching. And popular preaching needs crowd reaction, so it always has a happy ending. Every week, they find a different way to tell you everything's gonna be all right. And we get addicted to coming to church so that they can tell us. And you've gotta find a new way to say it, but if you take all your sermons and put them in a bag, most of 'em is, "Everything's gonna be all right".
So what do we do when things are not all right? We don't know how to handle it when things are not right. We feel like God failed us when things are not right because the people who represented the Father made him sound like Santa Claus, that he just wanna give me stuff. He gonna bless you and he gonna bless you. He gonna bless you. Some of this stuff God ain't gonna bless. It's a mess. It's a mess. It's a mess. Nobody has the courage to preach the truth anymore. They're afraid of the congregation. Parents are afraid of their children. Y'all don't hear what I'm saying to you. And the kids ain't scared of nobody. It's gonna rain sometime. You're gonna go through troubles sometime. You're gonna find days you don't want to get out of the bed. You're gonna get bad news sometimes. You gonna get bad news so bad you scared to answer your own phone.
I hate it when people text me and say, "Call me back, it's important". I hate it. If is important, say what it is, 'cause I will think of a thousand different things that could be wrong. I done killed all my kinfolks and everything. Oh, is Lizzie dead? Is Aunt Freddy dead? Just tell me! It's not gonna be a good day every day. That doesn't mean that God isn't there. God did not promise you life without rain. God did not promise you pleasure without pain. God did not promise you happy days every day.
Why do you think you need faith? If everything's goin' wonderful, why do we need faith? You need faith when all hell is breaking loose. You need faith when trouble is everywhere. You need faith when life makes no sense. You need faith when your sister's dead. You need faith when your mama dies in your arms. You need faith when your dad is killed in a car wreck. You need faith when your son didn't get to live out his life. You need faith. God did not promise you that your life would always be like Christmas. It rains on the just and the unjust, which begs the question, in all honesty, if it's gonna be what it's gonna be anyway, why even be a Christian?
I know, I got you. I got you. I got you. We channelling. I'm with you. I'm with you. I'm with you. If he's not gonna stop the rain, and it's raining on me, and it's raining all her, and it's raining on him, and it's raining on them, and I'm the child of God, what difference does it make? Let's get high. You know? I mean, let's just, you know, forget it. "Think I gotta let it go". So put Matthew 7:24-29, see if I can bring some clarity to this. Come on back. Come on back. Y'all stayed over there too long. Y'all stayed over there too long. I done completely lost you. You backslid that quick.
This is the same message and Jesus is coming to the end of it. He says, "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat upon that house. And it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock".
Touch somebody and say, "I'm still here". I want you to see this. "And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not", they just came to church, but they ain't gonna do nothin'. They just here 'cause you cute. They're here 'cause they was in town, and they came to church and they don't want to be here. They want me to hurry up and shut up. "Everyone that hears these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand". Come on, "And the rain descended, and the same flood came, and the same wind blew and beat upon the house. And it fell. And great was the fall of it". If you have the God code, it does not mean that you won't go through things, but it does mean when it's over, you'll still be standing.