TD Jakes - Destiny Flocks Together
Okay, I want you to take one hand and put your thumb on your wrist right here. Like this. And press your thumb in. Feel that. Destiny has a pulse. The power of the pulse sustains everything that God has assembled together. You didn't see the beauty of what I just said. The power of the pulse controls everything that God has assembled together. You see this right here? This is what God has assembled together. From the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, he has assembled this together. And he has assembled it together, but it is sustained, it is delivered by the pulse.
The same thing that you feel up here, you'll feel right here. You'll feel right here. The common thread in the assembly that makes it have one accord, is not being in one place. 'Cause you could be in one place and not be with one accord. To be with one accord is to have the same pulse. Destiny has a pulse.
We were on the phone last night, we were on the phone texting. And I had about five or six of my staff people night before last, and it was about... This sounds terrible. But it was about after midnight or something. We got on this real hot idea, and we were texting back and forth. And nobody could sleep, we were all excited. We were all excitement, and everybody started talking about, "Ooh, I love the energy. The energy. Look at this, and if we did this we could do that. I wonder what this". Somebody said, "I know this. I could call this one". And we were texting back and forth, there's an energy. I learned there's an energy. There's an energy I have to have around me. There's energy, I'm telling you God's own truth. I don't know about you, but I gotta have a energy around me.
When I get with somebody that doesn't have my energy. It literally feels like torture. See, if my pulse drops, I pass out. Don't change my rhythm. If you change my rhythm, you kill my creativity. Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying to you. You gotta have my rhythm. I'm not saying that it's wrong for you to have your rhythm, but if we are going to walk together, we gotta have agreement.
Agreement is more than direction of where we're going. Agreement is in the cadence of our walk. Because even if we agree about the destination, but we don't have the same pulse, we cannot walk together. Say, "We agree". Right foot, left foot, right foot, left... You can't walk with me if you change the rhythm. The strength of your life is in your pulse. Destiny has a pulse. It has a time, it has a purpose. It has a season, it has a rhythm. Everything with God has a rhythm. He has a rhythm, it has a rhythm to it.
I believe to my soul God is a musician. That's why I use musical illustrations all the time. 'Cause you can't play music if you don't have rhythm. You can't play music... let me change that. You cannot play music with anybody. You might could play by yourself. 'Cause only you know when you coming in next. Have you ever played the piano for somebody who was singing a solo, and they could sing real good, but they had no rhythm? And you were trying to figure out when they were gonna come in. 'Cause they would just jump in at anytime. And all of a sudden it just drive you crazy. They were good by themselves, but you couldn't accommodate them, and you couldn't accessorize them, because you all could not get the rhythm.
Why we got drums, for rhythm. Establishes the beat. Tells all the musicians, this is when we come in. If I want to change the beat, I gotta change the drummer. Because if the drummer doesn't change his beat, I don't care who's on the piano, a bad drummer will drag you down to the gates of hell. One raggedy drummer will kill the entire choir. Because the drum sets the pulse. And the pulse is the rhythm. And the organ and the saxophone and the soloist and the choir are at the mercy of the drummer. Because the drummer gives me the beat, and the drummer is the pulse, and the pulse is the rhythm.
Have you been living your life without a drumbeat? Just doing what you wanna do, when you wanna do it? "I don't know when I'm 'a go. I'm 'a go when I feel like it. I'm 'a come back when I get ready". You're playing without rhythm, and you're losing the chance to be great. Because you have no pulse, nobody can fly with you. 'Cause they can't count on you to move the thing forward on beat. You know the song, you know the words. You got the voice, you got the right look, nice hair, beautiful dress. Bad rhythm.
So, you could sing at Sister Nae Nae's church, but you can't produce a CD. Because your greatness does not fit into the context of other people's greatness. And the fact that you can't fit into the rhythm of other people's greatness has diminished the possibilities of you accomplishing your destiny. Everything great has a rhythm. Thoughts have a rhythm, staff has a rhythm. Orchestra has a rhythm. Choir has a rhythm, life has a rhythm. Days have a rhythm, nights have a rhythm. The body has a rhythm. A woman has a rhythm, we call it a cycle. Everything has a rhythm.
Life is controlled by rhythm. And you're off beat. And if you are off beat, you are delayed. Because you won't have the discipline, the discipline of rhythm. This is your year to pick up the pace. Good God almighty. Pick up the pace, to get the rhythm of champions. You can't just watch TV and be a great preacher. You got to get the rhythm of champions. If you do what they do, you can get what they got. Success has a rhythm. Life has a rhythm. God has a rhythm, the world has a rhythm. The drummer's give me a rhythm. We got a rhythm. He took the rhythm from the moving of my body. And as he sets a rhythm I'm moving to the rhythm. Somebody jump on an instrument. And give me more in the rhythm.
Watch this, can I go deeper with this? I used to be a short order cook at a restaurant in the airport. And I was short order cook. And I found out that in order to survive in the kitchen, you gotta have a rhythm. You gotta have a rhythm. If you don't got a rhythm, you can't make it in a kitchen. You can cook at home for you and Nookie. But if you're gonna make it as a professional, you can't just be making pancake batter while the egg is turning. You gotta have everything ready. Get ready. Poor preparation slows down the rhythm.
Your destiny is already in you. Work that thing out. Progress isn't hindered by environment. I'm 'a drop this on you like a bomb. It is not hindered by... I've watched people change churches, change cities, change husbands, change wives, and never progress. Because they blame the environment for unproductivity. Progress isn't hindered by environment. The geese can progress. On land he can walk. On water, he can swim. On air, he can fly, because he is not depending on the environment to accelerate the process. Are you understand what I'm saying?
Cain got made at Abel and killed him, killed him. Couldn't stand for Abel to be great. God says to him, "Why is thy countenance fallen? What's wrong with you? If thou doest not well, will I not receive you"? God is saying to Cain, "If you what Abel did, you can get what Abel got. You don't have to kill Abel trying to get up. I would bless you like I blessed Abel, but you're not willing to make the sacrifice Abel made. So, you can't get the success that Abel got".
Stop being somebody's hater. You're wasting your energy in the wrong direction. Stop blaming people for stuff that you won't fix. Because people never considered critiquing themselves, they lose things that God sent them. Because they refuse to change. You could change, it would be cheaper to change. It would be easier to change. You'd be happier to change. "Well, it's not me, I gotta be me". You gotta learn a new you. Stop defining yourself by who you used to be. Listen at how you talk to yourself. You have convinced yourself that the old you is all you got to work with.
The devil is a lie. You can go in the phone booth and turn into Superman. Now, let me whip this on you, let me whip this on you. We're moving, we're migrating. Destiny is about movement. Tell somebody, "We're migrating, we're migrating". Yeah, we're being delivered, we're migrating. When the geese get ready to fly into new locations, they don't do it alone. They fly in a flock. They fly in a formation. Look at that. They fly like that.
Now, when they fly in formation, in structure, in order, without competing with each, they complement each other. And I'm 'a give you a couple of things that happens when they do that. The one that's up front has the biggest job, 'cause he breaks the wind first. So, that the next one: the wind is broken by the flapping of the other one's wings. And it passes all the way down the line, until they are lifted by the flapping of the wings of the bird in front of them. I am lifted by the flapping of the birds in front of me.
If my parents hadn't flapped, it wouldn't be that I couldn't fly, but I couldn't fly as fast and as fierce. But I'm flapping. Thank you. I'm flapping because I'm catching their wind beneath my wings. So, I'm lifted by who was in front of me. And I'm lifted by who is beside me. And I'm lifted by my ability to be great in the midst of other greatness. Makes me greater, gives me lift. The stats say that the birds fly in formation, reduces their energy level 70%. It takes 70% less energy to fly if you stop doing it by yourself. Just by getting with somebody else, who's going your way you can fly higher and fly further.
If you can allow other people to be great around you and not lose your rhythm. Put it back up here again, Jamel. Now, in order to fly with me and us to have the formation, you gotta have the rhythm. Because your tardiness, your slowfulness slows down the formation, hinders the rhythm, and stops the blessing. So, I want you to get that. I want you to understand it is easier when you don't do it in isolation. I want you to understand that Jesus sent them out by two by twos. He put them in groups of 70, he put them in groups of 12. He never sent them out one by one, because you are better together. And in order to be together you gotta have my pulse, you gotta have my rhythm.
So, you might wanna study me before you jump in. 'Cause if you gonna jump in, success is predicated on rhythm. You have let people who are not taking flight set the pace for your life. You let the past dictate the future. Who you were is controlling who you are. You got good intentions, but you got a bad drummer. I'm the only person that preaches like this. It don't make no sense if you don't understand my rhythm. 'Cause you say, "I thought you was talking 'bout birds. Now, you talking about drums. Now, you talking about business. Now you talking about the Bible". But it's all got a rhythm.
See, I didn't learn this in school. I learned this from God. It all has a rhythm. My preaching has a rhythm, my thinking has a rhythm, my prayer life has a rhythm, my decisions have a rhythm, my friends have a rhythm, my associates have a rhythm. I don't have time to be tied up with somebody who won't keep the rhythm. You'll slow me down, you'll wreck the flight, you'll change the momentum. There's a rhythm. Anybody catching what I'm saying?
I believe that this is your year. I believe that this your season. And in order to do it right, you got to understand the power of the flock. You gotta get in the rhythm of people. You gotta break rhythm with people that ain't taking you nowhere. You see the change, you know where you wanna go, you know what you wanna be, and you know what you wanna do. You cannot allow your loyalty to your old friends to slow down your new rhythm. Let 'em go. Take the risk of their criticism to have a change of your direction.
The other thing the birds teach us, that when one of 'em falls, and he falls out of the flock, and he goes down, he gets damaged, then two or three of them will soar down, and protect him 'til he recovers. And then they bring him back up, so he can continue his flight. You don't have to lose people you love, if they had the rhythm, and the lost it. Stop shooting the wounded. Go get 'em. Go get 'em. That's somebody's word, I don't know who it is. Go get 'em. Touch somebody say, "Go get 'em". God said, "I will preserve you". God said, "I will deliver you". God said, "I will protect you. As birds fly, I will preserve you".
The only reason you're getting tired and old and weak is because you're dragging people who don't have the rhythm. Get in the rhythm of champions, get in the rhythm of leaders, get in the rhythm of people that are overcomers, get in the rhythm. Oh, God. Something is about to happen. I don't know why God's got me teaching down this line, but something is about to happen. I don't know who it is. It might only be three people in this room, but somebody's about to take flight. Clear the runway, start the engine, buckle your seat belts. Hallelujah to God. We're about to take off into flight.
Slap somebody and say, "That man is talking about me. That man is talking about me. This is my season. This is my hour. This is my time. I had to be at church, because God is teaching me how to flow into my destiny". Lift your head, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up. Touch seven people and tell them, "I'm being lifted. My thinking is being lifted. My plans are being lifted. My mentality is being lifted. My attitude is being lifted. I'm being lifted". Let everything that feels a lift give God a praise right now. Would you look at the person next to your and shake 'em by the hand like you gonna shake it off. Say, "Neighbor, what God is trying to tell you is that you been cleared for takeoff". You have been cleared for takeoff.
I gotta stop there. There's so much more to share on this whole subject of destiny. I have so much in me that I've just released a book about it. I think that it is so important, so many people wonder all of their lives trying to see what's going to happen. Never understanding that God has already set in place what's going to happen. And he's trying to draw you into a predestined in. If you can ever get that in your head you'll bypass every opportunity to get off the road to destiny, you'll dismiss distractions, and you'll focus on what God is about to do in your life. May God bless you. May heaven smile upon you.