TD Jakes - It's In The Bag
The Bible says that Jesus was moved with compassion because he saw them being scattered as sheep having no shepherd. Now, there's one other thing that I think is important for you to understand. The disciples were hungry. They were already hungry. The boat has landed and they're tryin' to get away from the people, and here come these people. Have you ever been tired and they still want more? It is only frustrating when people make a demand where you don't have a supply. They were frustrated because the people made a demand and they didn't have a supply. Jesus was moved because what the people demanded, he was able to supply. Isn't that good?
Now here's the thing, if you don't understand the journey, you won't understand what happened. You have to realize that they have come to a place right now where they are in a crisis position because the people are, the disciples are already tired. They didn't just start ministering, they'd been ministering a long time and now Jesus is having to teach these new masses of people, and he's teaching a long time, and he's goin' through a lot of principles, and so his boys come to him and say, "It's late". Isn't that something? Who are you to tell me it's late. Look at this presumptuous attitude. You're going to the creator of time telling him... I would rebuke him if I hadn't done it myself. Oh, I'm the only one who's gone to God and said it's late. I thought I'd be further than this by this age. I thought I would own more than this by this age. I thought my ministry would have exploded by now. Who are you to tell God it's late? It's late, can I go a little bit deeper with this?
I want to go deeper with it, because Jesus asked them a question. First he makes a statement. He says you give them something to eat. Now, it's important that you backtrack and understand that he is asking hungry men to feed hungry people. If you don't understand that, you'll never be able to minister, that we are called as hungry men to feed hungry people. You're goin' through the same mess that they're going through, and yet God calls you to look over what you're going through and feed them anyway. What he's tryin' to do is stretch them. He's trying to teach them discipline. He's trying to teach him that you don't get to act in your feelings. That if you're going to be a disciple, you have to have discipline. Overlook your hunger and feed them anyway. Oh, that's profound, because the truth of the matter is, the same things that we are trying to preach you out of, we're wrestling with.
See, y'all can't take it just raw like that. Have you ever tried to encourage people, got anointed to encourage them, broke the yoke that was encouraging them, and got in the car and was discouraged? Jesus says get them, them, I'm tired, I'm hungry, and you want me to keep on feeding these people? My daughter's in trouble, you want me to help her? He is trying to stretch their capacity, because if you always operate in your convenience, you will never increase your capacity. Let me try them. If you always operate in your convenience, you will never increase your capacity. You'll never know what you can do until you do it hungry, until you do it broke, until you do it frustrated, until you do it tired. 'Til you say, "Though he slay me, yet". Run over and slap somebody and tell them, "I'm gonna do it anyway". I'm gonna do it when I feel like it. I'm gonna do it when I don't feel like it. I'm going to do it when all hell is breaking loose. I'm gonna do it anyway.
And then they say, look at the two dimensions, they say should we go spend 100 denarii and go to the store? Let me show you this question. I want to unpack this question. In other words, what this situation requires, we don't have. So that guy over there has it, should I take my money and give it to him to get it? Let me unpack this question. You must realize that the only thing that they saw that they had was stuff. And there are no stores close by, we're gonna have to travel to get what we need if we do it in the natural. It's going to take too long if you do it in the natural. The reason you're off schedule right now is that you're trying to do it in the natural. The reason you're behind right now is that you listened at flesh and blood. The reason you're behind right now is because you're traveling by land and God's traveling by sea. He's talkin' Spirit, you're talkin' flesh.
So, I want to unpack this question. Touch somebody and say, "Unpack it, unpack it, unpack it". Jesus asked them, "How many loaves do you have"? And they must have been standing there with their teeth in their mouth like people do when you ask 'em something that they haven't thought about, and Jesus must have got ticked 'cause he said, "Go look". In other words, don't look out, you've been lookin' out for what you need, but the Lord sent me here to tell you what you need, you've already got. I need 30 seconds of praise from anybody who got it. Go look, touch ten people and say, "Go look". Go look, go look, go look, go look, go look. Go look, go look, go look, go look, go look, go look, go. Tell them go look, go look, go look, go look. Go look in, don't go look out. Go look in. Go look in, in.
You've been walking all around it. Every miracle that I name came from something that the person who needed was walking past. The prophet didn't bring the handful of meal, it was already there. He didn't give her a pot full of oil, it was already there. God sent me here to tell somebody he's going to use something that you already got. But because you don't perceive it correctly, you cannot use it to its ultimate power when you've been stepping over it like it ain't nothin'. So, now he's put you in a desert place where you can't get it from nobody else. Nobody stood by you. Nobody you can trust. Nobody you can talk to. Nobody you can lean on. Nobody you can open up to. Maybe now you'll stop shopping at other folk's stores and you'll sweep your own house. Go look, slap somebody and say, "Go look".
You've got to unpack this boy. I got to unpack this boy. Because they looked amongst the men, and the men didn't have it. Looked among the seniors, statesmen, and they didn't have it. Looked amongst the women, and they didn't have it. They were looking over the next generation. God had hid the bag in the boy. But because they were young, the older ones were stepping all around them. God has always hid his treasure in kids. It's always been a little boy that would lead 'em. It's always been a little boy that he made king. It's always been somebody that they looked over. This is a generational issue, because one generation, the adults, are looking amongst themselves for a lunch they don't have. The bag is in the boy. Oh, it got quiet in here now, Jesus. He don't have no titles. He doesn't have no position. He don't have no office. He might be dancing around on the mountaintops acting a fool, but the power... that's why when God got ready to come, he didn't come as a man, he came as a... somebody holler, "Go look".
Now here's the conundrum. The older generation knew what to do with the lunch, but they didn't have it. The younger generation had the lunch, but they don't know what to do with it. God has now put them in a situation that until the two generations come together, everybody's gonna starve. That's why when the devil gets ready to really attack you, he always attacks your child. 'Cause if he attacks your child, it will always shut you down. That's why you got to go and snatch your child out of the hands of the enemy, and say, "Give me my boy back". So, Jesus says to the men, "Go look, just try". He didn't say go find, he just said go look.
One other thing I want to show you, I want to unpack this bag. I unpacked the journey, I unpacked the question, I unpacked the boy, I got to unpack the bag. I think it is so strange that the condition of the crowd is predicated on the bag. If we don't find the bag, the crowd not only goes hungry, the gospel doesn't spread. 'Cause I need this five, ten, or perhaps 15.000 people, 'cause we only counted men, not women or children, to spread the word, and what it's going to cause, watch this, this big thing to happen is going to come from a small place. Big, small, big, small, big, small. I've been praying for a big thing, but it's going to come from a small place. God always hides his greatest power in a small place. Peter, I don't have to give you the kingdom, I'm gonna give you the key. How big is a key? It's a small thing.
This bag, somebody say, "This bag," this bag, this bag, this bag, everything I need is in the bag. That's why the devil doesn't want me to see it. It's in the bag. He doesn't wanna see it, he doesn't want me to see the value of me, 'cause I'm a small thing with a big dream. And until I see that everything I dreamed is in the bag, until I see that the oak tree is in the acorn, the reason God doesn't want you to despise the day of small beginnings is because he's gonna unlock the kingdom, not through the crowd, it's going to come through the bag. Now, we already know that God can make it rain down bread from heaven, so he was not at the mercy of the bag. He could've let it rain bread down from heaven, but he's trying to teach us the power of a little bit. That's why I ask you, "Do you have anything left"? 'Cause all you need is a little bit.
And so they came back to Jesus, and said, "Well, we did find a little something, but it's not hardly enough". It's not hardly enough. When I looked at what I got against what I need, it's not hardly enough. We got a little money in the savings account, but when I look at what we're tryin' to buy, it's not hardly enough. I got a few gifted people in my church, but when I look at what other people are doing, it's not hardly enough. He says I'm not gonna give you enough. I am not going to give you enough, because feeding them is never the problem. What I need is the shock value of so much comin' outta so little. If you had enough, it wouldn't be noised abroad. But the miracle is that I'm going to take little ol' you. Moses, If you spoke good, I wouldn't use you. But the miracle is that I'm gonna use your stuttering lips.
Touch somebody and say, "It's in the bag". It's in the bag. It's in the bag. I'm gonna show you one more thing and I'm gonna get out of here. So, they brought him this bag and they said, "We did inventory. What is so little against so much"? Let me see. Wait a minute, I started to count, now I forgot. He said wait a minute, no, no, no, no, no, no, the first thing you gotta do before you count the bag, you've got to count the people. Now Lord, I'm already hungry, now I got to count. Let me see, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50. Man, y'all sit down. One, two, three, four five, look at that, look at that, look at that, look at that, look at that, look at that, look at that. Look at how long it takes to get things in order. Look at how long it takes.
Slap your neighbor and say, "You gave up too soon". You gotta be willing to go through the process and do it over, and do it over, and do it over, and do it over, and do it over, and do it over, and do it over, and do it over. And all the while they're doing it, they're doing it hungry. They're doing it weak, they're doing it tired, they're doing it frustrated, they're doing it not knowing how it's going to end up, but they're still counting, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Tell your neighbor, "I'm still counting". It don't look like it's working, but I'm still counting. I'm hungry and I'm tired, but I'm still doing it, I'm still doing it. I'm still doing it.
They had to do it, 50 groups 100 times, to get them in order. It took a while, and then they come to Jesus and they say, "We counted the people, we're not guessing at the crowd, we put them in the groups you said. It's a whole bunch of them people, and all that's in the bag, wait a minute, Jesus, Jesus, it ain't but two fish. Let me count this, one, two, three, four, and five loaves of bread. Two fish, five loaves of bread". One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, complete. Seven God's number of completion. It's in the bag. But see, that ain't what got me.
Let me show you what got me. I wondered why they didn't have leeks, or onions, or something else in the bag. Why two fish and five loaves of bread? And then I remembered that the fish came through the water, and the bread came from the ground, 'cause the bread came from the wheat that grew in the ground. And then I realized Jesus came by the water, and they came by the land, and now I realized that the whole journey is in the bag. Everything you've been through is in the bag. Every step you took is in the bag. Every need you got, it's in the bag. Weather is spiritual or natural, it's in the bag, whatever you need, it's in the bag.