TD Jakes - Blind to the Bread
I will be in the Gospel of Saint Mark, chapter 8, verses 14-22. Glory to God! Give it up for the choir and the amazing job they did ministering to us this morning. They were singing like sunbeams, beams of light. Hallelujah! Thank you, thank you, Jesus! May I say this one quick thing before we get into the text? When I said «beams of light,» my soul quickened because the Bible says that when Moses came down off the mountaintop, his face shone with the glory of God. You remember that word «shone»?
If you study that word, it means beams of light. He had glory beams shooting out of his face. I hate to tell you about the person sitting next to you, but they have beams of light shooting out of their face because they’ve been with Jesus. Has anyone been with Jesus? If you’ve been with Jesus, you have beams of light. If you’re online and you have beams of light, type it online. I have beams of light in my house, in my car, in the living room. I’ve got beams, beams! I’ve got beams of light! The Gospel of Saint Mark, chapter 8, verses 14-22—there you will find my assignment for this morning. We interject the text in the middle of the goings and comings of Jesus, but I picked up the conversation at the time He was having a private talk with His disciples about a public display of power.
On Friday, I had a private conversation with my staff, and when you talk to the people who work with you, it goes deeper than when you talk to people who come to hear you. So, in keeping with the concept I shared with you last week about the quilt, we are listening to a backside conversation. Y’all remember the backside of the quilt? We are listening to a backside conversation that Jesus is having with His disciples. The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. I’m going to read that again; don’t take me away. I want to get your attention to the text. The disciples had forgotten to bring bread except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.
Come on, be careful! Jesus warned them, «Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.» They discussed this with one another and said, «It is because we have no bread.» And Jesus was aware of their discussion. Listen to that—"aware of their discussion.» He wasn’t just present; He was aware. Isn’t it amazing that God is aware of our discussions? Jesus says, «Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see and ears but fail to hear? Don’t you remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000? How many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?»
«Twelve,» they replied. «And when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?» They answered, «Seven.» More loaves, fewer people. He said to them, «Do you still not understand?» They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought Him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. My subject this morning is «Blind to the Bread.» Write this down because you’re going to want to remember this: «Blind to the Bread.» If you’re online, write it on the line: «Blind to the Bread.» Mark 8:14–22.
Spirit of the living God, please come close. They have not come to hear me, but You. If the only one speaking is me, then the service fails. Speak to me out of the volume of the book. Great God that You are, I thank You in advance for what You are about to do. Have Your way in the midst of Your people, for You are God, and beside You, there is no other. Let it be not just revelatory but relevant. Curve it to the continuity of situations happening right in this room. Speak to people watching online in such a way that they feel like You told on them. Thank You for being aware of our conversation because You are so alert to what we say. We know our prayers are heard. Thank You for listening when we talk. In Jesus' name, amen.
You can rest the rest of the day, but I must go to work. I want to back away from the text for a few minutes and take a little time to think about how we are introduced to God in the Scriptures. The Bible says in the first book of the Bible, in chronological order, «In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.» The earth was without form and void, and darkness covered the face of the deep, and the first thing God says is, «Let there be light.» The first thing we see Him do is illumination. From Genesis to Revelation, He is in the business of illumination. The second thing we see about Him that is quite important is that He does not create in darkness; He creates in light.
So, if I am a creature who lives in darkness, there is no opportunity for creation because I stay in dark places. Matthew 3 says that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. So, if I am in darkness, it is not me that God has rejected; it is that He does not create in darkness. This is the condemnation that goes on to say that it is coming to the world because men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil, for they have not believed in the name of our God. So, believing is light. Believing is light, and it is in the atmosphere of light that God creates. Isn’t it funny to think about how, in the New Testament, the healing that perpetuates itself over and over again is not just men with sickle cell anemia nor just ten lepers, but the one that repeats itself over and over again is the healing of blindness.
Every time God heals a man from blindness, is He not saying, «Let there be light»? Over and over again, just like the Father did in creation, the Son does in redemption. He says, «Let there be light.» And that light illuminated first the physical eyes. But could it be possible that the healing of the physical eyes is just a simulation of the healing of the spiritual eyes? Let’s go deeper. We have two sets of senses, all believers do. We have our eyes, our ears, our mouths, our sense of smell, and our sense of touch—all of those natural senses that work in us as human beings. But we have a second set of senses that are not physically induced; they are our spiritual senses. Our spiritual senses are very important.
Paul says, «I pray that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened.» The most graphic display I see of the eyes of your understanding being enlightened happened to the writer himself when he was on the road to Damascus. He lost his eyesight but gained his insight. There are plenty of people in the room who have great eyesight, but there’s a difference between having great eyesight and having great insight. My old eyes are growing dim; that’s why I have these big glasses on my eyes, because I turned 40 and my Bible started shrinking. That’s what I thought happened at first. Then I broke down and accepted the fact that my eyes are getting dim. But though my outer eyes are getting dim, my inner eyes are keener than they have ever been in all of the years of my life. For the entrance of Your word, the Bible says, giveth light. The entrance of Thy word giveth light is not talking about sunshine; it means the more Word I get in, the more enlightened I become. Are you hearing what I’m saying? The entrance of Thy word giveth light.
So, if the enemy could do anything to stop you from hearing, he would do it, because if you get it in your ear, it comes out through your inner ear. Are you hearing what I’m saying? So, when we look at Jesus, Jesus has come to bring light because in Him was light, and there is no darkness at all. There is no darkness at all in Jesus. Jesus has so much light that the sun will lose its job in heaven. The Bible says in the book of Revelation that the face of Jesus will light up the world. Can you imagine a face that would outshine the sun? That’s what glory looks like. That’s why glory beams were shooting out of the face of Moses, and they had to veil his face because carnal people can’t stand great lights.
Some of you are hated because you are great. Yeah, yeah, yeah! I told you, evil men love darkness because their deeds are evil. Every time you enter the office, you come in there with those bright lights on, and that’s why you get on their nerves, because they don’t like to see that kind of light. They don’t love light; they love darkness. I thought the light people would shout me down right now! You’ve changed your hair, you’ve changed your clothes, you’ve changed your makeup, you’ve changed your dress, and they still don’t like it. You don’t understand; it’s not what you’ve got on you; it’s what you’ve got in you that gets on their nerves. Jesus came to bring light into the world just like the Father said, «Let there be light.»
Let me prove it to you. The Apostle Paul says that the light of the glory of God would shine in our hearts in the face of Jesus Christ. He is imitating the creation in His declaration that the same thing the Father did in creation, the Son does in redemption; He brings light. Oh, and everything grows in light! Let me fool with you; I don’t care how healthy the plant is, if you put it in a closet, it’s going to wither. Everything grows in light. Say that with me: everything grows in light. So, if I were the enemy, I would bring dark people into your life to try to neutralize the brilliance of your light, to stop you from growing to your fullest potential. There are some things that can get a little bit of light and still grow, but for full capacity, you need bright light. «Let there be light.»
I’ll deal with the mud after I create the light. I’ll deal with the air once I create the light. I’ll deal with the seas once I create the light. But the first thing I need to straighten out this chaos is light. Help me to see, not just with these eyes but with these spiritual eyes. They led Paul away from Damascus blind but enlightened. So, he prays in Ephesians that the eyes of your understanding might be enlightened, that you might know what is the hope of His calling and what is His inheritance in the saints and what is His exceeding richness toward us who believe in Christ. He said, «I want you to know it. I don’t want you to be around something and not see it.»
How many times in your life have you said, «How can I not see that?» Betrayed, denied, or belittled by somebody you trusted, and you wonder, «How could I not see that? That was right in front of my face, and I missed it. How could I not see that?» Jesus came to display the glory of God, and we beheld the wonder of His glory, the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus came to reveal what was concealed in the Old Testament. Jesus came to be the light of the world. «I am the light of the world, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden.» Somebody holler «light!» You don’t know when you said «light,» you just called Jesus. If your kidneys are failing, touch them and say «light.»
If your lungs are failing, touch them and say «light.» The entrance of Thy word giveth light! When the word comes in, the light comes in, and the darkness has got to run for its life. If you’ve been dealing with depression, lay hands on your head and say «light.» Some people can’t see what’s right in front of them. There have been moments when I haven’t seen what was right in front of me, and then there were moments I was frustrated because I couldn’t believe that I didn’t see it. Some people can’t see right in front of their own house, can’t see their own kids, can’t see their own spouse. I listened to my mother tell people things we would never do that I had already done. Can we be real this morning? My children would never say something like that, and I had cussed Miss Paige completely out! I looked at her like, «Yeah, Mommy!»
So, this light has to be developed in us. The presentation of Jesus does not fulfill the mission of creating light, so Jesus sets about doing miracles, and the miracles are done to enlighten us. Otherwise, they make no sense. Why waste time healing people who are going to die anyway? If You’re an eternal God and You believe in eternal life, then You don’t cling to physical life with the same fierceness that we do, because we haven’t seen anything else. But if You know that time is just a sliver in the power of eternity, why would I struggle to heal you so you can die again? Think about it; I’m just asking a question: why did Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead when he died again? Is He not just displaying power? Power so that unbelievers can believe, «This sickness"—let me quote Him—"is not unto death, but for the glory of God.»
Not under that, but for the glory of God. And that’s why I didn’t heal him—because I need him to die so I can show off how powerful I am. And if I tell you what Lazarus did, he died for me. So, Lazarus became a guide to create a platform of impossibility so that when Jesus got there, He could say, «Roll the stone away, Lazarus, come forth.» And suddenly, they believed in Jesus because He brought light into a dark place. Most of the miracles Jesus did were absolutely amazing though for temporal people who needed them. The woman with the issue of blood had been untouched for 12 long years—unloved, unable to be held by her husband, her friends, her companions. No touch, no welcoming; she was unclean according to the Levitical laws and therefore untouchable. She is the scarlet letter on her head, like the scarlet letter in the story. Her scarlet letter isn’t a letter on her head but bleeding from her womb.
The loneliness must be just as traumatic as the physical condition itself—there is no comfort, no healing. Every doctor who tried to heal her had failed, and she has also become depleted financially. So, she is hemorrhaging blood, hemorrhaging relationships, and hemorrhaging finances. And one touch! They didn’t hear me, Dr. Nader—one touch! No, no, it wasn’t that Jesus touched her; it was that she touched Him. You got to stop sitting in church with your legs crossed, waiting on Jesus to touch you, and get radical enough to go for it and touch Him. Because one touch can stop everything that’s leaking out of your life—your business, your health, your relationships. One touch from Jesus can break generational curses and turn your life around. One touch from Jesus, and you’re still going to sit back, legs crossed, when I’m teaching you that one touch from Jesus could change your life if you touch Him.
Somebody touched me! Somebody touched me! A lot of people brushed up against me, but somebody touched me! Jesus is walking up and down the corridors of this church, waiting for somebody to touch Him. Can I hear some glory in this place? The same Greek word that we see used in Scripture for miracles is also translated as signs. Miracles and signs were done that you might believe; they are done to create an atmosphere of faith. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead that they might believe. He didn’t raise Lazarus from the dead because He was worried about death, because He is the Lord of death. He will take the sting out of death and the victory out of the grave. He will rob death of its power and render it totally helpless. Jesus wasn’t worried about death; He needed somebody to authenticate the light of who He was. «Roll the stone away.»
Look at the drama! He didn’t need to have the drama; He could have called Lazarus awake. He didn’t even have to be in close proximity; He could have raised him from the dead with a thought in His head. He said, «Father, I know that You hear me, but for the benefit of them that don’t believe, I’m going to call Lazarus out loud.» I could have just sent you a thought and got him up out of the grave, but so that they will associate his resurrection with My word, I’m going to call him out loud: «Lazarus, come forth!» You think you’ve got a big problem? I’ve got news for you, baby: you need only one word from Jesus! One word! One word! The purpose of miracles and signs is for you to believe—not for you to be bedazzled or fascinated but so that He can heal you of the blindness of your doubt, your fear, your insecurities, your intimidations.
That’s your darkness! Your darkness isn’t physical—we’ve got electricity. Your darkness is all those dark places inside of you that create fungus of unbelief, doubt, intimidation, depression, fear, and insecurity. It is into that environment that He performs miracles, that you might believe He can show Himself strong, that He can show Himself God in your life, so that you can be fully persuaded when the next incident comes that He can stand on His own recognizance, having already done so many great things for you. It is done so that you will have no doubt that surely, God is able! I got the watch, then—surely, because something went all through me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet.
When I said «surely,» demons started to tremble. When I said «surely,» doubt dissipated. When I said, «Surely, God is able!» Somebody shout «surely!» Yet for all the amazing things that Jesus did, said, and manifested—from blind Bartimaeus to turning water into wine—some refuse to believe. If they refuse to believe in Jesus, then you might not be shocked that some refuse to believe in you. And their consternation, their degradation, and their acrimonious remarks assault your soul. And if you’re not careful, you’ll change because of their criticism, from form to form to form, trying to find something that is acceptable to someone who will never be appeased. Let me show you what I’m saying: John the Baptist lived his whole life without worldly comforts, and because of that, the people didn’t believe his message due to his lifestyle of self-denial.
Jesus came, eating and drinking, and they called Him a winebibber. Unbelief is never satisfied! So you can keep changing. You can get rid of all your worldly goods and live like John the Baptist, and they’ll still find something to criticize. Or you can eat, drink, and be merry like Jesus. The first time we meet Jesus and John, He is at a party, turning water into wine. They ran out of wine! «I got some, come here, boys!» Jesus is not this religious figure that’s being taught to you today; Jesus was enjoying Himself! He was at a party that lasted several days. They ran the party so long that they ran out of wine! And Jesus used this first miracle to keep the party going. Hey, I’m in the Bible! I don’t know about y’all, but I’m in the Word of God. And the contrast between John and Jesus is miles apart, and they didn’t believe either one.
So, whether you wear your natural hair or a weave, straight hair or no hair; whether you have a tummy tuck or an implant in a place of your choice—can you believe I said that in public? Pray for me! Pray for me, Mother! Pray for me, girl! Pray for me! There are still going to be some people who do not believe in the texts. Jesus has performed miracles, and He does an accounting of those miracles. He said, «Don’t you remember how I took two fish and five loaves of bread and fed five thousand?» This is the strangest miracle to me in the whole Bible, because Jesus is preaching in the wilderness; 5,000 men have followed Him, not to mention women and children. The disciples have come to Him and said, «The people are about to faint; let’s send them away that they might eat.»
Jesus says they need not depart, which makes me think that He’s not through preaching. Jesus says, «What do you have?» He takes two fish and five loaves of bread, sits them down into groups of 50, feeds all 5,000 of them, with 12 baskets full left, and then says, «Go home!» My problem with this is: didn’t we ask you to let them go home in the first place? You didn’t have to perform a miracle; all you had to do was a benediction, since obviously, you were still talking anyway! You didn’t preach anymore! Feeding the 5,000 wasn’t the point. I love my church when it’s quiet; I enjoy it when it shows, but I really love it when it’s quiet. When my church gets quiet, they have zoomed in, because some of them have never thought about the ridiculousness of saying they need not depart, and then keeping them there, feeding them, and sending them home. If I was a disciple, I would say we could have done this in the first place!
Paul later said, «Do you not have homes to eat in? Just send them home!» You send them home anyway! Why have we confiscated this little boy’s lunch? Call Child Protective Services! We have taken this little boy’s lunch—his only lunch that his mama gave him—and used it to feed people who could go home and eat! Five thousand men, not to mention women and children, two fish and five loaves of bread! Listen, that’s Jesus' accounting for the stewardship of miracles. How are we accounting for the stewardship of miracles? How do we record and keep records of what God has done, so that God can have a bio in your life, and so that you are prepared for what God will do based on what God has done?
The second miracle is slightly more complicated, because Jesus had a reason to perform this miracle. There are 4,000 people who have followed Him several days into the wilderness, and these 4,000 people would have fainted trying to get back home for lack of food. He uses seven loaves of bread—more bread for fewer people—and they have fewer leftovers; they have seven baskets full left. Hmm, interesting! More bread for fewer people, and you would think there would be more leftovers. These are hungry people, though! They are less in number but more in appetite! All congregations are not the same. It’s not how many people are present that determines the flow of miracles in a place; it’s how hungry those people are that controls the flow of miracles.
I was in Bible class with ten members of this crowd, and we had a hundred percent glory, because God doesn’t go by a headcount; He goes by a hunger count. He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled. If all the people in this room got hungry, it would put a demand on the gift that would saturate the place! God doesn’t care about numbers; He cares about appetite! To a house that wanted a lot of bread, He sent a lot of manna. To a house with a poor appetite, He said little manna. How hungry are you? How hungry are you? Or is this just your Sunday morning routine? I want to walk through this text and show you some curiosities: how could you leave 12 baskets full and seven baskets full—19 baskets full of fish and bread—and walk away from it? It just happened, and you only got one loaf? My first problem with the disciples is they forgot to bring the bread!
After Jesus has invested all of this into you, the Bible says the disciples had forgotten the bread! So the Lord told me to ask you: have you forgotten the bread? 19 baskets of bread, and all you got is one loaf? That is discouraging for any ministry, any minister, to pour out on this level to a people who only keep that little. And all you got to show for all that Jesus did in your life is one loaf of bread? There are a lot of church folk in this room right now that God has done so many miracles for, that you’ve got 19 loaves of bread! Don’t let hell trick you into forgetting the bread that God has already done in your life! If I’m talking to you, give God praise!
Wait a minute, let’s go deeper! They were with Jesus, and they still forgot to bring with them what Jesus had done! They are in the presence of the Lord, who is keeping an accounting of what He has invested in their life, and He recounts the accounting in their presence of how much they should have left. And you show up after being saved 20 years with one measly little McDonald’s loaf of bread! As old as you are, as saved as you are, as gifted as you are, as many times as God raised you up and brought you out of trouble, and brought you out of depression, and brought you out of the hospital, and brought you out of jail, and brought you out of tragedy, and brought you out of adversity—you mean you come here with one measly little decrepit loaf of bread?
That’s the first problem I had with the text! We don’t keep enough left! We forget, once we get out of trouble, to value what’s left. While we’re in trouble, we are praying feverishly and fervently for God to deliver, and then we leave the bread on the boat, and we show up with one pitiful-looking sad loaf of bread! I’m embarrassed! How many times have I walked away from a 19-basketful situation with one measly loaf of bread? That’s pitiful, that’s sad—that you would have so little to show for 40 years of life, that God protected you when you were in your mama’s womb, that God raised you in an undesirable situation and still brought you through it and raised you up, and you came out by His grace and by His miracles! That God raised you and gave you a job sometimes that you weren’t even qualified for and put you in a position where you didn’t even have experience! And now you’re sitting in here with your entitled self, acting like you deserve to be where you are! «I don’t know whether I believe in giving! I don’t know whether I believe in tithing!»
How you wouldn’t have nothing to tithe on if you were still getting WIC and food stamps, government cheese, powdered eggs, and powdered milk? And the only reason you are arrogant about your giving is because you left the bread on the boat! People who remember say, «All of my help comes from the Lord! All of my needs, everything I want, comes from the Lord!» Is there anybody in here that remembers the 19 baskets full? This is how I tell Him. When I ask Him for something, I ask Him for things sometimes, and when I ask Him for something, I also tell Him: «But if You don’t do it, and if You don’t give it, and if You don’t send it…»
And if you change your mind, you’ve already done enough. You’ve been so good to me; you brought me from such a long way. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that He’s done for me, my soul cries out «Hallelujah!» Because I’ve got enough left. If you’ve got something left, make some noise in this place! Sit down; I’m going to go a little bit deeper with you. Can I go deeper? Can I go deeper? Can somebody say something is about to happen in this place? Something’s about to happen in this place! Something’s about to happen in this place! If nothing else, I’m going to go back and get that bread off of my boat. I’m going to go back and remember and stir up the gifts that lie within me. If nothing else, I’m going to change my attitude and act like the blessed woman I am and the blessed man I am and the blessed preacher I am. I’ve got too much stuff on the boat to show up at the party with one little measly loaf of bread.
The devil is a liar, and Jesus speaks to them to beware of the leavening of the Pharisees. Beware of the effect of your friends, your associates, and the people you talk to who seek to devalue me in your life. Jesus calls them leavening because who you hang with affects how you rise. Can I say that for the people in the back? Who you hang with affects how you rise. So, Jesus called the Pharisees leavening and said, «Be careful, because they will dilute or pollute you down to one loaf of bread.» And then He does His accounting thing. He says, «Do you remember how you had five thousand?» «Yes, Lord, and I took two fish and five loaves of bread and fed five thousand.» Then He said, «How much did you have left?»
Oh my God! God is concerned not with how many you fed, but with how much you have left. Now, this is important. I’ve got four principles I’m going to give you real quick, and I’ll be done. The first principle is the principle of multiplication. Jesus does a miracle to teach them that you don’t have to have enough to work with for Him to meet the need. Yes, I say unto thee this day in this house and amongst this people, I will take the little that you will sacrifice to me, and when I touch it, I will multiply it. Do not be afraid of their faces and what they do not have. Do not be afraid of how they look at you. Stop counting what’s in your bag. I am going to bring you into a season of multiplication. I will take what you have, and you will be shocked at what I am able to do with you.
You are not coming into addition; you are not coming into subtraction; you are coming into multiplication. And all those that receive that word gave Him a crazy praise! I dare you to praise Him! I dare you to praise Him! I dare you to praise Him! While you’re praising Him, He’s multiplying you. While you’re praising Him, He’s multiplying it. While you’re praising Him, He’s renewing your strength. While you praise Him, He’s adding on to you. While you praise Him, He’s blessing it, and breaking it, and increasing it, and serving it.
Type on the line: «I’m going into multiplication! I’m going into the principle of multiplication!» It’s happening in my life; it’s happening on my job; it’s happening in my finances; it’s happening in my body; it’s happening in my strength; it’s happening in my social environment. I’m meeting people I thought I would never meet because God is taking me into the principle of multiplication—pressed down, shaken together, running over—supernatural! Who can receive this word? Who can receive this word? Jesus didn’t do this miracle just to do it. He didn’t do it because He likes to make lunch for grown people. Jesus did it so they would step into the principle of multiplication and understand that not only are you enough; you are more than enough if you turn it over to God. God is going to bring you into increase like you’ve never seen before.
Who am I talking to? I’d like to know who I’m talking to. The principle of multiplication. You can either write nine down nine times and come to 81, or you can multiply and say 9 times 9 is 81 and be done with it. God said He’s going to get you there faster; He’s going to get you to the same place at a faster rate. Who am I talking to? God is picking up the pace in this season. God is picking up the pace in this season! You’re going to have to step into multiplication. You’re adding it up too slow; you’re going over the same thoughts over and over again, and you think you’re thinking, but what you’re doing is worrying. Sit down; I’m going to give you the next point; I’m almost done.
The second principle is the principle of sacrifice. In order to go into multiplication, you have to go into sacrifice. If the little boy didn’t give his lunch, there would be no multiplication. If the widow didn’t give her pot of oil, she would have had nothing to live off of. When the prophet came to the other widow’s house and said, «If you bake a cake for me first,» what he’s trying to get her to understand is not that he wants the bread; he’s trying to get her into multiplication. He says, «If you sacrifice, I’ll take you into multiplication.»
The problem with the church today is we like to shout, we like to dance, we like light shows, we like parades and banners, but we don’t like to sacrifice. But the entryway into multiplication is to go into sacrifice. I don’t care if there’s nobody in here but a little boy; if you want to go into multiplication, I dare you to go into sacrifice. I’m going to sow for what God’s about to do in my life. Can you prove it by the Bible? Yes, sir! If you sow sparingly, you’ll reap sparingly. If you sow bountifully, you’ll reap bountifully. God said, «I won’t bring you into multiplication while you hoard your stuff back, because if you’re going to save yourself, I don’t need to save you.»
Who am I preaching to? Did you see how many more people shouted off of multiplication than they did sacrifice? That’s why you’re stuck. You like to shout off the idea, but you don’t walk into reality. Everybody who wants to walk into reality is trying to figure out, «What can I sacrifice? What can I sacrifice?» Because I’ve got to get in on this multiplication, and I’ve got to be ready to sacrifice. What can I sacrifice? Make 30 seconds of praise in this house! Two fish and five loaves of bread! Touch seven people and tell them, «I’ve got to get in on it! I’ve got to get in on it! I’ve got to get in on it! I’ve got to get in on it!»
If I’m going to be in multiplication, I’ve got to get in on sacrifice. If I can’t shout off a sacrifice, I can’t shout off a multiplication. You can’t have one without the other. Jesus doesn’t have anything to work with until you give up something you’ve got for something He’s got. But God said if you’ll open up what’s in your hand, He’ll open up what’s in His hand. Somebody help me shout! Yeah! You just opened up a door! You just opened up a door! You just opened up a door! Every time you sacrifice, you’re coming into multiplication. God’s going to take the level you sacrifice on, and God’s going to multiply! Oh, y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! Surely, blessings I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply thee! This is no maybe; this is surely!
Somebody shout «surely!» Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! And I’m not just talking about money; I’m talking about time; I’m talking about energy; I’m talking about loyalty; I’m talking about commitment; I’m talking about focus. I told my son-in-law, I said, «This is not just a building to me; this is blood; this is sweat; this is tears.» I can see myself climbing up in the rafters, going up on the roof, climbing on the top of the building—scared and still going—reaching and moving in the construction—dirty, dirtied up my clothes, messed up everything—but I was willing to throw everything in it so I could reap something out of it!
Come on, somebody! No, I’m not just going to hand you something because you want it! If you don’t sacrifice, you can’t get into multiplicity! You can’t show me in the Bible Jesus multiplying anywhere there wasn’t sacrifice. Everywhere you turn, the gateway to multiplicity has always been sacrifice. Stop trying to find a shortcut. Stop trying to work your way around it! You can’t hoard to yourself and multiply yourself! In fact, if you hoard it, God will blow on it, and you will lose it. He said, «I’ll punch holes in your pocket; you’ll make more, but you’ll have less left. You have less left because hoarding won’t bring you into multiplicity.»
Principle number three—I’m almost done. Am I helping anybody? If you got a degree, you had to sacrifice to get it. If you got a master’s, you had to sacrifice to get it. If you got a doctorate, you had to sacrifice to get it. If you’ve got abs in your stomach, you had to sacrifice to get it. There is no multiplicity without sacrifice! When are we going to learn you can’t get there by wishing? Number three, the principle of profitability. Jesus asked them what I asked my son when he first started working. I didn’t ask him how much money he made. I didn’t ask him what he was driving. I didn’t ask him, «Was that a Louis Vuitton bag?» I said, «How much money you got saved?»
He told me, and I said, «That’s ridiculous!» Because I measure your strength by your strategy to become profitable. And it’s not just me; it’s Jesus. Jesus called him an unprofitable servant. Until you value what you have left more than what kind of fun you had—oh, y’all ain’t gonna shout now! Y’all not gonna shout now! Y’all not gonna shout now! We are living in a society that values fun more than profitability. Jesus asked them a question for all you saw me do in your life, the doors I opened, the jobs I gave, the talent I gave you, the friends I brought into your life, the relationships I gave you, and the way I brought you into places that you would have never been before: I want to ask you a simple question: What have you got left? Profit is what you have left when the transaction is over. I’m not asking you how many transactions you made; what do you have left? And I’m not just asking you about money; what do you have left?
You keep praying to me about what you lost. I’m tired of hearing about what you lost! I want to hear, «What do you have left?» Because you haven’t lost anything if you’ve got something left from it! I’m just going to stand here and wait on you to get it! If you went through a divorce and you learned something from it, you haven’t lost anything; you’ve got something left! If you had to sell your house but you increased your knowledge, you’ve got something left! Y’all don’t hear what I’m saying! If you made a bad choice but you became a wise woman, you’ve got something left! Are there any profitable servants in this room? Make some noise up in this place! God is not asking you what you lost! What you lost would be what they ate. He never asked them what did they eat. And you keep praying about losses, and God is counting leftovers!
You keep talking to God about getting older and the years you lost; God is counting what you’ve got left! What are you going to do with what you’ve got left? Your age is profit! That’s why I decided to wear my gray hair, because I wanted to show my profit. I’m not going to hide my profit! I went through hell to grow this gray hair! I went through death and nearly got shot! I had to have this gray hair! I went through high water and disease and affliction to have this gray hair! And no, I’m not gonna be ashamed of it! And I’m not gonna dye my profit! I want you to see that I made it through some stuff! I’ve been in some storms; I’ve been in the rain; I’ve been in the fire; I’ve been in the flood; I’ve been operated on; I’ve been under anesthesia; I’ve been sick unto death, and I rose up out of sickness, and I’m still here! I am a profitable servant!
Somebody shout in your profitability! Your boyfriend tried to kill you; your first husband tried to kill you; your community tried to kill you! But the more they tried to stomp on you, the more they afflicted you, the more they attacked you, the more you grew! Profitable servants make some noise! I’m trying to tell you, stop spending what you have left and start saving what you have left! Because God watches what you’ve got left more than He watches what you lost. It shocked me that in the Bible, He sent a man into wailing and gnashing of teeth and outer darkness not for adultery, whoremongering, cheating, going to strip clubs, gambling—all that stuff is wrong, but that isn’t what He sent him there for. He sent him to hell for not being profitable! He said, «You are an unprofitable servant; you are not worthy of the kingdom.» God is serious about what you’ve got left. And if you’re going to be His disciple, you’ve got to watch what you’ve got left!
The principle of blindness—number four, my last principle: the principle of blindness. Is anybody glad they came to church this morning? The principle of blindness. This is what the devil does to keep us from seeing the value of what we have left. He makes us blind to what we have left by showing us what we lost. He wants you to go blind to your own worth, your own talent, your own skills, your experiences, your wisdom; it’s all part of the plan of your profitability, he doesn’t want you to see it. He doesn’t mind you seeing it in other people; he doesn’t want you to see it in yourself. It is the principle of blindness, lest you behold the wonder of his glory. The enemy is trying to strike you blind, so Jesus says, «Can you not see? Why do you think I did the miracles? I’m trying to teach you the value of what you have left—one loaf of bread, one little stale testimony—like that’s all I ever did for you.»
So here we are in the text where Jesus is obviously annoyed with his disciples. They’re in a staff meeting, and the CEO is hot because the bottom line is unprofitable. The profit isn’t just the bread; it didn’t make them smart. They did not see the point of the miracles. They’re not any better than the Pharisees. The Bible says you’re like a man who walks over and looks into a looking glass, then walks away and forgets what manner of man he saw. Did you not learn anything through the things you suffered? The principle of blindness is no accident, my brothers and sisters. As I prepare to close, it is no accident that at the end of the scathing rebuke, they brought unto him a blind man—a blind man out of Bethsaida—a blind man who had to be taken out of his comfort zone in order to be healed. If you are going to break the spirit of blindness and the darkness that is starting to cover the earth again, you’ve got to be willing to come out of your comfort zone in order to do it.
The blind man coming out of Bethsaida is a picture of a church that is willing to come away from this world and operate in the principles of the Kingdom in order to have our eyes opened that we might be enlightened, see clearly, and not be deceived into seeing men walking as trees because you’re so busy trying to fit in the culture. You can’t change the culture. You keep telling me about the culture; I keep telling you about Christ. You’ve got to come out of Bethsaida; you’ve got to come out of Bethsaida so you can see what God has done. The blind man in Bethsaida is no more blind physically than the disciples are spiritually. After all, they were following a Jesus that they didn’t even know who he was.
Three years with him, and they’re still debating who he is. Three years with him, and they’re still fighting for position. «I want to sit on the left hand; I don’t want to sit on the right.» Three years with him, and they’re still talking about Rome and setting up a kingdom on earth. Three years of hearing the Word that they didn’t hear, of seeing miracles that they didn’t see, of coming to church and learning nothing. It’s not that the bread is not being served here; I’m going to say it again—it is not that the bread is not being served here. It is not that we’re not taking two fish and five loaves of bread every Sunday, feeding the multitude every week and feeding the nations every week, feeding people in other countries and around the world every week.
The question, my brothers and sisters, is are you blind to the bread? Have you gotten so used to being around Jesus that you are dealing with loaves and you ought to be carrying baskets? I am serving a basket God, but I’m dealing with a loafy people who are satisfied to have a loaf when your arms ought to be carrying baskets—baskets of blessings, baskets of miracles, baskets of deliverance, baskets of wisdom, baskets of glory. When are you going to open up your arms and get away from loaves and start carrying baskets? Or are you like the blind man of Bethsaida or the disciples whose hands touched the miracle? Their hands literally touched the miracle; they literally put the baskets on the boat and yet remained blind to the bread.
My prayer for the 21st-century church is that we would stop handling Jesus, that we would stop fondling Jesus, and that God would open our eyes so that we would not be blind to the bread. Stand up on your feet! Don’t forget the four takeaways in case you didn’t get one of them: the principles of multiplication, number two, the principles of sacrifice, number three, the principles of profitability, and the principle of blindness. If there is a person watching me online right now and something in your spirit leapt when I talked about multiplication but your sacrifice doesn’t look like your faith, you’re a loafy person shouting about a basket God, and you are blind to the bread. Thank you for loving to hear me preach, but that doesn’t mean anything if all you walk away with is a loaf.