Bishop TD Jakes - Finding Opportunities During COVID19 - Potter's Touch

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Greetings in Jesus' name. I just thought i'd
spent a few minutes chatting with you. I hope you're
doing well. I am doing well. The Lord is sustaining
me through it all, and I'm grateful to him for

(00:23):
his mercy and his kindness and how he has sustained
me and is sustaining all of us. I know these
are tough times, but we're tough people and we've got
a tough God, and I just believe that we're going
to make it. I hope you believe that too, and
keep that in your mind and in your heart and

(00:44):
in your spirit. Judy, I'll be praying for your son.
I absolutely will. All the Bahamas is in the house
you enjoyed last Sunday. I'm glad. I don't know. We're

(01:16):
going to try to have a woman and are elusive.
It's a safe and feasible thing to do. I will
never have anything that puts your life in jeopardy and
your safety in jeopardy, not knowingly, and so we have
to see how things turn out. Like everybody else, we're
just watching and waiting. It's going to be very hard

(01:38):
to distance a service of that size and that magnitude.
So we're just watching and waiting. But I'm believing God
for a cure and a fascination, and that's what it's
really going to take to end all of this craziness.
All over the world. It's not just American, it's all
over the world. I think sometimes we forget that this

(01:59):
is a global and not just a national epidemic. This
is a pandemic. It's global, and I've been praying about it.
I've been praying about some of the countries that would
be hard hit by this, even more heart hit than
we are because of the lack of access to hospital
care and ventilators and PPEs and all of that sort

(02:24):
of thing. I'm really concerned about India and South America
and the continent of Africa and all the various countries.
I know it's not over there as thick as it
is over here, but if it continues to grow over there,
I'm just concerned about the welfare of the people over there,
and I'm concerned about the welfare of the people over here.

(02:46):
I'm just praying and believing. God wants you to believe
God with me that we'll be able to get past
this pandemic. Will be thwarted like many others were that
like all others were that came before it. With the
minimal amount of life lives lost as possible, it's already
been unthinkable how many have been lost. And that brings

(03:10):
especially home to me because I know so many people,
and because I get so many calls from people in crisis,
and so it's very real to me. It's not just
a news real or a number. I watch it the
six o'clock news, or real people calling me, screaming and
crying and all of that sort of thing. And so

(03:32):
you know, I'm very cautious. People who don't have that
reality think differently because they're just going by what they
read on the news. They haven't personally been touched by it.
But a lot of people have lost their lives and
it's growing every day, and they're not just numbers, they're
real people. So where we go from here, I don't know.
But one thing you can know about me as a leader,

(03:55):
I'm not going to put you in harm's way Knowingly.
I think that's irresponsible, it's reprehensible, it's morally unwise, and
there's gonna be legal consequences. But even if there were
no consequences. I just think I like to err on
the side of caution. I believe that the holy ghosts

(04:18):
that we have down inside of us is strong enough
to maintain us through this season. We live by every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Whether
it comes over the Internet or comes to a stream,
or comes through a service, or comes to a conference,
it's still God's word, and whatever way that we can

(04:40):
get it out, that's what we're going to do. So
that's an honest answer. I just don't know, but I'm excited.
I'm excited. There's some things that I'm planning to do
online and I wanted to tell you about it, and
I want you to be praying about it. I'm working
on a summer program for kids that will include faith
curriculum and a deeper understanding of the Word. But it

(05:04):
also includes a STEM program, and I'm partnering with a
major technology corporation to do an online class for kids.
So if you're a parent with children or grandparent and
you've got grandkids at our school age, we're going to
have something for all ages for kids to do during
the summer. It's going to be an online program. It's

(05:25):
going to be fantastic. It's going to be exciting, it's
going to be a formative, it's going to be inspirational.
It's also going to be educational. Don't tell the kids
it's educational, then they won't come. But it's going to
have an educational component to it as well. I'm concerned
about the schools and schools closing up people having a

(05:46):
homeschool who really don't Homeschool teaching is not just something
you can do. It's an art, it's a calling, and
you have to work really hard to do, and it's
hard to work a job and take care of kids
and worry about food and growth streets and all the
things we're dealing with right now. But I'm hopefully, hopefully
through some of the summer programs and one of the

(06:06):
things that we're going to do is a STEM program.
The kids will get caught up and up to speed
and maybe inspired to go after some of the job
opportunities that are coming up that are up right now.
There's all kinds of jobs available right now, but we
have to qualify in order to get those jobs. So
I do want to mention this though. If you lost

(06:28):
your job and you're looking for a job, go to
tdj's Tdjfoundations dot org. There's all kinds of jobs if
you're in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex area that I'm
partnering with the city to make available to people that
normally wouldn't know about those kinds of jobs. And you
go online and you can communicate directly with the ones
that fit you, And there are all kinds of jobs

(06:49):
on all levels. And if you lost your job and
you've been praying about what to do, maybe this will
be an answer to you. I hope. So I've been
working hard to try to solve as many problems as
I could. The Lord really spoke to me through the
biblical story of the two fish and five blows of bread,

(07:09):
and I never saw it this way before. But I
just thought about how Jesus was preaching the message, but
he wasn't so engrossed in the message that he wasn't
concerned about the hunger of the people. And it is
possible to do both things at the same time. You
can minister to people's physical needs and still minister the
word of God. I think you can do both of them.

(07:31):
And the Bible warns us that if a person is
cold and not to give them a blessing, and if
they're hungry, don't just pray for them. People need help,
and they need food and they need support, and we've
been doing that. I am happy, happy, happy with some
of the things that the Lord has blessed us to
be able to do, especially in this turbulent time where
we're struggling to keep our own staff on payroll and

(07:54):
all of that, and still to have been able to
have fed five thousand first responders, that's just a great thing.
The restaurants were closed, the hospital cafeterias are clothed atnight.
I didn't want nurses, janitors, doctors, anybody to have to
worry about something to eat. And so we were able
to do that for the people who give service, who

(08:16):
are taking care of our moms and dads and brothers
and sisters and children that are in the hospital and
elsewhere we wanted to serve in the police department, everybody.
We just started feeding people, just anybody hungry, and we're
getting ready to do something else where. We're going to
be feeding through boxes and groceries people that are unemployed

(08:37):
and don't have enough money to eat and got kids
or don't have kids, or in the church, out the church,
beside the church. It doesn't matter. Hungry, it is hungry.
We just want to do something to help. So we're
rolling out of program, rolling out of program, rolling out
more and more programs to do things. We're doing the
STEM program that will come out this summer. I think
about June and it's going to be rate two and

(09:01):
so we're doing a lot of things. Still teaching Bible class,
still preaching on Sunday, still getting testimonies of people being
saved and healed and delivered. But we're also also ministering
with the two Fish and five loaves of bread. Isn't
it amazing that Jesus was preaching so powerfully that people
were willing to faint rather than to miss what he said.

(09:24):
But he was not so engrossed in his message that
he ignored that he ignored their hunger. It's possible to
do both things. You might not be able to eradicate
hunger all over the world. I can't even eradicate hunger
all over Dallas Fort Worth. We don't have the resources
to do that. But we can put a dent in it.
And if we all put a dent in it, you
if you put a dent in it, if you carry

(09:45):
sandwiches down to the shelter, if you if you do
something for homeless people, if you just do something distancing,
you can still distance yourself and still be appropriate. But
if we all do a little something to help everybody,
it will get better and better and better. Everybody do
it on their level, some thirty, some sixty seven, one
hundred fold. You might not get feed five thousand people.

(10:08):
You might feed five. You might can feed fifty. But
if you feed five people, that's five people that's not hungry.
If you check on the elderly, if you pick up
the phone and call somebody in and get out of
your own head and what's going on with you and
see what's going on with somebody else. And I'm not
saying there aren't some bad things going on with you,
but there's always somebody worse off than you, and when

(10:29):
you start ministering to them sometimes it helps you to
feel a little bit better about you. So thank you,
and thank you all the volunteers, and take you to
all the people that help us to do as much
as we can. I'm glad that Jesus was preaching and
also feeding, and he sent them down in groups of
fifty and he fed them with what he had, two

(10:52):
fish and five lows of bread. He blessed it, God
multiplied it, and a lot of people got blessed. So
we've got jobs available on tensfoundation dot org. You need
to go in there and check it out. You don't
have to be in the Dallas area to put in
an application if you're willing to relocate. There are high
level jobs, there are blue collar level jobs. There are

(11:13):
all kinds of jobs on the site, and every time
I announce it, we get a huge response. So go
to Tdjakesfoundation dot org and if you need a job,
maybe you'll find something there that will work for you.
I pray that it does and that you can get
back up on your feet, because I know what it's like.

(11:34):
I know what it's like not to be on your feet.
I know what it's like to lose your car. I
know what it's like to have to move out of
your house. I know what it's like to have hard times.
I know what it's like to not be able to
feed my kids. I know that feeling, that despair that
comes when your needs are not taking care of, And
so my heart goes out to that, and we're going

(11:54):
to do what we can. And thank you for all
of you that are helping us to do what we can,
because we can't do this without you, and you can't
do it without us, and we can't do it without
each other. And God has put us in a situation
where we don't need critics, and we don't need people
sitting over on the couch talking about what ought to
be done. We need everybody doing what they can when

(12:16):
they can to make the world a better place. And
we're going to get through this, everybody, So keep your
head up and be encouraged, and hold on to your faith,
hold on to your integrity, have some patience, and watch
God begin to work things out in your behalf. I
still believe that he's a miracle worker. I still believe

(12:38):
that he can take what you have and stretch it.
I still believe that the cattle on a thousand hills
belong to him. There is no food shortage in God.
And I just believe that God's going to work out
all of these wrinkles and these problems and these crisis
and these traumas and leave us stronger and wiser and
hopefully more interconnected, more loving, be kind if you can't

(13:02):
be anything else. The greatest gift you can give is love.
The Bible said, though I give my body to be
burned and have not love, I am nothing. So the
greatest the greatest gift. You can speak in tongues, but
the greatest gift is love. You can understand all mysteries,
but the greatest gift is love. And if you just

(13:23):
shut down all the hatred and shut down anybody that's
doing and saying anything hateful and evil, because sometimes when
people get bitter, they just get mean. They don't mean
any harm, they just get mean. But in the process
of them doing what they're doing, you need to show
them a better way, show them the love of God.
If Jesus could pray for the people who were crucifying him,

(13:46):
that's a tall order. But if he can do that,
we can be nicer people. We can be better people too.
But I'm not going to be on here long. I
just wanted to get on here for a few minutes
and check on you. I'm going to read every comment.
I can't see all of them right now, but I
see some of them, and the ones that I see
I'm responding to and I'm praying for you. There are

(14:07):
many witnesses on here that are vouching for what I'm saying.
That God is not a man that he should lie.
I hear you, Yeah, yeah, I'm with you. I'm with
you in the struggle. And I've tried to be out
front of the struggle. Leadership is defined by how you
respond in moments of crisis and turmoil, and so I've

(14:28):
tried to be out front and be a voice four
and a voice to the people, a voice for the people,
standing on platforms like Fox News, NBC, CNN. I've done
all of them. I've done every outlet imaginable. I did
Doctor Phil, I did Oprah, I did a lot of them.
Just speaking to people, not just within the parameters of

(14:51):
the faith circle, but speaking to those that are scattered
throughout the world. This is a time for the church
to go into all the world, not shan all the world,
not hide from the world, not be angry at the
world and say you're not one of us. No, this
is time to go into all the world preach it
also to every living creature. Got a chance to pray

(15:12):
on national television, on a news station, asking for prayer.
Those are important things to do. But you can't do
that if you're just sitting on your hind parts, sitting
on the couch. So we're doing what we can. I
wanted you to know about what I'm planning for your kids.
We're gonna make the best way. We're going to do

(15:32):
the best to serve the Lord, building or not, congregation
gathering or not. To all of my members that are
watching online, I miss y'all so bad. I miss you
like I would miss my teeth in my mouth. I
miss you. I can't wait to see you, can't wait
to be in service with you. I can't wait for
us to have an amazing time in the service of
the Lord. But until the numbers go down and I

(15:56):
feel good about it and I feel safe about it,
we've done due diligence. It's responsible for me to be careful,
and they're on the side of caution, especially when black
and brown people are disproportionate in the cities in terms
of the amount of deaths that are being incurred. Death
is a serious thing. That's a serious thing, and it's

(16:19):
one thing for you to be courageous and have faith
to move a mountains, but when you invite other people
into it, they can't live off of your faith. They
have to have their own faith. And so we have
to give the most earnest heed for the Bible, saying
in every great house or a vessels of honor and dishonor.
Nobody has a family and all the kids so are
the same age. And in the church, all the people

(16:40):
are not at the same place of development. And so
when you call them together, you've got baby Christians, new Christians,
non Christians, baxlating Christians, all of them are assembled together.
And put them in an atmosphere. I want to put
you in an atmosphere the Holy Spirit, not in an
atmosphere of COVID nineteen. We used to sing a song.

(17:01):
After while, it'll all be over, And after while, the
sun will shine, after while, will shout hallelujah, and it
will all be over. After a while, we'd sing that
and go to clapping and shouting and praising Goden. And
that's what I think about where we're at right now.
After while, it'll all be over. In the meantime, I
know people are facing hardships and struggles and stress and

(17:25):
things that really bothered. But if you are alive to
hear the sound of my voice, house, or not eating
what you want to eat, or not job or not.
Can you just take a moment and thank God that
you are here, and you are in your right mind
and you have a sound mind, and nobody is having

(17:48):
to change your clothes, and nobody's got you connected with
tubes all over your body, and nobody's got you with
a track in your throat and a ventilator breathing for you.
They mob said, let everything that have breath praise. He's
the Lord, and now is the time for us to
appreciate that we have breath. Everything else is gonna come.
I know you need food. The Father knows you need food,

(18:09):
He need clothes, you need everything. I get it. And
to all of you that think that I don't get it,
then you don't know my story. You don't know my story.
You haven't heard my testimony. You don't know that I
couldn't feed my kids. You don't know that my lights
were off. You don't know that I was going through
the fields gathering apples, trying to feed my boys when
they were small. I know what tough times are. Dug

(18:30):
ditches and put in gas lines to get grocery money
to buy diapers. I know what tough times are. But
I thank God for one thing. I thank God for
two things. One I thank God that he's faithful, and
two I thank God that when I had my kids,
I wasn't lazy, and whatever it took to make things go,
I did it. Whatever it was, if it was cutting grass,
if it was digging ditches, and I was preaching in.

(18:52):
I was preaching in. But you gotta do what you
gotta do, because if you have these kids, you gotta
feed them. If you got a dog, you gotta feed them.
You gotta put you got to feed him. And some
kind of way, I know the Lord will provide a
way for you to do it. But you can't just
sit back and wait on what you want before you move.
You got to take what you can get and climb
your way back up. But we're coming back again. We're

(19:13):
coming back with a double portion. We're coming back with
total restoration. It may be a process, but we're coming back.
We're coming back, and I want you to keep looking
forward and don't look back. Remember Lot's wife. Lot's wife
looked back and turned into a pillar assault She almost
got away. Nothing stopping her from going forward. She could

(19:35):
have went all the way to the mountaintop. A lot
of things wouldn't have happened if she'd have made it
to the mountaintop. But she kept looking back. And I
want to encourage you not to be like Lot's wife.
Looking back. Could have worn us, should have wish I
had a can't do anything for you. Look forward, Look up,
look ahead, look to God. And so I'm telling you

(19:57):
about a few things that I'm planning for the future.
Everything I plan may not get to happen, but I
got a plan, and I'm going to tell you some
one of the things that will vanquish pressure and anxiety
is a plan and a strategy. Having something that you're
working on, a plan, a response, don't just wring your

(20:17):
hands and worry yourself to death, and look to God
in faith. I've already said more than I meant to say.
I was really just wanted to tell you about how
excited I am about this STEM program and what it's
able to do. The jobs that existed when I came
along or not here anymore. But there are new jobs
and new opportunities. But we've got to get acclimated, and

(20:39):
we've got to get prepared, and we've got to get
our kids pointed in the right direction, so that our
children can have a better life and good opportunities and
serve the Lord and be able to eat. Jesus did
not sacrifice the food for the sermon, or the sermon
for the food. They were collaborative. He was preaching and
feeding to two fished five blows of bread. He did

(21:02):
both of them. It is we have a God who
is just as much concerned about your natural needs as
he is your spiritual needs. The Bible said, the hairs
on your head are numbered, not counting, numbered numbered. He
knows which hair got caught in the brush. He's got
a number on it. God cares about you. He cares
about what you're going through. Your name is engraved in

(21:25):
his hand. Some of you, I know you don't believe
in tattoos, but the Bible said, God has my name
engraved in his hand. Thank you Jesus. He loves you.
He loves you, He cares about you. So being couraged
and if you've got kids that are school aged and
you're trying to figure out what you're going to do
for the summer, maybe this will help. We've got an

(21:47):
online STEM program coming up. I'm excited about that. I
want to give them a taste and a sample of
things that they don't that they don't always get, that
they don't always get to respond to. So pray for me.
Everybody doesn't have a laptop, everybody doesn't have a computer.
Most people have a telephone. Whatever way we can get
to them. We want to continue to feed them and

(22:09):
raise up the generals and the leaders and the doctors
and the next generation. We have to keep feeding the
pipeline with people who are equipped to help us, who
are ready to help us. We got to make sure
that we don't just have people raised in need. We
want people to be raised and supply supplying something, hair care, makeup, cupcakes,

(22:38):
something supply, something, supply something, always be productive. We have
become as a nation more consumers than producers, and we're
looking all over the world to produce stuff that we
used to produce ourselves. And production is coming back to America,
and that means jobs are coming back to America. And

(22:58):
I've got a feeling that everything's going to be all right.
Not because of the economy, not because of the newspaper,
not because of the government, not even because of the
hand clapping and singing, But I've got a feeling Everything's
gonna be all right because God's heart is toward you,
and his mind is full of you. What is man
that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of

(23:20):
Man that thou visited him? You made him a little
lower than the angels, and yet you crowned him with
honor and glory. Grace and peace be multiplied under you
from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Before
I get off, I want to pray for that peace
to envelop you. I know you're stressed out. I understand it.
His stressful times. I'm not criticizing anybody for being stressed, overwhelm,

(23:44):
sleep disorders, eating disorders, emotionally distraught, yelling at the dog,
arguing with the cat, just upset. Calm down, and allow
the peace of God just to envelop your soul and
to keep you encourage. And know that God knows where
you are. He already knows. Whatever you're trying to tell him,

(24:04):
he already knows. Tell him, tell him again and again
and again, but he already knows. But sometimes getting it
out of you, getting it out of you, because all
of that stuff down inside of you is not good
for you. Emotionally, or physically disease is really dis ease.

(24:25):
So anytime you are not at ease, you become available
for this ease. And I don't want you to have disease.
I want you to be whole and healthy. I'm believing
God for you. I'm consecrating some all I'm going to
be praying over and I'm going to be just sending
it out to people to pray over yourself and annoint

(24:48):
yourself with all. I know. Some of you are going
back to work, and you're a little bit of freid
going back to work and all of that. I'm praying
for you. And don't go anywhere just because somebody said go.
If you're not ready, don't go. If you need to
stay in a little bit longer to be sure, be sure.
You got one life. God gave it to you. Don't

(25:10):
let anybody else decision take it away from you. This
life that I have. The world didn't give it to me,
and the world can't take it away. This joy that
I have, this peace that I have. Let me pray
for you and pray for your whatever's on your heart,
and every prayer request that's been written up and every
prayer request that's going up right now, I want to
take just a moment and pray for you. There are

(25:32):
certain things that you're asking for prayer for that you
can't fix and I can't fix, but God can fix.
I'm learning not to worry about things I cannot fix.
I turn them over to God. And let's turn those
things over to God and trust him to take you through.
He's able. He's able. He's done it before, He's done

(25:54):
it through pandemics, he's done it through the blue bonding plague.
He's done it through all a kind of h one
n when he's done it through all kinds of horrible ebola,
all kinds of things we are facing. God has always
brought us through. When the enemy comes in like a flood,
the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard
against him. That doesn't mean we shouldn't do everything we could.

(26:18):
You know, I wear my mask, I put on my gloves,
I do everything I can to help myself, and then
trust God to do the things that I cannot do
for myself. And I encourage you to do the same.
And let's bring these numbers down and let's see these
people alive. You cannot win people to Jesus. Some people

(26:39):
that's all they want to talk about is winning people
to Jesus. But if they die, you can't win them
to Jesus. They have to be alive to come to Christ.
They have to be alive to serve the Lord. And
the death is climbing up in our ears. You know something,
I'm say this, then I'm gonna pray. Say this. The
Book of Jeremiah said death has climbed up in our
ears into our window. And Jeremiah said, send for the

(27:02):
women a morning and let them take up a wailing
for death that's climbed up into our windows. And even
with all of the bad news that we have, if
we pray, and if we seek God, and if we
trust him, I just believe an answer is going to come.
He could be a miracle, It could be majestical, it

(27:22):
could be supernatural, or it could come practical. I don't
care how it comes. God fad elies you through the raven.
I don't care what he feeds me through. But my
God has promised to supply all my needs according to
his riches in glory. I want you to take a
few minutes and pray with me so that you would
have a pleasant night and a RESTful sleep, and the
joy of the Lord can be abundant in your life. Father, Now,

(27:45):
in the name of Jesus, as we approach our throne,
O God, Oh, there's so much to be prayed about.
There's suffering everywhere, there's pain everywhere, there's fear and distress.
So there's physical infirmities, there are mental infirmities, are emotional infirmities.
There's domestic infirmities. There's domestic violence on an uprise, suicide

(28:08):
on an uprise. God rests the spirit of suicide. I
stand against depression, I stand against anxiety. I stand against turmoil.
I come against it now in the name of Jesus.
Somebody's lost their hope, somebody's lost their faith, somebody's lost
their peace, somebody's lost their prayer life. But I ask

(28:29):
for a spirit of restoration to operate right now in
the name of Jesus and restore that that the enemy
wants to steal from us. Today I claim it for
the Kingdom of God, and I believe God for healing
and deliverance and breakthroughs and testimonies. In the name of
Jesus Lord, even in tough times throughout history, there have

(28:51):
been people that prospered through tough times. There have been
people that became successful in the middle of tough times.
There have been people that were innovative in the midst
of tough times. There were businesses that started in tough times.
There were careers that were launched in tough times. And
I know that your roots bringing up out of drag ground.
The ground didn't have to be wet for you to

(29:12):
cause your people to blossom. And I thank you Lord
in the name of Jesus, that in spite of the
dryness of the ground and the perpetuous winds that assault
us and the bad news that assaults us on a
daily basis, I still know that You're able to bring
a root out of drag ground. And I pray that
roots of faith would spring up. And everyone listening from

(29:34):
all over the world right now, in the name of
Jesus said they were be encouraged to understand that your
ear is not heavy that you cannot hear in your
arm is not short that you cannot save. You are God,
Holly Lujias, You are God. You are God over covid
at nineteen. You are God over hunger, you are God

(29:54):
over evictions, You are God over joblessness. You are God
over mentali You are God over depression. You are God
over schizophrenia. You are God over nervous anxieties. You are
God over bipolar disorders. You are God over HIV. You
are God over kidney failure. You are God over heart trouble.

(30:15):
You are God over diabetes. You are God over ventilators.
You are