March 12, 2025 • 34 mins
The miracle of five loaves and two fish stands as one of the most profound demonstrations of divine multiplication in Scripture. When a vast crowd follows Jesus to a remote area, hunger becomes an urgent concern. The disciples see only scarcity – Philip calculates that six months' wages wouldn't feed everyone, while Andrew skeptically presents a boy's modest lunch. Yet where human logic sees impossibility, Jesus reveals divine possibility.
Taking that insignificant meal – barely enough for one child – Jesus gives thanks and begins distributing food to thousands. Everyone eats until satisfied, with twelve baskets of leftovers remaining. This isn't just about physical hunger; it's about how God's economy of abundance operates in stark contrast to our scarcity mindset.
This miracle directly parallels God's provision of manna in the wilderness, reminding us that the same God who sustained Israel continues to provide abundantly through Christ. The disciples learn a crucial lesson: when we bring our limited resources to Jesus, He can accomplish what's mathematically impossible.
What makes this story so powerful for churches today is its practical application. We often hesitate to step out in faith because we see only our limitations – not enough people, finances, influence, or time. But God consistently asks us to bring what little we have and watch Him work multiplication that defies human explanation.
The miracle reminds us that kingdom impact isn't about the magnitude of our resources but our willingness to place them in Jesus' hands. Whether it's launching a new ministry, serving your community, or expanding your church's vision, the principle remains: when we surrender our "five loaves and two fish," Jesus can feed multitudes.
As one character in The Chosen series observes after witnessing this miracle: "He gave us more than we needed. You'll get used to that kind of math." That's the promise for anyone willing to offer their seemingly inadequate resources to Christ – He always gives back more than we could imagine.
What small offering might God be asking you to place in His hands today?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
So we are going to get into our series next week on
worship and Cody and I Cody isour worship leader, if you
didn't know that, cody is alsoone of our elders Him and I are
going to kind of tag team.
I feel like it's appropriate tohave the guy who leads worship
to preach on worship.
I mean, it seems like heprobably has some idea of what's
(00:25):
going on with that, and sowe're.
But before we get there I cameout of, so just give me an idea.
So our missions team got backFriday night so we sent a team
down to the Dominican Republicthis year and I wasn't able to
go with them.
I was actually in Indiana at apreaching summit conference and
(00:48):
so basically I try to go thereevery year and I spend two days
there and the hope is to kind ofget some tools and help equip
me.
And you know I need somerefreshing.
You know sometimes it's good asthe preacher to sit and listen
to someone to preach because Idon't have to do anything, like
when they're done preaching Ijust get up and leave.
You know there's no requirement, and so sometimes it's good and
(01:11):
there's a lot of great teachersthere and there's a lot of
different workshops that we cando.
And so I head out Monday morningand my wife, who I think she's
a prophet probably not, but sheasked me the day before.
She's like do you think yourcar is going to be okay to get
there?
And I'm like, yeah, likeclearly, my 2015 chevy trax has
(01:35):
no problems.
You know your 2009 hondaodyssey.
On the other hand, you know,and she's like your car is going
to be fine.
I'm like, yeah, it's fine.
And and so I get about halfwaythere in cambridge and I I stop
off to get something to drinkand I notice, as I'm sitting in
line, mind you, it's really coldout but there's like steam
(01:57):
smoke coming up from underneathmy hood and I'm like, okay, so I
get out and I check it and so Ihave a radiator leak.
So there's like coolant likehit my engine, my hot engine.
So it's like, you know, makingthis steam, it's having kind of
its own little party on its own.
(02:18):
I'm about halfway there.
I'm like I'm just going todrive the rest of the way there.
So I do, I drive the rest ofthe way there.
So I do, I drive the rest ofthe way there and I get there
and I get in the church parkinglot and my friend Haas Ridgeway
he's a local minister in thearea.
He's about 20 minutes from thechurch that I'm at and I call
him and I say, hey, do you knowany mechanic people?
He's like yeah, let me call youback.
So he calls me back and hebrings this guy by the name of
(02:39):
Daniel Never met Daniel in mylife, but daniel's pretty
awesome and and daniel, he fixedmy car and then he told me he
don't.
He's like don't tell anybody, Ican do that.
I'm like listen, I get it.
Man.
Like some people are reallygood at stuff.
They don't need everyone elseknowing they're good at stuff.
So we get there and he takes thehose off in the parking lot and
you know, and there's like abubble, by the way, like in my
radiator hose, and I know enoughto know that that's bad right.
(03:02):
So I'm pretty sure I wasn'tgoing to make it home.
But the downside is is I miss,like the first half of the
summit because I'm in theparking lot making sure that I
can make it home on Tuesday.
By the way, the joy of thisentire story is the fact that
while we're in the parking lotworking on my car it's 27
degrees, but the next day, onTuesday, it's 65 and sunny, and
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I'm like, come on man, like whycouldn't that have been?
You know, just warm your handin the radiator fluid, like
you'll be fine, right.
And so part of the reason why Ithink it's so important is and
then I said this because someonewas asking me as I kind of
walked in you know, why are youhere?
I'm like well, listen, I'm hereto get fed so I can beat others
(03:45):
.
He was like oh, that's good,I'm like right, like I don't
know where that came from, LikeI was like that's a good thing
to say, right, but that's whatit is right.
So the idea is we just havethis, we just want to be, we
want to fill ourselves up, right.
And so now we're diving intothis is where this message came
(04:07):
from, because I really kind ofcourse, corrected and we're
going to talk probably one of myand I always say like it's my
favorite narrative I don't knowhow to say that about I love the
whole Bible, it's all myfavorite, right, but there's
this moment in the life of Jesusthat I think is really pivotal.
There's this moment in the lifeof Jesus that, I think, is
really pivotal, and not only forthem, but I think that where
(04:27):
our church is headed next, thisparticular text is incredibly
necessary for us.
So you're going to find thisstory.
So you can actually find it inall four Gospels, but today
we're going to be in John 6,1-15.
For those of you who take notes, I wrote down the other
references.
You can find it in Matthew 14,verses 13 through 21.
(04:52):
You can find it in Mark 6, 31through 44.
And you can also find it inLuke 9, 10 through 17.
This is one of the outside ofthe resurrection of Jesus.
This is one of the onlymiracles that is actually
recorded in all four Gospels andI think that's significant,
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that every author felt the needto include the account of what
happens here.
So let's set the scene a littlebit before we get into this.
So, based on the text, weunderstand that most likely this
takes place in the springtime.
We see in the Scripture thatthere's a lot of grass on the
field and if you know anythingabout the area where they are in
(05:41):
Jerusalem, there's a very shortwindow of time where there's
any kind of grass in the area.
So it takes place aroundspringtime.
John's going to let us knowthat it's actually taking place
near Passover.
So it's around the time ofPassover, which is significant.
If you were Jewish, passover wasa significant event for you.
(06:02):
It goes all the way back toExodus, when God protected the
people with the blood over thedoors as they came through and
set them free from the Egyptians.
So John establishes that ittakes place over Passover.
It's in the spring, it's in alarge field and it's near some
water.
All of these things arenecessary.
(06:23):
So John, chapter 6, verse 1,says Sometime after this, jesus
crossed to the far shore of theSea of Galilee, that is, the Sea
of Tiberias, and a great crowdof people followed him because
he saw the signs he hadperformed by healing the sick.
And Jesus went up on amountainside and sat down with
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his disciples.
The Jewish Passover festivalwas near, so right out of the
gate, john establishes there's agreat crowd of people that are
following Jesus at this momentbecause of what they've seen him
do.
Passover's near, so even moreof a reason.
(07:04):
There's a ton of people aroundthe area traveling and getting
ready.
Starting in verse 5, when Jesuslooked up and saw a great crowd
coming toward him, he said toPhilip.
By the way, philip would havebeen from the area.
So he says to Philip whereshall we buy bread for these
people to eat?
He asked this only to test him,for he already had in mind what
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he was going to do.
By the way, I love Jesus, Ilove that line.
Jesus already knows the answerto that question.
He already has it all figuredout.
He's giving Philip a chance tobe a part of the conversation,
he said.
Philip answered him.
It would take more than half ayear's wages to buy enough bread
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for each one to have a bite.
Another of his disciples, andrewSimon Peter's brother, spoke up
.
He said here's a boy with fivesmall barley loaves and two
small fish, but how far wouldthey go among so many?
By the way, I brought myLunchable today.
Yeah right, I was thinkingabout it.
(08:14):
We bought this yesterday.
We were at the store and I hadto buy this without my kids
seeing it, because they're goingto be like I want a Lunchable
too.
I'm like you can have one later, don't worry about it.
So I brought my Lunchable todayand I was sitting here thinking
about this because when I waslittle, this was like a special
treat for us In my whole life Ihave always thought that is not
(08:36):
a lot of food for anyone ever.
Like when you buy things and itsays, like party size, that's a
regular size bag of chips.
Like when you buy things and itsays, like party size, that's a
regular size bag of chips, okay, and you buy a Lunchable, and I
buy this.
And there are times when Milesdoesn't finish it and I'm like
how there's so little there.
Like this is a Lunchable, thisis like a lunch, a snack for me,
(09:00):
like, and even then it's gonnaleave me hungry.
But so I brought this todaybecause so this boy comes up
right.
So this entire crowd of people,there's this little boy and I
always wonder.
I like to think that he wentwillingly.
I don't know if he did, but hemight have, but he has this
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little lunch five loaves ofbread, two fish, probably just
enough for him, maybe someoneelse.
And Andrew says hey, listen,this boy has this lunch.
But how are we going to feed somany people?
How are we going to take solittle?
(09:40):
And that would be like mepassing this around and saying
alright, everyone, take yourfill, come on.
It would get past the first row.
By the way, it's turkey, incase anyone wants to know that
it's turkey.
But that would be like hey, bythe way, after church we're
going to have a potluck.
This is it.
(10:01):
This is what I have, right.
And so this little boy has thislunch.
He comes up with it and, ifyou'll notice in the text,
what's happening is, thequestion that Jesus asked is
coming, I believe, from hisspiritual understanding of who
(10:24):
God is, whereas their responseis coming from a very physical
world.
Philip says there's not enoughmoney.
How would we even buy enoughfood?
Andrew looks at this little boywith his lunch and he says
clearly, clearly, that's notgoing to be enough.
And so Jesus so startcontinuing.
(10:46):
In verse 10, jesus said have thepeople sit down.
There's plenty of grass in thatplace.
This is where we understand andwhere we kind of get the idea
that it was happening in thespring.
And they sat down.
About 5,000 men were there.
By the way, usuallyscripturally not just scripture,
but a lot of times historicallythey would only count men
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because there was an assumptionof family.
So there's a good understandingthat there's probably 5,000 men
plus women and kids, which isprobably somewhere between
10,000 and 15,000 people werethere.
So Jesus then took the loaves,he gave thanks and he
distributed to those who wereseated as much as they wanted.
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He did the same thing with thefish.
When they had all had enough toeat, he said to his disciples
gather the pieces that are leftover, let nothing be wasted.
So they gathered them andfilled 12 baskets with the
pieces of the five barley loavesleft over by those who had
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eaten.
And after the people had sawthe sign of Jesus' reform, they
began to say surely this is theprophet who is coming to the
world.
Jesus, knowing that theyintended to come and to make him
king by force, withdrew againto a mountain by himself.
So let's look at a couple ofthings that I think it's
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important to notice in the text,because John, the way John
writes this, is significant.
In verse 12, he says when theyhad all had enough to eat,
establishing that everyone hadbeen satisfied, establishing
that everyone had been satisfiedPrior to feeding them.
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Jesus prays over both things,asking God for his provision.
And even going back to verse 10, when they question or they
kind of doubt what's happening,jesus doesn't necessarily rebuke
them.
In the moment, what he says isokay, listen, everyone, sit down
.
Sit down and bring me whatlittle you have.
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And then John continues towrite that after everyone had
eaten, they were completelysatisfied.
Jesus told his disciples to goand collect everything that was
left over, and they filled 12basketfuls.
Can you imagine?
Once again, I think about thatlittle boy who brought his lunch
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, his little bag lunch, withvery little, just enough, and I
can imagine that after he ate,to see his lunch somehow
multiplied into 12 baskets, hewas probably like whoa.
And I say that because I thinkabout my kids, because my kids
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would be like whoa.
How'd that happen?
And I'd be like I have no idea,man.
How'd that happen?
And I'd be like I have no idea,man.
And so when I think about howcrazy it is that you and I, we
come to God oftentimes with solittle, but he's able to do so
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much with it, but he's able todo so much with it.
And then John, when he finishesthe narrative, he says Jesus
realizes that because of themiracle that they were ready to
come and force him to be king,and so he retreats and listen,
part of that is it's areflection of the heart of the
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people.
Jerusalem was looking for aMessiah, but they weren't
looking for eternal salvation.
They were looking for someoneto come in and overthrow the
Romans, but Jesus knew that thatwasn't the plan.
So when we talk about thismoment, we reflect back.
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So when John is talking aboutthis moment, I can imagine in
the mind of those who are therethey're thinking about this
story in Exodus 12.
Exodus 16, sorry, exodus 16,verses 1 through 12.
It said the whole Israelitecommunity set out from Elm and
came to the desert of Sin, whichis between Elam and Sinai, and
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the fifteenth day, the secondmonth after they had come out of
Egypt.
So this is after God haddelivered them.
So this is after what isinitially set Passover in the
place God had brought themthrough the Red Sea, had brought
them into the desert, wasbringing them into the Promised
Land In the desert.
(15:33):
The whole community grumbledagainst Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them ifonly we had died by the Lord's
hand in Egypt.
I can't even like I can't evensometimes with their response.
They would rather die in Egyptthan to struggle a little bit in
the desert.
(15:53):
Said there we sat around potsof meat and ate all the food we
wanted, but you have brought usout into the desert to starve
this entire assembly to death.
The Lord said to Moses have arain down bread from heaven for
you that you were to go out eachday and gather enough for that
day.
And this way I will test themand see whether they will follow
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my instructions.
On the sixth day they are toprepare what they bring in and
what is to be twice as much asthey gather on the other days.
So Moses and Aaron said to theIsraelites in the evening you
will know that it was the Lordwho brought you out of Egypt In
the morning.
You will see the glory of theLord, because he has heard your
grumbling against him.
Who are we that you shallgrumble against us?
(16:36):
Moses also said you will knowthat it was the Lord when he
gives you meat to eat in theevening and all the bread you
want in the morning, because hehas heard your grumbling against
him.
Who are we?
You're not grumbling against us, but against the lord.
Then moses told aaron say to theentire israelite community come
before the lord, for he hasheard you grumbling.
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So so there's a moment when theisraelites are in their desert,
they're kind of lost, they'rehungry, and god rains down manna
from heaven and provides quailin the evening.
I don't know about you, butthat would be fascinating If,
like, I walked outside my houseand there's just like an Aldi
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grocery bag every morning, fullof all right, of all the stuff I
love to eat, and I pick it upand I ate it.
Now it's gone.
If you follow in the text,eventually God said don't hold
anything because by morningit'll be ruined.
But imagine, every morning youwake up and on your front stoop
is all the groceries you needfor that day.
Imagine that kind of provision,right.
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And so we're going back towhere John is talking in the
text and he's talking about thismiracle.
And the people are gatheredaround, they're sitting down.
There's 10 to 15 000 people.
They have this little lunch ofthis little kid and and jesus
takes it and blesses it and itfeeds all of them till they're
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satisfied.
That not just like a nibble,but until they're satisfied.
And then they take over what'sleft and they collect 12
basketfuls.
I was reading.
This is a statement by NTWright.
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There's a book, one of thecommentaries I use by him is
called the New Testament forEveryone.
Nt Wright's one of my favoritecurrent scholars because he
writes stuff in very simplelanguage at times.
He says this.
He's talking about thesituation.
He says Philip doesn't knowwhat to do, andrew doesn't
either, but he brings the boyand his bread and fish to Jesus'
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attention.
The point is obvious, butperhaps we need to be reminded
of it.
So often we ourselves have noidea what to do.
But the starting point isalways to bring what is there to
the attention of Jesus.
You can never tell what he'sgoing to do with it, though part
of Christian faith is theexpectation that he will do
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something we hadn't thought of,something new and creative.
I love that he says listen, thepoint of the text is to realize
that a lot of times, all youhave to bring to Jesus is what
you have, because that's whatyou do.
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That's what you and I do inthis moment.
He's not going to force us todo anything, but he asks us to
bring what we have to the table,and then he takes it and he
multiplies it and he grows itand he feeds 5,000 plus people.
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You know, I was thinking aboutit this morning, and maybe it's
a lack of faith on my part, Idon't know, but there was part
of me that was like alright, god, I'm going to pray over this
and pass this around, and I wantyou to give everyone their own
Lunchable.
I wanted to, and maybe that'sme right.
Maybe that's where I struggle alittle bit.
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Because here's the thing.
Let me tell you why I didn't doit.
Because what if God doesn't?
Then I'm going to look weird.
What if God does?
That's a whole otherconversation.
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I don't know if we're readythere yet, but then I started
thinking okay, god, but thisdoesn't make sense.
There's no way this could feedall these people.
God, there's no way that thelittle old me and following the
US Virginia can make adifference in the world that
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you've created.
There's no way that my sermonshave an impact anywhere.
There's no way that our churchcan change this community.
Listen when we put things inthe human perspective.
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You're right, it's impossible.
But Jesus doesn't work based onus.
He works based on Him.
I love this narrative becausethis little boy had nothing else
to offer and Jesus took it andmultiplied it a hundred times
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over.
Jesus took it and multiplied ita hundred times over.
Twelve basketfuls of food leftwhen they were in the desert.
God gave them bread and quailevery single day while they
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waited, and you and I oftentimeswon't even bring what little we
have because we don't thinkit's going to make a difference,
or we do things relying onourselves to accomplish it.
We do all of this by humanstandards and then when it falls
apart, we wonder why.
But NT Wright says the point isto bring what we have to the
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attention of Jesus and then lethim do with it what only he can
do with it.
You know we've already taken astep of faith as a church.
Maybe you were here when we didit, but maybe you've heard that
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we brought jesse on part-timeas a student pastor because we
believe that that he's part ofour future.
We believe that investing inthe teenagers of this community
is a necessary thing andcreating a place for them to
come and find out who Jesus isin a way that makes sense to
them is important.
It's funny because I actuallystarted out in his position and
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he used to be one of my students.
To now see him doing that isincredible.
He asked me this morning.
He's like hey, do you think youand I could share the pulpit on
Easter?
I was like no, but I was likeno, no, no.
But I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding Because Ibelieve, I believe in him and I
believe that my hope is to watchwhat he's doing.
(23:38):
And so he's been doing stuff onSunday nights here and he just
got back with Lydia, his fiancee, and and he just got back with
Lydia, his fiance, and they'regetting married in September.
I'm excited for that.
I get to be the best man andthe minister.
That's going to be cool.
So I've done one.
The other I still got to figureout, but we've already taken a
step of faith.
Because here's the thing whenit comes to building the kingdom
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of God, it's not about you andI doing it anyways.
It's about us showing up withwhat we have and offering God
our little piece of life andsaying God, it's not much, but I
know you can do this.
I know that you can bring thiscommunity to its knees.
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I know that you can bring thisnation to repentance.
I've seen it.
I know that if we just give youour best, I have faith to take
care of the rest.
You know this is such animportant moment in the life of
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not only his early disciples,because they had to see again
and again jesus kept showingthem listen, you're relying so
much on you and not enough on me.
And and when he died and heresurrected and he went back to
heaven and they would have torely on him to continue the
ministry.
And because of that reliancebecause they learn that j Jesus
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can even feed 15,000 people theyrealized that everything else
for him was possible too.
Here's what you don't know andI'm going to share this with you
and I'm not going to go into alot of detail.
Last Friday, we met with ageneral contractor on our
property.
We're having conversationsabout where we're headed in the
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future.
By the way, that's a greatthing.
We have someone who we believeis going to work with us moving
forward.
That's going to help usaccomplish the vision that we
believe God has given us forthis community.
But here's the thing it's goingto be a whole lot of faith
moving forward, because if wetry to do this in the way that
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we rely on ourselves, it's nevergoing to happen.
Listen, I look forward to thisman.
A year from now, two years fromnow, five years from now, ten
years from now.
I want, from now, ten yearsfrom now, I want us to reflect
back on this moment and think,and the only thing I want anyone
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to think is man.
That's cool what God did thereNot the preacher, not Jesse, not
the worship team, none of it.
That is really cool to see whatGod has done in that church, in
that community, in that town.
It's amazing to see in the OhioValley that God has showed
Himself again and again andagain and again.
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And all Jesus is asking is foryou and I to show up with what
we have, because sometimes whatlittle we have is more than
enough for Him to do exactlywhat he needs to do.
But I'm also going to challengeyou to.
Maybe God is calling you togive more than you've ever given
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before.
Maybe and I'm not just talkingabout finances, but maybe your
time, maybe your effort, maybeserving in the church.
Listen, as the church grows,ministries grow.
We need more help.
Marian sent me a picture lastweek and I don't know if you saw
it, but I think she had 12 kids12 kids downstairs in our
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junior church area.
By the way, when that numbergets to 24, it's going to feel
like a lot for one person.
It feels like a lot 12, withone person, right, but those are
ministries that are growing andit's going to require you and I
to give our best to serve inthe nursery.
You know the sound.
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I realize this seems kind ofweird, but this is what I mean
when I say we're giving God ourbest.
We're going to show up everyday and we're going to give God
everything we have and we'regoing to trust that he's going
to do something phenomenal.
And we're going to trust thathe's going to do it so much so
that when we look back we'regoing to say look at what God
did.
Look at what God did and how hechanged the community.
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Look at how he brought people,he healed them of addiction, he
set them free.
Look at how he fixed marriages.
Look at how he helped otherpeople understand that their
identity is in Him, not what theworld says about them.
We're going to look back andwe're going to realize that with
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five loaves and two fish, jesuscan do anything.
I was looking for illustrationsthis week and if you've ever
seen the Chosen series, theyactually depict this moment in
(28:55):
one of their series and it'skind of cool to watch it unfold.
And they take a little bit ofartistic creativity with how
they do it, which I understand,and so they kind of show this
miracle as it kind of happensand unfolds, and I was going to
show it but it's like eightminutes long.
So if you haven't seen it youneed to go watch it.
It's a really cool series.
But my favorite part of it isat the end of, as the clip kind
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of fades out and I don't knowwho it is.
It doesn't say which apostlesays it.
I'm assuming it's Matthew it is.
It doesn't say which apostlesays it.
I'm assuming it's matthew,based on the fact that matthews
is a number guy.
Right, he was a.
He was a tax collector, so hewould understand math pretty
well.
And so there's this moment, asthey've collected all 12 baskets
(29:39):
and they're all kind ofrejoicing and how exciting this
is.
As the clip fades out, one ofthe apostles says he gave us
more than we needed, and I canonly assume it's Matthew.
He says you'll get used to thatkind of math.
(30:00):
He says, listen, he gave usmore than we needed.
When you're a follower of Jesus, you'll get used to that kind
of math.
Five loaves and two fish don'tfeed 15,000 people.
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Unless Jesus is involved, mancan't do that.
But when you give your life toChrist, he can take what little
you have.
He can change the world.
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All he's asking us to do is bewilling.
Am I willing to give up whatlittle bit I have in this world
by the way, when I die, none ofit goes with me anyways but am I
willing to give up what littleI have?
And here's what I love about itAt the end of the day, the
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little boy gave up his lunch andhe still ate too.
God didn't ignore him.
Jesus didn't say well, not foryou, he still ate.
He sacrificed a little, and Godgave them more than they could
ever expect, and I believe, as achurch, that's a math that we
should get used to.
Everything we bring to God.
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Every little bit matters,because it's not dependent on
you and I anyways, I mean thatwhen I said it Years from now.
I want to look back at thismoment.
I want to see everything thatGod has done, and the only thing
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that I want to be able to sayis man, look what God did.
That's what it is to followJesus.
That's what it is to sacrifice.
Cody talked about this as aroyal priesthood.
Priests are required tosacrifice something, but when we
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sacrifice the little thingsJesus is calling us to sacrifice
, he always brings it back to us.
That's who he is.
That's what he does.
I love it, and we'll end withthis.
He gave us more than we needed.
You'll get used to that kind ofman.
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Let's pray.
So we are going to get into our series next week on
worship and Cody and I Cody isour worship leader, if you
didn't know that, cody is alsoone of our elders Him and I are
going to kind of tag team.
I feel like it's appropriate tohave the guy who leads worship
to preach on worship.
I mean, it seems like heprobably has some idea of what's
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going on with that, and sowe're.
But before we get there I cameout of, so just give me an idea.
So our missions team got backFriday night so we sent a team
down to the Dominican Republicthis year and I wasn't able to
go with them.
I was actually in Indiana at apreaching summit conference and
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so basically I try to go thereevery year and I spend two days
there and the hope is to kind ofget some tools and help equip
me.
And you know I need somerefreshing.
You know sometimes it's good asthe preacher to sit and listen
to someone to preach because Idon't have to do anything, like
when they're done preaching Ijust get up and leave.
You know there's no requirement, and so sometimes it's good and
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there's a lot of great teachersthere and there's a lot of
different workshops that we cando.
And so I head out Monday morningand my wife, who I think she's
a prophet probably not, but sheasked me the day before.
She's like do you think yourcar is going to be okay to get
there?
And I'm like, yeah, likeclearly, my 2015 chevy trax has
(01:35):
no problems.
You know your 2009 hondaodyssey.
On the other hand, you know,and she's like your car is going
to be fine.
I'm like, yeah, it's fine.
And and so I get about halfwaythere in cambridge and I I stop
off to get something to drinkand I notice, as I'm sitting in
line, mind you, it's really coldout but there's like steam
(01:57):
smoke coming up from underneathmy hood and I'm like, okay, so I
get out and I check it and so Ihave a radiator leak.
So there's like coolant likehit my engine, my hot engine.
So it's like, you know, makingthis steam, it's having kind of
its own little party on its own.
(02:18):
I'm about halfway there.
I'm like I'm just going todrive the rest of the way there.
So I do, I drive the rest ofthe way there.
So I do, I drive the rest ofthe way there and I get there
and I get in the church parkinglot and my friend Haas Ridgeway
he's a local minister in thearea.
He's about 20 minutes from thechurch that I'm at and I call
him and I say, hey, do you knowany mechanic people?
He's like yeah, let me call youback.
So he calls me back and hebrings this guy by the name of
(02:39):
Daniel Never met Daniel in mylife, but daniel's pretty
awesome and and daniel, he fixedmy car and then he told me he
don't.
He's like don't tell anybody, Ican do that.
I'm like listen, I get it.
Man.
Like some people are reallygood at stuff.
They don't need everyone elseknowing they're good at stuff.
So we get there and he takes thehose off in the parking lot and
you know, and there's like abubble, by the way, like in my
radiator hose, and I know enoughto know that that's bad right.
(03:02):
So I'm pretty sure I wasn'tgoing to make it home.
But the downside is is I miss,like the first half of the
summit because I'm in theparking lot making sure that I
can make it home on Tuesday.
By the way, the joy of thisentire story is the fact that
while we're in the parking lotworking on my car it's 27
degrees, but the next day, onTuesday, it's 65 and sunny, and
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I'm like, come on man, like whycouldn't that have been?
You know, just warm your handin the radiator fluid, like
you'll be fine, right.
And so part of the reason why Ithink it's so important is and
then I said this because someonewas asking me as I kind of
walked in you know, why are youhere?
I'm like well, listen, I'm hereto get fed so I can beat others
(03:45):
.
He was like oh, that's good,I'm like right, like I don't
know where that came from, LikeI was like that's a good thing
to say, right, but that's whatit is right.
So the idea is we just havethis, we just want to be, we
want to fill ourselves up, right.
And so now we're diving intothis is where this message came
(04:07):
from, because I really kind ofcourse, corrected and we're
going to talk probably one of myand I always say like it's my
favorite narrative I don't knowhow to say that about I love the
whole Bible, it's all myfavorite, right, but there's
this moment in the life of Jesusthat I think is really pivotal.
There's this moment in the lifeof Jesus that, I think, is
really pivotal, and not only forthem, but I think that where
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our church is headed next, thisparticular text is incredibly
necessary for us.
So you're going to find thisstory.
So you can actually find it inall four Gospels, but today
we're going to be in John 6,1-15.
For those of you who take notes, I wrote down the other
references.
You can find it in Matthew 14,verses 13 through 21.
(04:52):
You can find it in Mark 6, 31through 44.
And you can also find it inLuke 9, 10 through 17.
This is one of the outside ofthe resurrection of Jesus.
This is one of the onlymiracles that is actually
recorded in all four Gospels andI think that's significant,
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that every author felt the needto include the account of what
happens here.
So let's set the scene a littlebit before we get into this.
So, based on the text, weunderstand that most likely this
takes place in the springtime.
We see in the Scripture thatthere's a lot of grass on the
field and if you know anythingabout the area where they are in
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Jerusalem, there's a very shortwindow of time where there's
any kind of grass in the area.
So it takes place aroundspringtime.
John's going to let us knowthat it's actually taking place
near Passover.
So it's around the time ofPassover, which is significant.
If you were Jewish, passover wasa significant event for you.
(06:02):
It goes all the way back toExodus, when God protected the
people with the blood over thedoors as they came through and
set them free from the Egyptians.
So John establishes that ittakes place over Passover.
It's in the spring, it's in alarge field and it's near some
water.
All of these things arenecessary.
(06:23):
So John, chapter 6, verse 1,says Sometime after this, jesus
crossed to the far shore of theSea of Galilee, that is, the Sea
of Tiberias, and a great crowdof people followed him because
he saw the signs he hadperformed by healing the sick.
And Jesus went up on amountainside and sat down with
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his disciples.
The Jewish Passover festivalwas near, so right out of the
gate, john establishes there's agreat crowd of people that are
following Jesus at this momentbecause of what they've seen him
do.
Passover's near, so even moreof a reason.
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There's a ton of people aroundthe area traveling and getting
ready.
Starting in verse 5, when Jesuslooked up and saw a great crowd
coming toward him, he said toPhilip.
By the way, philip would havebeen from the area.
So he says to Philip whereshall we buy bread for these
people to eat?
He asked this only to test him,for he already had in mind what
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he was going to do.
By the way, I love Jesus, Ilove that line.
Jesus already knows the answerto that question.
He already has it all figuredout.
He's giving Philip a chance tobe a part of the conversation,
he said.
Philip answered him.
It would take more than half ayear's wages to buy enough bread
(07:52):
for each one to have a bite.
Another of his disciples, andrewSimon Peter's brother, spoke up
.
He said here's a boy with fivesmall barley loaves and two
small fish, but how far wouldthey go among so many?
By the way, I brought myLunchable today.
Yeah right, I was thinkingabout it.
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We bought this yesterday.
We were at the store and I hadto buy this without my kids
seeing it, because they're goingto be like I want a Lunchable
too.
I'm like you can have one later, don't worry about it.
So I brought my Lunchable todayand I was sitting here thinking
about this because when I waslittle, this was like a special
treat for us In my whole life Ihave always thought that is not
(08:36):
a lot of food for anyone ever.
Like when you buy things and itsays, like party size, that's a
regular size bag of chips.
Like when you buy things and itsays, like party size, that's a
regular size bag of chips, okay, and you buy a Lunchable, and I
buy this.
And there are times when Milesdoesn't finish it and I'm like
how there's so little there.
Like this is a Lunchable, thisis like a lunch, a snack for me,
(09:00):
like, and even then it's gonnaleave me hungry.
But so I brought this todaybecause so this boy comes up
right.
So this entire crowd of people,there's this little boy and I
always wonder.
I like to think that he wentwillingly.
I don't know if he did, but hemight have, but he has this
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little lunch five loaves ofbread, two fish, probably just
enough for him, maybe someoneelse.
And Andrew says hey, listen,this boy has this lunch.
But how are we going to feed somany people?
How are we going to take solittle?
(09:40):
And that would be like mepassing this around and saying
alright, everyone, take yourfill, come on.
It would get past the first row.
By the way, it's turkey, incase anyone wants to know that
it's turkey.
But that would be like hey, bythe way, after church we're
going to have a potluck.
This is it.
(10:01):
This is what I have, right.
And so this little boy has thislunch.
He comes up with it and, ifyou'll notice in the text,
what's happening is, thequestion that Jesus asked is
coming, I believe, from hisspiritual understanding of who
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God is, whereas their responseis coming from a very physical
world.
Philip says there's not enoughmoney.
How would we even buy enoughfood?
Andrew looks at this little boywith his lunch and he says
clearly, clearly, that's notgoing to be enough.
And so Jesus so startcontinuing.
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In verse 10, jesus said have thepeople sit down.
There's plenty of grass in thatplace.
This is where we understand andwhere we kind of get the idea
that it was happening in thespring.
And they sat down.
About 5,000 men were there.
By the way, usuallyscripturally not just scripture,
but a lot of times historicallythey would only count men
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because there was an assumptionof family.
So there's a good understandingthat there's probably 5,000 men
plus women and kids, which isprobably somewhere between
10,000 and 15,000 people werethere.
So Jesus then took the loaves,he gave thanks and he
distributed to those who wereseated as much as they wanted.
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He did the same thing with thefish.
When they had all had enough toeat, he said to his disciples
gather the pieces that are leftover, let nothing be wasted.
So they gathered them andfilled 12 baskets with the
pieces of the five barley loavesleft over by those who had
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eaten.
And after the people had sawthe sign of Jesus' reform, they
began to say surely this is theprophet who is coming to the
world.
Jesus, knowing that theyintended to come and to make him
king by force, withdrew againto a mountain by himself.
So let's look at a couple ofthings that I think it's
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important to notice in the text,because John, the way John
writes this, is significant.
In verse 12, he says when theyhad all had enough to eat,
establishing that everyone hadbeen satisfied, establishing
that everyone had been satisfiedPrior to feeding them.
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Jesus prays over both things,asking God for his provision.
And even going back to verse 10, when they question or they
kind of doubt what's happening,jesus doesn't necessarily rebuke
them.
In the moment, what he says isokay, listen, everyone, sit down
.
Sit down and bring me whatlittle you have.
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And then John continues towrite that after everyone had
eaten, they were completelysatisfied.
Jesus told his disciples to goand collect everything that was
left over, and they filled 12basketfuls.
Can you imagine?
Once again, I think about thatlittle boy who brought his lunch
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, his little bag lunch, withvery little, just enough, and I
can imagine that after he ate,to see his lunch somehow
multiplied into 12 baskets, hewas probably like whoa.
And I say that because I thinkabout my kids, because my kids
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would be like whoa.
How'd that happen?
And I'd be like I have no idea,man.
How'd that happen?
And I'd be like I have no idea,man.
And so when I think about howcrazy it is that you and I, we
come to God oftentimes with solittle, but he's able to do so
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much with it, but he's able todo so much with it.
And then John, when he finishesthe narrative, he says Jesus
realizes that because of themiracle that they were ready to
come and force him to be king,and so he retreats and listen,
part of that is it's areflection of the heart of the
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people.
Jerusalem was looking for aMessiah, but they weren't
looking for eternal salvation.
They were looking for someoneto come in and overthrow the
Romans, but Jesus knew that thatwasn't the plan.
So when we talk about thismoment, we reflect back.
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So when John is talking aboutthis moment, I can imagine in
the mind of those who are therethey're thinking about this
story in Exodus 12.
Exodus 16, sorry, exodus 16,verses 1 through 12.
It said the whole Israelitecommunity set out from Elm and
came to the desert of Sin, whichis between Elam and Sinai, and
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the fifteenth day, the secondmonth after they had come out of
Egypt.
So this is after God haddelivered them.
So this is after what isinitially set Passover in the
place God had brought themthrough the Red Sea, had brought
them into the desert, wasbringing them into the Promised
Land In the desert.
(15:33):
The whole community grumbledagainst Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them ifonly we had died by the Lord's
hand in Egypt.
I can't even like I can't evensometimes with their response.
They would rather die in Egyptthan to struggle a little bit in
the desert.
(15:53):
Said there we sat around potsof meat and ate all the food we
wanted, but you have brought usout into the desert to starve
this entire assembly to death.
The Lord said to Moses have arain down bread from heaven for
you that you were to go out eachday and gather enough for that
day.
And this way I will test themand see whether they will follow
(16:15):
my instructions.
On the sixth day they are toprepare what they bring in and
what is to be twice as much asthey gather on the other days.
So Moses and Aaron said to theIsraelites in the evening you
will know that it was the Lordwho brought you out of Egypt In
the morning.
You will see the glory of theLord, because he has heard your
grumbling against him.
Who are we that you shallgrumble against us?
(16:36):
Moses also said you will knowthat it was the Lord when he
gives you meat to eat in theevening and all the bread you
want in the morning, because hehas heard your grumbling against
him.
Who are we?
You're not grumbling against us, but against the lord.
Then moses told aaron say to theentire israelite community come
before the lord, for he hasheard you grumbling.
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So so there's a moment when theisraelites are in their desert,
they're kind of lost, they'rehungry, and god rains down manna
from heaven and provides quailin the evening.
I don't know about you, butthat would be fascinating If,
like, I walked outside my houseand there's just like an Aldi
(17:18):
grocery bag every morning, fullof all right, of all the stuff I
love to eat, and I pick it upand I ate it.
Now it's gone.
If you follow in the text,eventually God said don't hold
anything because by morningit'll be ruined.
But imagine, every morning youwake up and on your front stoop
is all the groceries you needfor that day.
Imagine that kind of provision,right.
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And so we're going back towhere John is talking in the
text and he's talking about thismiracle.
And the people are gatheredaround, they're sitting down.
There's 10 to 15 000 people.
They have this little lunch ofthis little kid and and jesus
takes it and blesses it and itfeeds all of them till they're
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satisfied.
That not just like a nibble,but until they're satisfied.
And then they take over what'sleft and they collect 12
basketfuls.
I was reading.
This is a statement by NTWright.
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There's a book, one of thecommentaries I use by him is
called the New Testament forEveryone.
Nt Wright's one of my favoritecurrent scholars because he
writes stuff in very simplelanguage at times.
He says this.
He's talking about thesituation.
He says Philip doesn't knowwhat to do, andrew doesn't
either, but he brings the boyand his bread and fish to Jesus'
(18:47):
attention.
The point is obvious, butperhaps we need to be reminded
of it.
So often we ourselves have noidea what to do.
But the starting point isalways to bring what is there to
the attention of Jesus.
You can never tell what he'sgoing to do with it, though part
of Christian faith is theexpectation that he will do
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something we hadn't thought of,something new and creative.
I love that he says listen, thepoint of the text is to realize
that a lot of times, all youhave to bring to Jesus is what
you have, because that's whatyou do.
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That's what you and I do inthis moment.
He's not going to force us todo anything, but he asks us to
bring what we have to the table,and then he takes it and he
multiplies it and he grows itand he feeds 5,000 plus people.
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You know, I was thinking aboutit this morning, and maybe it's
a lack of faith on my part, Idon't know, but there was part
of me that was like alright, god, I'm going to pray over this
and pass this around, and I wantyou to give everyone their own
Lunchable.
I wanted to, and maybe that'sme right.
Maybe that's where I struggle alittle bit.
(20:17):
Because here's the thing.
Let me tell you why I didn't doit.
Because what if God doesn't?
Then I'm going to look weird.
What if God does?
That's a whole otherconversation.
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I don't know if we're readythere yet, but then I started
thinking okay, god, but thisdoesn't make sense.
There's no way this could feedall these people.
God, there's no way that thelittle old me and following the
US Virginia can make adifference in the world that
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you've created.
There's no way that my sermonshave an impact anywhere.
There's no way that our churchcan change this community.
Listen when we put things inthe human perspective.
(21:25):
You're right, it's impossible.
But Jesus doesn't work based onus.
He works based on Him.
I love this narrative becausethis little boy had nothing else
to offer and Jesus took it andmultiplied it a hundred times
(21:46):
over.
Jesus took it and multiplied ita hundred times over.
Twelve basketfuls of food leftwhen they were in the desert.
God gave them bread and quailevery single day while they
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waited, and you and I oftentimeswon't even bring what little we
have because we don't thinkit's going to make a difference,
or we do things relying onourselves to accomplish it.
We do all of this by humanstandards and then when it falls
apart, we wonder why.
But NT Wright says the point isto bring what we have to the
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attention of Jesus and then lethim do with it what only he can
do with it.
You know we've already taken astep of faith as a church.
Maybe you were here when we didit, but maybe you've heard that
(22:52):
we brought jesse on part-timeas a student pastor because we
believe that that he's part ofour future.
We believe that investing inthe teenagers of this community
is a necessary thing andcreating a place for them to
come and find out who Jesus isin a way that makes sense to
them is important.
It's funny because I actuallystarted out in his position and
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he used to be one of my students.
To now see him doing that isincredible.
He asked me this morning.
He's like hey, do you think youand I could share the pulpit on
Easter?
I was like no, but I was likeno, no, no.
But I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding Because Ibelieve, I believe in him and I
believe that my hope is to watchwhat he's doing.
(23:38):
And so he's been doing stuff onSunday nights here and he just
got back with Lydia, his fiancee, and and he just got back with
Lydia, his fiance, and they'regetting married in September.
I'm excited for that.
I get to be the best man andthe minister.
That's going to be cool.
So I've done one.
The other I still got to figureout, but we've already taken a
step of faith.
Because here's the thing whenit comes to building the kingdom
(24:00):
of God, it's not about you andI doing it anyways.
It's about us showing up withwhat we have and offering God
our little piece of life andsaying God, it's not much, but I
know you can do this.
I know that you can bring thiscommunity to its knees.
(24:22):
I know that you can bring thisnation to repentance.
I've seen it.
I know that if we just give youour best, I have faith to take
care of the rest.
You know this is such animportant moment in the life of
(24:43):
not only his early disciples,because they had to see again
and again jesus kept showingthem listen, you're relying so
much on you and not enough on me.
And and when he died and heresurrected and he went back to
heaven and they would have torely on him to continue the
ministry.
And because of that reliancebecause they learn that j Jesus
(25:04):
can even feed 15,000 people theyrealized that everything else
for him was possible too.
Here's what you don't know andI'm going to share this with you
and I'm not going to go into alot of detail.
Last Friday, we met with ageneral contractor on our
property.
We're having conversationsabout where we're headed in the
(25:29):
future.
By the way, that's a greatthing.
We have someone who we believeis going to work with us moving
forward.
That's going to help usaccomplish the vision that we
believe God has given us forthis community.
But here's the thing it's goingto be a whole lot of faith
moving forward, because if wetry to do this in the way that
(25:53):
we rely on ourselves, it's nevergoing to happen.
Listen, I look forward to thisman.
A year from now, two years fromnow, five years from now, ten
years from now.
I want, from now, ten yearsfrom now, I want us to reflect
back on this moment and think,and the only thing I want anyone
(26:13):
to think is man.
That's cool what God did thereNot the preacher, not Jesse, not
the worship team, none of it.
That is really cool to see whatGod has done in that church, in
that community, in that town.
It's amazing to see in the OhioValley that God has showed
Himself again and again andagain and again.
(26:38):
And all Jesus is asking is foryou and I to show up with what
we have, because sometimes whatlittle we have is more than
enough for Him to do exactlywhat he needs to do.
But I'm also going to challengeyou to.
Maybe God is calling you togive more than you've ever given
(27:02):
before.
Maybe and I'm not just talkingabout finances, but maybe your
time, maybe your effort, maybeserving in the church.
Listen, as the church grows,ministries grow.
We need more help.
Marian sent me a picture lastweek and I don't know if you saw
it, but I think she had 12 kids12 kids downstairs in our
(27:24):
junior church area.
By the way, when that numbergets to 24, it's going to feel
like a lot for one person.
It feels like a lot 12, withone person, right, but those are
ministries that are growing andit's going to require you and I
to give our best to serve inthe nursery.
You know the sound.
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I realize this seems kind ofweird, but this is what I mean
when I say we're giving God ourbest.
We're going to show up everyday and we're going to give God
everything we have and we'regoing to trust that he's going
to do something phenomenal.
And we're going to trust thathe's going to do it so much so
that when we look back we'regoing to say look at what God
did.
Look at what God did and how hechanged the community.
(28:11):
Look at how he brought people,he healed them of addiction, he
set them free.
Look at how he fixed marriages.
Look at how he helped otherpeople understand that their
identity is in Him, not what theworld says about them.
We're going to look back andwe're going to realize that with
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five loaves and two fish, jesuscan do anything.
I was looking for illustrationsthis week and if you've ever
seen the Chosen series, theyactually depict this moment in
(28:55):
one of their series and it'skind of cool to watch it unfold.
And they take a little bit ofartistic creativity with how
they do it, which I understand,and so they kind of show this
miracle as it kind of happensand unfolds, and I was going to
show it but it's like eightminutes long.
So if you haven't seen it youneed to go watch it.
It's a really cool series.
But my favorite part of it isat the end of, as the clip kind
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of fades out and I don't knowwho it is.
It doesn't say which apostlesays it.
I'm assuming it's Matthew it is.
It doesn't say which apostlesays it.
I'm assuming it's matthew,based on the fact that matthews
is a number guy.
Right, he was a.
He was a tax collector, so hewould understand math pretty
well.
And so there's this moment, asthey've collected all 12 baskets
(29:39):
and they're all kind ofrejoicing and how exciting this
is.
As the clip fades out, one ofthe apostles says he gave us
more than we needed, and I canonly assume it's Matthew.
He says you'll get used to thatkind of math.
(30:00):
He says, listen, he gave usmore than we needed.
When you're a follower of Jesus, you'll get used to that kind
of math.
Five loaves and two fish don'tfeed 15,000 people.
(30:21):
Unless Jesus is involved, mancan't do that.
But when you give your life toChrist, he can take what little
you have.
He can change the world.
(30:43):
All he's asking us to do is bewilling.
Am I willing to give up whatlittle bit I have in this world
by the way, when I die, none ofit goes with me anyways but am I
willing to give up what littleI have?
And here's what I love about itAt the end of the day, the
(31:07):
little boy gave up his lunch andhe still ate too.
God didn't ignore him.
Jesus didn't say well, not foryou, he still ate.
He sacrificed a little, and Godgave them more than they could
ever expect, and I believe, as achurch, that's a math that we
should get used to.
Everything we bring to God.
(31:29):
Every little bit matters,because it's not dependent on
you and I anyways, I mean thatwhen I said it Years from now.
I want to look back at thismoment.
I want to see everything thatGod has done, and the only thing
(31:50):
that I want to be able to sayis man, look what God did.
That's what it is to followJesus.
That's what it is to sacrifice.
Cody talked about this as aroyal priesthood.
Priests are required tosacrifice something, but when we
(32:12):
sacrifice the little thingsJesus is calling us to sacrifice
, he always brings it back to us.
That's who he is.
That's what he does.
I love it, and we'll end withthis.
He gave us more than we needed.
You'll get used to that kind ofman.
(32:34):
Let's pray.
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