Beyond the Miracle: Lessons from Jesus Feeding the 5,000 || Pastor Adam Mesa

Right. Well, amen, it's so good to see everybody here today.

Can we really quickly right now today joining all of

our services are all of our campuses, So can we

show love to Promota Campus, Alameda Campus, all those online,

welcome all those that are joining us for service today.

As all of you know, we have been in a

campaign called Beyond, as we have seen God do some

incredible things in our church. And so if you have

your journals, would you pull them out and would you

jump in to week what.

Are we in week four?

In week four, go ahead and turn your page in

your journals to week four. If you're haven't been for

a couple of weeks, that's okay. At our campuses, everyone's

doing it a little different. So if you don't have

a journal, then I think at our Promoter Campus, Alameda Campus,

you could just raise your hands someone from the Dream Team.

We'll be able to get it to you. If you're

here in Rancho outside in our floyer, at our welcome desk,

in our Dream Team desk, our team will have them

for you when you leave service today.

And we've been in a.

Six week series talking about all the things God is

doing in our church, and as our church has been

absolutely growing and God has been moving in incredible ways.

And so I want to remind all of you.

And if you're newer to Patria, you're just visiting or

you're just checking out. In a few moments we'll start

the message. But I want to remind everyone who considers

Patria home. What we've been doing as a church is

we've been believing God that over the next three years,

our church has a vision of twenty million dollars as

a church, and we believe that God is doing incredible

things in our church.

And it's not just for one person to do.

Someone recently asked me, Pastor Adam, what would happen if

one person came and gave twenty million dollars.

My response was, then it would become.

A forty million dollar campaign, because I believe it's a

challenge to the.

Church body, not to one individual.

That we want everyone to be able to bend fit

what it looks like to do their part.

In God's kingdom.

And so I'll tell you this, I have one hundred

myself and our entire team, we have one hundred million

dollar vision to reach people for Jesus. We just it

was scary, y'all. If you heard it all. And so

we're sharing twenty which after our courtyard, which next weekend

is going to be finished, you could take one point

seven million off of our twenty million dollar vision. And

so it's already starting to lessen and you can see

up on the screen all the great things that are

happening in our campus. Pomona needs more parking, they're out.

Rancho needs more parking, and so we're putting new parking

in Pomona, new parking in Rancho, new kids facilities in

Rancho with an entire new big kids classroom, entire new

back play area for our kids. Additionally, we want to

believe God for our Corona campus a physical site, our

Alameda campus a purchase site because right now we lease there,

and so we're believing God that we're making an impact

in the city. I met someone I got to speak

this past Wednesday at our Alameda campus. I met someone

who was their first time. They found us on Facebook.

They said they had been struggling with addiction for many years,

but has just recently over the past couple years become sober,

and by the end of the service, they raised their

hand and gave their life to Jesus Christ. He even

challenged me before service, he said, you know, I'm looking

for a church.

Maybe it'll be your guys, as maybe it won't.

Sure enough, By the end of the sermon, when he

gave his life to Jesus, he went to me, he said, I'll.

See you next week.

And so that's the kind of impact that we're talking

about that we do as a church.

We don't build buildings.

We build people. Buildings are places where we build, though

it's hopten times where we build people. We pray for marriages,

We believe God for miracle, signs and wonders, and God

does those things. And so one last thing. We have

two dates next week. It's already coming up. Next weekend

is our commitment weekend, and so we want to encourage

every person to come. And what we're doing as a

church is in your journal. I don't have one up here,

but if I had one, i'd show you your commitment card.

I know.

Look, Darius would throw throw it at me. Darius, just

throw it. You don't have a commitment card because is

it already pre filled out? No, look at this fifty.

Million dollars, My goodness, look at that.

You're gonna sell a movie, Darius, You're gonna he's an actor.

So we have our commitment card Sunday. What's our pledge Sunday.

So all this says, it says, Hey, if you heard

last week we're talking about hearing the voice of God,

it's hey, me and my family or I myself. I've

sat down and I've talked to God and I've said, God,

if you would want us to be a part of this,

what would you want us to do. We're not asking

you that you listened to Pastor Adam. I'm asking that

you just listen to God. And so if God would

stretch you and encourage you to do something, then next

weekend we're saying, hey, we're gonna bring it all to service,

and we're gonna turn these in together. We're gonna celebrate

that over the next three years. It's a pledge for

the next three years to say, hey, this is what

I believe me and my family can do above our

ties and offering. But only nineteen percent of our church gives,

and so eighty percent of the church that gathers every

Sunday doesn't give a dollar every single week, and so

it takes finances to do the work of ministry. And

so my just ask is, if you're part of that

eighty percent, would you, just like Malachi says, would you

test God over the next thirty six months. You may

not be at a place of tithing yet in your life,

but would you engage with this pledge card and see

what God would have you do. Some people may say

I'm on a fixed income, I can't give on miracles Sunday.

That doesn't mean you can't fill out the pledge card.

Maybe you can't start giving till November. Maybe you can't

start giving to after tax season. Everybody's different finances are different,

budget is different. All we're saying is this is what

the church can believe God for, is what He's going

to do over the next three years, so that we

can start putting the miracles in motion of what God's

gonna do. And I'll tell you this, as the money

comes in, the money will go out and will immediately

start going to all the projects that we're working on.

And so lastly, we're asking that everyone come on the

eighth and ninth. And I know some people travel and

all that, so you can already start putting it in

if you're gone, But we really want to do it together.

If you can come to the services on the eighth

and ninth, we're saying, hey, would you bring one miracle

offering that will immediately go towards getting projects done, and

we'll immediately start telling you what those projects are as

it comes in. We don't want to say the project

ahead of time because too much or too less may

come in. It just depends on what comes in on

the miracle offering and then will begin. I'll tell you

this though, the projects will start right away. And so

we're believing God on the eighth and ninth, and you'll

have the next three weekends at that point to come

and bring if God would put something on your miracle offering,

and if you absolutely cannot in this season, that's okay.

We're still believing God over your finances that by the

end of the year you will see an increase and

you'll say, God, I wasn't expecting this. I want to

partner with what my church is doing. And so whether

right now is a good time or not. What we're

doing though as a church is we're putting vision because

God is moving, and so be praying for what God

is doing. I already saw property this past Friday in Corona,

and so we're actively looking for campuses to be able

to plant. We're probably you know, we're just believing God.

We're going to be making like fifty percent offers on

stuff and just hope that people are desperate enough to

sell and we'll start doing ministry. And so we're very

excited about what God is doing in all of the

cities to make an impact. Well, let's continue to let

God speak to us about not only what he's doing

in beyond, because Ephesians three twenty says that God does

do exceedingly abundant beyond, more than anything we ask or think,

and that's what we're believing God for in this season.

But I believe also God is speaking to you. What

God does in his church, he does in people's homes.

And so if you see God moving in the church,

God is going to move in your home and in

your life. And so that's what we believe God is

doing in this season. And so I want you to

see this verse for just a moment, or actually, if

you have a Bible, would you turn to John chapter

six and hold your finger there, because first we're going

to hear about an incredible family about how God has

been moving in their life at our Pomona campus. So

let's check it out.

My name is Muriel Lark and I've been a member

of Patriot Church since two thousand and nine.

My name is Melanie Celestine. I've been attending Patriot since

two thousand and three.

In two thousand and twenty two, I went in to

an orthopedic surgeon to have my knee replaced, and he

gave me a list of examinations that I needed to

have in order to do that.

One of them was a colonoscopy.

That's when I had that colonoscopy that showed a mass

in my colon, and the mass of my colon turned

out to be malignant, so I was scheduled to have

surgery on May thirty first. My pre off was scheduled

for May twenty nine.

And two weeks to the day before her surgery, I

was walking our dogs in a park I've walked in

my entire life, and I tripped and fell and I

thought I had just sprained my ankle, you know. I

hopped up, I hobbled home, and I babed it for

a couple of days, and after about eight days I

realized it wasn't getting any better, and then I should

probably go to the doctor. And so Monday of the

week of my mom's surgery, I make it to the

surgeon and he says it's broken. It's not a sprain,

it's broken in two places. And because I had walked

on it for ten days, I now needed surgery. And

so my surgery was scheduled for two days before my mom's,

and so she was scheduled for surgery on Friday and

I was scheduled for surgery on Wednesday. I began to

sob in the middle of the doctor's office and I

just thought, you know, this is my mom. I'm her

only child, I'm her person. If I can't take care

of her, then.

Who would.

I have this history with Buona, and Buna calls me

like two or three times a week, kind of like

his spiritual mother.

And so when Buona.

Called, it was getting close to time for surgery, and

I finally broke down and told him. And the first

thing he asked me was, is it okay if I

tell the pastors because we pray and when we have

our group prayer as church employees, that he would like

to share that, and he did well. Then I heard

from Pastor Dolores, I heard from Pastor Steve.

I even heard from Pastor Aaron.

The day after my surgery, which was that Saturday, Pastor

Steve and Pastor Dolores came to the hospital, and later

on that day Buona came to the hospital.

He just began to send people who showed up for

us and.

Prayed with us.

And when I would be sobbing at the altar, Custard

would be there. It's just hug me and pray with

me and weep with me and tell me it was

going to be okay.

I was okay with all of that until after surgery,

almost a month after surgery, when I went to meet

with an oncologist and he kept telling me, we got

it all your cancer free. We got it all your

cancer free. You said that to me like four times.

And everything else he said was when when When? After

he said we're going to give you chemo and radiation.

It just it wrecked me, it really did. I was

a total miss. And then the Lord said to me,

you are cancer free. The doctor told you that four times,

You're cancer free. And it was like, if I'm cancer free,

what are they gonna treat I'm not going to do it,

but if you don't, and what if it comes back, Well,

if you don't do this, what if you know? The

what if started piling in a battlefield going on in

my head, the battlefiel of the mind. I said to myself, Well,

if you believe in God and you truly trust him

as you always have, He's not going to let you down.

And it just I haven't thought about it one time since.

In November, I had a CT scan and I'm still

cancer free.

We walked into the gym here at Promona and Mom

walked in and saw Pastor Steven, Pastor Dolores, and she said,

I'm cancer free.

She lost it, just like that. She lost it again.

To share that moment. The same day we found out

she was cancer free with our patriot family who had

wept with us, and now they got to rejoice with us,

just like the word says. I should also mention that

not only was Mom cancer free, I was walking after

nine weeks and bearing full weight on my ankle after

nine weeks when the doctor said it would take sixteen.

So God was God was doing all kinds of things

and just showing up.

God has shown me that he is. He is definitely there.

He is trustworthy, trusting little and that's my favorite prayer,

is trusting the Lord with all your heart, mean, not

on your own understanding and all your ways, submit to

Him and he will make your path straight.

And he did.

He did, and it's not the first time, but that

was the biggest time that He has shown me who

he was for me. God has gone above and beyond,

and we are so grateful.

Praise God. You know, as God works in our lives.

One of the things we wanted to stand out was

the beauty of God's Church. And you saw many times

how they both mentioned how they're church was there for them.

Not necessarily church leaders.

There were some church leaders in there, but there was

also people that were in the church as well, praying

for them, believing God for them, encouraging them, visiting them.

There's a lot of people who go through those things

absolutely alone in life. God has called the church to

be there for one another. That's the miracle. She has

been healed, and that's a miracle. But a lot of

us we look for the attractive miracles. Jesus walking on water,

Jesus multiplying fishes and loaves. Oversee you want to know

what else is a miracle? Someone just saying, hey, let's

pray before your surgery. We'll know if someone else's a miracle.

We're going come visit you post off of your surgery.

Want to know what else is a miracle? Someone checking

in thirty days later that you met at church. That's saying,

how are things going on in your marriage? Not everybody

so blessed to have that. Not everybody even say, man,

I don't have that yet. In church, I encourage you

to get plugged in. If you haven't gone through growth

track yet, if you're not in a neighborhood group, if

you're not coming to service and actually mosing around our service,

you won't meet people. When the altar call is going,

you slip out, grab your kids, go to the car,

and then say, oh, it's so hard to meet people.

It's pretty easy to meet people. It's just your car's

already on before the message even ends. That's a lot different.

So that's the beauty the miracle of God's Church. It's

what God's called all of us to do, is to

be there for somebody. And hopefully today's word will begin

to stretch that and challenge this the side of that

and also make it very practical for us. And so

we're gonna be in John chapter six. So if you

have your Bible, would you turn to it. It's a

miracle of Jesus that many of us know if you

grew up in Sunday School, but also if you're new

to church. It's a powerful story and historical count. It's

the only miracle in all of the Gospels in the

New Testament. The Gospels are four books of the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke,

and John. The miracle we're gonna speak about is only

has been recorded in all four books. No other miracle

is in all four books. Believe that this miracle is

in all four books because there's a lot God wants

to say to us in this miracle. And so today

I won't be able to say all of it, but

I will be able to say some of it. That's

gonna stretch us, challenge us, and also encourage us. So

if you're ready, would you stand for the honor of

reading God's word today? As we lead into John chapter six,

verses one to thirteen, we're gonna do a little bit

of reading. But it's a story, so those are always

easier to read in the Bible, because you'll easily follow

along with it as well. Here's what it says. Says

after this, Jesus went away to the other side of

the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius,

and a large crowd was following him because they saw

the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus

went up to the mountain, and there he sat down

with his disciples. Now the passover, the feast of the Jews,

was at hand. Lifting up his eyes then, and seeing

that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said

to Philip, this is one of Jesus's disciples, one of

his twelve. He says the fifth, Philip, where are we

to buy bread so that these people may eat? They've

been following Jesus all day, and it's Passover season, and

so therefore they're supposed to be at home. They're supposed

to be taking care of themselves. But they're so consumed

with wanting to hear Jesus that they forgot to go home.

And Jesus recognizes their hunger.

And so he says. Philip answered him, two hundred dinari

worth of bread would not be enough. For each to

get a little. In other words, he says, what we

have is not enough for everybody's hunger. And one of

his disciples, Andrew Simon, Peter's brother, said to him, now

there's another disciple. There's a boy here who has five

barley loaves and two fishes, But what are they for

so many?

In other words, one.

Disciple says, we we got a little bit of money,

but I don't think we have enough to buy. Then

another disciple says, we have a little bit of food,

but there's not enough to go around. And it says

in Jesus said, have the people sit down. Have the

people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place,

so the men sat down, about five thousand in numbers.

So normally in Jewish storytelling they just named the men

because some people may have three children, five children. Some

of y'all got ten children, and so they don't count

the children in that way. But if you take the

men plus the wives plus the children, you're looking at

about twenty thousand people.

Says five thousand men. But that's who they count.

They just count men with there's assumption that's wives, children

and everything.

About twenty thousand people.

It says Jesus then took the loaves, and when he

had given thanks, he distributed to them to the just

distributed them to those who were seated. So also the

fish as much as they wanted, as much as they wanted,

And when they had eaten their phil he told his

disciples gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.

Go get the leftovers.

And so they gathered them up and filled the twelve

baskets with fragments from the five barley loves left by

those who had been eaten.

You may be seated.

Hey, ma'am, let's talk about it a little bit today.

An incredible miracle that involves Jesus's disciples involves a crowd

of hungry people that want to hear Jesus, and then

also Jesus, who's completely aware of what's going on. There's

something I believe Jesus is doing because you basically have

three people in this story. Is you have Jesus, you

have his disciples, and then you have those that were

following him in attendance who wanted to hear from Jesus,

those that were hungry. And so therefore you have kind

of three groups of people and so I just want

to do this, and honestly, seriously, amongst all campuses, there's

no bad answer. I'm not gonna trick anyone, Okay. So

by the root of the question, I'm gonna ask, you're

gonna think that I'm gonna pull some type of.

Trick on you or something like that.

I'm not. It's gonna encourage both sides, okay. And so

I just want to see, by a show of hands,

if you for a second did a quick evaluation in

your rolodex of all of your closest friends, kind of

all of those people that you kind of talk to

the most, or you meet up with the most, or

you spend the most time. Just by a show of hands,

if the majority of the people that you hang out

with are Christians, Jesus following Bible believing Christians, raise your hand,

Gjeordy the friends okay, okay, not even fifty percent of

the room. Okay, I'd probably say thirty percent of the room. Okay,

this great. Honestly, I'm not here to trick anybody. Okay,

where's he going? By a show of hands, who would

say majority of those people? Like I said, all the

other caveats you hang around, talk to the most, involve

the most, you know, go around the moment, all that

kind of stuff, are not Christians or would not identify

themselves as Christians.

Raise your hand.

Okay, so I've seen another about third of the church

raise their hand. I don't know about the rest of

the thirty percent who has no friends, you know, I

guess what it might be a good question nowadays, but no,

I've seen it. So what it seems that peers like

is about fifty to fifty at least for mine. I

don't know what it's like at the campuses there, but

from what I can see at our campus here right now,

there's about fifty percent fifty percent say majority my friends

are Christians. Fifty percent majority would say my friends aren't Christians.

And so I want you to see I have this

if you give me the picture that I could draw on.

And so I have the other one, the clip art

one for me hobby, the one we worked on right

before service, should be coming up any second. If not,

I can still draw it by hand. It might have

been forgotten to upload. And we you know, we believe

for a miracle in three two one, amen, Okay, we'll

do it by hand all right, am I not?

Oh I can't. I can't even I don't think I

could type on it.

Okay, there we go. We did it. At least we

have that.

Going for us. All right.

I want you to see that. There we are, look

you asking you receive. There we go. Look at that

all right, So I want you to see this for

just a moment. Okay. So here we have we have

a situation. We have Jesus, okay, and Jesus recognizes Jesus

is trying to get a break. He was done teaching,

and it said that people were following him because not

only where they were following him expecting him to fill

their hunger. They were following him because they wanted to

learn from Jesus when he is teachings. They wanted to

see these miracles. Sick people were coming, Dead people were coming,

Possessed people were coming.

Jesus was teaching and doing.

Miracles, and they follow him and they're starving. They've been

with him all morning and it's starting to become evening,

and so therefore everybody's hungry. And so what happens is

you have Jesus and you have his twelve disciples. I

have them like this because if you're like me, you

grew up in Sunday School and they have the little

felt boards and you tack on the little thing.

This is my little felt board right here.

Okay, hey, so anyone who is a Jesus follower, guess what.

You're a disciple, your disciple. If you follow Jesus, you

serve Jesus. You've committed your life to Jesus. You are

in his twelve. Remember my Space top eight back in

the day. You're in his top eight. You're his top twelve. Okay,

you're a disciple, all right. And then what happens is

you have all of these people right here that are hungry.

Some are unaware that they're hungry. Some are unaware of

what they need. Some are unaware or they're not even

expecting Jesus to physically feed them. They were there to

learn from him and see a miracle. But Jesus, in

all of his love, he sees a physical need in

their life. I've heard a mentor say that when you're communicating,

there's two things you can't compete with as a communicator,

hunger and bowel movements. If somebody has to use the restroom,

they're no longer paying attention to you. And if someone's hungry,

they're no longer paying attention to you, which is why

some people are asleep in service. You know, they're hungry.

It's just a hunger, you know. And so what happens

is Jesus recognizes there's a hunger, and so does Jesus

go and feed all of these people. No, he brings

it down to his disciples. He asks them. He brings

Philip and say, Philip, they're hungry. What should we do, Philip?

Problem number one? We don't have enough money to feed everybody. Jesus.

Then he brings Then he brings another.

Disciple, Hey, what should we do? And he says, his

kid's got a lunch? But it's not even if we

broke it peace by piece, it wouldn't be enough to

feed twenty thousand people.

And so then Jesus what he does is he says.

Give me that fish loves Because whatever is given to Jesus,

if he blesses it, it can be multiplied. And so

what Jesus does is when he blesses it, he multiplies it.

And then who does he give it to. He gives

it to the disciples, you know, Jesus because He's done

so many incredible things in the scripture, and the Bible

says in the Book of John that Jesus did all

the miracle, signs and wonders and teaching Jesus did. If

it were all written in his three year ministry, there's

not enough books on this earth that could contain what

he did. So that means what's recorded is really important

for what God wants us to hear. And so what

Jesus decides to do is then he gives it disciples.

But do you know a miracle he could have done

is he could have snapped his finger and just made

everyone full right.

Like he'sier.

I mean, I would love when my boys are hungry

ten times a day. I would love to be able

to snap my feet and say, boom, I've.

Cured your hunger, you know, like Jesus.

Could have done that. Why does he do.

It this way?

Well, I think there are some reasons why Jesus wants

to do and we're going to revisit this and because

essentially what I believe Jesus wants to do is Jesus

wants to activate those who say they follow Jesus to

take provision that has been miraculously created and to fill

hungry hearts God's provision so that they can experience God's

goodness and hopefully choose to join Jesus. Jesus isn't just

feeling people's natural hunger, but he is leading their natural

hunger to a place that they could know him, love him,

and serve him. And so, guess what if you are

in this circle and most of your friends are these people,

then you've got an opportunity to activate each other to

go out and serve people. And guess what if you

are by yourself here and this is you and these

are all your friends, then you have an opportunity in

the same way to introduce them, to expand your circle

and give them a place where they can know Jesus.

Either way, God has called us to expand our circle.

As the Church and followers of Jesus, we are not

a country club, not a member's only club. We are

a place that welcomes people who are hungry to show

them that Jesus can do miracles. Jesus can do a miracle.

Here's what I want you to see. If you grew

up in school and you went through elementary school, do

you remember elementary Junior.

Hig High School, they taught us that when.

You write a good story, you have to be able

to answer these few things. You have to answer the who, what, when, where, why,

and sometimes how five things. And so the teacher they'll

read your story and they'll say your what, who, who's

your why? Who's your and they'll go through that and

your story will then be graded based off of do

these things get answered. I believe there's a moment if

we use that same application today, I believe we'll see

what Jesus is trying to get across to us through

this story. So the first thing we'd have to approach

in this story to say, because it is a beautiful story,

but it's also historical count we're gonna do a God

Usually the who, what, when, we're why would be a

guide to storytelling today is a guide to God's invitation.

And we're gonna look at these very briefly, these five

things that I believe in this story God is trying

to show us and what he wants us to do.

Who are disciples? Everyone here who follows Jesus. We're all

part of Jesus's top eight, you're in his top twelve.

So when I go out in the world.

If I want to see what gi Jesus as lends

advantage point, then I have to be able to see

that people are hungry. And I would say, Jesus, use

me as one of your followers. Use me like Isaiah.

God says, whom shall we send? And Isaiah says, I mean,

I'll go. I'm not the smartest, I'm not the brightest,

I'm not the best looking, I'm not the most talented.

I don't have a lot of degrees around back in

my name. But Isaiah goes, I'll do it. If you

just need someone that's useful, I'm useful. And so what

happens is we discover the first thing, what's the who

in this story?

Well?

Who? The first thing we see is number one. The

who is God. God is the central figure in this story.

Jesus is the central figure in the story. All eyes

are pointing to Jesus as provider.

So what this story is.

Meant to do is to fixate our eyes fully on

the one who blesses the meal. So what we see

is Philippians chapter four, verse nineteen says, and my God

will supply every need of yours according to his riches

and his glory in.

Christ, Jesus, and so the who in this moment.

Is our eyes are meant to be caused to be

fixated on Jesus, to recognize that Jesus has a desire

to provide your needs.

It to a desire to provide your needs.

Easily. They could have sent men, Just send them back.

Whatever happens happens on the way home. Jesus, just stop teaching.

You're so long winded.

If you wouldn't, if you just wantn't be so nice

and keep talking for these people. Just when you stop,

they'll get bored and they'll leave. And a lot of

us we think more off of convenience, but that doesn't

stop Jesus. Aw Tozer says it like this. To receive

God's provision, we must depend on him absolutely. God is

looking for people through whom he can do the impossible.

What a pity. We plan only the things we can

do by ourselves, and that's what happens. Jesus says he

asked his disciples to test them because he knew what

to do, but he wanted to show that when you

become a disciple of Jesus, you're not Jesus. We got

to get that through our head, we're not Jesus. And

so Jesus asks his disciples, what should we do with

these people hunger? Not to put the disciples on display,

but put the fact that without Jesus they don't know

what they're doing, because a lot of times we'll say

yes to Jesus and just be like, I got this

thing figured out.

No, you don't.

The disciples didn't. I've said yes to Jesus.

I don't you know? Do you really rely on them?

Well? I think so, because I call myself a Christian?

But do you really rely on him? Do you really

depend on him? Because what does dependence on Jesus look like?

We talked about last week? Obedience is what it looks like.

Jesus was not looking for the disciples to immediately add value,

which is what we want to do when we're around

someone that we really look up to, when we're around

someone that we really want to impress.

What do we want to do.

We want to show how we can do this by ourselves.

We want to show how we got this figured out.

We want to show how Jesus, if you just leave

us too, we'll get all these people fed. But this

task was so impossible that the disciples go, we don't

have enough money to even go to the store and

buy enough food for all of these people. Then he

goes to another disciple and he says, I mean, this

little kid gave us his lunch, which I'm assuming could

be because the kid recognized the disciples might be hungry,

so he offered his lunch to the disciples, like here,

you guys may be hungry.

You guys can have my lunch.

And so one of the other's disciples goes with, this

kid gave us this lunch, and he wanted to give

it to you, but it's surely not enough even if

people broke off pieces. And then Jesus says, I know

what I'll do. Give me the lunch and I'll bless it.

And so the boy gives his lunch. But guess who

also has to give his lunch to disciples? They gotta

be okay with it. They could have been like, hold on,

just like Judas. You know, Judas was like, hey, with

that lady's perfume, we could take.

That and we could sell that. We could do like

another month of ministry.

And so the disciples could have been like, why are

we about to feed all these people. It's not enough

to feed all these people, but it could feed us.

It's enough to feed twelve. And so what happens the

second thing? We see the who that Jesus is a

provider and we want to be seen that Jesus gets

the credit in the story. But then number two, what

is the what? The what is that there is a

physical need. There's a physical need. Yeah, there's a physical

and a spiritual need. Jesus is spiritually teaching everyone, he's

healing people, he's talking to them about the Kingdom of God,

but he also notices that they are hungry. So therefore

Jesus meets their practical needs so that it could lead

them to their spiritual openness. He's meeting their hunger so

that their blindness can be healed. And the what is

And there's so many times in church that we can

get caught up on why do physical things matter? Because

physical things lead people to spiritual truths. And through this

campaign what we're doing, there are are there are physical

elements to it, but it will lead people to a

spiritual inn So what Jesus did with the disciples, Jesus

cares about the physical in people's lives. You know, we

have at all of our campuses yet to open yet.

I'll a meet up at Pomona and Rancho. We have this, uh,

we have a Generosity Center and all many of you

know about it. And our Generosity Center gives over a

million pounds of food away every single year. Every single year,

gives over a million pounds of food. And we've been

so blessed by what God has done. We have one

of the largest nonprofit food contracts in California where we

get so much food sent to us because of some

contracts that we just we have so much that we

not only serve other churches, we we serve homeless centers

where we send our food to and every single Saturday

we feed thousands of families every single Saturday, just feed them.

They just line up and.

We don't check their Christian ID card or anything like that.

We just you hungry, We got you, and so we

just line just line them up, line them up, give

ed if given. And so recently Pastor Lacrese told me

just about a week and a half ago, she said, hey,

it was the launch weekend of our Beyond campaign. And

she said what happened was is on Saturday, there was

two men who were Indian who identified as being Hindu,

and they'd been coming for some time to the Generosity

Center to give food, and he asked Pastor Lacrese, what

is the address of your actual church location, and so

she gave it to him and was like, if you

ever come visit, come look for me and say hi.

And so the next day she sees two men wondering

in the foyer not knowing where to go, and so

she walks up to him and she said, hey, you

guys are here.

What are you guys doing here?

And he said he said, well, we've been served for

so long from the Generosity Center. I began to have

a little bit of money and so I'm looking for

where you give money because I want to give back

to how you guys have been giving to us. And

so he was asking for giving centers and so then

they went to our giving center and he thought he

was typing in Indian money, so he accidentally put three

hundred thousand dollars and she caught it before he swiped

a card and said, I don't think you mean this,

and he was like, no, no, I didn't mean that,

and so he said, I'm putting it up putting it.

You know, I don't know what currency is in India,

but he said, I was putting in that currency, and

so she helped correct it. And then and then she said,

you know what, stay right here. I got a gift

for you guys. And she comes and she brings our

gift we have for first time visitors, brings them anointing oil,

brings them seed for the olive tree. She explains it

to them and they said, you know what. One of

the friends said, I'm Hindu, but I'd like to go

into service. And she and she said, come on to service.

And she brought him into the church and he sat

through service hungry people. Fixing people's hunger. Serving people's hunger

leads to spiritual truths because when you can can't take

care of people's practical needs, God can do a miracle.

And so when you see something that we're doing as

a church, and you see something that's like, oh, that

seems so practical, that seems so physical, that seems so

you know, it's a building, it's a oh no, it's

so much.

More than that.

What happens in four walls is so much more than that.

What happens when people gather is so much more than that.

And what happens is Jesus gives us an opportunity whether

you have the lunch and you need to give your

lunch away, or you are the steward of the lunch.

Because the little boy gave his lunch, but one of

the disciples was the steward of the lunch. So he

had a decision to make. I did I just come

up on a good meal? Can or will I give

this to Jesus? And so we see what Jesus is

doing is he's meeting people's physical needs. Here's the second

thing he does. Where's what's the win? So we've done

the who it's Jesus who provides. We've done the what

both physical and spiritual needs is what Jesus wants to serve.

And then here's the win. The win is right now.

The disciples weren't like Jesus. If you give us seven days,

we can get this done. Will everybody be dead in

seven days? We got seven days? Boys, we got right now.

There is a need right now. We gotta do this

right now. And so what happens, even today's age that

you and I live into, someone may say, oh, what

is vision? We could do it in ten years. We

could do it in twenty years. Yeah, we could do

it in ten years. We could do it in twenty years.

But how many people will not be served in ten years?

How many people won't be served in twenty years? How

many people will we miss out because there's no parking

that we got to turn people the way? How many

people will we miss out because Corona Campus isn't large

enough to hold the people that want to come. How

many people will we miss all because we don't have

the right provisions. Well, no, beauty is that Jesus says,

if you give me what you have have, if he

blesses it, and he can do a miracle. If we

give Jesus what I have, he can bless it and

we could do it.

So win's the wind. The wind is right now.

If you can convince me that when you leave these

doors there are no hungry people, both physically and spiritually,

then we'll just man we'll pack up tomorrow and we'll

just have church seven days a week, and we'll just

lock ourselves in this building and we'll just believe God

that manna comes from heaven every single day. But as

far as I know, when I leave and I go

out into the cities, I see that there are broken

and hurting people. And I know that for half of

this church, majority of your friends aren't followers of Jesus.

You know that your friends are hungry, You know that

they are spiritually dry, You know that they need Jesus.

So how much more so can we believe God for

a miracle in their life? How much more can we

believe that we got to make space for people to come?

He says this in John six five to six, Jesus said,

lifting up his eyes, and then seeing that a large

crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, where

are we to buy the bread so that the people

may eat? He said this to test him, for he

himself knew what he would do. He already knew what

he would do. He wanted to know from the disciples,

what do you guys think that we should do? What

do you think we should do? Here's what I think.

So you take Jesus' miracle? Do I got Do I

got any donut lovers in the house? Any donut lovers can?

Can I have a couple of people that maybe might.

Be hungry for a donut?

Would you would you would you be open to coming

up here right now and gathering.

I don't come up here.

I don't you know, security ain't gonna get you. See

he's says he's running, but he's saying, okay, all right,

we'll come.

Yeah, okay, yeah come.

Oh look wow some hungry Oh look at it all

you decided last minute? He said, no, what I didn't

see you there for a second with the cameo pants on.

That's how it took me a second. I mean, look

at I mean, look at this this just don't eat

it yet, but just grab it. Just smell it. Tell

me like, you know, one out of ten? How are

you feeling about?

Oh?

Look, my man came out of nowhere. They look at you.

You appeared just like Jesus in the clouds. You that's nice?

Is that nice?

Pass it around?

Let everybody take a smell. Just let just do a

quick smell. Just everybody take a little smell. It's gonna

take a smell. Smell this smell. What's the smell like?

Smell like krispy Kreme? What's this smell like?

So?

One? One out of ten? What would you write it? One?

It's a ten, right, it's a ten?

It's a ten out of ten.

Right, it's delicious, and I mean I got a dozen here,

so obviously all of you guys would like one, right,

I mean you guys all wouldn't wouldn't mind one. Look,

you're licking your fingers already. You got no discipline whatsoever.

You already licking your It's nice. Huh put it back

there real quick. I got I still got enough extra.

So here here's the opportunity you guys have. Okay, you

guys are Jesus's disciple, So judgment call is on you guys, Okay,

right now. Honestly, the team already knows the judgment is

on you guys, and I'm gonna need a unanimous decision.

Okay.

So I got this box of donuts that all of

you guys can split. But if you guys are willing

to give this to me, and what's gonna happen. I

don't know how it's gonna happen. But what's gonna happen

is by the end of service today at all of

our campuses, there's gonna be a donut for every single

person in attendance today. Okay, but you have to give

me this back. If you take it.

That's it.

Someone's not gonna get a donut today.

And so what are you guys willing to do? Are

you willing?

Do you want to take your donut right now and

half of the people here ain't gonna get it? Or

do you want do you want to give this to

me and wait for twenty more minutes.

And everybody else is gonna get a donut?

I keep it, We can keep it, he said, Let

me pray about it, let me see yay, ask quick,

ask quick. But here's the thing. You get one too,

then you get one too that the disciples got to

eat too. They just ate last. They ate though they

even had buckets left they had. They're the ones with

the twelve baskets left over they got, they got the leftovers,

but they just ate last. And then what I'm gonna

need you all. I'm gonna need you guys to serve

it to everyone. After said no, I'm just kidding. Let's

give them a handclap. Thank you guys all for saying no.

I appreciate you guys. Why does Jesus ask his disciples

because he's.

Looking for them? Do they get what he wants to do?

In people's lives?

Are they making it all about them.

These we're hungry.

We didn't following you all day. Man, We're the ones

who gotta wipe the sweat off your head when you sweating.

We gotta be the ones that got to hike up

these mountains with you. These people are just trailing you.

We're doing the work. And then Jesus, he says, half

the people sit down, and then he looks at the

twelfth and he says, once I bless it. You guys

got to spend the next four hours serving everybody. Because

to follow Jesus means that you lead in inconvenience.

It means that you lead in service.

It means that you lead in care, and it means

that you eat lest If you love, give me that

clip art one more time. See, the reality is, if

we love these people, then these people have to curb

their appetite until these people get fed. These men and

women have to sacrifice while Jesus, you said, Jesus, we're

the ones with you every day, Feed us, and then

take care of all. You know, half of them ain't

even gonna follow you at the end of the day.

You know half of them are only here because you'll

be making black people see, you know, once you stop

doing that stuff, they're.

Not gonna be following you, you know.

And they could have named a million reasons why Jesus

still cared to feed them. And so when we said

at the beginning, yeah, this is me and this is

me on me and my friends, then majority of our

conversations should be about how we are inconvenienced, how much

Jesus is calling us to sacrifice, on how much Jesus

is calling us to give, and how much Jesus is

calling us to care, how much Jesus calling us to pray,

how much Jesus calling us to sacrifice. Because the moment

you say, well are they sacrificing, it's like, wait, they're

not in Jesus's circle. And the moment they choose one

day to step in Jesus's circle gets what Jesus expects

them to pull their way. But Jesus wants to meet

people where they're at, and they're at a hungry place,

they're at a hungry place, and they're at a place

that Jesus wants to take a small boy's lunch, and

he wants to do a miracle.

And here's the best thing. As we close with some

last thoughts.

Let's go to the next point. Then point the next

point is there? Where does it take place? Well, Mark

six thirty five says, and when it grew late, his

disciples came to him and said this, this is a

desolate place, and the hour is now late. Where it

took place in a desolate place. In other words, there's

a picture that there are people that are sitting in

desolate places and they don't even know it. Jesus knew

that there would be people that would not make it back.

Jesus knew that there were people that would desire to

head back that just strength couldn't make it. He knew

there were children there, he knew there were older people there.

He knows there are six sick people there. And so

he knows it's a desert. It's a desolate place where

I came because he was going to pray, He was

going to take a break from preaching, but they followed

him because they were hungry. And so there are people

today that they are in desolate places. And then what

you'll notice in this desolate place is what happens. Jesus says,

put them in circles, and then go and feed them

and have them sit down. If we were disciples today

and we went back to Jesus's day, we would have said,

they're the hungry ones, let them be in convenience. We'll

take a table and just make everyone stand in line.

Kind of how we're gonna make you guys do for

donuts today. It's just so we're not gonna deliver to

your seat out in the courtyard. It's there's gonna be

a table and it's gonna say, hey, stand in line

and grab a donut. Jesus is love, and also Jesus's

expectation for his disciples to be in convenience is as

such a high that he says, you twelve, take it

to these twenty thousand people. Let them relax, let them

sit down, put them in small groups, let them get

to know each other, and by time you guys get

around to them, let them get as much food as

they want. And then you guys serve the next circle,

and serve the next circle. I would if I was

in that moment, I'd be like, Jesus, isn't fair been

serving all day? You want us to give up our lunches.

You want us to provide a miracle for people and

then you want us to serve everybody and go to

them while they relax. Think about that, Think about your

unbelieving friend that's just far from God, Jesus saying, hey,

let him sit a while. You go and chase him.

But that's the heart of Jesus, says, he goes after

his lost sheep. And so what we try to do

in this campaign is not only create a space where

people that are lost can come and find Jesus, but

also be able to activate our people to be equipped

to be sent out, to be sent out, to be

able to care for people where they're at. That's what

Jesus calls us to do. And here's the last couple

points with this and we'll close, is the why why

does Jesus do it? Why does Jesus do this miracle

so we can see God beyond what we see, because

the disciples saw with a limited perspective. It's on a

limited view. We don't have enough money, we don't have

enough food, and we don't have enough people. And what

happened was is once Jesus blessed it and he sent

his disciples to do it, what happens they see Jesus

in a way they've never seen Jesus before. That's why

this is recorded in all four gospels, because it shows

us the heart of Jesus, the heart of God. But

it also shows the expectations. To be a disciple and

follower of Jesus is it is not to be convenienced,

but it is to be stretched and inconvenienced, to care

for God's people, to hope, to win people to Jesus

so that they can be part of his flock. Jesus

wants them to be part of his family, and so

he wants us to see beyond John six point twenty

nine says this, Jesus answered them, this is the work

of God that you believe in him, whom he has sinn.

This is why Jesus does it. This is why Jesus

will use you and I. This is why Jesus even

does what he does in the world today through you

and I in his kingdom. It is so that the

work of God and everyone believe in him. It's so

that we could see his handiwork and that others could

believe in him and I shared normally sometimes there's a.

How, and I do have a how. How does Jesus

do this well?

For us. He does a how he does it through us?

That's the how.

How's he going to do all this?

How's he going to reach all these people?

I'll go to a mall and I'll be like, Jesus,

how are you going to.

Reach all these people? And I'll feel the spirit of

God say, through you, guys, through Patrio, through Patrio, through

every other church that I'm moving in, It's through you, guys. Well, Jesus,

can't you just snap their finger and save them? Just

snap your finger and save them. Why don't you just

show up in their living room and be like, Hey,

if you don't follow me right now, you're you're lost.

Why don't you just jump in between them?

Why don't you just stop them in traffic and get

a hold of them.

Well, then we miss the point.

Now God does desire for you and I to participate

in his handywork and see his miracles. He desires us

to be a part of his story. You know, as

I close, there's a You may know or not know

these people, but if you've ever heard of these people,

Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Mark Buehler, t Martin Spurgeon,

Wynn all of these men have something in common. They

were all quarterbacks who were drafted ahead of Tom Brady.

They all were ahead of Tom Brady.

Tom Brady was the one hundred and ninety ninth draft

pick of the draft in the sixth ground in his

NFL year. Tom Brady today is the only person in

the history of the NFL with seven Super Bowl championships

drafted towards the end of an NFL draft, but today

holds the record with the most Super Bowl champions of

all time. Why do I say that, Well, because if

you passed me a football and I threw it, it

would be one thing. If you pass my son Matthias

a football and he threw it, it'd be another thing.

You may be here and you may even have played

D one football, and if I passed you a football

and you tossed it, it would do one thing. But

a football in Tom brady hands is a lot different

than a football in Adam's hands, and it's a lot

different than a football in Matthiasi's hands, and it's a

lot different even from the D one football player's hands.

Because when you're the best quarterback there is with seven championships,

he can throw a ball. And so if you had

an opportunity to catch a football from Adam or Tom Brady,

who you picking, Tay Tom, I'll take the one with

the championships. A lunch in Adam's hand can do one thing,

but a lunch in Jesus's hand can do a completely

different thing. In my hands, it's limited. It's not enough

to feed people. My giving is limited, My sacrifice is limited.

It's just a fish.

Of some loaves.

It's limited.

But that's why it's not supposed to be held in

our hands.

Let Jesus hold it. Oh it. That's a championship. That's

a miracle, that's a move of God. And so Jesus

is always looking, as we are disciples, for opportunities for

us to say, Jesus.

You can have what you need to multiply for others

to be fed. You can have what you need.

And as disciples, if we can get to a place

where we say, Jesus, I don't have the answers, I

don't know how.

To do this.

I don't know how to feed these people. I don't

know how to reach these people. But I will sacrifice

where I need a sacrifice all serve where I need

to serve all care for those that I need to

care for. Then Jesus, if he just blesses that it'll

multiply to an amount that you and I could never

do on our own. That's the miracle of God. That's

the miracle of Jesus. I'm gonna pray right now and

we'll close here together. Lord, we thank you for this

word today, Father God. I pray not only we be

encouraged today, but we also be stretched and challenged in

a way that as all of us would be here,

many of us would be here and identify as followers

of Jesus. We would ask Jesus that today you would

stretch us and compel us to care for those who

have yet to meet you. Father God. May we go

out into our city. May we go out into our workplace.

May we go out into our community God, And may

we not see people that are enemies of God. May

we not see people that are opposing Jesus. But may

we see people that are desperately hungry and desolate and broken.

God.

May we believe that, according to your riches in glory,

you can supply all needs. Father God, we thank you

for this word today in Jesus name.

Amen and Amen.

Well, hey, as we leave here for matter moments right now,

we're all leave together. But if you're here today and

you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and savior,

then I encourage you today before you leave, would you

reflect for a moment and truly think that if you

were to stand before God today, would you stand before

God as friend or foe. I was so encouraged this

week when we were in Alameda because there was about

sixty people in attendance, and about fifteen people gave their

life to Christ. About a fifth of the entire room

gave their life to Jesus.

That's how the kingdom grows.

Doesn't happen in the thousands, It doesn't happens in the

tens of that, it doesn't happen in the millions. It

happens person by person, broken person by broken person, lost

person by lost person. And what's Jesus's desire for a

lost person That they be found, that they come to

know Jesus as Lord and Savior, that they repent of

their sins, and they fully believe on him, fully believe

on him. When we confess him as our Lord and

savior and believe that he died on the cross for

our sins, and truly trust in his work. The Bible

says you and I will be saved. Takes faith. Does

it mean that today you commit to live a perfect life.

It means that today you commit a life that follows

the perfect one. The Holy Spirit will lead you and

guide you and will help you. People will often say, well,

once I get finished with this addiction, or once I

can break up with this person, or once I can

get over this hang up, then I'll be able to

make that decision to follow Jesus. You will never be

able to do it on your own power. Never, You

can never do this on your own. Only the power

of God can give you the strength to be victorious.

So I want to encourage you today to have the

courage to say, God, I.

Am not sufficient into myself.

I'm fully reliant on you Jesus, you as my Lord

and Savior. God can truly do a miracle with that

heart today. And so if you're here today and you're

ready to make decision, can we all right now bow

our heads and close our eyes.

We're gonna say prayer today.

All it is is a prayer of affirmation of God's

goodness and also a prayer affirmation what the.

Holy Spirit is already doing in your heart.

Would you say is today, dear Lord Jesus, in this moment,

I confess you as Lord and Savior. I believe in

my heart that you died on the cross and you

rose three days later. From this day forward, I choose

to follow you for the rest of my.

Days in Jesus' name.

Amen. Can we celebrate with those who may have said

that prayer today? Hey, we welcome you to the family

of God. We believe that you're a brother a sister

in Christ. The Bible says that if one person gives

their life to.

Jesus, all of Heaven rejoices.

So we know right now, in this moment, all of

Heaven is rejoicing. So if you said yes to Jesus

for the first time, or, as Pastor Sammy says it,

the last time, would you go to our website ww

dot grow dot Faith. We would love to come alongside

of you, and we'd love to walk with you in

this journey of faith.

We're excited.

I'm about to bless for us to leave. If anyone

here needs any prayer at all, Our elders.

Deacons, in prayer team will be up here in the front.

If you got something coming up, if you have something

going on, if you need a believe in God for

some type of healing, come up here in our prayer team.

Would love to come in agreement with you and pray

over you and with your life.

As we come back next week, when.

I encourage you that if you have your pledge card,

you could bring it, don't pre fill it out, we'll

do it, have a moment together next weekend. Even if

you're not turning in the commitment card, that's okay. Remember

I shared at the very beginning if you're at a

place financially that you can't do this right now, all

I said was, hey, would you at least.

Write on it? Pastor Adam, We're with you.

All I want to know is that you're praying and

you're in agreement for what God is doing. But I

know that there are many people in the church who

have been praying, who have been to what God put

on their heart, and they are able to do something.

And so when we come next week, we'll have a

moment where we'll go over this. But if you don't

have one, we'll have plenty next week as well. So

whether you have one originally from your journal or you

need a new one for the pledge card, we're gonna

do it all together next week and we'll give you

a fresh one as well that you could pray through

with your family. I'm gonna pray for us and bless us,

and then the following week will come together and conclude

the series and just celebrate what God has been doing

and saying in our church. I'll pray for us and

we'll leave here. God, thank you so much for your

goodness and mercy.

Lord.

I pray blessing over every person that is here today,

Father God, whether they are in our courtyard, cafe or

in this room. Lord, I pray that you anoint their mind.

I pray that you anoint their feet, you anoint their

hands to do the work of Jesus every single day,

Father God, I pray that every person what they see

as a limited resource, or what as they see as

a small boy's lunch, may we see with your eyes Lord,

to say you could do a miracle. So I know

today God, you could do a miracle through any person marriage.

You could do a miracle through any person's life. You

could do a miracle through every element of their body today,

and I pray you do it.

In Jesus' name.

Amen and Amen, God bless you family.

We'll see you next week.