Missions Sunday

what God's gonna do or when he's gonna do it

or how he's gonna get it done.

But he's gonna get it done.

Amen.

He knows what you need when you need it

and how to get it to you.

Amen.

Aren't you glad there's a shifting

and a breaking coming your way?

There's a breakthrough coming in your favor,

in your favor, and you do no favor in fair, hallelujah.

The favor of God upon the people of God.

Amen.

Give him the best praise you brought with you

in this house this morning.

Amen.

Hey.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Well, glory.

Glory.

Glory.

Glory.

The Lord is so good.

Amen, you can be seated in the presence of the Lord.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Got some good things ahead of us today.

Amen.

First of all, our very own, our very own Gideon.

We got a Gideon.

He's coming to speak to you.

Come on, Brother David.

That's your cue.

Brother David's coming to present.

As he's coming, a few years ago,

we began to sow our way out of a hole.

And missions is very important

to the Hopewell Church of God.

You didn't know it, but we were given

when we didn't have it to give.

Because I only know one way to get a harvest.

You gotta put some seed in the ground.

Amen.

So we started sowing into missions,

and then the Lord started showing up.

Amen.

And there's no greater mission field

than what's about to be shared to you right now.

Thank you, Pastor.

Amen.

Somebody say, praise the Lord.

Amen.

It really feels good to be back to my Church of God church.

It's an honor.

It's an honor.

And folks, let me make sure you know real clear

that I'm not a salesman.

I'm not a salesman.

I'm here just to pass along some testimonies

and what the Lord's doing.

And we was at a Methodist church a couple months ago,

and I get a little excited in the Methodist church,

and Nikki was actually bumping me going,

hey, just get it.

And I said, well, maybe they'll catch up.

But there was a little Methodist lady there,

and she had me thinking of a Methodist lady story.

And there was a Methodist lady

who lived really actually here in town,

and just a poor widow Methodist lady,

and she was really hungry.

And so she went and stood out on the porch,

and she said, Lord, you know I'm hungry,

so I need some food, and I know you can do it, Lord,

so I'm pleading with you,

and I'm calling upon the God that supplies all.

So she made her prayer very vocal.

Well, across the street was another man

who was a hardcore atheist, hardcore atheist.

And so he heard her saying this prayer,

and he said, well, I'm gonna show her.

So he went and bought her $300 worth of groceries,

put it on her porch, and as she came out,

she saw the groceries, and she said,

yes, God did it, God did it, God did it.

Well, it just angered this atheist.

He ran up to the porch and said,

ma'am, let me tell you something.

God didn't do nothing.

I'm the one who done it, I heard it.

There is no God, so you need to be thanking me.

She just lifted up her hands and said, God did it,

God did it, God did it.

It just angered this atheist.

He said, ma'am, I don't think you heard me.

I'm the one who bought your groceries.

I'm the one who spent the money.

I'm the one who heard you.

That's the food for me.

She just lifted up her hands and said, God did it,

God did it, God did it, and he made the devil pay for it.

Hey, hey, that's right.

Hey, God's a good God.

So when I'm at the Methodist Church,

as I always think of that, but.

So pastor, thank you, sir, for allowing me this time,

and I won't eat up a lot of time, I promise you,

but I do want to thank a few folks, brother.

Dennis Jordan, he's a fellow Gideon,

and if y'all are hungry, go to Jordan's Barbecue.

You owe me for that, brother.

And then brother Frank Redonte and his wife,

just great men of God, he's been doing Gideon work

for over 20 years, I don't hold a candle.

I don't hold a candle to what that man's done for the Lord,

and so he's my mentor, and I thank you, brother Frank,

and his wife, and all that they do,

and what they've taught me.

But I was at the airport the other week,

and I was reading my Bible there at the gate,

and a lady was standing, sorta sitting beside me,

and she said, is that the Bible?

And I said, yes ma'am, it is.

And she said, can I ask you a question?

I said, yes ma'am.

She says, why do you believe in that book?

What a loaded question.

Why do you believe in that book called the Bible?

Now when this question was posed to me,

I was both excited and I was nervous at the same time,

because it was a very important question

to somebody who was really hungry for the word,

but yet again, I didn't really know her motive.

She said, can I just ask you a few questions?

She says, is it not just a book of stories?

That book was written by man, so who can trust man?

She went on and said,

there's numerous sources of truth out there,

and she says, is that book not,

is it just too old to be relevant?

She said, it's not scientific enough,

and she said, it's just filled with contradictions.

Folks, let me first state,

the history of this book has endured

more than you and I can ever imagine.

Yet it stands, yet it stands.

From the Dead Sea Scrolls to William Tyndale,

who was burned at the stake,

all because of what he believed in this book.

Like I said, I'm not a salesman, folks.

I'm just here to remind you of some testimonies

on what God's doing, not only through the Gideons,

but through the work of this church.

There's been a lot of people that's lost their lives

because of this book and the history of it.

I challenge you to learn the history of it.

Matter of fact, I'll just say it,

may make you mad, but that's all right,

you can get mad at the pastor.

Some of you walked in here without the book.

Where's your weapon?

If you're not carrying it in here,

how are you gonna carry it out there

to a lost and dying world who's asking the questions

just like this lady asked me,

why do you believe in that book?

I can tell you now the Gideons firmly believe

in Isaiah chapter 40, verse eight that says,

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention

the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of God

will stay in forever.

So what was my answer to this lady?

How would you have answered it?

Well, I'll get back to that, but what is your answer

to a lost and dying world that's full of sin,

hurt, pain, questions, confusion,

misguided morals, and the denial of God himself?

What's your answer?

If somebody asked you right now,

out there, why do you believe in that book?

What would you say?

What would your answer be?

Matter of fact, I'll even challenge you with this.

Has anybody caught you reading the book,

even in your own home?

I can tell you that over 30,000 Bibles were placed

in hotels and motels, colleges and universities,

schools, hospitals, doctors, and dentist offices.

And the place we replace Bibles the most

is usually the dentist office,

because when you hear the screaming and the drilling,

people usually reach for the word of God.

We've gone to the jails, we've gone into the prisons,

we go to the police, fire, military processing centers

in Tennessee, just last year alone,

we handed out 30,000 Bibles.

We hand them out to people who have questions,

who are confused, lost in sin, in need of an answer.

And those people are desperate for the word of God.

And we're able to get to those people

all because you prayed,

and we was able to purchase one Bible for $1.50,

that 100% goes toward the word of God.

The Gideons were currently distributing

more than 1.7 million copies of the word of God

in over 200 countries, all around the world,

in over 95 languages.

You'll see a display table out there

that has different language Bibles

to give you an idea of what we're putting out there.

And if you feel like you wanna be a Gideon,

please talk to Brother Frank and learn a little bit more

how you can become a part of the Gideon world

and get Bibles out there.

But through your prayers and your past giving,

Hopewell Church of God, we placed over

1,000 Bibles in the hands of folks

all throughout Cleveland and Bradley County.

Amen, amen, amen.

But it's through your prayers and giving

that we also went to the nursing homes.

We also went to all the hotels in Bradley County

and the military recruiting centers,

not to mention all around the globe.

Is it worth it, David?

Is it worth it?

Do you really think my prayer and my giving,

do you really think it has an impact?

Yeah, I do.

Isaiah 55, 11,

so shall my word go out of my mouth.

And guess what, folks?

It shall not return void.

We were on a distribution and I was handing out a Bible

and the guy opened it and spit in it

and threw it back at me.

And it was hard not to utilize my Marine Corps chokehold

on him at that time.

But it hurt.

And the Holy Spirit just reminded me,

He said, you done your job, son.

I'll take it from here.

I've gone up to folks and they've asked me this.

Hey man, how does this book help me handle all my hurt?

I've been hurt, man.

I mean, does this book really answer that?

Yeah.

I read to the man Psalm 147, 3,

said, he healeth the broken heart

and he bindeth up their wounds.

I took him to Psalm 23 that said,

of course you should not, yay.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I'll fear no evil.

For thy rod and my staff, they come from me.

I took him to 1 Peter chapter five, verse seven,

it said, look man, you can cast all your cares on him.

He careth for you.

I believe in this book because every day when I open it,

it will deal with and have every answer

to no matter what I'm going through for that day.

Mr. Gideon, I'm a Christian,

but why is God allowing this situation in my life?

I do my best to serve him, I work for him.

I don't understand why this is happening.

People will ask you questions when you hand them this word.

I just took him to John chapter nine, verse one,

where Jesus was looking at the blind man

and his disciples asked him saying,

master, who did sin?

Was it him?

Was it his dad?

Was it his mama?

Jesus said, neither has this man sinned nor his parents,

but he that works of God should be made manifest in him.

I told him, I said, sir, sometimes man,

there's purpose in your suffering.

This book has an answer to that.

And most of all, Jesus suffered the worst of it all.

Who are we to complain about our suffering?

Why do you believe in this book?

Testimony after testimony after testimony

has been credited to the Lord Jesus Christ through this book.

You're sitting here now because of a testimony.

What about the testimony of Teresa?

She had a riddled life of alcohol

and abuse and prostitution.

She drove herself to the hotel to commit suicide,

but pulled out of the drawer of her nightstand

and was quickly reminded at the time

of that little Gideon Bible in her nightstand.

Of the time she went to church with her grandmother,

she remembered that one time peace that she felt

as she started to reading the words out of that little book

that was in the drawer of the hotel room.

She got down on her knees, asked the Lord to forgive her

and accepted Jesus Christ into her life,

and is now walking in a peace and love and security.

What about the testimony of Mr. Griffith,

88 years young, who lived his life recklessly,

couldn't even stand the thought

of breaking the threshold of a church.

He was shipped out in World War II,

but upon being shipped out, he received this,

this exact little brown Bible.

It's even got a message from FDR.

As he put it in his trench bag and he went off to war,

he fought and he actually made it back to his little war camp

for some rest and relaxation.

And he broke out this little book and he started reading it

and he turned to the back and he made a profession

of faith and signed it.

I was at a church and his wife,

his wife came up to me and actually gave me this little book.

She said, it was my husband, she told me the story.

And she said, will you go around

and tell his story with this little book?

Yes, ma'am, I will.

It's an honor to hold this little book

and I'll guard it with my life.

What about the story of me, of my own dad?

My dad was an up and coming country music star.

We lived in Nashville and he used to hang out

with all the stars when I was a kid.

Stars you wouldn't remember,

but I used to listen to my dad sit there

and pick with Conway Twitty and people I just thought

were sort of ugly at the time.

But behind all of that glitz and stardom

that my dad was seeking after,

my dad was a drug user.

My dad was a drug dealer throughout three states.

He was an abuser of my mama, me and my brother.

My dad was arrested and went on the prison.

I was so glad when he was gone

because finally there was peace,

but deep down I miss my dad.

But while in prison, I don't know who,

but somebody came and witnessed to my dad

and gave him a little Bible

and he accepted Jesus Christ.

When my dad came home,

church, now for a while I didn't trust him.

I thought it was a game,

but one thing about a true Christian is consistency.

And I watched my dad consistently walk.

Why do you believe in this book?

Because when my dad received the life-changing word,

instead of lifting his hands to hurt us,

he'd out put his hands on us to bless us.

I seen a man that was disgusting to me,

but now walked with dignity.

I seen a man that went from dope and coke

to walking with an anointed hope,

from playing and singing in all the Nashville clubs

and the honky tonk bars

and singing songs like, oh, my cheating heart

and there's a tear in my beer,

to singing, oh, happy day,

Jesus washed my sins away.

Why do you believe in this book?

I see it firsthand of the life-changing message of freedom.

The Bible has liberated many from oppression

by giving them the freedom to do what they want.

And I see it firsthand of the life-changing message of freedom.

The Bible has liberated many from oppression by its clear teachings,

and it raises the dignity of every person.

Now, my dad passed away just a few months back,

and I was at the nursing home.

We was all around my dad,

and the Holy Spirit was saying, I want you to read to him.

Pastor, I didn't want to read to him,

because I felt if I read to him, it was the passageway home.

I didn't want to read.

I even gave the Holy Spirit an excuse.

I don't have a Bible.

But I was quickly reminded that there was a Bible in there

because we put it in there.

It was a no-win.

But dad wanted me to read,

and this is the book I pulled, and yes, I kept it.

I'll report it.

I kept it.

I'll replace it.

But he wanted me to read John.

He loved the book of John.

I read John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

I read John chapter 2.

John 2 · chapter mention

I got into John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

Right after John 3, 16, and 17, my dad took his last breath.

That's okay, because my dad came into this world

under the authority of this word,

and my dad left this world hearing the authority of the word.

Why do you believe in this book, man?

Why do you believe in this book?

Are you ready to give that answer?

Folks, the Gideons and missionaries all throughout the world

were out there just trying to spread this book

and give those answers.

You never know through your prayers and through giving.

You never know who may come up to you in heaven someday

and say, because of you.

I don't know who it was that talked to my dad,

but I can't wait to meet him.

I just want to say thanks, man. Thank you.

I don't know who prayed for that, but I just want to say thank you.

Then we're all going to go hug Jesus.

Because of him.

I'm just here to remind you folks that it's a strong work out there.

The Gideons are trying their best to get it out there.

We truly do thank you. We truly do thank you so much.

I just want to leave you with this. Don't give up.

Don't ever give up.

My mama never gave up.

My papaw and mamaw never gave up.

And somebody spoke to somebody who got a Bible,

who got it in the hands of somebody who took it and placed it in my dad's own hands

and turned his life around.

Don't give up, brother. Don't give up, sister.

He's never given up on you.

This is my church. I love you all at the bottom of my heart.

Pastor, thank you so much, sir, for allowing me this time.

For the longest, I never shared that testimony.

I was ashamed of it.

I always, just to be very transparent,

I would make up stories, make people think I was raised just super awesome.

But it's a testimony.

It's a testimony.

And I want Jesus to get the credit.

I don't want the devil to have any of it.

Because what he meant for harm, God turned it around for nothing but good.

Don't give up, folks.

Pastor, thank you so much.

I really do love you all.

And you never know when you get saved how that will transfer over.

Because my dad got saved, I got saved.

And because I got saved, it bled over to my sons.

That is a blessing from generation to generation.

All because of the Word.

I love you, church. Thank you so much, pastor, for your time.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir.

Hallelujah.

The Word of God stands, doesn't it?

Going before the Lord now with our worship and our giving.

If you want to make a special donation to the Gideons this morning,

there's a spot on the envelope.

You can put it in missions or you can just put it in the bucket.

Because our offering is going toward putting Bibles in places that need them.

Brother David, your testimony in hearing that

even speaks greater volume to the grace of God.

As I was at your dad's funeral

and watched you sing, the anchor holds.

You can only do that after finding the hope

that is found in the goodness of God.

Through all the trouble and the trial and the battle,

God worked it out for good. Amen?

And the anchor still holds.

Stand with me and let's pray a blessing over the offering today.

Heavenly Father, I love you this morning.

Thank you so much for your grace and for your goodness.

Father, bless this offering as your house is blessed,

as your people are blessed.

Speak to hearts and minds that we would continue to put your Word forth

in the hurting and the lost and the desperate.

Find it and find the hope that they need in it.

Father, I pray over the household of faith.

Blessings, jobs and better jobs, increases, checks in the mail,

refunds, rebates, the best sale in town.

As you cause their soul to prosper through the power of your Word,

prosper them in their way of going in life.

In Jesus' name, the church said, Amen.

Come worship in your giving today.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Jesus saved me, freed me, and He's still moving.

Hallelujah.

Walk me, talk me, live me, move me.

Hallelujah.

Jesus saved me, freed me, and He's still moving.

Hallelujah.

Yes, He is.

Now I am heaven.

Yes, we are, Lord.

My God, He is real.

I am beautiful.

My heart has no fear.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Who's living proof in here?

Who's living proof He's still moving?

I am breathing, I am living because He's still moving.

Amen.

So are you.

You can be seated in the house of the Lord this morning.

Coming to speak for us today is an engrafted member of the Hope

Well Church of God, Brother David Mills.

Brother Mills has served as superintendent of West Africa,

overseers of Kenya, Zambia, and Nigeria.

I got him right.

And the Lord has brought him and Sister Sandra here,

directed, led, pulled, moved them here.

And later on, He's already been to, where was that you just went?

Togo.

We helped him get over there, and they're planning,

He's planning a trip for himself, Pastor Brian, and Brother Randy.

This fall, September, they're going to Zambia.

We'll be sharing about that a little later on.

But I wanted to introduce you to him and to let you know that they're part of our family.

And being a part of our family, we've, the Lord has begun to deal and to move

and to speak and led Brother Wood here a few months ago about a ministerial fellowship

for our retired ministers.

Now I'm going to show you what the Lord is doing and how the Lord is drawing real quickly.

I know time's getting there, but it's Sunday morning, this is what we come to do.

Amen.

But I want you to know who's laboring among you.

I want the retired ministers and your spouse, would you please stand?

Go ahead, brother and ladies, sisters.

Look around you.

Now, these folks are here.

Sister Kathy, you up? Yeah, I see you there, Sister.

Represented standing here, I lost count, it's over 300 years of collective pastoral ministry.

Yeah.

And the Lord has directed them here.

The Lord has drawn them here.

You can be seated now.

And they have a burden for Hopewell.

And what you don't know is they meet monthly, bimonthly, we have a fellowship,

and they pray for you.

They pray for us.

They pray for me.

And now I'm figuring out how to get them all in and get them all to working.

And they look at you and say, not working much, Pastor.

Thus the 300 and something collective years.

But we got them on their knees praying.

Now, it takes a little while for some of them to get back up.

They got new knees, they got metal knees and hips and all that good stuff.

But they're praying for you.

And I wanted you to look and see who they were, because if you feel a hand on the shoulder,

they've been commissioned in these altars when you come, that's who's laying hands on you.

That's who's praying for you.

Well, I don't know who these people are.

I want you to see them and to know that's just not some strange somebody.

I'm like you.

I don't want just some strange somebody laying a hand on me, right?

I like to know who's praying for me.

Well, you've got 300 plus years of collective ministry, anointed preachers of the gospel,

and they're praying for you.

And that's who's coming in behind you.

That's for that wall of faith.

That's who's coming in behind you, along with all the other lay people who are full of the Holy Ghost.

And we're praying one for another.

Amen.

Asking God to do great things.

So Brother David is retired from full time missions work, but it's like everything else.

You can't just give it up.

So he's still doing it.

And I am thankful the Lord has brought him here to help us get some direction for our missions endeavor.

Because we've got roughly $50,000 that you're going to invest in the mission field this year.

That's double of what we did last year.

Hello.

And so we're going to put it out there.

And so we're going to know more about that.

But I just want him to come and share his heart with us today and just preach as the Lord lays on him to do.

Brother Mills, come and just preach the gospel to us today.

Give the Lord a good hand, would you?

Won't be easy, man.

I'm glad you're here.

Praise the Lord.

Well, I know it's getting on towards that 12 o'clock hour.

And I also know that you want to beat some of the others to the restaurants.

Because I've been sitting back there, you know, and I know what you're going through.

But I'll try to do my best to get to this right away and let you know I've been on the mission field for about almost 25 years.

And I'm only used to preaching about two hours.

I'm just joking with you.

I've been used to preaching about a half hour, but you've got to remember there's a translator that goes along with that.

So that makes it about an hour.

So maybe I can get through in about a half hour.

I love the Lord with all of my heart.

I love the Lord so much that as a young boy, I gave my heart to Jesus.

And as a young boy, I preached my first sermon, seven years old.

Stood me on a bench behind a platform in Charleston, West Virginia.

And I preached my first, well, that was my second sermon.

The first one was when they baptized me in a creek out at Davis Creek, West Virginia.

Wrapped a towel around me and I stood me on a rock and I preached to about 200 people that was around that creek.

Didn't want to preach for a while, though.

I want to be a businessman.

I want to make some money.

I was in the preacher's home.

I knew what it was, but we didn't have much.

So I wanted to go into business, but the Lord got ahold of me at 16, turned me around, and set me on the right path.

And I've been doing my best for Him ever since.

I was going to show a video this morning of some of the things that have happened, and He's already got it up there.

But I decided since it was kind of late and the way the Spirit was moving that I'm not going to do that.

The pastor said we can do that at a later time.

Thank you, brethren, for going ahead and having that up there.

But I want to get into the Word.

I want to get into what the Lord is saying.

And if you will turn with me to John the sixth chapter.

And I want to begin at the first verse.

I'll give you a moment to find that.

I have a pet peeve of preachers that will get up and say, will you turn to John the sixth chapter and the first verse?

After these things, I haven't even had time to pick up my Bible, much less find the Scripture.

So if you found it, would you just say, praise the Lord?

John one or John six, verse one.

After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius.

Then a great multitude followed Him because they saw His signs, which He performed on those who were diseased.

And Jesus went up on the mountain and there He sat with His disciples.

Now the Passover feast of the Jews was near.

Then Jesus lifted up His eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip,

Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?

But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.

Philip answered Him, Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.

One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him,

There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish.

But what are they among so many?

Then Jesus said, Make the people sit down.

Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down in number about five thousand.

And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to the disciples,

and the disciples to those sitting down, and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.

So when they were filled, He said to His disciples,

Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.

Therefore they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves,

which were left over by those who had eaten.

Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said,

This is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.

God, I ask this morning that You would place a special anointing right here.

Anoint ears to hear and understand.

Anoint me and my tongue that I may speak it as You wish it to be spoken.

And I pray, Lord, that You will bring those things to my mind that only You want me to say.

And I pray, Lord, that You will make preaching easy this morning.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

A few years ago, I was sitting in my living room, reading the Word,

and I was reading this passage of Scripture.

I've been going to church all my life.

Born on a Sunday, went to church the next Sunday, and haven't missed too many since then.

And I've heard this passage of Scripture preached on, taught in Sunday school,

taught in classes and seminars, preached on it myself.

But there were some things that leaped off of the page to me when I was reading that day.

Not a new revelation. It's been there all along.

I just had never seen it before.

Anybody ever had some things reading from the Scripture that happened to you that way?

Just didn't see it.

And so I want to bring you a few of those this morning.

The Gospels record 38 miracles of Jesus.

Only one miracle is in all four Gospels, and that's the feeding of the multitude.

I think that means there's a little bit of significance,

or a lot of significance, in the fact that it's there four times.

Now, each one of the writers kind of emphasizes something a little bit different about it,

and maybe leave out some things because they have a point to make that they're trying to make,

but yet it's significant that it's in all four Gospels.

A miracle was performed here.

A miracle that it's hard for us to comprehend.

But when we see this miracle happening, there are some things about it we need to look at.

But before we look at the miracle, I want you to see some things that happened before the miracle took place.

First of all, these people were following Jesus,

but they were following Him after the miracles and what they could see and what they could get.

We've got things kind of crooked today.

We've got, well, guess what the Scriptures saying,

because we've got people following signs and miracles when the Bible says signs and miracles will follow after those that believe.

We've got to get that straight.

Miracles still happen, but why do we run all over the country trying to find the miracles

when He wants them to happen right here in where we are?

Another thing about this that just I saw it and I thought, Lord, what is that all about?

We find where He turns to Philip.

Natural one to turn to because this was Philip's home territory

and he would know where you need to go to do this and that.

So he said to Philip, how are we going to feed all of these people?

And Philip got his calculator out, at least if it was in this day, I think he would have used the calculator.

He began to add things up and Lord, if we had all this money, we still couldn't feed all of these people even a little bit.

And the thing that really stood out to me and a lot of people want to ignore

is when Jesus asked him, the next part of that scripture says, he said this to test him.

Now, there's a bunch of guys out there preaching today that if you've got trouble in your life,

that there's something wrong with you, got sin going on and you need to straighten out your life.

You don't have any testing if you know the Lord and if you're really on fire for Him, you won't have any testing.

I beg to differ with you today.

In this instance, the scripture is very specific.

It said he said this and ask him this question to test him.

Now, if you just stop there, you're going to get so blue.

You're going to get so disheartened because you mean the Lord is going to test me.

The Lord is going to try me. He's going to put me through some things.

Well, yes, he is. But read the rest of that particular verse.

You see, because that's where it goes. I can't stay up there.

Several years ago, my wife told me to stop and slow down.

I listened to my wife and I hung right behind the pulpit.

I maybe step this way and step this way.

She said, you make me dizzy when you're moving around.

I want to be a good husband. I stood right there going home from church one Sunday.

She said, you know, you need to start moving around. You preach better when you move around.

I said, thank the Lord I've been set free.

But the next part of that verse is where we need to hang our hat on.

Because the next part of that verse said for he already knew what he was going to do.

You see, when I read that, Brian, when I read that, I put my Bible down.

I've already been hanging around the African. You know, I got up.

I began to dance because I began to think back over my life.

And I began to think about those troubles and those trials and those bad times

and those hard times that I went through and those times when I was done dirty.

You know what I'm talking about, Brother Terry, those times that I was lied to,

those times that I began to think about all of that.

But then I began to look at it from this side. Oh, hallelujah.

And I began to realize that Jesus already knew what he was going to do in my life.

Can you give the Lord a praise?

I don't know what you're going through today.

I don't know what kind of problems you've got today.

But remember, if you hang in there with Jesus,

he already knows what he's going to do in your life.

Oh, hallelujah. Hallelujah.

We find the miracle about to take place.

He's asked Philip this question and Philip don't really have a good answer.

But Jesus already had the answer.

Andrew comes along, kind of the one of the quiet of the disciples.

And he comes along, said there's a little boy here.

And this little boy, he's got just a couple of fish and a few barley loaves,

a little bit of bread.

And he said, what is that among all of these people?

Jesus said, give it to me.

Now, here's where I'm coming to now.

You see, a miracle is about to take place,

but there was two things needed for this miracle to take place.

One was the power of Jesus, the power of God, and the second was a partner.

That was another thing that leaped off the page at me, pastor.

The power of God is all around.

The power of God is everywhere.

But he needs somebody to partner with him.

Well, he's got all the power. Why doesn't it happen?

Because he's chosen to partner with those that are willing to be a partner with him.

The man that had the withered hand.

Jesus was there.

That isn't a miracle just automatic place.

The power was there.

No, he said to the man, stretch forth your hand.

So the man had to partner with Jesus in believing that if he stretched forth his hand,

Jesus was going to do something in his life.

So in this instance, they get this little boy, and he's got just a little bit.

Now, he's a little boy.

I know he was a Jewish little boy and Israeli little boy,

but he's no different than boys all around the world, no different than I was when I was a child.

He's a hungry boy.

His mama was smart enough to send him with some food.

And I can see this little boy thinking to himself,

now I know it's not in the scripture, so give me a little leeway here.

I can see this little boy and he's thinking to himself, they want my food.

If I give my food away, I won't have anything to eat.

These dumb adults, they weren't smart enough.

My mom loved me enough that she gave me something to eat.

Now, if I give it away, I'm not going to have anything to eat.

Now, I remember when I was a little boy, how hungry I was at times.

If my mom called me in to help with the dishes or to sweep the floor or whatever,

I didn't hear her the first three or four times.

She hollered out the door.

But if she hollered out the door, it's lunchtime before the echo died, I was sitting at the table.

Little boys are hungry.

You see, if you think about it, this was a real sacrifice for this little boy.

But you see, I know the thought went on in his mind where he said,

well, I came to see the master and the master has need of what I have.

Come on, let that sink into your own life.

You came to church today to see the master.

And the master has need of something from you, the sacrifice of your praise,

the sacrifice that comes to your pocketbook.

But you didn't just come to see the miracles, you came to see the master and to listen to what he has to say.

And he said, well, here it is. It's yours.

He partnered.

Oh, hallelujah.

Miracle probably would not have happened if he hadn't partnered.

So he ends it to Jesus and even the disciples are saying, well, what's he going to do with that?

How's that going to happen?

Hey, they were a bunch of skips.

Look at them just in the next part of that scripture where they were out on the boat

and Jesus came walking on the water and even says that they forgot.

They forgot the miracle of the lows and fishes.

They were skeptical. They were they were carnal in their thinking.

Now, what we've got to understand is there are some times that we need to get out of this carnality.

And I don't mean that in an extremely negative way.

We just need to quit thinking like Americans.

We need to quit thinking like rational people.

And we need to step out in faith and understand that Jesus wants us involved in the miracles

he would love to perform in this world.

They hand it to Jesus.

He takes it.

And he just blesses it.

It wasn't up to the little boy what he did with it. He just gave it.

He gave it in faith. Now, here's what happened.

Jesus blessed it and he gave it to the disciples.

Now, I know when you read all about these these guys

and you understand that they're they're they're welcome with the miracle worker,

but they're still not sure about everything that's going on.

And I know they're thinking, what am I supposed to do with this?

You see, that fish was not, you know,

it was a little sardine.

Probably about that long, about that skinny.

What am I going to do with this?

Because he's broken it up and spread it out among the twelve.

The bread. What am I going to do with this?

He's broken it up and given among the twelve.

And he's already had five thousand men sit down, plus all the women and children that were there.

And he says, take it to him.

Now, pastor, there are five thousand men sitting in front of you.

And I'm supposed to take it.

Now, do I give just a little tiny bit to this one and hope I got enough to give to this one?

But I had your part.

There it is.

Here's yours.

Here's yours. Can you imagine the astonishment that's going on in their lives?

But can you imagine also as they're going down the line that some of them getting kind of giddy inside?

Oh, my goodness, look what's happening here.

I'm a part of this miracle. Look what's going on.

Look what's happening here.

I shared this on a Wednesday night.

We were building some buildings pretty much out in the middle of nowhere in Kenya.

We were trying to start a little thing up there with some property had been bought before I got there.

And they thought about putting a Bible school, but they moved it into the larger town nearby and we still had the empty land.

So we were building a building, a church building and some buildings around it to kind of feed out of and to help some youth.

So as they were building, some people began to gather around and say, what are you doing? What's happening?

And they said, well, we're building a church building here.

They said, OK. They said, we're going to have our first Sunday service next Sunday.

They had the service, no windows, no doors, no none of that kind of thing. Just kind of got the roof up and a little bit of the siding done.

And they start out. They had about 55 people, something like that, 55, 15, 60.

And they boldly, these two missionaries, they boldly said, next Sunday, we're going to feed you.

So they thought, well, that'll bring in a few more extra. So they they fixed for 75 to 100 people.

Jim and Deb told me they began to watch them come in in lines, coming down those paths out of those mountains, just just just in line.

And their eyes began to bug out. And while the service was going on, Deb looked through one of the windows and she started counting.

She said, I got the 300 and I only had enough food there for at the most 100.

She said, I went out to where those ladies were helping me cook that stuff in those big old pots they had over the open fire.

She said, I began to look inside there and she said, I began to say, oh, Lord, oh, Lord, what am I going to do?

This isn't going to feed all of those people. Now, let me tell you something.

I don't mean this in a negative way, but it's in a truthful way.

If you promise the Kenyans that you're going to feed them, you better feed them.

I mean, you better feed them.

They're liable to put a tire around you and set that tire on fire because you didn't keep your promise.

And she was worried. But she said, I walked over to those pots and I began to walk down the line of where those pots were.

And she said, I began to pray, Lord, you're going to have to do something.

You're going to have to do something.

She said, when the service was over with and they began to walk down the line, the people, the women that were helping her, they said, well, should we just give them a little bit?

She said, no, put it in. Just put it on. We run out. We run out. That's all I can say.

She said, they would come through the line and she said, I would walk over there and I'd look in those pots and they were still as full as they were.

She said, I just kept walking back and they were still as full as they were.

She said, by the time it was all over with, we gave them some of them two and three and four helpings of food.

And she said, when it was all over with, I sent the workers home with food so they could feed their families some that week.

God still wants to do if we will step out in faith and do.

It's not just what happened in the Bible days. It will happen today. It will happen today.

Now, here's something else that leaped off the page with me and I got to get going because my wife gave me.

No, she's not. I'm just kidding. She's shaking her head at me now.

Some other things that showed up. Anybody ever heard the phrase, my God shall supply all of my needs?

We stopped there, but it says according to his riches and glory.

When I looked at this, he didn't give them just a little bit to get home.

All right. This miracle wasn't just to show them, look what I can do.

But it said, when they had all they wanted.

Folks, we limit what God wants to do in our lives.

My wife used to fuss at me when I was trying to get a budget together and a request together from the mission department so that I could get some help in what we were trying to do.

She would look at what I was proposing. She said, David, you know you can't do it for that.

I said, but if I asked for more, they probably won't give me. Maybe they'll give me this much and I'll see what I can do about the rest.

She said, put in there what you need and then some.

I married a smart woman.

What we need to understand is God is wanting to bless us.

I'm not a prosperity preacher. Please, when you go away from here, don't think that David Mills is one of those.

I don't believe in it because that's wishful thinking that a lot of them want to do.

Put the picture of a Cadillac on your refrigerator and God will give it to you. That's wishful thinking.

But if we will go to God and God said to us, do this or do that and we do it, then we can expect God to bless us in return.

Not because we want the blessings, but because God wants to bless us.

That's where we need to get to in this life. This was a little bit.

Anybody remember this little boy's name? Can somebody give me his name?

Thank you for not raising your hand because I believe you're lying because it's not in there.

It's not in there.

But had it not been for this seemingly insignificant little boy who we don't even know the name of, we would have never known about this miracle.

You say I'm a nobody. I just sit on the pews. When the offering is taken, I put some money and I'm nobody.

Let me tell you something. You are somebody to the Lord and you're somebody to others.

And you don't know what you're going to do. You don't know who you're going to bless.

And you don't know who one day you'll be up in heaven and that person is going to stop you on the street.

You remember me? No, I don't remember you. That's all right. You were influential in winning me to Jesus Christ.

My wife probably won't hear this when I get home. But my wife is a quiet woman.

Very quiet woman. She had a job down in Tallahassee, Florida when I was pastoring there. Did the books for 52 different companies.

All of their books. In a big firm that this firm had companies all over the country that they did their books for.

She was down in the basement with the controller. I believe it was his job. I don't remember exactly what it was.

But anyway, she just did her job. But when we were asked to go overseas and she had to give up her job,

one of the vice presidents in the company on the top floor came down to the bottom floor and sat down in her office

and said, I want you to know how much you've meant to my life.

He said, I went to church as a little boy. But you just being in this company and you doing your job

and you just carrying on like you carry on has turned me around in my thinking and I started going back to church.

You don't know what your little bit, your little what you may think is insignificant.

What is going to mean in somebody's life? I've got to finish.

Not only was everybody had enough to eat, but Jesus said, gather up that this over. Don't don't don't don't throw any of it away.

Now, again, give me some leeway here. I don't know what they did with that.

But I'd like to think that what happened was there were 12 baskets and 12 disciples.

And this little boy went home. OK, he walks in the door and I'm going to name him Johnny.

Mama says, Johnny, do you have a good time? Oh, you ought to have been there, Mama.

The master, he was amazing.

Well, did you eat your lunch? Not all of it, Mama.

And he steps aside and here comes the 12 disciples with 12 baskets full.

I don't know that that happened, but it sounds good.

What I'm saying by that is we need to understand that if we will just simply.

Give in to what the master is asking.

It may be seemingly to you insignificant, but whatever you put in God's hand, God will multiply it and it will be sufficient for the need.

Those that are prepared for the music, if you would just come on.

I was a teenager. Just starting to preach a little bit.

Was at the Missouri camp meeting.

Don't remember exactly who was the missionary leader that was up, but they were asking for an offering for a project.

I don't even remember the project.

The Lord said. Give five dollars.

That's all I had in my pocket.

Just starting to evangelize.

Keeping that five dollars so I could fill up my car with gas and get to the next revival.

You know how long ago that's been when you could fill up for five dollars.

And I said, Lord, if I do, if I give that five, I wasn't going to eat that week except with the elderly lady I was staying with.

She could cook a breakfast and man was I eating a big breakfast and doing without the rest of the day.

I said, Lord, if I gave that five dollars, I won't be able to get to my next revival.

He said, give it.

Little struggle.

Not telling you I jumped up for joy and went down that aisle.

But I gave that five dollars. I walked down that old sawdust.

Lay my five dollars down now. My five dollars would have made a big difference in whether that project succeeded or not.

But that wasn't the point.

The point was the Lord told me to give my five dollars.

And the point was I needed to obey what the Lord said.

I gave it on my way back to my seat.

I was thinking, well, Lord, don't know how I'm going to get back and forth.

But I it's up to you.

After that service that morning, preacher came to me and said, David said a bunch of us are going to go eat at a certain restaurant in the little small town that was nearby.

And I opened my mouth to say no, because it didn't have any money.

He said, I'm buying. Well, my mom only raised one fool and he pastors in West Tennessee now.

I immediately, immediately said, I'm in.

Went to eat, enjoyed. Didn't get the most expensive thing, but I didn't get the cheapest either, you know.

We got ready to leave and go back to the meeting that afternoon.

Another pastor sitting at that table, he said, Brother, David said there that that filling station on the way down said, pull in there.

I'll fill your tank up with gas.

Oh, hallelujah.

I'll use up some of that and won't have enough, you know, still to get to the rival.

But anyway, praise the Lord.

Make a long story short, all week long.

I never missed a meal. Somebody else paid for them.

I had those paper handshakes.

Money was put in my hand. I put it in my pocket.

The last night after the last service, another pastor said on the way back in where you're sleeping,

said, stop at that filling station and I'm going to fill up your tank with gas.

I left that meeting.

Ate every meal of the week.

I left that meeting with a full tank of gas and twenty five dollars in my pocket.

You won't think don't think that won't leave you with an impression that when you obey God, God's going to see after you.

And as a pastor just mumbled right here, he already knows what he's going to do.

Don't worry about it.

Just don't worry about it.

Do what he says.

Somebody says, well, I'm afraid he'll send me to Africa. Then shout hallelujah.

Twenty five years.

Those twenty five years were the best years of my life.

I'm not telling you it was all gravy and it was all easy.

I'm not telling you I went under fire and not telling you I didn't have to hide in the bush.

And from when they tried to come and kill me, I'm not telling you it's easy.

I'm telling you wherever God says and whatever God says, if you'll do it, you're right.

If you'll do it, you're right in the middle of his will and you're in the middle of his protection.

Would you stand with me?

You're playing little as much when God is in it.

I don't know what the Lord is saying this morning. I've prayed about this, how to end this today.

And I know I've gone way over and I'm sorry for that.

No, I'm not, because I said what the Lord wanted me to say today.

But whatever it is in your life and whatever he is asking you to do,

whether it's monetarily, whether it's time, whether it's moving into a different direction in your life,

to a different thing than what you're doing, I don't know what he's saying.

But if he's saying something to you this morning, I want you to step out and come down here and give it to Jesus.

Whatever it is, whatever he's saying to you, it doesn't matter. Come and give it to Jesus.

I'm not asking for an offering. The offering has already been taken. That will be done later.

Maybe the Lord is saying for you to give and maybe you can just hand it to the pastor or whatever it is.

But whatever the Lord is saying, some of you are resisting right now.

You're afraid, but I believe that Jesus is saying, hand me what you have.

And if it's just my time to pray, that's the best thing you can do.

Go ahead and start singing that song.

And if you want to give what the Lord is asking of you this morning, just step down and give it to the Lord today.

Little is much when God is in it.

Labor not for earthly fame.

Hallelujah.

Sing it with him.

Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame.

Hallelujah.

Thank you, Jesus. Keep on singing it.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

You can win it.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Give the Lord praise for his word this morning.

Hallelujah.

It's just something got a hold of me when he got to that part where he said he already knew what he was going to do.

I'll think about that all day.

He said it to test him, but he already knew what he was going to do.

You need to write that down. He already knows what he's going to do.

Pray for Sister Kathy and I tonight. We'll be traveling to MacMemble.

I've got to preach a night of revival at the Locust Street Church of God.

So we covet your prayers for that. Ask the Lord to move and have his way.

My cup's full this morning.

From Brother David's testimony to that word, I'm just saturated.

I don't know what they're going to get tonight. I have something, but I don't know if that's what they'll end up getting.

But they'll get whatever the Lord wants. Amen. God bless you.

Thank you so much for being here today.

I'll let you know when the Sunday for our missions offering is going to be, but I'll give you more details about that.

We're not only going to send our missionaries, we're going to feed those pastors that are going to give up a week.

Brother David says some of them ride two to a bicycle for hours and days.

And many of them just walk to get to this meeting that they're going to do, the teaching, the conference that they're going to put on.

And I don't want them hungry when they get there. And I don't want them hungry when they leave. Amen.

We'll talk to you more about that. God bless you.

Go in grace and thank you again so much for being here.

If you're visiting with us, please go out that door to my left and stop by the table.

We have something special for you. God bless you. Thank you for being here today.