Something From Nothing

Well, I appreciate that special.

That really goes kind of well with the message this morning.

If you want to start finding your place in John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

! Earlier I kind of teased about being here.

We could check off our list for pastor.

And I got to thinking, I was like,

Hey, man, there might be people here that thought I was serious.

You know, I'm kidding.

And as great as a man as Pastor Smith is,

that's all he is.

And we don't have to give account to him in the end.

You know, the Lord knows.

And I know Pastor Smith would like us to be here in church.

But this message this morning, something from nothing.

The inspiration, I guess, for this is we were coming up with names

for our Sunday school class.

And I was trying to find something about young people in the Bible,

something that would kind of go along with our class.

And the little lad that gave his lunch or, you know, whatever, his food to Christ.

I was like, that really stuck out.

You know, when you boil it all down, he gave all that he had to Jesus.

And that's my goal for our young people.

That's what I'd like for all of us.

And that was where the inspiration, so our class name is Loaves and Fishes,

just kind of a reminder of what that young boy did

and what, you know, the inspiration for our class.

John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

Go ahead and stand with me, if you will.

Well, we'll be reading the first 14 verses.

So starting verse 1, it says,

After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee,

which is the Sea of Tiberias.

And a great multitude followed him,

because they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were diseased.

And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.

And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.

When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, he saw a great company come unto him.

He saith unto Philip,

Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?

And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do.

Philip answered him,

Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them,

that every one of them may take a little.

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,

There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves,

and two small fishes.

But what are they among so many?

And Jesus said,

Make the men sit down.

Now there was much grass in the place,

so the men sat down and number about five thousand.

And Jesus took the loaves,

and when he had given things,

he distributed to the disciples,

and the disciples to them that were set down.

And likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

When they were filled,

he said unto his disciples,

or he said unto his disciples,

Gather up the fragments that remain,

that nothing be lost.

Therefore they gathered them together,

and filled twelve baskets with the fragments

of the five barley loaves,

which remained over and above,

unto them that had eaten.

Then those men,

which they had seen,

when they had seen this miracle,

that Jesus did,

said,

This is of a truth,

that prophet,

that should come into the world.

Let's go ahead and pray.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you for this time

that we're allowed to come to your house,

and worship you.

Lord, I pray that you would

calm my nerves,

and just give me the words

that you'd have me to speak.

Lord, I pray that you would

just let our hearts

be open to what you have for us.

Lord, I know that

there's things that we're all going through,

that maybe nobody else knows about,

Lord.

Lord, I just ask that you would

just let us set those worries aside

at the moment,

and just focus on what you have for us.

I thank you,

and I love you,

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

You can go ahead and be seated.

You know, this is,

as I was reading,

some people kind of think

that this is the greatest miracle

that Christ performed,

because all four gospel writers,

they all have it in account.

All Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

And it's interesting,

their personal takes,

you know,

if there was an incident

that happened here today,

and we all had to give

our version of what happened,

they would all be different.

We all have different personalities.

Some of us pay attention

to details better than others.

You know,

there would be little things.

It would all be the same story.

It would just be a little different,

and that's interesting

about these four accounts.

You know,

as I was thinking,

you know,

Jesus is at it again.

He's teaching.

He's doing miracles.

You know,

Mark 6,

that's a parallel account

of this passage.

It tells us that

everyone was so busy,

Jesus and the disciples,

ministering to people.

They didn't even have time to eat.

That's how busy it was.

They were,

the Bible says that

the people kind of pressed them.

They were so busy.

And other accounts tell us

that Jesus told his disciples,

hey,

we got to get out of here.

We got to go rest.

Let's leave.

And the people saw

that Jesus and the disciples

were getting in a boat,

and the Bible tells us

that they ran out of the cities

because they wanted to continue

with Jesus.

You know,

they're busy.

He's an important guy.

You know,

he's,

I was looking here,

his performance,

you know,

the miracles that he's doing,

his precepts.

He's teaching parables.

He's teaching,

you know,

this miracle,

feeding these 5,000 people,

you know,

as I was kind of studying for this,

it really took me a while

to come up with a title.

I know you don't need one,

but I like to have one.

And there was different titles

kind of going through my mind,

you know,

something about,

you know,

blessed leftovers,

right,

because sometimes leftovers

aren't so great.

And so that was a title

kind of rolling around in my head,

you know,

peculiar,

uh,

uh,

mathematics,

you know,

because he ends up

multiplying by dividing.

So I was like,

oh,

you know,

but we landed on something

from nothing

because that's,

I think,

what I want to focus on

is first off,

as I was reading through this text,

the first thing that really

stuck out to me

was the problem of the people.

You know,

people have problems.

All of us in here,

we have our own problems

that we're dealing with,

whether they're physical,

mental,

emotional,

financial,

you know,

whatever,

we have problems

and this crowd was no different.

You know,

they were seeking Jesus

because they knew,

they had seen

that he's healing people.

I mean,

not one of us in here,

if we had a child

who was sick,

an ailing family member,

and we saw that someone

could take care of him,

you better believe

we'd be running out there

with that boat,

you know,

we'd be out there.

That's what these people

were doing.

Number one,

they sought him.

They ran to meet Jesus

by foot

while he traveled

in the boat.

Mark chapter 6

Mark 6 · chapter mention

tells us that.

They sought him

because he healed

the diseased.

You know,

he continued healing

as they followed.

A lot of these people,

they probably only came

because of what Jesus

could do for them

physically.

And there's a lot of people

who come to church

today even.

You know,

we've seen them.

They come in

and they ask,

you know,

I need some money.

I have some hard times

going through.

There's nothing really

wrong with that

in and of itself.

You know,

it's a good start.

That's where we can,

you know,

get them into church,

start ministering to them.

That's our job.

You know,

Jesus,

I don't believe

he was letting himself

being taken advantage of.

He was ministering

to these people

because they were needy.

You know,

not only was he healing,

but he was still teaching.

He was teaching them

in love.

You know,

these people knew

that Jesus was the answer

and Jesus is still

the answer today.

You know,

they stirred him.

The Bible tells us

that Jesus,

and they were leaving

because they're hungry.

They're tired.

They were going to go

and get some rest.

And the Bible tells us

that Jesus,

you know,

he saw the great multitude.

You know,

I think he had pity on them.

He saw

that they needed something.

The Bible says,

you know,

it likens him

as a shepherd

and he sees these sheep.

He didn't let this,

you know,

you read here later on,

the disciples saw this crowd

as an inconvenience.

How many times

are we like that?

You know,

how many times

is it not really

a convenient time

to serve the Lord?

You know,

we got to take time

out of our day

to go do this,

go do that,

and minister.

And Jesus didn't look

at these people

as an inconvenience.

It was an opportunity.

You know,

I think we need

to adopt

that philosophy

in our own lives.

We see that

his compassion

for the people

were contrasted

by the disciples'

attitude.

attitude.

You know,

it said here

in Matthew 14,

which is another

account of this,

the disciples say,

send them away.

Like, hey,

sorry that they're hungry,

but so are we,

and we've been

working all day.

You know,

that wasn't Jesus's,

that wasn't what

he was going to do.

Again,

for some reason,

it's never the right time

or the right place

for God to work.

But Jesus

is never hurried.

He's always on time.

You know,

he ministered to them

because they'd been

listening to him

all day.

He kind of felt

a responsibility.

You know,

here they are.

They're sacrificing

of their time.

Who knows?

They might have had

fields to tend to,

you know,

jobs that they took

time out to go.

You know,

he saw the importance

of that.

James 2.16.

I'm glad he didn't

adopt this attitude

because it's just,

2.16,

it says,

and one of you

say unto them,

depart in peace,

be ye warmed

and filled,

notwithstanding ye

give them not those

things which are

needful to the body,

what doth it profit?

He knew he couldn't

just give them some

food and send them

on their way.

They needed something

more than that.

You know,

people are searching

for the Lord

even though they

don't really know

what they're looking

for.

You know,

people are looking

for the supernatural.

I've often asked

myself,

why is Halloween

so popular

and it's just

gaining more

and more momentum

because people

want to know

about the supernatural.

They're curious.

They have questions

and they may not

know it yet,

but they're looking

for Jesus.

We need to be there

to help them

as disciples were

to guide them

to Jesus.

You know,

the scope of this

problem here

is getting late.

In Matthew 14,

15,

it tells us

when it was evening.

Mark 6,

35 says,

the day was far spent.

Luke 9,

12 says,

the day began

to wear away.

It was getting late.

They'd been at it

all day.

You know,

these are parallel

accounts of this passage.

I would encourage you

to just read them

later on

because it is interesting.

They're different takes.

But it's getting late.

The Bible tells us

that they went off

to a kind of

secluded mountain place

because,

you know,

McDonald's isn't

right around the corner

for them.

You know,

the first thing is

it was getting late.

Secondly,

they didn't have

enough money.

The Bible says

that Jesus,

he asked Philip.

Now,

whether Philip

was standing

right next to him,

you know,

I'm not sure.

But we know

earlier on,

if you read

earlier on

in John,

it tells us

that Philip

is from Bethsaida

and that's the area

that they're around.

Luke 9,

10 tells us

that they're

near Bethsaida.

So he probably knew

the right area

to get bread.

You know,

they didn't have

enough money.

I think a lot

about this.

This was an opportunity.

You know,

the Bible tells us

in our text,

John 6,

6,

that Jesus,

he asked this

to prove him.

Jesus already knew

what he would do.

You know,

I'm a parent now.

There's things

that we ask our kids,

right?

We're not really

looking for,

you know,

when I ask,

okay,

what are we going

to do now?

You know,

because we have

a system of how

we do things.

I'm not really asking

because I forgot

the answer.

I'm trying to gauge

where is my daughter at?

Is she going to obey?

Has she been listening

to what I've been teaching?

Think about Jesus.

He asks Philip.

There's all these

hungry people.

What are we going

to do,

right?

What answer Philip

could have said

is like,

God,

you know,

Moses,

he was out in the desert

with the multitude,

the children of Israel,

and Moses fed them

every day,

and you're greater

than Moses.

We can feed them.

He could have said,

you know,

Elijah,

he fed the sons

of the prophets

with just a little bit

of food,

and you're greater

than him.

You know,

even Elijah had

ravens bringing him

food.

food.

This is not a problem

for you,

right?

You spoke the world

in existence.

This shouldn't be a problem.

But what is,

Philip,

he immediately

goes to money.

How many of us

try to do that,

right?

We just throw money

at a problem

thinking it'll go away.

It wasn't about money.

God already handled it.

God already knew

what he was going to do.

You know,

it shouldn't have been

crazy for Philip

to see another miracle

coming.

They'd been healing

people all day,

diseased people.

You know,

the Bible tells us

if they recorded

everything that Jesus

would do,

there would be

so many books.

You know,

I think about

all the things

that they would have

seen,

and there's still

a bunch of

knuckleheads.

And you know,

I look at us.

What are we?

Knuckleheads.

We have God's word.

We know what he can do.

We're here every Sunday.

We're hearing what God does.

And what is the thing

that happens

when problems come?

We panic.

We rely on our own strength.

Here Jesus'

unlimited power

to feed the multitude,

and they're worried

about money.

It's like,

come on,

Philip.

You know,

so many times

I get like that,

and then I have to

think to myself,

come on,

Ethan.

What are you doing?

You know these.

You know what you need to do.

You know,

Jesus asked Philip

to see if his teaching

was taking hold,

but Philip saw two problems.

First off,

not enough money.

They only had

200 penny worth.

That was about

one man,

a six-month wage

for one man.

You know,

and I got to thinking,

not only did they

not have enough money,

even if they had

enough money,

where were they

going to get that

amount of food

for 5,000 people?

You know,

I've been a part

of a couple weddings,

and if you show up

day of and be like,

hey,

just so you know,

I got to feed 5,000 people,

they're going to be like,

get out of here.

Like,

you should have called

months ago

so we could have this prepared.

I mean,

anymore you go to

a fast food place

and you order

a bucket of chicken,

they like freak out.

Oh,

we're not ready.

You have to call that in.

You know,

you know,

they wouldn't have

even had enough bread

to feed these people.

You know,

so often we think,

again,

it's money,

it's money.

You know,

and I like this passage here,

Philippians 4, 19.

It's very familiar.

It says,

but my God

shall supply

all your need

according to

his riches

and glory

by Christ Jesus.

You know,

so many times

we forget

to calculate Jesus

into our equation.

You know,

that's what these disciples

were guilty of.

You know,

Philip,

he was off on that.

All those answers

he could have given.

You know,

I'm going to turn here over

to Psalm chapter 78.

Psalms 78 · chapter mention

I found this

while I was studying.

You know,

the disciples

would have been

students of the word.

Psalm 78

starting in verse 19.

It says,

Yea,

Yea,

they spake

against God.

They said,

Can God

furnish a table

in the wilderness?

Behold,

he smote the rock

and the waters

gushed out

and the streams

overflowed.

Can he give bread

also?

Can he provide flesh

for his people?

Therefore,

the Lord heard this

and was wroth.

So a fire was kindled

against Jacob

and anger

also came up

against Israel

because they believed

not in God

and trusted not

in his salvation.

You know,

this wasn't the first time

people needed fed

and God provided.

You know,

we can turn back

to 2 Kings chapter 4.

2 Kings 4 · chapter mention

I'll start reading

in verse 42.

And there came a man

from Baal Shalisha

and brought the man

of God bread

of the first fruits,

twenty loaves of barley

and full ears of corn

and the husk thereof.

And he said,

Give unto the people

that they may eat.

And his servitor said,

What shall I set this

before,

an hundred men?

He said again,

Give the people

that they may eat.

For thus saith the Lord,

They shall eat

and shall leave thereof.

So he set it before them

and they did eat

and left thereof

according to the word

of the Lord.

You know,

these are other answers

that Philip could have given.

It's like,

Hey,

this isn't the first time

people have needed fed

and this isn't the first time

that God intervened

in a miraculous way.

You know,

they didn't have enough money.

They didn't have enough food.

You know,

here we see in verse 8,

it says one of his disciples,

Andrew.

You know what I thought

was interesting

about Andrew here?

When are we first introduced

to Andrew?

What is he doing?

He's bringing his brother

to Jesus.

What is Andrew doing here?

He's bringing this young lad

to Jesus.

I was like,

Man,

we need some more Andrews,

people who will go

bring people to Christ.

In chapter 12,

in John,

you know,

again,

he's bringing someone

to Jesus.

Here we have a lad

with a,

you know,

a small lunch.

You know,

this lad,

that word there

means boy.

You know,

he's not like a man.

You know,

this is a boy.

My guess is he's anywhere

from 8 to 12 years old.

This is just speculation,

so I want to preface this

right now.

This isn't gospel

or anything.

I just like to think,

you know,

what was going on

in this time?

I personally,

I like to believe

that this kid

had seen Jesus working,

and he wanted

to see more.

Maybe his mom

packed him

a little bit

of a lunch.

I started kind of

reading about this barley.

Do you know what?

That was poor people food.

Barley is something

you would give

to the animals.

So we have an idea

that he's a poor kid.

These fish,

you know,

we like to talk about,

oh,

I caught a fish,

it was this big,

and we tell our friend,

I'm telling you,

it was this big.

You know,

these fish were probably

little salted

garnish type fish.

They weren't very big.

Think of like a little

sardine or something.

You know,

it wasn't much.

He's probably

just a poor little kid,

and I think maybe

his mom was like,

hey,

we don't have much.

This is what we got.

You know,

you want to see Jesus?

Have at it.

You know,

there's worse things

you could be doing.

And,

you know,

whether he heard

the issue

or whether Andrew

came and found him,

found that someone

had a little bit of food,

you know,

they bring him to Jesus.

You know,

humanly speaking,

Andrew asks

a pretty,

you know,

good question.

What are they

among so many?

It's like,

yeah,

we got some food,

but we got 5,000 people.

Those other parallel passages

tell us 5,000,

that's only the men.

There was women

and children besides that.

So there's easily,

there could easily be

at least 10,000 people

that are being fed.

You know,

that's a pretty good question.

Even if these were

huge fish

and really big loaves

of food,

that's still not enough

to feed 10,000 people.

You know,

we often think that

what we have

is insufficient.

It's insignificant.

You know,

2 Corinthians 12,

10 tells us

when we are weak,

then we are strong.

You know,

there wasn't much

to work with here,

but God doesn't need much.

You know,

he spoke the world

into existence

with just words.

He formed Adam

out of the dust.

He doesn't need a lot.

He just needs someone

who's willing

to come and give to him.

You know,

the second thing I saw

in our text,

you know,

we covered the problem

of the people,

but now the provision

for the people.

You know,

the lad he gave willingly.

You know,

God uses what we surrender

to him.

The first thing I see here

is he borrowed it.

You know,

he didn't grab it.

Like,

hey kid,

give that here.

You know,

I gotta feed all these people.

The kid gave it to him.

It was no longer

the kid's possession.

It was now Jesus's.

It was Jesus

who owned this bread and fish.

2 Corinthians chapter 8,

2 Corinthians 8 · chapter mention

starting in verse 1,

it says,

Moreover,

brethren,

we do you to wit

of the grace of God

bestowed on the churches

of Macedonia,

how that in a great trial

of affliction,

the abundance of their joy

and their deep poverty

abounded unto the riches

of their liberality.

For to their power

I bear record,

yea,

and beyond their power

they were willing

of themselves,

praying us with much entreaty

that we would receive

the gift

and take upon us

the fellowship

of the ministering

of the saints.

And this they did,

not as we hoped,

but first gave their own selves

to the Lord

and unto us

by the will of God.

You know,

a lot of times

we read this passage

when we're talking about,

you know,

faith promise giving

or stuff like that.

And the first thing

they give of themselves,

that's what this little boy

was doing.

He said,

hey,

I don't got much.

Here it is.

You're welcome to it.

You know,

it was nothing

in the boy's ownership,

but in God's possession

it became a miracle.

You know,

secondly,

he blessed it.

The Bible tells us

that Jesus,

you know,

he looked up.

He blessed it.

You know,

the Bible tells us

in Matthew 6, 11,

you know,

looking up,

we see the source

of our daily bread.

You have that prayer.

You know,

it's a good reminder

of our vertical perspective.

So oftentimes

we get so burdened down

with the horizontal,

all the things

that we're dealing with,

when we should just

take a moment

and look up

and just thank God

for what we got.

You know,

Jesus gives thanks.

You know,

God can take what we have

and make it go further.

Not only that,

God sees the completed work.

Now,

God wasn't just focused

on these five loaves

and two fishes.

God knew what it would be

in all of its glory.

After everyone had eaten,

after everyone was filled,

there were still

twelve baskets full.

Jesus was thanking

the Lord

for those things.

You know,

this is a good lesson

for us.

You know,

God is,

he's giving thanks

for what we are becoming.

You know,

I like to read

about David.

Beside Jesus Christ,

David,

he's my favorite

Bible character.

I look at him

and I'm just like,

you got this scrawny

little guy

and he ends up

being the king.

I love reading

about David's mighty men.

To me,

it's very similar

to Robin Hood.

You know,

you have these guys,

they're on the run.

They're the outlaws

living in Sherwood Forest,

right?

I mean,

they're base.

And here,

David comes along

and he takes these guys

who are outlaws

and by the end,

you start reading

about his mighty men.

You had one guy,

he was like,

I'm not gonna stand

for this anymore

and he just stands

in a field of lentils.

He kills like 600 Philistines.

You have another guy,

it's the time of snow.

He's in a pit.

He kills a lion.

I'm like,

that's awesome.

This other guy,

he takes down two guys

that says they were

lion-like men of Moab.

So I don't know

if they were really hairy

and really fierce.

He wipes them out.

I'm like,

you hear these stories,

these guys.

David says one time

in a passing comment almost,

he's like,

I'm so thirsty.

And his three guys

are like,

David's thirsty.

Let's go.

They break into

this Philistine fort.

You know,

I can just see,

it's like an action movie.

People are shooting arrows at them.

They're dodging,

weaving.

You know,

they're going over to the well.

Can you imagine?

You got to drop the bucket,

bring it back up.

Maybe two guys

are using their shields

to fight off everything.

They get the water.

I like to imagine

that they don't miss a drop,

right?

They run out of there.

They get it to David.

And David is so heartbroken

because of their love.

He pours it out

and gives it as a blessing

to the Lord.

You know,

David is a really good example

of Christ.

God takes people like us

who are nothing.

He makes us into something.

He blessed it.

That brings us to our next point.

He broke it.

In parallel passages,

it tells that he broke the bread.

God can only use broken things.

God didn't use

what was already whole.

You know,

in our own power,

the Bible tells us we're weak.

God has no use

of a Christian

who's full of themself.

A Christian full of themself,

I've heard it said,

they're an ugly package.

God wants someone who's broken.

A lot of times,

we like to look at being broken

as a bad thing,

but it's not

unless we fight that breaking.

When I was younger,

I used to deal with horses.

And especially

when you'd have these horses

that had just been born,

what you gotta do

is you gotta break them.

Okay?

You wanna keep their spirit,

but you gotta break their will.

And so usually what you do,

because the first thing

you gotta do

when you're breaking a horse

is get its attention.

So you usually,

you have to get it

into like a corral.

And the goal is

to touch the horse.

Because they don't wanna have

anything to do with you.

So what do they normally do?

They start running around.

So they're running in circles.

Usually a lot of times

you'll have a whip.

You don't hurt the horse,

but you're cracking this whip

to get the horse's attention.

You know?

Maybe you whistle at it.

I can't whistle,

like,

sharp like that.

But you go,

hey!

Hey!

Hey!

You know,

and you're trying to get

the horse's attention.

This process can take hours.

Okay?

I've seen it.

Running around,

running around.

And all of a sudden

this horse stops,

looks over at the man

holding the whip,

and then it starts running again.

It's like,

oh,

that's progress.

It looked.

And eventually,

hey!

Hey!

Hey!

And you're cracking that whip.

Eventually the horse,

it gets tired.

It's sweating.

It's like,

I can't do this all day.

And you get a little closer,

and now you start touching it.

You're letting it know,

hey,

I'm the one in charge.

You know?

You walk over to it.

You put the bit and bridle on it.

You throw the saddle over.

You start getting it comfortable.

You can start riding it.

You start getting it into areas

where it's uncomfortable.

Right?

You might shoot guns off of it.

You don't like that at first.

But it's okay.

You know,

I'm here.

You start teaching how to jump over obstacles,

and you know,

you don't need to be afraid of everything.

That's all Jesus is trying to do with us.

He's there.

So trust me.

Right?

I'm here.

There's nothing to worry about.

You know,

I tell my daughter that.

It's like,

I'm here.

I'm not going to let anything happen to you.

You know,

but I need her to trust me.

You know,

it was the broken pieces that were multiplied,

not the whole.

You know,

sometimes God has to break our hearts

just to make them tender towards others.

You know,

so many times we think,

oh,

God's punishing me.

No.

He's trying to make you better.

He wants to make you usable.

You know,

sometimes he breaks our health

just so we're dependent on him.

We don't have anywhere else to turn.

We just say,

God,

help me.

That's where he wants us.

You know,

our holdings,

our things.

You know,

Job 121,

it reminds us,

God is the one that gives it to us.

God can take it away.

You know,

blessed be the name of the Lord.

You know,

if you want barley,

what do you have to do?

Plant barley.

Can you plant loaves?

You're not going to get anything.

You know,

my mother-in-law,

April,

she makes loaves of bread.

If I saw her out there in her garden

putting a loaf of bread,

I'd be like,

Ray,

we were trying to hold this conversation off

a little longer,

but I think it's time.

We got to start talking about some things here.

You know,

it'd be like,

that's crazy.

Why?

Because that stuff is dead.

It's already been cooked.

You can't get anything out of it.

You know,

God has a habit

of taking people,

us,

things that are dead,

and he can give them new life.

The Bible says,

you hath he quickened,

made alive.

You know,

God can take the dead things

and make them living.

We see that in Ephesians chapter 2,

Ephesians 2:1–5

verses 1 through 5.

Not only did he break it,

but he bestowed it.

You know,

Christ isn't a glory hog.

He allowed the disciples

to participate.

You think Jesus could have gone

to over 5,000 people alone

to give out this food?

No.

No.

No.

The Bible tells us,

because we know God

is a God of order,

in the parallel accounts,

it tells them,

break them up,

you know,

hundreds and fifties,

sit them down,

and we'll distribute

all this food.

You know,

he prepared the meal orderly,

like a shepherd,

feeding his sheep.

You know,

Psalm 23, 2 tells us,

he maketh me to lie down

in green pastures.

Where are they here?

The Bible tells us,

let's see,

in verse 10,

and Jesus said,

make the men sit down.

Now there was much grass

in the place.

Here he is,

again,

the great shepherd

taking care of his sheep.

The disciples were instruments.

You know,

God was the one

that did the miracle.

This is where that strange

arithmetic,

I was kind of thinking on,

you know,

multiplied by division,

he increased by subtraction.

I was thinking about,

you know,

Jesus took the time

to make this food for people,

but in Matthew chapter 4,

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

which would have taken place

before all this,

Matthew chapter 4,

Matthew 4:3

verses 3 and 4,

it says,

and when the tempter came,

that's Satan,

to him,

Jesus Christ,

he said,

if thou be the son of God,

command these stones

be made bread.

But he answered and said,

it is written,

man shall not live

by bread alone,

but by every word

that proceedeth out

of the mouth of God.

You know,

Jesus didn't even make

bread for himself,

but he cared so much

for these people

that he was able

to make bread for them.

You know,

to me,

that was humbling.

You know,

God puts his,

God puts our needs

before his own,

just like a good father does.

You know,

we're going right now,

we're potty training

our oldest.

That's a chore.

There's things

I would much rather do

than spend my time

every 10 minutes

taking her to the potty.

But you know what?

I'm trying to teach her

so that she can be

usable one day.

Many of us probably

wouldn't want to hang

around an adult

that can't go to the bathroom

by herself, right?

You know,

she needs to be usable

in that way.

The third thing,

you know,

we saw the provision

of the people,

but I just thought

about the practice

for us.

In verse 4

of our text,

it says,

in the Passover,

the feast of the Jews

was nigh.

It's one of those verses

if you just kind of

read over it,

you know,

you might miss it.

But it was important,

the Passover.

The Passover was associated

with the Exodus

and how God sustained Israel.

He would sustain the multitude

in the wilderness.

Later on in our text,

John chapter 6,

John 6 · chapter mention

Christ,

he tells the people,

he's the bread of life.

You know,

he's always sufficient.

If you look in verse 35,

it says,

and Jesus said unto them,

I am the bread of life.

He that cometh to me

shall never hunger,

and he that believeth on me

shall never thirst.

Drop down to verse 35,

verse 48,

I am that bread of life.

Your fathers did eat manna

in the wilderness

and are dead.

This is the bread

which cometh down from heaven

that a man may eat thereof

and not die.

You know,

a lot of these people

were so focused

on the physical,

they didn't really understand

what Jesus is saying.

You know,

he's saying,

you know,

if you have what I offer,

you know,

you'll never thirst

you'll never hunger again.

He's talking of a spiritual nature.

You know,

I think about everyone

ate until they were full.

I mean,

there's probably only

a couple times a year,

right,

that we really get like that.

Usually Thanksgiving,

right?

We eat until we're full.

You know,

I like to say

we gobble till we wobble.

You know,

we're just like,

oh,

you know.

Here they have

an all-you-can-eat feast

from just scraps.

You know,

God can do that.

I was thinking about this.

Christ is generous,

but he's not wasteful.

Because what does he say?

Gather up

what's left,

right?

They gathered up

the leftovers.

We see there was

12 baskets.

I like to think,

what happened

to those 12 baskets?

Who got them?

You know,

we know the kids

surrendered over

to Jesus.

So maybe Jesus

and his disciples

used it.

Maybe they saw

the needy.

I would really like

to think that that boy

come home

with 12 baskets.

He's just like,

mom,

mom,

like,

Jesus saved us.

You know,

maybe they didn't have

a lot of food

and they're like,

we got 12 baskets full.

You know,

they gathered up

the leftovers.

Regardless of who

ended up with them,

they were a reminder

of God's provision.

I don't think

you could eat that bread

and not think.

I don't know

how he did it.

He prayed,

he broke the bread,

and it just kept coming.

Those who ate

were reminded of God

and how he fed Israel

in the wilderness.

You know,

let's turn to

Deuteronomy chapter 18.

Deuteronomy 18 · chapter mention

The scholars

and the crowd

would have started

putting this stuff together.

We know that they did

because we're not

going to get into this,

but later on,

the people,

they wanted to make

Jesus king,

right?

Then and there,

they're like,

this guy feeds us,

he heals us,

he's king.

And we know that's

when Jesus,

they retreat away.

Deuteronomy 18,

Deuteronomy 18:15

verse 15,

the Lord thy God

will raise up

unto thee a prophet

from the midst

of thy brethren

like unto me,

unto him

ye shall hearken.

You know,

again,

they know that

the Messiah

is coming.

you know,

we must be careful

not to love Jesus

only for what he does,

but for who he is.

You know,

there's no doubt

in my mind

that there was a lot

of people that left

healed,

and that was it.

They missed everything else.

But there are people

there that got healed,

and then they turned

to Christ

and recognized

he is the Messiah.

He is the one

that we've been

looking for.

You know,

Proverbs,

let's look at

Proverbs chapter 11

Proverbs 11 · chapter mention

real quickly.

Proverbs 11, 24,

There is he

that scattereth

and yet increaseth,

and there is he

that withholdeth

more than his meat,

but it tendeth

to poverty.

The liberal soul

shall be made fat,

and he that watereth

shall be watered

also himself.

You know,

teaching about

that generosity.

God blesses those

that give of their self

and substance.

I want to turn to

Malachi chapter 3,

Malachi 3:10

verse 10.

Bring ye all the tithes

into the storehouse,

that there may be meat

in mine house,

and prove me now.

Herewith,

saith the Lord of hosts,

if I will not open you

the windows of heaven

and pour you

out a blessing,

that there shall be

room enough

to receive it.

Then Luke chapter 6,

Luke 6:38

verse 38.

Give,

and it shall be given

unto you,

good measure,

pressed down,

shaken together,

running over,

shall men give

into their bosom.

For with the same

measure that ye meet,

with all it shall be

measured to you

again.

You know,

what we give God,

you know,

this kid might not

have had a lot,

but he gave all.

So God gives all back.

You know,

so many times

we might sing,

I surrender all,

I surrender all,

you know,

I will give to Jesus.

What is it?

All to Jesus,

I surrender,

right?

But really,

what we're saying is,

you know,

I surrender some,

I surrender some,

I will give to Jesus

little,

right?

Hold back for myself.

You know,

God uses what we give him.

So real quickly,

I'm out of time.

I want to just focus

on these four steps

to God's blessings.

things.

First off,

just start with what you have.

This little boy,

he didn't have much,

but he gave it all.

Secondly,

give what you have

to Jesus.

You know,

we're not the ones

that are responsible

for

what happens,

right?

The Bible says that

some plant seeds,

some water,

but it's God

that gives to increase.

So let him worry about that.

You know,

thirdly,

obey what he commands.

Just do what you're,

you know,

do what you know

that you're supposed to do.

And lastly,

conserve the results.

You know,

save up those blessings.

You know,

I was thinking,

this miracle teaches

compassion,

surrender,

faith,

stewardship.

It teaches us

to see problems

as opportunities

for God to work.

It teaches us

that God

can make something

from nothing.

So,

I'm out of time.

We'll go ahead

and have a word of prayer.

As,

whoever's playing

the piano

would come up.

We'll just take a moment.

The Lord

spoke to your heart.

Give you an opportunity

to respond.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I thank you

for this day

you've given us.

Lord,

I just ask that

you would just use

this message

despite who preached it,

Lord.

I just pray that

it would be

a good reminder

of how good

you are to us,

Lord,

but also the

responsibility

that we have.

Lord,

I pray that

you would just

let us continue

to have a good time

in your house

and be with

the Sunday school hour.

I ask all these things

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.