Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Eating a Miracle for Dinner Msg 221 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living

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Eating a Miracle for Dinner Msg 221 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Daniel writes, all the inhabitants of the earth are is nothing,
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  Speaker 1: and he does according to his will in the army
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  Speaker 1: of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, no
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  Speaker 1: one can hold back his hand or say to him,
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  Speaker 1: what are you doing. God's at work, whether you or
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  Speaker 1: I realize it. His hand is on us, whether or
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  Speaker 1: not we feel it. And though we are surrounded by
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  Speaker 1: innumerable impossibilities, God has yet to meet his first one.
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  Speaker 1: And as a result we're able to think vertically, which
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  Speaker 1: is correctly, and coming together like this only energizes that
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  Speaker 1: kind of thinking. Like the passage of Scripture, we're looking
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  Speaker 1: at together in Matthew four, nine verses tucked away at
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  Speaker 1: the very nucleus of the chapter revolve around what's come
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  Speaker 1: to be known to all of us who were reared
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  Speaker 1: in church as the feeding of the five thousand. But
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  Speaker 1: in actuality, when you really do the math and you
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  Speaker 1: look at verse twenty one of the fourteenth chapter, you
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  Speaker 1: see there were five thousand men, not to mention women
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  Speaker 1: and children, So as best we can figure, there were
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  Speaker 1: probably twenty to twenty five thousand in the group. How
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  Speaker 1: big is that this building right here, this room seats
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  Speaker 1: about three thousand and eight, seven times the size of
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  Speaker 1: this room.
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  Speaker 2: Full of people were fed by five.
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  Speaker 1: Tiny pieces of brittle bread and a couple of sardines.
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  Speaker 2: Two fish.
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  Speaker 1: If little slices of brittle bread like flatbread, how could
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  Speaker 1: he do it? Because He is the God of impossibilities.
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  Speaker 1: And if you doubt that this message is designed for you,
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  Speaker 1: let me read it for you. In Matthew fourteen thirteen
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  Speaker 1: to twenty one, I'll be reading from the New Living Bible.
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  Speaker 1: Your version may be different, but they all read pretty
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  Speaker 1: much the same, and we stand together for the reading.
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  Speaker 2: Matthew fourteen thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in
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  Speaker 1: a boat to a remote area to be alone, but
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  Speaker 1: the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on
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  Speaker 1: foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as
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  Speaker 1: he stepped from the boat, and yet compassion on them
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  Speaker 1: and heal their sick. That evening, the disciples came to
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  Speaker 1: him and said, this is a remote place and it's
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  Speaker 1: already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can
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  Speaker 1: go to the villages and buy food for themselves. But
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  Speaker 1: Jesus said that isn't necessary. You feed them, But we
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  Speaker 1: have only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered,
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  Speaker 1: bring them here. Then he told the people to sit
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  Speaker 1: down on the grass. Jesus took the five loaves and
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  Speaker 1: two fish, looked up toward heaven and blessed them. Then,
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  Speaker 1: breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to
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  Speaker 1: the disciples, who distributed it to the people.
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  Speaker 2: They all ate.
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  Speaker 1: As much as they wanted, and afterward the disciples picked
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  Speaker 1: up twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand men were
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  Speaker 1: fed that day, in addition to all the women.
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  Speaker 2: And children please be seated.
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  Speaker 1: This is why our Father, we reserve the word awesome
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  Speaker 1: only for you. You are awesome God of heaven and Earth,
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  Speaker 1: our awesome creator, our awesome provider. We're reminded again, our Father,
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  Speaker 1: how much you can make of so little. How our
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  Speaker 1: impossibilities become the platform on which you prefer to work.
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  Speaker 1: Because we have come to an end of ourselves and
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  Speaker 1: our strength and our ability. And that's where you get started.
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  Speaker 1: Beginning there, providing over and over in abundance.
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  Speaker 2: Of what's needed. No wonder.
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  Speaker 1: We call it amazing grace. Amazing grace for disciples you doubted,
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  Speaker 1: and people who would have never believed.
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  Speaker 2: That day.
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  Speaker 1: Because of your amazing grace, you provided all they wanted
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  Speaker 1: and even much more. And you're still doing that. So
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  Speaker 1: steal our lips from reminders as we tell you what
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  Speaker 1: cannot be done, and open our hearts to what you
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  Speaker 1: do best, namely the impossible.
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  Speaker 2: By your amazing.
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  Speaker 1: Grace, you give us our occupations, and through that we
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  Speaker 1: earn a living.
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  Speaker 2: And from that we give like now.
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  Speaker 1: With great gratitude for your provision. Use the gifts for
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  Speaker 1: your purposes in glory. May they touch lives of people
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  Speaker 1: we will never meet, in places we will never go,
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  Speaker 1: in ways we could never imagine. And so make us generous,
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  Speaker 1: Our Father, this we pray by your grace in the
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  Speaker 1: name of Jesus Christ. Everyone said Amen.
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  Speaker 2: Most of us love thoughts that stretch our mental muscles.
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  Speaker 2: We like it when events or statements.
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  Speaker 1: Occur that we just can't fully figure out, and so
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  Speaker 1: we're left to think deeper. Broader things that blow us
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  Speaker 1: away are especially of interest to us. Maybe that's why
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  Speaker 1: miracles attract our attention, though though admittedly we we we
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  Speaker 1: rarely come across them, but when we do makes us
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  Speaker 1: suck in our breath. We might define a miracle as
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  Speaker 1: an event so extraordinary, so impossible, only.
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  Speaker 2: God could have done it.
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  Speaker 1: I checked the definition in the dictionary I have at home.
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  Speaker 1: The New College Dictionary defines miracle an event that seems
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  Speaker 1: impossible to explain by natural laws, and so is regarded
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  Speaker 1: as supernatural in origin or as an act of God.
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  Speaker 2: An act of God.
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  Speaker 1: This past week I finished reading Eric Metexas' book title Miracles.
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  Speaker 1: In it, I came across this excerpt that is worth repeating.
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  Speaker 1: No sooner does the subject of miracles arise than someone
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  Speaker 1: must ask whether anyone can today really believe in such things.
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  Speaker 1: But consider the following science today tea is that the
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  Speaker 1: universe came into being via the Big Bang appropriately, or
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  Speaker 1: I should say, approximately fourteen billion years ago. According to
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  Speaker 1: this generally accepted theory, all matter in the known universe,
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  Speaker 1: more than one hundred billion galaxies, each of which contain
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of billions of stars and many more planets, exploded
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  Speaker 1: out of something smaller than the period at the end
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  Speaker 1: of this sentence.
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  Speaker 2: But my taxis asks who was behind all of that.
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  Speaker 1: Many people would say that God was, although people's definitions
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  Speaker 1: of God and how he created the universe will certainly vary.
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  Speaker 1: That a creator was behind it all might be shocking
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  Speaker 1: to say in some circles, but for the most part.
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  Speaker 2: People today essentially take that for granted.
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  Speaker 1: But if we believe that God created the universe out
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  Speaker 1: of nothing exnhilo, to use the famous Latin phrase, how
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  Speaker 1: can we possibly quibble over smaller miracles like turning water
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  Speaker 1: into wine or giving sight to a man born blind.
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  Speaker 1: Believing that God could create the universe but could not
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  Speaker 1: perform any infinitely smaller.
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  Speaker 2: Miracle is illogical. It's illogical.
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  Speaker 1: It's very much like saying, oh, yes, I certainly believe
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  Speaker 1: that Tolstoy could write War in Peace and did, but
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  Speaker 1: I could never believe he'd be able to move a
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  Speaker 1: comma in the manuscript. That would be too much. If
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  Speaker 1: God actually created this universe, somehow can we not believe
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  Speaker 1: he would be able to do almost anything else?
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  Speaker 2: It seems we would have to.
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  Speaker 1: I would change only one thing in that long quotation,
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  Speaker 1: and that's the little word almost he writes. Can we
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  Speaker 1: not believe that God would be able to do almost
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  Speaker 1: anything else? I would just take out.
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  Speaker 2: Almost and say he can do anything else.
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  Speaker 1: He's omnipotent, which means there is no limitation to his power.
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  Speaker 1: So it would certainly mean that whatever he pleases, he does.
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  Speaker 2: There's something that.
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  Speaker 1: Makes all of this very intriguing, and that is at
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  Speaker 1: the heart of the miracle. Is the word impossible. That's
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  Speaker 1: an earthly word. I'll think of it as a horizontal term.
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  Speaker 1: Doesn't fit anything related to our God in heaven. Twice
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  Speaker 1: Jeremiah thirty two makes the statement, first with him is
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  Speaker 1: anything too hard? And another time nothing is too hard
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  Speaker 1: for the Lord. And again it appears in Luke one,
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  Speaker 1: where the Angel says to Mary, who asks how that
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  Speaker 1: conception can be in her wombs since she doesn't know
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  Speaker 1: a man. The angel says, with God, nothing shall be impossible.
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  Speaker 1: And again in Luke chapter eighteen, the word appears again
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  Speaker 1: as it relates to God, meaning with him, there is
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  Speaker 1: no such thing. We live our lives surrounded by impossibilities,
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  Speaker 1: things that are out of our reach, things we are
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  Speaker 1: unable to change, are correct or fix.
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  Speaker 2: Our health is a perfect example.
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  Speaker 1: We get sick, we begin to get sicker, No physician
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  Speaker 1: seems to be able to help, medicine doesn't work, and
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  Speaker 1: finally we're at death's door and we cannot make ourselves well. Impossible.
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  Speaker 1: You have a son or daughter who's gone her his
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  Speaker 1: own way. And there are adults and you didn't raise
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  Speaker 1: them like that, but they've chosen their path, and it's
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  Speaker 1: a journey that you would wish were not true, but
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  Speaker 1: it is.
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  Speaker 2: You can't change them now.
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  Speaker 1: I know we try, but it's it's a frust it's
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  Speaker 1: a study and frustration.
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  Speaker 2: You can't change people. I can't change them.
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  Speaker 1: All these and hundreds of other things I could name,
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  Speaker 1: are impossible. Which brings us to five pieces of flatbread
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  Speaker 1: and two sardines. I say that because I want you
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  Speaker 1: to understand. This is not like Missus Baird's bread, big
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  Speaker 1: soft loaves, not with nice thick slices. And this is
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  Speaker 1: not like a salmon or a river trout or lake trout.
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  Speaker 1: This is this is a little pickled fish that would
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  Speaker 1: often be carried the first century by one who wanted
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  Speaker 1: to have a snack for lunch, And they carry along
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  Speaker 1: little tiny pieces of brittle flat bread and a couple
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  Speaker 1: of picklefish.
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  Speaker 2: And look at what he did with it. Humanly impossible.
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  Speaker 2: Had you been there, you would have thought the same thing.
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  Speaker 2: The disciples thought, so would I. But before we.
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  Speaker 1: Get to that, we find Jesus in grief. He has
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  Speaker 1: just heard that his cousin and longtime friend, the one
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  Speaker 1: who baptized him, the one who was his forerunner, has
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  Speaker 1: just been murdered, beheaded, And Jesus gets in a boat
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  Speaker 1: to slip away, to be alone in a remote place.
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  Speaker 1: But we read that the crowds headed to where he
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  Speaker 1: was going, and when he got there, having followed him
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  Speaker 1: from a number of towns on foot, they were there waiting.
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  Speaker 2: And when he.
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  Speaker 1: Got out of the boat, here was this enormous crowd
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  Speaker 1: of something like twenty twenty five thousand people.
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  Speaker 2: Think of that, Think of the number of needs that
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  Speaker 2: are there. Think of the.
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  Speaker 1: Sick who must have come, And surely did friends brought
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  Speaker 1: people who were sick, because Jesus was known as the
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  Speaker 1: one who healed the sick. And rather than showing any
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  Speaker 1: irritation or frustration, he steps out of the boat.
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  Speaker 2: He steps into the crowd without hesitation.
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  Speaker 1: We read he had compassion on them and healed their sick,
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  Speaker 1: just like that. How isy it is to pass over
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  Speaker 1: a few words like this to get onto this miracle
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  Speaker 1: of the feeding of the crowd. But before we go,
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  Speaker 1: look at all of these miracles, and they don't even
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  Speaker 1: get a name attached to them, not one sick person
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  Speaker 1: is named, not one disease is identified, but they were
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  Speaker 1: there until evening, with.
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  Speaker 2: Those sicknesses being healed.
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  Speaker 1: And he does one after another after another, after another,
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  Speaker 1: after another, after another, after another after another. As the
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  Speaker 1: sun is going down, the disciples are getting hungry and.
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  Speaker 2: They're getting antsy.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but I do pretty well
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  Speaker 1: until I get hungry, And then only my wife would
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  Speaker 1: tell you. I'm probably as close to dangerous at that
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  Speaker 1: point as I am at any other time in my life.
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  Speaker 1: And if I'm really hungry, she probably would like to
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  Speaker 1: take a long drive and get away from me, or
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  Speaker 1: she very graciously prepares something in a hurry, and I
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  Speaker 1: gobble it up because hunger and I don't get along well.
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  Speaker 1: You could tell by looking that that's true, and I'm
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  Speaker 1: sure most of those disciples were like that, which is
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  Speaker 1: why they said what they did in verse fifteen, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: this is a remote place.
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  Speaker 2: It's already getting late.
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  Speaker 1: Send the crowds away so they may go to the
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  Speaker 1: villages and buy food for themselves. You read nothing of
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  Speaker 1: compassion in those words. You read frustration. You read hunger,
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  Speaker 1: you read irritation.
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  Speaker 2: Get rid of the.
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  Speaker 1: People, so we can take care of our needs. Get
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  Speaker 1: something to eat. We're hungry. I like Jesus' response. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: said to them, that isn't necessary. You feed them. The
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  Speaker 1: u is plural, you'all feed them. We would say, there's
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  Speaker 1: twelve of you, you feed them. By Now you don't
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  Speaker 1: see it because here it isn't included. But in the
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  Speaker 1: other gospels, by the way, it's the only miracle included
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  Speaker 1: in all four of the gospel accounts, which tells you
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  Speaker 1: something of the significance of it.
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  Speaker 2: And in the others we learn.
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  Speaker 1: Of the disciples talking a little boy out of his lunch.
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  Speaker 1: And here's a little boy that brought a sack lunch,
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  Speaker 1: brought the loaves and the fish and was looking forward
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  Speaker 1: to munching on it for his meal. And Andrew talked
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  Speaker 1: him out of it. And they look at the five
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  Speaker 1: loaves and two fish, and they say, all we have
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  Speaker 1: are five.
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  Speaker 2: Loaves of bread and too fish. Stop.
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  Speaker 1: It's called an impossibility. All I have is a doctor's report.
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  Speaker 1: All I have is a letter that's two years old
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  Speaker 1: from my daughter. I don't know where she is today.
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  Speaker 1: Some of you would say all I have is an
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  Speaker 1: impossible situation at work.
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  Speaker 2: And the man I work for is impossible.
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  Speaker 1: Other people have tried to hold this job, and they're gone,
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  Speaker 1: and looks like I may soon be. It's impossible, and
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  Speaker 1: on and on the list goes five loaves to fish,
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  Speaker 1: five loaves to fish. In fact, in one of the
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  Speaker 1: accounts we read that a disciple chirped in and said,
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  Speaker 1: and what are these among so many?
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  Speaker 2: Of course he would say, that's what you would say.
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  Speaker 1: See, they've never read Matthew fourteen before, so they don't
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  Speaker 1: know what's coming. All they know is is a crowd
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  Speaker 1: there that's in their way, keeping them from getting something
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  Speaker 1: to eat. And they don't want to mess with them
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  Speaker 1: any longer. I mean, after all, Jesus, you've healed a
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  Speaker 1: whole lot of them. Isn't that enough? You feed them,
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  Speaker 1: says Jesus. And they said, it's impossible in so many words.
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  Speaker 1: So he says to them, look at the verse eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: Bring them here. You want to send them away, I'm
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  Speaker 1: telling you to bring them nearby. Let them all sit
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  Speaker 1: down on the grass.
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  Speaker 2: And so they did.
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  Speaker 1: They all sat down, and look at what appears here.
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  Speaker 1: He's holding the bread and the fish in his hands,
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  Speaker 1: a little tiny bit of food and what do we read.
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  Speaker 1: He looked up toward heaven and he blessed them. Now,
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  Speaker 1: before we go on, I have to stop and put
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  Speaker 1: myself in the sandals of the disciples, some of whom
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  Speaker 1: must have thought, Oh brother, what is this all about.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you're asking blessing on this five pieces of
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  Speaker 1: bread and a couple of tiny fish. Come on, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: just like you will feel when you take your knee
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  Speaker 1: to the Lord and you are quick to respond to him,
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  Speaker 1: how it's impossible. And he says to you and everything
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  Speaker 1: it thanks for. This is my will concerning you. So
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  Speaker 1: in his own words and in his own way, Father,
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  Speaker 1: I give you thanks for the bread and the fish,
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  Speaker 1: And now may these people be fed, or whatever words
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  Speaker 1: he used. And he broke the loaves and the fish
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  Speaker 1: into pieces.
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  Speaker 2: He kept breaking. That was where the miracle took place.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, will you notice what he did with that?
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  Speaker 1: He handed them to the disciples. He doesn't distribute or
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  Speaker 1: ask the people to come by in line, or put
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  Speaker 1: it out on the grass nearby for them to come
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  Speaker 1: pick what they want. He has the disciples served them
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  Speaker 1: nice touch.
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  Speaker 2: Huh.
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  Speaker 1: You men pass out the food and distribute it to
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  Speaker 1: all of the people, So he brought the people closer.
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  Speaker 1: He had everyone simply sit down. He held the bread
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  Speaker 1: and the fish. He looked up toward heaven and prayed.
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  Speaker 1: He broke the bread and the.
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  Speaker 2: Fish, and then he gave the pieces to the disciples.
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  Speaker 1: At Robertson writes this, this is a miracle that some
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  Speaker 1: find hard to believe, but it is recorded by all
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  Speaker 1: four the gospel writers, and the only.
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  Speaker 2: One told by all four.
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  Speaker 1: It was impossible for the crowds to misunderstand and to
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  Speaker 1: be deceived. If Jesus is in reality lord of the universe,
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  Speaker 1: why should we balk at this miracle? He who created
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  Speaker 1: the universe surely has power to go on creating what
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  Speaker 1: he wills to do.
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  Speaker 2: It's like Metaxa's words.
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  Speaker 1: If Tolstoy could write that book that thick, couldn't he
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  Speaker 1: go to the manuscript and move a comma here or there.
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  Speaker 2: He's the author of the book.
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  Speaker 1: This is the creator of our lives, and these people
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  Speaker 1: there by the thousands began.
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  Speaker 2: To eat, and began to eat, and.
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  Speaker 1: Please observe the grace and the goodness of our Lord
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  Speaker 1: seen in that twentieth verse. They ate as much as
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  Speaker 1: they wanted, not as much as they needed, but they
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  Speaker 1: ate as much as they wanted. I mean, if there
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  Speaker 1: were teenagers in the crowd, that alone is a miracle.
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  Speaker 1: They're never full. Our teenagers used to stand in front
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  Speaker 1: of the refrigerator, tell our glasses fogged over, looking for more,
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  Speaker 1: to eat more, to eat more, and they ate all
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  Speaker 1: that they wanted, and even by his grace, had twelve
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  Speaker 1: baskets left over. By now you anticipate my next line,
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  Speaker 1: How many disciples were there?
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  Speaker 2: One doggy bag.
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  Speaker 1: Basket for each of the red faced disciples, one basket
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  Speaker 1: full of food to take to be alone and to
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  Speaker 1: receive the rebuke that was deserved. He's in the zenith
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  Speaker 1: of his ministry, according to the chronology of his life,
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  Speaker 1: and they have walked with him through all of these
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  Speaker 1: weeks and months now over a year, and they've seen
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  Speaker 1: him over. They just saw him as he's healing one
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  Speaker 1: after another. Why would there be any question regarding his
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: ability to turn this meal into a feast in light
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: of what they've experienced. Well, the same could be asked
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of us. How much does God need to do again
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: to remind you of what He's able to do. I
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: was with the seminary students at our seminary.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: This passed.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Wednesday, and we had a great time together. I had
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: a chance to speak to them in the chapel service,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: and I told them what happened to me when I
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: was a student. Because many of them often think they're
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: they're the first ones to go through this, or their
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: situation is the worst it could possibly be, or the
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: difficulties they're dealing with just earth shattering. So I said,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: let me tell you what happened to me. I mean,
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: we went to seminary with nothing. Zip Santy didn't have
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: a job. I didn't have a job. And we came
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: to Dallas and we moved from Houston to Dallas, and
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: while there, the Lord opened up an opportunity for her
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: to work for a gentleman and then from that to
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: work at a bank. And she was earning the living
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and I was studying, and it was a it was
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: an existence for us.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: We lived in a little apart but so small you
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: had to go outside and change your mind. Really little
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: little apartment. And uh uh, and yet we began to
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: read uh Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret, which is the story
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: of how God provided for Hudson Taylor in his work
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: in Inland, China, and we were.
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: We read it together. It was a.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Great read, and and we said to each other, why
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: don't we why don't we do this? Why don't we
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: just do what he did without announcing anything to anybody
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: or sending out a prayer chain letter or appealing to
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: people's uh hearts and all, Well, let's just leave it
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: with the Lord. Let's just tell the Lord we don't
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: we don't have the tuition. We don't we're not able
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: to provide for our own here. And yet you called
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: us here, so how can we I'd already been accepted
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: on probation, which was great. I was so grateful for that.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: I didn't care if I had to read everything out
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: of a mirror. I mean, it was it was grace
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: that got me there. So I'm grateful. And second semester
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: came and we had scraped up enough to pay that tuition,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: and I went to the counter to pay it, and
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: she said, oh, what's your name? And I told her
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: and she goes, oh, it's been paid. I'm like, great
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: man of faith. No, the name is Swindall, Charles Swindall.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Have you got She goes, yeah, that's it, that's what
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: I'm reading here. In fact, your tuition is paid from
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: now till your truth your years at this school.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: I go, let me see that paper. Is that amazing
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: not to God? In fact?
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Would you believe that the man who provided for our
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: tuition and from then on the rest of our years
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: did that for seventeen other students as well, and never
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: wanted his name mentioned publicly. So I told the students
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: last Wednesday, I'm not able to give you his name
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: in case you're wondering.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: They all laughed. But I'll tell you who the name is. God.
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: That's the name to remember.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: I can tell you other things that I won't, but
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: one after another, when we finally realized we don't have
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: it in ourselves to meet the deepest needs of our lives,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: God stepped in, and interestingly, sometime we thought there were
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: needs and they weren't needs.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: We didn't meet that need. We didn't need that.
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: What we did now, these people needed food, so He
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: provided for it. It was impossible for the disciples to
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: do that, which brings me to the major point. As
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: long as you operate your life from the horizontal point
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: of view, the only thing you will see through your
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: life is impossibilities. As long as you exist in that
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: horizontal level, looking only at the human side of things,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you will come up against it over and over and
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: over again, and your life will be marked by the negative.
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: What cannot be done. The situation is impossible, My marriage
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: is impossible, my adult child is impossible, my employment situation impossible,
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: my medical need impossible. The legal battle we're going through,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: it's impossible for us to even meet the demands of
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: the attorney fees, the financial reversal we've been in, the
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: emotional struggle. I'll never get on my equilibrium. This relation
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: will breakdown. It's impossible for me to put that back together.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: You'll mean to name a big one.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Our national situation. You listen to the.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Candidates, you watch him in action, and you look at
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: one another within the same room, and if you're not careful,
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: you turn everything off and say.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: This is this is impossible?
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: Really well, maybe you need to tell God because he
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: doesn't know that. How laughable for him to hear the
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: word impossible, as if he's out of control. Isn't it
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: interesting how we inform him during our prayers and we
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: have to let him know the details of our situation.
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: I thank God must think at times, just get to
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: the point, just ask. You don't have because you don't ask.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: So we asked for tuition. Now he doesn't always provide
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: In our case, by his grace, he did, and for
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: seventeen other classmates he did.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: And in your case, it may be a healing. It
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: may be that.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: Letter from your long lost beloved daughter or son. You
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: live your day waiting for that to come, where they
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: tell you of the whole change in life and in heart.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: You see what I want you to get from this
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: is a shift in your thinking so that you really
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: do have a mind boggling thought. Here. God operates in
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the realm of possible. God any rivers you think are uncrossable, God,
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: any mountains you cannot tunnel through. God specializes in things
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: fought impossible.
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: He does those.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: Things others cannot do, and he finds great delight in
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: doing them at the most unexpected times.
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: I might add, almost.
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: Without exception, it's always later than you wish, always takes
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: longer than you thought it may have taken, but you
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: look back and realize He has been at work.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: Now, in this case, the miracle is instant. So what
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: am I saying?
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Well, I've given you an outline at the bottom, a
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: place to write something. In order for you to remember it,
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: you'll need to write it down. So here we go.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Pull out a pen. If you haven't won, I'm going
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: to give you a line. I want you to memorize,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: and I want you to repeat it to yourself enough
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: that you can say it almost second nature. I've done that,
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: and I say it second nature. I want to give
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: you the words so that you can write them and
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: remember them from now on. This is what we learn
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: from this feeding of the twenty to twenty five thousand people.
• 35:30
  Speaker 2: Here we go.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: We are all faced with a series of great opportunities.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: We're all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: disguised as impossible situations. We're all faced with a series
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: of great opportunities disguised as impossible.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: Situations.
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: Let me be quick to add that when God does
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: what is impossible for us, it may not be a miracle.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: And be careful about reading every surprise and putting the
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: word miracle on it. I like reminding people finding a
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: parking space at Nordstrom's during Christmas time is not a
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: miracle that happens to be Someone pulled out you got
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: to pull in right there.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: If somebody else can get in in front of you,
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: you know how that is.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: That's the miracle that they don't get it in front
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: of you when you run a part there or that.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: Every meal that's provided as a miracle, it's not necessarily
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: a miracle, unless, of course, it cannot be explained in
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: human terms, and then you've got a miracle in your hands.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: I have a good friend who had cancer of the tongue.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: It was growing.
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: He called a handful of his friends and I was
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: one of them, and he said, I'm getting ready to
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: go to Mayo's. I'm taking the X ray. He happen
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: to be living in Dallas. I was living in California
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: at the time. He said, I'm taking my X ray
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: with me so they'll see it. And he said, I
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: want us all to pray God's will be done. That's
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: all I ask you to pray. Just claim with me
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: the will of God, because if this doesn't change, they'll
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: have to take, if not all, part of my tongue.
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: And if it's going to be done, I want it
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: done at Mayo's. So we all began to pray. Matter
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: of fact, you know what, I wasn't living in California.
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: I was living in New England. That's how long ago
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: it was. I went down in our basement and I
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: had written out a note, and I took the note
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: before the Lord and I prayed for him by name.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: I prayed specifically for the particular health situation he was facing.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: He had had, they'd done all they could do here,
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: so we went to Mayo's to get it looked at.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: And once he got there and checked in, he went
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: to see the oncologist and he brought his X ray
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and the oncologists took a new X ray and.
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: Looked at the one he brought with him.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: And uh, there was no cancer on the new X ray.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: So the doctor, being a man of great faith, said,
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: you brought the wrong X ray with you. And my
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: friend said, it's my name at the bottom, And the
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: doctor reluctantly says, well, yes is the date such? And
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: yes is the doctor who was responsible? Is that name
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: in there the radiologists? Yet, Yes, that's it doc. The
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: doctor said, you you have no sign the cancer. My
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: friend has since died, but not of cancer. His tongue
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: never gave him a bit of trouble. From then on,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Some of you steal are not convinced. You think something
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: happened that other X ray can't be. And you know
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry for you because you've got your hands all
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: full of all the answers. God doesn't feel hands full.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: He feels empty hands one by what God took them
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: from me, All the things I valued most till I
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: was empty handed, Every glittering toy was lost. I walked
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: to Earth's highways, grieving and my rags and poverty, till
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: I heard his voice inviting lift those empty hands to me.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: So I turned my hands toward heaven, and he filled
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: them with a store of his own transcendent richie, till
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: they could contain no more. And at last I comprehended
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: with my stupid mind and dull God cannot pour his
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: riches into hands already full. As you get your education,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: your tendency is to fill your own hands as you
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: begin to be blessed with this world's goods. Your wealth
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: tends you to fill your own hands as you enjoy
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: good health through life. Your good health tends to fill
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: your hands as you grow, and your skepticism. Your skepticism
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: fills your hands, and before long that's the way you
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: live your life with hands full of empty stuff. God
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: longs to do for you what he does for the
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: with empty hands. I urge you to leave this place
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: with nothing, nothing in your hands, nothing, Trust him with
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: that impossibility that you have been laboring over and struggling through,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: and worrying about and complaining over. Empty your hands. I'd
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: like you to bow your heads, but don't close your eyes.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: I want you to look at your hands. There are
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: marks on your hands, there are lines there, and your
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: hands are empty. The Lord knows our ways as clearly
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: as we know our own palms, our own hands. If
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: there's not a place in your past where you trusted
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: in Jesus is your own lord and master, and not
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: a place where you can remember ever giving him your life,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: well it's because you're full of yourself, and to come
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: to Christ means you push self aside and you trust
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: in the Lord Jesus with all, not most, but all
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: your heart. You let him take his place in your life.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Do that now, or maybe you see the name of
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: the one you're so concerned about, or written across the
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: poems as you imagine, is that situation at work or
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: in the courtroom or in that relationship, or the financial matters,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: or wherever that great opportunity hides. It's an opportunity for
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: the Lord God to fulfill his will in his own
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: time by his grace. Let it go whatever is coming
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: between you and your trust in the Living God. With
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: empty hands, our Father, we bow before you. We spent
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: our lives filling our own hands. That's why we look
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: out for our own selves more than anybody else, because.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: We're by natures selfish.
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: That's why we have all the answers as to why
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: this won't work out or that one won't change, because
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: we've learned over the years that we're self sustaining. We
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: don't need what you have. Until today we realize we
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: don't even have what we need, and only you can
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: provide that eternal life, the solution to the things we've
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: struggled with, the answers over this long period of time
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: where we've not had relief. We ask for that by
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: your grace, By your grace, and thank you, Father, ahead
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: of time, for what will occur in your own way
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: and will and timing just this week, to say nothing
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: of the rest of this year, meet our deepest needs,
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: which only you are able to do.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: Through the matchless name of Christ, I pray.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: Everybody said, Amen, Okay, you're gonna leave empty. You can
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: take your Bible okay, and your purse if you must.
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: If you have to leave one, leave your purse, go
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: away with your fully aware that your hands are empty,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: and watch God work.
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: All right, good, get out of here, let's go.
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: The preceding message, eating a Miracle for Dinner was copyrighted
• 45:31
  Speaker 3: in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty one, and the sound
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one by Charles R.
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: Swindall Ink. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted
• 45:44
  Speaker 3: material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.