Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 685 | The Miracle of Trusting Jesus

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685 | The Miracle of Trusting Jesus · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
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With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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are on our website at watwm.org.
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We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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who God is and to strengthen your daily walk.
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John 6 records one of Jesus' most familiar and remarkable miracles,
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the feeding of the 5,000.
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While the crowd saw a desperate shortage and the disciples saw an impossible
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calculation, Jesus saw an opportunity to reveal His power and faithfulness.
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This miracle is more than a story about multiplied loaves and fish.
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It points us to Christ's complete sufficiency.
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Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries, as Kim leads us through
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John 6, 1-15, as we discover the miracle of trusting Jesus, even when what we
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have seems far too little.
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Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries.
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We're in the midst of one of the most familiar accounts in Scripture.
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Vacation Bible school, Sunday school, countless sermons from the pulpit we've heard.
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But one of the things that often is so amazing that it just takes us away and
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we don't see the other parts, is that God feeds 5,000 plus.
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It's been said maybe 15,000 to 20,000 people because the 5,000 were the men.
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And so the children and the women that were gathered there as well were fed
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all by this little boy's lunch.
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And that is so hard to wrap your mind around that. When Jesus touches something,
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regardless of the quantity, it's more than enough.
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And it's not just enough, it's more than enough. Because as we read this account
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in scripture, we know that when everyone is finished and they've had their fill,
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they go and they collect 12 baskets of the remains.
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Now, Jesus could not have needed those 12 baskets of food.
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He had just fed well over 5,000 people with just a few loaves and a few little fish.
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So why would he ask the disciples to go and pick it up?
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I believe that this is the part of the story, one very important part that we often just miss.
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And I believe that in that statement, God is saying that everything he touches is important.
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And I want you to grasp a hold of that piece of information.
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Perhaps no one's ever looked you in the eyes and told you that you were significant.
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And maybe no one's ever looked you in the eyes and told you that you were important.
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But scripture does it from Genesis to Revelations. As he unfolds in Genesis
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that we are created in his image.
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And as he tells us in John how to be saved and how Jesus came and how he died
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on the cross and how his believing in him because of his precious sinless blood
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will wash away your sins,
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that he's coming back again someday to take us home to be with him.
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In Revelations, he talks about this city called heaven.
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As John on the Isle of Patmos gets to look over into it and he talks about how beautiful it is.
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He he allows us to understand that there's no way that we can comprehend what
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waits on the other side for us because he speaks of gold as being the pavement in that city,
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and that's our most precious resource here in earth and it's nothing but something to walk on.
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We see so much of how much God loves us.
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And this particular account is no different.
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So I want you to grasp behold, it is incredible that when Jesus touches the
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fish and the loaves, there is countless amounts,
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more than enough, so that everyone is satisfied and complete.
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I want you to see that that's exactly who he is.
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That when we surrender our limited resources and expectations to Jesus,
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he reveals his abundant power and he invites us to trust him as the bread of life, as the great I am,
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as the provider and the protector.
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There's a lot said in those few sentences.
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We have to surrender what we have.
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We have to recognize that what we have is limited, but what he has is unlimited.
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And if you were listening carefully, I told you that this passage in John 6, verses 1-15,
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requires us to understand that we have to surrender our expectations to Jesus.
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And that, my friend, is a difficult thing because God creates us in his image. He gives us a brain.
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He tells us how to navigate.
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And we are to take the wisdom he gives us and the knowledge we gain to follow
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what he says and what he's telling us to do, but to navigate this world.
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And so as we get accustomed to using our brain and our wisdom and our knowledge,
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our fleshly selves can sometimes begin to overthink our situations.
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We begin to think we know what is best. Or at least we determine what we think should happen.
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And those expectations, they're based on our wisdom.
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They're based on our knowledge. They're given to us surrounded in the circumstances of our experiences.
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But we have to surrender those because we aren't God.
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We don't know what is best. We don't understand what tomorrow holds.
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But we do understand who holds tomorrow.
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And so as we really look at John chapter 16, I mean, excuse me,
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John chapter 6, verses 1 through 15, and we begin to take it apart,
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I want you to see that Jesus is sufficient to meet both your physical needs,
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and your deepest spiritual hunger.
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He is the bread of life.
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Later in John chapter 6, verse 35, he says, I am the bread of life.
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But in this account, he shows his abundant power, and he's inviting us to trust him.
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To be our all-sufficient God, to abandon expectations, to abandon self-reliance,
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and to throw logic out the window.
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There really is no way that faith and logic can coexist.
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It's like oil and water.
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Logic is good and will take us so far, and we need it for a lot of things,
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but it's faith that will take us the distance.
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It's faith that unlocks heaven's door.
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So as we begin to look at this passage of scripture, don't forget the remarkable
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miracle, but let's open our minds and our hearts to a few other things that
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he has for us. Let's pray.
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Our kind and most gracious to heavenly father, Lord, I pray that you have your,
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richest blessings upon the reading that we're getting ready to read in your hearing.
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I pray, Lord, that you would strengthen me.
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I pray that you would speak through these lips of clay. I pray,
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Lord, that you would remove me from the message as far as the East is from the West.
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And Lord, I pray that you would prepare the hearts and the minds of those that are going to hear it.
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Lord, I pray that your presence is supreme, that your word goes forth with anointing and power.
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And Lord, that we leave this time together more like you than when we entered.
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And in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's read.
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After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
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And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles,
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which he did on them that were diseased.
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And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
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And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
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When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him,
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he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?
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And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do.
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Philip answered him, Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for
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them, that every one of them may take just a little.
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One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
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There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes,
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but what are they among so many?
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And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place,
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so the men sat down in number about five thousand, And Jesus took the loaves,
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and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples,
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and the disciples to them that were set down, and likewise of the fishes,
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as much as they would when they were filled.
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He said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
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Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments
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of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
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Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did,
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said, this is of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world.
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Now, on first glance, there's some things we want to talk about here.
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We want you to see that Jesus sees the need before the people did.
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Jesus had looked at all these people that had followed him after he had done
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these miracles and he realizes they're going to be hungry.
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He realized that they were going to need to be fed and that they were far away
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from any normal place where they could buy food.
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If you read the other accounts in the Gospels, you see that Jesus says this,
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and here comes Philip with where you think we're going to buy this food that they're going to eat.
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And then Philip, who Jesus has asked that question to, is thinking that.
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He also says then back to Jesus, if you had a place to buy this,
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this is going to take over 200 denarii, which is months of wages.
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In other words, the math doesn't work out, Lord. We don't have anything we can do here.
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So his idea is to send them off into the town on their own ways,
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let them just leave and go back to their homes and figure out their own food.
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But that's not how Jesus is.
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When you come to Jesus with a need, he doesn't send you out to figure out how
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to fix that need on your own.
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When you come to Jesus lacking and asking him in true repentance and absolute faith, you leave field.
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And if you never understood that before, this account in John chapter 6,
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verses 1 through 15, strongly supports that truth.
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You can't leave an encounter with Jesus the same way you came.
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And you'll never leave an encounter with Jesus lacking.
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As you read these verses in John chapter 6 verses 1 through 5,
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it may strike you funny that Jesus asks Philip, when shall we buy bread that these may eat?
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And then he immediately explains to us he already knew the answer.
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He knew what he was going to do.
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His question was about Philip. And what did Philip believe?
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And what condition was Philip's faith in?
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See, there's a lot of times that God asks us to step out on faith and we're
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doing exactly what Philip's doing.
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We are calculating the cost.
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We're either calculating the cost in energy, in effort, in reputation, or in money,
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but we're counting the cost, forgetting that he who has sent us,
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it has unlimited energy and unlimited resources.
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And when we follow after him, he's going to equip us to do what he asks.
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In Ephesians 3.20, he says, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
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above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
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So just as ridiculous as it is for Philip to calculate the cost.
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It's just as ridiculous for you and I to wonder how we're going to get what
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we need to get to do what he's just asked us to do.
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Jesus is never surprised by the needs that we face.
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He understood those people were going to be hungry and needed to be fed in order
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to hear what he had to say before they knew it themselves.
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So he sees the burden that you're carrying. He sees the hurt that is in your heart.
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He understands your family problems he understands your financial problems he
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understands the challenges that you are facing to serve him,
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he understands those and he recognizes the spiritual emptiness of our hearts
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he knows because the heart is deceitfully wicked who can know it,
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And so God is asking us, me and you, to turn our lives over to him,
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to surrender whatever it is that we have and allow him to use it as he sees
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fit, minus our expectations.
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His expectations put guardrails up for our faith.
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Expectations limit our capacity because they begin to talk about what we can do and who we are.
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God doesn't need anything that you have to offer except who you are.
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It's all he needs because everything else he will supply.
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But he is a gentleman, so he's not going to force you to serve him.
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He's not going to force you to work in his kingdom.
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But if you're hesitant to do so because you don't think you have what it takes
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or you don't think you understand what it is you're supposed to do,
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be still and know that he is God.
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He will reveal to you what he wants you to do.
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He may flatten you so that you have no expectations.
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So that you're not offering him any suggestions.
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But if you turn yourself to him, he who created you, he who has a plan for you,
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he who is walking beside of you will surely equip you.
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He sees the need.
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When you tell him that need in prayer, that's not his first understanding of your problem.
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No, he knew it before it showed up. And he had equipped you to face and deal
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with that before it ever happened.
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So before we panic over the problem, we should remember that Jesus already sees
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it and that it's not without purpose.
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It is everything he does, he does for our good and his glory.
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Romans 8.28 says that all things work together for the good to them that love
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the Lord, to them that are called according to his purpose.
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Every trial, every burden is meant to equip you for the next step.
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But sometimes we get stuck and we get concerned because we don't like our current situation.
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And maybe our last step was a little sticky.
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But that's because we're now setting expectations instead of living in the purpose God has for us.
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We cannot imagine what God has for us.
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He says that eye hath not seen and ear hath not heard. what lies in store for
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them that love the Lord. And I do believe that one interpretation of that is
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that when we get to that city whose builder and maker is God,
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we have no idea what we're getting ready to see.
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But I believe it also means for life here.
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Because in 1 Corinthians 13, he says we see now through a glass dimly.
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We don't see the full picture. But then in that new city,
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when we're face to face, when faith has no place, because we're looking at the one who saved us.
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It is then that we'll understand. But now it's faith that helps us understand
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we need to take the next step.
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Don't worry about your problem.
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He not only already knows it, he's already through it on the other side.
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And if you're following, he'll lead you through it as well.
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As you look in verses 6 and 7, we see Philip trying to figure out how God thinks,
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they can possibly afford.
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This picnic for his followers.
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See, there's a huge lesson here. Philip is immediately calculating the cost,
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because he doesn't understand that human reasoning can't solve spiritual problems.
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Too often, we try to place our worldly thoughts and we try to use our self-reliance,
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our intelligence, our skills, our abilities to fix something,
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that can't be done by human means.
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Philip's reasoning, no doubt, was very accurate, but it was incomplete because
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it left out Jesus in the equation.
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See, Jesus in the situation changes everything for our good and his glory.
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We often respond to overwhelming situations by focusing on our budget or our
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abilities, our time, our experience, the size of the problem, who's involved.
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A lot of times, just like Philip, we're going to ask, how can we possibly do this? This is insane.
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But the better question is, what can Jesus do with what we have?
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We're in the situation. He didn't put us there unknowingly.
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It was part of the path that he had planned for each of us.
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Now that's a hard pill to swallow sometimes you may be in a place you just don't want to be.
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You may not understand how you got there you may not understand how god is is
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even in the midst but he is because that's a promise,
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and i'm telling you he keeps his promises because if he can't promise that he'll
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never leave me nor forsake me he sure can't take me to a place i've never seen or never been.
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And so you got to believe. And in Mark chapter nine, verse 23,
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it says all things are possible to him that believeth.
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And so a lot of times we begin to reason in our situations.
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We begin to reason our problems, but our problem is we leave Jesus out.
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And instead of trying to figure out how are we possibly going to get through
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this? What are we possibly going to do?
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How are we going to fix this problem?
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Instead of that, it's what we've got to say is, here we are,
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Lord, what are you going to do?
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What can Jesus do with what I have to give him in this situation or problem?
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See, faith does not deny facts. That's just stupid.
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God isn't asking us to bury our head in the sand and not live in reality.
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No, faith refuses to treat the facts as greater than God.
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You can know what's going on. You can understand the situation.
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But you just got to believe God is greater.
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And so in this account, just in these first seven verses, we see that Jesus
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knows our need before we ever even speak it, before we even understand that we need it.
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And then we understand that our human reasoning isn't going to be able to solve spiritual problems.
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We've got to go to God. That's how it's made. But without faith,
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it is impossible to please him.
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And you must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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That is hebrews 11 6 my friend.
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He's in the midst we learned that recently,
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peter's in the storm he looks out and he's already there you're in a storm he's
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already there he knows your need and he's on the other side of your problem
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while he's still in the middle of it with you he's seen,
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the end he knows if you follow him that you're going to pass through.
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Storms are meant to change us to be more like him.
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They're meant for us to be blessings so other people are changed to be like him.
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Sometimes we go through things so other people's faith will grow.
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But every reason is to get us through the storm to be better than we were before the storm.
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We've got to learn to stop staring at the problem and worrying about how it's
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going to work and just wait on God to do his thing.
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He specializes in the impossible.
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He is more than enough. His grace is sufficient.
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His love is unconditional and forevermore.
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But you got to give him what you have.
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And that brings us to John 6, 8 through 9. My favorite part of the entire story.
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Here's a boy who's going about his business.
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Now, you got to know that when his mom packed his lunch that day,
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she had no idea that for centuries,
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this boy's lunch was going to be talked about, spoken about,
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and teaching us valuable lessons.
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So she throws five loaves. And let me tell you, these are like smaller from
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what I have seen than like the breadsticks at Olive Garden.
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And I know plenty of people that can eat five breadsticks at Olive Garden and never even blink.
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And the fishes are more like sardines. Them teeny little things that look more
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like what you would fish with for something worth catching.
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This is what he has. But I want you to see what he does.
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In verses 8 and 9, one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother,
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saith unto him, There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes.
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And here's Andrew's synopsis of the whole thing.
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But what are they among so many?
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And then Jesus, in verse 11, took the loaves.
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And when he had given thanks he distributed to the disciples and the disciples
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distributed out so the boy who remains nameless,
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showed up at the right place but he showed up prepared he left his home unbeknownst
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what Jesus was going to ask of him.
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But whatever Jesus was going to ask of him.
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Jesus had already equipped him. He had said yes for that, and he walked out the door prepared.
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Friends, you got to show up, and you got to show up prepared,
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because you have no earthly idea what God's getting ready to do through you,
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because little is much when God is in it.
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See, God doesn't require us to bring much. He asks us to surrender what it is we have.
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This boy wasn't in the catering business. This boy was going out to do who knows
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what, but he sure wasn't thinking about being part of a miracle Jesus was getting ready to do.
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But he showed up prepared. You don't know what God's going to ask you to do tomorrow,
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but how many of you are going out without the armor of God on you that he tells
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you to put on you in Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 17?
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How many of you are going out tomorrow and you haven't prayed,
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you haven't read your word of God.
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How many of you just face the world and hope for the best?
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That's not what this boy did. And his life lives on in eternity.
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Yours will too. But he's in heaven somewhere, I'm sure, with a lot of fish and
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a lot of bread, eating whatever he wants.
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Because whatever he had, he gave. And Jesus says that to whom much is given, if much is required.
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That little boy maybe only had five loaves and a few fishes on that day.
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But I guarantee you, he never wanted for a thing in his life.
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Because the Bible says that he never saw his seed begging bread.
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He provides our needs. But in all the times that we've read this story,
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we've heard it preached, we've heard it in
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vacation Bible school, we've heard it in Sunday school, have you let it pass
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by that the boy was prepared and willing to give all he had? All he had.
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The offering must have appeared, And Andrew affirms that it appeared as insignificant.
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It seemed like it was too small.
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The boy probably even thought, well, what can you do with this?
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It's not hardly enough for me to eat.
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And you're going to feed all these people?
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See, our mind wants to go back to how we think.
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Because as we do the calculations, we're leaving God out and what God can do.
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The five barley loaves and two small fish became all Jesus needed for one of
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the greatest miracles recorded in the scriptures.
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He gave all he had. Nowhere does it say that he pushed back or that he kept
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one fish for himself just in case he was not going to get anything to eat.
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He didn't say, okay, I'll give you four loaves and one fish.
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No, he gave all he had. And he showed up prepared.
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Some of us are not prepared. Some of us don't know Jesus as our Savior,
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and when he comes and calls his children home, we're going to be left behind
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and spend eternity in hell that was never meant for us.
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Some of us have called him Savior, but we're kind of lax on the relationship-building business.
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We're kind of counting it as fire insurance. I'm telling you,
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when you know Jesus and the pardon and forgiveness of sin,
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when you understand what he has done for you, when you walk with Him and talk
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with Him and you hear Him and you allow Him to lead you and you surrender your whole self to Him.
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That is a blessing that words cannot articulate. He will do for you what no
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one else has ever done or could ever do.
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He will never leave you. He'll comfort you in the night.
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He'll dry your tears. He'll hold you when you're confused and hurting.
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All you have to do is deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow him and
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through faith, believe.
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But you've got to get up in the morning as a soldier of Christ and say, where am I going, Lord?
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What are we going to do today? How are you going to use me, Lord? I'm available.
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Do something miraculously in my life.
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I'm ready. I know what your word says.
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I got my feet shod with the gospel of peace. I got on my breastplate of righteousness.
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In my heart, it's filled with your love, mercy, and grace. Give me a place to distribute it.
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Regardless of who you are, your contribution is not only not too small, it is needed.
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Because what's inadequate in our hands can become abundant in the hands of Jesus.
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Those fish were absolutely useless to those disciples.
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But in the hands of Jesus, it's recorded that probably greater than 20,000 people were fed.
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But we know 5,000 were five loaves and two fish.
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So the question in your heart and mind should not be, is what I have enough?
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It's got to be, have I placed what I have in his hands? Have I given him all
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that I am, all that I have?
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He's given you what you have.
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He's not going to trust you with more if you're holding so tightly to what you
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have that you can't reach for more.
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He's not going to give you more if you're just using it for yourself and you're for.
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God gave the abundance of fish and bread.
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To the disciples. And then the disciples.
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Who had set the people down. If you read other accounts. In groups. See.
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It's important.
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That you understand. That Jesus will always bring order into chaos.
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This situation and this problem that you have. If you go on to read in John 6.10-11.
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Jesus instructs the people to sit down if you read the other accounts he tells
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them to sit down in groups,
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and then he gives this food to the disciples after he gives thanks he gives
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thanks and then he gives the food.
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And then the disciples give it out. But it all starts with a boy being prepared
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and willing to give what he has.
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The miracle began when Jesus' direction was said and he gave his thanks and then he gave provision.
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The miracle started and ended with Jesus.
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Because your situation will be fixed in Jesus and Jesus alone.
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He's the answer to your every problem.
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But look, let's read John 6, 10 through 11.
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And Jesus said, make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place,
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so the men sat down in number about 5,000.
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And Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the
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disciples and the disciples to
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them that were set down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
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Jesus brought order to a chaotic situation. Everybody knows that somebody who's hungry is often hangry.
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And this wasn't just one or two.
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So Jesus has seen the need before it happens.
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He has provided for the need before it happens. "'The boy has shown up prepared,'.
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And he's doing what he's supposed to do. He has brought what he has.
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The disciples and Jesus have a situation that humans cannot fix.
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So as Jesus brings order, we see that the first thing is that obedience will precede blessing.
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Jesus told the disciples to set the people down.
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There wasn't going to be a mass riotous, confusion, or chaos.
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The people sat down as Jesus commanded, and the disciples distributed what was provided.
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There was obedience to sit as commanded, and then came the blessing of the food.
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We also see that thanksgiving comes before visible abundance.
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Jesus gave thanks for the food that all these people were going to eat,
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and all he was looking at was five loaves and two fishes.
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He didn't wait to see all the people fed.
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He knew what he was going to do. He knew what he could do.
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And he gave thanks for the power God had given him to do it.
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Now, friends, there's something for us to take from that.
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Jesus gave thanks before the crowd had eaten and before the disciples saw the
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full extent of the miracle.
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Before all was fed and 12 baskets of food remained.
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In your situation, in what you're dealing with right now, where are you at?
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Are you frustrated because you don't think you should be in this situation to
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begin with? There's a bit of lack of faith there.
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Are you doubting what God's going to do instead of giving him yourself and saying, here, use me, Lord.
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What are you going to do with me in this situation? Sometimes he needs to change
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you so that the next step he has for you, you're more than qualified and equipped to do.
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It hurts to change. It hurts when God is correcting.
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Sometimes the next step is just difficult, and so he's walking you through this
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one, so you're experienced for the next one.
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Sometimes there's a crowd of people watching you that need to know faith in
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action does something and so that's why you're going through it.
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Are you thanking God for the answer? Now, I don't know about you.
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I'm not the one that's overly good at saying, thank you, Lord,
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for putting me in this mess. I appreciate the opportunity.
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That's not my strong suit. I'm not 100% sure that's what he expects because
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he lets us understand the situation, but it requires us to believe he's bigger than the situation.
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And so the difference between acknowledging your situation and complaining about
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your situation is something that deals with how much faith you really have.
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That's why he was asking Philip, hey, where are you going to get this food?
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Because faith would have said, Jesus, it's beyond my human ability.
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But at your word, whatever you want will happen.
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So Lord, what do you want me to do to be part of this amazing miracle you're getting ready to do?
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But instead that's not what he got from Philip he got a calculation that left Jesus out,
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in your situation right now are you calculating logically and leaving God out
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of the picture are you just so frustrated you're not talking to him.
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You're trying to fake it till you make it. God sees your heart. He knows your mind.
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Or are you just genuinely pouring your heart out to God and saying, I got nothing.
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I got nothing.
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I want to give you all I have, but I've got nothing.
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But if you can see something in me that you can use, Lord, please do.
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Tell me what you want me to do in this situation so that you can be seen and you can have glory.
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And I can get out of this mess.
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Because God, I've got nothing. I can't do anything.
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All I know is to follow. All I know is what your word says.
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So I'm going to be still and know that you're God. And I'm going to wait on
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you until you rise me up like the eagles.
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But whatever I have in the meantime, whatever I am, whatever I can do,
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hey, Lord, tell me, I'll do it.
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Because I know my answers in you.
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I know that all I've got is you. And when I have you, I have more than enough.
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Lord, take me, use me. I'm not sure the little boy understood any of that.
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But what he did understand was this man named Jesus wanted something he had.
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And he had shown up prepared.
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That he was right where he was supposed to be. And when Jesus asked for it, he gave it.
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And then Jesus blessed it and thanked him.
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And then Jesus provided everything everyone in that area needed.
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See, Jesus was the one who had multiplied the food. The disciples were just carrying out his work.
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Friend, the miracle isn't up to you.
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You can't do the miracle, but you can be close by.
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You can be the saucer where the blessings of God is running over the cup, and he's the cup.
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And you just put your saucer under there, and you just start distributing what's
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in the saucer, his love, his grace, his mercy, his goodness.
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And then you're going to find that he completely satisfies us and provides abundantly.
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We got to thank Christ in advance and obey what he says and understand that
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every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights.
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He is the source of our provision and he completely satisfies and provides abundantly.
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Everybody there ate as much as they wanted. No one left unsatisfied.
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And the disciples then collected those 12 baskets of leftovers,
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because everything god touches matters and that means you matter and i matter
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because he touched us and breathed life into us see jesus is not barely sufficient
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he is abundantly sufficient,
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these 12 baskets it shows christ's provision is greater than your needs that
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his grace isn't exhausted by any of our demands our problems or our issues,
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that he can satisfy every one
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of us all at the same time and yet have a one-on-one relationship with us.
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It proves to us that there's no shortage in him.
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The leftovers were a reminder not to waste what God provides and not to forget his faithfulness.
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God has given you talents. Don't waste them. God has been there in the middle
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of the night. Don't forget it.
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God is calling you to get up and be prepared and to go where he tells you to
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go and to hand him what he asks of you.
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We got to reflect on our lives daily. And you can see the evidence of God's provision.
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You can see what he's given to you. You can count your blessings,
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name them one by one, and see what God has done.
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You got a lot to give thanks for. Don't be guilty of seeking God for only what
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he can give us or only as a provider of blessings.
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You come to him as Lord and Savior, ready to surrender and yield to him all
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that you are and all that you have.
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Because the greatest miracle that day was not the blessing of the five loaves and two fishes.
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The greatest miracle that day was the spiritual satisfaction as Jesus later
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on in John chapter six, verse 35, declares he is the bread of life.
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See, when you come to him, you will never hunger.
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If you believe in him, you'll never thirst. He will provide your every need
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physically and spiritually.
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That longing in your heart, that longing in your soul that you can't seem to satisfy,
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it's Jesus who's standing at your heart's door wanting to fill that void because
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he's the only one that can.
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Jesus met the temporary need of hunger, a physical hunger to all those people.
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But today and every day, he meets the eternal hunger of our soul,
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the eternal thirst that nothing in this world can satisfy, not drugs, not any addictions.
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Only Jesus, he's got much to give us, but our spiritual needs.
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Are his greatest blessings. See, your spiritual hunger may look like just an
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emptiness or a loneliness or a deep, dark depression.
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You may have guilt and shame, fear or meaninglessness, or maybe just longing for acceptance.
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Just something that no matter what you try in this world, you can't get it.
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Because only Christ can give you lasting spiritual satisfaction.
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Action. And in John chapter 6, verses 1 through 15, he proves he's the great I am.
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And in John 6, 35, he declares he's the bread of life.
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And with those two accounts, we are given the truth that he is all we need.
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He's more than enough.
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This feeding of the 5,000 teaches us that Jesus sees our needs even before we do.
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You may feel invisible to the world, but you are seen by Jesus.
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And before you were ever born, he met your need.
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And he stands with nail-scarred hands open wide, asking you to come to him with
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every burden and every care.
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We learn very quickly in this passage of scripture that our human abilities,
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fall short every time we're just limited.
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If we give God the small offerings that we have and surrender them to Christ,
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they can be used for miraculous things.
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We have to be obedient. We have to be thankful for what God is going to do,
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has done, and is doing in our lives.
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We got to see God's work. Thank him before it ever happens.
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Because you know from past, you know from the word, you know from your relationship
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with him that he provides abundantly.
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These 12 baskets, they represent our lives.
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We ask for something and God gives us so much more. He may not give us what
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we ask for, but he gives us what we need.
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And praise God, he never gives us what we deserve.
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His grace is sufficient. His mercy is beyond explanation and his love is endless.
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Friends, you've got to seek Christ for who he is, not what he gives.
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Be prepared and surrender. You've got a front row seat to see God do his best work.
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Jesus is the answer to every problem in your life.
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Jesus loves you. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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What are you holding on to that you won't give to Jesus?
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What fish are you holding for yourself? What piece of you, what piece of your
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talents, what piece of your treasure are you just not holding back?
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You're not giving to him, and you're holding back because you're just afraid to let go.
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Oh, my friends, close your fist.
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No matter what anybody puts in front of you with a closed fist,
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you just can't get anymore. God wants to bless you.
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Stop believing the lie that whatever you have just isn't enough,
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that it's too small to matter.
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Praised the widow who gave the mite. Jesus blessed the woman who fed Elijah,
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and her little cruise of oil and barrel of flour never went dry.
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And what hungering in your heart and mind and in your life are you trying to
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satisfy in every other way but him?
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The woman at the well came to Jesus, and he was waiting for her and he's waiting for you.
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And he said, if you drink of my water, you'll never thirst again.
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And in John chapter four, verse 29, a changed woman leaves the encounter with
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Jesus saying, come see a man which told me all things ever I did.
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Is not this the Christ?
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Come to Jesus. He's waiting for you to surrender, to do phenomenal miracles in your life.
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Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
48:47
references from this episode in the show notes.
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We pray today's message has been a blessing. If it has, please consider leaving
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a rating or review on your podcast platform.
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Your feedback helps others discover the truth of God's Word.
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