Can you hear Him now?
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Can you hear me now…Good.
Paul Marcarelli, does that name ring a bell? Maybe not! What about the Verizon Guy (who is now the Sprint Guy)? The man made famous for appearing in Verizon Commercials during the first decade of the 21st Century. The commercials would show extremes situations followed by, Can you hear me now…with a response…Good.
Ironically he is now doing commercials for Sprint and I find myself often saying “Can you hear me now…followed by a good”
The cell phone market seems to remain competitive. With different and similar technology advanced their product. They all similarly are currently driven by cell towers. Some stronger and more reliable, hence, can you hear me now.
We are driven by various items in our life. Various things are desperate for our time and attention. When you consider your faith in Christ, What drives it?
This morning I want to look at one faith driving mechanisms from . While not exhaustive, these two mechanisms overflow and drive our faith in a number of ways.
If we examined the
Trust God in Your Time of Need…Not the Mechanic
Trust God in Your Time of Need…Not the Mechanic
Now I want to begin and clarify that I am not referring to a professional mechanic that works on your car. I hope you can trust your mechanic, if you don’t, find one that you can.
What I am referring to is the desire to fix things that seem out of control. My wife is thinking, nope, not my Justin. If you go to my house right now, you would see a half taken down shed, a dish washer in its place, but not hooked up, and holes in the wall hidden by a picture where I tried to mount a tv.
While these are things we try and fix and do ourselves, I’m referring to trying everything we can to resolve the situation. The disciples are about to learn a valuable lesson in faith.
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
Matthew 14:13
Long day of ministry. Wiping hands together, dusting off the dust. The disciples are content by fixing the situation, by being the mechanic and sending everyone on their merry way. They are probably thinking, Jesus just healed the sick. Let’s keep going and seeing what else Jesus will do.
Need…is God your need…or is it something else, I need to check my phone, I need to check the news, I need to read the newspaper etc.
No so fast. Jesus had further plans.
These disciples were trusting their own judgment on what to do next. They best they could come up with is to send the crowds away.
Jesus was about to show these disciples that they must not trust in themselves and their clever plans, but their faith would be strenghted and they would grow in their faith when they learned to trust Jesus.
But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 14:16-
After a long day, the disciples just wanted to resort to everyone buying food for themselves. Jesus said no…we are going to feed the crowd. This wasn’t just a crowd that showed up early for black friday shopping spectacular (though i think sometimes we think there are 5,000 people in front of us to pay).
5,000 men, not to mention wives, other women and children. We are talking about a huge number of people.
The disciples still reveal their ability to not comprehend what is taking place.
They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
Matthew 14:17
Jesus, all we have is five loaves in two fish. Realizing the size of the crowd. Jesus, how in the world are we going to feed five thousand men and other people with Five loaves and two fish? These disciples were trying to take this situation into their own hands. Their faith was small because all they saw was five loaves and two fish.
The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle that appears in all four gospels.
These disciples are about to learn a huge lesson in faith. Their faith is about to be driven to new levels. Our faith should be growing on a consistent basis.
All these disciples saw was five loaves and two fish. Jesus is about to reveal to them and the crowd that he is the bread of life.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
You see, their faith was strengthened that day. Physical bodies were fed, but Jesus reveals that he is the bread of life. Come to me and you won’t be hungry spiritually.
Jesus is saying…Can you hear me now?
Did you know you have a appetite that is always hungry?
If you didn’t, WAKE UP, sin is crouching at the door and it’s desire is to consume you.
And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
Matthew 14:18
These disciples had a great need. Five loaves and two fish and thousands of people. Jesus just says, bring them to me.
What Drives your Faith?
What Drives your life?
What is keeping you from hearing from God?
I don’t know what type of need you have right now…Maybe it feels that the world is crashing on your shoulders.
Far too often we look to the mechanic inside of us or other mechanisms in this world when we are in need.
Technology and Social Media
Technology and Social Media
I think social media and technology has crippled our culture…and I hate to break it to you, it probably won’t get any better...
A study reveals that the average person spends over four hours a day on their phone.
Cell phones are checked every 4.3 minutes.
Now I do not feel like I was addicted to my phone (some of you may feel that way). But over the last few weeks I have began shrinking my phone usage by deleting apps and forcing me to use a computer or my tablet. While I still check things (it is part of my job), I do feel like I am more alert and focused and not as glued to my phone.
Every sunday morning, today included I get a message on my way to the church that tells me how much screen time I have used. Sometimes these numbers are shocking…My numbers were in line with the average. By deleting social media off of my phone in just a few weeks, these numbers have dropped drastically. Now I am not calling you to do what I am doing, this is something I am working on in my own personal life.
What I can tell you is that technology and social media can be a constant drag and source of anxiety in your life. Technology and social media may even be keeping you from hearing God. How can I make such a claim.
I’m studying for this sermon and researching the verizon guy/now the sprint guy (still so confusing). Ten minutes later I find myself looking at a picture of a baby being criticized for eating a pork rib. You can’t make this stuff up.
You have every intention to check the sports scores and hours later finding yourself watching videos of people slipping on ice.
You have every intention of checking Pinterest for a new project and then find yourself wrapped up in drama in People magazine.
Far too often we think we need to be the mechanic. Struggling with pornography, if I just throw out the tv and computer I’ll be good. Struggling with addiction…I’ll divert my attention to something else.
Whatever your need is…I don’t know what it is…For these disciples, they were about to feed five thousand plus people and all they had was five loaves and two fish....they had great need. Jesus just said, bring them to me.
Technology and Social Media
Technology and Social Media
Trust God in your great need.
Struggling with addiction…bring it to Him
Struggling with Anger problems, bring it to Him
Struggling with finances, bring it to him.
Again, I ask you the question…What is driving your life…What is prohibiting you from hearing from God?
The course direction of our life will ultimately drive our faith.
If we are not careful, technology in the 21st Century will and probably already is driving you....Just ask my two year old Luke. If mommy or daddy do not have their phone on them, and he sees it, even Luke realizes that this phone must be important and daddy doesn’t have it on him, so I will take it to him because he always has it…that right there was a wake up call to me.
I don’t want to be driven by technology. I don’t want technology (as helpful and as beneficial as it is sometimes) to be the driving force behind my life.
If we are going to trust God in time of need, we have to take our burdens and needs to him. Only God can truly provide for us…not our popularity on social media, not fox news or cnn, not espn or some other means of help. We need our help from the lord.
I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
I don’t know what you need help with this morning, but can we take just a few more moments and allow me to share a helpful resource on this subject?
Tony Reinke wrote a book called 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You.
Here are the twelve ways:
We Are Addicted to Distraction
We Are Addicted to Distraction
“The ease and immediacy of Twitter is no match for the patient labor of prayer, and the neglect of prayer makes God feel distant in our lives.” (p. 51, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We Ignore Our Flesh and Blood
We Ignore Our Flesh and Blood
“When we always see our lives through glass, we forget that we are made of flesh and blood.” (p. 63, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
Love the Lord God and Love Neighbor as yourself...
We Crave Immediate Approval
We Crave Immediate Approval
“Stop trying to impress the online world with your body or your wit, all for the sake of a few likes of affirmation. Vain glory will not satisfy your heart; it will only intensify your craving for human praise.” (pp. 77-78 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We Lose Our Literacy
We Lose Our Literacy
“In the smartphone age, we are bombarded daily by the immediate: Facebook updates, blog posts, and breaking news stories. Yet the most important book for our soul is ancient. God’s Word demands our highest levels of literary concentration because it requires relational reading: not the superficial chitchat of a cocktail party, but the convenantal concentration of marriage vows.” (p. 89 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We Feed on the Produced
We Feed on the Produced
“Phones with social connections transform us—and our friends and children—into actors.” (p. 98 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
This Boston Globe Photo is Perfect (Johnny Depp)
We Become Like What We “Like”
We Become Like What We “Like”
“As human beings, we were made to image God, which means our identity is, by definition, moldable, and that means susceptible. We are statues of wax, changed and reshaped by what we do on our phones.” (p. 117 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
look outside of self for identity
We Get Lonely
We Get Lonely
“Perhaps we check our phones for more noble ends—to communicate with friends and family members or to confirm our schedules for the day—but a rush of temptations comes at us immediately in the morning, and we fumble our precious solitude.” (p. 128, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We Get Comfortable in Secret Vices
We Get Comfortable in Secret Vices
“The clicks of our fingertips reveal the dark motives of our hearts, and every sin—every double-tap and every click—will be accounted for.” (p. 134, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We Lose Meaning
We Lose Meaning
“If something is newsworthy, Twitter and Facebook will surely let us know.” (p. 148, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We Fear Missing Out
We Fear Missing Out
“We hate being left out, so we focus on every Next Big Thing, such as the upcoming blockbuster film. And we forget about big, glorious realities like the inbreaking new creation of God.” (p. 155, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
Are we afraid of mission out or are we afraid of missing out on opportunities to trust God in our time of need or other people missing out on the blessings of God because we failed to share.
We Become Harsh to One Another
We Become Harsh to One Another
“We go online to compare one another. We chide one another. We become jealous of one another. And when we get dirt on one another, we fall into perfectly orchestrated judgment against one another.” (p. 163, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We Lose Our Place in Time
We Lose Our Place in Time
“Remembering is one of the key spiritual disciplines we must guard with vigilance amid the mind-fragmenting and past-forgiving temptations of the digital age.” (p. 188, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You)
We must remember whose we are in Christ. Can you hear him now?
I don’t know what your great need is. I imagine many of you struggle with technology or one day will.
Whatever your great need is…trust God and allow that difficult season to be an opportunity for you to grow mightily in your faith. That is what these disciples were about to experience…they are about to grow and be strenghted in their faith. Jesus just says bring it to me.
Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 14:19
Just bring it to him…trust
Trust God in your time of need…not the mechanic...
Need…is God your need…or is it something else, I need to check my phone, I need to check the news, I need to read the newspaper etc.
There is nothing mechanically inside of you that can fix your great need. The mechanics of fixing a life a part from Christ can only be fixed by the blood of Jesus.
Fix Your Eyes on God…Even When Afraid
Fix Your Eyes on God…Even When Afraid
Fear…Do you trust God when things get hard…do you look at objects that test our faith as moments of difficulty or moments that draw us closer to Him?