Nothing is To Big for God!
Notes
Transcript
Nothing is Too Big For God!
Nothing is Too Big For God!
9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
This text is a miracle of taking very little and using multiplication to feed a large crowd.
It shatters the thought that it cant be done
It erases the idea that its too big for God
It provides hope to the crowd and the disciples
It no doubt lifted the spirits of all
It gives us encouragement that our little can provide much
So much here to encourage
So much here to apply to today
Nothing is to big for God
Some are here today with so much baggage ....
17 Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.
3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
application
today
discouraged
depressed
anxious
where is the Lord
Let me tell you where the Lord is:
He is in this crowd looking at the hungry, anxious, and discouraged waiting for someone to step up with a bagged lunch
He is in this crowd ready and waiting to feed you and comfort you ...
Lets not give up hope
lets not give into a fatalistic view of the future
Some of us need to give our bagged lunch to those hurting
Some of us need to believe and accept that God will provide a means to lift us and encourage you and join the hungry and expecting crowd.
Its taking little bit of bread and some fish to feed 5,000 with 12 basket left over ....
The ultimate goal of this miracle was that the audience would realize that this was no ordinary man.
God takes what little we offer and multiplys it ......
We find in this text ; a miracle of feeding 5,000 men and more woman and children by taking a small amount of bread and some fish .....
Making much out of little
No doubt that Jesus could have fed the throng without any brad of fish.
He could have rained mana from heaven
He could have dropped quail from the sky
He did not have to have the bagged lunch but he used what was provided to teach a lesson ....
The key to this text is what was said in
14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
I. The Background
I. The Background
2 And a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
In all four of the Gospels, Jesus is recorded performing a great miracle for His followers—usually known as the feeding of the 5,000 (Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:30–44; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–14).
A large crowd began following Jesus as He traveled and healed the sick. In this particular instance, Jesus and the disciples had withdrawn, but the crowds followed and when Jesus saw them, He "had compassion on them and healed their sick" (Matthew 14:14).
In the evening, the disciples wanted to send the people away so they could reach the surrounding villages before dark and buy food (Matthew 14:15). "But Jesus said, 'They need not go away; you give them something to eat'" (Matthew 14:16).
That, and the return of the twelve, made a temporary retirement desirable, so Jesus entered into a boat and crossed over to the less populated side of the lake.
The crowds, which dogged his footsteps, eager to see more miracles, took note of his departure and hurried around the lake. Though theirs was the longer journey they made haste and were there waiting for him when his vessel was run up on the shore. So much for his needed rest.
With the crowds still thronging all about him the Lord headed for the mountains which rise sharply to the eastern side of the lake—now known as the Golan Heights. The multitudes followed, full of eager expectation “because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased,” John says (6:2). The Lord found a suitable spot, where the crowds could also find a place to sit down, and seated himself while the people gathered and settled down.
They were desperate
Followed Him around the lake
They were needy and sick
They were looking for hope
Illustration - Jon and Colleen went to Kenya followers of children everywhere ....
This crowd was looking for a miracle!
They walked all the way around the lake to the east side
To meet jesus and the disciples -BTW they wanted to rest and retire for a while....
I was in that crowd - 1988 went looking for a church drove all they way to bridgeton NJ for Easter
We were looking for something ...
Docks at Philadelphia Port - workers waiting to be called
II The Disciples Response
II The Disciples Response
7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
In the evening, the disciples wanted to send the people away so they could reach the surrounding villages before dark and buy food (Matthew 14:15).
15 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.”
Send them away ...
In this particular instance, Jesus and the disciples had withdrawn, but the crowds followed
The initial response is sent them away -
Too many
We are tired
It cant be done
We are the annoyed - they just need to go home
Even if we had the money 200 deneri would not be enough - folks thats 200 days wages
Jesu had performed miracles before their eyes but this was just too big .....
Bible notes 5,000 men in attendance, plus women and children (Matthew 14:21). Some scholars believe that the crowd could have been between 15,000 and 20,000 people.
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
When you are hurting and hungry there will be those that discourage you .
Those that turn you away
That that think you are a bother
Valdamire Invensky - was will to do what ever it took
KC Mungel - was willing to pick through trash
Most said jsut turn them away
I am glad I was not sent home
III The Little Boy
III The Little Boy
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?
One of the disciples found a boy who had fives loaves of barley bread and two fish (John 6:9).
In the meantime Andrew had been looking around. He had spotted a lad (paidarion, “a little boy”) preparing to do something about his own hunger.
He had come prepared! Doubtless his mother, when giving him permission to go presumably with friends or relatives and listen to the great teacher, had packed him a little lunch.
Perhaps Andrew had approached him saying: “Look, son, would you consider sharing your lunch with Jesus?” He brought the boy and his small provision along with him. Andrew, too, had been doing some mental arithmetic: “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?” he asked (6:9).
His arithmetic was done in view of the smallness of the provision (6:8–9).
The idea of feeding all those people was wholly illogical both to Philip and to Andrew.
Barley was the food of the poor. The loaves were small flat barley wafers; the fish were about the size of sardines. The meal was barely sufficient for one small hungry boy and would have provided no more than a few mouthfuls for a hungry man.
Thus the stage was set for a miracle. There were the hungry people, thousands of them, men, women, and children.
There were the worried disciples, helpless in the face of an enormous need. There stood that anonymous little boy, willing to give up his lunch for Jesus.
And there stood the incarnate Son of the living God about to demonstrate what can happen when anyone is surrendered to God.
Through Christ's miracle of feeding the 5,000, God demonstrates that He is big enough to shatter all of our finite expectations and abundantly provide for our needs.
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
His goodness exceeds our imaginations. Christ amplified the meager provisions that were brought to Him, and similarly, God amplifies our gifts, money, and talents when we bring them to Him.
many of us are lie that little boy ...
We have provisions, talents, treasure that seem miniscule ...
But God can multiply them .......
BTW - its the little boys in life that help with he cause of Christ ...
IV The Distribution
IV The Distribution
10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
Through this miracle, we can also learn that Jesus uses His disciples to be His arms and hands.
41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
Jesus could have manifested sustenance in the hands of each person in the crowd, but instead chose to use the food the boy had shared and use His disciples to distribute the meal.
By feeding the crowd through the agency of His disciples, we see how we also can be the arms and hands of God.
God graciously involves us in His work. We also learn about trust.
The disciples had to trust that Jesus would provide the means to feed the crowd, and they could only give what they received. This makes the disciples, and Christ's current believers, a huge part of God's plan in blessing others.
Closing
Nothing hurts more deeply than the reality that there are no "do overs" in life... that the actions of life are sealed forever in history... than knowing that you are becoming a page in that history that will one day be nothing more than an occasional memory... than sleepless nights of regrets wishing you knew back in the beginning what you know now...
Guess what God Nothing is too Big For God
Nothing hurts more than investing your heart the best that you knew how to only to find that you did it all wrong... than having to bury the love and the hurt deeply tucked away together and just try to move forward.
Guess what God Nothing is too Big For God
If you've experienced these deeply tormenting emotions, you're not alone. Here's the thing: This is just where Satan wants to bring us and where he wants us to stay. Yes, it hurts! Just realize that your mistakes are common to man.
11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, Who is the health of my countenance, and my God.