Sermon Tone Analysis

11-15~/16-08

*A More Than Enough God*

Life is full of surprises.

Have you ever noticed that?

The law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, one of the largest in the United States was celebrating their 100th anniversary a couple of years ago.

They decided they were going to have this huge party and rent out this plus, elegant Beverly Hills hotel.

And they invited in a nationally known speaker to come in and to speak that evening.

Much to their surprise, the speaker got up and began to recount how she had graduated 35 years prior to this time from Stanford Law School number 1 in her class, and applied for a job as a lawyer in their firm--only to be turned down.

Instead, she was offered a job as a legal secretary, and she turned that down.

She went on an did ok for herself.

She is today a retired US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’ Conner.

Talk about a surprise.

Life is full of surprises.

Chuck Swindoll tells a story about a man and a woman who went into a local KFC and they ordered their chicked which they were going to get to carry out, because they were going to go to the park and have a picnic.

So they got the bag and they took it into the car, drove to the park and set out their blanket and got everything all set up to enjoy this picnic together.

But, they reached into the bag to pull out the chicken and it wasn’t chicken.

They found bundles of cash inside the bag.

Of course they were surprised by this, but they decided they had to do the right thing.

So, they got everything gathered back up and returned to the KFC and took the bag of money and gave it back to a manager.

The manager was elated and said, “Let me tell you what happened.”

He had just cleaned out the cash registers and had gotten everything ready to go to the bank for the day’s deposit and he set the bag down for 1 second to get something else and the cashier grabbed the wrong bag and gave them the bag of cash instead of the bag of chicken.

The manager was so grateful that they brought it back.

He said it was so good to know that there are people of integrity--people who are honest and willing to do the right thing.

He said everybody in their community needed to know that there are people like this, so he got ready to call the local paper to have them take a picture and publish it so everybody can know that there are good, honest people in the community.

The man who brought the money back said, “No, please don’t do that.

You really don’t need to do that.”

The manager insisted, “People need to know.”

The man said, “No, really it’s ok.

You don’t need to take our picture and put it in the paper.”

Well the manager just wasn’t going to give it up.

He kept insisting that the guy and the woman have their picture in the paper, and finally the man pulled the manager aside and said, “Look, I got to tell you.

You can’t put our picture in the paper.

This woman I’m with is not my wife.”

Talk about surprises.

This message begins a 3 week series called ‘More Than Enough.’

Today I’m going to talk about discovering a More Than Enough God.

Next week we’ll talk about what it means to develop a More Than Enough Faith, and the week following that we’ll talk about going From Never Enough to More Than Enough.

Most of us would like to get there.

Let me ask you this question right up front today.

What’s your view of God like?

How do you view Him?  How do you look at Him?  Do you recognize Him as the source and provider of all things?

That it all belongs to Him.

It all comes from Him and it’s all dispersed by Him.

Do you really view Him as a more than enough God?

The apostle Paul wanted to expand our view of God.

So he wrote these words.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!

Amen." [Ephesians 3:20-21, NIV]

 

He said God is more and able to do more than you and I can think of--that we can dream of--that we could ever ask for--that we could ever imagine.

No matter what you would ever think of bringing to God, and asking God to do and thinking maybe it’s just kind of far out there--it’s a long way, it’s a stretch, it’s a dream, but maybe God can help me do it.

No matter what you and I could possibly think of, God is able to do more.

That’s what he says.

Now, not only is He able to do more, it says He is able to do immeasurably more.

We cannot begin to fathom the scope of God’s resources or the supply that He can pour into our life.

So let me ask you.

Is that more than enough God, the God you really know?

Is that the God you depend on for your day to day living?

Is this the God you’re trusting in to provide what you need in life?

If so, then I want to ask you another question.

Does the way that you use the resources that He’s entrusted to you care indicate and demonstrate that you believe that H really is a more than enough God who’s able to do far more than you could ever ask or imagine?

Or does the way you use the resources He’s entrusted to your care show that you think, “You know.

I’d better hold on to it, because there’s never enough?”

What do you believe about God?

If you think there’s never going to be enough and that’s your view of God, then you’re not going to be a good steward.

But, if you recognize who God is and you see God as an immeasurably more God who is able to do far more than you could ever ask or imagine, then in the way you use the things He’s given to you, it will be demonstrated by what you do with those things.

We’re going to discover a more than enough God.

We’re going to look at a story in Mark 6 of a time when a group of people really saw first hand that Jesus is a more than enough God.

Let me set the stage for you just a little bit.

The people have come together hungry.

It’s late in the day.

Their stomachs are growling.

You know, Jesus has been teaching a long time, and then Jesus does a miracle.

And He proves in this miracle beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He is a more than enough God.

Now, this story we’re going to look at today about this miracle Jesus performed many scholars would say is the greatest miracle Jesus ever did.

And one of the reasons they think that, is that this is the only miracle that appears in all 4 gospels.

Evidently there is something in this story that is so significant, so important, that God wanted it repeated again, and again, and again.

And, it’s in all 4 of the gospels.

He wants to make sure that we understand this--that we get it.

At the beginning of Mark’s account Jesus’ apostles give a report to Jesus.

What are they reporting?

Well, if you go back to the first part of this chapter, Jesus had just sent them out 2 by 2 on kind of an evangelistic crusade or a missionary journey of some kind.

He had given them power and authority to be able to cast out demons and to do miracles, to preach, to teach, to come back then and report.

So they finished that crusade and now they have come back to Jesus to report to Him what had gone on, but they are having a difficult time doing that.

"The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place."

[Mark 6:30-32, NIV]

 

It seems to me that it must be around lunch time.

They’ve come back from this journey.

They’re hungry.

They’re wanting to report to Jesus  the things that have gone on, but there are so many people that are gathering in around them that they just can’t do it.

Everywhere they turn there were groups of people.

See, Jesus was on a roll at this point.

His fame was spreading around.

People were coming from all over just to try to get close to Jesus--just to catch a glimpse of Him and to hear what He had to say.

Why are all these people coming around Jesus?  Well, I told you that this is in all 4 gospel accounts.

In John’s account he specifically tells us this that the people were coming around Jesus, because they wanted to see the miracles He did when He healed people.

Now, what that says is that not everybody who was coming around Jesus --not all these huge crowds really understood who He was.

Not all of them were coming with pure motives.

Not all of them were coming because they believed He was the Son of God.

Not all of them were coming because they wanted to listen to Him teach.