One Lunch

The Miracles of Jesus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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One Lunch
Mark 6:30–44
30The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught.
31Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.
32So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone.
33But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them.
34Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.
36Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”
37But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
38“How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass.
40So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
41Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share.
42They all ate as much as they wanted,
43and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.
44A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.
Introduction –
God used one boy and one lunch to make an impact in the lives of the multitude that day.
Had the lad not been there or had the lad not been willing people would have missed more than just a lunch.
Our lives were designed to be an influence to others. Where you are and what you are willing to offer will determine whether others will miss out on their opportunities.

I. He was available

A. Some of the greatest people, yet to make an impact are those who are not available.

1. There are a lot of people who are wishing they could do something in their world, but are not available.
2. There are people who want to do something, But are not available.
3. The question is, what is keep you from being available to make a difference.
What some of you don’t realize is that your life was made to count and that you were created to make a difference in others lives, but haven’t made yourself available.

B. Availability is the key to you reaching your world.

C. What will cause you to be unavailable?
1. Dishonor –
2 Timothy 2:21 “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.”
a. Dishonor – Whatever constitutes a stain or blemish in a reputation.
Dishonor says, “ I have a bad past and if anyone knew my past they wouldn’t serve with me.” Or “I wonder if anyone knows what I did last night or yesterday or last week? I guess I’ll stay away.”
2. A busy schedule
Some of us want to be available for the Lord, but are simply too busy doing other things.
a. I’m not talking about your jobs, but what I am talking about is when you crowd so many other things in to your life that you forget your service to God.
b. Did you know that you can be so busy serving the Lord that you forget to serve the Lord.
3. Idols
a. Things that take priority over God’s agenda and God are idols in your life.
b. Here is what an idol can do in your life.
An idol can distract you from not only your true goals and dreams, but from God’s goals and dreams for your life.
Availability is the key to fulfilling God’s purposes for your life.

II. He was already equipped for the moment.

Ephesians 4:11–16 (NLT)
11Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.
12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
13This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
15Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
16He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

A. God made you to count and he equipped you with gifts and abilities that will help others.

Why didn’t anyone else come with a lunch? Why didn’t anyone else come prepared for the day?
1. Because God wanted to make himself known by what the boy had to offer.

B. God wants to make himself known by what you have to offer.

1. The problem is that we tend to limit what we have to offer.
“Matthew – we have “only”
D. God is not concerned with the size of what you have, all he wants is what you have to offer.
1. You might say, “All I have is a broken relationship.”
2. You might say, “I can sing a little.”
3. You might say, “I only know how to drive.”
4. You might say, “I only have myself.”
E. Do you want to know someone else that God used what they had? MOSES
Exodus 4:1, 2
III. He was willing to give what little he had
A. The miracle in this story was not in the masters hands.
B. The miracle was not in the those who gave it, but the miracle began when the boy decided to give what he had.
C. The little had to be give, so that master could bless it and make it much.
D. God can take what you have to offer and make it much:
1. Consider the woman with the flour and oil.
a. You can eat your blessing or you can become a blessing.
b. This miracle happened when there was a famine.
c. God took what this woman had and created a miracle to be a blessing to others.
2. Consider the jars of water
a. What you have to offer is nothing compared to what God will make of it, but the miracle can’t begin until you give what you have.
E. It took one little lad with one little lunch to feed a multitude of people.
1. He had to be available
2. He had realize that he had what the master could already use.
3. He had to be willing to give what he had.
Conclusion
The Touch of the Master's Hand
'Twas battered and scarred and the auctioneer Thought it scarcely worth his while To waste much time on the old violin, But he held it up with a smile: "What am bidden, good folks?" he cried, "Who'll start the bidding for me?" "A dollar! A dollar!" then "Two! Only two?" "Two dollars, and who'll make it three?" "Three dollars once, three dollars twice . . . And going for three . . . " but no. From the room, far back, a gray-haired man Came forward and picked up the bow. Then, wiping the dust from the old violin, And tightening the loosened strings, He played a melody pure and sweet, As a caroling angel sings. The music ceased, and the auctioneer With a voice that was quiet and low Said, "What am I bid for the old violin?" And he held it up with the bow. "A thousand dollars! And who'll make it two? "Two thousand! Who'll make it three? "Three going once? Three going twice? "And going . . . and gone!" said he. The people cheered but some of them cried, "We do not understand! What changed its worth?" -- Swift came the reply, "The touch of the Master's Hand."
§ What is keeping you from being available for the master?
§ Maybe you are limiting what you have, thinking that the master could never use it?
§ You might say, how could God ever use me, look at me, look at my life, look at my messes.
§ God wants to reach down and tighten up the loose areas of your life…he wants to make your life into a miracle, he’ll take what you have to offer and use it to reach others.
§ Your life was made to count.
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