Jesus as Provider (Feeding the 5000)

Jesus desires us to be part of the miracle - sometimes your miracle requires movement

Intro

Story — College — group project

Oral Comm class

Large group project each given different subjects. Your group had 3-4 subjects you had to cover. Build presentation for — along with a written paper — present the information.

Each person had to share at least 2 minutes in the presentation, but other than that the bulk of the presentation could be presented by anyone. They choose me.

Way too much info for one person to research and be ready to present. “There’s no way we have what it takes to pull this off.” It’s simply too much. But we all began to chip away at it and do whatever we could.

Eventually we all bring our stuff together and it worked! We brought what we had and together it worked.

How often do we look at what we have—our time, our resources, our abilities—and think, "It’s just not enough"? Maybe it's at work, where you feel like you're falling behind. Or at home, where you're juggling a million things and think, "If only I had more."

The truth is, we’ve all been there. But here's the thing: God isn’t waiting for us to have more. He’s simply asking us to bring what we have. More on that in just a moment.

Series MIRACLES.

Built around the 7 miracles of Jesus.

John calls them signs b/c signs are meant to direct you.

Week 1 - Water into Wine // came to do something new

Week 2 - Healing of the Nobleman’s Son // believe Jesus will and behave as if he already has

Week 3 - Healing at the Pool // Do you want to get well?

Chapter 5

Happened some point at a festival in Jerusalem.

Scripture

Feeding of the 5000 - this is found in every Gospel, was way too big of a miracle/sign to be missed.

We are probably over half-way through the earthly ministry of Jesus.

John 6:1–4 NIV

Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

People heard about the miracles and by now Jesus has a crowd.

The other accounts tell us that Jesus was teaching all day.

John 6:5–6 NIV

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Phil looks over to Jesus with a confused look and says…

John 6:7 NIV

Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

Jesus there is not enough money available to do anything let alone where would we buy it.

John 6:8–9 NIV

Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

Now can you imagine being this boy? Mom packed lunch and here these men are shouting over to Jesus, Hey Jesus we found some food. I bet he reluctantly gave it up. But he gave it up none the less.

Notice what Peter said… Jesus how will this work? How can this work?

Have you ever done that before? Looked at something a situation, a paycheck, an offer letter and thought, Jesus… it’s something, but how can this work?

John 6:10–15 NIV

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Preach through this section. Line by line.

Five thousand men - why men? Not b/c women weren’t important, 5000 bc that was the size of Roman legion.

Application

Notice something. They had something… Jesus asked, “how are we going to feed these people?” And Phil’s first thought was we can’t. The other disciples too, they immediately went to, Jesus, we can’t feed them.

I wonder how many of us today respond to Jesus the same way.

I can’t

I don’t have the money

I don’ have the time

the resources

the commitment

But you what they did, don’t you? They doubted but they still brought what they had. Jesus performed the miracle. He’s not expecting you to do that, you simply need to bring what you have.

Now, how different would this story be if the boy didn’t offer it? B/c I believe he offered it, I believe he heard the commotion, heard the talk about food and then went over and Jesus brought up that they had no food. Looked at what he had, and said here you take it.

Again, how many of us would do the same thing? Would you trust Jesus with what you have right now?

Cause your only responsibility in the miracle is to bring your “loaves and fish” God will do the rest.

Serving - God can use the little bit of time you give on Sunday morning or in other places to lead someone closer to Jesus

Forgiveness - Forgiving someone, wiping their debt clean, might seem small, but God can use that to start working on the other person and eventually changing their relationship

Giving - Deciding to give a portion of your income to God and watch as he changes lives with the gift.

Sharing your faith or testimony -

Here’s my point in all this, you are not responsible for the outcome. God is. You are responsible for the loaves and fish.