2025-01-05 The Year in View: Part 1

Chronological order reading

Cameron Wright

Well, I am really excited that we are here today. This is a good day. This is going to be a good year.

As I was praying and thinking through this week what to share with you today, it struck me that we often look back and give a year in Review, and yet I felt like I heard the words in my heart, “2025: A Year in View”. That we are a people who are not looking back, but we are a people looking forward. We are asking God to direct our steps. We are asking Jesus to lead us. We are asking the Holy Spirit to guide us into this year, into all that God has for us. Both individually, and corporately.

And as we are embarking on this new journey together, I want to share with you today what that might look like, or at least for this year. And I want you to dream with me for a moment. Dream and hope for a future that God is leading us toward.

So, I want to go through four things this morning as a sort of “Year in View” where we as a pastoral team believe God is inviting us to journey together as we more fully learn what it means to be a Christian in 2025 and what it looks like to invite others into that life.

So we are going to look at Three paths, and One conclusion…

/ / 1. The Way of The Father

If you’re reading along with our Bible Reading Program, you would’ve read Proverbs 1 this past week. vs 7 says, / / The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

As I read that Wednesday morning, first day of the new year, all this coming year in front of us, I thought, “How true and how relevant is this! It all goes back to the fear of the Lord.”

The Amplified version of scripture says it this way, / / The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline.

This thought is echoed in Psalm 111:10, again from the Amplified, / / Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom. Praise him forever!

Both places here, Proverbs and Psalms use the same word and it is not fear as in, be afraid, but fear as in reverence and awe.

Or as we just read, / / Reverent and Worshipful Fear…

So, at the start of this new year, what does holding a reverent and worshipful fear of God look like? And how does this relate to what 2025 should look like? And why would we say this is the Way of the The Father?

When Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:5-15, he says that they should start with this phrase, / / “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Most of us would know that teaching, the Lord’s prayer.

But, Mark gives us some interesting insight into the life of Jesus when he writes about his moment right before he is arrested and crucified. Jesus himself follows this same model that he taught his disciples. Mark 14:32-36 says, / / And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a littler farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him…

Ok, so take a pause there for a second. This is the scenario. Jesus is greatly distressed. He’s burdened. He’s pushed to the brink, let’s say. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, he’s come to the point of no return. And in that moment he prays in the way that taught his disciples to pray. vs. 36, / / “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” (NLT)

This is, I think, the greatest representation of the awe, the fear of the Lord, expressed in Scripture.

This is why. / / “Abba, Father…”

Two words that seemingly mean the same thing, but they are not the same. Yes, Abba means Father, but it is akin to how today we might hear kids say “papa” or “daddy”. It’s a deeply familial, intimate term for your father.

But the other word, Father, is the greek word patēr, and yes, translated father, is correct, but has the distinct definition of the originator of life, or originator of anything. Strong’s defines it in one way as / / “God, called the Father… of the stars… of all rational and intelligent beings, whether angels or men, because he is their creator, preserver, guardian and protector… of Christians, as those who through Christ have been exalted to a specially close and intimate relationship with God…”

So, this is why I read this as the awe we might have in God, because in his deepest, most traumatic, pushed to the edge moment of his human existence, Jesus calls out to God in this way, “Daddy… My Abba… The one who loves me and cares for me….yet, God almighty, Creator of the universe, creator of all things, of whom there is no one greater…. For you all things are possible, and my desire is for you to create for me a way out of this situation, BUT, I so revere and honor you that I give up my own desire, I give up my own will… Because we determined before time began that this would be the way of salvation, and I will walk this road, drink this cup… For you have given me a body to offer…”

There is this sense of, “I know you are love…but I also know you are God almighty.”

And let me tell you, when I saw this, it dramatically transformed my viewpoint of God in prayer. I work to remind myself of who God is when I pray. Abba, yes, but Father, Almighty God, Creator of all… who sees me, who hears me, who cares for me… who invites me to give up my own desire and will because HIS is so much better.

I’m a big fan of the C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, if you know the story, you already know where I’m going. There’s this point where Lucy, the young girl, hears about Aslan, the lion, the King, who is of course a picture of God in the story. Well Lucy asks the obvious question that you would ask about a Lion that someone wants to introduce you to. “Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion…”

Well, Mr. Beaver says to Lucy, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the king, I tell you.”

Is God safe?

God is safe in the same way that we must fear God. Not to be afraid of Him, but to be in awe of His majesty. I fear God in a different way than the devil, who knows his eventual end, fears God. Because we both know the awesomeness of God, but I know my place, because of the finished work of Christ, is with him. So God’s power and might are not to be feared, but to be revered.

1 John 4:16, 18 / / God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them… Such love has no fear, because perfect fear expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

Did you hear that, If you are afraid of being punished by God it is because you have not yet experienced his deep and eternal love for you in that area of your life!

The fear of the Lord is not about being afraid, it’s about holding God in that beautiful tension of being Abba and Father! My Daddy and God Almighty.

And THAT is who we pray too. That is who we worship. That is who we follow. God who is both personable and close, yet Creator of all. And that is what we, and that is what the world around us needs to see.

So, This year in View requires a dramatic turn toward God in reverence and awe.

Proverbs and Psalms agree, all we do is out of that understanding.

The reasons this is so important, that Jesus uses Abba AND Father is both that we understand He is God almighty, worthy to be revered, but that he is good. He is Faithful. He is full of unending love toward us. And my prayer for us this year is that we experience His great love, and His great power in our midst!

/ / 2. The Way of The Son

Now, Pastor David is going to get into this a bit next week I believe, in sharing some of the vision for following the way of Jesus as individual Christians, and also as a community, together. The reality is, you can’t be a Christian and do it alone. It’s not a single’s sport, it’s a team event. As much as people try, think they don’t need church and community, it’s just not true. And coming on Sunday just isn’t enough. We aren’t just Sunday Christians, and we aren’t just Sunday church members. The church IS the Body of Christ, collectively.

That’s why we are so excited about what’s just happened here with those of you who have been the community of IHOP Miami joining those of us that are the community of CBWC - this is now a greater expression of the body of Christ here in Cutler Bay. Sure, we were the body of Christ separately, there’s no doubt about that. We certainly weren’t doing anything wrong by meeting separately and doing separate things. But, Jesus said in John 13:34-35, / / “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

That is a clear invitation to model something within a community of believers that entices those who are not a part of that community, to be a part of it. And that is the foundation of this merging process. David and I have genuine, Christ-like love for each other. We are committed to working this out together. We are committed to maintaining a true deep friendship, a brotherhood.

And honestly, I think that is a fundamental need for the church that we simply have not had in as great an expression as we should. Christians are really good at living their own lives, doing their own things, being their own little communities unto themselves, sharing their lives with those outside the church, and then coming to church on Sunday and just kind of wading in the waters of church life. I’m not saying that’s you or I specifically, I’m saying the church in general, across the board, has much to learn about this John 13:35 life, / / “Your love for ONE ANOTHER….”

That’s what Jesus says will prove that we are his true disciples!

And let’s just be completely transparent here: We need to hear this right now as we are two churches who have been doing our own things, are now coming together to do this together.

Are we willing to get into the trenches with each other?

Are we willing to go to bat for each other?

Are we willing to cry with each other? Mourn together. Rejoice together. Struggle together. Ask questions together and seek out the truth together.

Are we ready and willing to serve each other, while also joining together to serve our surrounding community?

The Way of The Son, or let’s say, the Way of Jesus Christ includes learning what it means to be the Body of Jesus Christ.

Paul says very clearly that we are all members of the body, different, unique, individually talented and gifted both in natural ability, but also with Spiritual gifts, with the intention and purpose of building each other up, encouraging each other, growing together, and seeing each other become more like Christ as we walk out the way of Jesus together.

/ / You will hear this phrase a lot in the coming months: Our goal when it comes to the way of Jesus is to be WITH Jesus, so we can become LIKE Jesus, so we can DO what Jesus did.

That is the Way of The Son.

But as we are going to see over the coming weeks, this is much more practical than maybe some of us have been taught. I grew up in a non-denominational, “Spirit-filled” church that embraced the gifts of the Spirit, and when Revival broke out in Toronto in 1994, we grabbed a hold of that like nobodies business. It was all or nothing. Revival meetings multiple nights a week, revival weekends every other weekend it seemed. And God was moving. And we were experiencing the presence of God in a way I know none of us had before. Granted, I was 12 years old when that happened. So I had a pretty limited history of experiencing the presence of God. But that’s what I grew up in.

Then I moved to Toronto, this epicenter of revival, to go to their school when I was 19 years old. That’s where Kelley and I met. This boy from a small town in Ontario, and this girl from Miami, Florida…

Now, when I say Toronto, I am talking about a church in Toronto, now called Catch the Fire, which has become a global movement of churches, but in 1994 it was this small normal church at the end of the airport runway called Toronto Airport Vineyard. Eventually it became Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, and then eventually Catch the Fire. The name matters little, what matters was what God was doing. It birthed revival all around the world. And Kelley and I were fortunate enough to experience that move of God for years.

But I want to say something, and I say this very carefully because I honor and respect both the leaders, the movement and God who saw fit to do all He did and is continuing to do through it, what I did not learn was how to follow Jesus as a disciple. I learned to embrace the Holy Spirit, I experienced renewal of my heart, healing, emotional and spiritual, and I came to know the deep love of the Father through the work of the Holy Spirit in experience. And none of that had to do with what it looked like, or sounded like - it was a sovereign move of God in the hearts of His people. And experience is good… Experience is necessary.

And being completely transparent here, the church globally needed and needs the move of the Spirit. We need fresh encounter and experience with God. Not just because we need it, but because it is at the heart of who God is. He is a wonder working, miracle giving, revelatory God who is not just sitting in heaven distant and uninterested. He is Emmanuel, God with us, to this day!

But I heard this great reminder yesterday. Tradition and Experience are good and necessary, and God uses both, but the Word of God, Scripture, is the only one with Veto power. I thought, that’s a brilliant way to think of it. We believe Scripture gives us the boundaries of our tradition and experience. But we need both. We need to experience God, and trust me, when you follow the biblical model and way of following Jesus, you will experience God!

So, we need a biblically based, consistent, thought out, 2000 year old method of following the way of Jesus through very practical and often times seemingly unspiritual things that actually produce incredible spiritual results.

So, we mentioned in announcements about / / fasting on Wednesdays. Listen, I can’t describe to you the change I have seen since I started dedicating myself to the practice of Fasting each week. It makes no sense to me rationally. And I don’t mean fasting for health benefits, although there are those for sure, but doing that once a week certainly doesn’t produce crazy physical change. And sometimes I feel like it just creates crazy physical Rob. I can’t explain that either. There are days where I wake up, I’m not hungry, so I don’t eat until sometime in the afternoon maybe. Not a big deal, I’ve got reserves. But when I am fasting on Wednesdays, with the intention of seeking God, honoring Him with my body, sacrificing my own earthly desires and physical desires, for the purpose of worship, prayer, and honor - finding that place of reverence and awe in the Way of The Father… for some reason, that’s all kinds of different.

I don’t like those days.

I don’t like those days at all sometimes.

So why do it? Easy. Jesus invites us to. It’s a part of the process of being human following Jesus. Luke 5:34-35 is pretty clear, Jesus gets asked why his disciples don’t fast like the disciples of the Pharisees, and his response is. / / “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Guess what. We’re still in that time period of the groom being taken away, until he will return again. And the early church recognized this as an invitation and an opportunity, and so they chose to fast two days a week, Wednesday and Friday, from sun up to sun down.

I’ve started with Wednesday, and I know there’s a timer on when the Lord will invite me to add Friday.

My point is this. There is a way that seems super..natural, like, very very natural, physical, traditional, we might even want to push back on it as not feeling “spirit-led” in the moment…yet, when done in obedience it produces incredible supernatural results. And I can attest to that.

There’s a temptation in the “spirit -led” charismatic world to “just do what the Spirit leads me into”, but let me be fully honest with you, if no one has been before. We humans aren’t the best at listening all the time, this is literally why God saw fit to write the instructions down for us… We don’t always have our ears open. We don’t always see the signs. We aren’t always paying attention.

BUT, if we purpose to follow the way of Jesus with our whole hearts as he said, and was written down for us. I promise you. I guarantee to you. You will experience the transformation of God in your life!

So, we mentioned the / / Bible Reading Plan as well. Listen, being in the Word of God, reading your bible. Listen, if you haven’t started the plan, it’s not to late. Do you have to do the one we put out? Of course not, but I will say there’s something really great about doing something together. It can spark conversations together, questions together, we can wrestle through the difficult parts and rejoice in the promises that we’ve both read. When David or I preach something that you read the week before you’ll go, “Oh ya, I just read that!” And honestly, that’s a pretty cool feeling, rather than, “Huh, never heard that before.”

John 14:23, 25-26 says, and this is Jesus speaking, / / “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word… These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.”

And like I said, thankfully we have these words written down by the disciples so that we too can benefit.

/ / “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

This is so important, and there are clearly two things here.

/ / “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”

/ / To keep the word you must know the word!

There’s no going around that one. You can’t follow the instructions if you don’t read the instructions. Sure, you can come to church once a week and have someone else read it and describe it to you, but that would take a very long time if all you get is the scripture quoted in a sermon once a week. To get the full effect of the instructions, you have to read it for yourself on a consistent basis.

And the second part, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, / / “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”

Like I said earlier, we got really good back in the day at letting the Holy Spirit work, but we weren’t great at getting the word inside so He could remind us of things. And this is what I meant by Scripture having Veto power… in my experience what the Holy Spirit teaches, and what the Holy Spirit says and does in our lives will 100% always line up with Scripture in some way. It’s a surefire way to know that what you are experiencing is of God, because it lines up with Scripture.

As Christians we believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God, and what’s more John calls Jesus the very Word of God himself.

We also believe that the trinity, albeit difficult to understand sometimes, is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and they are not in conflict with each other. So if Jesus is the Word of God, and we believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired written word of God, then the Holy Spirit is not going to do something that contradicts what is in Scripture.

And let me tell you this. The Holy Spirit is WANTING to remind you of what Jesus has said through the word. But you have to get the word in you to be reminded of it.

Kaylee, our 11 year old daughter is in middle school this year, and so studying is a bigger thing now. And she’s in some advanced classes. She’s a smart little cookie, but she also needs to study to get good grades. Right before Christmas she had her first mid-term exams. And she worked hard. I mean really hard. She studied like a champion. And when we drove to school in the mornings this was my prayer with her, “Holy Spirit, I’ve done the best that I can. I’ve studied all I know to study. Would you keep me calm, confident, and remind me of all that I have learned.”

It doesn’t make sense to go into a test saying, “Holy Spirit, I have completely slacked off, but if you’d be willing to cheat for me and give me the answers, that would be great. I mean, wouldn’t that just prove how good God is? That you would do this for me?”

No, sorry, that’s just not how it works.

We are called to live a certain way, and that way takes work. That way takes effort. But let me tell you, the benefits are everything.

The Way of The Son is worth every step.

/ / 3. The Way of The Spirit

As Jesus said, we rely on the Holy Spirit. He is the promised gift to every Christian who believes!

So, as I said in the beginning. This is a Year in View. We are looking forward to what God is inviting us into for 2025, for our lives together as this greater and more expressive congregation, and I believe wholeheartedly that this is it.

See, from the very beginning of the church 2000 years ago, the fundamental, can’t change, won’t change, absolutely critical reality is that we believe in the work of the Trinity. From the Apostles Creed to the Nicene Creed, established and defended…

/ / I believe in God the Father almighty

I believe in Christ Jesus His only Son

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son], who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified…

God is leading us into the Way of the Father, his great love for us and an understanding that He is love and He is also God almighty. The way of the Son, recognizing all that Christ has done for us, inviting us into salvation and freedom, and to live a life of following Him, of falling more in love with Him and following His ways, his instructions for life. And the Way of the Spirit…

What was the word of the Lord through Zechariah? 4:6, / / “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”

We have to remember that in all of our dedication, obedience, commitment to the way of Jesus, of being good at following Him, no true transformation happens without the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives.

Our salvation is not through works, and our transformation is not through works, but they are both a direct result of our acceptance and obedience to an invitation.

We are saved by grace through……. Faith, right?

I can’t save myself. No works can save me. YET, salvation is for those who what? Believe. Who have Faith. Who hear the invitation and respond to it accordingly.

It is the same with sanctification, transformation, or as Paul says in Romans 12, the renewal of our minds.

It’s hard to change your mind through just pure will power… but when I meditate on the Word of God day and night… That was God’s invitation to Joshua. Read the commissioning of Joshua in Joshua 1, God says, make sure you know the law inside and out and follow it, meditate on it day and night, so that it’s the first thing out of your mouth, and the first thing that informs your actions, THAT is how you will be successful in accomplishing all I have for you. But the promise in Joshua 1:9, / / “…for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

And then just go ahead and read the conquests of Israel through the promised land. They are not natural victories by any stretch… they are supernatural displays of the power of God through the work of the Spirit because of the obedience of His people.

What I love about the invitation to obedience from God is that they aren’t all just do do do… it’s not all work work work…

Remember this thing called / / Sabbath. A day of complete rest and rejuvenation for the people of God. When the Pharisees were getting bent out of shape over the following of the Sabbath, what did Jesus say, “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath for man.” Meaning, God has good intentions for you to not be overburdened by life! And what is this world super great at? Being overburdened by life, not taking time to rest, not taking time to reflect on God’s goodness and faithfulness.

Kelley and I were praying last night for today, for this merge, for this whole process we are in, and that was one of our prayers, “God, help us to do this thing called church without burning out, because we know that is not your desire!”

It’s easy to get into work mode, and try to do it all, and do it bigger, and better, and keep up with the Joneses… But that’s not what God would have for any of us.

We have to reclaim the Sabbath. Now, being fully transparent, I’m not good at that. I’m not. Sabbath takes planning and foresight. It takes calculated life management. Choosing to do more on some days so you can do less on others. It takes prioritizing your own mental, emotional, spiritual and physical health above meeting the needs and demands of others.

This life will ask of you until you have nothing left to give. It’s just the way of the world. But it is not the way of God. His invitation is one that includes rest, quiet, solitude, silence, rejuvenation and recuperation.

Just read Psalm 23, / / He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

Read Psalm 46:10, / / Be still and know that I am God.

Psalm 37:7, / / Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act.

Philippians 4:6-7, / / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

So, don’t try to work your way into transformation in God… But by obedience you will see the transformation of God worked out in your life as you follow the Way of The Spirit.

Now, I mentioned the creeds earlier, right, we believe in God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, but there’s another part in there that it says… / / “I believe in holy catholic and apostolic Church.” And catholic there is not what we now call the Catholic church, but it means the global church, all of us as the body of Christ, and so the last thing we want to look at today is…

/ / 4. Our Response… Creating a 5&2 Culture

If you have your Bibles you can turn to Mark 6. We’re going to read a story here.

Now, the setup for this story is remarkable. Two things have happened. At the beginning of Mark 6 Jesus has sent out the twelve disciples to go out and preach the gospel and they saw great miracles, and they are on their way back to Him. But also, Jesus has just found out that his cousin, John the Baptist, has been beheaded by Herod. Of course, John is more than a relative, he’s the one in the wilderness crying, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” He’s the one with the ‘Spirit of Elijah’, who would proceed the Messiah of Israel. His death is a mighty blow to the heart of Jesus.

That’s the backdrop for this next part. This is the conflict that Jesus is in: rejoicing with his disciples while mourning the loss of his cousin John. Matthew 14:13 says, / / Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

As is sometimes the case, Mark tells the story a bit differently, and maybe just filling in some of the gaps.

Matthew mentions Jesus hearing about John’s death and leaving.

Mark says this. Mark 6:30-44, / / The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat…

So, imagine, the crowds have been bad enough with Jesus working miracles. Everyone wants to be around him, and now the 12 have gone out and done the same… the crowds won’t leave them alone. Jesus says to them, “We need to get out of here so we can get some peace and quiet and eat lunch.”

/ / And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

What’s interesting here is that Matthew says that their response is, “We only have five loaves here and two fish.”

Remember that Mark wrote they were hungry, hadn’t even had a chance to eat because the crowds wouldn’t leave them alone, and so they go in a boat to get away, but the crowds are faster than they are and waiting for them when they get to their picnic area… Ever been there? You just want to sit down and eat but stuff keeps coming up, or your kids won’t leave you alone. And all the while you’re getting hungrier and hungrier and you can’t stop because there’s just more and more to do…

So, Mark says that they complain and ask if they should go spend 200 denarii. A denarii was a days wage for a normal labourer. So let’s just go with a basic $15 minimum wage. The disciples asked Jesus, “Should we go spend $24,000 dollars just to feed these people?” that’s the equivalent. And John actually writes that Philip says that 200 denarii wouldn’t even be enough to feed them all.

(38) / / And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”

The Gospel of John notes that the disciples don’t actually have anything themselves, but Andrew says there is a boy who has five barley loaves and two fish.

(39) / / Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

Five thousand men. The other gospels state that the women and children were not counted. So conservatively you can at least 3x that number, anywhere from 10-20,000 people were fed that day. Current price for a fish sandwich at McDonalds is about $4.50…. So even at the lowest of 10,000 we’re looking at $45,000 to feed these people. No wonder Philip protested and said 200 denarii wasn’t enough.

Put all that aside, what’s the point here?

The point is that at Cutler Bay Worship Center we want to create a / / 5&2 culture.

We bring what we have and let God do the rest.

I would personally want to argue we should bring our best, but the stories of Jesus don’t always say that. There’s no indication here that the boy’s fish was top notch. It might not have been the catch of they day. They might not have been perfectly round or symmetrical loves of bread. But they were what he had, and he was willing to bring it to Jesus and give it to him to use.

They are in a desolate place, away from the towns, no one has food, this boy, for whatever reason has some.

This boy is not more special than you.

He’s not more gifted than you.

He’s not more blessed than you.

He simply was willing to give what he had to give.

This is the principle of the 5&2 culture, that / / when you bring what you have, God can work miracles.

Can God work miracles without what you have? Of course. He’s God. But does God choose to work in and through his people? Absolutely. Most of the time, even.

For whatever reason / / God invites us to partner with him to see His purposes fulfilled in this earth.

God invites us to be his hands and his feet in this world.

Jesus could have healed everyone, but he invited his disciples to go out and minister.

Jesus could have created bread out of the ground…he did it in the wilderness for Israel, manna, heaven’s bread…

But he didn’t, he said, “Who is willing to give of what they have?”

Now, what do we mean by bring what you have? I’m not looking for y’all to show up with bread and fish, ok. We are reading this story allegorically. We are looking at what this means for our lives. What, if anything, can we read and say, “I think Jesus may be inviting me into this kind of lifestyle.”

I would suggest to you this morning that this is across the board. It is our:

Time

Energy

Talent

Finance

Gifting

Relationship

Capacity

All that you are, whatever you are and whatever you have, that’s your 5&2.

Why?

/ / Two reasons.

Jesus is asking for it.

/ / His Body needs it.

Let me say that again.

/ / Jesus is the one asking for it… But it is to the benefit of His whole body.

I need your 5&2.

You don’t need to do this out loud, but we could all look to the person next to us and say, we need your gifts, your talents, your time, your friendship, your generosity, your commitment.

That’s this Year in View. That’s the journey God is inviting us on.

To live for the Way of the Father, The Way of The Son, and the Way of the Spirit as we learn what it looks like to create a 5&2 Culture:

Where God can take the beat up, left overs of our lunch and create miracles that transform lives.

Where God can take the best of us, and create more than we could ever imagine.

Where what we come with is multiplied for the glory of God to the benefit of those around us.

So, we are going to take communion together this morning. (KELLEY COME UP)

Why do we take communion? This is something Jesus did with his disciples the day before he was crucified. And he says to them that he’s been longing to have this meal with them, because it’s the last meal he’s going to eat again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he takes bread, which symbolizes his body, and he takes a glass of wine, which symbolizes his blood, both representing what he is about to go through on the cross.

Hebrews 10:5 says that Jesus was given a body to offer as a sacrifice.

Isaiah 53 is a prophecy roughly 700 years before Jesus is born and speaks of the coming Messiah and says that he will be pierced for our transgressions, he will be crushed for our iniquities, that is simply saying, where we fall short, where we aren’t perfect, and even where we intentionally have done what is wrong, his body will take all of that. Isaiah 53:6 says / / the iniquity of us all has been laid on him. Iniquity summed up is basically all that is wrong with humanity.

It also says that the wounds he will receive are for our healing.

So his body, he says is represented by the bread we receive in communion.

And likewise his blood, represented by the juice, or wine, Isaiah says that he is like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, meaning, the life of the lamb is taken, his blood is shed on the altar as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of the people. To make us right with God when we could not make ourselves right with God. And Jesus says in Luke 22 that the blood shed is the new covenant. Meaning, humanity no longer had to come with a sacrifice of their own, but his sacrifice is sufficient once and for all.

But I want to focus on something here for a moment. In every account of the Last Supper, the institution of Communion, the same thing is written, that he took the bread, he blessed it, or gave thanks, and he broke it before handing it to them.

And I was trying to get to sleep last night, and I couldn’t shake this thought, “He broke the bread…”

And I began to think of the times he broke the bread…

Remember what he did on that hillside with the 5&2. Mark 6:41, And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples…

In Matthew 15:32-38 is the story of the feeding of the 4,000, a different miracle, but just as miraculous. He starts with 7 loaves and a few small fish and vs 36 says, / / Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces…

And of course in the Lord’s Supper, in Luke 22:19, it says, / / And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Do this in remembrance of me. I can only imagine seeing him bless and break that bread that these disciples who witnessed him feed more than 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread, were instantly reminded of the miracles produced with those hands, and a flood of memories would be brought back.

Do this in remembrance of me. Breaking a loaf of bread would never be the same, it would have this meaning of all that Christ has done for us, including, and most importantly, what he was about to do, go to the cross, give his life, and three days later rise again.

On the heals of the twelve disciples doing miracles, and John the baptist being beheaded… there would be highs and lows in life. There would be highs and lows in ministry. There would be mountain experiences, and valleys of despair. But in the midst of that, Christ says, “Remember the miracle”… “Remember all I have done.” “Remember the prophecy of Isaiah, the promise fulfilled…”

And one more breaking of bread I want to read. We don’t have time for hte whole story, so go read it in Luke 24, it’s Jesus after he has been resurrected, walking on the road to Emmaus with two disciples. They have no clue who he is, but he shares with them revelation after revelation about the Old Testament pointing to the Messiah, and they invite him to stay for dinner. And Luke 24:30-31 says, / / As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly their eyes were opened, and they recognized him…

So, there’s three things there.

Miracles

Healing & Covenant through His body & blood

Revelation

Whatever point you are at this morning. Maybe you feel far from God. Maybe you feel close. Maybe you feel broken. Maybe you feel like you don’t have much to offer. You’re thinking, “5&2 culture? I don’t know if I have half and a quarter right now…” I get it. I do. I’ve had those moments, and I’ve needed those who had the 5&2 to prop me up. That’s why we need each other. That’s why Jesus invites the communion table as part of community.

This morning, as we take this broken bread, that Jesus invites us to remember all that he has done, I want you to believe and be open to receiving through the power of the Holy Spirit what you need this morning. Whether that is a miracle in your heart, your body, your emotions, your finances. Healing in your body or relationships, maybe spiritual or emotional healing. Maybe you need a whole body and heart and mind makeover…that’s ok. Maybe you need your eyes opened to the reality of Jesus this morning. I’m praying for and believing that for you.

I also recognize that today is a special and significant day. That many of you have worshiped and been community under a different name, IHOP, and you’ve become family, you are close. And I have asked some of our faithful Cutler Bay Worship Center members to come serve you communion this morning. So, Tommy and Mercy, Mama Su, Armando, Tammy, if you can come up.

And I want to take a moment to speak to those of you here who have come from IHOP Miami. We don’t take your being here lightly. We count this as a great joy. And I have these folks up here, representing all of Cutler Bay Worship Center, serving you, our friends, the body of Christ, as we come to the communion table of our Lord together, as one house, one family, one church.

I say you are welcome here. This is your home. And we can’t do this without you. We are family. We are the body of Christ. And we are excited that you are here.

I also want to say, if you are here, and you are new, and you haven’t ever thought about what it would mean to be a “Christian” or follow Jesus. Maybe this made some sense to you today, that you have been missing something in your life. I can tell you what you’ve been missing is Jesus Christ and His church. And today is the perfect day to decide to be a follower of Jesus and to connect with this community. If that’s you, and you feel that this morning, that is the Holy Spirit inviting you to say Yes to Jesus. And that’s all it takes, is saying yes to Him. And that can begin a new life for you today! And you can do that by simply saying, “Yes, Jesus, I need you. I know I need you. I want to follow you!” And you can say that right now, and then come and take this bread and juice, which are simply just a representation of all that He did for you. We do this to remind ourselves that we need him, and that he came for us and died for us, and gives us His life and His spirit.

So, there’s no order here, everyone can come and get the elements, and hold on to them just for a moment while everyone comes up, so that we can take communion together, as one family.

And I’m reading from 1 Corinthians 11:24-25:

/ / …and when [Jesus] had given thanks, he broke [the bread], and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

Jesus, as we take this bread, and as we take this cup, we remember the mighty work that you did on the cross of Calvary. That you took all of our sin, our shame, our brokenness, our paint, sickness, disease….all of it. You took that upon yourself. And you invite us to partake of your life, and you invite us to follow you. And we thank you for that invitation, and we