Not Your Typical Fish Fry
The Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 6 viewsNotes
Transcript
First off, let me say Happy Mother’s Day again. To all those who are mothers, surrogate mothers, soon to be moms, and those who will be some day I pray blessings upon blessings upon you all.
As most of you can guess by the title of the message, where we will be going in the bible. And as Larry the cucumber has said, it is the same story you have heard thousands of time, and you will hear again but different.
I must say, I love a good fried fish. It has to have a good crunch with that nice fluffy fish inside. Seasoned to perfection. The best place I have gotten fried fish here in town has to be at Crispy Cajun. One of my dearest and closest friends, Mr Robert and I have gone several times and ate there. It was so good, I talked about it to my family every time we passed Crispy Cajun. So much so, they told me to be quiet about that fish.
Let me tell you the best part, it wasn’t how good the fish was...cause it was. It wasn’t the friendship and the fellowship that came from...cause that was good too. And if you have never sat and talked with Robert, you are missing out on a man that has the best since of humor and that was good too. But the price of the fish made it taste so much better...free. Yup, there is something about free fried fish that just makes it taste so much better.
Mr. Robert had gotten sick from Covid and had to be out for nearly one full month. I had to buy my own fish. It didn’t taste as good, and it was expensive. Who knew!!!
I guess what I am saying is that I did not see that the blessing of the friendship and fellowship is what made everything else taste that much better.
As the old saying goes, I was looking the gift horse in the mouth.
Sometimes we are not grateful for what is in front of us, and we seek out for the more.
This takes us to our text for today, and how we miss out on the blessings that Christ has for us because we see only the blessing we desire...not the blessings we truly need.
Let that sink in as we go to the Lord in prayer.
I will also be doing something different today.
I normally do not jump around in the text cause the bible is perfect in the way it is written, but today bare with me cause we will skip verses 1-3 for now...we will come back to them I promise.
So let’s look at the first blessing...
Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. So when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?” He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each of them to have a little.”
The first blessing is
The Blessing of the Tests
Tests and trials are a part of life. Those in here with the white hair can tell you, life comes with a price...that price is learning from your failures as much as your successes.
Oswald Chambers spoke about this
Beware of succumbing to failure as inevitable; make it the stepping-stone to success.
Oswald Chambers (Lecturer and Missionary)
Here in the text, Jesus is testing Phillip.
Now understand this, at this point according to scholars, Phillip would have been traveling with Christ for nearly two years.
What Jesus is asking Phillip, are you seeing the circumstances around you, or are you seeing me in your tests and trials.
And Phillip saw the problem, not the opportunity to learn.
We do the same thing. I know I do. I look and see a problem , not the test that Christ is placing in front of me.
That old saying, Don’t pray for patience cause God will put in situations to test your patience.
We cry out make me a better Christian, and He puts hard people in front of you to test your Christian character.
We cry out Christ use me, and the opportunity to teach the children, youth or a small group comes up and you say No Lord...I was talking about like singing on stage or preaching...boo boo we have all heard you sing and preach...Christ is calling you to sweep floors.
Ask anyone that has cried out use me Lord and they can tell you the test and trials that was put in front of them.
Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Let’s continue with our text to see our next blessing
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?”
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand. Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks he distributed them to those who were seated—so also with the fish, as much as they wanted.
The second blessing is
The Blessing of the Impossible
We serve a God who is the God of the impossible.
There are still miracles happening today. We just don’t believe in them anymore or we are too blind to see them.
When you walk down hallway of the birthing wing at the hospital and you hear a baby crying...that is a miracle.
When you see some of the hardest people come to the Lord...that is a miracle.
When you see a vehicle crushed beyond recognition and they walk away...that is a miracle.
My God is in the miracle working business.
You are the God who works wonders;
you revealed your strength among the peoples.
If you truly sit back and look, there are miracles all around us. And they all come from the Lord.
So let’s sit back and see this miracle unfold.
When they were full, he told his disciples, “Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted.” So they collected them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
The third blessing is
The Blessing of the Abundance
When we sit back and see the blessings all around us, it can be overwhelming when you realize that He did that for you and for me.
God’s provision is more than enough...it is a true blessing of abundance.
I am not talking a prosperity message here. I am talking about abounding blessings in your life right now today.
Those apostles that followed Jesus had seen so many miracles happen. They walked and spoke to Jesus personally, but they did not see the blessings abounding in their lives before them.
What Christ was teaching them was the tests and trails will come but your basket will always be filled if your focus is not on just the miracle, but on the one who provides the abundant blessings in your life. Jesus Christ.
The one verse that I do not like using in a funeral is Psalm 23. Psalm 23 is not about the dead, it is about what God does for the living...the abundant blessings he gives.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Today, as most of you will be celebrating Mother’s day with family and friends, take the time to look around you and see the abundance in your life.
And this takes us back to the verses I skipped and the final verses of our text
After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). A huge crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick. Jesus went up a mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Therefore, when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
The final blessing is what ties it all together
The Blessing of the Suffering Servant
As people, we love the blessings, the miracles, and abundance. We do not like the tests and the trails.
Unfortunately, I see it all too often. People come in expecting the good, and when the rough hits, Christ is no longer king in their lives.
This crowd that was following Jesus that saw the miracles and ate their two piece fish dinner, was calling out to him to be king.
This was the same crowd that called out on Holy Week...crucify him.
Why...because they did not get the king they wanted, but they got the suffering servant that they desperately needed.
Christians, congregation, church, listen to me carefully, Christ came to give us this salvation from sin, grace, mercy and compassion.
Everything else is lagniappe!
The greatest blessing that we miss is that Christ did not come to conquer the world but to save it.
We must see this. Because if we call Him King of kings and Lord of lords, he is that in the good and the bad. In the easy times and the rough times.
So my question to you is this...
Is He Lord and Savior in your life today, or do you just call out to him when you want the blessings, miracles and abundance?
He is calling out to you today, will you accept Him as King or will you just use him as a vending machine?
The choice is yours.
