What if There is More than Enough?

Opening Prayer

Song

Faith Statement

Song

Scripture

John 6:1–14 NLT

After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.) Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!” Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”

John

Song

Sermon

Background

Food is important! It is important now, it was important then.

One of my favorite things to do with my friends is to eat meals with them or have snacks together!

It would have cost a great deal of money to feed all these people.

Maybe you have felt at some point like you had no idea where you were going to get what you needed for something.

Maybe a physical thing you needed, like we see in this passage.

Maybe the talent or gift or words to handle a specific situation.

God provides us tools to be who we need to be

Even if we have hope, it can be intimidating to go out on a limb and act in world-changing ways. We need to be equipped to do the things that God needs us to do.

1 Corinthians 12:15–26 NLT

If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

1 corinthians 12:15-

1 Corinthians 12:27–28 ESV

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

We’re not all equipped in the same ways because we are not all asked to do the exact same things.

This is why it’s so important for us to live out our unique identities. The gifts and talents we do have are exactly what we need to do what God calls us to do.

The more we trust God’s presence in our lives, the more we find ourselves guided toward abundance and peace.

It takes a while to really get the feel for this. We have to start small. We have to learn to trust God in the small moments before we are ready for the big ones.

The disciples had been around Jesus for a long time before Jesus fed all these people.

It’s like when you learn a new instrument. You don’t start off by playing really complicated music. You start with something like chopsticks. Then you move on to something a little harder, then a little harder.

The more we use and practice the talents and gifts that God has given us, the more cool stuff we’ll be able to do.

Before you know it, you’re playing beautiful music and that is SO COOL!!! By embracing who we are, looking for the hope around us, and trusting that God will give us what we need to do what we are meant to do, we find peace and way more than we could possibly need.

Combining our gifts and passions with God and others is all we need to accomplish our hopes.

And just like when we are learning to play an instrument, we can learn to play together and make even more fantastic music! one of the ways that God provides for us is by putting other people around us who are able to use their talents as well.

The more of us that are combining our hopes and our talents together, the more incredible things God accomplishes through us!

Even if we aren’t satisfied with our own talents personally, God will find a place where we can contribute.

God does not always provide in the ways that we expect. Sometimes we don’t have the talents we want or the ones we admire in other people.

The disciples were not expecting the provision of food to come from a little boy’s lunch! Even when they saw the boy had some food, they weren’t convinced that was what they needed.

But when we put ourselves out there to do the things God asks of us, we will find we have the talents we need to do the job the way we are supposed to!

Not only that, but we will find we have more than enough talents to get us through!

Each and every one of you is a unique and precious creation.

This gives us hope because we know that God stays with God’s creations - us!

And we are give exactly what we need to use that hope to be world-changers!

Closing Prayer

Announcements

Good Night