Small Things Big God

I need to confess something…I want to be a famous pastor. It’s actually more than just a desire I have…like I think I deserve to be famous. I look at some of the guys who have these huge followings on social media, I listen to their sermons, and I have this thought to myself, “Man, Im better than they are....” I’ll even have conversations with God about it sometimes. I will be like, “God, this dude is a joke…like he is constantly border-lining heresy, he doesn't preach the Bible, I have no doubt that this dude is a pastor because he just wants to be famous...”

And God responds to me with something like this, “Oh so you dont like him because you think he wants to be famous and have a big ministry platform?” And Im like, “Exactly...” And God says something like, “Hey Bonehead…Just as an aside, if you haven’t felt like God has called you a bonehead in your prayers, you haven’t prayed enough yet...do you not realize that your complaining about not being more famous than the guys who just want to be famous?”

Like, Ill be praying to God to make me more famous

Like, honestly, I crave significance, and I don’t think Im alone in this desire. I have a hunch that this just a problem for me.

In fact, years ago I was counseling a student who was absolutely distraught because she was coming to grips with her insignificance. She had heard a message the weekend before from a well intentioned speaker who’s big creciendo of a point was something like this.... “If you want your life to matter, MAKE A WAVE FOR JESUS...” And throughout the whole message he went on and on about how these students had started this instagram account with Bible verse quotes and they had built this huge following…like 100k followers…And his big creciendo of a point was, if you want your life to matter you need to be like those guys, dont settle for ordinary—strive for extraordinary---MAKE A WAVE FOR JESUS...”

And here was this formerly home-schooled girl from the middle of no-where who was realizing that she had never done anything like build a following of 100,000 people and she was just wrecked because she was convinced that her life didn't matter at all to God because she hadn't “made a wave” for Jesus…because she had never done anything BIG for God...

And this is what we are going to be talking about tonight....how do we become real influencers in our world?

So Here is the Big Idea:

Influencers in the Kingdom of God are extraordinarily ordinary.

Look with me at

John 6:1–14 ESV

1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

John 6:1–15 ESV

1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Extraordinarily ordinary influencers understand who they are .

John 6:1–9 ESV

1 After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

In order for us to be who we are we have to realize that we are unable to do what needs to be done to meet the needs in our world.

john 6:1-

This is what Jesus shows the disciples in this passage. Here is the situation: There is 5,000 men who are there with their families…so we can guess that there are probably somewhere between 10k to 15k people who are standing before them…they have been traveling all day to Jerusalem to go celebrate the passover. They are tired, they are hungry, they know that this Jesus is a miracle worker and they are expecting that he would do something for them.

So Jesus looks at Philip and says, “How we gonna feed these people?” Philip answers him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t even be enough for them to get even a little bit.”

See here is the reality tonight...God hasn't called us to do hard things, or even big things He calls us to do impossible things.

God hasn't called us to do hard things, He calls us to do impossible things.

God

Extraordinarily Ordinary influencers give what they have .

john 6:10-

John 6:10–11 ESV

10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

John 6:8–11 ESV

8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

john 6:8-

One of my favorite characters in the Bible is this little boy in this story...

Just imagine being him for a moment. Like here he is walking back from walmart with what is essentially a lunchable, proud of himself for buying his own lunch. And you hear from a distance, “HEY YOU!” You look over and your like, “Who me?” And hes like, “YES!” come here for a second....So he follows him over toward Jesus and says this, “There is a boy here who has a happy meal Jesus....”

extraordinarily ordinary influencers trust in the Unordinarily Extraordinary God .

Jesus takes this happy meal…blesses it…and look what happens...

John 6:12–14 ESV

12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

John 6:12–15 ESV

12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

God takes the little bit that this kid has to offer and does a miraculous work.

John tells us that everyone ate all they wanted. They walked away totally satisfied.

The call for the Christian is to give our little bit of time,