Trusting Christ's Provision: Feeding the Five Thousand

Listen, we're gonna go through more times in life than not when the statistics say and the resources show it seems impossible. And there's a lot of people in their life that try to make a plan for everything, and then what happens? Life hits them, and the plan changes, and they think to themselves, Oh, no. What will I do? Because everything that I plan for is now impossible. And friends, I would just say to you, that's a really good place to be. Because it's when we come to the end of ourselves that we begin to see what God is more than able to do. [01:09:24] (47 seconds)  #MoreThanAble

Can I just say, from the truth of God's word first and from personal experience second, that God loves to show up in our weakness and inability? God loves meeting us in our need and saying, okay. You see it this way, but let me show you how it is. Paul shared this eternal truth in second Corinthians twelve nine when he wrote, and he, speaking of the Lord, has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. [01:08:40] (38 seconds)  #StrengthInWeakness

If we're honest with ourselves, we're like the disciples. I calculated it. There's not enough. There's not enough resources to meet the needs. And what we do have, it's not gonna take care of it. Lord, what will we do? And rather than send the problem away, that's what the disciples wanted to do, Jesus says, hang with me. I wanna show you some things. When the disciples confessed their inadequacy, Jesus proceeded to demonstrate his adequacy. He is more than able. [01:00:07] (41 seconds)  #JesusShowsAdequacy

Whenever you are in need or you see a great need, trust Jesus. Because sometimes God's going to use you to help bless someone else. Even with your little bit, even with your pack of crackers. Just give your pack of crackers to Jesus and see how he can use it. And sometimes God is going to blow the doors off your mind and heart and say, I am more than able. Will you trust me to provide for you? And when you do, he surely will not disappoint. [01:16:14] (41 seconds)  #TrustJesusToProvide

If you were to ask many people today, they would want let's say that they say, I I don't believe in God. But if you told them, God is gonna make you well physically, they would say, yeah. Believe in that kind of God. But then with that comes the harder thing. Right? To obey his words, to listen to what he says, to follow him. But we're not quite there yet. The crowds are still enamored by the miraculous. They're interested in what Jesus can do. [00:39:09] (38 seconds)  #MiraclesDontReplaceObedience

And what we read is that Jesus looked at these this crowd of people, and he was greatly moved for them. These Jewish pilgrims that were making their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. He saw them as a sheep, as like sheep without a shepherd. He saw these Jewish people as in desperate need for leadership, for care, for comfort, for all the things that a shepherd does in providing for his own. [00:47:26] (37 seconds)  #CompassionateShepherd

Does Jesus ever ask a question he doesn't already know the answer to? Absolutely not. Jesus is asking a question not for him. He's not sitting there wondering, oh gosh. What are we gonna do? In fact, the text tells us in verse six that he asked the question, and he himself knew what he was already intending to do. He saw the crowds, and Jesus like, before any other information is given about who's in the crowd that day, what it's gonna take to feed these people, Jesus had already calculated and figured out this is what I'm gonna do. [00:50:10] (37 seconds)  #JesusAlreadyKnows

What happens when you're hungry? You become a little hangry. There's no Snickers bars. Their hunger then potentially could take away from all that they had heard and seen. Because you know what happens when you're hungry. Right? You forget about everything else, and you're focusing solely on your stomach, and you're like, I'm starving. And all you see is what you feel, and you're like, oh, I'm so hungry. And Jesus had just spent the day teaching them about the kingdom and performing signs and wonders as people were healed. And and so that they didn't get distracted with their hunger, he sought to find a plan to take care of them. [00:52:14] (44 seconds)  #DontLetHungerDistract