Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Oct. 4 sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 6:35 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Luke, chapter 9, verses 10 through 17. And the sermon is entitled trust Jesus with all you have delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: As we open our Bibles together today, I'm thankful that we pondered a question and we left off with a question from Herod. As we open up chapter nine, Herod pondered who Jesus really is. Who is this? And Luke does a tremendous job of trying to answer that question, not only for Herod, but for Theophilus, who he is writing to in this book, and for you and I today to show us really who Jesus is and that he can be trusted. And as he calls those disciples, we realize chapter number nine in Luke is a turning point in the book of Luke. But it's also a turning point in the lives of the disciples because he has now given them power. He has given them authority to do the work of God, to do the things of God. And now he expects them to do that.
Well, you know, when Jesus gives you something, he expects you to use it.
And that goes for you and I today. We are in a blessed nation. We are in a blessed place. We have been given so much.
I can tell you firsthand from what I've seen over the past week, we are a blessed people, very fortunate to be born in the United States of America.
And so today, how can we trust Jesus with all we have, not expecting him to just pile it on and give us more and more?
That's where we are today. In Scripture.
We understand that Jesus wants to use his people. He has gifted us in certain ways and with particular abilities that we can serve him, that he may get the glory from our lives.
But no matter what is going on in our life, this very, very famous miracle today that we're going to look at is going to teach you and I something about our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Will you trust him with all that you have? Today's miracle is the only miracle outside of the resurrection that is recorded in all four Gospels. It is one that is very familiar to you. You learned it when you were little. You know the story. I'm not gonna tell you anything that you don't know about this miracle. But my prayer today is that it will open our eyes that we can trust God with all that we have. Have.
How many of you remember the feeding of 5,000?
That's where we are today in Scripture. Luke chapter number nine. Look at verse number ten.
And the apostles, when they were returned Told him all that they had done. And he took them and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew it, followed him.
And he received them and spake unto them the kingdom of God and healed them that had need of healing. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve and said unto him, send the multitude away that they may go into the towns and the country round about and lodge and get victuals, for we are here in a desert place. Verse number 13. But he said unto them, give them to eat.
And they said, we have no more but five loaves and two fishes except we should go and buy meat for all this people. Let's pray, Father. Today as we look at your word, God, I pray Lord that you will meet us exactly where we are, Lord, thank you. That in this room, Lord, we are a blessed people. But God, open our eyes, more importantly, open our hearts, Lord, to your word today, Lord, that you can teach us through your word, that we can trust you with when we have a need, Lord, that you will meet that need and more than likely you will exceed that need. God help us in this room, Lord, to grow in our faith and to trust you more day by day. And I pray Lord that that good news will go forth from this place today. And we make our prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
The first thing that I want you to see today is this. You need to see that there is a great need, a great need.
Now many times when we look at the disciples, we learn so much from them in a positive way or in a negative way. They have been out preaching and they have been healing. They have God given power that they are exercising. They have authority that has come from Jesus. And guess what? They go out and do exactly what Jesus has asked them to do. And they come back after a long hard day of doing the Lord's work. And they say, Lord, now this is the Jeffrey Revised Standard Version, okay? They say, God, let me tell you how today went.
Have you ever just come back home one day and man, you just know that today has been a good day. God has worked in some amazing. And you can't wait to tell somebody. Well that's exactly where the disciples are. They can't wait to tell Jesus all that they had done. And so Jesus takes them away to a. A private place, a desert place and he begins to let them talk about what he is doing in their life. If you want to call it a mini retreat, you can. But he tries to get them Away from the crowd. But what we learn from Scripture is that doesn't work because the crowd begins to follow them. And as the crowd begins to follow them, they just want the crowd to go away. But Jesus won't let that happen. He doesn't take time to say, no, y' all don't. Y' all get out of here. Y' all go away. I'm done with you. The day's over.
Notice the compassion in Jesus heart.
Listen, I'm taking a lesson for this in my own life. You know, there are certain days where when this thing, when nine o' clock comes, this thing wants to go off. This thing needs to go off. Amen.
But then there slips a message from somebody maybe that you haven't heard from, or maybe there's a call from a friend or a family member that's in need.
Deep down, can you just let that go and not take it?
If you can, you're a better man or woman than I am.
Jesus sees these people that are hurting, that are still in need. And all the disciples want is a break.
I need time off. I need a break.
And so Jesus takes them away and he himself begins to minister to the needs that are present.
When we understand that he is getting ready to perform a great miracle. Because we know the story.
But Jesus has asked them to do things that he has been able to do.
And they are excited, but they need their rest. They're physically tired.
They've had a long day, and they're done.
But the miracle isn't necessarily in providing physical food.
It's showing the disciples their need of Jesus.
Even on a good day, even on the best of our days, you still need Jesus.
Even when we've done all we can do and we feel like it's in ourselves, it's not. God has blessed you. God has worked through you. And so even on these good days, we still need Jesus.
As the disciples are trying to get away, Jesus kept teaching and kept healing.
Guess what?
The people just keep coming.
Look at verse number 12.
When the day began to wear away, then came the twelve and said unto him, send the multitude away and they may go into the towns and country Roundabout and lodge, get victuals, for we are here in a desert place.
Well, God blessed the disciples because they were worried about food.
Baptist, you can relate to that, right?
Some of you are watching your watches already, and it's all, hey, it's 11:32. You're okay, you're okay.
We worry about food, right?
Well, the disciple says, oh, we're in a Desert place. We're in a quiet place. Send them off to get something to eat and to sleep. And it's a lot. It's a busy day today and we've got tomorrow. And we. What does Jesus say in verse number 13?
But he said unto them, give them to eat.
As we started out, Jesus has given them power and authority.
Jesus has given them all that they need to accomplish what he is asking them to do.
Give them something to eat, just like you and I today. The Lord has gifted us and, and what he would have us to do.
But what he's asking these disciples to do is to perform a miracle in their own eyes. And in verse number 13 he says, we don't have but five loaves and two fish.
Goes on to say in verse number 13, except we should go and buy meat for all these people.
When we understand there is a great need. Because the day has been long, the people are hungry.
There is a need. And Jesus says this, you can meet that need.
Disciples, go meet that need. Give them something to eat.
Now, would Jesus ever ask them to do something that he knew they could not do?
The answer is no.
He had given them power and authority.
Now he's given them an opportunity to display that, that God may work through this situation.
And so as this physical nourishment becomes the focus, there is a true need for food at this point.
And so Jesus responds by simply saying this. Just go feed them.
How many of you know that we can get so busy in ministry or in work or in life that we miss the needs that are around us?
We miss seeing that people have a need. And the greatest need that surrounds every single one of us is the need of those that who are lost and need Jesus Christ as their Savior. We miss that need.
We have the resources to meet that need. And we choose not to.
Part of trusting Jesus with all that you have is realizing there are great needs around you. There are great needs for Jesus around you. Some of them, yes, you can take care of in a physical manner, but most of them involve you depending on the Lord to help you meet that need.
Today you know your life. I don't. I don't follow you around.
What's the greatest need in your circle?
What's the greatest need in your circle, in your everyday life? What is the greatest need?
Think about that. We're going to come back to that at the end.
There's a second point. Look at verses 13 through 15.
But he said unto them, give ye them to eat. And they said, we have no more. But Five loaves and two fishes, except we should go and buy meat for all this people.
For they were about 5,000 men. And he said unto his disciples, make them sit down by 50s in a company.
And they did so, and he made them all sit down.
Now that's a miracle in and of itself. Okay, but I want to say this. We understand and you've been taught the feeding of 5,000 is 5,000 men. And so the upwards amount of the people that include women and children are here. It's a guesstimate it could be 15 or 20,000 people. That's what you're looking at. And the second point that you need to understand today is when we trust our thanks to the Lord, there is a genuine suggestion.
A genuine suggestion.
And so the disciples kind of represent us. Maybe in some times.
How many times have we dismissed God on something because it's been too late? Or we may not have the answer, it's not going along our plan.
Maybe I'm the only one.
But these disciples, they want to relax, but they bring a solution to Jesus. And that solution in verse number 13 is this. Maybe we can go by them something to eat. Maybe we can go buy something for them.
That's a great suggestion. That's a genuine suggestion. But even in that suggestion, if they bought with what money they had, if you look, it would only give one person, maybe one bite, every person, maybe one bite, one bite of food, would that fill the hunger? Absolutely not.
And so when we understand that five loaves and two fish, they're looking at it and they say we don't have enough food and we don't have enough money to take care of the need that is before us.
What would be our solution? What would be our recommendation?
Maybe to send them away.
That's what the disciples get them out of here. We don't have enough.
We looked at our inventory, we've looked at our food and we looked at our money and it's not balancing out. So we can't do ministry here. We can't do work here. God, there's nothing we can do.
And instead of focusing on what you don't have, maybe God wants to use what you do have.
There are times that I've looked at God and told God, I can't do this because I've looked at what I don't have.
God just wants you to trust him with what you do have.
And so today, when we think about that suggestion, we're guilty of telling God, I'll do this on my terms or I'll do this my way or I'll do this with my resources.
And when you put your resources and your thoughts and your suggestions in the hands of God, it's amazing what God can do.
And so today we understand that five loaves and two fish in Jesus hands were about to go a very long way.
Times we make those genuine suggestions to the Lord because we have factored in what we don't have, but we fail to factor in what we do have when we have the Lord on our side.
I believe it is a good thing to recognize when you are limited.
If you have limited resources or abilities and finances, I think it's a wonderful thing to be honest with God and say, God, listen, you know who you're trying to use here, right?
You know, I'm very limited, but God, even in my limitations, I know that you can use what little I have to bring glory to your name.
Today.
Maybe we look at those suggestions that we give before God and say, God, I don't have ability, I don't have money, I don't have experience, I don't have the knowledge. I don't have an education. And God is just shaking his head to none of that really matters to him.
How many of you in this room have Jesus?
That's enough.
That's more than enough.
When we trust what we don't have to the Lord, it's amazing what he can do.
Jesus doesn't need anything from you.
He just chooses to use us, to teach us, to grow us, to work through us that he may get the glory.
And so today, when we think about a meal that would feed thousands of people, Jesus didn't even need the five loaves and two fishes. Jesus didn't need this little boy's lunch. He could have spoke it and it would have filled everything. But he chose to use this little lad's lunch that he may get the glory and, and that it may feed thousands.
Today, when we give suggestions to God, we think we deal with a God that is supposed to meet us on our terms.
No, God wants you to meet him on his terms. And that's by faith.
Today maybe you're dealing with a situation where you don't have an answer.
You have some suggestions, but you don't have the answer you're looking for today.
Maybe you just need to trust it to the one who can deal with it. Make it happen.
Trust it to the Lord.
Well, this story ends in verses 16 and 17.
It says this Jesus took the five loaves and two fishes and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and brake and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. And they did eat, were all filled and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them. Twelve baskets.
The third thing you need to see is a godly miracle.
A godly miracle. Jesus takes these five loaves and two fish and he looks to heaven, just signifying his dependence on his Father. He blesses, he breaks, and he gives the disciples to set before the people.
Now, maybe your mind is like my mind when I learned this story as a little kid. My mind as a little kid thinks, boom. Like fish and bread just multiplied instantly.
And there was so much fish and bread laying around, people just got tired of it.
That's how my little mind worked. But here's how I believe that. Here's how I believe it as an adult. I believe as those two fish and those five loaves were taken and they were distributed to the disciples. First Jesus gives them to the disciples.
And as those disciples, they began to distribute it to everybody else. That's where the multiplication happened. It didn't happen instantly. It happened as they served, as they went.
They just kept on coming back for more, and they kept on giving out more. And they came back for more and more. They gave out more.
And next thing you know, all these groups of people have food.
How did that happen?
Well, when we understand that the loaves and fish are not only to feed thousands, but it filled the baskets with leftovers, we understand what a miracle of God this was.
He met an immediate need.
And not only did he meet it, he exceeded it.
Probably there were people in this crowd that experienced, had never experienced being full.
And the Bible says that they were filled.
Now, listen.
I believe as Jesus blessed and used these disciples to feed the multitudes, the 12 baskets that were left over, I believe that was a personal testimony to each one of the disciples.
I believe there were 12 leftover baskets to symbolize one for each disciple to teach them a lesson that, yes, you have this same power and authority. You could have done this if you would have just fed them.
But I also believe that there were 12 left over because of the 12 tribes of Israel. A reminder that God has taken care of his people over and over and over again.
The blessing of Jesus to the crowd was this.
Jesus filled my belly.
Jesus satisfied my hunger.
But the blessing of Jesus to the disciples is that he filled their baskets with leftovers, showing his grace and provision that he could help and meet any need that they faced. Today you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
If you are saved, if you're in this Place. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ and you go to a world that is in need and that has a great need for Jesus himself.
Today you can take whatever you run into, whatever you meet, whatever you need, and you can bring it before your Lord and he will help meet that need.
Today, I want you to know that you can't understand.
You can't depend on your own ideas, you can't depend on your own strength.
You must depend on the Lord.
When I look at this story today, I see disciples that were tired, that were ready to just turn in for the day, and Jesus was not done with the work he wanted to do this Sunday morning.
Is there a disciple, is there a child of God in this room today that's done, that thinks, okay, God, we're done. I'm done. Maybe for the day. I've had my season of serving you, God. I'm done.
Here's what Jesus says. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You may be tired, you may be wearied, but you just need to trust me, lead you through this season.
Maybe there's a child of God in this room today that looks at their age or their circumstances and says, look, I have no more to offer. I have no more to give.
Nowhere in the Bible will you find that somebody retires from ministry. Nowhere in the Bible will you find that you're too old to serve the Lord. Don't you dare believe that. Today you come. You come and ask Jesus to fill your basket once again to bless and leave and give you something to do in his kingdom work today.
Will you trust Jesus with everything that you have?
When we think about trusting Jesus with all that we have, we are talking about everything physical, but more importantly, where he has planted us in this world. What is the Lord calling you to today?
Thankful that through different translations, Luke chapter 9, verse number 17 says this.
Here's what the different translations say. I'm going to read it from the King James first. And they did eat and were filled. And there was taken up fragments of remain to them, 12 baskets. So they ate and all were filled. Do you see that in the King James in the other translations? They ate as much as they wanted.
They ate and were filled. They ate and had enough. But my favorite was this. They ate and were satisfied.
You see what Jesus did? He didn't give them a little nibble.
He gave them all that they physically needed. In this miracle of feeding of 5000, he let them eat until they were satisfied.
How many of you believe that Jesus satisfies the rumbling stomachs hopefully you see this through that miracle. And I'm looking at the time. You got 12 minutes.
But today, spiritually, I want to ask what's rumbling in your life?
What's uncomfortable, what's hungry, what's thirsty for more?
What do you need? What are you pursuing? What do you desire and that only Jesus can give you?
These disciples were worn out, they were tired, they were done.
And Jesus says, oh, oh, no. No, you're not.
There's still work to do today in your life.
I want to call you to a faith that believes that Jesus is the son of God, that he laid down his life on a cross for your sin. And his resurrection means that you serve a living God for all of your life, and you will meet him one day in eternity.
How do you. How are you being satisfied today?
The only way that I'm satisfied is when I trust Jesus with everything that I have.
And from that, he pours back into me and he blesses me and he fills me up. He allows me not only to feed on him, but he allows me satisfaction in doing so.
Today, maybe there's a brother or sister that has an empty spot, an empty hole, a hunger.
You come.
Maybe today, there's somebody with the greatest need in all the world.
It's not represented outside of these doors, it's in these doors. And that need is for Jesus to be your savior. There's only one person that can satisfy that need.
He went to a cross. He shed his blood for your sin. That you can come to him believing, and he will save you.
Today my prayer is that we can trust the Lord with all that we have. A very simple miracle today teaches us these things. A godly miracle. God is in control.
Will you let him be in control of your life today?
Let's pray. Father, thank you.
Thank you for meeting us here in this place.
God, thank you for teaching us, Lord, that even when we don't know what to do, when we don't have the answer, God, that we can trust that you do.
Lord, I pray that you will use this sermon, this message about a very simple miracle, the feeding of 5,000, to remind us that you are in control and that you call us to something deeper and something more, Lord, just to trust all that we are to you, acknowledging that even in our own power, we cannot do it without you. O Lord God, circle your people this morning. Meet them exactly where they are, Lord, for those that need you, God. I pray, Lord, that you will meet them, Lord, that you will lead them or that you will guide them closer to a walk with you. That one that needs you as savior. Father God, I pray that you meet them as only you can. Draw them to yourself in these moments. Lord, we thank you for a great miracle that feeds a growling stomach.
Lord, I'm sure in this room there's a hungering soul.
God, meet that need. I pray.
[00:27:46] Speaker A: Pray.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Push us toward you. Use us as only you can. I pray. In Jesus name. Amen.
[00:27:53] Speaker A: Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11am for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.
