[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here, and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in.
I'm so glad you're here with us. How about a big warm round of applause for all of our friends watching online from all around the world? What's up, everybody? Welcome in.
I'm so glad you could join us this morning. God's got something powerful to speak directly to you. No matter where you may be watching from, God's going to speak to you. So grab your Bibles and follow along if you would. John Chapter six is where we're going to spend all of our time today. John Chapter six. As we continue on with our MOMENT series, I want to say I missed being with you last week, but I was spending some time at High Ridge Mineral Wells with Pastor Ryan and the High Ridge Fam. And then my family and some friends, we took off and spent some time in Mexico. I did not get deported. Before you show me all of your jokes, no, I did not get deported, but we had a fun time sitting there. I want to say that I missed you. I did not miss anything or anybody. But I'm glad to be. I'm glad to be home. It's an important thing to be able to rest a little bit. So it's great to be back with you. And as we continue on with our series, I wanted to say it's been such an honor watching you dig into God's word, watching you to pursue his presence. And those of you that have grabbed one of our MOMENT study guides and have not just been in a group, but been studying this on your own, it's a beautiful thing. You can actually see the progress in people's lives as they're getting closer to God than they've ever been. And that really is my heart as a pastor to help people know God better, help them to spend more time with them, to get things from their relationship with God that they absolutely need. And so as we turn in our Bibles to John Chapter six, I think God's going to take you another step today as we talk about what it means to have divine moments. We're going to look at a powerful, powerful, divine moment in John Chapter three. Six. And I want to just think about your life for a moment because surely if you've been following if you've been, if you've been following the Lord for any length of time, there's been moments where God has blown your mind. There's been moments where God has done something that only God can do.
There are times where God has absolutely performed miracles from any of us. And for those of you that grew up in church, you, you might remember the old open mic night where we used to have like a Wednesday night service where just pass around a microphone and people would start talking about all the great things that God has done. And sometimes it was wonderful and amazing to pass around the mic and sometimes it was wonderful and amazing to see the things that people would say because it got nuts. I remember one particular time there was a lady that stood up and started confessing sin and naming names. Woo.
The pastor is like, grab that mic, grab that mic.
But all the great things that God has done for us. This room is full of a bunch of people who have had fantastic divine moments where God has done things that only God can do. Am I right? Do you have those moments in your life?
When was the last time that, that you really had an intense experience with the Lord? Think about that.
I remember the very first, very first time I had an experience with the Lord was, was powerful for me and it was, it reminded me of the, of the very first time that, that something blew my mind. And I would bet, I would bet your, I would bet your amazement, it was kind of unlocked at the same time that mine was. I remember the first time I was ever really amazed, not really at the Lord. That came a little bit later, but I was really shocked at the very first time I saw somebody like remove their thumb. Remember that?
I'm like that, that is a wizard. That is an actual wizard. The first, you know, I'm like three or four years ago.
No, I'm just kidding.
You know, you might be three or four years old and you see somebody do that or they reach down and say, oh, I got your nose. You're like, you stole my nose.
Do you remember that amazement in that moment? Do you remember what it was like the first time that somebody just blew your mind and you're like, how did, how did no one see this? Like the world needs to know.
I remember the first time that, that we ever went to a place called the Hamburger stand. The Hamburger stand in the 80s was a very short lived franchise because they decided to go with volume and super, super cheap. And they had a, they had a thing called 39 cent hamburgers. And since I grew up pretty much Below the poverty line most of my young life. That was a big deal for us to be able to go out and eat and enjoy a hamburger. But with all of us kids, my parents would sit us down and each of us got our own 39 cent hamburger, which was not good, but we were thankful for it. Come on, somebody. It's like Little Caesar's pizza. Is it good? It's hot and it's ready. But is it good? It's hot and it's ready. What else do you want, you know?
But we would split one order of fries in between all of us, and we all had to drink water. But we were thankful to have it because it was a huge experience for us. And I remember the first time I went from there to another restaurant that some of you will remember that it's hardly open now, you can hardly ever find one. But that was Pancho's Mexican Buffet.
Don't act like you like that. No one liked it, but there was a lot of it.
And you'd raise up that little flag to say, I'm ready to party till I puke. It's one of those things.
Bring me more sopapillas, you know. But I was shocked to ever. It was, it was the first time in my life that I had seen that kind of excess, that I'd seen that kind of abundance. You know, when you, when you, when you come from a place of poverty, when you come to a, from a place where you don't eat out a lot, it's difficult when you see so much food in one place. And for some of you, you're like, oh, what a poor. Like, obviously I've gotten over it. So calm down. It's, it's, it's fine.
But the first time I saw that kind of excess and abundance, my mind was just blown. Like, how, how could people eat this much food? And now I know, I understand.
But if you follow Christ for more than about five minutes, know that at some point God is going to blow your mind. God is going to show you things that you've never seen before. God is going to take you through some experiences that you need to see.
And let me just say if, if, if your walk with Christ doesn't have those divine moments where God has shown up and proven himself, you might want to question your relationship with the Lord. You, you're as close to God as you want to be. And God loves to do miracles. God loves to display his power. God loves to show you just how strong and how mighty, how powerful he is.
We know this. In Psalm 77, David writes, Lord, you are the God who performs miracles. You display your power among the peoples. God does that. It doesn't say you. You used to do miracles. He says, present tense.
You are the God who does miracles.
God still does miracles.
And here's the thing. When people see actual miracles, what do they do? They believe.
They say, thank you.
I'm still drawn to a story when Christ heals the lepers and. And.
And most of them forgot to come back and say, thank you. You've changed my life.
I wonder how many miracles have we seen and we forgot to tell God, thank you for what you've done for me. How many divine moments have we experienced where we forgot to say, lord, I thank you? Because back in the day, when things would happen in church services, we would have the testimonies, and at the open mic night, we would start shouting, why? Because our faith rose up inside of us. Because God was working mightily among us. We saw. I mean, there was a time where a lady had a stroke, and in between the time that the ambulance was coming, like her whole face had drawn up and she lost the use of the left side of her body. I mean, you watch a person's face draw up and they start slowing their speech like they're having a stroke, and people begin to pray. And I watched that whole thing just, like, start to relax, and she gets the feeling back in her, like, God literally reversed a stroke in front of people. Like, it's happened when you watch people that you thought could never be free from addiction. You know, the lady praying for the grandson that is stuck on heroin and cannot get off. And it seems like he's gonna live on the streets for the rest of his life. And all of a sudden, he. He walks into a church service, he comes down to the altar, he confesses his sins to the Lord. He is never the same from that point on. Like, those things still happen. God still delivers people. God loves to display his power among the people. And when we see those things, when we experience divine moments of God's supernatural power, you ought to shout. You ought to tell God, thank you. Wow, what an amazing God you are. Why? Because he's doing things that only God can do, only God can do.
But there's another level past shouting that I think many of us have missed. When God shows up, when God blows your mind, when God does amazing things. I want you to see this, so I'm gonna put it on the screen. God doesn't perform miracles for us to just shout, but for us to surrender, but for us to submit to his power, for us to say, okay, Lord, what are you asking of me?
How many miracles did Jesus perform when people came back and said, thank you, thank you, thank you, now I want to follow you for the rest of my life. And Jesus says, well, go do this or go do that. And he begins to give them divine direct after the miracle.
Because there's more than God just showing up to blow your mind. He wants to take you to a deeper place and a deeper relationship with him.
So in John chapter six, we're going to see a divine moment in the lives of over 5,000 people. A powerful, defining moment in Jesus's ministry where he does something that no one else has done to this point. And here's the thing. If you've been around church for longer than about five minutes, you've heard this scripture taught, you've heard this passage taught many, many times. I want to focus on some things that perhaps you haven't heard, things that maybe we don't normally focus on that will help us to kind of breathe fresh life into a story that many of us have heard many times.
So here's what it says in John 6.
A great crowd of people followed Jesus because they saw the signs, the signs that he had performed by healing the sick. I want to pause there for just a moment because any place that Jesus is sick, people are going to get better.
And that doesn't just mean physical sickness. Jesus still heals physical sickness. You need to know that, by the way. You need to believe that the things that happen with our body, God still cares. And there are times where God says, not on my watch, and it's healed. There are other times where God says, this is going to be a process. There's. Sometimes it's just instant. Sometimes God uses a doctor. But God still heals. And you have to believe that.
But more than that, more than just healing a body, God begins to heal minds. God begins to heal relationships. He begins to heal marriages. He begins to heal finances, hurts and hangups and habits. Anywhere that Jesus is, there's gonna be signs that point back to his divinity. He is God. He still does amazing things. You've gotta believe that.
And the people were following Jesus because they saw the signs that he had done while healing the sick. And then Jesus went up on a mountainside. He sits down with his disciples. And when Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming towards him, he asked Philip this question. I love this question, because this question is. Is a. Is a purposeful question.
Anytime Jesus Asks questions. It's not like he doesn't know the answer, but the response brings out something in Philip and in Andrew that both of them needed to have come to the surface.
And Jesus asked a loaded question to see the response.
He says this.
Where should we buy bread for all of these people to eat? Now, if that doesn't show you into Jesus's personality, I don't know what you. What you would. What you would. What you would need. But he's like, hey, Philip, how much money would it take to make sure all these people get something to eat? And Philip just loses it, like many of us would like, I do not have enough. There's a lot of people here.
That's impossible. Look at this.
He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. I wonder, how many things has God asked you just to test you? He already has in mind what he's going to do.
But when God asks, it elicits a response of something that needs to come to the surface so that God can deal with it and show you something beyond your imagination.
Philip said this. It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite. Like, see the response? Like, Jesus loves to ask the right question at the right time. And what comes out of Philip in this moment is like, you gotta be kidding me.
Come on.
Let me just tell you. In your relationship with Jesus, there's moments where he's gonna ask you to step out on faith, to believe him for something that you can't see.
And if you've not had one of those moments, keep walking with Christ, keep submitting to him, because he's going to take you through moments where you're like, you got to be kidding me. Me? You want me to.
What are you asking of me? You're going to have those moments.
Another of the disciples, Andrew, spoke up and said, well, here's a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?
And then Jesus said this. Have the people look at the next two words. Sit down.
Have the people sit down. I'd never thought about what that means, the theological depth that is in just those two words. Tell the people to sit down. But it takes my mind Back to Psalm 23, when it says, he makes me lie down in green pastures. It says, he tells the people, sit down in the grass. That was there, by the way. This is what shepherds would do with sheep. As they're telling Them to stop striving, stop working. I need you to trust.
And in this moment, what happens is the people take a step of faith. They obey and sit down in preparation of the.
That they couldn't see because it hadn't been done. At this point, it's not like they laid out a big buffet. Everybody sit down. We're about to eat. Like, oh, yeah, look at all of you. I'm going to line number two. That's gonna be the shortest line ever been at a wedding where they're like, okay, if you're A through F, you go to this line and you know G through Z, you go this line. You're like, hmm, I'm change my name to Z because I got better food on this side.
They can't see the food, but they sit down as an act of faith and obedience. And by the way, when they sit down, and it's so powerful, just the concept of them sitting down like a shepherd would teach his sheep. But it also reminds me of Genesis 1, where God creates order out of chaos. The Bible says, God looked into the formless void and he speaks, let there be, and everything becomes perfect order.
God still speaks order to chaos today. Somebody needs to hear that.
And for those that were willing to sit down in preparation for the miracle that was about to come, they received something that nobody else got to see or experience.
This is a moment where Jesus says, stop striving now. For people like me and you, if Jesus would have said, hey, we need to feed these people. We said, tell them, go get something to eat and come back for the third service. Right?
Y' all go get something to eat.
But Jesus says, no, no, have them sit down as a way of saying, stop striving. I want them to rest and trust me.
I think for many of us today, that's exactly the word that you need to hear. Because God still says, I want you to rest and to trust me.
I want you to sit down in preparation for what I'm about to provide for you.
And as we sit down, as an act of faith, as we rest, as we trust what we can't see, God begins to do what only God can do. Are you still with me?
So following along in the scripture, it says this, that there was plenty of grass in that place. So they sat down. About 5,000 men were there. And then Jesus took the loaves. He gave thanks and distributed to those who. Who were seated as much as they wanted.
Notice he gave them as much as they wanted.
This is why I say, you're as close To God as you want to be. You have as much of God as you choose to have of Him. He always wants to be Lord of all. He doesn't want to be Lord of most. He wants more out of his relationship with you. And your relationship with God is as close as you allow it to be. He gives to each of them as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. And when they all had had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted. I love those words. Let nothing be wasted.
We have a saying in our culture around this church that God doesn't waste pain. God didn't waste anything. He doesn't waste tears.
He doesn't waste pain. He doesn't waste trials. He doesn't waste the heartaches that you've walked through. Let nothing be wasted. What does God do with those? He redeems them. He repurposes them. He restores. He uses them in a way that makes sense, that brings glory back to Him. Let nothing be wasted, Jesus says.
So they gathered them and they filled 12 baskets with the pieces of the. Of the loaves left over by those who had eaten. And after the people saw the sign that Jesus performed, they began to say, well, surely this is the prophet that's come into the world. And Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force with Jew again to a mountain by himself.
It's interesting that in this moment of great success, the crowd buys in and they are ready to make Jesus the king. And Jesus said, no, no, no. Jesus withdraws from man's version of success.
But you've just now got it going.
There's people coming. We've got a crowd.
They all saw a miracle. They're willing to do anything like lead them. Jesus says, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
That's not the kind of success I'm here for.
We, we, we find a powerful lesson there that Jesus withdraws from man's version of success. And you're going to have to as well.
To be a follower of Christ means you've got to redefine what success looks like.
Jesus withdraws from man's version of success. Why? Because success isn't success unless God is in it.
Rethink the way that we do business and ask, Lord, are you in this? Rethink the way you do your taxes. Lord, is this right? Is this honest?
Rethink the way that we interact with others. Success isn't success unless God's in the middle of it. And Jesus says, that's not for me.
I know what I'm supposed to do. And it doesn't look like this.
So we see very clearly that this isn't a story about bread. It's about trust. It's about Jesus trusting that the Father's plan was better than the people's plan.
You're going to have to make that determination at some point in your life. Is God's plan for my life better than what I want or better than what people want? For me, success isn't success unless God is in it. So there's three things about this story that I think are of critical importance for us today, things that I think we need to know.
If you're a note taker, I want you to write this down. Because at some point you're going to need to refer back to this and say, okay, I learned this. This is going to help me. So here's the first or three things I want to share with you. Number one. Jesus trains his people through lack and abundance.
He trains his people through lack and abundance. Now, there's theological circles that would say, oh, it's all about abundance and prosperity. It's all about God. Is this Santa Claus in the sky going to give, give, give, give, give. No, no, no. God gave Christ his son. You already have all that you need. Are there blessings? Absolutely. But here's the thing. Success isn't success unless God is in it and God's training his people through lack and abundance. Success without God, by the way, is a lot of things that you don't want. Because man's version of success in business a lot of times will come at the cost of your family. It'll come at the cost of your marriage. It'll come at the cost of your relationships. It'll come at the cost of your health. That is not successful. That's just trading one thing for a lot of other things that are far more important.
There's a scripture in Proverbs that says the Lord gives wealth and adds no sorrow to it. There's a version of godly success that doesn't cost you anything except for your trust and dependence upon Him. There's a better version of success, and God trains his people through lack and abundance. Notice at the beginning of this story, Jesus sets them down to feed them. And guess what? There ain't enough.
And there ain't enough money to even buy enough.
There's the lack at the end of the story. There's 12 baskets left over.
There's an abundance.
I wonder which side Are you on right now? Let's just say, just financially, because I'd venture your guess. I'd venture a guess that your life probably looks like mine. There are times in your life where I've been on both sides of that. There are times in my life where there's been a lot of lack. And other times where I'm like, I'm okay. Don't anybody breathe.
There are times where the welcome mat just says, well.
And there's other times where you're like, don't tell anyone. We have a hundred dollars left at the end of all the bills.
Let's buy some snacks. Don't tell the kids, right?
But Jesus trains his people through lack and abundance. The Apostle Paul, by the way, proves this point in Philippians chapter four, where he says, I know what it is to be in and to have plenty. I understand both sides of it.
I know what it's like. Here's a servant of God, by the way. Paul, that writes like a third of the New Testament by himself, says, I know what it's like not to have enough.
That'll mess with a lot of theology. He also says, I know what it's also like to have plenty.
What do you do when you don't have enough?
How do you respond?
That's a good thing to think about. And what do you do when you're doing well?
What do you do when you have more than enough?
Because I think if we were to be honest today, we'd realize that America is not a third world country.
And most of us, if we're going to be honest, live much better than the majority of the people across the world.
We've got a lot of things to be thankful for.
We have enough. We have more than enough.
But what we do when we live with that abundance mindset is we tend to think it's about me and what I can have instead of Lord, what are you asking me to do when I'm doing well?
Jesus talks about this in Luke chapter 8. In Luke chapter 12, he talks about a man who had a great harvest. This man was doing well. It seemed like everything he does, God was just blessing it. He had an abundance.
And they said, what are you gonna do with all this abundance that God has blessed you with? And his response was, I'm gonna build a bigger barn.
And Jesus says this in Luke chapter 12, you fool.
Then he says, this is how it will be to whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich towards God.
God says, I blessed you with that. I've taken care of you, I've provided for you.
Exodus chapter 16. By the way, when God begins to feed his people as they're walking through the desert on their way to the promised land, God begins to feed them every single day. Just enough.
And he says, now on the Sabbath, there's not gonna be any. So the day before the Sabbath, I'm gonna provide double. Gather just enough so that you'll have enough for the day when it doesn't come. God was training them to depend on him every day. There are times where they would have just enough and there are times they would have more than enough so they can get through the times where there's lean times.
God was teaching dependence. And God still teaches his children how to depend upon him today. You have to know that. Otherwise you'll think God doesn't take care of me or God doesn't care, and both are wrong.
God trains his people through lack and through abundance. So here's what we know because of this scripture. We know that this is true. When God withholds, he's training us to trust. And when he gives abundance, he's testing our stewardship.
God does both, and both are tests.
Jesus says, I already have in mind what I'm going to do. Well, what are you going to do? I'm going to teach these disciples to trust me.
I'm going to teach them to depend on me. They need this lesson. You see, the disciples saw all the people coming and their hunger as a problem. And if we're not careful, we'll do that. The more people that come to church like, well, the people are the problem.
Thin this out. No, no, no, the people are the potential.
I wonder how many issues are you facing today where you say, well, here's my problem. God's saying, that's not your problem, that's your potential.
What can I do with what is not enough?
What can I do at the end of your ideas? What can I do at the end of your best guess? What can I do at the end of all of your knowledge?
And he tells his disciples, have the people sit down.
Jesus breaks the bread and notice this. The bread doesn't multiply until it goes into the hands of the through the hands of the disciples. I think a lot of times we make a mistake when God gives us something to help somebody else with.
And instead of serving God with an open hand, we close it.
Now I've got enough close fist.
But the miracle happens when his disciples are obedient and the miracle passes through their hands, not to their hands. And that's a different mindset that some of us need to live in right now. You see, God multiplies what his people hold with an open hand. It's still a tough lesson for many of us to learn, but there's a divine moment that happens when you begin to look at your resources through a godly lens and recognize what the Lord is asking you to do. So Jesus trains his people through lack and through abundance. Number two, we see this, that Jesus gives thanks for what is not enough.
I love that before the miracle happens, Jesus is giving thanks, and he does this to model exactly what we're supposed to do. Jesus gives thanks for what is not enough.
For those of us that had to walk through seasons of a lot of lack, there's something that you learn in those seasons. You learn how to be creative. You learn how to be scrappy. You learn how to have to trust God.
You get new ideas. It can teach you a lot when you have very little.
One of the things I remember as a prominent part of my childhood, and I've told this story before, where there was a season where me and my brothers and sisters, we had nothing else to eat but onions. And that's the reason why today I still don't eat onions. I had some French onion soup last week. I'm like, this tastes really good. Look at those onions in there. I'm done. That's it.
And it's not because I don't like the taste.
It's the thought.
I remember, though, having nothing but onion rings and ketchup.
And some of you are like, that sounds incredible. Yeah, Try that for about three days and see what happens with you.
Once again, don't feel too sorry for me. I've gotten over it, obviously. Or have I?
But there's a scripture that the first time I read it as a child, it spoke to me in a brand new way. There was a divine moment that happened in my spirit when I read the scripture, because I understood it differently than just words on a page. And that was in 1st Thessalonians 5, where it says, give thanks in all circumstances, whether you're in need or whether you're in a place of abundance.
I've learned that gratitude is the key. It's gratitude that makes room for multiplication.
Gratitude is the key when we start thanking God, God begins to do things that are only God.
God begins to show us ways we couldn't come up with on our best day.
Now, I will say this. Gratefulness doesn't say you're automatically going to have a miracle, but I promise you this. You can't have a miracle without it.
You need to be grateful. God loves to bless grateful people.
I found a scripture, by the way, in Psalm 50 where it says this. God is speaking to his people, and he says, he who sacrifices, thank offerings, honors me, and he prepares the way so that I might show him the salvation of God.
I love that God says, your thanks mean more to me than you think they do. It matters when you teach your children to be grateful. Children.
It matters when you teach your grandchildren gratitude. That's something that we've. That we've lost in our generation, that. The ability to say, you know what? Thank you, Lord. Even if I don't have all that I want, I'm thankful for what I do have. That's a good word for somebody today.
Through this scripture, it shows us that gratitude literally prepares the way for divine intervention for God to do what only God can do.
Jesus gives thanks for what was not enough.
It shows us that Jesus also, by the way, loves to reveal himself in our limitations.
Did you know that Jesus loves to reveal himself in places where there ain't enough?
He does it a lot. And he will intentionally walk you through seasons where you have to trust him.
I think more often than not, though, we are in seasons where we have to trust him with our abundance.
When things are going well, when you have the kids move out and you're like, mm, I got a raise. These kids was expensive.
Then God says, can you be a good steward, or is it just about building a bigger barn?
Here's what we see in God's word.
Deuteronomy, chapter 8.
It says, you may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. God says, that wasn't you that pulled yourself up by your own bootstraps. That was me giving you that mindset. Oh, but I worked hard. Yeah. I provided you with everything that you needed.
God says, remember me. I'm the one that gives you the ability to produce what you have. Remember me.
So refuse to believe the lie that your resources are yours. They're not. They're his.
The Word is very clear that everything in the earth belongs to the Lord. The question is, are you a good steward of it or not?
The question is, can he trust you with it? And that's a test that each of us have to choose to pass every single day. Lord, can you trust me? Will I be faithful with what you're Allowing to be faithful with so that you can trust me with multiplication.
Here's the last thing I'll share with you. Number three. Jesus multiplies what is broken.
And this is the part of the story where many people gloss over. We don't want to read about the parts where Jesus has to break something before it multiplies. But that principle is still very, very much in effect for me and for you. Following after Christ, learning how to trust him, means that there are some things that are going to be broken off of your flesh, broken off of your life. Things that need to stay in the past, things that God says, I need to break that off of you before you ever see the multiplication. On the other side of this season of lack following Jesus, being used by Jesus when you say the words use me, Lord, when you say, Lord, I want to be used by you. That doesn't come with a suit and a microphone. It comes with a breaking.
Scripture talks about a broken spirit and a contrite heart. There are some things that God wants to break off of your life before multiplication comes. And Jesus multiplies what is broken.
Let me make it a little bit more clear so that we can see this.
Whatever refuses to be broken is unable to be blessed.
There are many things that people will never experience, many divine moments that many will never experience because of our stubbornness to allow the Lord to break away. Things from our life that we know belong.
And in this moment, God confronts that in Philip.
Because Jesus brings up one thing that just causes him to explode and he brings up money.
Where are we going to buy bread for all these people? And Philip explodes. It would take half a year's wages, just enough to give people one bite.
Philip, do you have an issue here?
Let's confront that issue.
Let me show you what you think it will take and what I know it will take are two different things.
It's not about bread, Philip. You don't trust me, and I'm going to walk you through something that helps you to trust me more. There's a breaking that has to happen not just with the bread, but in the heart of Philip. There's a breaking that needs to happen, not just within you, but in the person sitting next to you and the person on your other side. There's a breaking that has to happen in us all. Jesus multiplies what is broken.
It's a reflection, by the way, that we see later on, at the Last Supper, just before Jesus goes to the cross, when he takes the bread. And we remember this every time we take Communion as believers. He. He blesses the bread and he breaks the bread and he starts giving it to each of them. But now he says, this is my body.
He's speaking, by the way, prophetically, because it hadn't happened yet. His body hadn't been broken yet.
But when Jesus takes and hands this to his disciples, something supernatural begins to happen. In their spirit, there's a seed that's planted where each of them would say, now my body's gonna be given so that the gospel can multiply and that everything points back to Jesus with my life. And that began to set off a chain of events that leads all the way up to Longview, Texas, today, with people over the past 2,000 years that have allowed God to begin to break things off of their life so that they could be multiplied to do more than they ever thought possible. When they begin to make a difference with the life that God has given them, they recognize it's not about me.
It's not about the happiness that I can have. It's not about man's version of success.
But Lord, break those things off of me so that you can multiply me to do what you've called me to do.
Here's what we need to see today. That God's breaking is not punishment. It's fulfillment of divine purpose.
This is part of our purpose to be beautifully broken, to be beautifully submitted and surrendered to a God that can do more with your life than you ever thought possible.
Jesus multiplies what is broken. For some of us today, there's a breaking off that needs to happen in our version of worldly success.
Need to say, perhaps what the world calls success is not what God is calling.
For me to walk in, I found that my definition of success has changed. You can look at what we have as a church. This is a beautiful, big and vibrant church. Here's the thing. If we're not making a difference, that's not success to me. If people aren't getting saved, that's not success to me. If we're not seeing the sick get better, if we're not seeing the loss put into families, if we're not seeing those things, that's not success to me. We could look at this and say, there's, oh, wow, outwardly, lots of success.
But my definition of success has changed. My definition of success comes down to one word, obedience.
Did I obey what he told me to do or not? That is successful to me.
What's your definition of success? And could it be that God wants to break some of those things? Off of your life as. As he's been doing in. In mine.
Perhaps what's being broken off today is greed.
Maybe what's being broken off of you today. The Lord's saying, can I. Can I have that?
Can I have that issue?
Talk about unforgiveness for just a moment.
God's saying, can I. Can I break that off of you?
Why, Lord? So I can multiply your effectiveness.
This is not punishment. It's part of the process. And Jesus multiplies what is broken. And he says, let nothing be wasted. God's not here to waste your tears, your pain. He wants to use it. He wants to repurpose it. He wants to redeem it. He wants to restore you so that he can multiply you, to point others back to him.
That's the purpose of your life. This is more than bread. It's about trust.
Now finish this off with a thought that I think is important. Whatever God breaks is never wasted. And what he multiplies points back to Jesus. Jesus said, I am the bread.
So that's the question. Does your life point to a worldly version of success?
Is that your goal?
Is the goal of your life just to build a bigger barn?
Is the goal of your life just to make just enough to make it?
Or could it be that there's more for you than man's version of success?
I think there's a divine moment that's happening where you recognize there's some things in my life that need to be submitted. And so over the next few moments, I want to give you a chance to respond and say, lord, you can have that. For some of us, it's offenses. For others, it's addictions. For some people in this place, it is greed. You've never trusted the Lord. You've never stepped out. You've never thought about the concept of tithing. Or anytime somebody brings up money in church, you have a hard place in your heart. Or something just reacts to that. Here's the thing. That's exactly where the Holy Spirit wants to work.
And I think just as Jesus told his disciples, he's telling us today, he's saying, sit down.
Rest, and trust me.
I will always take care of my sheep.
Would you bow your head and close your eyes?
I want to ask you whether you're here in person or whether you're watching online. Let's have a moment where we simply say, holy Spirit, what are you saying to me? Can you pray that from wherever you may be watching from, right here, right now, Holy Spirit, what are you saying? To me, what? Are there parts of my life that need to be broken?
Are there parts of my life that don't belong? And if so, Lord, would you show me?
I want to submit to you today.
I want to honor you today.
I want to trust you today.
So, Lord, we give you our wounds, we give you our offenses, we give you our unforgiveness, we give you our greed. In the times that, Lord, we've.
We've failed to trust you.
Father, we ask that you forgive us, that we would walk in divine purpose, that we would allow you to do the work on the inside that you want to do. You're an amazing God, and you don't waste anything. I know that you won't waste my life.
So, Father, we give you thanks and praise, honor and glory for what you're already doing as we submit and surrender to you.
And now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, perhaps you came here today and you're saying, pastor, if I'm going to be honest with you, man, I don't have a relationship with Jesus. You may have never asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins. You may have never put your trust or faith in him. Maybe you never even believed in him before today. But you're here.
And for still others, you might be in this place saying, pastor, I was raised in church. I've done all the things, but I am so far from God right now.
I need to come home. My friend. Yes, you do. You're in the right place. God led you here today for a reason. And whether you're here in person or watching online, God has a plan for your life. And it starts with a step, a step of faith.
We call it a prayer of repentance, where you ask God to forgive you of your sins, where you ask him to heal you and restore you.
And if you are getting serious about your relationship with the Lord, if you want to come home, then I'm gonna ask you that you pray this prayer with me. I'll tell you the words to say. You can pray it right along with me. As a matter of fact, all of us are going to say it together so that you don't feel like you're singled out or embarrassed in any way. You need to pray this, but take the step of faith.
Pray this prayer with me. Let's just say it together. Jesus, I believe you're the son of God.
I believe that you came and died.
And I believe you rose from the grave so that I could have life and forgiveness for my sins.
I ask for you to forgive me And I will give my life to you in Jesus name.
And with heads bowed and eyes closed. If that was you and you prayed that prayer and you meant it, can I just see your hand all across this place? Would you lift it up nice and high and proud Pastor, that was me. I pray that prayer. Today I started my relationship with Jesus. Yes, I see you. Good for you. Good for you. Yes, ma'. Am. Yes, ma'. Am.
Good for you. I'm so proud of you and the decisions that you just made. For those of you that raised your hand, you can put your hands down.
But whether you're watching online or in person, there's a phone number that's gonna appear behind me on a screen.
And that phone number is just for you. I wanna ask you to text me. Text the words I prayed to that number. And what's gonna happen when you do that is I'm gonna send you a link to some videos I've made just for you. It'll help you understand what just happened in your heart and what to do next.
I'm super proud of you in the decision that you just made. Good for you.
How rich family. Go ahead and look up at me and stand to your feet. If you wouldn't mind. If you're watching online today or perhaps you're here in person, you're willing to take a step for us, I'm going to ask a favor from you. If you feel like our world needs to hear this message, would you do us a huge favor and click the share button on whatever social media platform you might be watching this from? It's a big deal when you do that. We have around 4,000 people every single week that are watching these videos and people are responding from all over the world. Some of, some of the people, like church is on their phone. That's the only church that they get to. They get to attend. It's a big deal when you choose to do that. So thank you so much. Also, at this time, I'm going to ask our elders and their wives to step forward. And as our service finishes up today, if you're walking through any difficult season and you say, man, I wish somebody would pray for me, then these people are going to stay right here to be available to pray for you.
We still believe in miracles. God still does miracles. And we had some. We had some people down here earlier in the first. In the first service, just celebrating. You know, they came up here a while back and prayed for a situation that just looked insurmountable, but God, and today was not A day we were asking for prayer. Today is a day of gratitude and thanks. And they came forward and said, we prayed about this and look what God did. So today was a day where we celebrated a little bit. So if you walk through something, maybe today is the day where you come up and grab one of these guys hands. I just want to thank the Lord with you together, celebrate what God has done. It's a big deal for everybody else. Let me pray for you and bless you and send you out. Father, would you bless my friends with an incredible week? Would you watch over them? Would you keep your hand upon them, Give them favor and peace, Help them to honor you and to trust you in every area of their life. And we ask all these things in the mighty name of Jesus and all of us said together.
Amen. God bless you as you go. I hope you have an awesome week.
[00:42:13] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening.
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