Thank you for tuning in to the Covenant Podcast, a podcast dedicated to the teaching and preaching of God's Word. The Covenant Podcast is a ministry of Covenant Baptist Church located in Indianapolis, Indiana. And now, here is today's speaker. We are once again back in the Gospel of John. We'll be reading the first 15 verses of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, arguably one of the better known accounts in all of Scripture. This recording of the feeding of the 5,000, actually much more than that we know. But let's read together and then pray that God would speak to us through His Word. beginning in verse one of John chapter six. After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 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? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many? Jesus said, have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5,000 in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were who were seated, sow also the fish as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew himself again to the mountain by himself. The feeding of the 5,000, we know that's more than that from the other gospel accounts. in Scripture about this same miracle that Jesus performed. In fact, this miracle, other than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels. The only one, besides the resurrection itself. So Matthew tells us about this day. Mark, Luke, and here John, all four, telling us about this miracle of the feeding of these 5,000 men and women and children. Some have estimated the numbers to be at least 15,000, if not more. Whether it's 5,000 or 10,000 or 15,000, the miracle is just as remarkable. But I wonder, do you believe what we just read? Do you believe it? Do you believe that what we just read happened? Sadly, many people dismiss the scriptures out of hand because they just simply cannot get themselves to believe the miraculous in scripture. In fact, and I was amazed and shocked when I first discovered that these kinds of people exist in the world. There are those who teach In what are called seminaries and they teach about the scripture, but they are referred to as liberal theologians and they deny the miraculous. They study the Bible for its literary elegance. It's literary advantage. There's no denying that the scriptures have had an unprecedented impact upon Western culture. and there's no denying that, and so they'll study it, but they'll come to these miracles, and they'll say silly things. They'll say silly things like, really what happened here was there were a whole bunch of people, and they needed to eat. Jesus had been teaching them, and this is really a picture of just sharing. This small young boy comes, and he's got a little bit of food, and so everybody opens up the little bit of food that they have, and they shared together, and that's really the moral of the story, and it's just silly. Many people deny that what we just read actually happened. I believe that it did. I believe that this is exactly what happened, and many people deny it, despite. And some would say today, we're such a hardened and skeptical culture today, and dismissive of the miraculous, when in reality, everybody in this room, I don't care who you are, I don't care what you believe, and everybody in the world believes in the miraculous. Everyone does. I believe in the miracle working power of the son of God, doing just what he said he did here on this day. Others believe in the miraculous powers of the universe and chance. It all just kind of came together in a miraculous way, and the odds of it happening can be described in no other way than it's miraculous. Many dismiss the scriptures. They dismiss them because of accounts like this one, and they say, I can't get my mind around the miraculous in the Bible. When apparently there's little struggle getting minds around the miraculous claims of science or other religions or of one's own opinions. The miraculous is a real thing. The working of the power of God in our life and on this day is real. And what's interesting to me as well, there were, what, 15,000 more people. Do you know what you don't ever read about in Scripture? Even among Jesus' enemies, you do not read, you do not hear the Pharisees coming and saying, that didn't happen. That didn't happen, that was a story. In fact, what you find is a man like Nicodemus coming to Jesus and saying, We know you're from God. Remember the third chapter of John? We know you are a teacher come from God, for nobody can do the works that you're doing except God sent him. And in the Gospel of John, this is miracle number four. Just the fourth one, the one that is noted in the Gospel of John, and people knew Jesus was performing things unexplainable in any other way than it was miraculous. in the first century AD, you don't read of writers and among the Pharisees or those in the ruling powers and the ruling class, you don't read any significant accusation that the claims of Jesus didn't happen, that Lazarus didn't actually come forth from the tomb. These 15 or more thousand people didn't actually have food that wasn't there one moment and was the next. What do you believe? Do you believe what this account just said? And I believe that it is true. And if it's true, it means Jesus is the Son of God. And if Jesus is the Son of God, then it means that Jesus went to the cross and he died for you. And if he went to the cross and died for you, he did that for the reasons that he gave, which were this. God so loved the world that he gave me to it so that you might have an opportunity to be saved. That's why he came. And the miracles are signs and wonders as they're called in scriptures. They are given for us and for the people of that day to recognize that Jesus is the son of God and I remember a miracle working in my own heart as an 11-year-old boy when God, by His Spirit, convicted me of sin and let me know that I was lost. That was a miracle working in the Spirit of God upon my heart. And Jesus said it that way. You must be born again. He says in John chapter six, verse 44, later in this very chapter, no one can come to me except the Father which has sent me should draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. Salvation is a miracle of God. This miracle, in particular, this feeding of the 5,000, as it is witnessed and recorded by all four gospel writers, there must be something God is trying to tell us through it. God doesn't waste a word of scripture, and yet all four gospel writers tell us about this day. Why? Why did God want us to know so much about this day? I believe there could be many answers. The one that God has placed on my heart to share with you today, these lessons from the miraculous, this miracle, the lessons that God would have us today, I want to walk through them as we see it. as we come to scripture and let it speak and let it do the speaking, there's something God wants you to know about this day. He wouldn't have inspired all four to write about it if he didn't want you to know something about this day, more than just what lies at the surface. goes a little bit deeper and a little bit further. There was a day when this nation looked at this book, this Bible, and there was something of an awe and a reverence about it. Something of a, when they looked at the Bible, even those who maybe didn't claim to be Christian or to be believers, when this book was considered, when the words of this book were read, there was a reverence and an awe. There was at least something of a recognition that these are the words of God to man. And there was attention given to it as a result. In schoolhouses and courthouses and legislative offices in every home, this book was presence. And there was something of an awe that comes over an individual who rightly reads this book. And when you can open the Scriptures, as I've said before, when you can open this book and not have that sense of awesome wonder at the power of God, we're becoming students of the Bible with no fire in the heart. And so this morning, as you hear this account, and if you've been raised in church, you've heard this story from the time you were in preschool, if not before. You've heard it again and again and again. You know this story. Again, I ask you, do you believe it? And what does it mean? What is God trying to show us in this miracle that he provides? I think we see so many different things, and to have every angle of this miracle from all four writers would take much time, but I do want to read in Mark, the sixth chapter, the 30th verse, through the 33rd, the apostles return to Jesus. This is the account in Mark of this same occurrence, the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. This is the setting. This is the scene right before this miracle happens. He says to them, come away and rest a while. for many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat and they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves. That's the setting. One of the greatest miracles that the world has ever seen and the setting of this miracle is a group of very tired and weary disciples. What is God trying to teach us in this miracle? In this setting, there seems to be, it's not a convenient time. This is not a convenient time. This is not a time when everyone is well rested and ready to receive 15,000 or more people to see to their needs. They're not rested. They're tired. They're weary. They're worn out. They've been ministering already. And sometimes I wonder if we miss opportunities for God to come and miraculously provide because when we're tired, we don't go that extra step. Don't dismiss these people, but Jesus looks at them and has compassion on them. And we might say more about that later, but this is not a convenient time. Sometimes we miss God's miracles working in our lives. because we just are unwilling to endure the weariness and deal and move forward in our walk with him. It's not a convenient time, and it's not a convenient crowd. Did you hear what they said in the second verse? A large crowd was following him. Why? Because they truly believed in him, because they truly thought he was the son of God, because they truly understood his message, were truly followers of him. Not really. Why were these many people following him? It says very plainly, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. They had their own motivations. In fact, we're going to see that again at the end of the account. I'm going to come and take Jesus by force to make him a king. And here, their own thoughts, their intentions, the crowd is not a convenient crowd. It's not ideal. in any circumstance whatsoever. Sometimes I think we're waiting on the ideal circumstances for God to do something. Well, this was not it. They were tired. Sometimes I wonder about our own efforts in serving God and whether or not we understand what it means to be tired and weary in the work of God. And too much of the time we're growing tired and weary doing things of the world. So Jesus says to them, His motivations and though he tells them these people were seeking this sign signs and more signs. If you're following God seeking these signs. I think you are. ones like we read about in the second chapter of John, where it said that Jesus would not entrust himself to them because he knew really what was in their heart. And a lot of people are seeking God to do something external, some outward sign. And Jesus himself said that a foolish and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. Don't seek that. That's not why they should have been following Jesus. Job says it this way in chapter 15 verse 13. Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. Is that how you look at God? Though he were to take your life, you would still exalt his name, you would praise his name, though he take everything from you as he allowed Satan to do with Job, would you still say, blessed is the name of the Lord? You seeking some sign? And you remember the three children of Israel before King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man in all the land? They'd come up with this rule that when the music played, and when the harps played, and when the music was sounded, you were to bow and give honor and praise to Nebuchadnezzar. Do you remember what they said? In Daniel chapter 3, we read the following, beginning in verse 15, after that it's all been set up and these three have been singled out. Nebuchadnezzar, these three Israelites are not bowing and worshiping your image. And they are to be destroyed and their lives taken from them as a result of this and can... What about you? and me, the most powerful person, whoever you think that that is in the world today, they came to you and said, when the music plays, you must bow down and worship this idol that I have before you worship me or some other idol. What would you do? And they'll say, and if you don't, I'm going to take your life. I'm going to throw you into this fiery furnace. That's when you find out where your faith is. That's when you find out where your faith really is. You see, it's easy to say and say the right words, especially when we've been taught the right words all of our lives. But do you feel this? Do you feel this like these three do? Nebuchadnezzar finishes his threats in verse 15. Now, if you are ready, he says, when you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the harp, the bagpipe, and every kind of music to fall down and worship the image that I've made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into the burning fiery furnace. And who is the God who will deliver you out of my hands? What did they say? Did they say our God is going to give a sign. He is going to deliver us. He is going to give us a deliverance from your hand Nebuchadnezzar. He is going to prove and demonstrate himself to be God and your image and your idol to be nothing other than that. It's not what they said. It's not what they said. Countless martyrs have gone to their death, praising the name of Jesus Christ, but never presuming upon him that he would deliver them from that moment. In fact, God was using them in that moment as they poured out their very lives and said, this is what this is worth. This is what the three said. We know them as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. That's how they are referred to here. That is their Babylonian names. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. They're saying, there's nothing for us to say. If this be so, excuse me, if this be so, our God, whom we serve, he is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. Hear what they said? God's gonna deliver us out of your hand. He's able to deliver us out of the burning fiery furnace, but verse 18, but if not, if he doesn't, Be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Wasn't seeking a sign. They weren't seeking deliverance in a miraculous way at that point. Their obedience was to God, no matter what God chose to do with them in their lives. You see, it is not God who is on our strings. He is not to be manipulated by us. He is the one who is to be in charge of us. Not the other way around. And this crowd of people following and coming to this scene, that's why they were there. came to a group of disciples and can imagine, have you ever been in that moment where you're just tired and you're weary and the phone rings or somebody knocks on the door or comes by and they say, I need some help. Will you help me? These disciples didn't turn them away and Jesus didn't turn them away. They were not to be seeking a sign, but he's going to give them one. Why does God do that? Why does God work signs in our life if we're not supposed to be seeking after them? What is God's purpose in giving them? They are many. They're to test. They are a mark of compassion of God. In fact, in the account of this in Mark, it says that Jesus looked at this crowd and you know what he saw? He saw a large group of sheep without a shepherd. They had compassion upon them. That's one reason God gives and performs the miraculous. It's one reason that he performs signs among us. Another is to awaken lost people. to His power. He awakens to them the reality of their sin. And I again have to hasten back to the day that God convicted me of my sin. I had heard sermon after sermon after sermon as a young boy from the time that I was adopted until that day when I was 11 years old. I had heard the story of Jesus. I had heard about Christ. I had heard about Him going to the cross. I had heard about what He did for me, but I didn't really understand until the day that God convicted me of my sin, and I knew that I was lost, and there was no explaining that other than the fact that God, through His Holy Spirit, had come and spoken to my heart that day in that place. Until then, I'd heard the same message, but that day it was different because God spoke to me. Believe in the miraculous. I do because I've seen it and I've experienced it and I felt it in my heart. This working of the son of God to bring this kind of work is nothing for the one who called all of this into existence. God speaks, and God performs signs, and he speaks to our heart, and that's miraculous. And you remember Elijah? Elijah, I believe, it was where the voice of God was not in the windstorm, it was not in the earthquake, it was not in the fire, it was in the still, small voice. Do you wanna know why I think you miss the voice of God in your heart? It's just too loud there. It's just too loud in there. Never quiet. You never sit alone. With the trinkets we have today, our phones and Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, you can live your whole life, every conscious moment, and never be alone. I'm going to tell you one day you will be, if you don't know God. We are all gonna stand alone before Him, so I encourage you, if you're not hearing the voice of God, maybe it's just too loud in your life. What voice is more important to hear than His? One who gave you life. One who sent His Son to die for you. Is it too loud? You're not hearing him. God performs miracles by communicating to you alone. He condescends to us so that we might hear his voice. Other times he performs miracles to defeat his enemies. Again and again and again, God did that in the Old Testament. To demonstrate not only to Israel, but to the rest of the world, I am God. Don't ever miss when God is speaking to the Israelites right before he delivers them from Egyptian bondage. Don't ever miss the reason he gave. He did that not merely because he wanted Israel to feel special. He did that because he said, I'm going to show you and I'm going to show the whole world that I'm God. And by the way, Jesus in this sixth chapter of the Gospel of John is going to do many miracles that that are an image back to what Moses did. He's gonna walk on water, he's gonna prove power over nature, he's gonna prove again and again that he is the prophet that Moses spoke about. Sometimes the Lord performs miracles to defeat his enemy, to awaken the lost, merely because he has compassion upon us as lost men. But in this miracle, particularly, it seems that he did it to test. To test. It's what John tells us. He says, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? He said this to test him because he knew what he was going to do. Can you imagine that moment? 15 some thousand people in front of you, and Jesus says, well, we need to get these people something to eat. And remember, they're in a desolate place. There's not a Walmart down the street. There's not a fast food restaurant on every corner. You're in the middle of nowhere, essentially. And there's 15,000 people there. They'd come running to you, is what they said in the other accounts. They'd come and left to come and hear this Jesus. And Jesus, looking at them, he understands their feeble nature and the need of the human body. And he says, where are we going to get food to feed these people? And I can kind of put myself in that position as Andrew and as Philip, and as Philip response, in honesty, he kind of looks and says, 200 denarii is not going to be enough to see to the need of this many people. And by the way, that was eight months to a year's worth of wages. They didn't have that. They didn't have that kind of money. It's impossible. So Philip's response is, we can't. It's impossible. Even if they had come up with the 200 denarii, taken up an offering among those 15,000 people, said, we need to buy food. There was nowhere to buy it there. Impossible. Again, you end up with impossible. Andrew's a little better, and we're going to look at his a little closer, his response. But his response is equally impossible, is what his response is. Well, there's a lot here. Five loaves and two fish. Essentially nothing. Impossible. Do you know what's necessary for you to understand really who God is? To get to a point in your life where you have no ability to move forward. To understand that without God you have no hope. It is like when the Israelites get to the borders of the Red Sea, and on one hand is that Red Sea that they can't cross, and on the other side is Pharaoh's army bearing down upon them. You want to know why we don't see the miraculous working of God so much of the time in our life? It's because we're unwilling to get to that place. always leaving a shred of hope in ourselves or some other person or some other man, some preacher, some church, some job, some family member, always leaving just something a little bit in this world to hold on to. And you'll never understand the delivering power of God until you let that go. Until you let that go and trust alone in the delivering power of God. Or you'll have no hope. That's where these people were. There's no food anywhere nearby. Andrew comes and answers this question. There's this lad here, but it's not enough. I want to pause for a moment and reveal what a spiritual picture God gave to me as I was preparing, reading, praying, and meditating, trying to prepare myself to come here today. I thought of the Great Commission. What is it? What is the Great Commission? You know what it is. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. I'm telling you, that's impossible for us. Seven billion people on the planet. By some simple math that I did, I think each of us in this room probably have around 70 million people to talk to. Impossible. Without the help of God. But also when I read that commission, I didn't read the qualifier where Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I didn't read the qualifier unless you're just a small church. I didn't read the qualifier unless you just really can't, and then I understand you can't. It's not the command. The command is the command. And that's also what Jesus had said earlier. It wasn't just a question. It was a get food for these people. Jesus had commanded and he expects obedience. And the disciples remember weary and tired. Do you know how much quicker you are with a quick, unthoughtful answer when you're tired? When you're rested, you can kind of catch your tongue sometimes. I wonder if Philip, in thinking back on this day, thought I spoke too soon. Jesus, 200 denarii is not enough. What are you thinking? That's the insinuation, that's the tone. And sometimes I think we take the same spiritual tone with God when he calls upon us to do something in our life and we say, impossible, impossible. With God, as it's been said, nothing is impossible. How do you pass the test? This miracle's teaching us some lessons. How do we pass the test? Verses eight and nine, Andrew's answer gives us an insight into this. One of his disciples, Andrew Simon, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many? You know the beginning of the passing of this test? Many wouldn't even have mentioned this, and many didn't. In another account of this, in one of the other Gospels, it was said, go out and see what we have. Go talk to the people, let's find out what we have. And Andrew comes back and says, well, there's five barley loaves and two fish. You know what I might have done? I might have not even mentioned it. It's next to nothing to the need. It's almost nothing to what we need. Why even mention it? It's like saying, I have a million dollar debt that I have to pay, but I got a couple of pennies over here. That's what that sounded like. Wouldn't even have mentioned it, but at least Andrew does. And so there's something in his answer that gives us an insight into what God does require of us. And that is this, give him what you have. I don't care how small you think it is. Given what you have. Nothing is insignificant if it is given to God. Many though they wouldn't even mention that Andrew mentions it and in that we see the need to give God what we have. This thought came so clear to me when I was praying and thinking about this. God doesn't require a lot out of you. He just requires everything from you. He doesn't need a lot from you. I've heard people say, well, I don't have any gifts, any abilities. I can't do this and I can't do that. And we need to be very careful with that because God is the giver of every good gift. And sometimes we fail to see God work in our lives because we're unwilling to even mention what he has given to us. And we have to realize that though we can give him but little, we are to give him all. And were I to give him all of my life, I would be giving him little, but I would be giving him what he calls for. He doesn't need much from me, but he calls me to give him all. Jesus says, if you love father and mother more than me, you're not worthy of me. Jesus says, you must come after me, deny yourself, pick up your cross every day and follow me. And miracles will come and God will work things in your life that you never could have imagined. What are you holding back? that in your eyes seems small and insignificant, or maybe in your eyes it's, God, I'm gonna give you my life, it's just I'm unwilling to give you this last little piece. It's insignificant, God, it doesn't really matter, even if I were to give it to you. It wouldn't make any difference. God, I only have half an hour, an hour in my day that I have, that's my time, that's mine to do with. If I gave it to you, I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything with that anyway. It's so insignificant. God, I've got all that I need, and you've blessed me with all that I need. I'm just gonna put a little bit of this away for myself. If I gave that to you, there couldn't be anything really done with that at all. God, it's just a little thing. What are you holding back from God? What is it? I just, I have to believe that for all of us in the room today, there's probably something Let's be honest with ourselves spiritually. There's no sense in lying to ourselves or God about it. God knows. What is that thing in your life that you're just holding on to? What is that sin in your life that you're not repenting of? What is it that you would just be mortified if the world came to know about it? You did it in the clear light of the noonday sun to God. He knows. What are you holding back from Him? He knows what it is, and maybe you don't fully. But he does. This little boy came, and there's been all kinds of speculation, so we have to be careful with that. Anytime we come to the scripture and begin to speculate, but I think it's safe to assume some of this, that this little boy, barley loaves was the bread of the poorest class in all the land. If you were eating barley loaves, you were poor. You didn't have anything. That's the only reason you'd have barley loaves. And he had five of them and two fish. And some people said, well, it was his lunch. And others have said, oh, no, this was his day's labor. And he was taken back to his home. He gave it. He didn't give a lot. But you know what he gave? All. What he gave could not possibly have seemed to the need but he gave it to the one who could see to the need. Salvation comes when we give him our hearts wholly and a life of blessed discipleship comes when we continue every day to wake up and give it to him again. Every morning that you awake, if you are a follower of Christ, I'm telling you there is no magic button that is pushed that when you get saved that there will never again be a struggle to give God your life. Satan cannot take your soul. He cannot touch your soul. ever again, but he can absolutely distract your life and point you in a direction where you don't give God this little bit that you have, and then be a blessing to others, and we move along, and I want to talk about that now. Can you imagine the blessing of this day for these tired and weary disciples? We've read this account so many times that it just, it's almost, almost just immediately dismissed. Yes, I've read that. What's next? I want you to just pause with me for a moment. I did when I was preparing. I just, I did. I just stopped and I closed my eyes. And if it helps you to do the same, I encourage you to do it. Just to close your eyes and to picture this day. These disciples, they're tired, they're weary. There's 15,000 people that need to be fed. They don't have the money. They don't have the food. They don't have anywhere to go to get it. And Jesus says we need to feed these people. The helplessness, the hopelessness. And Andrew comes and says, Jesus, this is all we have. as you picture that day and then Jesus prays and he blesses and he gives thanks. Listen, can you hear the mountainside as they settle into groups of 50 and 100 as another passage tells us of this account. Jesus says, sit down. And by the way, that's what the Christian calling is, sit down. Can you hear the the rustle of the crowd as Jesus distributes to the disciples out of this five loaves and two fish. Can you hear the one wondering, is it gonna run out before he gets to me? Is there still gonna be enough by the time, surely there's no way that there can be enough. I'm at the end of the line. I'm at this place where it feels so far, Jesus is so far from me. Is there gonna be enough? Are they still gonna be coming around to me? Can you see the tears and hear the cries of the mothers who then take the food from the disciples and give to their children who are hungry and in need? Have you ever been in a place in your life when God comes and works a miracle in your life and you are able to have given a part in that, even if it is just to encourage through prayer or some comment or some hug around the neck or handshake or just a point to them and say, do you know God? And God then saves them. Can you see and imagine the disciples as their eyes locked with those whom they were given the food? And the amazement. And the awe that was going throughout that crowd. And we stand here today denying the power of God on an almost daily basis. And we're missing the blessing of the miraculous working of God in our life because we haven't given Him the little. That is all. What are you holding back? What are you holding on to that's yours? This day, an unbelievable witness to the power and majesty of the Son of God, and so impactful that all four gospel writers, as God inspired them and as they sat down to write, thinking to themselves, I can't leave that day out. Because what John is going to say later is, I suppose that the world itself is not large enough to contain all the things that he said and did. But these are written that you might have life. And as they stopped and thought, I'm not leaving this day out. Jesus says to them, sit down. I'm coming to a close today, but I hope that you don't miss this. Once we've given God everything. That's it. Jesus says, sit down. Jesus says to sit and to be still. Once we've given to God our everything, once we've given to God repentance and call upon his name and we cry out to him, it is time now for us to pray and to hope and to expect and to depend upon the working of the miraculous power of God. There's nothing more we can do. You remember what Moses said to the children of Israel in that day? Pharaoh bearing down on one side and his army and the sea on the other and the angst and the fear and the, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? What does Moses say? Go and sacrifice to God. Go and sing these songs. Go and repeat these scriptures that you've read or these accounts of God. No. What does he say? Be still. Be still and know that I'm God. Sometimes we just have to let God take the rest and always have to let God give the increase. Once we have given Him all, we simply wait on His hand to bless. This day has been repeated, by the way, throughout history in many ways spiritually. There's been great revivals in this country. There have been great revivals in other nations across the land in history where God's miraculous power changed entire communities, homes, nations, turned them around and set them on a right path. God's power has been demonstrated again and again through history. And I would venture to say in the presence of us today, in our lives, God has done the same, that he has demonstrated his power in our midst, in our lives. and he did it when we gave him what he called us to give, and then let him do the work. And just let him do the work. Gave it over to him, God it's yours, and be like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, they're Hebrew names, and said, I don't know Nebuchadnezzar if God's gonna deliver us, but I know this, I'm not worshiping your image. I'm not seeking a sign. Because sadly, that's where this account ends up. There's people seeking, once again, earthly things. Earthly and temporary things, rather than heavenly things. But do you remember, as we close, come toward this close, how many baskets did they gather back up of the fragments? 12. That young boy, when he showed up that day and gave everything he had? It doesn't say this in Scripture, but I bet he left with more than he came with. Where did those 12 baskets go? I bet that young boy left with more than he came with, and I can tell you today that anytime I've given God the little that I can give him, I leave with more than I ever gave him. I gave him, when I was 11 years old, my repentance and faith. I placed my trust in Jesus Christ. I repented of my sin. I knew I was lost. I gave that to him. He saved my soul and gave me eternal life. You tell me, did I leave with more than I gave? Yeah, immeasurably more. They came and they were going to make him a king, looking for earthly things, the misunderstanding multitude. When the people saw the sign that he'd done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world, perceiving then that they were about to come and take him away, but forced to make him king, and that was their motive. Jesus is later gonna say to these people that continue to follow him, he's gonna say to them, can you imagine the rebuke that this is? He said, stop. He turns around and looks at them and says, stop. You're following me because you ate. You're following me because you were fed. What happens the day that by God's divine providence says it's time for you to not be fed? Will you still follow? His assessment was no. And so what does he do? He withdraws again to the mountain by himself. One of the greatest fears we ought to have is that God would withdraw his presence from us. And the only reason that he did this on this day is because he willingly did so, because we just got proof that should he desire to, he can withdraw himself and no one can find him. Do you remember the day in Nazareth, his own hometown, he's about ready to be killed, people are wanting to take his life because of his message, and he just walks right through the crowd and disappears, and they don't, they're about ready to push him over the cliff, and all of a sudden he's just not there. Because it was not his time. He doesn't do that on the day that they take him to the cross of Calvary. He could have. On multiple occasions, Jesus withdrew himself from a place when he was no longer welcome in the way that he wanted to be welcomed, and all of a sudden, people just didn't know where he went. Can you imagine that? 15,000 people, all of a sudden, where did Jesus go? Where did he go? I wonder how many churches through history have one day woken up with that same question. Where did he go? He's gone. We didn't have him. He had us. It's not us that held him, it's him that holds us. And he's gone. You say that wouldn't happen. Jesus said he would never leave us or forsake us, and that's true. Individually, he wrote to his churches and said, if you don't change and you don't repent of what I'm calling out, I'm gonna withdraw the candlestick, I'm going to leave, I'm going to depart, and you will not even know it. So God help us to see in the miraculous the lessons that he's given us, to trust him, to obey him, to believe him. and then to give him the little that we have that he might turn it into far more than we ever could on our own. Let's have a song.