Many years ago, Reverend John Wiley and myself were in conversation, and the conversation came around about the seasons of the year, and we were talking about them, and I was saying to him that I liked the harvest season. He looked at me, and those of you that can remember Mr. Wiley will know what that look would mean, the way he looked at somebody if he was wondering if they were all right, He says, brother, what's lovely about death? And I thought, I said, aye, that's right. But John, I still like the harvest season. And I like it for these reasons, among others. First of all, the harvest season shows to us the goodness of God to us materially. Look all around and see the evidence, the fruit, the flower, the vegetable, the grain, some of the tokens that we associate with harvest. the goodness of God to us. The harvest also verifies the Word of God. Now, we read a way back in Genesis chapter 8, whenever Noah was finished with living in the ark, the Lord came to him and said, while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest. Keep the harvest thought in mind. And he went on to say, summer and winter cold and heat day and night would not cease on the very fact that there are harvests in the world. Every year, there will be a harvest somewhere. Many harvests for that matter but that verifies the word of God or it shows us the veracity of God's word, the infallibility, and the inerrancy of the word of God. So, just think of the harvest and every time we come around to harvest of the veracity of God's word. But then again, there are great doctrines couched in harvest language. For instance, we read of wheat and tares. The Bible tells us only two types of people in the world. Man has divided them up in so many different ways. But you're either in Christ or in your sins. You're either wheat or tares. Everything is one or the other in God's Word. And where would you fit into that, my dear friend? The weak, the Lord Jesus Christ said, are the people who one day will be gathered into the garners. And the garner is a picture of heaven. The tares, the Lord Jesus said, will be gathered by the angels, tied in bundles and thrown into the furnace of fire. And He gave the explanation of that those parables that he was speaking of in Matthew thirteen by speaking about eternal fire, everlasting fire. And my dear friend, they're only one of two places that all mankind goes to whenever they die. Either to heaven as a born-again believer or to hell as a sinner who has perished by continually rejecting the Lord Jesus And then with regard to the end of the age, we read in the book of Revelation chapter 14 that there's the harvest and the vintage there. And that's a picture of what conditions are going to be like in this earth whenever the Lord Jesus Christ comes back again and the unconverted are going to be consigned into the lake of fire to suffer the vengeance of God's eternal wrath. And if you want to learn how to be encouraged in God's work, many people are serving the Lord faithfully and they lose heart because we do not see the returns on the labor we expend for the Lord. This is what the Lord says. Again, speaking in harvest language, Paul writing to the Galatians says in chapter 6, Be not weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. winning people to Christ, bringing them in on the sound of the gospel, that they may hear the word of God, or us witnessing to them individually. This is a wonderful truth, that that's a reaping whenever they get saved by our witness, by our testimony, and by our influence, and by the preaching of the gospel. Whenever the Lord would want people to go out into Christian work, Christian service, to bring the gospel to men and women, He speaks in harvest language. Listen to what he said to the disciples on one occasion. The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. See the picture? We would say, we would speak in the abstract or just speak in ordinary language and say, we need to go out and Bring the gospel to those that are unconverted. That is right. But the Lord put a little bit of color in the word. He says, there's a harvest out there, and we need laborers. We need reapers. Pray that the Lord will send them in. So there's something we can do as Christians today. We can pray that the Lord will send laborers. And if you read on in those passages in Matthew chapter 9, particularly at the end of it, You'll find that whenever he asked the disciples to pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest, they were the ones that were the answer to that prayer. They went out as well as others. So the harvest is a tremendous time of spiritual truth. And listen, for every one of us that's tempted to give in to wrongdoing and to live a life that is not glorifying to the Lord. Listen to these words. Again, couched in harvest language. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. So we need to be careful of our actions. We need to be careful of our attitudes. We need to be careful of our words. Because every time we speak and whatever attitudes we adopt and whatever deeds we perform, we are sowing and we are going to reap accordingly. only in a much greater measure. In John chapter 6, while it's not a harvest scene as such, we're thinking of people being fed, we're thinking of the Lord performing a mighty miracle in order to satisfy the material and physical needs of people at that time, yet there is great truth in this for us. And I want us to look at this miracle today for a time. And I want to look at one aspect of it, or at least gather everything I want to bring to you around one aspect of it. And that is, in the words of verse 9, there is a lad here. I want you to keep that in mind. There is a lad here. Ladies and gentlemen and young people, not every one of us has many great abilities. but we should have two. And the Lord expects us to use those two. And the two abilities that we all can have is this, reliability and availability. And it's this availability I want to consider with you for a time just now. There is a lad here. Here was someone making available what he possessed. And the Lord Jesus Christ was going to take that and use it to His glory. Now, keep this in mind, there is a lot here, and I want you to notice three things about this availability. First of all, the period in which it occurred. What's the background here? What's the backdrop? What's the setting? What's the context? Well, it was whenever a great need had arisen. Now, if you take the other narratives of this miracle, and this is the one miracle that all of the evangelists bring before us the miracle of the Lord providing people with feeding from loaves and fishes. I want you to notice the backdrop was the Savior had been preaching out in rural areas and he was preaching for a long time and the people were out for a long time. And Matthew's account particularly tells us the Savior didn't want to send them all away because they were weak and faint and they may perish by the way. So we said to the disciples here in John chapter 6 that we've been reading that you've got to give them to eat. They were askance. They wondered how such a thing was possible. But it had to be done. And they did not have the means to do it. I want you to notice the nature of this need here. We're looking at the period of great need. Look at the nature of it. The Lord was teaching. He had compassion on the Lord's crowd. He didn't want to send them away without something to eat. There was hunger. He knew what the pangs of hunger was all about. After all, he himself, at the beginning of his ministry, had been 40 days and 40 nights without feeding in the wilderness. whenever Satan tempted him. You and I do not know what it's like to be hungry to the point of having hunger pains. Unless, of course, there's an illness that we can't digest our food. But I'm thinking now, from the want of food, from the lack of food, we have an abundance day by day in this land. Look at the tokens of the harvest season again. We have an abundance of it. and we should be grateful for that. But for people who live in other lands, where there are famines and pestilences and death and death, one cannot but help feel sorry for them. And we need to be thoughtful of them. And in thanking the Lord for our food, we should spare a thought and prayer for those in the world that are without. So the Lord Jesus Christ was a compassionate person. And Matthew's account particularly, he didn't want to be sending them away. But this material hunger, this physical hunger, is only a picture of the hunger that people experience generally with regard to their life. Now there are many people, and I don't have to tell you, they come to us in the media sometimes, they're wealthy, They have the world at their feet and yet they die by their lifestyle or by overdosing purposefully. Something wrong. There's a hunger and a lack. And the Lord Jesus Christ says that the thief cometh not but for to kill and to destroy. I am come that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly. The hymn writer wrote in one of the hymns I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, but ah, the waters failed. Even as I stooped to drink, they fled and mocked me as I will." You can see the plight of that person there. Ah, but they discovered the bread of life. They discovered the feeding, the spiritual feeding, the spiritual nutrition that the Lord has for them. And in them turning from their sin and trusting the Lord Jesus as Savior, they could go on to write in that hymn. Now, none but Christ can satisfy. None other name for me. There's love and life and lasting joy. Lord Jesus found in thee. And the Lord Jesus says that in this very same chapter that we read from. Just look down there at verse thirty-three. Verse thirty-two. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he, not it, but he, which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. The crowd said then, said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. Listen to his answer. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. My dear friend, have you come to the Savior? Have you feasted on him? Feasting on him is simply turning from your sin and receiving him as your personal Savior, yielding your life to him. Have you done it? Would you not do it today and experience the joy that there is and the satisfaction that comes whenever we have Christ as our Savior? The Lord was preaching on the Sermon on the Mount, and he says, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. A period of great need, the nature of the need. But notice, secondly, the magnitude of the need. I've already said there was no food available to provide for so many. They were not near shops to purchase. Matthew tells us in his account they were in a desert place, He tells us it was in the evening time. Mark in his account says that the day was far spent. The situation was bleak. No food. It was wearing on toward night time. How could the Saviour provide for these? Now, Philip was doing a wee bit of calculating and the Lord spoke to him at this particular instance in verse 6. 5. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw great company come unto him, he saith to Philip, When shall we buy bread that these may eat? Now, notice in verse 6, he himself knew what he would do, but Philip didn't know. Neither did the other disciples. Notice what Philip said in verse 7. Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. You say, well, two pound? two hundred pence is two pounds. Not so, ladies and gentlemen. Not in Bible days. A pound in Bible days was or a penny in Bible days was a laboring man's wages for a day. So, we're talking about well over half a year's wages for a working man. And Philip says, that would never feed the crowd that's here. 200 penny worth of bread can't do this. The wonderful thing is that the Lord knew all along what He was going to do. What He was going to do and when He was going to do it. And just as Philip made his calculation and said 200 pence wouldn't do the job here. 200 days wages for a working man wouldn't purchase enough to do this, then Andrew comes on the scene. He says, there's a lad here. There's a lad here. And he's got something. We're going to see what that is in a moment. The point is, ladies and gentlemen, there are needs of various kinds. And are we available to the Lord that the Lord might Maybe it's in a practical way. Maybe somebody has a great need that if we lifted the phone or sent them an email, is that the way to do it now, or whatever, sent them a text, or if we called at the door and said, I understand you have a wee bit of difficulty, I would like to help. That would be a tremendous thing. We ought to be in the lookout. We ought to be available, ought to be more precise, more specific. Maybe the Lord is laying somebody on your heart to be a help to them or even to witness to them about the Lord Jesus Christ and His glorious gospel. There are needs all around. Let's do our best to try to alleviate them and certainly with regard to the unconverted people who have the greatest need of all and they're not even aware of it. They need Christ. We have got the message. Let's bring the bread of life to them. The period. But notice secondly, the person from whom this availability appeared. We're told that Andrew says, there's a lad here. Keep that in your mind. Thousands of men and whatever women and children there were. And out of them, there's a lad here. And he has got five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many? So Philip was saying the very same thing, or Andrew was saying the very same thing as Philip. At least we've got a wee bit of bread and a few fishes, so small, but what are they among so many? What good are they going to do here? So let me say this, that the person from whom this availability appeared was one of an unlikely source. Just a wee fella. He was only a boy. He was not an adult. Whatever he was doing in the crowd, we don't know. Whether he came to the disciples when they saw the need, or the disciples were scouring the area to try to see if anybody had any food in them, so they could try to make the most of it and give some people something. We just don't know how it happened. But they found out that this fella was here. Whenever they looked at them, they said, well, what's this? What good is this going to do with these thousands of people all around? And so he was likely to have been disdained, the young fellow. Just the way that Saul disdained David. Whenever David saw Goliath arrogantly parading himself and putting terror into the minds of the children of Israel, David didn't like it. He says, there's not a cause here. He was saying things that people heard and word got to Saul that if David had the opportunity, he would take Goliath on, so he was brought to Saul. And David said, you know, whenever I keep the sheep of my father, a lion and a bear got hold of my sheep and I was able to rescue them. And Saul said to him, but this man Goliath, he was about nine feet tall. He says he's an experienced man of war and he has been from his youth. And he says, you're only a youth. Not much good. Could you expect to do? But David had God. Goliath didn't. David had confidence in God. But he was disdained nonetheless. And his brothers disdained him earlier. They said whenever David was making these noises speaking adversely against Goliath and the Philistines. One of the brothers said, what are you doing here? With whom have you left those few sheep? You're only here to see the battle. So he was being disdained again. And you find that at different times in the Word of God. The children in the temple in that last week of the Lord on earth began to extol Him and to praise Him in the temple. But the Pharisees and the religious leaders said, why don't you tell these young ones to keep quiet? Why are you getting great pleasure out of their adulations of you? The youngsters were being disdained. And I wonder, my dear friend, do you and I look down our noses upon the children and say, well, it's lovely to see them about, but what contribution can they make to the kingdom of God? Maybe not so much now. But in times to come, there could be a Spurgeon. You've heard your minister speaking about John Calvin, that mighty man of God. There could be a Calvin among them. There could be a Whitefield among them. There could be a David Livingston or a Mary Slessor or a Hudson Taylor or a Gladys Aylward. There could be missionaries and evangelists and ministers among the children. But even now, they can be greatly used of the Lord. George Whitefield, when he had thousands coming to hang on his every word, when he was preaching the gospel, Whitefield said, he looked down and he saw the children. Whenever Whitefield was being pelted with eggs and tomatoes and dead cats and dogs, he says, I looked down and saw them and their faces were so saddened because of what I was going through. And he said, Many of the youngsters used to sit around the front, and the concerned people in the congregations, they would have sent up their notes to the children to pass on to me of their soul concern. Yes, there's a work for children to do. And the Lord Jesus said, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise. Jeremiah said, whenever the Lord called him, I am but a child. Paul writing to Timothy says, from a child, thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. Yes, the children can be greatly used even now and trained and shaped and prepared for times to come. Sabbath school teacher, children's worker, think well of the treasure the Lord has put in your care to bring them the gospel message and the teachings of God's word. Not only was this an unlikely source, but it was an unpromising source. Loaves and fishes. No wonder Andrew said, what are these among so many? Didn't look good. Just a wee fella's lunch. People always assumed that to be. What are these among so many? But it was an unhesitant source because the Lord Jesus knew what he would do. Oh, my dear friend, the Bible tells us that our times are in God's hands. The Lord is in control of all things. We look out in the world today and we may see chaos and mayhem. That may be what it is to us, but behind it all, God is overruling. God is in absolute control. God is the sovereign of the nations. And the Lord Jesus all the while is building His church, He says. and the gates of hell are not prevailing against it. So whether it's a girl or a boy here, or whether it's a crusty old adult, make yourself available to the Lord. There's a work for any one of us to do, young or old. All the Lord wants is our availability. But there's a third thing. There's not only the period, and there's not only the person, but there's the provision that this availability was associated with. And we have that in verses 10 to 13. We will notice, of course, the action that prompted it. The Lord Jesus Christ said, whenever this bread was brought to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord took it. He said to the disciples, make the men to sit down in the grass. We've been of order here. Make the men sit down in the grass. And the men sat down. It may have been a desert area, but there was grass around parts of it. Make the men sit down. Then he took what was given. It came out of the hands of the little fellow. He had given all that he had to the Lord Jesus Christ. He could do no more. The Lord took over. And that's what the Lord wants you and me to do. To give all that we have, all that we are to the Lord, let at His disposal. Say, Lord, here I am. Gifts, talents, means, it's all at Your disposal. That's all we can do. It's all that the Lord asks. So the wee fella handed it over to the Lord. And then notice what the Lord did. Very important for us to observe this. Verse 11. Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, can you see Him there lifting up His eyes to heaven. Got the bread in his hands, the fish. He's talking to his father and he's thanking the lord for the food. Do we do that? Do we thank the lord for our food? Every time we sit down to take a meal, do we thank the lord for it? It's a mark of ingratitude. If we don't, if we go into our restaurant, will we There was a farmer and he came into a big city area and he went into a cafe after he did his business and he bowed his head to give thanks and there were guffaws all around and the people said, they were people who thought they were smart. He said, does everybody do that where you come from? He says, well the pigs don't. And that was an answer that they couldn't reply to. He soon shut them up and silenced them. So the Lord gave thanks and he's our exemplar even in this. But notice not only the action that prompted this provision, notice the adequacy that marked it. Now this is the wonderful thing. Notice the 12th verse here. When they, well we'll read verse 11. He took the loaves, Jesus took the loaves and he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were sat down, and likewise of the fishes, as much as they would." Just whatever they wanted that filled them, they got, as much as they would. Verse 12, when they were filled, he said unto his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over, and above unto them that had eaten." Philip says, 200 penny worth wouldn't suffice that they would receive a little. And now, there are basketfuls over. They were all filled as much as they would. That is, the people as well as the baskets. Andrew says, what are these barley loaves and small fishes among so many? and now they have 12 basketfuls over. Is that not tremendous? Listen friend, you give your all to the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul tells us in his word, God's word. The end of Ephesians 3, that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. That's the God that we serve. That's the God to whom we belong. And this young man's willingness to make available all that he had, even though it appeared so insignificant, was used by the Lord to feed that crowd, thousands of them, and still have a surplus over. And ox gold wasn't very much of an implement, used just to prod the oxen to get on with their labour. But in the hands of Shambar, under the anointing of the Spirit of God, 600 Philistines were killed. The jawbone of a dead ass, dead donkey, was not much to go by. But Samson picked it up and used it, and when the Spirit of God came upon him, there were a thousand Philistines lay dead. Bethlehem, Judah, Bethlehem Ephrathah, was little among the thousands of Judah. Yet out of that place came one who was the Messiah, whose goings had been from of old, from everlasting. I mentioned David and Goliath earlier. Goliath came down with his spear like a weaver's beam for width and for height. And David went into the brook He lifted out some stones and he put one of them in a sling that he was used. And he says, you come to me in great armor on. He says, I come to you in the name of the God of Israel. And you'll see this day there is a God in Israel. And David let fly and struck Goliath that one stone and felled him to the ground and then took Goliath's sword and took his head from his body. Just a little stone. God used it. By the skill he had given to that young man. You're going to make yourself available. God says, and Isaiah saw it in vision. Isaiah six, whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And Isaiah shouts out, And whenever Paul was struck down on the Damascus road, God had mightily intervened in his life. He says to the Lord Jesus, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? That's availability. In 2 Samuel 15, whenever Absalom had mounted his rebellion, and all seemed to be lost for David. David, a loyal band of people. Let me read these words from 2 Samuel 15. And verse 15, And the king's servants said unto the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatsoever my lord the king shall appoint. A loyal band. And there was one of them, his name was Attei, the Gittite. He had just recently come into David's ranks. And he was going to fight for David against Absalom. And we read in verse 19 of this 2 Samuel chapter 15, Then said the king to Atai the Gittite, wherefore goest thou also with us? Return to thy place and abide with the king, for thou art a stranger and also in exile, whereas thou camest but yesterday. Should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go whither I may? Return now and take back thy brethren. Mercy and truth be with thee. And Atai answered the king and said, As the Lord liveth, and as my lord the king liveth, Surely in what place, my Lord the King, shall be, whether in death or life, even there also will thy servant be." Availability. There is a lad here. There's someone here making themselves available to the Lord today. Let me finish by telling you this story that made an impression on me. In England, many years ago, there was a very largely attended evangelistic campaign. Numbers of people were being saved at it. And one woman came forward. The counsellor who was speaking to her, trying to point her to the Lord Jesus Christ, she could not see the truth of the gospel as he was proclaiming it. But the counsellor felt the woman was genuinely interested. He got her name and address. determined to write to her as soon as he could. It wasn't too long after that incident, the mission was over, the woman went back, she had come considerable distance to be at that mission, and the counselor wrote a nice letter to her, explaining the gospel as thoroughly and clearly as he could. It was a lengthy letter. And as she read it, The Lord used what the man was writing because it was holy scripture and the message of the gospel is so plain that she got down on her knees and called on the Lord to save her and trusted the Lord. And such a change in her life. Inside a few days, she had plenty of friends. And there were ten of them in particular. And she went round every one of these ten ladies and showed the letter, explained her the background of the letter, how she went to that campaign, couldn't see the truth of the gospel yet, wanted to be saved or she wouldn't have come forward. And each one of those ladies that read that letter, inside a few days, the ten of them likewise came to the Lord Jesus Christ. Available. just by reading a letter or letting somebody else read a letter. She made the truth of the gospel available to her friends. Oh, my dear friend, the world is waiting to see what can happen if, like this little lad, you make yourself available to the Lord. Who can tell the people who will be fed the truth of God's word, the message of the glorious gospel, if you will and make yourself available to the Lord today. Let's bow together in prayer. O God, we pray that we would have the spirit of Isaiah to say, here am I, sent me. There's a work for Jesus that I can do. Pray, Lord, that you would speak to us. Oh, like this wee lad, there is a lad here with five barley loaves and two small fishes. He gave all that he could, and oh, how you used it. Try to imagine what his mind must have been feeling when he saw the Lord Jesus take that little meal and feed those thousands of people with it. What would have been something to have talked to him the next day about that? But oh God, we have the record of it here, and we pray that like him, we'll make ourselves available to thee for what you want us to do. Bless thy word as it has gone forth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.