Come up here. We're going to read from Matthew chapter 14, verse 13 to verse 21. The kids are dismissed. Okay, go over there. Go over there. We'll take care of you. All right, guys. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into the desert, place apart, and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw the great multitude, and was moved with compassion towards them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, this is a desert place, and the time is now past. Send a multitude away, and they may go into the village and buy themselves virtues. But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart. Give ye them to eat. And they said unto him, we have but five loaves and two fishes. He said, bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes, looked up to the heavens, He blessed and break and give the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled. They took up of the fragments that remain 12 baskets full. And they had eaten where about 5,000 men besides women and children. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for this passage of scripture. Thank you, Lord, that you can do the impossible. When things are not possible for us, if we trust you, Lord, you come and do the impossible. Thank you, Lord, for this passage. May we take account of this passage, Lord, and believe that you are the God of the impossible. And I pray, Father, for anyone that is here, maybe unsaved or even online, that today you put their faith and trust in you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. The title of the message is, Give it to God. Give it to God. You know? Okay. I'm going to start this way. I'm going to be very practical with you this morning. It's a practical lesson for practical people. That's who we are. I'll tell you what. There's a saying out there that says, if you are a Christian, you have no problems. That is not true. I know Christians who are in the hospital right now. I know Christians who suffer many pains and diseases because we live in a sinful world. I know Christians are suffering as we speak. You are in pain. I know Christians who are discouraged. You are beaten down. They are all out there because we live, we are people. We live in this world like anybody else. Okay, so what I would say to you, We have, all of us carry problems. Actually, life is full of problems, always problems. We always seem like the firemen. Fire come up, get the hose, get the fire out, get another little fire, here goes the hose again. We are like this, here's a problem, another problem. It keeps coming and if you really make a little surveyor of our lives, there's always something to do and some problem to resolve. Isn't it? That's what life is. And I mean, OK, OK, tomorrow you got a problem. I got to go to work as a problem. Yeah, I don't want to go to work. What do you got to do? Then, you know, you got to do what you're told. You know, you got to. But it's always one thing after another. But one thing this morning I want to share with you is this. This morning we come to one of Jesus' most famous miracles of all. The feeding of the 5,000, in fact, this is the only one of Jesus' miracles that, other than the resurrection, that is recorded in all four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all speak of this miracle. Skeptics have come up with all sorts of excuses to try to explain this miracle away. You know, it's always those people that try to explain the Bible away. I saw a program one time, somebody tried to explain how Jesus went up walking on water. And I watched that nonsense thing, you know what? But the Bible, one thing that didn't say is this, that Jesus walked in the deepest sea of Galilee, the deepest part of the sea. If He walked in the deepest part of Galilee, there was no stones or whatever it is for Him to walk on top of it. He literally walked on water. Why? Because He's the Creator. He is the God that created the waters. So, but people try to explain away. Some say that Jesus' example in sharing the bread inspire others to share so everyone was fed. So, others say that it was more than a symbolic meal. Everyone just took a bite of the bread rather than eating their full. Listen, even if it was just take a little bite, there was too many people there. 5,000 people and how many people is there? A lot of people. So there are even some who claim that Jesus had an extra bread hidden in a cave behind him and just made it look like he was feeding all those people from a few loaves of bread. So there's all kinds of speculations that go on out there. So of course, we know how the Bible describes and unless we are going to accuse Jesus or the gospel writers of deception, We should accept Matthew's presentation here as Jesus performed a miracle over nature, miraculously providing enough food for the multitude from the few loaves and fishes at their disposal. You know, when we look at Jesus, the miracles are against nature. Walking on water is against nature. Nobody can walk on water. All right, going up, gravity pulls you down, doesn't get you up. You know, it's against nature. You know, multiply bread out of, you know, it just doesn't happen. Raising the dead, you're dead, you're gone. You know, I mean, this thing about notion, and listen, if you touch a dead body, it's cold, there's no life in there. But Jesus did those things that goes against nature. If God created the universe out of nothing, then he certainly would have no problem creating more bread of the one that already existed, right? If he spoke everything into existence out of nothing, I think he can get something that's already created and multiply it. So one of the most important principles you and I will learn in the Christian life is to give things over to God. But in order for you and I to do that, there must be a real strong faith in us believing that God can do what we cannot do. For example, you can't save anyone, but God can. It takes strong faith in us to believe that. Oh, that person over there never get saved. You know what? It's a lack of faith on our part. If God saved you, God can save the other one. Who am I to think that it's impossible to save another person? Because this is what happens. People change. Situations of life changes people. People might say, I don't want God today, but they might be searching for Him tomorrow. You follow that? It happens. My dad rejected God for 11 years and one day he accepted Jesus as his own personal savior. What happened? Situation of life, he was dying of cancer. He saw that he was fragile, he saw his days on earth was almost over. He knew that he needed to make peace with God. is sometimes you know people change those things so Matthew presentation here as Jesus performing a miracle over nature miraculously providing food for a multitude of people it is a historical thing even to think about it if God created the universe like it's out of nothing obviously he can create something already multiply something that already exists so one of the most important principles you and I will learn the Christian life is to give to God everything our life all that problem give it to God so if we give it to God God can God be true let me put it this way if I'm going to give my problems to God if I give give my dreams and my goals and everything I have in life to God I have to believe in him I have to believe that He can do what I cannot do. You follow that? I have to believe that. For example, can God be true to His promises? I have to believe that. Can He be true or can He not be true? Can God do the impossible? Can God help me when I cannot help myself? If your answer is yes to those three questions, then let me ask you, do you have a problem this morning? Do you have problems in life? Do you? Give it to God. Do you have an opportunity to do something good for someone? Give it to God. Are you concerned about your future? Give it to the Lord. Are you distressed about your past? Give it to the Lord. See, there are people in your life whom you love and care on which you are very concerned. Give them to the Lord. Has God blessed you with something? Commit it to God and give Him glory. Listen please, as much as anyone denies and refuses to believe, the truth is that everything you have comes from God. And when you try to hold on to those things for your own purpose, you never discover the full potential you have when you give it to the Lord instead. Because let me put it this way, the reality is this, we are just stewards of what God has given us. Some people have more responsibilities than others because they have more stuff. But let me tell you, believe me, you came with nothing and you leave with nothing. Everything stays here for somebody else to take care and be a steward over the things they left behind. Like you took over somebody else. For an example, we took stewardship of my mother and my dad left behind. One day I'm with the part my kids will be stewards when I leave behind. If I even have nothing or just a piece of clothes. We're just stewards. We don't take anything with us. This morning I would like us to look at this principle in light of the miracle Jesus performed with the loaves and the fishes right here. I believe there is so much more that God could do with each one of our lives if we would learn this simple principle. Give it to God. Let's look at this from several points. He is a compassionate God. Look what it says in verse 13. And when Jesus heard of it, he departed then by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard this, they followed him on foot out of the cities. and when jesus uh and jesus went forth and saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion towards them and he healed their sick so you see here is something right here god is moved with compassion because he sees the needs of people i don't know folks but i see people come here on saturday mornings and it moves my heart i'm not god i don't want to be in their shoes you follow that but we have to have compassion enough to help our fellow men Listen, it might be them today, it might be you tomorrow. We never know when we fall into need. See, the first thing I want you to see from this passage is God's compassion. If you are going to give things over to God, you must first learn to trust God. And the best way is to trust God's compassion. Does God love me? Does Jesus love me? Yes, He does. We should not even question God's love. There's no doubt that God loves you and me. He loves you enough to save you and He loves you enough to care for you and to provide for you. The Hebrew and Greek words translated compassion in the Bible means to have mercy, to feel sympathy, and to have pity on a person that we have compassion to. The Bible has much to say about the Lord's compassion. Actually, Psalm 86 15 says, But thou, O Lord, art a God of full of compassion and gracious long-suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. Lamentations 322 says it is of the Lord's mercy that we not consume because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Christ Jesus exemplified all of Father's attributes including His compassion. He is the image of Jehovah God when He walked on earth and He exercised the same thing. He did the same thing. He showed compassion. Folks, there's one thing that should characterize we as believers. We should be compassionate towards those who are destitute of things. Compassion on people. Listen, when we see lost people, we should not look down on them. We should have compassion on them because we were there too at one time. I didn't grow up in a Christian home. I understand. My theory is I was a father of two children. I understand what it is to be lost. I understand that. So we have to have compassion. Listen, if we have no compassion on people, we never reach them for Jesus. We have to care about them. We have to love them in Jesus' name. When he saw the large crowds as sheep without a shepherd, his compassion led him to teach them the things that false shepherds of Israel had abandoned to do. The shepherds of Israel were supposed to teach God's people the ways of God. They were not teaching the ways of God. Actually, they put some laws upon laws upon laws to a point that even the average Jewish person couldn't even live it. It was no grace and joy to live it because it was so hard. Listen, Christianity is not a do, don't, do, don't. It's a life of joy and gratitude. God saves me. When we fail, we ask forgiveness. God forgives us. We go on. because we serve a God of compassion and love. He loves you. Listen, you get up in the morning, you're online watching, maybe you're hurting, maybe you're discouraged. Even here, maybe you're hurting, maybe you're discouraged. Whatever's in your life is one thing that you don't even need to question. Does God love me? Yes, He does. And you say, but if He loved me, He would not let me stay in this state. And let me tell you this, the Apostle Paul asked God to take the pain away from him. And guess what God says? No, my grace is sufficient for you. He said, what kind of God is that? You know what? God heals some and allows others to suffer. Don't ask me why, I don't know. But through our suffering and pains we can give glory to God. I know a friend of mine who came down with cancer. And he said to me, a person very close to me said, I can complain all the rest of my life because of what I have, but I can go and tell about Jesus to those doctors and those nurses. He said, every time I go see my doctor, I tell him about Jesus. Every time I see him, I tell him about Jesus. See, we can use those trials of life to show that even though I'm suffering, I still love my Jesus. I still love God. It is compassion to me. So when Jesus saw the large crowds, what did he do? He healed their sick. He saw them and he looked at them. He was compassionate on them and healed their sick. Letter A, Jesus needed time to himself. First of all, we see that Jesus needed some time to himself. Look at verse 13. And when Jesus heard of it, he departed them by ship into a desert place. So Jesus has been busy preaching and teaching the people. You know, in his humanity, he got tired. You follow that? In his humanity, he needed rest too. Okay? And all of us need rest. Sometimes we need to take a nap or take a sleep and rest. For an example, I understand what it means to find a solitude sometimes. For an example, I don't have a sabbath of rest. I'm talking about myself. I work seven days a week and sometimes you grow weary spiritually. Working a full-time job, being a husband, being a father, being a grandfather, being a pastor of a church without a sabbath of rest, sometimes you know what? You get tired. You get weary. And you know what? And you need spiritual recharge. Well, Jesus in that here, we find him, he needed rest. We know when the disciples were fighting in the midst of the storm, Jesus was sleeping in a boat. Obviously, he needed rest. You know, nothing wrong with, I'm not saying being lazy, but sometimes we need to take some rest. We need to find a place of solitude. And just, you know what? I need some time with myself. put my ideas together. So Jesus withdrew by boat to get a quiet time away from the crowds and the crowds just follow him around, around the lake at foot. Why? Because these people had troubles in their life, these situations, and they looked to the one who could help them. But you know what? Jesus dismissed the crowds. Jesus goes to this place of quiet rest. But let it be, Jesus had compassion on the people. Look at verse 14. And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and he was moved with compassion towards them, and he healed his sick. so much for a quiet time of rest right here. I'm guessing Jesus and his disciples got their much-needed rest later after this, but for now, when Jesus lands and sees the crowds, he sets aside his plans of quiet rest, and he meets the need of the people. You know, that's who our God is and always will be a God of mercy and great compassion Listen in our humanity. Sometimes you go go go, but sometimes you just You don't have it anymore. You have you have to rest but Jesus right here in his humanity He needed rest but the crowds So much for that quiet rest was moved with compassion on them. If you are not a Christian here this morning, do you know how God looks at you? Perhaps you think God is just angry with you, or that God desires to punish you, or maybe you think God doesn't even notice you at all. Some people, I have people that have said to me this, if I go to church, the walls will fall down, because I'm such a bad person. What do you say to a person like that? He said, God loves you. Yeah, God loves you. God doesn't do that to you. God loves you. God will love you to see you there. You see, but the truth is that our God is a God of compassion and love. The parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark says this way, He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things. in Mark 6 34 and Jesus when it says this way and when Jesus when he came out so much much people and it was moved compassion towards them because they were sheep having and not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things God has compassion on you and me he sees you and he sees your needs and sometimes we think nobody cares that God doesn't even know about what we do and where we are and God says I love you There's a lot of parallels between the feeding of the 5,000 here Matthew 14 and Psalm 23 in the Old Testament You know the psalm that begins the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want Begins that way you see the psalmist David says the Lord is my shepherd. He's mine So the same thing for us Christian we can say God is my shepherd and if he's mine I have no one because he takes care of me and Psalm 23 describes the Lord as a shepherd who guides him, who leads him to rest, and who lays him down in green pastures and provides for all his needs. And that's exactly what Jesus does for the people here in Matthew 14. I tell you, my son yesterday, he left. He needed some time away with his wife. He left and he was so wearied. He was so consumed with trouble. And it set my heart. I said to him, I said, listen, listen, listen, listen. I gave him a hug and said, listen, listen, go away. Rest with your wife. Forget about the work. When you come back, it's still there for you. Take some rest and empty your mind and put God there. Sometimes that's what we need. We need some rest. So let me give you point number two. When God asks you to do something, you can do it. The second thing we learned from this passage is this. When God asks you to do something, you can do it. To say that you cannot do with God having press in your heart, it is a lack of faith in our parts. When God calls, He enables us. If God calls you to do something, you can do it. He wouldn't ask you if he couldn't. He didn't impress on your heart if he didn't want you to do it. There are a couple of things on this point I want you to note. Number one, be aware of people's needs. Be aware of people's needs. See, first of all, God's two big commandments in the Bible is this, love God and love people. Isn't that two commandments? Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. That's what God tells us to do. You know what? Oh, I cannot love people. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Listen, we can love people. Be aware of people's needs around us. Listen, if we live our lives and life is just about us and we forget about everybody else, we have no joy in life. Listen, the Bible says for sure it's better to give than to receive. Why? Because you see, listen, the joy that we see if somebody opened a gift or something for that person, the joy of seeing that, it gives us joy to our hearts. I don't know about you. It does to me. But be aware of people's needs. Listen, there's all kinds of people around us with all kinds of needs. Isn't that true? And imagine if they see you the same way or someone in that person have a need too. I'll be in a much different world, wasn't it? Look at verse 15 with me now. Look what it says. So Jesus had been teaching and healing the people for some time, but by now it was late in the day. It was far away and the disciples realized that people need to eat like they probably were hungry themselves. So the disciples didn't understand God's plan and all this yet, but at least they recognized the need. See, they saw the need and the need is send everybody away. Let them go buy some stuff. And there was people there that couldn't afford anything. They went there because of Jesus. They went there because there was sickness in the family. They went there because they saw the master, the great physician could heal the people. So they necessarily, they were hungry. They didn't have no means to buy anything. But the disciples, they said, send them away. There is a mission for us to understand here. You need to be aware of people's needs, you and I, around you, so then look for ways to meet those needs to those people. Is there anything you can do for someone in the name of Jesus today? If Jesus is impressing your heart to help someone in his name, do it. Oh, but if I give this i'm gonna miss that you're not giving in jesus name if we give Where the bible says what you left hand don't let your left hand do what your right hand does or the other way around Which is that give? And shall be given unto you If the lord impresses in our heart give That's the only thing one time I stopped at dunkin donuts in the drive-thru And i'm going to pay for my my little coffee that I bought Medium coffee with cream, you know? And the person says to me, he says, you're all set. And I look at him like, what do you mean I'm all set? The person in front of you already paid your coffee. I saw the person already in the room driving up. I had no clue who it was. What a bless my heart, isn't it? Yeah, you know, you do what you do. Do to others as well. Obviously, impressing somebody is hard to pay for my coffee. That person and I, we never probably met in life. But still, smaller things like that, you never know. So by doing that, you can be a great source of encouragement to someone. By doing that, you can be a channel on which somebody can come to know the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior. So be aware of people's needs. Get to know the people God has placed in your life, whether at school, at work, in your neighborhood, or in the community at large. Ask God to open up your eyes to people's needs, and then begin looking for ways to meet those needs. For one, be aware of the need that people have to be saved. Be proactive in the area in people's lives. Listen, there are things in people's lives that we cannot meet their needs, but we can pray for them. What are the things that we can do? Let it be focused on the task, not on the obstacles. Focus on the task. Listen, what did the disciples did here? They focused on the obstacle. You know, they focus on sending people away because they need to eat. They don't know how they could feed those people. What would you do there? You probably would say the same thing. These people need to eat. You know, there was no, but they forgot something there. Who was with them? Was the creator right there? Could he have done something? They say, Lord, these people, look what they could say. Lord, these people need to eat. Are you going to feed them, Lord? i know you can do that but they didn't say that send them away when they were in the storm and jesus was asleep and when they woke up the lord what the lord said to them ye of little faith the creator was in the boat you see the disciples recognized and they recognized the need they asked jesus about it and jesus told them take care of it You give them something to eat. Jesus said take care of it. You take care of it. But instead of saying, okay, show us how, the disciples immediately started raising objections right here. We can't feed them. All we have is five loaves of bread and two fishes. How are we going to feed? Listen, they were being illogical right here. They saw what they had and they said this is impossible to do it. So send them away. They forgot who was next to them. Jesus. We can't possibly feed so many with so little. It was an impossible task. It's easy for us to come to the same conclusion. Unfortunately, many Christians have failed in this area. Me, you, all of us. When the Lord calls them to do something or to go somewhere for Him, they focus on the obstacle instead of the task. If the only thing we see is the obstacles, more than likely we will never go or do something for the Lord because the only thing we can see is obstacles. The disciples focus on the obstacles. We don't have enough food to give. They forgot the task and forgot who is talking to them. If God calls us to do something big, like reach our community for Jesus we get all hung up because we are looking in the obstacles many times of the task. You know in the obstacles that I'm seeing? The Lord is laying in my heart so badly to go again and reach his providence. In the neighborhoods we should never stop. You know what I'm focusing on? The obstacles. We don't have enough people. Who's going? You see what I'm saying? I'm like the disciples, I'm focusing the obstacles instead of trusting God. Can God do it? Yes, He can. Yes, He can. I remember when we first came here, we want to put information about our church in every people's door in East Providence. Romford, East Providence. I look at my wife and said, we can't do this. How are we going to do this? Oh, we do what we can. So we went, me and her, after work, I went in the streets and put information on people's doors. We had two weeks to do that. We do what we can. We reach as many doors as we can. We did, but the obstacle was in the mind. It's impossible. With God, nothing is impossible. You know what happened? We went one day by ourselves. And that day, my wife and I went, my son showed up with his wife, so it was four of us. The next day, two churches. The next day, three churches. The next day, a bunch of people. To a point like, we reached, in less than two weeks, we reached the whole area. God did it. But I was looking at the obstacles and forgot who was the one that can do the impossible. I didn't call those churches. Somebody put in their hearts. You see, maybe we don't focus on the obstacles, but focus on the one that we serve. God can do what we cannot do. We need to trust Him. So His promise in our life is a bill we cannot pay. It is a thing we cannot accomplish. Whatever it is in our lives, we focus on the obstacle. Listen, focus on God, not the obstacle. Bring, let us see, bring what you have to Jesus. So, instead of focusing on the obstacle, bring what you have. So what do you do when God asks you to do something that is clearly beyond your means? Bring what you have to Jesus. The disciples honestly told Jesus that what they had was a multitude. And they said, we only have five loaves of bread and two fishes. What did Jesus say in response to that? Look at verse 18. And he said, bring them hither to me. What do you have, a screwdriver? What do you have, a Bible? What do you have? What is the little thing that you have? You know what Jesus said? Bring it to me. I can do great things to the little thing that you bring to me. What do you have? A phone? What do you have? You see what God can do? What can I do with the phone? Put the Bible there. Send it out. God can do great things. Listen. Our phones can reach the outermost parts of the earth today. Believe me. I know that for a fact because it happens to me. I put a Bible verses, I got people in remote parts of the world putting lights there. Obviously, they saw it. I don't know what they're going to do with their rad or they saw, but let me tell you, we can reach little things. Then we got to heaven, the Lord is going to say, all the little things that I gave you and you didn't use them for my glory. This screwdriver, is that a hammer? Is that a level? What is that that we have? Is that a track? God can use it for his glory, can do great things. What do these people have? They have little fishes and little bread and they bring it to Jesus. Listen, God says, give it to me. They forgot to tell him, Lord, we can't do this, but you can. They forgot or send them away. Now Jesus says to them, bring them to me. See what I can do. So please don't stress out because you don't have much to give to the Lord. Give what you have. If the Lord impressed something in your heart, give it to him. And you see how he's going to multiply it. When the little widow, the widow came to church and give a little insignificant little pence, just nothing compared with what people give. God looked at that and take account of that. Sometimes we think the little things insignificant things that we do or we give to the Lord. Nobody noticed not even God. Oh, no, no, no. God takes account of that. God sees it. And it's not by mistake that that is in the Bible for us to understand that even the little little things that we might think is insignificant. God sees and God says, oh, because God looks at our faith. More than the little thing because the little thing God can use in a tremendous way Listen that way to bring that little pence little thing and today we still read about it How many people have been blessed because of that Let's go to point number three you can do anything with God You know what? You can do anything with God. That's our third point this morning. You can do anything with God. God has no limits. God is not confined by our lack of resources. When God asks you to do something, you can do it because you can do anything. with God okay now please don't misunderstand me here okay I'm not saying you can do anything you want with God that's not what I'm saying I'm saying you can do anything with God now what you want with God is you do it with God so we go on to talk to somebody about the Lord you can do it with God the Spirit of God is in you you go from door to door God is with you You help someone in need, you can do it with God. When they say thank you and you can say praise Jesus. Because He allows you to do that. So what do you do when God asks you to do something? Do you complain? Do you tell Him that you are just too busy? If the Lord impressed something in your heart, what do you do? What do I do? Do I say Lord? Okay. You know, you have, we need to remember this. God is our father, but we are also is servants and a servant has no right of his own. When the Lord says, I want you to do this. I answer is yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Isn't that our answer? If we are servants, our answer is yes, Lord. Lord says, go talk with that person. Yes, Lord. Lord says, go give that to that person in need over there. Yes, Lord. Lord says, go do that thing in the church. Yes, Lord. It's all yes, Lord. Not no, Lord, it's yes, Lord. Or do we complain? Do we tell him that we are just too busy? Listen, we should never be too busy for Jesus. for our Lord because we're going to spend more time with Him than we do right now. We think sometimes this is it, right? This is not it. letter a committed to God look at verse 19 and he commanded the multitude to sit down in the ground on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven he blast and break it and give it and give love to his disciples and the disciples give them to give I'm sorry in disciples give what they had to Jesus Jesus directed people to sit on the grass he took the loaves and the fishes and he thanked God for the resources and a hand and Jesus committed all to God in prayer. We need to do the same thing. We need to take whatever God has already given us and committed to Him, trusting Him to use it for His purposes. Folks, one thing this is to be a hard thing for us to understand or to grasp, but the truth is that when we are committed to do His will, not our will, Things become much easier and we get many more blessings. When life is about Him, not about us, life is much easier. People don't think that way, but believe me, it is true. When life is about Him, not about us, life is much easier. Because we give our problems to Him. instead of we try to resolve it ourselves. How many problems we try to resolve and we don't have a good end on the problem? We say, hmm, that was not good. Oh, if I could go back and refix that thing. We give it to the Lord, we leave the results to the Lord. It might not be the way we want, right? But if we give it to the Lord and say, Lord, all right, that's the way you want it, Lord, I'm trusting you. And we can sleep more comfortable at night. Lay your bed on a pillow and say, Lord, I give it to you. You know, I might think a different way, but God, his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts higher than our thoughts. So let it be. Let God do his work. Look what it says in verse 20 and they did all eat and were filled and they took up the fragments that remained 12 baskets full and they and they that eaten were full of about 5,000 men beside woman and children so 5,000 men and it was much woman in there and much children the multitude was enormous and guess what God fed all of them and it was leftovers that's what God does You see, they look at obstacles, they forgot who was there. When God says, bring it to me, everybody got fed and it was left over. What a miracle, isn't it? But listen, we can experience those things in our lives. The God that did that miracle is the same God that you and I serve every day. It's the same God. He can do things in our lives that our mouths would drop and we would say, to God be the glory. Because He does it. Believe me, if we just stop the sermon right now and talk about God's blessings, we're going to have a lot of blessings to talk about. How good God is listen, he's still Doing things in people's lives. He's still doing all kinds of stuff I love when people give testimonies about the goodness of the Lord and the way he's working on people's lives So let God do his work You know what when they wreck when they said bring that to me they step back and then not God does his thing What a blessing He's fed all that people Let God do His work. Do you have a screwdriver? Let God use it. Give it to the Lord. Say, Lord, the only thing I have is this rusty screwdriver. And God says, give it to me. See how I'm going to multiply this thing. Lord, the only thing I have is this little chocolate chip cookie here. Okay, give it to me. See how I can blast this thing. You see that? God can do it. Let God do his work. The disciples had no power, no resources, and no answer how to feed such a multitude of people. To them, it was simply impossible. Listen, if you were there in that day, if you were one of the disciples, what would you do? You probably think the same way, like, listen, this is impossible to do what I'm talking. Listen, it's impossible. We look at the world and we say, I'll say, Pastor, it's impossible to reach everybody for the Lord. No, we reach one at a time. We reach one at a time. That's what we can do. You know what? And God multiplies that. Somebody reached to me. Somebody reached to you. I have reached to many people. I don't know if those people have reached to other people. You follow that? We reach one at a time. To God be the glory. I mean, I don't know who's listening and watching this sermon. How many people would watch and put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, accept Him as Savior. I don't know. You know what? Let God do his work. What can you give to God this morning? Lord, what can I give you? I have this thing. What do you have? Go in your shed and look what you have, guys. Lord, I have this rusty lawnmower. Okay. God can use that for his glory, too. Okay, I got a lawnmower. I'm talking about a lawnmower in my shed. It doesn't work. I'm going to put a sign and put it outside. Take me. You can be a blessing to someone. Somebody can come down the street and it's like a treasure. And go look, oh, that guy doesn't even know how to fix this thing. Look at that little thing, just fixing the thing. It's ready to work and you know what? God be the glory. Okay, I had a snow blower. It's a true story. And I mean, what do you do before you start a snow blower? Make sure it has oil, right? Well, I didn't check the oil. And it's like choo-choo-choo working. That is about two minutes. Boom. Boom. Boom. That's it. Done. I'm like, oh, good night. So I have to shovel the whole thing. But halfway, my neighbor came and helped me. What a blessing. He used a little instrument that God gave him, you know, and he helped me up. He blessed my heart. So while I was working, I told a friend. He goes, would you mind if I go to your house and take it? I said, sure. I mean, I have no use for it. I don't know how to fix it. So he came, took it, sent me a picture, a little video and said, here's your snow globe. And I said to him, I said, well, use it for the glory of the Lord. You know, to God be the glory. You know, maybe the Lord had that and made that happen to me so I could be a blessing to someone else. Sometimes, you know, you have to, you know, you hold to things like give it to God. Give it to God. The disciples had no power, no answer how to feed such a multitude. They have no answer. You know why? Because they forgot who was next to them. If they looked at Jesus and said, Lord, this task is impossible to us, but you, Lord, you can do it because we saw the miracles. We know who you are. If we today would think that way, Lord, I cannot help that person. No, Lord, I can't do that. But I know you can do it, Lord. Use me. Use me. So you work through me so I we can see this impossible task to be accomplished. They saw. Listen, I'm looking at these providence. I'm very burned right now to go and put information every person's door invite people to church I want to do that. I'm looking at myself. I want Marty saying I've been seeing this Lord. It's impossible. I can't do it I'm gonna go by myself. I can't do it. You said to go two by two. I'm going I can't do that You know what? I'm putting obstacles You know what? I gotta do I gotta go and trust God God will provide Because you know what? He's the God of the impossible. He does what I cannot do. One thing I had to learn for the longest time, and I had to learn hard, and from the preaching of another pastor that I learned that. I was listening to his message and it just, hmm. It's easy for us to look at others. All of us, because that's why the grass always looks greener in the neighbor's house, right? We look, oh, what's wrong with my grass? So I began to think that way. Lord, why do I have such a small church and the people have multi-big churches? What am I doing wrong, Lord? Must be me. Maybe you didn't call me. Maybe I'm not supposed to be there. I mean, you know what? You go all these obstacles you put in front of your head. He said, Lord, what else can I do, Lord? I'm doing everything I can. What else can I do? Show me what I'm not doing here. And this pastor sent this message. I sent some to the cities. I sent some to the valleys. I sent some to the big places. I sent some to the most remote parts of the earth. And they will serve me there. And this pastor said, and you, whatever you are, you just go and serve your God. Oh, that hit me so hard. I needed to hear that. You know why? Because it's not me that's going to build a house of God, it's Him. He's the one who's going to build it, not me. I'm just a servant of Him. So what am I doing here? I'm serving the Lord. With one, with five, with 20, or 2,000, it doesn't matter. My job is to serve Him. He called me to serve Him, and I serve Him. So, am I going to be worried? No, I give my worry to the Lord. Worry should not fit in the life of a Christian. So, you know, Lord, I'm not going to worry. I give it to you, Lord. This is your church. This is your house. As long as you allow me to, to serve you in this capacity, I will, Lord. But it's your house. You know what? That went away. Because now I'm trusting Him. so you know what the pastor said if you have one if you have 200 or a thousand whatever you have you preach the word of god with the same intensity don't let discouragement hit you because you have one or you have 200 don't look at others look where god puts you and serve him there and because you know what they're preaching the same christ in the other place where they are they're doing the same thing We serve the same Savior. You know what that is so true. I know what that message was like the Lord just speaking to me. I took it in and say Lord. I needed to hear that one. Let God do his work. What obstacles we are putting in front of us that we don't serve the Lord. Lord, I have this, I have this, this, this in my life. And because I have this, this, when all these obstacles go away, then I serve you. You know what God says? Give me your obstacles. Give it to me and I will take care of it and serve me. Let God do his work. Matthew 4, 17 says, and they saw him and they say unto him, I'm sorry, we have five loaves and two fishes. That's how far their mind could go. They said, this is an obstacle. We can do it. And God says, give them to me. I'll take care of it. We are told that everyone ate and were filled. And they eat, they did all eat. The Bible says in Matthew 14, 20, and were filled. And they all eat and were filled in Mark 6, 42. The word filled is the verse that says they were filled up, they were satisfied. It's like they had a good Thanksgiving meal, so to speak. They're not like, well, I have just enough food to get me by. They were fed, they ate as much as they could. They feasted on it. And let me tell you, we can feast on the Word of God. We can feast on our Lord. God is a providing God. He will provide. Matthew tells us that the number of those who ate were 5,000 men plus the additional women and children were there. So even though we call this a miracle, the miracle of the 5,000, it probably was more than 5,000, a lot more than 5,000 people there. This is an amazing miracle, especially when you compare it to other miracles of feeding in the Bible. During the time of famine in the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah fed himself a widow and her son. All from a single jar of flour and a single jar of oil that didn't run until the famine was over. Didn't run out until the famine was over. So God provides it. This is a miracle. Later on, the prophet Elijah fed a hundred men from twenty loaves of bread, and they all ate and had some left over. But this one right here, it supersedes all of them. This is God doing it right here, even though God did the other ones. Jesus fed a crowd of 5,000 men plus women and children. You know what? I tell you what, if we trust our God, God can do what we cannot do in our lives. God can. John chapter 6 verse 32 says and jesus said it on them truly true verily verily saying to you Moses give you not that bread from heaven, but my father give it you the true bread from heaven the and the bread and for the bread of god is he which coming down from heaven and give it life unto the world Even today, what do you do when God asks you to do something you can't do? Give it to God and then let God do His work. Think about David in the Old Testament. David had a slingshot and five small stones and he went to face Goliath. Listen, it was not that the stone killed the guy. It was God doing it. You can do anything with God. He can help you with your problems. He can help you with your doubts. He can help you with your headaches. He can help you with your setbacks. He can help you with your present situation and shape you for a better future. He can help you with the things that you cannot fix, neither you can control. Give it to God, whatever that is. Give it to the Lord. Are you exhausted and tired of battling day after day and come short? Are you ready to throw in the tower and say I can't fix this mountain that is in front of me? Are you discouraged because you don't seem to get ahead? Well, there's one name, his name is Jesus and he can help you. Look what it says in 1 Peter 5, he might want to jot these things down. Casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. The Bible says every single little thing give it to him because he cares about you. You're discouraged? God says, give it to me. You're lonely? God says, give it to me. You have worries? God says, give it to me. You have anxiety? God says, give it to me. You're hurting? God says, give it to me. Anything? God says, nothing is too big for me. These mountains? God says, give it to me. Luke says in Matthew 11, 28, Come unto me, all ye. that labor and heavy laden and I will give you rest." You know what? We run everywhere. It's all problems of life, but we can rest in Jesus. We can rest in Jesus. He says, come on to me. Lord, here's my problems. Give me the wisdom to fix these problems because I don't know how to fix it. Trust Him with the outcome. It might not be the way we want the outcome, but God will give an end for that, and His ways are always better than our ways. Listen, there's a lot of tired people in our world. The hottest prescription drugs today is drugs for anxiety, worry. There's all kinds of things. Listen, don't misunderstand me here. There's some situations in which we need medical attention. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. But there's a lot of things in our own lives that God can fix it. So I don't want you to go out of here misunderstanding what I'm saying. The situation is that we need medical attention. And God puts those people with high education where they can help us. Okay, I'm not a doctor, but some situation I'll go to doctor myself sometimes. Okay is some situation We need medical attention praise the Lord is people out there that God can use to help us when I was battling with cancer Praise the Lord that the God brought a doctor out of retirement to take care of me and others as well But praise the Lord for that because it was through him. He treated me I needed that God guide me to that person, okay? I praise the Lord for those things but there are situations in our lives that we just need to give it to the Lord. There's all kinds of things out there that we just instead of holding in our back and carry them on, we just can give it to God. God can take care of it. So in closing, what is God asking you to do these days? Has God laid a certain ministry idea upon your heart? Is He calling you to have a closer walk with Him? Is He calling you to serve and get involved in some ministry in the local church? Well, what needs do you see around that need to be filled? What people that you can reach out to that may be encouraged by your actions? See, it don't matter what it is, nothing is impossible with God. You can do anything with God. Give it to God and let Him get the glory. Don't forget to give God the glory in the end. To God be the glory, the great things He had done. He can use you and He can use me. You can be an encouragement to someone today. You can be a blessing to someone today. And if someone tries to be a blessing to you, don't shut the door. Listen, we live in a day and age today, most of us, if we want something, we go get it. Right? Praise the Lord for the credit cards. No, no, no. I'm just kidding. No, no, no. Forget about that. But, you know, we pretty much, you know, like, but we should not close the door. So if someone wants to, somebody wants to be a blessing to us, don't close the door because the Lord might have laid in their hearts to do it. Give God the glory. The same thing, you know what? The Lord might leave something in your heart for you to do to somebody else. Do it. Don't forget to give the glory to the Lord. To God be the glory. So anything, God can do anything, but give it to God. Give it to God. Your discouragements, your setbacks, your pains, your bills, your problems, your obstacles. There's many things. We all have problems in our life. We have things in our life. You know what? Give it to the Lord. Give it to the Lord. Your dreams, give it to the Lord. Your discouragement, give it to the Lord. Someone in your heart that is very heavy on your heart, give it to the Lord. You know why? Because he can do what we cannot do. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for this passage of scripture. Oh, Lord, the disciples made such a horrendous mistake. They want to send the people away, and they forgot who was next to them. And Lord, we Christians, too, many times forget who's inside of us, your Spirit. You can do things that we cannot do. Help us, Lord, to rely on You and faithfully give to You our problems, our victories, our setbacks. Help us, Lord, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If you could stand, please, we're going to have a song of invitation this morning. I'm going to sing a song that we learned Wednesday night. It was actually a prayer song. On Wednesdays, we have a request. I always send a request, and I always hope that I can lead the song. And this one came Wednesday night, and I sang this song many, many moons ago. It's called Once For All. Once For All, page 337. Let's sing it together. ♪ Free from the low happy condition ♪ Jesus has bled in dearest remission ♪ Cursed by the low and bruised by the fall ♪ Grace that redeemed us once for all ♪ Once for all a sinner received Once for all, oh brother, believe it, cling to the cross, the burden. Let me tell you, are you saved here this morning? If you were to die today, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? Praise the Lord. Isn't that a great thing? What about if you don't have a certainty on that? What about you online watching? If you were to die and drop dead today, are you 100% sure you're going to heaven? Are you discouraged here this morning? Are you beaten down? Are you about to throw in the towel? Let me tell you, we serve a great God. God can do what we cannot do. What is the problems that we have? Give it to God. Once for all, just give it to Him. Say, Lord, I don't know what's going to come out of this one. Trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. He can do what we cannot do. Let's sing one more verse. of freedom is no condemnation. Praise the Lord. Jesus provides us perfect salvation. Come unto me, O hear His sweet call. Come and He saves us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive Him. Once for all, Let's sing verse number three. Surely His grace will keep us from falling, Passing from death to life at His call, Blessed salvation once for all. Once for all, our sinner receiving, Once for all, To the cross the burden will fall Christ hath redeemed us once for all Thank you for being here this morning. Thank you for your faithfulness of the house of God Let's pray and we will be dismissed heavily father. Thank you Lord that we have the opportunity given to you everything of our lives a lot of things of life and So you can use it for your honor and glory Lord that day your name was glorified the disciples saw obstacles you saw potential and You saw people that needed to be healed. You saw people that were hungry. Lord, I just wonder how many people received you as Savior that day. Just for that action, Lord, may we see opportunities, not obstacles. May we see opportunities to serve you, to lead others to Christ, to tell people about Jesus. May we give our problems to you and remember you, not just here, but every step that we take in every day of our lives. Go with us, Lord. Bless our day. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.