And as for the rest of you that have one, please take them and turn in them to the gospel of Luke chapter 9 today. We'll look at the first 17 verses of Luke chapter 9. In a message that I'm just calling, Where God Guides, God Provides. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There was a reason that Christ came forth from the ecstasy of eternity, from the halls of heaven, if you will. And it wasn't to wow people through miraculous means. It wasn't to win friends and influence people. It wasn't to set Himself on the center stage of fame and fortune. You see, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. to stand in the gap on your behalf and mine, to bridge that gap between a holy and righteous God and sinful man, informing man, informing the world that reconciliation to God was more than a possibility, but that in fact it would become the reality of all who would trust in Him. And he would say to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world. but that the world through Him might be saved. This was the message. The means? The cross. Jesus would shed His blood. He would lay down His life for the sin of the world. Now, whoever would place their faith in the reconciling work of Christ upon the cross, Him becoming sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, God placing our sin upon Him, that He might impute His righteousness to us, that whoever would believe upon Him would be saved. But there's a bit of a predicament. There's a little bit of a problem. Who will proclaim it? We have the message. We know the means. Who will make it known? Well, you know the story. Jesus would grab hold of twelve ordinary men. a few fishermen, there was a tax collector. I mean, some of them we don't even know what they did. Just common everyday guys. And He would take them, and He would train them, and He would pour into them, and He would teach them what it meant to have His heart for humanity. And through them, He would turn the world upside down. And that's where we catch up to Christ, here in chapter 9. He's taking and training his disciples to carry on after his work upon the cross is complete. And so notice with me, beginning in verse one, Luke chapter nine, then he called his 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the world. the sick. I'll stop right there. This is their first, what we might consider to be their first solo flight. It's their first time behind the pulpit, if you will. This is their initial launch out into the world of witnessing. And we read where John's gospel, Jesus said, as the Father has sent me, I also send you. And so here's Jesus sending out his disciples to do what he himself had been doing. Preaching the kingdom of God and healing the sick. Now their primary purpose was not to exercise demons, nor was it to cure diseases. Those things were incidentals. Now they weren't to ignore the practical needs of the people along the way. They were absolutely to be concerned with the whole of the person. However, their primary purpose behind His sending them out was to preach the Kingdom of God. Now listen, that same mission has been entrusted to the church today. Social services are not the primary purpose of the church. Oh sure, we're to be benevolent, we're to seek to minister as we can to the whole of the person, but our purpose primarily is to preach the kingdom of God. Now of course that word preach simply means, as you well know, to herald or to proclaim. It means to make known. We're to make known to others the news of the kingdom. Now listen, that doesn't simply happen behind a pulpit. Some of the best, some of the most powerful preaching that ever happens, never happens inside of a church. It happens when people like you are standing one-on-one with others, telling them the good news of what Jesus has done in your life. And He can do the same thing for them if they should want that or desire that. People proclaiming the gospel message to their friends and their neighbors, or maybe even their family members, or their classmates, or their work associates. When you make known the principles, That is the basic facts of the gospel or the word of God to others. You are preaching the kingdom of God. Now the reason that I point that out is because it seems to me that we have a tendency to believe that preaching is for the professional. You know, the guy whom the church pays to preach. That's not true. You remember it's only been, well, not too far removed from the context we're in. It's been about a month for us since we've been there. But not too far removed from this particular time period, you remember Jesus delivered the man from about, well, around 2,000 demons or so it would seem. He was possessed with a couple of thousand demons. They're Luke chapter 8, just not too long ago. You remember what Jesus said to him. He said, return to your own house. And tell what great things God has done for you. Stop right there. Think about this. Let me encourage you. How often do you in your own house talk about the great things God has done for you? How often, husband, do you share with your wife? How often, wife, do you let your husband in on the great things God has done for you? How often, parents, are you sharing with your children the great things that God has done for you? He said, return to your house. Tell them what great things God has done for you. And he went his way. Notice, here's the word. And proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. Now, you know where I'm going with this. That word proclaimed, guess what another word for that is? He preached. Man, here he was, a brand new believer. Preaching the Kingdom of God, the great things that Jesus had done for him. Here's the point for you and me. If Jesus has done something in your life, then tell others about it. Let people know of it. That's what preaching is all about. It's declaring, it's proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to notice, because it seems important to me, the order in which these things took place. You see it there in the very first verse. First off, Jesus called them to Himself. Then He empowered, He enabled, He equipped them, and then He sent them out. Now listen, that's the same exact way that He works in your life and He works in my life today. First, He will call us unto Himself. And then he qualifies, he authorizes us to do the work for which we have been called. And then he sends us out into the world to show to them, to share with them the good news of the kingdom of God and administer healing to the hurting. He wants to use you to bring light to those who are dwelling in the darkness and to bring the truth to those who've been deceived by the lie. You say, well, what's the lie? Well, the lie is anything that leads a person to trust in or turn to anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ as it pertains to their eternal destiny. And we note that Jesus did not send them in their own abilities, their own efforts and or energies, nor were they, we'll see momentarily, to rely on their own resources. God was guiding, God would be providing. And we read here that He gave them power. When it says that He gave them power, what that means is that He vested in them the ability to accomplish the task. And then it says that He gave them authority, and that means He gave them the right to do it. And so, first of all, He enabled them to be able to get the job done, but then He authorized them, He sanctioned them, In other words, if you have all the construction ability in the world, that's great, but if you don't have the permit to get the job done, you understand. So He gave them both the ability and the permission, the authority to do it. And God will never call you, He will never call me to do a task. But that He doesn't first empower and equip us to do it. If He enlists you, which if you know Him, if you've given your heart to Him, He has. Okay? So if He enlists you, He will enable you. Now, we read here that He gave the gift of healing to His disciples here to authenticate their ministry. It would be a means of validating, if you will, their message. Now, today, though we do believe the Bible is clear that the gifts of the Spirit do still exist, we also understand that sign gifts are not the litmus test for legitimacy, okay? Today, we are to put the message and the ministry under the scrutiny of the Scriptures. The Bible is clear that even Satan's ministers can do amazing and miraculous things, signs and wonders, the Bible says. So a miracle in and of itself will not ratify a message. Read 1 John on your own. It's only a handful of chapters or so. You can do it in a sitting or maybe two or three. And John, you will find, spends significant time instructing us to test the spirits, to make sure, to ratify a work through the means of the Word that was given to us through them, that is, through the apostles. Paul the Apostle said, but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you other than what we have preached to you, then let him be accursed. So the idea is, we're not to take a man's word for something simply because of a sign, okay? But only if it survives the scrutiny of the Scriptures. And then we find in verse 3 that he said to them, Take nothing for the journey, neither staffs, nor bag, nor bread, nor money, and do not have two tunics apiece. And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there, depart. And whoever will not receive you when you go out of that city, shake the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them. And so they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Now, a few things here. Probably most obvious is, as I mentioned a moment ago, they were sent out with the understanding of where God guides, God will provide. Jesus taught them to serve, and kind of make note, bring it up to speed for you and me practically, but he taught them to serve in total dependency. They were to take nothing with them. on their journey. And they were to serve in simplicity, we see here. If you're a note taker or a margin etcher, you might just make mental note of these things and apply them where you're at today. They were to serve in dependency. They were to serve with simplicity. No staff, no money, no suitcase, not even The change of clothes. Just go with what you have on your back. And they were to walk in humility, accepting with contentment, however they would be provided for physically. And we see in verse 4 that they weren't to be jumping from house to house in a certain city. And the idea there is that there could be no insinuation, no misunderstanding, no ambiguity or uncertainty that you were not in this thing for what you were able to get out of it. Yeah, it's true. The laborer is worthy of his wage. It's true. You're not to muzzle the ox while it treads out grain, meaning that you need to satisfy the beast of burden, if you will, the one doing the work for you, you need to satisfy them efficiently so that they can minister or serve your needs effectively, is what that means, but you weren't to enter a city and stay with someone, and then maybe you're there for a day or three or a week or whatever, and you're beginning to build a rapport with people, gaining a little trust in you, and they're interested in what it is that you have to say and share. And then you discover someone comes up to you and says, you know, hey man, why don't you stay with me for a while? And you realize, man, that guy has a pool. You know, that guy has a couple convertibles, and he's driving around town styling, and they're always eating real fine foods, and man, I could be in on that, you know, you just stay with them, and no, listen, hey, nothing personal, I'm gonna go stay with them now. He says, don't, don't do that. The point wasn't to be served, but to serve. It wasn't about what do I get out of it, but listen, I'm here for you. I wanna bless and serve you. And so don't be jumping around from opportunity to better opportunity to better yourself in that situation, he says. So number one, serve in total dependency. Number two, serve in simplicity. Number three, serve with humility. And then fourthly, finally, as it pertains to this little passage, serve unto the Lord exclusively. You say, what do you mean? Well, verse five informs us that not everyone will receive what you have to say when you're sharing the good news of the kingdom of God. So that's OK, man. The results aren't up to us. All we do is deliver the message. You and me, we are servants of Jesus Christ. You can accept the message. You can reject the message. It's just my part to be faithful, to deliver the message. And so we serve unto the Lord. We're not worried about the results per se. We want to be faithful to deliver the message. We do realize, deductively, that Jesus was also teaching them the principle that as they were sowing into people's lives spiritual things, that it was not wrong for them to reap their material things. That's what the Scripture says. It's what the Scripture meant by, don't muzzle the ox as it treads out grain. The Bible says, even so, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. In other words, the gospel should be their means to make a living. And so Jesus says, hey, God will meet your needs through moving upon his people's hearts to provide for you. Don't trust in your own resources. Live in dependency upon God, and he will provide for you through his people. But I want to re-underscore here really one thing in particular, and that is the simplicity with which they were sent. And the reason that I wanna highlight that is because I think it's important for our, how might you say, technologically oriented culture in which we live and the technology that's available to us and the gadget oriented kind of culture we're in. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't seek to minister in a culturally relevant way. I mean absolutely I believe we should. But what I am saying is that the power of God unto salvation isn't found in a killer light and laser system and a really nice PA and smoke and fog and all of these kinds of mechanics and PowerPoint presentations, okay? These guys weren't teaching and taking the gospel to them off of the latest iPad. You know, that'd be cool, maybe one day I'll be teaching from one, that'd be cool. But be that as it may, their effectiveness was found as the result of the Word of God going forth and the power of the Spirit of God. So it was through the Word of God and the power of the Spirit of God. Nothing more, but definitely nothing less. And so it's not about having all the latest, greatest that gets the job done. It's the power of the Word of God, the power of the Spirit of God making changes in our lives. Jesus says, if they won't receive you, then you know what? Don't waste your time arguing with them. Just drop it and move on. Now, of course, this is an area, you guys, whereby we really do well to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading because There are times that we do need to persist in sharing and encouraging and just kind of planting the seeds of the word of God and all of that. But then there are other times when Satan has people strategically kind of placed where they're not interested at all in what you have to say, but they're more than happy to entangle you and waste all of your time. Hey, listen, commend them over to God and move on. Here's my encouragement. Don't waste a whole lot of time on people who have no interest. Why? There are people slipping off the planet every day without Jesus who are groping for some sort of hope, looking to make sense of all of this. And you have the answer to their problems, their questions in the person of Jesus Christ. And so don't waste a lot of time on the guy, that gal who has no interest. Go to the ones who are hurting, who are seeing their needs, who are wanting a reason and desperate for hope, you see. Now, in verse 6, So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. Here's the point. They obeyed Him. They did what He said. They actually did what He told them to do. Here's my point. What is the point of Jesus calling, enabling, and empowering us if we won't obey Him? You see that? That's one of the reasons there's such an emphasis in the Scriptures upon being a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. Because Jesus can enable us, man, He can empower us, He can equip us. But if we won't obey Him, then we ain't getting nothing done. We've got to be doers of the Word. Because for whatever reason, God has opted to partner with man in the accomplishing of His plan. And therefore there is a responsibility that's incumbent upon us to lay hold of that. Listen, there's a reason that Jesus laid hold of your life. You know what I mean? The Bible exhorts us to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us. OK, seek that out. Jesus, what do you want with me? What do you want from me? How can I serve you, Lord? You grabbed hold of me. You want to use me. I want to be faithful in that capacity. And so he's called us. If you know the Lord, you've given your heart to the Lord, listen, He has called you. He has enabled or enlisted you. The question is, are you, am I, do we obey Him? All right? Now look at verse seven. Now Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by Him. And he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead. They're talking about John the Baptist. Do you remember the last time we seen him? Herod was having him beheaded. And some was saying that John had risen from the dead. And by others, in verse 8, that Elijah had appeared. And by others, that one of the prophets of old, you see, had risen. And Herod said, well, John, I've beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? And so he sought to see him. Now, we're not going to spend much time right here because we'll touch on it next time. It'll begin to come together and make more sense as this chapter evolves. But for now, we just want to see how far reaching the impact was of these common guys simply doing what Jesus called them to do. You know, Jesus would take these 12 and turn the world upside down. Well, 11, he would replace one. My point is this, you know, sometimes I read the book of Revelation, you're there in the second and third chapter where the letters to the churches are being addressed. The Lord is exhorting them and encouraging them and all of those kinds of things. And when he gets to the Church of Philadelphia, he says, listen, you have a little strength. And because of that, I'm going to spare you from the hour which is about to try basically the whole world and the Great Tribulation and all of that. And, you know, you read that, and of course, that's the church we wanna be, the Church of Philadelphia. We wanna be that church that's been faithful, that still has a little strength. And, you know, sometimes you think that, read that, and you think, what do you mean a little strength? Surely we got more than a little, just a little strength, that's all we have. I mean, but then I think about that in the context of this, you know, and 12 guys who had strength rocked the entire planet for Jesus Christ. Now here we are, a few hundred, or across the churches of America, thousands and thousands and tens of thousands that name the name of Christ. What kind of global impact are we really making? If 12 can rock the world, well, we just have a little strength. And here they are out there doing just what Jesus called them to do. And Herod himself, the political power of that entire region, was hearing what was happening. They're shaking things up. There's momentum building behind the words and the works of Jesus. And then we see in verse 10 that the apostles, when they had returned, told Him all that they had done. And then he took them and went aside privately into a deserted place belonging to the city called, well, it was Philip's old stomping grounds, Bethsaida. Now, we note back in verse one that when he called them to himself, they were referred to as disciples. Now that they've been sent, when they come back in verse 10, they're called apostles. An apostle is one sent with a message, with authority, the representative of the spearhead, if you will, Jesus. And so, here they are. They've gone out, they've been sent out with the message, with the authority and the power of Christ, and now they are apostles. But you recall from last week, as we see here, when they had gone out and they had ministered, He then took them and wanted to go aside with them. And you recall last week as we studied and we thought through the scenario of the woman who had the issue of blood, and when she reached forward and touched the hem of our Lord's garment, that he actually felt power leave him and do that work in her through her faith in him. But here's my point. Ministry takes its toll on us. It can drain a person. Power, energy goes forth from, you see, It drains a person physically, it drains a person mentally, and emotionally, and spiritually. And Jesus was aware of that. He had been, well, tapped as a resource, if you will, over and over again. And so He thought what He would do is take His boys away. You discover in the other gospel accounts the reason here was for a little spiritual R&R. This, I guess, is what we might refer to as, well, it was the first annual Apostles' Retreat, really, is what it was. Pretty limited group that got to go, but it was an Apostles' Retreat, and Jesus was slated to be the guest speaker. at this retreat, and He was just wanting to encourage them and recharge and refresh them. You know, perhaps it would be a time of even reminding them that even though He was using them, it wasn't about them, and that what was happening through them was a result of Him and His grace in their lives. Kind of a re-grounding, kind of a refocusing session. And retreats are great for that kind of a thing, man. Ladies, I'd encourage you, the women's retreat's coming up. I'm just encouraging you, go. Be refocused, be recharged, be refreshed. You know, let the Lord minister. Here, they had ministered for Him, now He would minister to them. personally, privately, quietly. You see, no matter what capacity we may serve the Lord in, it might be children's ministry, it might be worship ministry, ushers, grounds ministries, whatever the case may be, it's critical that we allow the Lord to lead us into quiet times in order to plug in, if you will, that we might plug in and recharge. It was a man by the name of Vance Havner who used to say, if we don't come apart and rest. Well, we'll just come apart, you know, and there's there's truth to that. It's important to get alone with the Lord, be ministered to by the Lord, refocused and recharged. Now, notice also in verse 10, quickly, that they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. You know, Jesus is interested in what we're doing in His name and what kind of fruit results from it. And we will account to Him in regard to it. Now in verse 11, But when the multitudes knew it, that is where they were going, they followed him. And he received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who had need of healing. And when the day began to wear away, the twelve came and said to him, Send the multitude away. that they may go into the surrounding towns and country and lodge and get provisions, for we are in a deserted place here. Send them away, let them go get something, let them go get a burger or whatever, and get a motel, because we're out here in the middle of nowhere. And he says to them, you give them something to eat. And they said, well listen, we have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people. For there were about five thousand men. And then he said to his disciples, make them sit down in groups of fifty. And they did so and made them sit down. Now I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this particular point, You should see there's some messianic overtones happening here. Here they are, masses, multitudes of 5,000 men. We're not told how many women and children are in the mix, so probably conservatively around, I'm just going to say 8,000 to 12,000. And here they are, masses out in the desert, out in the deserted place, and a man's going to multiply. There's going to be bread, if you will, provided for them. There's something stirring here that should be happening in them, but be that as it may, in verse 11, we discover that when the masses learned of where Jesus was going, that they set out on route, or route, whatever you want to say, in order to meet Him there. And we see that Jesus received them, spoke of the kingdom of God to them, and healed any of those who were in any way afflicted. Modeling really for His disciples the same stuff that He had commanded of His disciples, right? He told them, go, preach the kingdom, heal the sick. And now here they come, and He's preaching the kingdom and healing the afflicted. But as the day wore on, the disciples come to him and they go, Lord, look, man, it's getting late. We're pretty far out. These guys need to get going so they can get into the city, get something to eat, find a motel. Translation, Lord, listen, these people are getting on our nerves. This is supposed to be our time and all of that, and here they are, and they're just always around. Could you please just send them away and all of that? But Jesus, he wasn't like that. This was the reason that he was here. He didn't see people as a bother. As a matter of fact, we read in Matthew's gospel that he saw them as sheep, like they had no shepherd, and they were wandering, and they needed direction, and they needed protection, and he was concerned for them. He had compassion on them, and he wasn't just concerned for them spiritually, but physically and practically as well. And Jesus says, I'm not gonna send them away. You feed them. Well, now we read in another gospel, John's gospel, Philip was all, Lord, seven, eight months worth of wages wouldn't feed this crowd. You know, again, we're told 5,000 men. I mean, how many women and children? I don't know. But his disciples were a lot like, well, they were a lot like you are. They were a lot like I am. And they sought to advise Jesus on how to best handle the situation. And so first they become his advisors, you know, as if the Lord didn't know. You know, Lord, send him away. You know, as if they know what's best here. And then they become his finance committee. You know, well, Lord, you know, we've looked at the budget and we're afraid of something that just can't be done. We don't have the resources, you know, that kind of a thing. And in reality, what are they doing? They're placing limits on the Lord. Hey, Lord, in case you haven't realized this, We have very little and the need is very great. You know, as if Jesus is gonna be like, really? Oh man, I thought we had, I'm sorry guys, you know, you're totally right. No, hey, listen, I'm so thankful that Jesus isn't limited by my resources. I'm so thankful that he doesn't need my finite and flawed sense of reason to give him direction. You know, his plan is always better, it's always much more efficient, and it always gives God much more glory than mine does. Now, in John's gospel, where we read this particular account, we see where the Lord actually turned to Philip. Remember, it was Philip's stomping grounds. He was from Bethsaida and all of that. And so the Lord turns to him and says, Philip, where are we going to get some food to feed all these folks? You know, where's the local catering, you know, shops in town kind of a thing. But we read there that he was actually testing Philip because he already knew that's important what he would do. And so he was seeing if Philip would basically say, hey, you know what, Lord, we don't have it. We can't do it. But I do know that with you, nothing will be impossible. I said, Lord, whatever you want to do, we're along for the ride. He was seeing if Philip was going to take that path or if he would freak out and fail to trust him, which basically that's what happened. Philip freaked out and failed. Could be a title of a message, couldn't it? But it won't be. But anyway, because that's us. We're so many times the Philip that freaks out and fails. But that's the way it went. But here's what we need to realize. That in time of crisis, When your resources are low and yet the responsibilities are great. God already has the problem solved. God already has it solved. He knows what he's going to do. The question is, will we trust him even when we can't see the solution? That's the question. What are we going to do about this, Jeff? I don't know, Lord. Or is it, you know what, God? I got to be honest with you, I'm freaking out a little bit, but I know that you're in control and you can do the work if you want to do the work. Part of the lesson here was to bring them to a sense of inadequacy so that they might learn to trust in the sufficiency of Christ. And how many of us have been there in that place of inadequacy, learning to trust the sufficiency of Christ? One has said that when God wants to do something wonderful, he begins with a difficulty. When God wants to do something really wonderful, he begins with an impossibility. You know. And so they drummed up, we discover again John's gospel, basically a couple of sardines and a few slices of bread. It was a little boy's sack lunch that his mother had packed for him earlier that day. That's what it amounted to, and they gave it to Jesus. In reality, we find that Andrew found this little boy. They were canvassing, what are we going to do? The Lord's saying, feed him, you know? And he finds this little boy with a sack lunch, and he brings this little boy to Jesus, and he's all like, this is all we got, you know? And thank God for the Andrews. Andrew, he was a connector. He was always bringing people to Jesus. You read through Peter, all of these people, he was always, the Greeks, he was always bringing them to Jesus. And the connectors are rarely ever seen. They don't get much glory and all of that. But thank God for those people that are just always bringing people, connecting people with Jesus. And so Andrew brings this little boy to Jesus and he makes the connection. And and he says, this is this is all we got, you know. Now, this is where it gets interesting. Jesus says, have them sit down. Our Lord is, you know, Lord of decency and order and all of that. And he says, have them sit downs and sit down in groups of 50. And so they did. Finally, they take their rightful place. Right. not instructing the Lord, they're not giving their advice to the Lord, they're just submitting to the Lord. And I thought about titling the message, listen, shut up and submit, but then I thought that might sound a little harsh, so I didn't go that route. But really, that's our rightful place before the Lord, you know? He doesn't need our advice, He doesn't need our insight, He doesn't need our suggestions, He's fully aware, He's fully aware. What he needs is our obedience, our submission to his word. He doesn't need to submit to our word. And so he says, listen, guys, here's what we're going to do. And finally, they just fall in line. They're like, OK, we'll do whatever you want. All right. Good place to be. Verse 16. And then he took the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven. He blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude. And the result was they all ate and were filled, and twelve baskets of leftover fragments were taken up by them." Now this isn't like, you know, the waiter goes by and cleans up the table, and he gets all of half of what everybody else has eaten, and he's got twelve baskets of half-eaten food to kind of scarf on himself. No, this means untouched leftovers. There was a full meal for each of the disciples left over. Here's the idea, where God guides, God provides. Now, let me get straight to the point here. The point is this. Jesus, the bread of life, is more than able to satisfy the deepest hunger of man. the deepest hunger of the heart of man. The Bible says, for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. And one who's hungering for more than what this world has to offer. The bread of life has more than enough supply to satisfy that need. What blows our minds about all of this is that he wants to use you. He wants to use me. He wants to use us to distribute and deliver that blessing to the masses, the multitudes, those who are hungry and afflicted, who need filled, who need the healing hand of Christ upon their hurting heart. He wants to use us. Oh, the blessing. The miracle takes place in Christ. He uses us to get it out there to Him. To deliver it. Jesus used, and we've talked about this before, but check it out, Jesus used what they, His disciples, brought to Him. He used what they had to bless the masses. Now, it wasn't much. A few loaves of bread, a couple fish. Again, when we talk about loaves, don't think about wonder bread loaves. Think about like hamburger buns. You know what I'm saying? Just little, just little, something to put the fish in between is really all it amounted to. Just, just a very little bit. But in the hands of Jesus, it was more than enough. It was more than enough. When they looked at it, when it was in their hands, man, it couldn't even begin to touch the need. And you know what? Our own resources, our own wisdom will always be like a few loaves and a couple fish in the midst of a multitude. Insufficient. Just insufficient. But as we relinquish the little that we have into the hands of Jesus, He is able to bless it, to break it, to multiply it and do great things with it. Again, you guys, He could have done this without them. He didn't need to use them, but he chose to work with them, even using what was given to him by them. Think about it, what is a handful of stones and a slingshot, you know, against an elite fighting force? Well, when given to God, it becomes a laser guided missile with pinpoint accuracy, you know. What is the jawbone of a donkey laying on the ground over there? Well, hey, listen, when you're empowered by the Spirit, it becomes a WMD, doesn't it? A weapon of mass destruction takes out a thousand Philistines. God wants to take whatever you have, whatever it is that's in your hands, and use it for His glory. I think that too often we're paralyzed with the thought that we just don't have much to offer God and therefore we offer nothing to God. Yeah, look, I don't got much. Listen, you may feel it's insignificant. Give it to Jesus and watch what happens. What makes something great, you guys, what makes someone great is that they've surrendered themselves and everything that they have into the hands of Jesus, because it's not about what we have. It's about what Jesus does with it that's so amazing. Okay. Interesting that a great writer can take just a worthless piece of paper and write a poem on it and instantly make it worth a small fortune. You know, a famous artist can take a cheap piece of canvas and by painting a picture on it, make it priceless. And a wealthy man can take just an ordinary sheet of paper and put his name on it and now it becomes worth millions. You know, and in an infinitely greater way, Jesus can take an otherwise worthless, corrupt, repulsive life just like yours, just like mine, and transform it into his righteousness and make of us a child of God and a fruitful worker for his kingdom. You know, He will take you, He will bless you, He will break you, and then He will use you in an awesome way for His glory. You wait, you watch, and you'll see. Let's pray. God, we thank you for your goodness. We don't understand it, we don't understand how you can take our small and Otherwise insignificant lives and they use us to make a difference for eternity. You can use us to bless and minister to the needs of others and and we give you praise for that, Lord, and I just pray that we would be found pliable and usable to you. And that nothing would hinder what you want to do in our lives. And we thank you, God, for that precious principle of where you guide, you provide. So help us to trust you more, not to lean on our own understanding, not to consider our own limited resources and finite sense of reasoning and all of that, but just to give what we have to you, to give you the whole of who we are and watch you do great and mighty things. Now listen, as our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, I just want you to know that Jesus wants you to trust in Him. You know, there was a reason that Jesus came down from heaven and became a man and lived among us. And again, it wasn't for some benefit of His own. It was that He might die for the sin of the world. Jesus shed His blood, He died on a cross, He was placed in a tomb, and three days later He rose from the dead. Why? Because He loves you. And He wants to make a way for you to find peace with God. He wanted to make a way that you might be reconciled to God. And that's through the blood of His cross. The worn out masses came to Christ. And He never turned anyone away. And He won't turn you away either. Just come to Him. I don't care where you've been. I don't care what you've done. I don't care the things that you've engaged in or thought about. None of that matters, how old you are, how young you are. What matters is, does Jesus Christ have your heart in his hands. I'm not talking, have you gone to church before or anything like that? I'm talking about, have you had an encounter with Jesus Christ whereby he washed away all your sin? He made you a new creation. He healed your hurting heart. Or maybe have you just gone to church, you know a little bit about God, but something like that, you don't, what are you talking about exactly? I'm not sure. Listen, I want you to be sure, and here's what we're gonna do. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. If God's dealing with you on that level, he's knocking on the door of your heart, he's seeking after you, he's calling you to himself. I'm gonna give you the opportunity to respond to that call in obedience. Here's what I'm gonna ask you to do. If that's happening in your heart, I just want you to raise your hand where you're at, If I see your hand, I'll say that and you can put it back down if you want. But I just don't want you to worry about who you're here with or who's beside you or around you in front or behind you. I just want you to worry about where you're at with Jesus Christ. Do you know him? Do you walk with him? Have you been forgiven by him? And if not, let's take care of it. It's just that simple. Is there anyone I can pray for in that capacity? God's dealing with you that way. I see you. God bless you. I see you. God bless you. Anyone else? I'm not talking about joining a church or playing a church game. I'm talking about becoming brand new in Jesus Christ. Anyone else I can pray for? God bless you. Father God, I just want to thank you so much for what you're doing here in this place and how you can take our hearts and transform us wash and cleanse us and make us new. Now listen, if God's dealing with you and you've raised that hand, meaning you've opened your heart to Him, I just want to lead you in a quick prayer. And you know, you don't have to pray out loud. You are welcome to. But again, I just want you to reach down into that deep place of your heart. The Bible says that all sin and have fallen short of the glory of God. But that if we will confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And that's what we do, man. We just come to Jesus. We get on our face, in our hearts, before Jesus. And we just say it like it is. Don't make excuses for it. Don't try to justify or in any way make light of it. Just come clean to the Lord. He knows. He already knows. Just come to Him. Say, Lord Jesus, here I am. And I'm a sinner. Here I am. And I'm coming to you just as I am. No excuses. No justification. A sinner. I fall short, so short, of your glory, of your righteousness. So Jesus, I ask you to forgive me of my sin. and to come into my heart and to fill me with your Holy Spirit. Change me, transform me, make a new creation of me. And help me, Lord, to lead my life for you now from this moment forward all the days of my life. And thanks for putting my name in your book of life. Now listen, I want to encourage you that if you're saying a prayer similar unto that in your own heart where you're at before Christ, God has heard the cry of your heart. The Bible says if anyone be in Christ, they're a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are made new. I want you to believe Him for it and receive that washing, that newness of life and that cleansing of all of that. You know, we all bring baggage to the foot of the cross. What's important is that you leave it there. Don't carry it home with you. Trust in the forgiving grace of God towards your life, and let Him do great things in you and great things for you to His glory. God, we give you praise, and once again, we just thank you for your work here. In Jesus' name, amen.