He said, fear is just our worry, or worry is our fear that God is not in control. Well, the reality is, he is in control. He's in control today, and I'll tell you this, he'll be in control Tuesday, won't he? And just what a blessing, appreciated that song this morning. Well, it's sure good to be here at Berean Baptist Church, and so glad that you decided to show up too, amen. and looking forward to the day today and being with you and I know I've already been kind of texting with the preacher a little bit this morning and just praying for him. We just had a fall revival a few weeks ago and had Brother Hastings at our church and it was just a real blessing and just thankful that they get to celebrate 20 years today. as Bible Baptist Church there in Columbia, Missouri. I can remember being in the Bible Institute here at Berean Baptist Church and going to the very first services in the Days Inn Hotel at the start of that church. And I went because I got extra credit. but I'm glad that I went and I'm just so grateful for Brother Hastings, his faithfulness and just a blessing and I'm praying that they really, they have a lot of rejoicing today and just this week at God's goodness and faithfulness and just praying it'll be a blessed time. We enjoyed getting to be around the Hastings family and we start our Sunday morning with men's prayer at eight o'clock and so I got in there and we have a little platform in our little Sunday school room and I don't stand on the platform, I just stand in front of it and the sun was kind of shining through the window so I backed up and when I did, my feet hit that platform and I fell backwards and my feet went straight up in the air. Brother Hastings goes, you look like a turtle on your back, man, it was awesome. And so, you know, when something happens to the pastor, you don't have to post it on Facebook before everybody hears about it by Sunday school time. And I mean, everybody, so I went up to my wife and I said, you know, I said, I fell this morning. And she goes, yeah, I heard. And she goes, let me ask you this. She said, did all the guys run to you or did they laugh at you? And I said, they ran to me and helped me up. She said, that's how you know, Noel. And I said, man, what a, My wife is an encourager, amen. Now you know what Job felt like, amen, when things going on. Amen, but we really did, we had a blessed time, and just praying that they have a blessed time as well. And I believe this, God's got something in store for us today, too. You always tell our people that when the pastor goes out of town, he doesn't put God in his pocket and take him with him. God is everywhere, friend, and no doubt he is certainly here this morning, and sure appreciate the music and the Sunday school lesson on music. I felt very convicted. I made sure I was singing out this morning, And I think churches have lost that. They've made men the audience when God needs to be the audience. It's God that determines and dictates our worship and he does it right here. That's why he says, worship him in spirit and in truth. Truth is the word of God, amen. Well, I better get to, you know, quit the preaching on that and get to what I'm going to this morning. And so I want to invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the gospel of Luke this morning in chapter number nine, and don't stand just yet. I know that you do the same as we do, or we stand in honor of God's word, like Nehemiah chapter number eight. Again, everything that we do, we can go back to the word of God, and I'm thankful for that. But I want you to, you know, you and I are kind of jumping into the middle here, kind of jumping into not only the, maybe what I would say is the middle of the gospel of Luke, but we're also jumping into the middle of the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And chapter nine really marks a significant change in his ministry. Up until this point, the Lord Jesus has been going about and preaching the kingdom of heaven. He has been demonstrating the power of God through miracles. And we know this, he does that for a twofold reason. Number one, it's to validate that he is the Messiah, he is the Savior. No man can do the things that he can do. A man can make the blind to see and the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak and the dead to rise again, amen. So we know that but at the same time all of those miracles that he does are a picture of what he can do for all men spiritually. All right, and so we understand that. Well what happens is this, is that when we get into chapter number nine, everything changes in the sense that now, now Jesus is not just going to go out, but he's going to send his disciples out. They're going to have the very same message, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The message never changes. All right, but also he's going to give them power to be able to perform those miracles. And again, it's the same idea to be able to validate their message, but then also demonstrate what God can do for all men spiritually. Just as God can make men whole physically, he can make men whole spiritually. And I want to say this, this is exactly, I mean, this is in chapter nine, you have ultimately his church. And that's ultimately what we're supposed to be doing is going out and preaching the kingdom of God and demonstrating the power of God through a changed life. My friend, you wanna demonstrate the miracles of God today, live holy. Live Christ-like. That's what God has called us to do. But now here's the thing where you and I are going to pick up this morning is this, is that the disciples, they have all come back from being sent out. Alright, they are fired up. And it even gets better because what Jesus is going to do is, He's going to say, let's go away privately to Bethsaida, which is the hometown of five of the disciples, Philip, and then of course you've got Andrew and Peter and James and John, the two sets of brothers, and Bethsaida, Bethsaida literally means this, fishing house. It's a small town on the northern shore of Galilee, which of course would explain the occupation of Andrew and Peter and James and John being fishermen, but here's the idea. Basically, Jesus is taking them on vacation. Deep sea fishing trip plan, boys. Does anybody, come on, we're going on vacation this morning. You should be more excited about this. You got an extra hour of sleep and we're going on vacation. And so that's what he's doing. It's gonna be great. Man, they've worked hard. They've seen God do a work and now it's time for some R&R and now it's time for some rest. But here's what happens, people show up. Because people ruin everything. And as when the disciples are ready to send them home and get back to their vacation, the Lord Jesus says this, I tell you what fellas, let's feed them before they go back. 5,000 people, 5,000 men. And what happens is what you and I know to be really one of the great miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ where He feeds every one of them with five loaves and two fishes. Us two pieces of fried catfish and five hushpuppies. Feeds everybody. I mean, really, that's what I'm telling you. Now you're hungry. We're on vacation and we're hungry. Man, we've all messed up. So let's all stand and take our Bibles. I want you to see what happens here. Let's pick up in verse number 10 and let's look at this here. And I know this, men have certainly preached on this passage on multiple occasions and different ideas and things, but I just wanna kinda look at it this morning and just chew on it. Verse number 10, and the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And He took them and went aside privately unto a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew it, followed him, and he received them, Jesus received them, and spake unto them the kingdom of God. How awesome is that? Guys, you don't even have to go out, they're coming to you. And he healed them that had need of healing. And when the day began to wear away, then came the 12 and said unto him, send the multitude away that they may go into the towns and country round about and lodge and get vittles for we are here in a desert place. But he said unto them, give ye them to eat. And they said, we have no more but five loaves and two fishes except we should go and buy meat for all this people. For they were about 5,000 men and he said unto the disciples, make them sit down by fifties in a country, or in a company, and they did so, and made them all sit down, and he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and break, and gave to the disciples, and sat before them, or sat before the multitude, and they did eat, all right, this is key, and they did eat, and were all filled and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them 12 baskets. All right, 12 baskets. Now, the reason that I said that that is key right there in verse number 17 is that when it says that they all did eat and they were all filled, that's not just talking about the multitudes, that's talking about the disciples too. I don't think it's of any coincidence that they took 12 baskets of leftovers home. I don't think that's of any coincidence. Here's what I want you to catch. The word filled literally means this, to be satisfied. To be satisfied. I think this, that the message to the disciples is that he's trying to get them to grab a hold of is that, listen, it's not really a vacation. or a deep sea fishing trip or whatever it is you wanna put in there that's gonna satisfy your soul. It's fishing for men. That's gonna satisfy your soul. I want you to listen to this statement. The greatest fulfillment in life that a believer can experience is not one of seclusion but one of service to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not selfishness. but ministering to others as the Lord Jesus did, and that's the lesson that you and I find with feeding of the 5,000. Listen, whether you're here this morning and you're lost or you're saved, I'm telling you there's only one person that can satisfy your soul, and his name is Jesus Christ. And you and I need to understand that, but I want to say this, I'm certainly not ignorant to the fact The world out there has all kinds of things that promise mankind that if they'll chase after them, that's what will bring them satisfaction. But you need to know this, the devil will always sell you short. because he's a liar and he's a deceiver, but what I'm saying to you is this, is that because we know what's going on in the world today, but yet at the same time, we know what Jesus can do in and of us, I'm telling you, it begs the question, what is it that you and I are seeking after today to satisfy us? Because if it's not eternal life in him or abundant life in him, then I'm telling you, my friend, you and I are missing it. Father, would you bless the preaching and I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Won't you be seated this morning and appreciate you standing in honor of God's word. I had to learn the hard way that I'm a land man. I'm not a deep sea fisherman. You know, you can't help but to think about that with where the disciples are going and certainly the occupation of almost half of them that are involved in in this scene most of you know brother Alexander said a moment ago that you know you know me and I said probably too well and most of you know I'm from the panhandle of Florida and so I you know a couple of years I was born and raised on the water and fishing and all of that and so it was a couple of years ago two or three years ago I think it was and we were going on vacation and going back there to visit with family and so I decided to rent and do a chartered fishing trip with my father-in-law and my son at the time. And so we started going out there. It was only about four hours, and it was only a couple of miles out. You could still see the land and everything. And so we got out there in that boat, and it just totally shocked me that, man, this boat started kind of bobbing up and down in the Gulf of Mexico, and I'm trying to fish, and I started getting a little nauseated and a little sick. And I'm like, what is going on with me? But this was my thought. I don't care if I vomit or not, I'm fishing because I know how much money I spent on this trip. And so I'm reeling away, and I'm turning pale and sweating, but I'm reeling away. Luke's hanging over the boat, and I'm laughing and going, yeah, boy. And I'm reeling in the fish, and we had a great time. I didn't think anything about it. I don't know why I didn't think of this, but I came back and somebody said to me, he said, you know, you've heard of Dramamine, you can take some of that and it'll help you. I've heard that it helps people. And I thought, you know, that's a good idea, but I don't really want to go back out there. And we went back on vacation this past summer. And sure enough, a buddy of mine called. We went to school together and him and his family still lives in the area. He's got about a 28 foot. and goes out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico all the time and he calls me up and he goes, hey man, you wanna go fishing? I said, yeah man, sign me up and I went straight to the drug store and bought Dramamine. And we go out there and we get about two miles out and we're almost about where we were a couple of years before and we're fishing and I'm starting to feel sick, I popped in a Dramamine and it really didn't even help. And we're just kind of bouncing up and down, and I caught one trigger fish, and they said, man, all we're doing is catching trigger fish. He looks at me and he goes, hey, I know a spot where we can really get on the snapper. And he goes, you in? I said, yeah, I'm in. He goes, all right, it's about 16 miles out. And me, being a man, I'm like, oh yeah, I can handle it. Son, I'm telling you. We got out there, you couldn't see land. All I kept doing was watching the horizon and praying. I couldn't even fish. Man, them kids are just reeling them in left and right and I'm like, you sorry dogs. And I'm looking at the horizon and I'm praying, God, if you will ever get me back to land. I will never leave it again. And I'm telling you, man, it was bad. I was texting Natalie on the way in. You're gonna have to come and get me. I'm rolling out of the boat, laying on the dock, going, oh, God, thank you. You know what I learned? I learned this, that sometimes the things that we think are gonna bring us pleasure and joy don't always pan out the way we think. I think the disciples are about to learn that spiritually in our passage this morning. Now I think first things are first here. And one of the things that I wanna just be reminded of this morning is that when the Lord Jesus performs a miracle, it was always meant to be a picture of what he could do spiritually. And I know I said that earlier, but I just wanna say this. I cannot stress that enough because if you focus on the physical miracles too much, What will happen is you will find yourself in discouragement and thinking that you are missing something in the Christian life, even though that was never the intention, but two, you will miss the spiritual aspect of things, which really was the intention of the Lord Jesus Christ. The miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is recorded in all four gospels. But it's John's gospel that shows us that really on the backside of this, things came to a head with the multitude that was following him. What John's gospel tells us is this, is that right after this, they wanted to make Jesus king right there on the spot. In fact, it's because of that that the Lord goes into this long dissertation because what he's trying to do is he's trying to bring them from the physical and over to the spiritual. See, they were wanting more of that bread, kind of like Israel got the manna that came down from heaven, but what Jesus Christ proclaims is that I am the bread of life. In other words, it's not about the loaves and the fishes, it's to demonstrate and understand that I'm the one that God sent from heaven, and if you'll make me king of your spiritual life, not physical king, You can be saved and what I can do for men physically, I can do for all men spiritually speaking. Does everybody get what I'm saying to you? In fact, hold your place there and go with me to John just really quickly. I want you to see this. Look at John chapter 6 and I want you to see verse 53 and 54. It says this, it says, Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up. at the last day and we know as the passage is going to reveal that this was a hard saying for them. Many of them started murmuring and be a fact many of them started turning away but you understand the idea is that he was trying to move them from the physical to the spiritual. Be a fact he says in John 6, 63 which is right there at the end. He says, it is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And so it's the idea that Christ was trying to get them to understand that just as bread and fish satisfied them physically, only he can satisfy them spiritually. You know, the sad part of this is that Catholicism has taken this and turned it into something that it absolutely was never meant to be with the false doctrine of transubstantiation. where they take the communion which is the wafer and the wine and the priest will utter some Latin prayer and supposedly it turns into the literal flesh and blood of the Lord Jesus and unless you partake of that you cannot be saved or have eternal life and forgiven of your sins. But I want to declare unto you this morning that that is utter heresy. Friend, it's not cannibalism that'll save you, it's Jesus Christ that'll save you. It's physical, it's not physical, friend. When the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000s takes place, yes, it's a physical miracle, but it was meant to be spiritual. It was a couple of weeks ago, I guess it was. Man, I don't know, it's all a blur right now. I was preaching a revival meeting for Landmark Baptist Church up in Rolla, Missouri, Brother Jason Tucker, and just a good faithful guy. And I was up there preaching on Sunday morning. I got to give my testimony. I wanted to give my testimony and just let the people know how God worked in my life. and so that they could get to know me better. And I'm just telling you, my life was this, is that I got saved at the age of 20, and up to that point, I was chasing after the addictions and the sins of this world, thinking that that was gonna satisfy me. And I'm here to declare to you, every one of them left me wanting. They never fulfill, they never satisfy, they never do what they're promised to do. And I'm so grateful that I got saved at the age of 20 in 1996, and I'm telling you right now, listen, I got ahold of the living waters, amen, and I will never thirst again. And I'm thankful for that. And it was after that Sunday morning service, a couple came up to me, and man, they started telling me, the guy said this, he said, brother, he said, I wanted you to know, my testimony is the exact opposite of yours. And I went, what do you mean? And he goes, well, I was raised Amish. And I started looking at him and I thought, and I said this, I said, have you ever heard of the ex-Amish of Maywood, Missouri? I had watched that YouTube video several years ago and about these Amish that started reading the Bible and they got saved. Because when you read the Bible, It shows you how to really be saved. That it's not through religion and rules and all this other stuff. It's only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And so they started, they got saved and they ended up becoming Baptists. They got into an independent Baptist church up there. Brother Tim Stowe was the pastor there at the time. And it was a great testimony. And he goes, yeah brother, I was in the video. And I went, I knew you looked familiar. Him and his wife. And he said this, and I'll tell you, listen, tears started coming down his face. He said, brother, he said, when we got saved, he said, they excommunicated us. They threw us out. We lost lands, we lost money and all this stuff. But then, both him and his wife, I tell you, this wasn't tears of sorrow. It was joy. They just started smiling. And he said this, he said, but preacher, he said, God has sure been good to us. He's given us back everything and so much more. You know what I think He was trying to say? I think He was trying to say this, that in Him I'm satisfied. I want to tell you something. I want you to listen to this this morning. You can chase after the junk of this world. You can chase after the temporal pleasures of this world. You can run after religion here and there and rules and whatever you want to run after, but I'm telling you, none of those things will satisfy your soul until you humble yourself and come to Jesus Christ the way the Bible says, which is repentance toward God and faith in Him. And my friend, when you come to Him by faith, He will cleanse you, He will save you, He will forgive you, He will give you a right relationship with God, and peace with God, and my friend, you will experience something that this world cannot do for you. But what I want to say to you this morning is this, is that I believe that the main idea here of this passage, it wasn't so much for the multitude as it was for the disciples to learn. And this is what I know. I know this, that as a child of God, I'm tempted to follow those very same things of this world. And if I do, I'll end up just as spiritually bankrupt as a lost person chasing after those things. And that's ultimately what Jesus is trying to show. He's trying to show these disciples in this scene. Listen, it's not a knock against vacations or time off. We all understand we need those things. I think the Lord understands those things as well, which is what He was trying to do in the first place. But what I'm trying to get across to you is this, is that when the Christian life becomes all about self or the pursuit of temporal things, The reality is you will find yourself becoming as spiritually bankrupt as the lost man. And when that happens, the problem isn't God. And the problem isn't the pastor. And the problem isn't the church. No! The problem is us. Because what's happened is this. In essence, we've missed the very purpose of being saved from the get-go. It's because we've missed it. If we're gonna get to this place of being what I like to call filled, in verse 17, satisfied with the things of God, then I think we've got to learn some things that the Lord was trying to teach the disciples throughout this miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Let me give you one of those things really quickly. Look down at verse number 11 here, and we'll get going this morning. Look at verse number 11. And the people, when they knew it, followed him. and he received them and spake unto them of the kingdom of God and healed them that had need of healing. And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about and lodge and get vittles, for we are here in a desert place. You know what I think needed to happen first is this, they needed to have a change of attitude. Wouldn't that be fair to say? I mean you can almost, I mean you start verse number 11 there and the multitude's showing up and Jesus beginning to minister to them. You can almost envision the proverbial eye roll. Here comes the people, I knew it, I knew we could not get away. I mean, listen, you know, I could, you know, this is how I envision it in my head. Peter's always the guy that opens mouth and inserts foot, but he does it and the scripture always records it, so it probably wasn't him that said it, but it was somebody else going, you know, don't they know we're on vacation? You know, and trying to say it loud enough, kind of being passive aggressive. I'm gonna say it real loud to you, but to make sure that all of them can hear. You understand? That's what I envision here that's taking place, but what I want you to catch is that in verse number 11, listen to this, that's not how the Lord Jesus, that's not how He treated them. Rather, He received them in and began to minister to them and to heal those that needed to be healing. This is what I thought about. I want to say this this morning. I'm so grateful that when I go to my heavenly Father, I'm not a nuisance to Him. I mean, I get it, man, all my problems and burdens and struggles that I have and how often I fail him, but I'm so thankful that he doesn't give me the eye roll or any of those things, but rather he receives me right in and ministers unto me. Aren't you glad for that? Aren't you thankful for that? But in verse number 12 that we just read, by the end of the day, listen, the disciples, they've had enough, and now they're going to the Savior and they're demanding and say, send them away, and it's their excuse that of food that's going to spark this whole miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Send them away, Jesus. They gotta go and eat, but here's one of the reasons why the Lord does this miracle. It's because the disciples needed an attitude adjustment. Do you know this? The people weren't really the problem here, they were. They were missing the same compassion that Jesus is showing them in verse number 12. Ministry had quickly become about them rather than about reaching the multitude. I mean how awesome is this? Is that now instead of you having to go out, the multitude is coming to you. and they missed that because ministry had become all about them. Listen, I sat in the office one time with a young lady who had gotten saved in our church and baptized and was starting to be discipled, but then she drifted away and started getting away from the things of God, and then she said, I want to meet with you in the office, and so she sat down with my wife and started pouring out her disappointment in how the church hasn't pursued her and gone after her and all of those things to which, listen, to a certain extent, I understand that when someone's not in their place, we are to reach out, we are to check on them, we are to pray for them, all of those things, but please understand this, it's not about the church pursuing you when you're already part of the church. It's about you being part of the church and going out and pursuing the lost. It's not, listen, when you, I'm telling you right now, that the problem is this, is that she was blame shifting. She was blaming the church for her dissatisfaction that she was experiencing because she was pursuing after the things of this world. And what she needed to understand is this, is that, listen, it's not the preacher that's the problem or the church that's the problem, it's what she was pursuing after that had left her spiritually bankrupt. And that's kind of the same idea here. The problem was her attitude and this is where the disciples were heading if they didn't change theirs. You know what the disciples had an issue with? Pride. I know we would never have that. Didn't I tell you all my spiritual gift was sarcasm? They seem to have forgotten very quickly that it was just a couple of years ago that they needed the Lord Jesus Christ. Hello? That they were lost and they needed to be saved. You know what? It's pride that will get you to this place where it becomes all about you. And you forget really the purpose and the intention. It's weird though how it works, isn't it? That when you minister to somebody, when you serve others, the joy and the blessings that you get from it. It's strange. I remember when I was here at Berean Baptist Church. And I was training for the ministry. And I was full of pride. And I had become a critic. And arrogant. And it was all about me. You know what's funny? When you get like that as a child of God, God starts putting things in your path that gets you to the place where you need to be. And God was working me over. And I remember coming in on Saturday morning one time for church-wide outreach. We had our visitation. And I don't think I was bringing donuts at that time. I think later on I got that glorious responsibility to go to Krispy Kreme every Saturday. I came in. Now listen, some of you are really better at this than me about hiding what's going on in your heart. For me, it's just all over my face. And I came in and I sat down and Pastor Abels looks over at me and goes, hey man, you okay? And I said, yes sir. I said, but I need to talk with you after we get going here for visitation. He said, sure. So I went into his office afterwards and we sat down. And he said, what's going on brother? And I just started weeping and I said, I gotta apologize to you. I said, I have not had a right spirit towards you. I've not had a right spirit about Berean Baptist Church. And I said, I gotta apologize to you and I gotta ask for forgiveness. You know what he did? He looked at me and he goes, you're good, bro. And then he goes, why don't you go see Florence Bench? Some of you remember Florence Bench. And I said, okay. And I'm just crying, you know, wiping. And I come out and Adlai's like, what are we doing? We're going to see Florence Bench. And we go over to the nursing home and Florence Bench is standing outside of her room waiting on somebody from Berean Baptist Church to come visit her on Saturday morning. She didn't know who we were. I never met her in my life. She acted like she knew us for 20 years. We sat down and we started talking and then the next thing you know she starts going into all of these stories about Fred Reimsnyder and everything he did. And I'm like hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. Let me get a pen and paper here. write some of this stuff down and we're laughing and cutting up and we walk out of that place and we're getting in the car in the parking lot and Natalie's on the other side and I looked at her across the roof of the car and I looked at her and I literally said this, I said, I think we got a bigger blessing out of that than she did. You know, it just kind of reminds you that God's economy is different than our economy in a lot of ways. And this is no different. And my friend, I'm telling you that the child of God, when we begin to minister to others and we begin to serve others, that's where the fulfillment is at for the child of God. That's where the blessings of God is at. Is everybody getting what I'm saying to you? And what I'm trying to get to you is this though, is that you'll never get to that place until you humble yourself. and realize that ministry's not about you, that the Christian life is not about you, but it's about you humbling yourself and submitting yourself to him and letting your life be shaped as according to his life and developing a Christ-like spirit and a Christ-like attitude. And his attitude and his spirit wasn't one that was selfish, but one that was serving. And that's what they needed to learn. And the reality is this, is that you'll never get to this place where you're following these things and enjoying the satisfaction of living for Christ until you change your attitude about these things. But here's the second thing that I notice here. Look down at verse number 12. It says, And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve and said unto him, Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and country round about and lodge and get vittles. For we are here in a desert place. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, we have no more but five loaves and two fishes except we go and buy meat for all this people. And I wanna say this, in John's gospel, he clues us in on some other things that take place, for instance, after the suggestion of the disciples in verse 12 to send the multitude away to go get food. John tells us that Jesus actually went to Philip first. And he said this, and he suggests to him that he feed the multitude, and Philip's like, man, this is gonna cost like 200 penny worth, and Jesus, Jesus, and it says this, Jesus did this for he knew what he would do. I mean, I love that. And the omniscient savior, the omniscient savior was about to teach the disciples another lesson. John's gospel tells us also that it was Andrew, the older brother of Peter, who knew that the lad, the young boy here, had five loaves and two fishes. I don't know about you, but I always feel bad for this kid in this story. He was the only one smart enough to bring a lunch, and he has to give it up to the disciples. They're looking in his bluey lunchbox. I don't know man, that's the way I see it. Maybe it was a toy story, I don't know. But look at verse 14. For there were about 5,000 men, so this isn't counting women and children, right? and he said to his disciples, now watch this. So watch, he's handing things off to the disciples. Everybody catching this? Stay with me. So he sends the disciples out, says, okay, make them all sit down in 50s, down by 50s in a company, and they did so, and made them all sit down. Watch this. He took the five loaves and two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and break and gave to the disciples to set before the multitude. So now, so he takes the five loaves and the two feet. Man, I don't know how it happened. I don't really know. I don't know where they got the baskets from. I imagine there was some, you know, maybe fishing ideas there, you know, fishermen around. I don't know all the details. It doesn't give us the details. It doesn't show how he just kept putting one, you know, putting a fish in the basket, but then another fish appeared back on the table. I mean he's giving it to the disciples and distributing and then they're going out and then they're taking it out of the basket and they're going all right, here you go, here's your catfish and your hushpuppies, buddy. You got it, you ready, you good? All right, now here, there's some more in there, there you go. All right, that's probably gonna be, all right, here you go. I mean, no, no, no, it's not Jesus experiencing this, it's the disciples that are doing this. Because what He's trying to get them to do is trying to get them to see, listen, if you'll just take what God has given you and have faith and put it in His hands, He'll make it be what it needs to be to meet their need. That's what he's showing them. Just have faith. Just have faith in me and take what little that God has given you, put it back in my hand and I'll make sure that it's enough to meet the need of the multitude. Now if you're a disciple, oh come on, that's pretty encouraging. No, let me just say this. It's really encouraging to a church in 2024 that's trying to hold to the scriptures. when the multitude of churches around them are caving to the things of this world because they've said what God has given us is not enough. But what we've said is this, what God has given us, that's enough. That's enough to satisfy Springfield, Missouri. That's enough to satisfy Olathe, Kansas. That's enough to satisfy Gardner, Kansas and the surrounding communities that we have just like you have. That's enough to satisfy the world. If you have the gospel of Jesus Christ, the death and the burial and the resurrection, that's enough to satisfy. You got you an authorized King James version of the scriptures. That's enough to satisfy. If you've got good, godly, biblically sound music, that's enough to satisfy. Come on, somebody say amen after that Sunday school lesson this morning. But what I'm saying to you, friend, is this, is that God can take the things that he's given us, if we'll put it back in his hands and do it the way he said to do it, and just have faith, then God can take it and do what he wants to do with it. He can save a person's soul. He can restore a family back together. He can grow a church. I'm telling you, friend, he can triple faith promise missions. I've seen him do it. I mean, we're almost there. We've more than doubled in our faith. It's crazy. Do you know this? I didn't paint the walls black. I didn't hang a disco ball from the ceiling. I didn't start making men the audience and entertain them so that I could see God do a work. The reality is this. You'll never be able to manufacture what only God can do. That's right. Amen. Here's these guys that have just been going out. They're trying to reach the multitude. Here's what Jesus is saying. Listen. It ain't about you. And it ain't about this world. And it ain't about entertaining men. It's just about you putting what I've given you back into my hands. And I'll take it and do what I want to with it. That's pretty encouraging to me. That's pretty encouraging to a guy that was raised in lower Alabama, Panhandle, Florida. People ask you, where are you from? L.A. Lower Alabama. You know, when Brother Eric Watson, my assistant, called me and he said, hey, preacher, we're looking for a pastor. And that's what I told him. I said, brother, I've already been praying about this. And I've been praying about the southeast. I'm going back to the southeast, not the north. You people up there drink unsweet tea, that's just not right. And God started doing a work in my heart. Do you know this? I didn't have to change who I was. I don't have to try to be somebody I'm not. All I have to do is get on my face, humble myself before God and say, God, fill me with your spirit and use me for your honor and his glory. That's exactly what God does. Hey, look up here, look up here. You don't have to have a theology degree to be used of God. You don't have to be in ministry and be a pastor to be used of God or a missionary. You don't. You just have to take what God's given you, your time, your talent, your treasure, put it back into the hands of God and say, God, use me. And guess what? He will. I mean even when it comes to witnessing to somebody, Brother Wes, I can't talk to somebody about the spiritual things. I don't know this and I don't know that. Listen, let me help you with this. Half the time I'm talking to people and witnessing to people, I don't sit there and quote a multitude of verses and use apologetics. You know what I do? I just tell them what happened to me. I got saved. God worked in my life and I humbled myself and I trusted Christ as my Savior. I did it exactly like the Bible said. That's all you got to do. What happened to you? If you have a testimony of knowing Christ as your Savior, then just tell them what happened to you. If you don't have a testimony of knowing Christ as your Savior, good news, we're about to have an invitation, and you can come and know Christ as your Savior. But that's what it's about, just taking what God's given you and putting it back in His hands, and God will use you for His honor and His glory. He'll make it be enough for the multitude. That's what He does. And then this is amazing right here. Let me give you the third thing and I'm done. Look at verse 17. And they, the multitude and the disciples did eat and were all filled. And there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets. And this is what I think is the last lesson here. Watch as God uses you to fulfill their spiritual need and in turn God uses that to truly satisfy your soul. As a child of God, when self becomes the focus of your life, it becomes an empty life to live. But when you become a servant to others, it becomes one of the most fulfilling lives to live. It's one of my favorite stories in the Bible is John chapter 4. I think that is a precious verse when Jesus says, I must needs go through Samaria. He's got a divine appointment, doesn't He? Where He meets that woman at the well and offers her water to drink and she will never thirst again. They have quite the discourse, don't they, of worship and how the Messiah will come and show them all things. And I love that statement when Jesus says, well, I that stand before thee am he. And she leaves that water pot behind. Boy, oh boy, oh boy. I don't know if you realize what all that water pot meant. But she left it behind. and went back into the city and said, come see a man that told me all that I ever did. But it's during that discourse that the disciples had been into town. And they come back and they see Jesus talking to the woman and they don't interrupt and they don't say anything and he finishes up. And then the disciples, they go to him and they say, Jesus, you need to eat. And Jesus makes this statement, he says this, I have meat to eat that you know not of. Did you catch that? Not physical, spiritual. You ready? So now watch this. Because when you get to the end of the gospel of John in chapter number 21, and it's after the death and the burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Peter says, boys, I go a fishing. And many of the disciples went with him. and they go back, and they go out, and they fish all night, and they don't catch anything. And Jesus comes up, and Jesus walks up and He says this, He says, Children, have ye any meat? I don't think He was talking about physical. You know what he was trying to show them? He was trying to show them exactly what he was teaching them right here. You spend all night fishing and you ain't caught nothing. You know why? Because when you chase after this stuff out here, all it does is leave you spiritually empty. It's when you pursue after the spiritual, that's when you're satisfied. Can I ask you, Can I ask you something this morning? What are you seeking after to satisfy you? Because if it's not this, we're missing it. We're missing it. Let's all stand. Heavenly Father, thank you this morning. Thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for being so patient and gracious with your disciples and trying to teach them. And, Lord God, I believe you're still trying to teach even us this morning. I do pray, Father, that every person in this room knows you as Savior. But, oh, great God, that those of us that are saved, you would be the one that we're pursuing after. to be like you, to serve you, to serve others as you did. Would you help us this morning? Pray you'd bless now in Jesus' name. Amen, you need to come this morning. Jesus is tenderly calling you home. I've never had a time and place where I called on the Lord and got saved. I don't even know what that's talking about in the scriptures. Can you help me with that? Yeah, there's people on this altar right here that can help me with that.