Sermon Central
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A Little Goes A Long Way
Contributed by C Vincent on Mar 22, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: Giving your all to God's service; he rewards those who give.
A Little Goes A Long Way
JCC 07.02.10 pm
The odds were 5,000+ to five ‘small’ loaves and two fish
With Jesus the odds don’t count
These people would not normally be in Galilee but on their way to Jerusalem because it was Passover time
Why were they here?
They had seen Jesus do miracles etc
Jesus left the people and got into boat
They didn’t give up but ran over rough country until they found Jesus again
Jesus had a Passover meal with the people
Let us look at the situation from the viewpoint of the boy, the disciples and Jesus
The boy:
He is not named, we are not told who he is or where he is from or how old he was
We know he had a lunch with him
He had come prepared to hang around for a long time
Not only had God ordained the lunch, but he had prepared the boy to be his provision
The Lord is never in need, he always has somebody at hand to supply the need
We are told that he was willing to give what little he had to Jesus
Sometimes we think we have to offer all the big things to the Lord and the small things in our lives are insignificant
Nothing is too small for Jesus to use
You may not have much to offer him in your own eyes, but everything you are, everything you have he is interested in, no matter how small
This child trusted Jesus with everything he had
Like the woman who cast in the two mites to the treasury, he gave his all, and doubtless was commended for the gift
He didn’t hang on to it
‘It’s mine and I’m eating it’
He was a giver
But most of all, he was willing to help if he could
All the Lord wants from us is a willingness to help where we can even if it is only in a small way
The disciple Philip:
They had been with him for 2 years while he healed the sick, raised the dead and cast out demons
They themselves were also being used by the Holy Spirit to do great things
Yet here they were faced with 5,000+ people and Jesus asks Philip to feed them
Why Philip?
To test him
Examination time
Perhaps most advanced
Peter was loud and mouthy, most of the time his feet were in his mouth
James and John were ambitious, fiery and lost their tempers easily
That’s why Jesus called them sons of thunder
Philip was quite and deep
He hung around in the background
He would most likely understand what was happening
When Jesus asked him, he knew what he was going to do
He set him a predicament that had no human answer to
Have you been there?
What was his reaction?
Jesus was thinking of ministry, Philip thought of money But we don’t have enough money
There is a Philip in all of us
Not only supply the people physically, but spiritually
The church is in the world to speak truth that they may find real food
The difference between the supply and the demand would have struck us much more intensely if we had been there, in that crowd at Bethsaida, than it does sitting here, two thousand years after, and just hearing about it
It’s the sharing of the word that this area needs
We must communicate the message
Not television but telaperson
Everyone whether Christian or not would have reacted the same
The disciple Andrew:
All he could find in the crowd was the boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish
They were judged insufficient for the purpose; for Andrew said, "What are they among so many?"
Satan may say to you, "You have not much ability, or talent or resources; what can you do?"
Or about the church, what can you do with so few?
He is afraid of what you can do and the church
If you will only do what you can do, God will help you to do what now you cannot do
But the devil is afraid of even the little that you can do now; and many children of God seem to side with Satan in despising the day of small things
"What are they among so many?"
So few, so poor, so devoid of talent, what can any of us hope to do?
Is it a small wonder if we are held in contempt by the world?
The things that God will honour, man must first despise
But we are all God desires, we are all he needs
And that meal was all Jesus needed
We may be a small church but it is enough
Though we are not many, the Lord can use us
