Intro
Hattie May Wiatt lived near a church where the Sunday School was very crowded, one day the pastor, Russel Conwell found her crying outside the building because there was no room inside and he told her that one day when they had raised enough money they would have buildings big enough to allow every one to attend who wanted to.
Not long after that Hattie May became sick and died. Rev. Conwell was asked to do the funeral and the girl’s mother told him that Hattie May had been saving money to help build a bigger church and gave him the little purse in which she had saved 57 cents. This was in 1886 when 57 cents was no small savings account for a little girl from a poor family.
Rev. Conwell had the 57 cents turned into 57 pennies, told the congregation the story of little Hattie May and sold the pennies for a return of about $250. In addition, 54 of the original 57 pennies were returned to Rev. Conwell and he later put them up on display. Some of the members of the church formed what they called the Wiatt Mite Society which was dedicated to making Hattie May’s 57 cents grow as much as possible and to buy the property for the Primary Department of the Sunday school. A house nearby was purchased with the $250 that Hattie May’s 57 cents had produced. The first classes of Temple College, later Temple University, were held in that house. It was later sold to allow Temple College to move and the growth of Temple, along with the founding of the Good Samaritan Hospital (Now the Temple University Hospital) along with the 3500 seat auditorium of Temple Baptist Church serve as powerful testimonies to the leadership of a a little girl named Hattie May. (Truthorfiction.com)
The story of Hattie May proves a point the disciples learned in our scripture this morning. It doesn’t matter what you’ve got, it matters who you know.
Until now our study of Miracles in Matthew has led us to consider how we should approach the Lord with our own needs—to put it bluntly—how to get some o’ those miracles for ourselves. And that’s OK, but this morning we consider instead how we might become a part of one of the Lord’s Miracles, just like the disciples in our story today.
If we want to be part of a miracle we must…
1. Come to Jesus With the Problem
15As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
The disciples see the problem—too many people, not enough food. So they go to Jesus. That was the right move.
A father watched out the kitchen window as his 7 year old son played in the backyard sand box. He watched him moving several large rocks out of the sandbox.
There was one very big rock that was giving his little boy a great deal of trouble. He watched his son move the rock to the edge of the sandbox, but each time it looked like he would be over to move the rock over the side of the sandbox, the rock would fall back into the sandbox. The last time it fell, it pinched one of his little fingers. The father walked out to his tearful son and asked him what was the matter. His son told him all about the heavy rock in the sandbox. The father asked, "Why didn’t you use all the strenght you had?" The little boy replied, "I did dad, I did." The father responded, "No son, you didn’t ask your dad." And with that the father reached down and together he and his son removed the rock from the sandbox.
So often we forget this crucial step. Going to Jesus. Like the boy in the sandbox we struggle with the immovable object in our own strength, forgetting our most important resource is Jesus.
I love the quote from E. M. Bounds. “We say there is nothing left to do but pray, as if that were a pitiful last resort. So long as we can worry and fret and be busy, that’s fine but Oh, my when there’s only prayer left…” Prayer is our greates resource. When we see a need our first response should be to bring it to Jesus.
2. Be Willing to Change Your Plan
16Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
17"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
The Disciples know how to do math. They’ve figured this out. Five loaves & two fish divided by 5,000 people equals a problem. So they’ve come up with a soloution—send the people to go get food.
Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was assigned a car that would not start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. He used this ingenious procedure for two years.
Ill health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to that station. When Jackson proudly began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started, the new man began looking under the hood. Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch, and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life.
We look at the situations around us and we figure out the answer and then bring it to Jesus for endorsement, but Jesus often has a different plan.
If we’re going to be a part of his miraculous plan we’ve got to be ready to hear what He’s saying and do what He’s asking. So often we feel if He doesn’t rubber stamp our plan He’s not answering, when He’s really saying “you give them something to eat.”
3. Bring Your Resources for Him to Multiply
18"Bring them here to me," he said
Jesus could’ve made Manna fall, but instead he asked for what they had. He asks us too to bring our resources to allow us to be part of His miraculous supply. Like Hattie May he let’s us participate in a miracle
He asks us to make ourselves available. He asks for our time our commitment our finances. He asks us to use the spiritual gifts he’s given us.
It’s easy to look at the problem and think “Well I can’t fix that.” Well no you can’t but you can make yourself available. Whether it’s the salvation of the Arab world or the revitalization of Missionettes in Minier. You don’t have to have the soloution in your pocket to make yourself available and be part of the miracle.
I understand that you can’t bring the Gospel to everyone in Tazewell county that needs Jesus, but what are your loaves and fishes? Who CAN you reach?
The Fire Bible Project is an opportunity for each of us to give what we can to put Bibles into the hands of believers who have never held a Bible. I can’t buy 6 million, but I can buy 6!
4. Be Ready to Work
. 19And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
5000 people 12 disciples. Big Job. And not a particularly glamorous one. Glorified lunch line servers.
What makes it glamorous is the participation in Jesus’ plan to do the miraculous.
The things the Lord might be asking you to do may not be glamorous. They may be tiring and time consuming or boring or difficult.
He may be asking you to step outside your comfort zone to develop a friendship with somebody who needs Jesus so bad you’d rather not be around them. He might be asking you to sacrifice for someone who doesn’t deserve it—it’s OK He knows what that feels like—He did it for you.
