Claim Your Possession

In the parable of “The Feeding of the Five Thousand” Jesus sends us an astounding messaged as to our lives and service for Him in verse 11.

• Jesus:

a. Claimed what was already His

b. Proclaimed to the glory of the Father

c. Reclaimed lost and hungry souls

Today, we will look at this astonishing declaration and apply these valuable principles to our own lives

1. CLAIM

• Jesus claimed what was already His; “…And Jesus took the loaves;”

• Jesus took what had already been given Him by His Father

• We too, must claim that which is divinely ours as the Children of God

• We have:

a. The Promise of Salvation (Romans 1:16) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

b. The Promise of Escaping Hell’s Eternity (Matthew 25:41) “Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

c. The ability to abstain from ungodly things (II Corinthians 12:10) “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

i. In a seminary missions class, 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.

For two years needless trouble had become routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting that power to work.

d. The ability to overcome sin (Revelation 3:21) “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.”

2. PROCLAIM

• When Jesus took the bread; He immediately gave God thanks (GLORY)

• Too often, when we pray, we pray for God to meet our need but fail to thank him when he does

• We must realize that all we have is God’s to begin with, all we can be is what God has supplied us to be, and all things are accomplished through the Father’s will

• Giving God the glory for meeting our need is as important as receiving the need

• I Thessalonians 5:18 “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

• God gives and we give back through praise

• Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

• When we need material or earthly things we should ask God for them, when we need spiritual things we should ask God for them; and when we receive these things we must proclaim that it was God and God alone who provided them

• In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, not for earthly goods or health, but for the strength to accomplish the Father’s will

• We must proclaim:

a. That God Is

b. That God Is Able

c. That God Will Meet our Need Just as He did with the feeding of 5,000 miracle

3. RECLAIM

• Reclaim means to ‘take back’

• We have seen that we need to claim what is already ours, proclaim that God provided and now we need to apply these two in order to Reclaim the lost

• God’s original plan was to commune with man in the Garden of Eden; that plan has never changed; the manner in which we obtain that communion has

• We often get tunnel vision when it comes to people attending church and knowing about Jesus:

a. In Fayette Co. WV, there are approximately 47,579 residents; of that approximately 31,045 are unclaimed to any denominational or other church

• We have Work to Do!

• We are Christians for two reasons: