How To Prepare For A Miracle

How to prepare for a miracle? Mark 6:34-44

How to prepare for a miracle? Notice I did not ask a question like this: “How to ASK for a miracle?” Asking God for a miracle may indicate a lack of faith. Our faith should not have to survive with a regular supply of the miraculous. There are times when we prefer the miracle to the miracle worker. If we truly have faith in the miracle worker, miracle will come according to the worker’s will. This is exactly what we are doing today, where we place our trust in God who gave us the vision to also give provision miraculously – not because we are asking, but that we are expecting! Therefore, it is imperative that we are prepared for a miracle so that when it happens, we do not miss it.

Mark 6:34When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. 35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it’s already very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat."

37But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" 38"How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see."

When they found out, they said, "Five--and two fish." 39Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42They all ate and were satisfied, 43and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

This is a well-known story that even a five-year-old can probably tell. It has a rich lesson for us to learn how a miracle take place and how can we be prepared for it when it comes. Four-point outline:

Vision to see it

Obedience to go for it

Faith to believe it

Courage to do it

VISION

Notice the word ‘but’ at the beginning of verse 37, which suggest something contrary to the previous described circumstance. Often times, that is what a vision is like – it is not an idea, it is certainly not common, it is something different. Jesus said, "You give them something to eat." (verse 37) What? Did we not just tell you, Jesus, that we had no food enough for so many people? I mean, cannot you see? Do you understand our circumstances? Like the disciples, We procrastinate. v 35 We pass the buck. v. 36 We worry. v. 37

Dr. Vance Havner, still one of America’s most quoted preachers, says “Too many times we miss so much because we live on the low level of the natural, the ordinary, the explainable. We leave no room for God to do the exceeding abundant thing above all that we can ask or think.”

Helen Keller once was asked “is there anything worse than being blind?” She said “Yes, having eyesight and no vision.” How true! He works in ways, we cannot see. His way is higher than our ways. We must have a vision to see the miracle He is about to do.

What is our vision to build? A simple way to put it is to build an international village on our land. Now, God never care for a building, or an activity, or a program, more so than He does His people. What God is really going to do is that God is calling TIBC to “Arise, shine, for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you (Isaiah 60:1).” He gave us a vision of an “international village”, a ministry where Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysian, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Angolans, Americans, and people of every nation are coming together at TIBC on our Promised Land. The nations shall come to worship and praise the goodness and mercy of our Lord!

What is a vision for? A vision is given for immediate direction and is given to develop the kingdom of God by revealing the moral and spiritual deficiencies of the people of God in light of God’s requirements for maintaining a proper relationship with Him.

Do we have moral and spiritual deficiencies? Dr. Larry said it well last Sunday, a church is the connecting point of God and the lost and dying world. But how many of us still remember all purposes of our church? Do we still remember the mutual covenant we have with each other – to meet every Sunday morning Bible class and worship, Friday night fellowship so that we can make TIBC the connecting point of God and the lost and dying world!