Learning To Trust In Jesus

Subject: Learning to Place Our Faith in Jesus

Scripture Reference: Matthew 14: 22-33

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INTRODUCTION:

The very 1st prophecy concerning Jesus’ coming to earth as our "REDEEMER & DELIVERER" from Satan and from Sin, is found in Genesis 3:15. Adam and Eve had disobeyed the One Commandment given to them by God. Because of their transgression both of them were punished by God. Adam’s punishment, passed on to all men from that day onward, was that "man would now earn his living by the sweat of his brow." Eve’s punishment, passed on to all women from that day onward, was that "women would bring forth children into this world with pain and with sorrow." However, there was a punishment handed out also to the serpent, Satan. The serpent was to crawl upon its belly for the rest of its days and to Satan was given this punishment found in Genesis 3:15 " a seed would come forth out of the woman, and it would bruise the head of the serpent." This was a prophetic foretelling of the blow to Satan that was brought forth through Jesus’ suffering and death upon the cross of Calvary and also of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on the third day.

However, from Genesis 3:15 unto the day that Jesus came into our world in the form of humanity, was almost 4000 years. It took 4000 years for Jesus to come from that 1st utterance by the Holy Ghost, yet when He came to earth, His life was only about 33 years. When it came time for Jesus to begin His ministry and establish His church upon earth, His ministry was so very brief, only about 3 & 1/2 years.

So the time that Jesus had to teach His disciples His gospel of His Gospel and to teach them to Believe upon Him and to learn to place their FAITH and their ASSURANCE in Him was so very LIMITED. Every lesson was so very important!

In the verses of Matthew chapter 14, prior to the ones we are using as our text this morning, it gives the account of Jesus feeding the multitudes with the box lunch,given by a young boy. It only consisted of five loaves of bread and two fish. Yet, when it was given to Jesus and He took it and blessed it and annointed it, it was MORE THAN ENOUGH to feed over 5000 men, plus the women and children present. It could very well have been over 10 to 15, 000 people fed that afternoon. This is just PROOF that when we freely GIVE to JESUS what we have, He is able to BLESS IT ABUNDANTLY!

I have had the LORD to BLESS and to STRETCH my substance so many times to proportions unbelievable!

He is the GOD OF MORE THAN ENOUGH! Can I get a witness this morning? Has anyone else here this morning had God to do the same for you?

God Knows How Much We Have to Give

God Also Knows How Much We Are Willing to Surrender and Give unto Him. It’s SAD that many times what we HAVE to GIVE and what we are WILLING TO GIVE are not the same!

When Jesus fed the multitude it was a LESSON not only to the mass of people that had been listening to Jesus teach, it was also a LESSON for His disciples to pay special attention unto. When all the people had been fed that afternoon, Jesus commanded His disciples to gather up the food that was left. When they finished gathering the left overs, there were 12 baskets of bread and fish left. 12 baskets of food left over! Now there is absolutely NO WAY that I can believe this # (12) was by chance or coincidence. Although the scripture does not bear this out, I personally like to believe there was a basket of food for each one of the 12 disciples to take home with them. Each one of His disciples had left all they had to follow Jesus. And when Jesus called them and said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men," there was NO WAY He expected them to starve to death while working for Him. They were obedient to His calling and they could expect the blessings of Jesus to be upon them.

I believe we also can expect the evry same as we follow Him today and we try to do His work.

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NOW THESE 12 DISCIPLES WERE ABOUT TO RECIEVE ONE OF THE GREATEST LESSONS FROM THE LORD. AND IT IS NOTEWORTHY HERE TO SEE THAT SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS JESUS WANTS TO TEACH US CANNOT BE TAUGHT IN A CLASSROOM SITTING BEHIND A DESK.

I CAN THINK OF NO LESSON MORE IMPORTANT THAN --- LEARNING TO TRUST IN JESUS AND BELIEVE UPON HIM, WHEN STORMS OF LIFE ARE RAGING AGAINST US. AND THOSE KIND OF LESSONS CANNOT BE TAUGHT IN THE CALM AND TRANQUIL TIMES OF OUR LIVES.