Let's Go To Dinner Series

You can listen to the audio of the sermon on my podcast at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/697261/7808947

Follow The Leader - Feeding the 5,000

“What’s for Supper?”

• We’re having lunch together after services this morning. My wife is back in the kitchen right now checking on the preparation.

• Right before we came out to lead worship, we prayed and I asked the Lord to bless our time and our meal.

• I kid you not, her first words after that prayer were, “I hope there’s enough.”

• If you know my wife, then you’ve experienced this: When she cooks, there’s always enough. It’s her love language and she loves you. (Spoiler alert: there will be way more than enough soup and bread and dessert today.)

• But we all find ourselves in that place where we fear there won’t be enough of (fill in the blank.)

• What do we do? Where do we turn.

• Today’s message is about Jesus challenging his disciples to believe that there will be enough.

• Context is that crowds are following Jesus. It’s late and the disciples decide it’s time for them to go somewhere else and get dinner.

First, the Word

Luke 9:11 NLT

11 But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.

Mark 6:34 NLT

34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

Overemphasizing the Problem

Matthew 14:15 NLT

15 That evening 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 food for themselves.”

• It wasn’t that the disciples didn’t recognize the crowd’s immediate need.

• The response “feels” reasonable. It’s a natural solution but limited in scope and understanding. Out in the wilderness with only a few small towns nearby who could never meet the needs of thousands.

1 John 3:17 NLT

17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

› Jesus gives them the mission to meet the need.

Underemphasizing the Solution

Luke 9:13 NLT

13 But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?”

• “But” and “only” are the enemies of faith.

Matthew 17:20 NLT

20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.”

Underestimating the Master

Luke 9:14–17 NLT

14 For there were about 5,000 men there. Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 So the people all sat down. 16 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. 17 They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!

Jeremiah 32:17 NLT

17 “O Sovereign LORD! You made the heavens and earth by your strong hand and powerful arm. Nothing is too hard for you!

Luke 18:27 NLT

27 He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible with God.”

• Jn 6.6 tells us that Jesus already knew what he was going to do. He wanted his disciples to learn from this experience.

• To learn to trust Him with every circumstance - large or small.

• By faith to act no matter how outlandish the circumstances may seem.