Matthew 14:14-21
Mark 6:34-44
Luke 9:10-17
John 6:1-13
Topic: What to do when you have to accomplish a humanly impossible task
In each of the four gospels in the New Testament( Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), they all recorded on how Jesus Christ had fed 5,000 men along with women and children with just two fish and five loaves of bread. That is, Jesus took a little boy sack lunch that consist of 2 little fish(or as some bible scholars would say two little sardines, and five loaves of bread. And with that little boy’s lunch, Jesus was able to feed over 5,00 men, including the women and the children that was in the group, which would add up to about 15,000.
Now there is a lesson that we can learn from Jesus feeding the five thousand with a little boy sack lunch that just consist of two fish and five loaves of bread. And the lesson is that it doesn’t matter how young or old you may be, God can still use you in his service to bless other folk. It doesn’t how rich or how poor that you may be, God can still use you in his service to bless other folk. You may feel that you are not as talented, not as educated, not as anointed, not as knowledgeable as other people, but always remember just as this little boy had surrendered his little ole’ sack lunch to Jesus with two fish and five loaves of bread just to feed five thousand people, God can use you in his service to bless other people in this life. He can use you if just surrender to Him as the Lord and Savior of your life.
Yes, Jesus Christ fed five thousand people with just two fish and five loaves of bread. Now, when you think about it, it is sort of humanly impossible to feed over 5,000 people with just two fish and five loaves of bread. In matter of fact, when Jesus told the disciples to feed the multitude, the disciples, first of all, told Jesus that they did not have enough money to buy food to feed all these people. In other words, they told Jesus that they did not have the resources to accomplish such tasks in feeding five thousand people. And when it was told to Jesus that there was a little boy in the crowd who had a sack lunch that consist of just two fish and five loaves of bread, they even told Jesus that there is no way that they can feed the five thousand with that because it is humanly impossible to feed over 5,000 people with just 2 fish and five loaves of bread. But what may be humanly impossible with man, it is already possible with God because He has all the power in his hands and there is nothing to hard for God. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.” No matter how tough a situation may look, just know that God is able to turn that tough situation around.
Now notice something here. It was Jesus that told them to do something that was humanly impossible. It was Jesus that told them to feed the multitude. And the point is, if Jesus commands us to do something hat seems humanly impossible to accomplish, then it is the Lord’s responsibility to show us how and to show us what to do when we are faced to accomplish things that seems humanly impossible.
And we have situations throughout the bible where God had helped individuals to accomplish things that were considered humanly impossible.
For example, when God told Abraham and Sarah that they was going to have a child in their old age, that seemed humanly impossible because Abraham was 100 years old, and Sarah was 90 years old. But because they had faith in God, Abraham and Sarah was able to have a son in their old age.
Another example , when God told Moses to lead the children of Israel to cross over the Red Sea, that situation looked humanly impossible because in front of them was the Red Sea, and in back of them was Pharaoh’s army pursuing them to put them back into slavery. But because Moses had faith in God, and obeyed God by using what he had in his hand, which was a long wooden stick that called a “staff”; when he held up the staff over the Red Sea, God moved the waters of the Red Sea back so the Moses and the children of Israel to cross over the Red Sea. And they crossed over it, God told Moses to hold up the staff over the Red Sea again so the waters to go back into its normal position to drown all of Pharaoh’s army who trying to pursue the children of Israel.
Now a question is asked, what do you do when you are faced with a situation that seems humanly impossible to accomplish? What do you do when you are face with a situation that seems just too much to handle?
Now if you would look at Matthew 14:18, when it was told to Jesus that there was a little boy in the crowd who had a little sack lunch with just tow fish ,and five loaves of bread, in Matthew 14:18, He says, “Bring them to me.”
Now that is a lesson to be learned right there in Matthew 14:18 where he says, “Bring them to me(meaning the two fish and five loaves of bread) . The lesson is that whenever you find yourself facing a humanly impossible situation to accomplish, you need to learn how to bring that impossible situation to the Lord in prayer. That is, you need to learn to turn it over to Jesus. You need to learn how to surrender it all to Him. That is, you need to learn how to put the humanly impossible situation into the hands of the Lord so he can work it out for you.
Psalm 55:22 says to “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee; he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
And in I Peter 5:7 it says to “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
Phillipians 4:6 says, “Be careful for nothing, but by everyting bby prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God.”
There is a song that says ‘What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and grief to bear. What a priviledge to carry, everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfiet, Oh what needless pain to bear; all because we do not carry, everything to God in prayer. Yes, no matter what the situation looks like, we need to take it to the Lord in prayer.
Now the second thing that we must do when faced with a humanly impossible situation is that we must trust in the Lord and obey him step by step. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.
Now notice something here:
In Matthew 14:19, it says that Jesus commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass….
In Mark 6:39 Jesus commanded the 12 disciples to make all(the people) sit down by companies upon the green grass……
In Luke 9:14-15 it says that Jesus said to his disciples to make the people to sit down by fifties in a company…….
And in John 6:10, it says that Jesus said to the disciples, “Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in number about 5,000.
Now notice that Jesus had an strategy on how to feed the five thousand with just two fish and five thousand. Notice on how He commanded the disciples to get the people to sit down in groups of fifties, in companies, and to sit on the grass, which reveals to us that Jesus is an organized Savior. He does not do any thing half- hazardly, or sloppy. Now, that is a lesson to be learned right there, and the lesson is that Jesus has a strategy on how to accomplish your humanly impossible situation. He is able to turn your difficult situation and make it easy for you. All you need to do is just trust and obey Him and He can work it out.
Also notice another thing in these passage of scriptures. Notice that Jesus had the people to “sit down”……..there is a lesson to be learned right here. If you want the Lord to bless you, every once in a while, you need to learn how to sit down. Every once in a while, you need to stop all of your busy work, just chill out, just relax, and learn just to sit down do so the Lord can bless you. Sometimes we miss our blessing because we are so busy doing this, and doing that, that we fail to take the time just to chill out and relax. Psalm 37:7 says to “Rest in the Lord……”. Every once in a while, we need to learn to stop, relax, chill out and rest in the Lord.
Now notice another thing here: notice that Jesus told the people to sit in the grass in groups, in companies, or in fifties. Now if somebody had decided to sit by themselves, or not on the grass, they would have missed out being fed because Jesus told the disciples to sit the people in groups and on the grass. We have to learn to sit where Jesus has commanded us to sit so we can receive our blessing. We have to be in the place where He wants us to be if we are going to receive the blessings that He has for us.
Now the third thing that we must do when faced with a humanly impossible situation is that we must be thankful for what we have at the moment. Now notice what Jesus does after the disciples had the 5,00 people to sit down .
In Matthew 14:19 says, that he took the five loaves of bread and the two fishes and looking up to heaven, he blesses and brake……”
In Mark 6:41 says, “And when he had taken the five loaves and two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed and brake the bread….”
In Luke 9:16 says, “Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and brake……”
In John 6:11, it says that “Jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks……..”
Now notice that in each of these verses we see Jesus blessing and giving thanks to God for the two fish and five loaves of bread. Yes, two fishes and five loaves of bread is not a whole lot when it comes trying to feed 5,000 people, but yet Jesus teaches to be thankful for what we have at the moment. You may not have a whole lot of money in your pocket, but still be thankful for the little money that you have anyway. You may not have a whole lot of friends, but be thankful for the few friends that you have anyway. You may not have a whole lot of clothes, but be thankful for the few items that you have in your closet in anyway. You may not have the job or the position that you want right now, but still be thankful for the job you have anyhow.
Now notice what happens after Jesus had blessed and gave thanks to God for the two fish and five loaves of bread. In Matthew 14:9-10, Mark 6:41, Luke 9:16, and John 6:11, it all tells us that Jesus gave the fish and the loaves of bread to his disciples, and his disciples gave the food to the people to eat, and the people ate until they were filled.” This brings up the fourth thing when that we must do when faced with a humanly impossible situation. We must learn to work with Jesus Christ through our humanly impossible situation. Now Jesus could have fed the 5,000 people all by himself, but he enlisted the help of his disciples to help feed the multitude. And that is a great lesson to be learned here. And the lesson is that just as Jesus used the disciples to be a blessing to the multitude to feed them with some fish and bread, God will use us to be a blessing to someone else. When we give our lives to Jesus Christ, God has enlists us to be a blessing, and He want us to share the blessing that He given us to someone else. Just as Jesus gave the disciples some fish and bread to give to the multitude to eat, we have a responsibility as a church not only feed the hungry, but we as a church have a responsibility to feed the hungry with some spiritual food ,and that spiritual food is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as we received the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have been commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ to “preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to every creature.”
Now notice what happens to the disciples when they worked with Jesus to feed the five thousand with just two fish and five loaves of bread. In John 6:12-13 says, “When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost, Therefore they gathered them together and filled the twelve basket with the fragments of the five barely loaves, which remain over and above unto them that had eaten.”
Now notice what happened in this story:
1. First, the 12 disciples gave the two fish and five loaves of bread to Jesus.
2., Secondly, Jesus gave the 12 disciples some instruction on how to organize the crowd so they can be fed
3. Jesus gives thanks and bless the two fish and the five loaves of bread
4. Jesus gives the 12 disciples the fish and the bread to feed the multitude
5. When the 12 disciples gathered up the fragments that was left, there was more left over than it was in the beginning, for each disciples had a basketful that was over and above than what the multitude had eaten.
In closing, when you learn to give your little bit to Jesus, Jesus is able to bless you with over and above. No matter how humnly impossible your situation may be, if you give it to Jesus, Jesus can bless you over and above. All we need to do is trust Him, Believe Him, Have faith in Him, Rely on Him, Obey Him, Have confidence in Him, Delight in Him, Commit to Him, and he will do the rest because in the hands of Jesus there is salvation, there is power, there is deliverance, there is forgiveness, there is love, there is peace, there is joy, there is provision, there is rigtheousness, there is holiness, there is eternal, there is abundant life. What ever you need, you can find it in the hands of Jesus Christ.
