Sermon Brief
Date Written: February 26, 2011
Date Preached: February 27, 2011
Where Preached: OPBC (AM)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Falling in Love With Jesus
Sermon Title: Jesus - Miracle Worker
Sermon Text: John 6:1-21 [ESV]
Introduction:
1After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat down with His disciples. 4Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" 10Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." 13So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" 15Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
16When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." 21Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.
Feeding 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish is quite an amazing thing – but having 12 baskets of leftovers … That is even more incredible! When we allow Jesus to do things in our lives where we see NO way or massive shortages of resources for our needs… Jesus can deliver! Jesus can deliver and Jesus can make a way when it seems impossible! Not only will Jesus make a way, but He will do it with great abundance – FAR beyond anything we could ever expect!
Walking on water – is not only an amazing thing but from a scientific and physical standpoint it is IMPOSSIBLE! It goes beyond the natural laws of this world, as solid sinks in liquid… but Jesus goes beyond the natural laws of this world because Jesus is SUPERNATURAL! Jesus takes the impossible and can make ti possible!
Jesus can even empower us to do the works of the supernatural as well… We know that Peter was able to walk on water as long as he was focused on Jesus, but when his focus was not on Jesus… he began to sink! When we allow Jesus to guide us, there is NOTHING we cannot do thru Him!
Miracles are a part of who Jesus is… miracles remind us how Jesus is beyond the natural and the finite! Jesus is supernatural and infinite! Jesus can go beyond the impossible and can take us with Him on that journey if we will let Him. But miracles are not a thing of the past as many people seem to believe… they still happen today!
They had been married 11 years when he decided to leave her, and now for 3 years she had been taking care of her son, and working menial jobs as she did not have the education for anything better. She was working a back breaking job as a nurses aide, doing a lot of work for very little pay, but it paid the bills…
The day before when she got home from work she found a letter from the State of Maryland with many legal papers stuffed inside…after 3 years, what had been her worst nightmare was now a legal reality, she was now officially and legally a single mother… the shame and heartache welled up inside her, but she remained stoic in front of her young son, just 12 years old.
He missed his dad, but had come to grips with where they were and the fact that they would not be a family again, not like before! She left for work, sending her son off to school, finally with the thought that today was the 1st day of the rest of her life!
After a long day at the hospital, she decided to go by a pastor friend’s house, she had grown close to his wife when they had pastored her church. She dropped by with her sister and they were drinking coffee and she was reading the paper at the dining room table in the small, cramped pastor’s trailer.
Suddenly she heard an explosion over her left shoulder and immediately felt something like a sledgehammer slamming into her side, just under her arm that had been holding up the paper. WHAT HAPPENED she thought… she looked down to see bright red blood beginning to gush out of her side, she had been shot!
You see in the room next to the kitchen, thru the paper thin walls of the trailer, 2 young boys had been looking at a new .410 shotgun one had just gotten for Christmas… when it had discharged thru the wall hitting this woman…
She stood up and walked/ran to the car and laid down in the back seat as the panic stricken friend searched for her keys. Finally she got to the car and rushed her to the local county hospital. The orderly rushed to the car to scoop her up and wisk her into the emergency room, but his hands did not go UNDER her, but actually up inside of her as she lay helpless on the back seat of the car…
Pain raging in her body, she had not lost consciousness, as they rolled her to the emergency room trauma ward. The doctor on call took one look and turned to all in the room and said to call the flight for life as she would not make it here in this hospital. All he could do for her was try to stop the bleeding…
Little did this doctor know that the gunshot wound had penetrated every major organ of her body except the kidneys and with each beat of her heart blood was being forced out… he thought to himself that it was only a matter of time before she bled out and died. But he began to triage the wound and try to stop the bleeding…
Flight for life arrived and she was flown to the nearest city hospital that could accommodate such a wound… when she arrived the doctor on call for the ER came into evaluate her situation and his evaluation was she is not going to make it, but he called the surgeon and scheduled an emergency surgery to make the attempt to save her life, although he believed it was totally useless to do so…
The surgeon looked at this woman and made the announcement that he was going to work on every organ affected, but he was going to save the heart for last because he knew that when he started in on the heart that she would surely die…
For several hours the medical surgical team worked and repaired and removed and doctored this young woman… finally the surgeon had done all he could and he had to turn to the heart… all throughout the surgery, every heartbeat, this woman’s heart had been spewing 4 streams of blood… the surgeon knew that this would not take long, and he prepared to begin surgery on her heart…
In his words to a medical convention a few months later, this doctor said that the instant he turned to begin working on her heart, the wounds… all four of them… healed and sealed immediately in front of his eyes! The skeptical surgeon who believed HE had been holding this woman’s life in HIS hands, saw something that not many of us get to see… He saw the hand of God working directly in the life of a human being.
He told this convention that my hands performed the surgery that day, but a greater hand than mine saved her life! You see all throughout this ordeal this woman’s heart rate or blood pressure had NEVER dropped to critical levels. Her breathing never changed as she was able to breathe on her own. Nothing about this incident went the way the doctors believed it should… this doctor proclaimed this woman ‘his little miracle woman’. And what is so amazing is that this woman… this single mother… who was in intensive care for a mere 4 days AND completely walked out of the hospital under her own power in 19 short days!
How could this happen you may ask… it was a direct miracle of God intervening in the life of this woman. How do I know about this story… it is not a story you can google on the internet… its MY story! It’s the story about my mother one cold January day in 1973. It has been over 38 years now, and my mom is still alive and kickin’
I saw and witnessed a miracle in my mother, and still today there is a constant sign of a miracle in my life as my mother lives for Jesus. This was something NO ONE would believe if you write about it in a book… and most who have heard the story are left speechless…
My mother is a walking miracle… and Jesus had a great hand in making that miracle come to pass. You see my mom was a member of a praying church, and immediately the prayer chain had started, and God heard the cries of those people and my mother’s life… that could have been taken so easily that day… was spared!
Jesus did something in her life that literally blew people’s minds! Jesus changed her life forever by intervening and stepping into her life in a physical way… to have her stay around and be a spiritual mentor and blessing for others.
You see the stories we read about Jesus and the miracles He performed are not there to make us WISH that we would have been there… they are there to let us know not what Jesus HAS done, but for us today, these stories are here to let us know what Jesus CAN do now… what He WILL do in the future… Jesus is a miracle worker that never stops!
These 5000 people in the 1st part of our passage this morning were following Jesus because they wanted something from Him… He was healing and teaching, and they wanted that healing for their sick and they wanted that teaching because it was something that they would NEVER find from the religious leaders…
They came to Jesus hoping for a touch and Jesus gave them an incredible miracle to bolster their faith! Jesus’ actions with the 5000 planted seeds for the future… I truly believe that many of these people are part of the 3000 who come to salvation on the day of Pentecost!
Jesus fed these people FAR more than mere food… He fed them spiritual truth that led them to know Him more closely. Jesus took what the world had to offer, 5 loaves and 2 fish… and Jesus turns it into a feast with 12 baskets of leftovers!
So often we think the world has shafted us… that we are getting the short end of the stick in life! But what this story tells us is that no matter how dire the situation, Jesus is capable of delivering us even when all seems impossible!
These people came out to see Jesus… they came unprepared! Only one person brought food, a young boy, they were not prepared! They came out and hunger began to set in, and Jesus knowing the situation provided for their physical need so that their spiritual needs could be met…
This serves as a great pattern for ministry still today… when we serve our community and serve the needs of the community, it opens doors for us to begin to serve the Lord by sharing our faith! When the people know you care… they will listen to your witness!
Jesus revealed his care to these people as an example for us today… we are called by God to meet the needs of the needy and to minister to the orphans and the widows and to remain FREE of any spot ourselves…
If you are here today and maybe your life is a bit out of control… maybe it looks as if there is such a great need in your life and you just cannot see how it can be taken care of… but I am here to tell you that Jesus Christ is NOT going to sit by and NOT reach out to you!
Jesus is reaching out to you today, just as He was reaching out to the 5000 on that day! Just as Jesus sought to provide for a need for them on that day, I am seeking for Jesus to provide for a need for us this morning…
Jesus knows our hearts… Jesus knows our thoughts and our inner most secrets! He knows our insecurities and wants to heal us today! Today you may be looking at a storm of life that leaves you wondering where the provision in life will come from… I am here to tell you that Jesus, wants to be the one to lead you out of the storm… and change your life dramatically as he did these people so many years ago…
Today, you have heard about how Jesus does miracles… one was his feeding of the 5000 and the other was a personal testimony of a woman being brought back from the grip of death! But I am here to tell you that the miracles of Jesus are not limited to HIS physical time… and they are NOT limited to the physical nature of our world!
But the most intense and wonderful miracle that Jesus performs is one we have come to take for granted in the church today… When a soul comes fwd and surrenders their heart to Him… this is a miracle! This is Jesus rescuing ONE more from the fire! The miracle of birth is something we can all sit back and be amazed by… but let me share with you today that the miracle of being delivered is FAR more than anything physical! Jesus has come that we may have eternal life!
As Ken comes this morning… I want you all to look into your heart. You all probably know a miracle story where Jesus delivered someone physically, but I want you to know that the most important thing is for all to come to know Jesus.
Come as we stand to sing our hymn of invitation… come and surrender to the Oen who can make a miracle in your life today!
