GOD WILL OFTEN GIVE US OPPORTUNITIES FOR OUR FAITH TO GROW.
Sometimes the growth of faith occurs during sicknesses such as when Jairus’s daughter became sick and passed away and The Lord raised her from the dead. I couldn’t imagine the pain that he felt as his daughter became sick and died.
Sometimes, our faith grows when we witness a miracle happening such as the disciples witnessing the young boy with the mute spirit being healed in Mark 9. As the father cried out “Jesus, I do believe. Help my unbelief”, the young boy was soon healed and the disciples’ faith grew as they learned more about praying and fasting.
Sometimes, our faith grows when we are led into trials and we have to suffer to overcome. Peter wrote to the persecuted saints in Rome that grief, suffering, and trials refine their faith to be greater than gold (1 Peter 1:7).
Sometimes, our faith grows when we feel we are down to the end of the line. The widow who had enough flour and olive oil left to make a meal for her and her son and planned to die (1 Kings 17:7-16). Instead, she shared it with the prophet Elijah and saw her supplies ‘not run dry.’
Sometimes, our faith grows because an ‘act of nature’ took place such as when God used Moses to part the Red Sea (Exodus 14). God can often expose himself through the power of nature in a way that falls outside the typical parameters that nature has established.
John 6:1-14
Andrew sought for a solution. He found a young man with a meal of 5 loaves of barley bread and two small fish.
The boy could have refused to give up his lunch. He could have chosen to run away when the disciple approached him and asked if he would sacrifice his meal for Jesus. Neither Andrew nor the boy knew what Christ would do, but this boy allowed the Lord to use his little gift. He trusted Christ with his possessions even though he did not know what the outcome would be.
When you trust God with your talents and abilities, and give it to Him, He will take your offering and multiply it. He will use what you give Him and it will be used to bless so many people.
1. God sees what man overlooks.
He wants us to start paying attention to the details. There is no small part in God’s plan. All but one of the disciples appeared to overlook the young boy. Andrew was the only one. (Andrew comes from Greek word that means MANLY). Andrew saw the POSSIBILITY of what could be done, though he did not know how. He did know he had to turn to Christ and seek his intervention. After all, he also knew how important it was for the crowd to hear Jesus.
How important is it for you for others to hear The Word of God? Andrew noticed a young boy who was willing. Andrew was willing to take him to The Lord to find out how he could be used.
According to a study that I read---
95% of all Christians have never won a soul to Christ
80% of all Christians do not consistently witness for Christ
Less than 2% are actively involved in evangelism
71% do not give toward the financing of the Great Commission
Don’t overlook people or possibilities where God can be glorified and your faith can be strengthened. Often times these possibilities are looked at as problems, when in reality they are opportunities.
2. With God, it is not a problem, it is an opportunity.
The disciples saw a problem. They saw a whole lot of people who were hanging around and getting hungry. Philip brought up the cost, and it was as if he was trying to say it would be better to send them home. The disciples saw a problem, but the crowd was not going away. Where they saw a problem, Christ saw it as an opportunity.
Sometimes, following God may lead us into obstacles and situations that appear to be problems. Sometimes, these problems can cause us to have mental breakdowns and derail us from our goals. NOT EVERY PROBLEM WE RUN INTO IS FROM THE DEVIL. Sometimes, it is an OPPORTUNITY for God to grow our faith and show up and show out.
Romans 8:28-- And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Keep in mind, these problems are really just opportunities for you to give of yourself to God. Some would say we had a problem here at church today. All of our praise team is absent. Its not a problem, its an opportunity for someone else to step up and be used!
3. God wants us to be willing to give all we have to Him for Him to use for His kingdom.
This young boy was willing to give everything he had. He may not have had anything else. I can picture him with a nervous look and deep eyes. As he was approached, he may have had some hesitancy. He may have been fearful and felt insignificant. But he put all his inhibition aside. This was his moment of truth. There was no going back. He was going to either go all in, or back away. Nobody was going to TAKE it from him. It was up to him to offer it or not.
When you trust God with your talents and abilities, and give it to Him, He will take your offering and multiply it. He will use what you give Him and it will be used to bless so many people. How many times do we hold back because we think what we have is not possibly good enough to take care of the opportunities that arise.
The woman with the two small coins—Mark 12:41-44—The Widow’s Offering—She gave all she had when others gave out of their prosperity
Romans 12:1-2-- Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
My question for you is, are you going to go all in or are you going to back away. If you choose to walk away with the bread and fish that you have that is your choice, but at the same time, God will hold you accountable for what you don’t GIVE BACK TO HIM. You own nothing. Everything you own and everything about you belongs to Him. You are a steward.
4. You are a steward of all you have.
That young boy came that day and had an abundance of food for himself. Not near enough to feed the multitude. No one could have blamed him if he kept it to himself, but he didn’t. He gave it up for the good of the kingdom/church.
On the flip side, Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5:1-11) held back. Peter even told them it was theirs to do with what they want. Instead they lied about it to God.
I think my biggest question right now, is when you say you are giving yourself to God, are you giving all of yourself to God, or are you holding some back? Are you telling God you are doing all you can? YOU are a steward of yourself. What are you doing with yourself?
A huge problem I see within the church today, is too many Christians are doing too much. We live in a world where we are always busy, so we don’t have time for God. We have an abundance of ways we can serve Him, we often tell Him and others (in the sight of God) that we are all in for Him, when we are not. Then we get wore out and try to force things.
5. We are not to try to do it in our strengths, but instead let God do it in His strength.
How far would the fishes and loaves have gone if the young boy attempted to do it in his own strength. It would not have gone far. Instead, he had to have the faith to trust that Christ would make it work.
Philip attempted to think about how to feed the masses on mankind’s scale. He attempted to think about what he could do instead of what God could do. Philip did what we all do, he tried to financially calculate things and realized it doesn’t make sense. He, just like all of us, have to look beyond the human realm, and look into the spiritual realm.
Mathematical faith increases and logically pointing things out based upon human standards runs contrary to God. If God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, then why do we attempt to do things in our own strength?
Psalm 147:10-11-- His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Zechariah 4:6-- So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.
CONCLUSION
Like this little boy, we should be willing to hand over to the Lord anything that He requests from us. We may not know what He will do with it, but if we trust Him with our possessions and our lives, then He will do something wonderful like He did this day.
*With all the information that is available for consumption, some of my sermons may be influenced by what i have read or heard. Anything that is posted is available to be used by all. The Lord gives abundantly and may you be blessed!
