Let’s read verses 34-52.
In some ways this is a mystery. What connection should the loaves have with the ship? When they were in the ship, the wind was blowing contrary to the way they were trying to go. I wonder if you have ever been in that spot.
1. You have your goals set, a place where you feel God would have you to be doing the best you can. Rowing as hard as you can.
2. Doing what God has told you to do. It looks like the least the Lord could do, causing the wind to cooperate.
3. Verse 50; they were afraid, and the Bible makes it noticeably clear. The reason they were afraid, scared and lost their faith was they did not learn the lesson of the loaves.
4. Now what in the world does crossing a sea have to do with a loaf of bread?
a. Yet the reason Jesus said they failed the test, was “They did not learn the lesson of the loaves.”
5. Yet when Jesus fed the 5,000 men, women, and children there could have been upwards of 15,000 people. Jesus was doing more than just meeting the physical needs.
a. He was teaching his disciples a tremendous lesson.
b. A lesson they needed to learn and so do we.
c. School was in, the bell had rung, the disciples were seated in the classroom and Jesus was the master teacher.
6. First the lesson, then Jesus said get into the ship, I want to see how much you have learned and they failed the test.
7. The more I follow God in my ship, the more the winds are blowing the other way. The more I need to learn the lesson of the loaves.
a. Reason why some of you here tonight feel like spiritual flunkies, you have failed to learn the lesson of the loaves.
8. The greatest thing you and I can do this evening is to learn the lesson of the loaves.
a. There is always going to be a spiritual examination.
b. Seems like all the time you do what God has led you to do. All is against you and you get afraid.
9. So, what is the lesson of the loaves. What do you really need to understand, and learn in order to pass the exam in your daily Christian life?
10. Let’s go back to the classroom and do a little investigation, what is Jesus trying to teach us?
11. How important is this lesson? Only miracle recorded in all four gospels. It must be important in the mind of God.
12. This is a lesson that I really, and desperately need to learn. Notice three things about the lesson.
I. Do Not Measure a Problem by Your Own Resources
1. I know I have said that a lot, and in a lot of different ways.
a. Over and over in the Bible, God is telling us things we already know.
b. Do a word study on the word, “remember”.
c. The entire book of Deuteronomy is a book of remembrance.
2. Most of our mistakes and failures in this life is forgetting things we already knew.
3. What Jesus is saying is, “Do not measure and never evaluate a situation by your resources.”
4. In verse 35, His disciples say, no 7-11 store out here. No place to get anything to eat. The people brought nothing with them. They were about to faint from hunger.
5. Jesus says, “How much food do you have?”
a. John 6:5-6, He said this to test them, for he knew what He would do.
b. Jesus always knows what he is going to do, Jesus is never caught off guard.
c. Nothing ever surprises Jesus.
6. Jesus is trying to teach His disciples a lesson.
a. Verse 7, Philip says we don’t have enough money.
b. What was Philip doing? He was measuring the situation by his own resources.
7. Instead of saying Lord, you know what to do.
a. Phillip did what you and I do all the time.
b. He looked at his own resources.
8. Jesus did this on purpose. He wanted to get Phillip to examine his own resources, but not to despair. He wanted him to depend on God.
9. Anytime you conclude without figuring in Jesus you have come to the wrong conclusion.
a. God has never left the final word with man. Man has never had the final say with God.
b. Tell me what you do in this type of a situation, and I will tell you if you have learned the lesson.
II. Little Placed in the Hands of Jesus Becomes Much
1. Lord this is all we have, 5 loaves and two fish.
a. Loaves, buns or biscuits, barley bread. This is what the poorest of the poor could eat or afford.
b. 2 fish, salt fish, about the size of sardines, used to sprinkle on the bread as a relish.
c. This boy did not have much, but that was all they had.
2. Not much, but Jesus says bring it to me.
a. Some say I will look foolish bringing this to the Lord.
b. Jesus says bring it to me.
3. Jesus gave the order to set down in one hundred, and 50s, verse 42. They all did eat, and were filled, and had some leftover.
4. What is the simple formula Jesus was giving here: trust and obey.
a. Bring them to me: obedience.
b. I am going to feed them: faith and trust.
5. I wonder if some of the disciples thought Jesus was going to make a fool out of them.
a. If I do that I will look like a fool.
b. Tell 5000 men to sit down and eat, how foolish.
c. But when they obeyed, their little became much.
6. Has there ever been a time when you felt foolish doing what God told you to do?
a. Giving, tithing, missions.
b. Being faithful to all the services, teaching or singing, driving, or working on the bus route.
c. Perhaps it was God's order for the home.
d. May have been when you gave God the glory and praise for the tragedies in your life. Proverbs 11: 24
e. Paul and Silas.
7. It may be that you feel like you cannot afford to give it to Jesus.
a. A small boy, only a lunch
b. The widow and Elijah
III. Every Such Encounter with a Problem or Trial Leaves You Richer Than Before
1. The disciples in the beat when everything is going wrong after I've said, “Praise the Lord, God is getting ready to bless us more than ever before!”
2. They forgot the loaves, each of them had a basket full under their feet.
3. All the time they were in the storm, they had evidence of God's love and power under their feet. Jesus could meet their every need.
4. How about us? As a person, as a family, as a church?
5. They did not learn the lesson of the loaves, so they failed the exam.
6. Let's all turn to Philippians 4:19
IV. Conclusion
1. God will Supply our every need!
