Think Big

You’ve probably heard this story before, but I think it’s a good way to being our time together: A five-year-old was sitting with her grandfather in her room one day, and she asked him, "Grandpa, did God make you?"

"Yes, child," came the reply. "God made me." The child paused for a moment, and then asked, "And Grandpa, did God make me too?" Again the reply came back in the affirmative.

The 5-yr.-old looked in the mirror on her dresser for a while, and then looked her Grandpa in the face: "You know, Grandpa, God is doing a whole lot better work lately."

We’ve all done things or said things that make us look pretty stupid, and the moment those words came out of our mouths, we realize what we just said and wish we could just grab them back and forget we ever said them.

Perhaps you’ve experienced that. Or maybe you’ve been through something like I’ve been through. In our day and age, leaving a voice mail message is a common task and many of us have gotten used to it, but despite that, there are times when you’re distracted or you really think the person you’re calling will be answered, so when the voice mail kicks in, you’re not ready to leave a message.

So the result is usually, "uhh…dead silence…uh…Hi there…" and usually ended in, "Please don’t just my intelligence based on this message!" and then you hang up and then think, "Man, I could’ve just hit star and re-record that!!!". Life can be humbling at times.

But the greatest things about life is that despite our shortcomings and despite our flaws, God wants to do amazing things in our lives.

It’s easy to get bogged down in the mundane, day-to-day of life. It’s easy to lower your expectations for everybody, including God. Many times, we glorify God in the good times, but when the troubles come, we have trouble coming to God. Sometimes we just don’t think He would care enough to act on our behalf.

But Jesus has promised that He wants to work great things in our lives. In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus said to the crowd: Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

“You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.

This evening, I believe that God wants to do great things in and through us. In that skit, Mike couldn’t comprehend that God had acted in his life, even before he had asked. And sometimes, we fail to grasp that God wants to do amazing things in our lives, as well.

If you have your Bibles with you, would you turn to the Gospel of John with me, and look to Chapter 6. Now, this evening, I’ll be reading from the New Living Translation. We’ll be reading verses 1-15 together.

After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)

Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.

Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”

Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”

"Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.