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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get started with today's message from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Not going to work. The story isn't over with. Oh, and by the way, let me add to that. I don't know how you do your math. He did His math. But you've got to factor something in.
It's the God factor. You see, here's the math of a miracle. Two plus five, because there's loaves and fishes you'll discover, don't add up to much. Just seven. Seven things.
Few loaves, few fish. But when you add plus God, changes the whole scenario. The equals is like whatever. Difficulty must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work.
Difficulty must always be measured by the capacity of the agent doing the work. Philip, where can we buy bread? Okay, I've done the math. Listen. Wrong answer. Here's the right answer. Jesus, this is an impossible situation.
There's not a bakery around here big enough. It doesn't matter. I've seen you work. I was there at the pool of Bethesda.
I was there at the miracle of Cana. I saw the water get turned into wine. I saw that with my own eyes.
Do whatever you want to do. That's the right answer. Because you can say, well, He's the right answer. Because you can say, well, He didn't know better. He had been there. He had seen these miracles. He had seen enough to know. The right answer is, surprise me, Lord.
Story goes on. One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there's a lad who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many? Now, who is Andrew?
It tells you. He's what? Simon Peter's brother. Isn't that a bummer to be known as somebody else's brother?
You know why that kind of resonates with me? I'm the youngest of four boys. There was Jim, and there was Bob, and there was Rick. Those were my older brother. Then there was Skip. Jim and Rick were both valedictorians in their school.
They were on varsity football, varsity baseball, varsity track, varsity basketball. I mean, they played all the sports, and they were always in the upper part of the class, and I was their brother. Oh, you're Jim's brother. Oh, Rick, he's your brother?
Now, here's the thing about Andrew. He is not a prominent apostle. He is not a prominent apostle. Did he write any book of the New Testament? Not a one. Did he give any sermon?
Not that we know of. It's not recorded. It wasn't that important if he did to record it. He is known as Simon Peter's brother, but here's what I want you to see. Unknown, unnamed, does not mean insignificant, because I'll tell you who he was and what he did. He was a connector. He connected people with Jesus Christ.
That's his claim to fame. He didn't have to write a Bible book. He didn't have to perform a miracle or write a, preach a sermon. He connected people. He was the one that led his brother, Peter, to Jesus. He brought him there. He connected Peter to Jesus.
Peter's salvation and the book of Peter and all that he did is because he had a faithful brother who connected him to Jesus. Then we'll get to him again in chapter 12 of the Gospel of John when a group of Greeks come to the feast in Jerusalem and they say, sir, we would see Jesus. We want to meet Jesus. Philip goes, I'll introduce you.
Let me connect you guys. So again, he brings people to Christ. Just, just be content if that's what God has called you. Just to connect people to him.
Introduce people to Jesus. And then there's this boy. Do we know what his name is? No, it just says there, there's a lad. In fact, you know what?
Did you know this? I said that this miracle happens in all four Gospels, right? John is the only Gospel author that even mentions there was a lad. All the other accounts just talk about the loaves and the fish.
That's it. They have a few loaves and fish. They didn't say a lad has them. A boy has them. A kid has them. They don't even talk about the loaves and a lad has them. A boy has them.
A kid has them. They don't even mention the kid. He's unnamed. He's unknown. But he's not insignificant. He's the kid with the food.
The whole miracle is based upon what this little kid brought to the table, brought to the equation. Here's a lad who has five barley loaves and two small fish. And look at this question. What are they among so many? Not much. But add Jesus to the equation. A lot.
What are these among so many? Oh, we'll have leftovers. We'll have 12 baskets of leftovers. See, it depends on whose hands they're in. The miracle didn't happen in the apostles' hands. It happened in Jesus' hands. Now, this boy was a poor boy.
How do we know that? He had barley loaves. Barley was the poorest of the grains, often fed to animals.
It was hearty. Wasn't all that tasty. The barley loaves back then, they're small little loaves like pancakes, like pita bread, flat, kind of hard to chew. It was the bread of the poor. Then he had these fish. And the fish were either dried fish or pickled fish, little ones, not like big little ones, not like big sea bass, not salmon, just little tiny bite-sized chunks of fish. But what are they among so many? Jesus answered, make the people sit down. Now, there was much grass in the place.
These are things that interest me, you know. Matthew says there was grass. John says there was much grass in the place. Now, think grass-grass, not Colorado grass. I mean grass, lawn kind of.
You have to differentiate these days. Dude, there's grass in that place. Just the wild grasses that grow in the spring. It is Passover time. And Mark's gospel adds green grass.
So it was an earlier Passover season, like when we went to Israel with our group this last time. Galilee was bathed, swathed, in verdant grass. And you could sit down on it. It would be comfortable at the right time of the year. By late spring, early summer, it's brown already from the sun.
But this time, it's green, hardy, much grass. And so the men sat down, a number of about 5,000, and Jesus took the loaves. You know, when mom packed that little boy's lunch, she had no idea who would be holding the lunch she packed.
Jesus himself. Honey, don't go out without your lunch. Oh, mom, I want to go here. Don't. Come here. Take your lunch. She was fixing lunch for Jesus.
And 15,000 of his new best friends. Some of you look at your life. You see it as insignificant.
You're so down on yourself. Who am I? I don't have many gifts. I don't have many talents.
I can't do much. And I say to you, how dare you talk about God's property that way? You are precious in his sight. He has given you all that you need to change the world.
Change the world. Make sure that you get into his hands. Let him get his hands on you and show the world what he can do through just a few simple—what are these among so many?
And I say, how dare you? Because how dare you focus on your littleness rather than focus on God's greatness? Watch what Jesus does. He sits them down. He took the loaves when he had given thanks.
Public prayer. He distributed them to the disciples and Jesus to those sitting down. And likewise, the fish as much as they wanted. And I say, how dare you focus on the fish as much as they wanted? So when they were filled, he said to his disciples, gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost.
Therefore, they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we get back to Skip's teaching, Nate Heitzig has written a children's book just in time for Christmas. And this month, thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Christmas Under the Tree follows the timeless story of Jesus Christ from the cradle to the cross through the eyes of an unlikely character, a humble tree. This beautifully illustrated book, which includes a companion audio experience, is a wonderful way to tell the Christmas story and the story of Christ to the children in your life. This resource is our thanks for your gift of just $25 or more today to help share biblical teaching with more people around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give $25 or more today to reach people all around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. Let's continue with today's teaching with Pastor Skip. Jesus gave thanks. He prayed a prayer. Now, it's my belief that the prayer that Jesus prayed was the typical prayer that would be prayed in any Jewish home by the Father. He acts here as the Father of the crowd or the Father of the Jewish nation, if you will. And the typical prayer of the Jewish Father at the breaking of bread done in the homes daily and at Sabbath weekly and at Passover yearly is Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, HaMozi lechem, Min haEretz.
Just thought you needed to know that. Which is translated, blessed are you, Lord God, King of the universe who brings forth bread from the earth. It was the Jewish blessing over the breaking of the bread. And so he prayed.
They would have all said, I mean, amen, yes. And notice verse 11. It says, likewise of the fish and look at the last part of the verse, as much as they wanted. Okay, so go back and compare what you just heard here with verse seven, where Philip says, man, 25,000 bucks won't even give them a little.
See, he's calculating for the minimum, the little that they could eat, survival. Jesus gave them as much as they wanted. Philip planned for the minimum, Jesus gave the maximum. Jesus did, let's put it in Paul's language, exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to his riches. Now there's leftovers, 12 baskets.
Why? Well, there's 12 disciples, apostles, leftovers for tomorrow. Just to show that he does things exceedingly, abundantly, that there's no limitation to him.
And you could draw a lot of analogies from this, but we'll leave it at that. Therefore, they gathered him up the 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, they said, this is truly the prophet who would come into the world. Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone. This miracle, I'll tell you what, his approval rating went through the roof that day. You add the approval rating from this miracle to the messianic expectation that the Jewish nation had that their Messiah, when he comes, will be the king who will depose the rule of Rome and set up the Jews as victors over the world. And you have a recipe for a political messiah.
They wanted to take the Jesus movement and turn it into a political movement. We want him to be king. He didn't come to be their king. He will be their king one day.
He'll come back to be king of kings and lord of lords. He came to be their savior first. So he withdrew. He knew what they were about. And he's going to thin out this expectation mighty quickly. Mighty quickly.
He'll say some hard sayings, and we'll get to that when we're together next. Now, when evening came, verse 16, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, went over the sea toward Capernaum, and it was already dark and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing.
Can I quickly paint the picture for you? The Sea of Galilee is entirely below sea level. That adds an interesting dynamic. 700 feet below sea level. The Jordan River that goes all the way down to the Dead Sea, also below sea level. The Dead Sea, also below sea level.
But even lower, 1,290 feet below sea level. So the entire Jordan Rift Valley is below sea level. And that is because geologically, there's something some of you may know about called the Syrio-African Rift. That the tectonic plates, the African and Arabian plates formed a rift valley that begins way, way up in Syria and goes all the way down through Israel into Africa. Syrio-African Rift renders that valley very, Syrio-African Rift renders that valley very, very deep. So you have a lake that's 700 feet below sea level, surrounded by hills, and in the distance mountains that are some 2,000 feet above sea level. So you now have a difference of almost 3,000 feet.
You follow? When you have winds from the Mediterranean Sea that blow from the west to the east, which that's how it works. The coastal winds blow. The air is cool. The air down below is hot. It brings in that cold air sweeping down through the canyons. And all I can describe it is it's like a carburetor.
When you take air and gas, you funnel it from a throat into a very thin passage known as a venturi, and so you accelerate it. And so you can imagine this cold air being accelerated downward. It hits this warm air produced in this valley on this lake, and it's a recipe for an incredible storm. It can take the Sea of Galilee.
I've seen it placid, placid, calm. But by the afternoon, the waves can sink boats. So one of these things came in, and it stirred it up. And it simply says, turn the page, the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat, and they were afraid. Okay, so please just for a moment, think of the disciples, what they had just seen.
5,000 plus women and children fed, fed. This is, they're on a spiritual high. The last thing they expected was a storm. Now, why am I saying that?
Because that's how life works. Why is it you go, and you've said it, things have been going so well, and then this from out of nowhere, where did that wind come from? Where did those waves come from? A storm comes unexpectedly. Trials come without your anticipation, without your expectation.
You can't prescribe them, only God does and can. Somebody said, God speaks to us through the regularity with which He interrupts our plans. Some of you said, boy, then God speaks to me a lot, because He disrupts a lot of my plans, and I've had a lot of hardship in my life. They didn't expect it, but they got it, and here's what else you need to know. In Mark's account of this, it said Jesus made them get into the boat. It's not recorded here, but Mark said Jesus made those disciples, and the the King James uses the word constrain them, compelled them, get in the boat. So when they're out on the Sea of Galilee, and the storm is coming, they have to remember this. Jesus made me get in this boat, and you need to remember that. And when you come to the realization in your storms of life, your trials, your difficulties, God brought me to this storm. It'll revolutionize your periods of pain.
It changes the dynamic of the pain. God brought me to this storm. God made me get in this boat. But notice Jesus came walking to them on the sea and drawing near, and they were afraid. Yeah. Mark tells us it was the fourth watch of the night.
You need to know what that means. He just didn't come at night. They've been out there 20 minutes, and Jesus shows up.
Hey, guys. Fourth watch of the night. The night was divided into four watches. First watch from 6 to 9 p.m. Second watch from 9 to midnight. Third watch from midnight to 3 in the morning.
Fourth watch from 3 to 6. They had been at the rowing for around 8 hours. Do you think they were exhausted? Do you think they were in extreme situations?
Oh, yeah. But Jesus showed up. Didn't let him die.
Didn't let him sink. Sometimes you think, I've been praying. I've been waiting.
He hadn't showed up. Not the fourth watch yet. Just wait. He'll be there. Might be the third watch. Might be the first watch. Don't be there.
Just wait. He'll be there. Might be the third watch. Might be the first watch.
Don't know. But he will come. Let's close off our story. The last two verses and we'll close. But he said to them, it is I. Do not be afraid.
Then they willingly received him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. Here's what I want you to see in closing. The storm didn't last forever. And your storm won't either. Trials, difficulties, storms are seasonal.
They are not perpetual. God knows what you can take. God knows when he should show up. God knows when the deliverance should come.
And it will. They're seasonal, not perpetual. Remember Peter, who was in the boat, would write a letter later on and he said, in this we rejoice even though if now for a season if need be you are grieved through various trials.
Seasonal, but not perpetual. There's an end to them all. And here's what else you need to know. This storm wasn't a waste of time. They got to their destination and they learned vital lessons on the way.
They got to their destination, they learned vital lessons on their way. Do you remember Jonah got into a boat? He paid the money. He paid the fare. He was going to Tarshish to Spain. He wanted to have a nice sunny vacation out there under the palm trees out in Portugal.
Whoo, awesome. Gibraltar, nice this time of year. Did he ever make it to his destination? But he paid the fare. He paid the money to get there. Did he get there?
No. When you go your own way, you pay the fare and you don't get to your destination. When you go God's way, he pays the fare and you get to your destination. Closing thought.
What the apostles did was the smartest thing they could do. It says they willingly received him into the boat. Some of you still need to do that. You're in whatever boat you're in, your trial, your experience in life, just your life. It's your life. You're floating on the sea of life.
It's your life. It's your boat. Smartest thing you could do, let Jesus into the boat. In fact, let him be the captain of the ship. You're just crew now. None of this, I did it my way, dumb, lame, not smart. Do it his way.
Invite him into your life, into your boat, and let him be the captain. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. We hope you've been strengthened in your walk with Jesus by today's program. Before we let you go, we want to remind you about this month's resource that will help you and the children in your life see the timeless story of Christ with fresh eyes.
Nate Heitzig's book, Christmas Under the Tree, with Forward by Levi Lusko, is our thanks for your support of Connect with Skip Heitzig today. Request your copy when you give $25 or more. Call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or, visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. And did you know that you can find full message series and libraries of content from Skip Heitzig on YouTube? Simply visit the Connect with Skip Heitzig channel on YouTube and be sure to subscribe to the channel so you never miss any new content. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
