Thank you for making time in your day for leading the way audio. In a moment, Dr. Yusef continues his series called Evidence of the Exclusivity of Jesus. So please follow Dr. Yusef to John chapter 6 in your Bible or app.
Join him. Hear how Jesus feeds a crowd of 5,000 and challenges you to invite the truth that Jesus is the provider and the source of all power in life into your daily walk. And this quick reminder before Dr. Yusef begins, leading the way is listener supported. It's made possible in this community through the prayers and the generosity of faithful people like you. Learn more when you speak with a ministry representative at the call center.
That number is 866-626-4356 or you can visit ltw.org. Right now though, listen with me as Dr. Yusef begins. Turn with me please to the Gospel of John chapter 6. Here you see the Apostle John tells us something very significant, very significant.
Please be patient with me. I don't do grammar very often in my preaching, but occasionally if it's going to bless you, I'll do it. Verse 2, John 6-2. John uses the imperfect tense three times.
Literally it goes like this. The crowd kept on following him because they continuously saw miracles. And many of these miracles are performed on the sick. And while John, as I said, focuses only on seven, only seven, the other synoptic Gospels, Mark, Matthew, and Luke have many others, but John focuses just on seven because each of those semions, each of those evidence, each of these signs are there for a reason. They are proof of one aspect or another of his messiahship. But even though he only selected seven for a specific reason, at the very end of his Gospel, that is chapter 21 verse 25, he says if all that Jesus did is recorded, the whole world could not have room enough for the books that would be written. And so he focuses on the seven, where one of those signs, each of them, play a vital role as an evidence that he is the messiah that has been promised from Genesis to Malachi, that he is the one that the hope of Israel, he is the one that Abraham saw by the eyes of faith years before he came into the world.
Here in chapter 6 he wants us to fully trust Jesus, to fully trust him as our provider, to fully trust him to cast our care and anxiety on him. Oh, to be sure, the crowd at that time did not understand the significance of this sign any more than 21st century Christians. The crowd back then and now, they want a Jesus who gives them stuff. That's why they vote for politicians who promise them free stuff. If you look at verse 15, you will see they did not only voted for Jesus or voting for Jesus, they want to force him to become king. They're going to make him a king by force. This is very significant.
Tuck it in your mind because I'm going to come back to it. But by the end of chapter 6, watch it, by the end of chapter 6 when Jesus challenged them spiritually, spiritually, you know what they did? They took off.
They took off. Beloved, listen to me, there is no change in the human nature. Human nature has never changed.
It's the same. Fallen nature is predictable. They failed to recognize him as the spiritual king Messiah. They have failed to recognize that he is the fulfillment of their own scripture. They failed to recognize that their prophecies are being fulfilled in him before their own eyes.
For the Old Testament again and again and again says when the Messiah come, he's going to bless us. When the Messiah appears in the flesh, he will provide for them just as he provided for their ancestors manna in the wilderness. They failed to comprehend Isaiah 119 and Ezra 9, 12.
They failed to recognize and understand Deuteronomy 9, 8 and Nehemiah 9. Back to the Simeons. This particular Simeon evidence itself. By the way, this is the one evidence, this is the one miracle that is repeated in all four gospels.
Other than the resurrection of Jesus, this is the one repeated in all four. Here's what was happening. This crowd, massive crowd, and the disciples standing there with Jesus looking at them, and the day was drawing in, and the disciples panic. They panic.
Have you ever panicked? The level of your anxiety and worry, the level of my anxiety and worry depends on how we view ourselves. How do we view ourselves? And there's only two ways you can view yourself. You can either view yourself as a manufacturer, provider, and everything depends on you if you don't get it done.
It's not going to be done. Or you are a distributor, only a distributor of that which is given to you. If you view yourself as a manufacturer and everything depends on you, then please, please, please watch out for stomach ulcers. But if you see yourself as a distributor, you will have peace when everybody else around you is panicking. I think the disciples here at this moment saw themselves as manufacturers.
And Jesus basically want to show them and want to prove to them that they're only distributors. Watch this. Master, send them away. Send them away. We can't help them. Get rid of them. Send them out before Chick-fil-A closes. Get rid of them before we get stuck with them.
What did Jesus say? You feed them. Probably they were incredulous, as I would be.
Huh? Is this a joke? What do you mean we feed them? Well, they're panicking. Ah, he wanted to teach them. They're only what? The different reactions by different disciples is absolutely the most fascinating thing to me.
And it gives you an insight into them. I'll give you another insight about how different these disciples reacted and how different most Christians react. First, Philip, then Andrew. Look at the reaction of both of these disciples and try to figure out in your head, who do you identify with?
Who you identify with? Philip first. I love Philip. He is the ultimate number cruncher. Oh, listen, don't mess around with number crunchers when it comes to numbers. Philip figured out that if each of those people get a happy meal, not a big whopper, just a happy meal.
He's talking about $15,000 to $20,000. And this guy's had nothing. Oh, beloved, please listen to me. Many believers are like Philip. They're good with numbers. They're good with mathematics. They're good with arithmetics. But not with faith adventure. To Philip, it's all a matter of dollars and cents, but not spiritual sense. I am sure you know this.
But the average evangelical church in America today can function just as they are now if there were no Holy Spirit. Oh, they love their strategies. They love their programs. They love their plans. They love their seeker friendly marketing system.
Oh, they love their scheduling and their timetable. Any room for the Holy Spirit? Any room for God to work? Philip is just like the average Christian. No matter how many miracles he saw Jesus perform, no matter how many supernatural evidence he observed at Jesus' work, he could not stretch his faith to see the evidence of the exclusivity of Jesus in feeding that crowd with nothing.
As if to say, the one who healed the sick, the one who changed water into wine in seconds, the one who've done all of this can't feed that crowd. Come to Brother Andrew. Oh, Brother Andrew.
I love him, too, because all of these disciples actually remind me of some stage in my life. Now, Andrew is like the cautious optimist if there's such a thing, right? He could go out on a limb just for a little bit because if worked out, he's going to get the credit.
If it didn't work out, he'd say, I told you so. You know people like that, don't you? On the one hand, then on the other. On the one hand, then on the other. Verse 9, he said to Jesus, on the one hand, we have this wee lad here with five barley loaves and two fishes. And then he interrupts himself.
He literally interrupts himself and he said, oh, but what are these in relationship to the incredible need of this masses of people? Nonetheless, I'm glad the boy went to Andrew, not to Judas Iscariot. I think Judas Iscariot would have taken the lunch, sold it, and pocketed the money. Andrew at least had a mustard seed faith. How many of you agree that Jesus honors a mustard seed faith? And he did here. Don't miss this.
Please don't miss it. Jesus honored Andrew's mustard seed faith. Andrew's mustard seed faith informed him that Jesus may be able to do something with that little boy's lunch. One thing you notice throughout the gospels about Andrew that really blesses me is that he was forever bringing people to Jesus. He's forever bringing people to Jesus.
I can't help you, but I know who can come to Jesus. Always introducing people to Jesus. That's a wonderful trait.
It really is. It's a fantastic trait. The Andrews of this world, at least in my personal opinion, are the unsung heroes of the Christian faith. They're the unsung heroes. They're quiet. Oh, but they're faithful.
Let me give you a couple of examples. It was a very quiet and shy preacher who led a boy to Christ. And when that boy grew up, became William Carey, the founder of the modern missionary movement as we know it, over 250 years ago. It was a quiet and bashful Sunday school teacher in Boston who picked up enough courage to go into the workplace of one of his Sunday school boys and led him to Christ in a shoe store in Boston. And that boy grew up to be D.L. Moody, who rocked two continents for Christ.
Listen to me. Many of those Andrews who brought men and women, boys and girls, to Jesus, they're the unsung heroes. Whether they know it or not, they're leading someone to Christ who don't know what's going to happen in the future.
Many of you are teaching Sunday school in small groups and especially working with children. You do not know if one of those boys or girls are going to grow up to ignite the third great awakening for which we are praying. Please remember, these barley loaves are not big loaves of bread. They're about half a dollar pancakes. And the fishes, they were like sardines, the tiny little ones. It's a little boy's lunch.
As it is, it's a little boy's lunch. They were insignificant in relationship to the vast need. They were nothing in relationship to the need that they are facing. Oh, beloved, listen to me. Do not ever forget that little is much when God is in it.
Can you say that with me? Little is much when God is in it. Five thousand men, the Bible said, they did not count the women and children.
If you add the women and children, only God knows, well over ten thousand people. Listen, I am here to testify to you that God blesses the very little that you give sacrificially. Not the crumbs, sacrificially. God uses the small things that you consecrate for his service. God multiplies the few things that you dedicate to him. Moses had a stick, but God's power opened the Red Sea with that stick. The widow who approached the prophet Elisha had one drop of oil in a jar, but God turned it into an oil factory.
A nineteen year old, probably no more, had five pebbles, and God used David to defeat the giants that threatened God's people. Listen, you and I make terrible mistake, terrible mistake, when we say, when God blesses, then I will give. Or when God does this, then I'll do that.
No, no, no, no, no, no. That is not a front end faith. Am I preaching the truth? Because God can raise sons of Abraham from the stones, from the rocks, that's what the Bible said. Listen to me, faithfulness is everything to God for the believer.
Do you know why? Because you are conforming to who God is. Faithfulness is everything to God because you are imitating God. He's the faithful one.
Because you are reflecting the character of God. And he promised a hundred fold, a hundred fold. When Jesus supernaturally blessed and multiplied and the disciples just kept on distributing, they kept on distributing, they kept on distributing. They bring the baskets empty, they get filled, they go back and they come back with empty baskets and Jesus fills them and they go back and distribute and it kept going and kept going and they ate all they can until they were stuffed, couldn't eat anymore. Not only that, but there were plenty left over.
I wonder where each of them took a doggy bag home. This is what you call eat all you want for nothing 99. Oh beloved, only the bread of life can do this. Only the bread of life can feed to overflowing.
Not your cleverness. And today we have so many false preachers and teachers and theologians and I'm telling you they are, if you haven't heard them, thank God that you did not hear them. But many of them are going around trying to play down the evidence of the exclusivity of Jesus by saying, oh the miracle happened in their hearts, in the heart of the crowd. Oh by Jesus challenging them, they shared their sack lunch.
One dribble says, these people didn't have anything. They brown bag it. Would you believe a theologian in a book says this, they were brown bagging it. How stupid is that?
They didn't have brown bags back then. How foolish. Oh they just opened their lunches and they shared it with each other. They're undermining the supernatural, undermining the evidence of the supernatural power of Jesus. Can you believe this foolishness that some actually preach this infantile dribble? I think these so-called progressive western theologians, number one they've never lived in the Middle East back then or now. But think about this, the crowd wanted to make Jesus king by force because they've brown bagged it, because they shared their lunches. These folks are out to lunch but then they get somebody else to pay for it.
That crowd back then they will share diddly squat, even if they had it. Oh but please understand these false teachers are multiplying in the evangelical church now. I hope you were encouraged and challenged through this episode of Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Learn ways to listen to this message again. Share this content or connect further with Leading the Way at ltw.org. Now in a moment, Dr. Youssef returns with a powerful story of simple faith that will deepen the impact of today's message. First though, let me share how you can partner with Dr. Youssef in taking truths like you've heard today to your neighbors and neighbors just like yours around the world through the Open Door Campaign.
Take just a moment to listen. The lost people is always in the heart of Christ. That's why I say to Jesus, Jesus, please enable me to share the good news. I pray, Lord, I need a tool how to reach out to Sumba Island. This is called the navigator. Some of my friends call it pocket missionary.
This has the gospel in it in variety of ways, including the Bible, the Word of God. So when I heard that Leading the Way will send navigators, I said this is the answer. Two years ago, we start distributing navigators to the lost people.
After one year, I met them, almost every single person in that place saying my life changed. I have faith in Jesus, and now I hope for the future and hope for my children. You cannot have Hosanna without crucify. Therefore, while they were saying... One of the staff of navigator asked, how many navigators do you want, Pastor Paulus? I want million. I want million because through navigators, we can come to the village, give one navigator to every single family, and one navigator can save the whole family. Leading the Way, thank you for sending navigators, and thank you for keeping attention to our nation. Thank you for loving to our people.
Learn how to participate in the Open Door Campaign when you call 866-626-4356 or go to ltw.org. Now, as mentioned earlier, Dr. Yusef would like to take the last few moments of this episode to share a powerful example of simple faith, which conveys life-changing challenge. I want to tell you this true story as I conclude, and it's about a nine-year-old girl. Her name was Hattie Wyatt. She lived in a poor neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. You know, back then they had very small churches, so they had to worship in the morning and all of Sunday schools were in the afternoon, and one afternoon she was a little late and she couldn't get a seat.
She had to stand outside. The church is very small, very limited seating capacity. By the age of 10, Hattie Wyatt fell ill, and a few months later she died and went to be with the Lord. Her grief-stricken mother was going through her belongings, and there in the closet she found a little purse, and she opened it, and there was a handkerchief, just a little girl's handkerchief in it, and inside of that handkerchief were 49 pennies, but with them there's a note that says, to my pastor, this is for our new church building. She saved her allowance and little money that she made from small jobs, and by faith she thought that little bit money can help build a new church so she can go inside and attend Sunday school. Again, remember this, nobody in the church, not the pastor, not the elders, nobody was talking about building a new church.
Nobody was even thinking about it. It was not even a thought in anyone's mind, except for Hattie Wyatt. She thought it, and so when her story was told by the pastor at her funeral, people, mostly blue-color workers, they began to pull the resources and wanted to follow and honor Hattie's vision and build the church. Then people on the main line, Philadelphia, the main line is where the will-to-do folks are.
The other side of the tracks, literally, the other side of the tracks, they heard the story and so they came and they brought their considerable resources to bear. A few years later, Temple University was built because of Hattie's vision, but that's not all. Temple University Hospital was founded because of Hattie's vision. Just a little girl, she saw herself as a distributor, not a manufacturer. Beloved, don't ever forget, only Jesus is a manufacturer, only Jesus a supplier, only Jesus a provider, only Jesus a producer, only Jesus very source of power and life. I have to leave you with this, it's a conviction I had for all the years in ministry that the world is desperate for servants of Jesus who are distributors and see themselves as distributors. I believe with all my heart that God is looking for distributors, not manufacturers. God loves to bless those who are conduits, not the ones who hoard it. This program is furnished by Leading the Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world. Learn more at ltw.org.
