Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. In the miracle of multiplication. The main lesson is surrender all you are. And have. To Jesus.
The boy gives his little lunch to the Lord. and thousands. And thousands are blessed. Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Have you ever been in need of a miracle?
Perhaps you've been struggling, toiling, trying to solve an impossible situation. But your own efforts simply aren't enough.
Well, today on the verdict, we're going to remember that all things are possible. When we surrender our lives and our problems to the Lord Jesus.
Now, continuing our newest study in Matthew, here's Pastor John Monroe with today's lesson. How big is your God? Do you believe that God is all-powerful? The God of the Bible is the one who in the beginning created the heavens, and they are. And without our Lord Jesus Christ there was not anything made that was made.
So we have an immense God, a great God, who is therefore greatly to be praised. Today we'll see the Lord Jesus performing an amazing miracle, a miracle which is included in every one of the four Gospels in the New Testament. Together, the Gospels present a case to show the uniqueness of Jesus. There's none like him, nor will there ever be anyone like him. Do you believe this miracle?
I do. I believe in a God of the impossible. Let's now think of the miracle of multiplication. Have you ever faced an impossible? situation.
Javier, what was it? How about this one? Jesus asks twelve disciples, to feed 5,000 people. And they have no food and no resources. No stores, no McDonald's, no Bojangles, no Wendy's.
None in sight. Utterly Impossible. There are five thousand men. I were told So, if you calculate the woman and the children, you had a multitude of about 20,000 people. Imagine being told by the Lord Jesus to feed them, and you have no resources, an utterly impossible situation.
And then. Right before their eyes. Jesus is demonstrating. He's known by a prophet. He's not just a great teacher, he is in fact God incarnate.
It's right before their eyes. He fades. A multitude. In his hands, the impossible becomes Incidentally, this is the only miracle Mentioned By All of the gospel writers, that is, other than the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, all record the miracle that we're going to read. Last week in missions We were challenged to go.
And make disciples of all the nations. We're challenged to get involved, to go to our neighborhood, to go to people at work. Perhaps to go overseas and tell people about Jesus. And often that seems impossible to us, doesn't it? Impossible.
Situations. You are facing personally an impossible situation in your family. Yourself at work?
Some situation Something as you look at Seems utterly impossible. The wall is too thick. It's too high, and perhaps you've hit your head against it time and time again. All of us face, don't we, what appeared to be Impossible. situations today.
We're going to learn. A very simple truth, but a very difficult truth to put into practice. That when we surrender all that we are and have, to Jesus the Son of God. In the miracle of multiplication. All things.
are possible. If you've got your Bible, as I hope you have, turn with me to Matthew chapter 14, and we're going to read from verse 14. 13. Here's the word of God to us.
Now, when Jesus heard this, that was the death of John the Baptist. We thought of that. The last time I spoke, when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat. to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, They followed him on foot from the towns.
When he went to shore He saw a great crowd. And he had compassion on them. and heal their sick.
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place. And the day is now over. send the crowds away to go into the villages and buying food for themselves. But Jesus said, They need not go away. You give them something to eat.
They said to him We've only five loaves here and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the grass. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said, A blessing. Can you see this?
Then he broke the loaves. And gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, and they all ate and were satisfied. And when they do come, And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about 5,000 men. besides women.
and children. Matthew, of course, is demonstrating. They're the one who had given the great teaching in what we call the Sermon on the Mount. The one who was speaking, the one who had given these wonderful parables that we thought of in Matthew chapter 13, is none other, of course, than the Son of God, God incarnate. who feeds the multitude.
With five loaves and two fish.
Now, first of all, what we want to learn as we look at this passage. Have compassion for people, not irritation. You ever irritated by people? You realize that you're sometimes a retailing? My wife from time to time has told me I'm irritating.
I can't believe it. We always think it's the other person that's irritating, don't we? But we are to have compassion. for people Not irritation Notice verse 14, when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their soul. Sake.
And Jesus Who's going to feed the multitude? Did you notice he instructs them, verse 19? To sit down on the grass, and he's going to feed them. What does that remind you of if you know your Bible? Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd. And what does the good shepherd do? Yes, he leads the flock by the still waters, and he makes them to lie down in green pastures. that our Lord Jesus Christ is a good shepherd. Who guides the sheep, who loves the sheep, and who feeds the sheep?
He's the very bread of life who comes down from heaven and gives food. to those who come to him in need. It's wonderful to know, isn't it, as you go through life? that the good shepherd Loves you. has compassion on you.
And if you follow the L the Good Shepherd, You shall not want. Fearful about the future. Wondering what's going to happen, no need to fear. He's going to lead you. He's going to provide for you.
He's going to guide you. That the good shepherd loves you with an everlasting love. It's not wonderful to know. That Because I'm saved by the grace of God, I am eternally loved for all of my life. Through death, And for all of eternity, that there is nothing in the whole universe which can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, Paul says at the end of Romans 8.
And here we see the compassion of the good shepherd. For the sheep. He says you And he loves you. Did you know this? Verse 13, and again repeated in verse 15, that Jesus goes to a desolate place.
When Jesus heard this, verse 13, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by him. Self. Throughout the Gospels we read this of Jesus going to a desolate place, of Jesus going to a high mountain to pray, of Jesus leaving his disciples, leaving the multitude and going to pray in a desolate place. And he's there when the crowds come to him. You know, if you're going to be a blessing to others, and we all want to be.
You need a time of silence. You need a time of solitude.
Now if you're a young mother, you say that would be wonderful.
Solitude and silence. We're not very good at that, are we? It's a huge problem in our culture. Everything's noisy. I've said this before I can't even get gas, and there's blaring out at me.
as I'm filling my car. You go to a store, and before you get into the wretched thing, there's music outside. And you see Where's the silence? The sound of silence that That the uh Simon Edgar Funkel sang about, I mean, where is it? A time of silence, a time of Solitude, I think we're afraid of it, aren't we?
We're afraid to be silent. We're afraid to get away on our own. What do we do when we're waiting in line? What do we do when we're in line in a grocery store? What do we do when we're online in Starbucks?
Have a conversation with people? Meditate. Rehearse some word of scripture that we're memorizing in our minds? No. No what we do.
We take out our idol. Mine is a little black thing. It's called an iPhone. And we pulled out the iPhone. Are you clapping about idols?
We pull out our iPhones and we consume largely frivolous information or we're checking how many likes someone has liked a picture of us drinking a cup of coffee or something else, totally frivolous. Right? I mean it's as if This is all important. What is silence? What about putting it off?
What about getting away from it? The Lord Jesus did. I don't know where that place is for you. Perhaps in your own. House?
Otherwise, not all of you. Have what I have. I have a study in my home. I realize that's not possible for everyone. But the time of solitude, this time of quietness, Winifred Gallagher said, few things are as important to your quality of life as your choices about how to spend the precious resource of your free time.
How do you spend your free time? What about this week? Practicing. Silence. What about putting off your iPhone?
for some time.
Now, if you're at work and you have to keep it on, I understand that, but you know what I mean. In your free time. Jesus The Son of God, God incarnate, the perfect Son of man. goes throughout the Gospels to desolate place. to a time of prayer.
Now he does this. and the crowds come. And isn't that marvellous? Our Lord must have Had great joy. In these times of quietness, as he communes, perfect communion with his Father and His God.
But the crowds come and interrupt them. And what does he do? He has compassion for them. What about the disciples? His disciples found the crowds irritating.
Rather than having compassion for the crowds, Notice verse 15. The disciples want the crowd to go away, to fend for themselves. We've had enough of people. Send people away. Keep them away from us.
We don't want to be bothered with them. At the end of Verse twelve or verse twelve says When John the Baptist was beheaded, his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
Now when Jesus heard this, that is the death of John, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. If you've gone through bereavement, you know. as much as you appreciate people around you to help you. There's a time when you want to be alone, don't you? With your own thoughts and prayers.
And here is Jesus. This is why he went and I'm sure the disciples thought this would be a wonderful time to be alone with the Lord and he would explain why this marvelous man, this great man that Jesus said was the greatest of the prophets, how he had been beheaded. Tell us about him, Lord. And they would have valued that time. But instead you got this wretched crowd coming.
and interrupting our time. Our quality time with Jesus. Uh send them away, send them away. What about you? What about me?
You got people around you. Perhaps a next-door neighbor, perhaps someone in your own family. Perhaps a brother or sister here and You find them rather irritating. Perhaps you find them rather demanding. And perhaps You want to like the disciples sin, but you just had enough of them.
Send them away. You know, compassion, which the Lord had, is love in action. Compassion isn't saying, oh, I feel sorry for you. No. Compassion is action.
Jesus is going to demonstrate his compassion for the crowd by feeding them. Compassion. Here's the first lesson we can learn. And the miracle of multiplication. have compassion for people.
Irritation. And of course The main lesson is surrender all you are. And have. to Jesus. Left to themselves, The disciples are totally unable to feed the crowd.
But verse 16 And Jesus says, you give them something to eat. Here's a problem you've got. Hungry people. And I'm I'm putting that at your door. You do it.
Disciples, I want you. to feed the multitude. And of course, the disciples can't handle this. Because you read the four accounts in the Gospel. This is this is impossible.
You're commanding us, Lord, to do something which is absolutely impossible. That's the point, of course. The disciples are thinking what of what they can do by themselves. rather than believing what Jesus can do. Through them.
They're thinking there's twelve of us. We've got no food, we've got no resources, there's no Oops. Fast food around us. There's nothing we can do. And they've forgotten that right in their midst.
Yeah. Incarnate. The one that they had seen. Touch. and heel.
The lapar. The one that they had seen. to raise The dead. The one that they had seen that the woman who had that problem for twelve years, she just Benton touched the fringe of his garment. And she was healed.
He's God incarnate right in their midst and they've forgotten that. It's a difficult lesson for us, isn't it? To turn to Jesus, to depend on him. We're so self-reliant and we We're so overcome by self-pity and thinking, I can't handle this. and we've forgotten in our midst.
is the Lord. of glory. Jesus taught in John chapter 15 the so the The vine and the branches. He says in verse 5 of John 15, I'm the vine, you're the branches. His disciples, you are his branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him, He it is that bears much fruit. Not wonderful. Brothers, sisters, as you abide in Christ, the true vine. As you keep your eyes on him, as you follow him, as you obey him, you will bear much fruit, for apart from me, you can do nothing. The branch severed from the true vine can do absolutely nothing.
You understand that? You think you're that gifted? You think you're talented? Yes, everything you have comes from God. But a reminder that apart from God, Unless the Lord builds this house, we labor in vain.
Psalm 127. You know that as a father, you know that as a mother. You can do a lot of activity in your home, and you can provide wonderful resources for your children, and you can get them very socially accomplished and musically right at the top, and academically they're getting the scholarships. You can do all of that. Unless the Lord is in it, you labor in vain.
Apart from me. You can do Nothing. I'm reminding you today of basic Christian. Truth. But you may have forgotten it.
Okay. When you bring your problem to Jesus, When you surrender everything to Jesus, He will work through you. in unimaginable ways. in the miracle of multiplication. Without Jesus.
You can do nothing. Says Paul though, Philippians 4. I can do all things. All things, Paul. You're bragging.
No, I'm not bragging. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That God will give you all of the power, all of the help to do His will. The disciples discovered this boy has five loaves and two fish. John tells us it was a boy.
There's a wee boy there. Among the 20,000 people And here's a very big miracle, I think. He had not yet eaten his lunch. You can imagine his mom making him lunch. These five little rolls and two little fish, and say, There you are, son.
And he becomes part of the crowd because he wants to go and be with Jesus. How wonderful. Just a b an ordinary boy. One of thousands. Nothing special about him that the scriptures tell us.
He's just a boy. At five lows. And two fish. You say, well, what difference does that make? That's what the disciples ask in one of the countries.
But, Lord, what's that among so many? I mean, what's the point? It's so small, so insignificant, so ordinary. Five loaves and two fish, and there's 20,000 people. Why are we even talking about it?
This is hopeless. No, it's dark. Do you picture it? The five loaves. And the two fish small.
are put in the hands of Jesus. I love How Matthew and the writers say this. Did you know this? They can almost picture it. He took the five loaves and the two fish.
Versus. Nineteen. And he looked up to heaven. And say the blessing. See everything The sun does.
is in perfect submission to the Father. Just as everything that we do is to be in perfect submission to our Father through His Son, our Lord Jesus. Thanking God for this little lunch. Thousands of people cannot be fed From two fish and five loaves, can they? The meagre resources are mentioned to demonstrate the impossibility of the task.
Just five loaves. Little roles. Don't think of them as big. Loss. Five little rolls and two Fish.
Ugh. Everything that the boy has Everything that the boy has is put in the hands of Jesus, and thousands are blessed. I admire this little boy. One was he hadn't eaten his lunch by this time. Secondly, He gave it all to Jesus.
Come on. Most of you would have kept a couple of rolls and a fish, wouldn't you? That's the point, isn't it? He holds nothing back. Everything is put in the hands.
of Jesus. This is the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe. There's still more to hear when John returns in just a moment, so stay with us. From matters of truth and identity, to the subjects of love and grace, our world seems more confused than ever. but to find truth and certainty about who we are and find peace, we must turn our attention away from the world and look to the Word of God.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? This is a fascinating story displaying the compassion of the Lord Jesus as well as his power. repeatedly in Scripture, were reminded of the love and grace and mercy of God. Compassion is love in action. as Jesus feeds the thousands.
Will you receive this Lord Jesus, the perfect Son of God, as your personal Savior? Will you trust him with all of your heart and trust him in the difficult circumstances of life?
Next time, we'll continue to think of this miracle, the miracle of multiplication. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
