Today, on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe, all of us faced openly 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.
So when we surrender all that we are and have, to Jesus the Son of God. In the miracle of multiplication, All things. are possible. Welcome to the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. No matter how educated, resourceful, or driven you are, there are some problems in life you can't solve on your own.
But thankfully, we don't have to. Today, we'll learn that the best possible outcome for ourselves and others comes when we surrender completely to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe with today's message: the miracle of multiplication. Have you ever faced an impossible situation? Last time we saw Jesus asking the disciples to feed 5,000 people. But they have no money and they have no food. How are they going to feed all these people?
Then Right before their eyes a multitude is fed. Do you grasp who Jesus is? He's not just a teacher or a prophet, he's God incarnate. He can do the impossible. and right before the eyes of the disciples a multitude is fed.
So often, when faced with a challenge, we think of what we can do rather than believing what Jesus can do through us. Here's a wonderful story of a boy putting everything he has into the hands of Jesus. What about you? Let's continue the story of the miracle of multiplication. 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, 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 crowds 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?
That 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.
Now, first of all, what we want to learn as we look at this passage. Have compassion for people, not irritation. Jesus is going to demonstrate his compassion for the crowd by feeding them. Here's the first lesson we can learn. And the miracle of multiplication.
have compassion for people. Not Yeah. And of course The main lesson is surrender all you are. And have. to Jesus.
The disciples discovered this boy has five loaves and two fish. John tells us it was a boy. Just a boy. At five lows. And two fish.
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.
Like, come on. Most of you would have kept a couple of rolls and a fish, wouldn't you? I mean, you'd have said, after all, it's mine, my mom gave it to me. And okay, you you can you can have two or three of them, but I want to keep at least one fish and a couple of the rolls and that that's generous isn't it? I'm giving more than 50% of my lunch to you and after all you should have brought your own and we wouldn't be in this dilemma.
All of it. That's the point, isn't it? He holds nothing back. Everything is put in the hands. of Jesus.
There was another miracle as well. No one said, I don't like fish. No one asks, does this fish have bones in it? Answer is yes. Does the fish have a head on?
Yes, it does. Seriously, have you noticed verse twenty? And they all ate and were satisfied. Every single one of the men, of the women, of the children. They all ate the fish.
And the loaves, and were satisfied. Of course, they were. It's a bread of life given to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. They ate to the full. No one was hungry.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, totally meets all of our needs. He never leaves you hungry. He never leaves you thirsty. If you come to him, you will hunger no more and you will thirst no more. He is the living water, he is the bread of life.
Life. We're surrounded by people, aren't we? Crowds. You say, well, what can I do? Oh, I'm glad you've asked.
I'm going to tell you what to do. I want you to surrender everything you are and have to Jesus and be available for him to use as he pleases. Directs. Are you truly answer this question? I asked myself it this week.
Are you really filled with compassion for people Or are you so caught up in your own little world? And we've created a bubble. And we've lost sight. of those around us. who lost.
We're on a broad road leading. to destruction. And it could be That you are greedily holding on. To your own comfort, to your own little way of life, your own loaves and fishes. I'm asking you to surrender everything you have to Jesus.
I've noticed over the years. I've been in many meetings with elders, committees, pastors. Conversations with people in churches, I've noticed. And I've been guilty of this myself. One of the most common mistakes We make When God gives us a challenge to do something.
It's true as a church. True as individuals. We don't focus on the vision. We don't focus on the people. We focus on ourselves, our limitations.
Our weaknesses Oh, I could never do that. We focus on our lack of resources. We point the finger at other people. That is, we focus on what we don't have. rather than thinking of what we do have and thinking above all of our magnificent Lord Jesus Christ, who still says that we can do all things through him.
Who strengthens Uh If you really want to live that kind of life, You've got to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have to obey him. He's Lord. Yes, he's my savior. He's cleansed all of my sins.
I'm saved by his grace, but he's my Lord. And he commands me to go and to serve him and to submit to him. He's my commander-in-chief. I have to obey him first-time obedience. And as I obey him, as I trust him, He will give me all of the strength, all of the power, all of the resources to do his will.
Now do you believe that? You say, of course I believe it. Why don't you live that way? You surrendered everything to Jesus. Do you look on everything that you have, your gifts?
Your talents Your education? Your family. Your home your possessions. Your car. That's a tough one for me.
I like my car. Your car? Your bank balance. Do you realize The That is all to be put in the hands of Jesus. Everything you are, everything you have, it's been given to you by God.
So why are you holding on to it as if it's yours? Think of it. Is God giving it to you?
So that everything you are and use is for his Glory. And Many of you have experienced this. That when you surrender everything you have to to Jesus. All of your needs are met. What's one of the scriptures I keep quoting as we go through Matthew?
Matthew 6, 33. Seek first That it is. Seek first. Number one priority. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
If you put the Lord Jesus Christ first in your life, If you follow him. And seek in his grace. to obey him. All of the other things in life will fall into place. Do you think God is ever in your debt?
Huh. But Dad used to say you can't outgo with God. Of course you can't. Everything. to the Lord.
And the multitude is satisfied. And did you notice that there were 12 baskets left over, one for each of the apostles, the disciples, demonstrating the abundance of the compassion and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only does he feed the multitude, that's a tremendous miracle, he feeds them abundantly so that there are 12 baskets left over. That is, when God acts. He acts With superlative abounding grace.
Grace upon grace upon grace. I've used this illustration before and I thought of it as A few days ago, Goody and I were were walking on the Tona Beach. And the waves keep coming in, wave after wave after wave after wave. That's the grace of God, isn't it? It's grace upon grace upon grace upon grace.
Do you think God's grace ever? is going to run out. Do you think God's kindness and compassion and provision for you is ever going to run out? No. John says in his prologue is grace upon grace.
Paul says in Ephesians 1, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us. God's grace is rich as infinite. And God's grace doesn't come to you just a little bit. You're saying, however deep it is, however bad it is. It's not beyond the grace of God.
There is always more grace in our Lord Jesus Christ than there is in you. That's Romans 5. His grace is abounding grace, it's greater than our sin. And God, when He blesses us, He doesn't do just a little bit. He lavishes, lavishes.
His grace. Upon us. When we surrender to Jesus, This is humbling, isn't it? He uses us To bless others. I hope you've experienced that.
Just think. That you And I It can be spiritual. blessing to others. The boy gives his little lunch to the Lord. and thousands.
And thousands are blessed. I love it. Surrender it to Jesus. And they will use it, small things. He'll use it.
to bless others. Five loaves and two fish, insignificant, trivial, very small, just an ordinary little lunch. Um no, not in the hands of Jesus. The tiniest thing to him you may bring. blessed by his touch.
The least. as much. Here in the history of Israel, Is a tremendous challenge to the Israelites. They don't know what to do with it. There's a huge giant, he's nine feet tall, his name's Goliath.
And he's got a spear, he's got a sword, he's got his armor bearer. And he's a nasty, arrogant individual, and he's defying the hosts of God. And all of the great soldiers, they can't deal with them. I mean, how are you gonna? Deal with this man.
He's huge. God calls David. Young man, probably. Stellini's teens. He goes What is he used?
A slingshot. Five stones. In fact, he only needs one. One stone Directed by God right in the forehead. And Goliath comes crashing down and David takes his sword and cuts off his head.
The least As much. Here is, and second. Kings 4, here is a poor widow. And she's in terrible debt. She can't pay her bills.
And all that there's only one thing in that house. Very insignificant thing, a jar of oil. Prophet Elisha comes. He takes it. And he pours it out, and the oil keeps coming and coming and coming and coming, and fills up all of the vessels of her neighbors so that she can pay off her bills.
Just a jar of oil. The least. Yeah. 2 Kings 5, there's a young woman who doesn't even know her name, and she's taken captive by the Syrians. She's an Israeli, she's a child of God.
And she's taken captive. She's a slave in a very wealthy man's house, Naaman. He's the captain of the hosts of Syria. He's the commander-in-chief of the Syrian. The forces.
And he's a strong man, he's a mighty man, but he's got a huge problem. Leprosy has broken out, and there's no cure for leprosy. And this little girl thinks.
Well, I know a man is a prophet, Elijah. I think he can heal. Yeah. This man as pagan as he was then. of his laprese.
And that's what happened. A little girl, she tells her mistress. In his hand, the least. as much. The time of the Lord, here's a widow.
And she's coming up the temple, and as she comes, the rich people are putting in a lot of money into the treasury as well they should. And this widow She only has two coins, two mites, the smallest coins in the currency. That's all she has to live on. And she throws it into the offering. And Jesus said, She has given more than all of them because she gave.
Everything she had. The least. As much. Will you surrender your time, your resources? You say, I've not got some particular talent.
I'm just an ordinary person. Of course, you are. Thank you for acknowledging it. We already know that. Ordinary people, yes we're ordinary people.
But God Can use you. Nothing. Nothing. It's too difficult. For Jesus, He's God.
That's what Matthew is telling us. Matthew is giving us this illustration. Not just as a cute little story, but to demonstrate the power of Almighty God, that Jesus, in fact, is God, King of kings and Lord of lords, and when you put things in his hand. And the miracle of multiplication takes. Place.
Says Paul.
Now, unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us and in the church and in Christ Jesus. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. And that great benediction at the end of Ephesians 3: that our God is able to do more than you can even imagine, more than you can dream about, more than you can ask. Such is the power of God, blessed by his hand, the least.
Yeah. Isn't it interesting? How Jesus works. Did he need the five loaves and two fish? Did he need that to feed the thousand?
Of course he didn't. He's the Creator. With one word. The best meal in the world could have been served. He's the one who spoke the world into existence.
He's the one by whom all things exist. He is the eternal God. He's the Alpha and the Omega. There's no one like him. But think of his grace, think of his compassion.
He takes a little boy's lunch. You and I would have laughed at it. We might have thrown it away, thrown it to the dogs. He takes it. and blesses it.
Did he need the disciples? No. How gracious, even though they wanted the crowd sent away, he uses the disciples. to feed the multitude, just as he uses you and me. to feed others.
Your children. your neighbors. Your friends, those in that Bible study. He uses Us. Here is the heart of God, graciously using a boy's lunch, graciously using the hands of the disciples to feed the multitude.
Graciously using you. And me. in our weakness, in our limitation. in our failures. that over and over again he takes us.
and uses us. and bless by his touch the least. is much. Here's a college student. He he's got a guitar.
What'd you do? He presents that as an offering. It's a jit up. Ordinary guitar, yeah. He likes his guitar.
Here are men and women. We've had some musical training. Using their voices, using their abilities to do what? Putting it in the hands of the Lord. You say, well, they're there, just showing off what they can do.
No, no, no, no, you've totally missed it. It's using their abilities. as an act of worship to God. and to bless thousands of us. as they help us and lead us in.
Worship. Here is a young woman. She is an ultrasound technician. She's trained. She's res Receive training.
to be able to Use the ultrasound. And here she is with human coalition. which are preventing abortions taking place. And here is the result. Of her placing her training in the hands of Jesus.
Here's the result, and I quote: This is right from Charlotte. I just wanted to let you know. that I cancel the abortion. And we'll keep the baby. When we heard the baby's heartbeat, we changed our decision.
So, I want to thank. the ultra sound Tech. A ton. It's an interesting. You say, well, is she just an ordinary technician?
Yeah. Instead of using her training for other reasons. She brings it. to be used in the service of God. And so in the wonderful compassion of God, A young mother decides, no, I'm not going to abort my baby.
Thank you. for showing me the ultrasounds. This is what Jesus does, isn't it? Don't live like an atheist. Don't live at a purely human level.
Surrender all to Jesus. Place all you have in his hands, including yourself, and completely trust him to do the rest. You say, How will this work out? I don't know. Don't worry about that.
That's not your concern. The disciples didn't know what Jesus was going to do with the loaves and the fishes, but it's brought to Jesus. That's the point. and experience The miracle. of multiplication.
Pray Lord. Here? Are my loaves? and fishes. I don't know what they are with you.
Here they are, break them. Use them. Multiply them. 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.
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Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? Are you someone who holds onto what you have or are you characterized by generosity and compassion? you may think you have very little compared with others, and that may be true. But we've learned that the smallest things brought to Jesus can bless thousands if. The Lord is at work.
So I'm challenging you to surrender all that you have and all that you are. Indeed, surrender yourself to the Lord Jesus. experience the miracle of multiplication. and see how the Lord will use you to bless others. 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.
