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Sun, Oct 9th - 8:07PM

Matthew 14: 15-21

What Is This Among So Many?

15As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."

16Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

17"We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.

18"Bring them here to me," he said.

19And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.

20They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

21The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus took compassion on a multitude that had earnestly followed him far from the city into what was considered desert land. Having also followed Jesus, the disciples saw a condition arising where there would not be enough food to go around, not nearly enough. Every Christian will face this situation. You will look into your hands and find that what you have is not enough, not nearly enough for what you need. The word that describes this situation best is “lack”; you “lack” what you need. Seeing the insufficient amount, you will no doubt ask the same question that the disciples asked, “What is this among so many?”

What is $100 among a debt of thousands? What is an individual’s effort when the job takes dozens to complete? What is a handful of mission workers among a large city’s population of non-believers? Your answer will be determined by your realization of what Jesus is communicating to us in this bible story.

Christians have faith in the most-high God and yet fail in this situation. We’ve become so afraid of “lack” that we choose to limit our efforts or retreat from our missions altogether. We send people away, just as the disciples urged Jesus to do. We refuse to go forward or to do certain work, we scale down our scope. There are ministries that God is waiting to make prosperous but instead they are sitting on a back burner because the person God trusted with the vision is afraid of “lack”. Some of us will not make a move until we are convinced our resources are sufficient enough. Instead of following our calling, we allow our resources to determine what we can and can’t do. Instead of having confidence in God, we look to draw confidence from the amount of money or contributors we have, or the amount of materials at our disposal.

Unfortunately, the only way for this type of assurance to last is to have unlimited resources. No one on Earth can guarantee unlimited resources. It’s been proven time after time all over the world. The basic rule in the study of Economics is that resources will always be limited while wants and desires are potentially unlimited. This has been taught from High School up to University campuses for decades. Every living creature will face “lack”. At some point, there will not be enough of what we need to do what we want. The thing that separates us from the rest of the world, however, is knowing how to respond.

The bible records that Jesus knew this situation would arise and was interested in the disciple’s response before he revealed his own. Naturally, the disciples were judging the situation according to sight; it looked like this crowd would starve. But Jesus knew how to respond to “lack”. He did not send any one away. Instead he instructed the disciples to bring him what they had and then he offered it up to God. That is the correct response to the situation of lack. We must take what ever it is that God has given us, no matter how insufficient it appears to be, and offer it up to God with all our hearts. One preacher put it this way: “If you look into your hands and what you see is not enough, then that is not your harvest, it’s seed. You must plant your seed into anointed ground in order to receive your harvest. The seed always comes before the harvest. But the harvest is always larger than the seed”. The disciples took the little bit of food they could retrieve and put it into the anointed hands of Jesus Christ. Suddenly their worries and fear was laid to rest and they ended up with more then they could have hoped for on that day.

We must learn how to recognize this situation and respond the way Jesus responded. If what we have is not enough, then offer that little bit to God. If all you have is $100, offer your $100 to God as a seed. Your harvest will be more than enough for what you need. If you have just 10 members in your group, go do God’s work with the 10. If you have only five, go with five. If all you have is one voice, offer your one voice to God. By offering God this seed of faith, you’ve obligated him to keep his word and multiply your seed into an abundant harvest of more then you could have asked for.

We must learn to embrace the situation of “lack” as an opportunity to trust God and receive a blessing. We must not retreat when we recognize that we haven’t enough to go on, because it is at that time that God wants to provide for us. This can be frightening at first, but there is no other way that God can prove himself strong to us. There is no other way that he can prove that he is faithful, that his mercies will endure forever. It’s the only way we can build our confidence in Jehovah God When there is not enough, we must offer God what we do have and stand on his word that there will soon be more in store. We must defy the frightening situation of “lack” and come out victorious, abundantly blessed.

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Sun, Oct 9th - 6:59PM

Luke 5: 4-9

Cast Your Nets Again!

by Gerard Davis

4 Now when he had left speakingm he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a drought.

5And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

6And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.

7And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

9… he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:

^{Simon Peter obediently offered Jesus his boat to be used as a pulpit for Jesus to deliver His message to the large multitude from the sea. In return, Jesus gave Simon Peter an instruction, “go out into the deep water and let down your nets for a draught”. Jesus told him to go back out there and fish, I guarantee you will have a large catch. The issue was, Simon had just returned from fishing all night long with no results. To put it in perspective, Jesus, a renowned teacher and son of a carpenter, was telling a professional fisherman who had just worked all night long with no result, to go back out there. This would be the same as the pastor of your church who has no expertise in your career field telling you what to do to be successful at your job today. Simon Peter informed Jesus of an important detail that he thought maybe Jesus had not have noticed. He told Jesus the timing was not right for fishing. They knew this because they had worked that water all night long. They had already fished and fished and fished so they could say with confidence that there was nothing out there.}

^{Many of us are in this same situation today. You’ve worked all night, all month, or all year on something and did not see the results you intended to see. Maybe you worked a job and after a long hard day got no results. Maybe it was a project where after hours of labor you barely made a dent in what needed to get done. Or maybe it was a physical fitness plan on doctors strict orders that you stayed as faithful to as possible but after months you still see no progress on the meter or on the scale. You get a word of encouragement from the Lord through your pastor, a mentor or a friend that says go back out there into the deep and cast your nets for a draught. But many of us, after facing disappointment, like Simon Peter in this situation, become reluctant to go out and try again. It’s tough to work again when you’ve failed at a job before. It's tough to try and start a business again if the last one folded on you. It’s hard to diet again when so many other diets have failed you.}

^{Worse, when things don’t work out for an extended period of time, we tend to doubt that God even wants us to do what we are doing at all. We once had confidence that God was with us that supported our endeavor. Now we are just a confidence that it will not work and maybe we should quit. But this story shows us that sometimes you may go through all the motions and be fruitless. You may work all night, all month or all year for what seems like no result. It's OK, as long as you are always willing to go out into the deep and cast your nets again.}

^{There was nothing wrong with what Simon was fishing for or the way that Simon was fishing. To receive the harvest, he only needed to continue to be obedient, which Simon Peter was willing to do. His answer to Jesus was, “…at thy word I will let down the net”. Once he followed Jesus’ instructions, they received the biggest catch of their careers. Their nets caught so many fish that it almost destroyed their ship. That is an astounding amount of fish! According to ancient history, an average fishing boat that would have cruised the Sea of Galilee was easily up to thirty feet long. Luke records there were so many fish that they had to flag down another ship to help relieve the pressure on the nets. Eventually, both ships started taking on water. Amazing! So many fish that it almost sank two 30-foot vessels! Now that’s a harvest.}

^{Look to God’s Word and get the instructions that will launch you into an area of abundance. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”. God will do exceedingly, more than you can ask by His power that is at work on the inside of you.}

^{In what ever you are praying for, keep listening for a new instruction. Watch for a fresh anointing to come over what you have been doing. Listen for fresh oil that will carry you into the “above and beyond”. The instruction might be to become more honest in your dealings. Or the instruction maybe to become a tither. Perhaps your Word from the Lord is just to keep doing what you are doing. What ever it is, continue going through all of the motions adding your new instruction directly from the Word of God. God gave you the strength to work through the night. You need only continue to be obedient to receive a harvest that you do not have room to receive; a harvest so large you may need to call out for help to collect it!}

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About Me

Name: Worship Crusade Ministries International
ChristiansUnite ID: worshipcrusade
Member Since: 2011-10-09
Location: Oakland, California, United States
Denomination: Christian
About Me: Our Purpose; Our Business; Our Assignment... is Worship Ministry. Worship is our identity; it’s our Mission. We are charged with the work of encouraging every believer to become a True Worshipper of The Living God. We accomplish this by focusing ... more

Oct. 2011