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Luke 9:13-14 - But He said to them, "You give them something to eat!" And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people." 14(For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, "Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty each." NASU
Jesus wants His disciples to feed this enormously large crowd. They give Him an excuse as to why they can't accomplish His command. Their excuse was we don't have enough food to feed all of these people. Jesus was a miracle worker and a teacher. The people were going to be the recipients of a miracle and the disciples the recipients of a very valuable lesson. Jesus was and is the Son of God and because of this He has exceptional powers. He used them this day to perform a miracle that we all know as the miracle of the loaves and fishes. He commands them to have everyone sit down in groups of 50 so that it will be easier to feed them. He multiplies the two fishes and five loaves and next thing we have is people fed and disciples amazed. Jesus knew all along what He was going to do whether the disciples bought into His plan or not. Sometimes in life not everyone will buy into our plans but as long as we know what we want to accomplish all we need to do is stick to our plan. There will always be people who will try and talk us out of what we can see being accomplished. We can't expect people to believe what we believe because they haven't done the research we have done and they have not had the life experiences we have had. It would be like asking a first grader to help us write a paper for our Master's degree thesis.
In the Gospel of John we are told there was a lad who had the five barley loaves and two fishes that Jesus used to feed the 5,000. What do we have in our possession that when given to God could be a blessing for many? Please don't think I am referring to money. That is the last thing I am thinking about at this time. I am thinking about something you have been gifted with by God and if you asked God to lead you that you would go and use this gift He has blessed you with to help others. If you will use this gift you might be able to help someone become a child of God. I don't know of a greater blessing then helping someone become a child of God. Use your giftedness to help others and you will be "Living Like Jesus". Think About This: What would you attempt to do if you knew you couldn't fail? Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Luke 9:12- Now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, "Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place." NASU
The first lesson we can learn from this text is Jesus didn't let "People's Suggestions" influence His decision making. Jesus was a praying man. He was constantly in prayer to the Heavenly Father. He had the Holy Spirit without measure. John says it this way: "For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure." He was in contact with His Heavenly Father through prayer and this is what helped Him make decisions. The disciple's "suggestion" is for Jesus to send the people (crowd) away. Jesus knows immediately this is not what His Father would want Him to do. He doesn't send them away. If you know the story of the feeding of the 5,000 you know instead of Him sending them away He will feed them. In the movie The Boys in the Boat the coach decided to go with the JV team of rowers because their time was faster than the Varsity rowers. Just about everyone disagreed with Coach Ulbrickson's decision, but he had a rule and that is the team with the fastest time was the team that would be putting their boat in the water. Coach Ulbrickson would not allow other "people's suggestions" to determine for him a decision that rested squarely upon his shoulders.
Our plan should be like Jesus' plan. We should be praying to our Heavenly Father and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us. The Spirit will be able to guide us when we have the Word of God dwelling in us. Here is how the apostle Paul said it: Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom… (Col 3:16). The more the Word of God gets in us (through reading) the easier it will be to identify immediately "people's suggestions" as being correct or incorrect. One thing to remember in life and that is if the decision is yours to make then make it and be willing to live with the results. The disciples were giving Jesus their suggestion and it was a unanimous "send them away". However, Jesus had a much better idea and that was feed all 5,000. You might ask why did Jesus feed the 5,000 and the correct would be because He could. Why are you going to do what lies before you? The correct answer would be because God is leading you in this direction and He has equipped you for this task. Think About These: No one can give you wiser advice than God. The more you trust God the easier it becomes to do the hard things. You'll never find peace of mind until you've learned to listen to God. “Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice.” – Steve Jobs Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Luke 22:15 - And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;… NASB
Philippians 1:23 - But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;… NASB 1 Thes. 2:17 - But we, brethren, having been bereft of you for a short while — in person, not in spirit — were all the more eager with great desire to see your face. NASB
This is the definition from Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance. We have taken the word "lust" and always connect it to something that is bad, but you can see from the scripture references above that both Jesus and the apostle Paul lusted, but not in an evil way.
He thought about it and He thought about it "earnestly," the text says. He thought about it, He was going to announce being betrayed by Judas (vs.22), and denied by Peter (vs.34). Wouldn't it be great if we thought earnestly about partaking of the Lord's Supper with our brothers and sisters on the Lord's Day? Have we ever thought about taking the Lord's Supper the week before? At times, I am guilty of not thinking much about it until Sunday. Shame on me!
I have had strong desires (lusts) to go to Heaven and I have had the same strong desires (lusts) to stay here on earth. The second way he "lusted" was about seeing his Christian brothers and sisters in Thessaloniki. I have experienced this type of great desire (lusts) also. It was when I departed Mbale, Uganda, Africa after teaching God's Word to some of the greatest brothers and sisters in Christ that I have ever met. It was that great desire (lust) that took me back four more times. One of my best friends, Dennis Okoth, lived and worked there. What an honor it was for me to serve the Lord with this gracious brother in the Lord. He has now moved to another ministry in Kenya and may the Lord continue to bless him, his wife Mary, and that special ministry. When I lust about Africa, I could say it like the apostle Paul, it is "with great desire to see your face."
Don't lust in a bad way. Lust in a good way. Hopefully, you will be lusting about taking the Lord's Supper, going to Heaven to be with Jesus, or going to see some family, friends or brothers and sisters in Christ. Think About These: Christianity is a way of walking as well as a way of talking. What can't be done by advice can often be done by example. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word John 12:3-5 - ”Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, *said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?”“
This was very costly perfume, it should have been sold and the money given to the poor, says Judas. I wonder about this perfume being sold. What were the chances of that money ever making it to the poor? According to John slim to none: John 12:4-6 - But Judas… said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?" 6 Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. That money was going to have a real difficult time making it into the hands of the poor.
Many times we just want to do the good deed and not have anyone notice. We certainly don't want someone bringing it to the attention of others. We know God has seen what we have done and that is all the reward we need. Well, that is the problem with expectations they don't always materialize. Many times we will get the exact opposite of what we expect.
Look what it says about Jesus in the book of Acts 10:38 - "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Jesus went about "doing good" according to this passage. Can anyone remember what happened to Jesus while He was here on earth? Oh yeah, they crucified Him. Mk 15:10 -"For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy."
The best thing we can do is expect to be slandered for "doing good". So when the people of this world who are more accustom to being under the control of the evil one are envious of you it won't come as such a shock. Doing good deeds doesn't always mean you will be rewarded immediately here on earth. In fact, "doing good" just might have a way of causing you some grief. Maybe this passage will help you to see why Christians or people who go about doing good suffer: 1 John 3:11-12 - …that we should love one another; 12 not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous. You may suffer for doing good, but it is better to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. Peter says that if we suffer for doing good we will find favor with God: 1 Pet 2:20 - For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God. I can say this much we will never regret finding favor with God. How does this come about? It comes about by doing good or what is right and then suffering and enduring this suffering patiently. Think About This: Good deeds should be done with intention not for attention. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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