What Are They Among So Many?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon's captions — published in summary form; watch the full sermon at the source.

Andrew's question

He honors the house first — "Today I give honor to your wonderful pastor, Brother Robinson. How many appreciate your pastor and pastor's family this morning? Love and appreciate you, Sister Robinson, Brother and Sister Parks. Such incredible people of God... My wife and I are so happy and thankful that y'all have allowed us to be here with you" — then gives his text: "John chapter number six and verse number nine. Let me read 8 and 9. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto Him, 'There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes. But what are they among so many?' He was looking at the need that was presented in that place... and then looking at what they had to offer. And he did what so many of us are guilty of doing: he started thinking it was up to him to meet the need. When I look at revival, and when I look at the harvest, and when I look at the needs that are represented just in this building today — if we were to look at the human skills and the human talent, the human ingenuity that you and I have, even with all our combined efforts, it does not touch the needs that are represented in this house today. And the beautiful moment happens when we realize this is not about me. This has never been about me, and this will never be about me. It's not about my talent, my ability, my resources, my last name, where I come from, the color of my skin. There is one thing that matters, and it's whether or not I got God involved in what I'm doing. I want to preach to you just a little while on this subject. I want to talk about that question that he asked: What are they among so many?"

Scriptures: John 6:8-9

The painted smile

Before the answer, a long pastoral call for honesty. "There's a lot of people even in this room today — I've done it many, many times, where I was dealing with stuff, man. I was messed up up here. I knew when I come to church that day, I knew I really needed help. I knew I was hurt and I was broken. And I did what doubtless there's people in this house today doing: we've learned how to paint the smile on our face. When somebody says, 'How are you doing?' we just look at them and put that smile on and say, 'Well, I'm doing good. How are you doing?' — even when we are messed up and we are hurting and we are broken inside." The facade is self-protection: "There's people that the last time you got vulnerable with anybody, you got hurt. The last time you got vulnerable in any instance in your life, you were damaged. You were hurt. And so you have decided the best thing you can do is to just never allow yourself to be vulnerable again. 'Well, I can't be hurt if I don't get vulnerable.' Well, maybe that's true. But I'm telling you, you also cannot get help if you won't get vulnerable... There comes a moment that you've got to be willing to tear down the facade, brick by brick by brick, and say, 'I realize the only way I'm going to get help when I come to church — I may be opening myself up to get hurt by what somebody says or somebody thinks — but the only way I'm going to get help when I come to church is to be willing to allow myself to be vulnerable.'" Even the world knows it: "One of the very first steps if you were to join Alcoholics Anonymous is you've got to admit that you've got a problem and that you need help... You've learned how to fool everybody else, but there's got to be a moment that you lay in an altar and say, 'You know what, God? I may have fooled everybody else, but I know I can't fool You. And I'm struggling today. And I'm messed up today. And I've got problems in my life, in my marriage, in my body. I've got problems in my mind. And I need Your help.'" The cover-up will not do: "We've learned how to cover it up rather than letting God get down to the root of the problem and fix it. You don't need spiritual Advil today. You don't need a little bit of relief. You need deliverance today... I'm promising you there is healing when you get in God's presence. There's healing of the mind, healing of the body, healing of the soul." And the devil's isolating lie: "He is such a master of convincing you that you are the only one that's messed up today, that you're the only one that's struggling with what you're struggling with today... Don't forget about how messed up you were when you came to God... If you knew the testimonies that were in this house — of people that were addicted to drugs and alcohol, and people that had walked out on their spouses — I'm telling you what it would do: it would help people that are in this house today that are messed up and addicted. It would help them understand, if God did it for them, then maybe God can do it for me." Church is the one place the act must stop: "This church that you're in today — your pastor said it last Sunday morning — it is a spiritual hospital for those that need help. Now, so many times we look around and we're thinking, 'Well, that's for the new people. That's for the ones that don't have the Holy Ghost.' Yes, that is true. But I'm telling you, even people that have been here for a long time, even we still need help."

"I never called you to be Tim Copeland"

Midway the preaching turns to altar prayer in waves — "Come on, New Bethel, can you pray again in this house?" — and then to the resolve that carries the rest: "Just because I'm struggling now, it don't mean it has to always be this way... A just man falls seven times, but he gets right back up again. You know the motto you need to live your life by? I'm either up, or I'm on my way back up. I may fall on my face, but you better believe I'm not going to stay on my face... If you could realize today: I'm not too broken for God to use me again. I'm not too broken to be anointed again." Then his own testimony. "Brothers, I remember my first couple years — I say that like I've been doing it forever; I've been evangelizing five years now. First two to three years. My daddy — I'm sure a lot of people here today know him, I'm sure some don't — but he evangelized for, man, twenty-some years, pastored twenty-some years. He was my hero. And I remember my first at least two good years of evangelizing, I was so handicapped everywhere that I went because I was trying to be somebody that I wasn't. I felt like I had to do it like he would have done it, which I couldn't do anyway. But I felt like I had to try to carve and copy what I had seen, the way he did it. Boy, it handicapped me, Brother Robinson. And I'll never forget the day — boy, I was laying under a pew on Saturday night, and I felt the Holy Ghost thunder in my spirit and say, 'You know, I never called you to be Tim Copeland. I called you to be Clark Copeland.' And here's the problem: as I'm looking at myself thinking, 'My God, how am I going to make a difference? What are they among so many? What is my talent, my ability, my resources? What in the world? Look at the revival God's wanting to give this church. Look at what God's wanting to do in Jackson and the surrounding community. What in the world are we going to do?' You've got to let God give you the revelation: it ain't about you. I said it ain't about you, sir. If you learn how to give your life to Him, your soul to Him, give your talent to Him, I'm telling you, you would discover everything you need to be anointed, everything you need to have the call of God on your life — it's already in your hands. You've just got to let God take it and multiply it."

Five loaves and two fish

"Five loaves and two fish. Brother Donnie, what are they among so many? I'll tell you what it is. It's enough to feed 15,000 people. It's enough to make the difference. Why? Because there was one boy. He didn't have the most to offer. There was others that had more, but the difference was he was willing to give it." The prophecy follows: "If you'll do what I'm preaching to you today, there's going to be other people around you — they've got more talent than you, they've got more natural ability than you, they've got more charisma than you — but because you're going to be willing to give everything you've got to God, God is going to multiply it. He's going to increase it. He's going to make it become greater... It doesn't matter what my last name is. It doesn't matter where I come from. It doesn't matter what the color of my skin is. It doesn't matter what language I speak. God's going to use me if I can give Him what I've got, if I can put it in His hands." The altar call runs into the song "Lord, I am broken, my life is in pieces, but Your strength is perfect in all of my weakness," and over it his last exhortations: "Come on, get your eyes off of yourself today. Get them off yourself today. Get your eyes on the One that created you. Get your eyes on the One that saved you... Would you find somebody? I'm asking you this morning. Would you find somebody? Get your hands on them today. Somebody needs your prayer. Somebody needs your prayer today. Come on, men, help me pray... Would you take a few steps this morning? Would some of you gather in here this morning? Let's pray for those that are in the altar today."