Sunday Worship 11:30 am 02/27/22

if you have your bible matthew chapter 14 be reading from verses 13 through 16. thank the lord for the presence of god that is here for moving in a special way in our 9 a.m service you've honored our pastor pastor johns thank you for the opportunity to minister today i never take that lightly never take that for granted and pray the lord has laid a word on my heart for our church today matthew chapter 14 starting in verse 13 is when jesus heard it he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself other gospel writers mentioned the disciples with him as well but when the multitudes heard it they followed him on foot from the cities and when jesus went out he saw a great multitude and he was moved with compassion for them and he healed their sick when it was evening his disciples came to him saying this is a deserted place and the hour is already late send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food in verse 16 or final verse of scripture but jesus he said to them they do not need to go away you give them something to eat you give them something to eat and you may be seated i'm so thankful that i grew up in a wonderful home a home where i always had something to eat there's three growing boys in the house food does not be in need to be in short supply i'm also thankful that my parents did their best effort to make family dinner a priority most evenings we would gather together for one of my mom's delicious home-cooked meals and more often than not late night meals as well many of our friends have shared in those moments as well growing up some of my fondest memories and the greatest family impressions simply came from my parents giving me something to eat as you get older there are few moments when you realize that you have reached adulthood doing your own laundry that's one of those moments paying your own bills that's another big moment and finally when it's meal time and you realize nobody's bringing you any food that you are in charge of finding something to eat on your own i will say there was a lot of food flexibility as a single young adult i've deemed a a bowl of ramen noodles a bag of chips a hot dog from quick trip as a sufficient meal more than once in my life but once you get married and especially when you have children you feel the weight and the responsibility of consistently providing the means for quality and nutritious meals i do want to give honor to my wife who works incredibly hard and is an amazing cook affording my kids those same dinner table memories but it doesn't matter when you have children when you have a family you have responsibilities if you have a good day or a bad day it doesn't matter how tired you may be there is always a responsibility to your children to give them something to eat and if you don't you'll hear about it believe me the wonderful and miraculous feeding of the 5 000 is a special and a familiar story to many and i'd like to point out that it's the only miracle of jesus the apart from his resurrection that finds a place in all four of the gospels this is an amazing story and no doubt something that those disciples would never forget but i want to ask you today if you could pick one of the 37 miracles of jesus which would you choose to highlight and record would it be water turning to wine catching of the many fish a healing of a man of leprosy calming a storm on the sea walking on water let's be honest today of all the miracles of jesus would you choose to watch him mass produce loaves of bread and fish or would you rather watch him heal a lay man open the blinded eyes and raise someone from the dead now i thank god for what he did for the 5 000 and it would be special to be there in person no doubt but it just might not be the one miracle that i prefer over others and yet it was the one miracle that all the gospel writers record now of course we credit the holy spirit for inspiring them in their writings but i'd also like to propose that maybe it was not so much the miracles that they saw in the life of others that day that was so significant to the story because they were with jesus they saw many miraculous moments but quite possibly the reason of its importance had something to do with the message and the miracle that the disciples themselves received that day now i feel led to preach to you today the simple yet profound message that jesus gave to his disciples that day give them something to eat our opening text is found right after some devastating news was delivered to jesus at the request of herodias and at the command of herod john the baptist was martyred and shortly after jesus and his 12 disciples they went to a deserted place belonging to the city called the sidon met seda the bible says that they they went privately so it's obvious that they were looking for a place where they could be alone away from the towns away from the villages away from the crowds and the disciples may have been a bit disappointed because the crowds from the surrounding towns they followed jesus and when they came ashore a multitude of people were waiting on them there while the disciples may have been disheartened we read that when jesus saw the multitudes he had a different reaction he was moved with compassion for them mark mentions that jesus he saw them as a sheep without a shepherd so he went ashore and he began to minister to them he healed them he taught them many things jesus didn't just see them as another crowd of faces that day he saw them as individuals with real problems and needs and once he saw those needs once he was aware of them he was filled with compassion so much so that he was moved to begin to minister to them i'm so thankful that you all are here today at atlanta west we never take for granted those of you who have taken the time to be with us in one of our services by way of being a pastoral staff member i know some shared needs and situations that are represented here today but there are many that i don't know of there are many that i may never know about some physical some emotional some mental some spiritual but i felt led today to bring some hope into your situation today by simply informing you or reminding you that jesus christ is aware of every need represented in this room today amen some of you have come here feeling alone and isolated in your situation in your sickness in your stress in your sorrow but be of good cheer because jesus christ he sees you today how many of you are thankful to that he's aware of your needs he's aware of every detail of your life today and he promised that he would never leave you or forsake you i want you to know that you are not alone today not only is he aware of your needs i want you to also know that he cares about those needs in your life i want someone here to know that yes we serve an all-knowing and an omniscient god and the good news today though is that he is not distant in his knowing he is a personal god who came down from heaven to this earth philippians 2 6-7 reminds us that who being in the form of god did not consider it robbery to be equal with god but jesus he made himself of no reputation god took on the form of a bond servant and coming into the likeness of men jesus was so moved with compassion and he has moved with compassion on your behalf today so we must do as first peter 5 7 knowing this that if we will cast our cares upon him today knowing that he really does care for you as you reach out to him with your prayer and with your praise i believe that he will come down and he will minister to you today amen so i pray you understand that that you know that you're not alone that you would feel the love and the compassion of jesus christ begin to surround you right now that you begin to feel him work and minister on your behalf not only is he aware but i want you to be reminded that he loves you and he cares enough about you to do something about it today after a full day of teaching and doing just that working of miracles working on the people's behalf everybody had apparently worked up a pretty good appetite that day now i don't know about you but something about having church that can just really work up an appetite i've never been more hungry than after having some good church and do i have any witnesses in the house i've also never been more hungry than during church but we want to get our minds back on jesus i know it is soon lunch time but it seemed that neither jesus nor the crowd was preparing to wrap things up that day so the disciples decided to send a little hint take some initiative like the subtle hint of of a pastor sending the musicians to the platform before the guest preacher has called them up that little subtle hint that hey let's wrap things up and the disciples brought up a really good point matthew 14 15. when it was evening his disciples came to him saying this is a deserted place the hour jesus is getting really late and i think it'd be best if we just send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves some food they understood that there is nothing worse than dealing with somebody who is hungry there's a word often described someone who is bad tempered or irritable as a result of hunger is the blend of hungry and angry and yes many of you know it the word is hangry right hangry is now an official word according to the oxford english dictionary's latest update but how many of you know somebody who can get a little bit angry if you're brave enough to admit that while they're next to you right now maybe the last thing you do if they're in fact angry at this moment those people are not enjoyable to be around until they are fed because you're not you when you're hungry one angry person is enough to contend with but a hangry mob of 5 000 plus women and children would be absolutely overwhelming kudos are the disciples for their brilliant observation hey people gotta eat but rather than relieving the crisis jesus in that moment he inten intensifies it rather than taking their advice which jesus most often doesn't from us be nice if he did but just doesn't seem to listen to me all the time but rather than taking their advice he decided to come up with a different approach and a different plan that day jesus wanted the disciples to do more than just send the people away which brings us back to our opening text matthew 14 16 but jesus said to them they do not need to go away you give them something to eat here a powerful statement is made by jesus a subtle reminder that the twelve should be more than spectators of jesus's ministry but they were being called to be active participants in it and this was god's plan then and that is god's plan now for every single one of his disciples amen i want to remind you today that as followers of jesus christ you have been given a similar and a very personal command to feed the loss and the hungry souls of this world mark 16 15 and he said to them go into all the world and you preach the gospel to every creature matthew 28 19-20 go therefore and make disciples of all the nations now i want to remind our church today that this is not just a corporate call this is a personal commandment from jesus christ to you to myself and i pray that each one of you the disciples of jesus christ would feel compelled to simply give this world something to eat i pray that you would feel like the apostle paul did in first corinthians 9 16. he said yet preaching the good news it's not something that i can boast about i am compelled by god to do it said how terrible for me if i didn't preach the good news my prayer today is that the lord would give each of us a press a fresh burden to reach out to the hungry to a loss in a dying world that every person here and those watching online would feel the weight and the personal responsibility of the words of jesus christ you give them something to eat after the disciples heard the command of jesus and they assessed the situation i believe that they felt it was a bit overwhelming if not an impossible command as you read through the story you'll find several possible reasons for the disciples negative and lackluster response first on the list it really was not the right place the bible made sure to mention that jesus and his disciples were in a deserted place jesus and the disciples had taken a boat to get to this remote location and the followers of jesus had to leave their respected city limits to go follow jesus there was no dollar general down the road no kroger no public certainly no sprouts or whole foods students i want you to know that they were so far away that not even instacart or doordash could reach them amazing they were in a deserted place and they were out of options so i'm sorry jesus this just isn't the right place to give them something to eat the second problem was it really wasn't the right time remember that not too long ago the disciples received the news about john the baptist getting beheaded what a painful blow to the morale and the motivation of any disciple of jesus christ they were there to get away they were there that trip was supposed to be sitting at the feet of jesus not feeding 5 000 plus people the bible also says that it was evening and the disciples said the hour is getting late any place that the people could possibly find food and was about to be closed down there definitely wasn't time for the disciples to leave and get food and to bring it back i'm sorry jesus it's just not the right time to get all these people something to eat don't add to their troubles they didn't have the resources to get them something to eat they negatively explained the state of their limited resources by saying we have not here we don't have what it takes in mark 6 37 almost with a bit of sarcasm they said should we go forth and buy 200 denarii worth of bread to give them something to eat it was equivalent of daenery to one day's wages they're saying are we suggesting that we go out and we spend eight months worth of wages on one meal we don't have that kind of money we don't have what it takes to get them something to eat to top it all off the disciples are probably a bit hangry themselves probably not thinking very clearly mark 6 31 tells us that that they didn't even have time to eat before they left to go to that deserted place so once again because of many possible factors they felt that they could not give the people something to eat and i want us to hear today that when it comes to our personal responsibility to minister to others to give them something to eat to obey the great commission too often these same thoughts can fill our minds jesus this just isn't the right time for me i'm buried in work right now it's so busy so hectic right now jesus i've got so much going on with my family and kids and school and practices and lessons and schedules jesus i'm in a special accelerated program at school and college has been crazy right now i simply don't have the margin i don't have the time to give them something to eat jesus i'm not in the right place in my life remember jesus i'm going through a pretty difficult season right now lord you know i'm in a trial you know i've experienced lost recently lord i'm working on me right now if you ever notice i'm pretty hungry myself as of late this isn't the right place for my life to give them something to eat and jesus i don't have what it takes i really wish i could help i really wish i could reach that person but i just don't have the resources i don't have the personality i don't have the skills i don't have the words i don't have the ability i don't have what it takes to give him something to eat but church i want you to hear today that god will always call you to do what you feel you cannot do on your own he will call you to give what you feel like you do not have he will call you to go to a place that you have never been before but hear me today god will not let you down he will make a way when there seems to be no way all you must do is say yes and to answer his call you must obey his command to go and he will give you the power he will give you the resources to make it happen in our story jesus he gives a clear example of doing just that but first he asked his disciples this question in mark 6 38 he said to them how many loaves do you have go and see the disciples final compelling argument to not feed the multitudes came in the form of a young boy's lunch five barley loaves two small fish the loaf would have been quite small and john tells us that they were barley lows the food of the poor another hint that it was probably not a picnic feast that was sent with that boy that day just enough to sustain him alone their intention was to show the scale of impossibility with the situation in john 6 9 andrew says what they were all feeling he verbalizes what they were all thinking there's always that one person in the group and he says this about the small lunch he said but what are they among so many what are they among so many and this can be yet another way that the enemy can minimize your ministry to others when god calls you to do something great for him to give others something to eat you two may ask yourself who am i among so many i'm thankful we're a part of a great church a large church but like the disciples you can look at yourself like a small lunch compared to the multitudes of others and say who am i among so many there's so many more capable and qualified candidates there's so many others who seem more passionate who seem to fit to make the difference but when you begin to answer that individual call to reach and feed a hungry world you may ask again who am i among so many in a growing city in your middle school in your high school at your college at your work you may begin to look around and to compare the resources the ability to the multitudes and you'll say who am i among so many what difference what sort of impact can just one person make while they were but they thought they were presenting compelling evidence to send the people away jesus he received it as evidence of just enough jesus saw enough in that meager meal to work a miracle that would feed the multitude god he asked moses a similar question when faced with the impossible task of leading the children of israel out of bondage from pharaoh and the nation of egypt moses felt inadequate moses felt like he did not have the ability the resources the words to say in exodus 4 2 the lord said to him what is that in your hand and he said it's a rod it's a stick five loaves it's two fish god you want me to lead your people out of egypt and all i have is a stick what is this among so many but god said all you have in your hands is a rod perfect a rod is all that i need that is enough and god turned that rod into a serpent in the palace of pharaoh god used that rod in moses's hand to carry out the plagues of egypt the blood the frogs the lies the locusts moses reached that rod to the sky to the heavens and the lord sent down thunder and hail and fire to the ground moses lifted that rod in his hand out and the red sea was divided moses only saw a rod but god saw the resources to work a miracle and i want you to know today church that you have enough you have enough to feed him you have what it takes to make a difference in this world you have enough anointing you have enough power to make a difference in this world who you are and what you have may not seem like enough to get the job done but with god all things shall be possible amen can we thank god right now for giving us the resources the power the anointing to accomplish his will on the earth thank you god thank you lord [Applause] without giving any indication of what he was about to do jesus he told the disciples to bring the food to him and jesus he blessed and he broke the bread and he miraculously multiplied the loaves and the fish but i want you to notice that jesus did not fulfill his own request that day jesus did not give the food to the people to eat matthew 14 19 then he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass and he took the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven he blessed and he broke the bread but then he gave the loaves back to the disciples and then the disciples gave to the multitudes jesus took what they had though limited though not so meaningful and he multiplied it and then he gave it back to them so that they could fulfill his command to give them something to eat i want you to hear today that who we are and what we have is never enough unless it's placed in the hands of jesus christ as a result of the miraculous power of god and the reluctant assistance of the disciples everyone was filled and satisfied that day and i love the part of the story so much so that there were 12 baskets of leftovers i want to add that when you begin to answer the call when you begin to make the sacrifices when you begin to work to feed this hungry world that god will not only anoint you and to use you to accomplish his will but i want you to know that he's gonna take care of you i want you to know that he's gonna bless your family it's gonna be worth the sacrifices your family is gonna be okay your god's gonna bless you psalms 37 25 says i've been young and now i'm old yet i have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread i thank god for his help and god help us to give them something to eat early in my message i mentioned that jesus was aware of your needs today and that he cares about those needs now i believe the lord is calling and i pray he's challenging you today as he's challenged me and he's encouraging our church the heartbeat of this message compels me to ask if there is anyone here under the sound of my voice or somebody watching online who is hungry for jesus now maybe you've heard of jesus and maybe you've had an encounter with jesus maybe many but yet you still find yourself hungry and you find yourself not satisfied matthew 5 6 says blessed are those who hunger and they thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled it's a guarantee from god but yeah you're here today and you're thinking but i don't feel filled yet there's something missing there's something that's not quite right it's one thing to be hungry to walk by maybe a restaurant or somebody grilling outside man and you smell that food wow and at that moment you had an encounter with it you know that it's real and you believe that it exists but you and that growling stomach of yours knows you just haven't quite experienced it yet very similar situation took place in the book of acts chapter 19 there were some wonderful disciples of jesus christ they were such good devout people who loved and they believed in jesus but they were still hungry paul approached him and he asked this in acts 19 2-6 he said to him did you receive the holy spirit when you believed so they said to him we've not so much heard as whether there is a holy spirit and he said to them unto them what were you baptized and they said into john's baptism then paul said john indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him that is on christ jesus and then the bible says those people devout sincere full of faith but still hungry in verse 5. when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus and when paul had laid his hands on them the holy spirit came upon him and they spoke with tongues and they prophesied and for the very first time they were finally filled and i want someone to know that is here today i'm so thankful your sincere faith and belief it is wonderful it is absolutely necessary to your relationship with god without faith nobody can please god but i'm here to tell you that it's time for you to move from believing to receiving today for the first time in your life it's time for you to truly be filled and to satisfy that spiritual hunger that you've had for so long this is real this is what you've been searching for this is what will satisfy your soul amen how many of you can testify today that there's nothing that can fill you like jesus christ all that there's left to do today like psalms 34 8 oh taste and see that the lord he is good can we magnify the lord one more time and thank him we can all stand together thank you god for filling us thank you god for being with us today [Music] while the miraculous feeding of the 5 000 it was performed to satisfy the hunger of the multitude jesus had greater plans that day he was delivering a message to his disciples a valuable lesson concerning the nature of the ministry which they were being prepared for that same message church that was received by them i pray is received by us all today that in this world we are facing multitudes of people who are shepherdless sheep they are lost they are dying and they are starving they are hungry and simply and directly put it is our individual responsibility to give them something to eat yes you may feel that it's just not the right place or the time that you don't have the resources or the ability to meet the needs of people but hear me when you make what you do have available to the lord when you do give it and place it in his hands he will take it and he will multiply it and use it to minister to the multitudes to give them something to eat right now i want to extend an invitation to our church family i open up these altars to everyone that is here today and i want us to do just that to make yourself available to jesus christ to do what he has called each and every one of you to do amen that's it let us come if you're here today and you're hungry if you feel that there's something missing in your life the answers here today blessed are those who seek after the righteousness of god you will be filled today god will strengthen you god will do something in your life that he's never done before right now church let us begin to reach out to jesus and if you feel the calling if you feel the compelling of jesus to give this world something to he why don't you place your life in the hands of jesus why don't you surrender everything that you have into him and let him take it let him multiply it let him anoint it let him use it to accomplish his will in the earth amen that's it let's open up our hearts let's reach after him today [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen would you talk to the lord now but you reach over to someone near you who is hungry for a touch from god hungry for salvation hungry for encouragement and strength and with your prayer would you give them something to eat but you encourage someone this week but right now would you pray with someone next to you would you go to someone near you and would you give them something that will satisfy what's happening in their soul in jesus name that's it link up with someone in prayer [Music] in jesus name right now god [Music] i said let this be a prayer room right now [Music] hallelujah [Music] hallelujah [Music] [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus in the streets and jesus in the darkness over [Music] i speak the holy name jesus [Music] jesus in the darkness over every enemy [Music] jesus and jesus in the streets jesus in the darkness [Applause] there's some hungry people here today jesus is feeding them through your prayers [Music] jesus [Music] jesus [Applause] [Music] i speak the holy name jesus your name is [Music] your name is [Music] shine through the shadows [Music] jesus is [Music] i speak the holy name jesus [Music] jesus [Music] jesus and your name is [Music] your name is [Music] let's lift our hands of the lord and thank him right now for what he's doing here there's plenty of bread in the house there's plenty of bread in this house for whoever's hungry thank you lord amen [Music] hallelujah that's it the lord is still at work right now just keep praying [Music] amen we're going to pray again but i want to share something with you briefly brother joseph come here brother brother joseph this is brother joseph joseph seen his name on the screen for baptism receiving the gift of the holy ghost a gentleman in our church invited him to come and brother joseph came and he felt and he ate baptized filled with the gift of the holy ghost amen [Applause] but people are connecting to him and he was in wednesday night church for the first time this past wednesday night you know people takes them a while to get so he told his mother 81 years old right that she needed to receive the gift of the holy ghost in this speaking in tongues thing so his mother called the church but it was on saturday i think or for some reason it went to my sister's phone who's my secretary sister cooper and you know we were raised in miami that's where his mother lives so his mother said my son told me that i needed to receive this tongues this speaking in other tongues holy ghost thing and so my sister called brother santi jiminez he's a pastor in miami i just saw him at the florida district conference and told him about brother joseph's mom they're picking him up her up today for church so she can go to church [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hey you may not feel like you have much but just give it just share it [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] i speak the holy man jesus shall jesus shout jesus jesus [Music] but shall jesus shout jesus from the mountains and jesus in the streets and jesus [Music] jesus thank you jesus now i want us to commission ourselves to the lord to do his work i'm hearing so many stories about people a lady the church this morning went to the hermeneutics small group loved it it's a third time to church thank you brother jeremy sister shauna what's her name ken see she was here today wherever kenzie yeah so yeah who's in the first service what was your name katora and then keela where's keel are you here today kila did i see you i thought i saw kela keelan we're so excited for what god is doing for you and being a part of small groups and meeting people and connecting more to the lord i know you love the lord she's a preacher's kid you know [Music] amen give them something to eat whatever you have meager lunch of a little poor kit barley loves it's that's exactly right it was just a poor kids lunch they weren't fish they were like probably sardines you know seriously i saw but put in the hands of jesus it is enough so i want us to pray and commission ourselves to give them something to eat lord would you lift your voice and pray i want to pray over us lord i pray over my own life and family my neighborhood lord places where we go in business places where we eat i pray jesus that you would help help us discern the hunger of our world to look past smiles to look past what may seem to be a person who has it all together lord help us look into the eyes and look into the soul of hungry people lord that are waiting to be invited to the table lord to be they're waiting to be invited to sit down i pray god i commission our church lord that we would give them something to eat help us lord when we leave here today to not forget to not forget what we've heard