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Jesus feeds the 5,000

by Mike Vandermause on May 20, 2019

The Gospel of John gives numerous  accounts of miracles that Jesus performed so that more people would believe in Him  and have life in His name (John 20: 31).

In examining the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000 (John 6: 1-15), Pastor Troy Murphy said in his message on Sunday, May 19, that Jesus is our caregiver and provider.

Troy identified five challenges that Jesus gave his followers by performing this miracle:

Jesus challenges our trust

Who do you trust first?

Jesus asked Philip about the prospect of feeding so many people, and Philip immediately determined there weren’t enough resources to pull it off.

What’s your go-to strategy in times of struggle? Do you look to finances, safety, security or a fix-it-yourself mentality? Jesus challenges our trust and directs us to trust Him first.

There are times when God uses struggle in our lives as a gift to help us realize who and what we can trust.

Some people trust God because of what he can give them. We are to trust him for who he is.

Jesus challenges our faith

When do you lose faith?

One of the disciples, Andrew, assessed the situation with just five loaves of bread and two fish and concluded that it would be impossible to feed so many people.

Jesus asks us to have a childlike faith. When it doesn’t seem rational or possible, we are to believe in Him anyway. Don’t lose heart in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges or odds.

Jesus challenges our generosity

What can you bring?

The boy in the story simply said: This is what I have. It wasn’t much — just five small loaves and two small fish. But look how Jesus used those limited resources to feed the masses.

Instead of believing that we can’t make a difference, we need to take our eyes off ourselves and put them on God. We need to come to God with what we have and let him do the rest.

We’ll never be enough, except in Christ. We are called to be generous with what we have. God doesn’t ask us to clean it up or store it up, he says takes what you have and serve it up.

Jesus challenges our contentment

Do you have enough?

In this story it says the people got as much food as they wanted. When we embrace Jesus we find that he provides more than enough to meet our needs.

We are bombarded in this world — via social media and advertising and  comparisons with others — by the need to have more.

But Jesus sends a message in this miracle that he is enough and will fill us with his provision.

Jesus challenges our stewardship

What are you doing with the leftovers?

Not only did thousands of people get enough food to eat, but there were to-go boxes, or leftovers.

Jesus’ blessings overflow in our lives, and God wants us to give away our excess to others. As we are blessed by God and others, we are to pass it on and be a blessing.