Live Free with Josh Howerton - Unexplainable Acts of Faith • Pastor Joby Martin | Ep. 220 | Friday, December 8, 2023

Episode Date: December 8, 2023

Jesus works through us! We hear that and move too quickly past it. The God of the universe does His work through you. We see an example of that today in the story of Jesus feeding the crowd. What are the gifts God has given to you to provide for others? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's daily drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. This Christmas, we want to invite you and your family to join us for our candlelight services on December 22nd through 24th at any of our six locations. or for church online. For more information, visit latepoint.com. com slash daily drive.

And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Welcome to the Daily Drive. I'm Pastor Jobi Martin, the pastor of the church of 1122, all the way over in Jacksonville, Florida. It is so good to be with you. We've been talking about miracles

in my time with you. I want to turn our attention to Matthew chapter 14. We refer to this miracle as the feeding of the 5,000. but oftentimes I think we're so familiar with these events or hearing about these events that sometimes we miss some of the details that can have a huge impact on our lives today. Matthew 1414 says this, and when he, that's Jesus, went ashore, he saw a great crowd

and he had compassion on them and he healed their sick. Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to Jesus and they said, this is a desolate place and the day is now over. send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, don't miss this, Jesus said, they need not go away, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, we have only five loaves here and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. And then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and he said a blessing.

And then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and they were satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about 5,000 men besides the women and children. You see, the reality here is particularly in this miracle. Jesus not only does miracles to us, but he does miracles through us. That one of the gospel writers says that when Philip asked the question about how are we going to feed all these people,

Jesus says, why don't you figure it out to test him? He says they need not go away. You give them something to eat. Now, we find out that the way that they have the loaves and the fishes is there's one little boy recorded in the Gospel of Luke. There's this one little boy that's got just a little bit of bread and a little bit of fish. And in the first century, don't think fish like a big delicious bass. Fish would be used basically like a condiment to flavor the bread.

and yet this little boy understood that what he had been given, if he took what was in his hands and put in the hands of Jesus, it would be infinitely more powerful in the hands of Jesus than in his own hands. So let me ask you this question, Daily Drive, folks. What does God put in your hands? It could be time, could be talent, could be treasure, could be an opportunity. What are the things that God has put in your hands, and you realize you could do some things with it,

but you begin to realize if I would just put this in the hands of Jesus, he would bless it and be able to do infinitely more than I could ever do on my own. And then think about this. The Bible says that Jesus took the loaves, he took the fish, he broke them, prayed a blessing over it, and then Matthew doesn't say that Jesus handed out the fish in the loaves. It says that he handed it to the disciples, and he told the disciples to hand out the fish and the loaves.

Do you get this? I mean, get this image. There's Jesus, there's the disciples, and on the other side of the disciples is an impossible situation. 5,000 men plus women and children, maybe 15 to 20,000 people. And each disciple apparently gets like 1 12th of the fish and loaves. And then Jesus looks at him and says to do something that would be impossible.

Why don't you feed the people? imagine what the disciples were thinking. They were thinking, this is an impossible situation. I'm about to look like a fool. Maybe. But again, when we do whatever it is that Jesus tells us to do, then we can always trust him for the results. And so just think about it from the disciples' point of view.

They got a little bit of fish, they got a little bit of bread, and they begin to hand it out to one person and another person and another person. And then they begin to realize that the miracle happens in their hands, in the giving away, not in the feeling, but in the action, that as they began to take what was in their hands and give it away, more was multiplied in their hands. And the more they gave away, the more was multiplied in their hands so that all of the needs and even the wants of the people in this situation were satisfied. You see, the miracle was in the obedience to do the unexplainable. but you know what was undeniable?

That the 15 to 20,000 people, they ate and they were satisfied and there were 12 baskets left over. So let me ask you this question. What has Jesus put into your hand to give away for the glory of God? Could be time, could be resources, could be talent, but just know this, that God is still in the miracle working business. And he could be trusted to accomplish everything that he said he would accomplish. And he wants to use you and me, his children to be a part of the miracle working business. So what does he put in your hand? Where do you need to plant that?

Where do you need to steward that? Where do you need to give that away so that God could multiply it so that more people could be impacted? And I know that the disciples looked and they thought this is an impossible situation. But as we've learned, if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Amen. for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also,

if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com. Church slash daily drive.