 Tonight what I want to look at is Matthew chapter 14 and we're gonna start looking at verse 13 through 21 And we're also gonna start gleaning from John chapter 6 as well So we'll be doing some moving back and forth and then and I and this really this whole thing really spoke to me because You know with some of us here tonight. I know there's some of us that are going through some very difficult times And a lot of times through this season of Christmas where we take a time to reflect And we take time to look at some of the things maybe the Lord has done in our lives or the things that the Lord is gonna do in our lives And the blessings that he's given us and how Christmas may look different this year for a lot of us And how Christmas will look different next year for a lot of us as well There's death of loved ones Birth of loved ones and I look back in my own life and I see that there's been difficult times these last few years with death of loved ones and so each Christmas my wife and I would experience in my family Christmas always looked a little different And so what do we do when we're going through these difficult times? We're going through times of difficulty times of challenge Times of uncertainty times of that just really take us to the point where we just don't know what to do and This passage here gives us an interesting process I mean this story is the story that we've all learned since we were young the feeding of the 5,000 But there's a process that I want to look at here tonight that I want to pull out That allows us to be used by the Lord When we're going through those difficult times where we're going through those challenges When we're going through those times of uncertainty, we are able to look at this process that the Lord has for us here and see That when the when when we're in the Lord's hands Nothing is impossible You know this morning. I was blessed by our brother Who shared earlier Bob? How the things that he went through I was telling my wife I was like wow the things that Bob is sharing this morning and some of the things that Pastor David was sharing this morning Was in line of what we're gonna share tonight What do we do when we face difficulty? How do we respond? How do we look towards the Lord during this time? And so what I want to do is just read this passage. I'm gonna read probably just the first few verses and Then we'll we'll get into our study Let's pray real quick you guys. Thank you Lord for this opportunity. I pray Lord that your spirit goes forth and Lord that your word goes forth Lord in And we just thank you for this time in Jesus name. Amen John excuse me Matthew 14 starting at verse 13 When Jesus heard it he departed from there by boat to a deserted place by himself But when the multitudes heard it they followed him on foot from the cities And when Jesus went out and saw a great multitude He was moved with compassion For them and healed their sick when it was evenings his disciples came to him Saying this is a deserted place in the hours already late Send the multitudes away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves some food So the context that we see here is that if you look at the previous Verses 1 through 12 we see that John the Baptist has just been beheaded Who was Jesus's cousin and so Jesus hears this news of John the Baptist being Beheaded and Jesus wants to go to a deserted place He wants to go to a place where he's able to rest he's able to Maybe mourn the death of his cousin, but it says here that Jesus Actually John chapter 6 verse 2 tells us that he gets in a boat and goes across the Sea of Galilee to the other side and so we see here that that he departs to a place by himself and And he spent some time there alone But then we see that a multitude begins to follow him John chapter 6 verse 2 tells us that the multitudes following him because well, let me read it It says that the multitude followed Jesus because they saw the signs which he performed on those who were diseased or sick You know, it's interesting that something to point out here is that you know, Jesus sees a multitude coming towards him after receiving news of John the Baptist being beheaded and we know the story of why John was beheaded And if you guys don't you guys can take some time after the surface and read chapter 14 verses 1 through 12 But we see that John's beheaded and Jesus is moved by this And so but when he sees when he looks up here, he sees a multitude coming towards him and It's interesting to see that it would have been easy for Jesus to be irritated if it was me And I had just lost a loved one and I see people I don't know why people would want to follow me I have barely enough followers on Instagram, so I don't know why anybody want to follow me anyways But maybe it's my hair, you know, I don't know why people would want to follow him, but You know, it would be hard for me to to be moved with compassion after I just lost somebody and Jesus didn't get irritated or frustrated, but he was moved when he saw these people coming And so what he does is that he it would have been easy for him to get Frustrated or irritated like I mentioned But he's moved with compassion and he begins to heal their sick now the word compassion in the Greek. It's interesting It it's it's a word that comes that it's it's a very long word It's very long. How do you want to try to butcher it? But it means a yearning within the bowels When we think of the bowels, that's like the inner recesses of our being that's like deep And that means he had a self pity and he had a Sympathy for these people Now like I mentioned if it was me and praise God it wasn't I would have never had compassion and you know that word stuck with me for a little bit you guys because When I was preparing for this during the week That word compassion continued to just come to my mind and I had to take inventory of myself on where the areas of I was having compassion and the areas where I haven't wasn't having so much compassion We're going through a difficult time. It's hard to show compassion to people. I find myself being short with my children Sometimes I was short with my wife And and this word kept just coming to me is compassion compassion compassion and What we see here is that? Jesus has compassion for this multitude. He knew that they weren't following him because He was a son of God They're following because they wanted to see a sign They wanted to see a miracle. They wanted to make Establish him as king because he was performing these signs And yet Jesus was moved. It's interesting five times in the book of Matthew You find the word compassion You find it again four times in Mark and three times in the book of Luke It's a word again that has a deep meaning of just a deep yearning for people and so we see in verse 15 that when it was evening his disciples came to him and Said this is a this is a deserted place And so it's interesting that we see here in verse 15 that that Jesus goes to a deserted place But look what happens After he says it's already late look what the disciples have decided to do to Jesus. It says send them away It's interesting to point out that that It was evening time They had been there all day healing the sick Doing ministry ministries work I was talking to one of the brothers in the back and he was sharing with me all the stuff they do I mean ministries work and they've been there all day long and And now the disciples give a command to Jesus. You notice that he said to them Send these people away this multitude that is coming to see Jesus To have their sick healed. He says send them away They're making commands on Jesus We see in mark chapter 6 verses 7 and 12 and Luke as well That's that earlier that Jesus sends the 12 disciples out For ministry he tells them to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick and cast out demons And he also gives them power and authority To do this and In Mark's account of the feet of the 5,000 it introduces that Jesus comes with them aside and gets a report from them on what they're doing on what they've done when he send them out Now all of a sudden they come back and they're super spiritual Because they're placing demands on Jesus And I think there's a tendency For some of those who are used by the Lord That can start making demands on Jesus just because we're being used by the Lord Or we think we have our close walk with him You know, we're in his word every morning or in prayer You know, we're spending time with him and all of a sudden we start thinking we can make demands on Jesus Well, Jesus, I want you to do this and I want you to do that We started making a laundry list of Jesus on what he can do No, it doesn't work that way and sometimes what can happen is is that we become super spiritual and They begin to Make demands on Jesus. I hear this a lot you guys We share, you know, it may be in God's timing What don't want God's timing I want my own We see this a lot. We see that when When the Lord we start being used by the Lord we can become super spiritual and Give the Lord a laundry list of what we want him to do in our lives And the Lord doesn't work like that You know going back and looking at the compassion part of that Jesus saw There's an illustration like to use that some people have heard before and I've used it before It's the illustration of a policeman in a paramedic If there's an accident right here behind us on pipeline a car accident Who would be the first to respond? the police What's the job of the police to do? There to investigate to see who was at fault Then we also have the paramedics and the fire trucks that come out and their job is to do a An acute triage to see who's injured to see who can be helped To see who can be bandaged up and fixed and at least make stable before they make the trip to the hospital And a lot of times we can be either policemen or paramedics in our relationships Especially when we're going through a difficult times Especially when we feel that maybe the Lord is using us We go through this time as I'm a policeman and you know what you guys got to admit to this. Sometimes I find this in my own marriage Where there may be something that doesn't my wife's perfect you guys and she's watching so hey honey Hey dad My wife's perfect. It's the way it's me and sometimes right honey And so sometimes what happens is is I become the nitpick at things as a police officer begins to investigate And ask questions and find out who's at fault. Sometimes I'm the same way Instead I need to be a paramedic and care in love And by the disciples putting a command on Jesus saying send the multitudes away They're acting as policemen Where Jesus is saying no I have compassion on them As we go into verse 16 I love what Jesus responds to them He denies their command. He says look what it says in verse 16 They do not go away You give them something to eat This is what I kind of want to focus on tonight you guys Boom The disciples have been now faced with a huge challenge You give them something to eat First the multitudes are coming. They're in a deserted place Jesus just lost his cousin They're tired from doing ministry And Jesus looks up and sees a crowd walking towards them The disciples being super spiritual said you know what Jesus send them away And Jesus says no I'm not sitting them away You give them something to eat. I know with a crowd we got a nice crowd here tonight I know there's people that are facing some difficult and huge challenges tonight Just as the disciples are here. They're now tasked of feeding Close to 10,000 people as we'll see here at the end And they're faced with a a big challenge Of now feeding the disciple of feeding these 5,000 plus people And it's interesting to point out that uh Jesus denies their command And liquid uh verse 17 says It says and they said to him we only have five we only have here five loaves and two fish Now I like the I like the the this is from the new king James, but I like what it says that we only have We'll see here in a little bit now. What do I want you to do is listen out? Turn to john chapters keep your thumb here because we're going to come back. Let's turn to john chapter 6 Uh, and let's look at verses 4 through 9 and get some insight on on this account here And it's pretty cool because uh You'll see what jesus does As the disciples now are faced with this huge need Starting at verse 4 you guys Now the Passover feast Of the jews was near and jesus lifted up his eyes and seen a great multitude coming toward him He said to philip. Where shall we buy bread that these may eat? But thus he said to test them for he knew for he himself knew what he would do And philip answered him 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one Of them may have a little One of the disciples andrew simon peter's brother said to him. There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish but What are they so among so many Jesus issues this challenge to them to test them. That's what it tells us here In verse Well, it says it here. I just read it But it says that they jesus did this to test them And so we see that uh, he issues this challenge to them and and now he's they're going to see how where their faith is Where their rubber meets the row where they just got sent out to to do the the work of preaching the kingdom of god Now let's put your work to your faith to work Let's see now what you're really made of I want this. I want you to feed these. You know jesus answers challenges us in a lot of different ways There's some of us again once I say tonight some of us are going through some difficult challenges tonight But let me give you some verses that we all know we all know james chapter one verse two count all joy When you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience First peter one six through seven says In this you greatly rejoice through now a little while if need be you have been grieved by various trials That the genuineness of your faith be much more precious than gold That parishes though it is tested by fire may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of jesus christ So the challenge or the difficulty that you're faced tonight you guys Is to understand that it's to strengthen your faith Is to understand that jesus is taking you through a process that we're going to see here in a little bit Because he wants to use you He's going to take us through a process. I mean If I were to if I were there like a little bubble that kind of put up everybody's challenge tonight We would all be amazed of how many things that we're going through during this time the grief The anxiety the difficulties the just a number of different things We're all faced with the challenge And a lot of times when we're faced with these challenges we point to jesus and and and we put demands on him Just because we're spending time in the word because we're coming to sunday night service We we think that we can put demands on jesus But instead we're to put our faith in him It's interesting that uh that one of the uh That philip Asked jesus, where should we get all this work? Where we get all this bread from You know 200 denarii is not even close to giving everybody just a little bit So according to the almighty google 200 denarii would probably be equal to anywhere from 8 000 to 14 500 us dollars So there must have been a lot of people there And you know it's interesting and then we see philips that was uh, andrew's response Where are we gonna I mean 200 denarii is not even close to getting anybody just a little bit And then we see andrew you know andrew almost got it He almost got look what he says here Uh in uh in verse 8 of john chapter 6 he says one of the disciples andrew simon peter's brother said to him There was a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish But then look at the next word What are they among so many andrew just dropped what's called the butt bomb You guys ever hear that you know somebody you're talking to somebody and they're like Oh, you know what we're going on and they go on and go on and go on and they say but You could just disregard everything they just said because the true meaning of what they're gonna say is after the butt The butt bomb Just what we see here. He almost had it I wonder what things would have been like if he was going to turn to jesus and said Jesus we only have these five loaves and two fish Can you help us? but then His attitude it's interesting that the responses Of philip and andrew it indicates that they still haven't grasped the power and the authority that jesus gave to them In the previous chapters when he sent them out to preach the kingdom of god Jesus has given each and every one of us power and authority to teach his word But I think we allow ourselves to get self in the way And we see a response like andrew and philip or philip and andrew and we can relate to that because Sometimes our responses are the same We don't rely on the power of god What we do instead is we rely on the power of me I've done that many times and many times has gotten me in a lot of trouble A lot of times Instead of just allowing jesus To just deal with help us deal with any challenge that we're going through And it's interesting that you know that andrew almost got it He almost got it But then he throws that butt bomb in there and just forget everything he just said because his doubt Really came out when he said But what is it among so many? And I thought that was interesting Jesus needs to take them through a process where they're able to face difficult times and challenges And he illustrates this in the next verse in verse. Let's go back to actually let's go back to math you guys Verse 17 it says and he said to them we have here only five loaves and two fish In verse 18 jesus says bring them here to me That's an amazing response Bring them here to me See you guys The five loaves were which were more like wafers And the two fish which were very very small Enough to feed a lad That's why john tells us that there was a little boy who had enough to get him by Now if that was my backpack you guys it would not have five loaves and two fish It'd have chorizo and egg some tamales and my mother-in-law's tortillas But this guy was on a on a healthy diet and uh, and so he had five loaves and two fish and And so we have to remember these five loaves and two fish are not like the five loaves of bread we see today They were wafers enough for a lad to eat But jesus says something interesting says bring them here to me See you guys those five loaves and two fish in itself could accomplish nothing nothing But in the hands of jesus It's about to perform one of the biggest miracles that we we all know about See you guys our lives Of in itself It's pretty much nothing without christ It's when our lives are in his hands That we're able to face Any or go through any difficult time that comes our way And the disciples here haven't learned that And so what happened is is that jesus says bring him here to me And uh And so they bring him So almost 31 5 says my times David is saying this About christ my times are in your hands David understood this But a lot of times we walk around Like these five loaves and two fish have no chance of even coming close to feeding the 5000 but in the hands of jesus We'll see here in a little bit the result of that in the hands of jesus We can face any trial or any difficult times that we that may come our way In the hands of jesus we find peace In the hands of jesus We find comfort In the hands of jesus we find a lot of different things that gives us the tools to be equipped to get us through the difficult Times that we have through once again once again those five loaves and two fish and itself couldn't meet the need But in the hands of jesus He's able to bring And meet the need now I don't want you guys some of you guys to get excited But in the in the next verse In the same verse he I'm sorry in verse 19. It says then he commanded the multitude to sit down On the grass Now john chapter 6 verse 9 and 10 tells us there's much grass in the area I didn't want to use that verse tonight because some of you guys might have gotten excited about that Some of you guys got that, huh? Not a lot of you guys got that John chapter 6 tells there is much grass, but I didn't want to use that one because Some of you guys got that It was kind of dry But look what jesus does in verse 19. That is so amazing. This is the process that I want to talk about that we need to go through as Brothers and sisters of the lord, especially when we're going through a difficult time where we need to be used by the lord This is the process right here that I will just spend a few minutes on Because look what he does what jesus does with these five loaves and two fish He says bring them here to me in verse 18, then he commands the multitude to sit down on the grass That's interesting because jesus brings he brings order to a potential chaotic mess He brings order jesus is He's he's he's orderly we see that here And and it's interesting to point out here that Then he takes the five loaves and he to in the two fish and looking up to heaven We see three things He blessed it Broke and gave the loaves to the disciples and the disciples gave to the multitude It's interesting process right there that he did with the five loaves and the two fish He blessed it he prayed over it Think of the blessings that god has given you in your lives tonight Just think about that for a moment if if we were to interview everybody here tonight On the blessings that god has given you We'd be here all night Because he has blessed us in a lot of different ways But the next part is a part that nobody wants to go through He didn't bless the five loaves and the two fish and then give it He blessed the five loaves and the two fish and then he broke it That's the tough part Being broken by the lord some of you here know what that is To some of you us here it may look a lot of different ways It may look like My brokenness is going to look different from anybody else's brokenness But that's part of the process Being broken before the lord. Well, what does that mean john? Well, I can share with What in my life the lord has I had a few deaths Last few years my sister and my mom and and I have a dad right now who's sick And just trusting in the lord my wife and I just trusting in the lord that you know, you when you lose and that's why bob's Messages this morning just really hit me Is that when you're broken before the lord And some of you guys know what I mean when you're broken and it's not just You're just crying over something when you're just broken over it The lord uses that It's only through that process and pastor david ois. He's been mentioning this a lot in his last You know in his just recently He says a person that is deeply broken by the lord will be deeply used by the lord Some of us have to go through that breaking process He's blessed us He's blessed us with a number of different things But then he needs to take us through that process of breaking Blessings of jesus in our lives Then the tough part is being broken broken before the lord, you know This last year had a chance to go to israel And we stopped at a olive factory They produce they have tons of olive trees out there And uh and what they do is they were they were taking the olives And they were when they're making different things with the olives a lot of times what they would do is They would throw their olives The waste that they didn't use they would just throw it in the ground But then they found out that that was making the water underneath It was somehow those olives were getting spoiled and it was really affecting The the water that was underneath the ground So they started using it for different things for and I brought my wife home some olive oil they make So all the ladies went wild over there because they had like face cream and hand All kinds of stuff with leftover olives that they made when they made olive oil One of the interesting things though when they said when they made the olive oil What they would do to get the best part of the oil is that they would crush the pit And I started thinking about that To get the best out of us. There's a lot of times we need to be crushed And I don't mean being crushed like aluminum can or I'm talking more spiritually I'm not talking physically I'm talking about that time with the Lord where he we're just broken before the Lord when we're just Just broken it's hard to explain And they take that oil And it's the best part Of the olive oil You know Psalm 34 18 says the Lord is near those who have a broken heart And save such as has a contrite spirit So I'm 51 17 says the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken heart and a contrite heart These oh God you will not despise Isaiah 57 15 says for thus says the high and lofty one Who inhibits inhabits eternity whose name is holy I dwell in the holy place and with him who has a contrite and humble spirit To revive the spirit of the humble and revive the heart of the contrite ones One more you guys Isaiah 66 2 says for all those things my hands have made And all those things exist says the Lord but on this I will look on him who was poor Of a contrite spirit and trembles at my word In this process of being blessed Of being broken Then we're able to see here in the same verse in verse 19 That only through the process of being blessed and being broken Is now that they're able to the disciples are able to Get from Jesus and they're able to give They're able to meet that need a lot of times you guys we must go through that same process Of being broken before the Lord and it's then and only then That Jesus will we receive from the Lord and we're able to give back. Here's a good example In the gospels we see a woman that comes in broken Jesus is eating dinner at uh at one of the homes of the Pharisees And and this lady comes in and she has a very costly oil of spikenard or perfume very expensive Thing is made in tijuana. I think it's in india and she breaks this flask over his feet and weeps and weeps and weeps And uses her hair which at that time was A signature of glory for a woman was her long hair when she let it down it was personal And she let down her hair and she would cry in the tears Of her eyes and the and the oil she would use to wipe the feet of jesus That's being broken Another one where mary comes in and she has The same thing as a different woman has a very costly fragrance And she breaks over the head of jesus her most expensive gift Spikenard was very expensive It's like close to like Some absurd amount of money in american dollars But she took her most prized possession And she gave it to jesus And and and one of the disciples said well leave her leave him alone leave her That could have been sold for money. You know who that was that was judas, right judas said that could have been sold and jesus says leave her alone She's doing it for mom memorial And I started thinking about that here just previous in that previous chapter the disciples are fighting Who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom? They haven't gone through that process yet But then we have these women that come in and they anoint the feet of jesus and that perfume that fragrance filled the room When we're broken by the lord There's a fragrance of christ that fills the room In the process of being blessed Broken we're able to receive what the lord has given us and then we're able to give it to others Whatever need you're going through Whatever difficult time that you're going through jesus has allowed us to run to his hands to be used by him That in order that we may be used in other Areas for him and I think a lot of us don't want we don't want to experience that brokenness because It can be a difficult place But as we see here those five loaves and two fish in the in itself could not do anything But it was until those in the hands of jesus And he blessed it and broke it and he gave was then the disciples able to receive and give back themselves now they're able to meet the need of the Of the challenge that they're faith with Of jesus commanding them that you feed them and so I I've been going through my wife and I've been going through difficult time and this really ministered to me because Because it's been tough It's been hard If I would have stood up here monday or tuesday there's no way I would have gotten through without breaking down not like a shaking and nervous breakdown anything like that, but It's just the difficult times that we're going through and like I mentioned if there was Hard to see everybody's challenge tonight Some of us in here are going through some very difficult times But remember jesus has taken you through that brokenness Because he wants to use you in a deeper way The result look at verse 20 So they all ate and were filled and they took up the 12 baskets full of fragments that remained Now those who had eaten were about 5 000 men besides women and children Which is a box of about 8 000 to 10 000 people now. I'm not a big fan of fish you guys I don't like fish. I don't like fish When it talks about 12 fragment fragments were left over That kind of grosses me out You think I think of fragments. I think a head a tail, you know and That isn't so well, but what the point is here is that That the need the need is met when in the hands of jesus, but not only of that There was an abundance. There was 12 baskets left over nevertheless when we allow Jesus to use us and in his hands and allow him to take us even through the process of being blessed Broken and given we see what the results are There were 12 fragments 12 baskets left over of these fragments. They're what they're saying is that there was left over and then some Maybe for the disciples to eat they've been working all day But nevertheless there was still an abundance in that process 5 000 men that they said including women and children. It's approximately 8 to 10 000 people and so this message here today was to encourage that There's a process that jesus wants to take us through Through the challenges that you're going through tonight Through the difficult times that you may be facing just know That this is part of the process that the lord wants to take you through To get you so you're able to receive and then give yourself I want to close with a with a very short story And some some people have probably already heard it A few times. I know my wife has heard it a lot of times But it kind of gives us an idea of how jesus has compassion on all of us And i'll close with a story in it And so it's about a mutt And about a master This master had a big house a big mansion And in his mansion he had these prizes on his fireplace mantle of Contest that he had won or his dogs had won because he was a dog shower He had a pure breed of dogs that he would show and He won it won him lots of money it made him very rich But these dogs weren't doing anything for him he wanted a relationship He would try to have a relationship with these dogs and all they would do is win him money He never had a relationship so he told his servant. He says you know what I want a mutt I want to find me a mutt that I can love That I can hold that I can pour into And that I can give him everything I have His servants were like you're kind of crazy man. Look at what you have already He says these dogs don't do anything for me They don't So he told his servant let's get in the car and let's go look for a mutt So I'd been raining really hard And so they go up the highways and the byways and they stop at a stop light And the master happens to glance to his right and down the alley. He sees a mutt Digging through the trash He has ever smelled a wet dog I was trying to convince our dog that went out this last time it rained for the dog to sleep on Her side of the bed and not mine and she's all know the dog's not even getting on our bed This dog is rummaging through the trash Nobody wants it Nobody loves it It's just rummaging And the master says the light turns green and he begins to go the master says to stop the car And he stops the car and the master walks over to this mutt and this mutt's thinking to himself Okay, is he gonna kick me? Is he gonna hit me like everybody else has? Is he gonna spit on me? What's he gonna do? And this mutt has this look of fear and this master picks him up And the mutt's thinking this guy's gonna do me in And he takes that mutt and he takes it back in the car with him and he's like this is the mutt I want And he takes that mutt home and he gives it a warm bath Then he gives him warm food and then he gives him a warm bed And this mutt's thinking man once a carpet gonna be pulled out from under my feet because Nobody's ever done this for me And every morning the master would get up and he would tend to this mutt And just pour his love into this dog This dog was his world Well one morning he woke up and the mutt was gone And he couldn't understand why This dog would leave after pouring so much love into the dog And he went out every day looking for his mutt He was never able to find his mutt So one day one morning while eating manudo He hears a scratch at the door It's like for a second. He's like, uh, no, you know, it can't be it's been too long He keeps hearing the scratch and again, he's like He then gets up and he's here's a scratch and as he's walking through the door His brisk walk becomes a jog and his jog becomes a sprint with anticipation that when he opens the door his mutt's gonna be there And so as he continues to hear the scratching he runs and he runs and he opens the door and he swings the door right open And guess what he sees? He sees his mutt But this time his mutt brought all his mutt friends with him And he told him in mutt language, whatever that is This is the man who loved me when nobody else did This is the man Who got me through a difficult time when I was going through difficulties This is the man who loved me when the world hated me And that is a picture of christ tonight in our lives That is a picture of jesus when the world has nothing to give us or when the world face gives us a big challenge or difficulty Is jesus who gets us through it? It's jesus