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00:00:01 [Applause] [Music] today's scripture passage is taken from matthew chapter 14 13-21 when jesus heard what had happened he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place hearing of this the cross followed him on food from the towns when jesus landed and saw a large crowd he had compassion on them and healed their sick as evening approached the disciple came to him and said this is a remote place and it's already getting late send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some
00:00:52 food jesus replied they do not need to go away you give them something to eat we have here only five loaf of bread and two fish they answered bring them here to me he said and he directed the people to sit down on the grass taking the five loaf and the two fish and looking up to heaven he gave thanks and broke their loaves then he gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the people they all had and were satisfied and the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces that were
00:01:36 left over the number of those who add was about 5000 men besides women and children this is the word of god praise be to god good morning first baptist church i'm joash a youth pastor here and i'm really excited to be here because it's the start of advent which means that christmas is coming are you excited for christmas yeah so many things to be excited about in between christmas and now we have brandon and joy's wedding coming up next week oh ho yeah woohoo exciting uh vbs is coming and we are coming back to church on december
00:02:26 12th also i can't wait together with everyone all the people here all the people here are excited yes yes they're really really eager to see you face to face and worship together with you this morning we have a famous sunday school story and uh you have to ask what are we supposed to learn from this story what is jesus trying to teach us about himself why perform such a miracle why 12 baskets full what is going on in this story well the account of john gives us a glimpse of how the people the people of israel at the time how
00:03:15 they reacted to the miracle john 6 14 says when the people saw the sign that he had done they said this is indeed the prophet who is to come what are they talking about the people witness jesus multiplying food to a multitude of people in a desolate place with 12 baskets left over and he reminded them of exodus of moses and the israelites large group of people in the wilderness provided with manna the people of israel they saw the sign of jesus feeding the five thousand and they were immediately reminded about
00:04:10 moses and his famous last words deuteronomy 18 15 is what moses said the lord your god will raise up from you a prophet like me from among you from your brothers it is to him you shall listen now every parent and every teacher know what listening means it's not just receiving information and understanding it right listening means what means obey follow the instructions make changes to your behavior to suit the instruction you just heard give your life to obey those instructions give your life to living out those words
00:05:05 so in this feeding of five thousand we hate we have the the voice of moses ringing in our ears saying listen to him obey him follow him follow jesus and so today we ask this question why should i listen to jesus why should i listen to jesus what's so great about following jesus why am i called to give my life to submit and yield and give my entire self to him why should i listen to jesus that's what we will be thinking about today let's pray holy spirit move us speak to us open our ears that we may hear
00:06:04 and lord if you are willing let salvation spring out from the ground that many will come and follow you and worship you in jesus name amen why should i listen to jesus let's go to the text now when jesus heard this he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself now the word desolate it means bleak abandoned forsaken hopeless something like something like this it's like a a building that has been it's like a bomb just or a fire just went through and and nobody fixed it nobody repaired anything nobody
00:06:58 everybody just left and it's abandoned it's like a zombie apocalypse like that it's like a war zone that's what desolate means that's what desolate looks like and don't just think about the physical place that jesus is going jesus uh matthew has painted for us a word picture to describe jesus emotional state and the state of humanity jesus emotional state if we if we remember a chapter 14 the the verses before 1-12 matthew tells us that john the baptist has just been executed by herod i don't think about it as a baby right
00:07:44 jesus had to escape herod the great and his family had to live as a refugee until this herod the great died and now herod the great son also named herod has just brutally murdered jesus cousin so you see the lives of these two families right are intertwined in such a tragic manner if if if this were a chinese movie right you can confirm it's gonna be about revenge jesus went up to the mountain and he and he cried and then he saw a monk and he learned kung fu all this revenge you thought you'd be like that
00:08:27 if it's a chinese movie so matthew describes jesus emotional state remembering the past remembering now suffering under herod this tragedy also reveals the state of humanity what do we see in herod family what do we see in the harrod household we have a king who feared that a baby will take his place brutally murdered thousands of babies a genocide we have a queen who fears embarrassment fears being called out and therefore he calls she calls for the behaving of a righteous man and we have a king
00:09:15 who cannot control his lust and evil desires he complies with the evil request to be hit john the baptist it's a hopeless picture of humanity people in authority abusing their power people in authority acting wickedly humans when given great power have a great tendency to oppress and hurt other humans even now isn't it we we live in a democracy right where where we elect politicians supposed to serve us but instead they are self-serving they only care about staying in power they only care about
00:10:03 filling their own pockets and if i mention some names here i think some of you will be so triggered you cannot you cannot listen to the sermon anymore if i mention some names you'll be so upset you don't behave like a christian anymore so let me tell you a story uh world war one there was a christmas truce between the british and german soldiers 1914 see the war had been going on for months and uh can i walk here oh yeah i can walk here okay the war had been going on for months now and on both sides right
00:10:42 uh had been in war a trench warfare for weeks already that means that there is a zone in between them if you go if you go into it you sure die one nobody no army is moving forward you're just stuck there it's a stalemate okay and they they duck long gang and they hide there and they they shoot across the field that's what trench warfare is they've been there for weeks heavy rain uh on christmas eve the german soldiers started to sing christmas carols and the english sang back as the morning broke some german
00:11:24 soldiers came out of their trenches okay and you know waving their arms to demonstrate that you know i'm not carrying any weapons and when the british soldiers felt safe they also came up and what happened they exchanged gifts there was peace they talked they even played football together they buried their dead beautiful picture right for a few days around christmas in world war one there was peace and there was fellowship even among enemies unfortunately this truth this truth was not sanctioned by the generals
00:12:12 by the leaders of the country in fact right when the pope the pope suggested it earlier in december the leaders of the nations said no it was rejected it was the soldiers it was the junior officers that made the truth possible they were the ones who initiated the christmas truce not the generals not the leaders of the country in fact right after the christmas trooper uh trucer the the generals are they they decided uh they they put in measures to make sure that a truce like that never ever happens
00:12:54 again never again was there truth in a battlefield humans when given great power have a tendency to oppress and hurt other humans and if we are honest with ourselves we cannot guarantee that if we were in the same position we would behave differently why because we are basically selfish we are self-serving humans if necessary we are willing to put someone under the bus to save ourselves so why would i want to submit to some other people's authority why would i give myself to surrender to a king if someone is going to be selfish
00:13:48 and have authority it might as well be me so matthew paints a desolate picture jesus is going to a desolate place he is desolate within and he is affected by the state of humanity around him everything is desolate hopeless hopeless hopeless what happens next but when the crowds heard it they followed him on foot from the towns when he went ashore he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them and healed their sick now keep in mind the the weight that jesus was still carrying because of the the death of john the
00:14:33 baptist he was stressed out loud to say the least he wanted to get away he wanted to be alone and yet when jesus saw the crowd he did not get angry instead he turned towards them he had compassion on them if it was any other king it was it was any other king in this world sure cannot one it would have been an ugly sight there would have been no compassion no mercy but not jesus jesus selflessly gave of himself to serve other people in his trying times he gave of himself wicked men use their power to kill
00:15:19 jesus uses his power to heal jesus is powerful yet selfless in a in a desolate place the selflessness and the compassion of jesus results in healing for many so why should i listen to jesus answer number one because jesus is a life saver jesus is a life saver a game changer he steps into hopeless places and he turn things around remember the picture just now abandoned building if it was jesus he would go in and he would turn it around he would renovate it he would do a makeover and people can stay there and
00:16:07 live there and flourish there that's what jesus does in colossians right collusion tells us that jesus is the image of the invisible god he is god embodied in human flesh and that's why we see in the old testament god doing amazing life-changing game-changing things in abraham and sarah we have we have god going to our old couple and turning it into a nation to bring forth a multitude of nations we have rachel leah hannah and god gives barren woman children in in exodus we see god making a path a
00:17:01 highway along the sea that's what god does and in jesus god has broken into this world into this broken world to bring healing that's why we celebrate advent in hopelessness jesus restores hope in brokenness jesus brings healing that's what he does jesus is a life saver he is a game changer and and it's no surprise therefore when evening came and people needed food what did jesus do five loaves and two fishes no problem he fed five thousand families they even have leftovers this is what jesus does
00:17:50 abundance in desolate places that's the jesus we know he is powerful yet he is selfless giving of himself to serve the needs of others even even when his strength is spent his compassion well up inside him and outflowed healing kindness love that's what jesus does he is a life saver so why should we listen to jesus why should we give our lives to serve him why should we hear his words and obey him because jesus is powerful yet selfless bringing abundance in desolate places he gives of himself to serve the needs
00:18:41 of others he is a selfless life saver and and and if you feel like he's impressive here wait until he comes again jesus will come again that's why i remember advent the first time he came he brought healing to some he brought abundance in some desolate places the next time he comes he will bring healing to all who trust him all the brokenness in creation and in the world he will restore he bring healing restoration everything will be made good and right again jesus is a life saver he is a game changer
00:19:27 and that alone makes him worthy of our allegiance our love our admiration and our surrender but matthew gives us one more reason why should we listen to jesus one more reason because the life saver empowers his followers to save lives the lifesaver empowers his followers to save lives the powerful yet selfless king the one who brings abundance in desolate places he empowers others to do the same in our text today we we have the first recorded instance of jesus involving the disciples in a miracle
00:20:16 up to this point the disciples had a vip seat to spectate to watch what jesus can do all the miracles that jesus performed up to this point he did it alone he carried but now jesus ropes them in to his work and and there's this beautiful conversation that matthew records for us in uh in this story and i want us right as we go through the conversation i want you to imagine yourself in that situation imagine yourself there imagine yourself having that conversation with jesus imagine yourself having that
00:20:58 conversation with jesus your current situation okay as we slow down let's look at that now when it was evening and said this is a desolate place the day is now over send the crowds away to go to the villages and buy food for themselves the disciples have followed jesus into a desolate place the crowd came healing happened now evening has come people are hungry the disciples very smart the anticipated situation offered a solution very reasonable solution it's late people are hungry send them away to get food
00:21:42 good job disciples well done congratulations i love it when you take initiative and solve problems where you go we thought jesus would say that's not what he said verse 16 but jesus said they need not go away you give them something to eat they said to him we have only five loaves and two fish here that's all we have jesus we are not as powerful we're not as resourceful as you are we have barely enough to get by for ourselves we have five loaves and two fishes even even if we selflessly give it away
00:22:24 do you think it will be enough to feed so many people the need is too great what did jesus say and he said bring them here to me and the rest history why should we listen to jesus why should we follow him why should we serve him because we get to partner with him in his work of bringing abundance in broken and desolate places it's like living like superheroes you know when when there is pain now you bring healing you bring comfort you you bring peace when there is anxiety where there is chaos you
00:23:07 bring order when there is tragedy you bring rescue and you bring relief where else can you get to live like that if you if you think that following jesus right it's just uh following a bunch of rules and being in a certain place on a certain day you are totally missing out jesus invites jesus empowers his followers to go into hopeless bleak situations and turn them around now this is charles mooley when he was six years old uh he he woke up in his hut to find that he's been abandoned by his parents
00:23:57 parents left him with the aunt and since six years old he he would go around neighbor the neighbor to beg for food he lived in extreme poverty he finished primary school great at the age of 17. at the age of 18 his life turned around he found god he found work he managed to raise his own family even start his own company he became very wealthy a one day on a business trip some kids homeless kids came to him and say you pay us money we'll take care of your car he ignored them when he came back car
00:24:43 stolen so he had to take a bus back home and he was on on the bus stream he thought why did i ignore those kids they were just like me why did i even know them and so 1989 32 years ago he left his company he sold his company and decided he's going to rescue street kids he felt god calling him to be a father to the fatherless he was he was 40 years old then eight children of his own he sold his company and he sold his properties and started to take in street kids in kenya today today muli's children's family mcf
00:25:38 have six campuses and they currently reach 3500 children mcf's goal is to meet the essential needs of each child food shelter education medicine and love it also offers services like counseling and rehabilitation for formless sex workers why should we listen to jesus why should we follow him why should we serve him because like charles moly we get to partner with jesus to go into bleak and hopeless places and bring healing and bring abundance bring restoration that's what jesus does and his disciples those who follow him
00:26:26 get to do the same in the last few verses i want us to take notice of the words that matthew used in the text he said jesus took bread he blessed it broke it gave it to the disciples and these words that he used is the same words he used for the last supper matthew 26 now as they were eating jesus took bread and after blessing it he broke it gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body in the feeding of the five thousand the disciples learned two lessons number one jesus came to bring healing
00:27:16 into the world and number two jesus invites them to partner with him to bring healing to the world in the last supper their lesson is complete they saw the full picture the healing that jesus brings the bread that the disciples were called to give to other people is jesus broken body jesus came as a lifesaver and the ultimate way he saved life is by giving himself dying for our sins so that we may receive forgiveness let's read this out loud together one two go but he was pierced for our transgressions
00:28:10 he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed we are not just desperate people who inconvenient the king at a bad time we are rebellious people who want to kick the king off his throne the king the god of this universe we want to dethrone him we want to do things our own way we cannot serve his timing we have to serve ourselves and for that our sentence is death we hate those in authority we hate those who abuse their powers
00:28:57 but we constantly treat other people the same we if we can to admit we are the ones that cause this world to be broken we play a part we are the ones that cause this world to be desolate hopeless and therefore we are the ones who deserve to be pierced and crushed and chastised due to our selfless selfishness due to our mistreatment of others due to our disobedience our refusal to submit to the king we deserve to be pierced and crushed and chastised yet jesus took it all upon himself all for us jesus saw us
00:29:47 had compassion upon us and jesus healed us and if you listen to jesus today if you listen to jesus today as he calls you to take and eat of his body to receive the forgiveness of sin that he purchased with his life you and i become healed and you and i become an agent of healing to the world if you receive the gift that is jesus christ himself if you live in constant gratitude to him if if you live with the gospel of jesus christ as your bread as nourishment as food for your soul you will be transformed
00:30:32 into a lifesaver bringing healing and abundance in broken places of the world why because jesus takes our desolate selfless hearts and he fills it with compassion for others because we have received that compassion from him jesus saves our lives and make us into life save us jesus saves our lives and makes us into life save us why should i listen to jesus ask the band to come as we close why should i listen to jesus why should i give my life to obey him and follow him and submit to him why because jesus is the powerful
00:31:29 yet selfless lifesaver who brings healing and abundance in broken places and jesus invites and he empowers those who choose to follow him to be lifesavers as well if i experience the selflessness and the the healing of jesus christ for myself i too will be able to bring healing and abundance in broken places because jesus saves me i can be a lifesaver i can save others let me close by talking to two groups of people i pray that the holy spirit will tell you which group you are how you should respond to today
00:32:26 group number one you've been selflessly giving yourself to serve others you've been doing this with jesus for very long already you've been giving yourself to serve others tirelessly and when you hear this message right you are like jesus i'm tired but because you say so i will do it again i won't give up and i won't stop if that is you let me say to you you need to take a look at verse 22 and 23 of our texts because jesus finally he did get the alone time that he needed after this he sent the disciples away
00:33:16 and he went up to the mountain to pray and to make time to to to get his energy again to get his healing and restoration again from god we need to learn to do that learn to draw strength from god learn to rest in god ask him to send others to refresh you to encourage you and to work alongside you second group of people if you are a follower of jesus i'm speaking to you are you a follower of jesus if yes he is inviting you to be a life saver it doesn't have to be about feeding thousands of people it doesn't have to
00:34:10 be about being like child smoothie it can be just about feeding one person has he brought you into desperate places has he shown you things in certain places that need healing and restoration and order has he opened your eyes to see the brokenness around you if the answer is no then you need to pray you need to ask god to open your eyes you need to go and talk to people get off your phone get off your tv go and interact with people ask people how they are learn about their joys learn about their
00:34:52 sorrows talk to a friend that you haven't talked a long time talk to a relative they might be in need and you might be able you might be called to help ask god to give you the eyes of compassion and if you see if you see the brokenness around you if you know of desperate and desolate places then go and have that conversation with jesus go and have that conversation with jesus the one that the disciples had with him go into your prayer closet tell jesus what's going on tell him the solutions you the things you think that need to be
00:35:38 done go and tell him about it and if he responds with you give them something to eat jesus won't always respond that way but if he does if he responds with you give them something to eat then tell him about your resources this is what i have these are my material wealth this is my experiences my skills these are my network and pray and ask him for wisdom and for divine intervention and then get to work get to work be selfless like your king and trust him to empower you to bring healing to bring abundance to broken places
00:36:31 and as you go to bring healing and abundance in desolate and desperate and broken places remember every person you meet their greatest need is the forgiveness of jesus christ the forgiveness of sin that is found in jesus christ john piper says this followers of jesus care about all suffering amen followers of jesus care about all suffering especially eternal suffering go and tell hungry people of the bread that is jesus christ go and tell them that they need jesus they need jesus
