Small Acts Light Up
TRANSCRIPT
A poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others they gave out of their wealth. But she, out of her poverty, put in everything, all she had to live on. And uh, that verse, um, we can observe in there that Jesus watches people giving at the temple and they are all bringing. Um, large gifts, big things, and compared to the large gifts that everyone else was bringing, this widow brought two small coins and Jesus, cared.
He saw her and he cared about her heart. Uh, and her gift, because she bought all that she had, the two small coins, was worth more than all of the large gifts that the others were bringing. It wasn't the amount. That she brought that mattered. It was the sacrifice and devotion behind her gift and my application, uh, was do I hold back out of fear that what I have is not enough to give?
Uh, Jesus isn't looking for showy acts, but he's looking for a heart that trusts him completely. And I think in her giving, she demonstrated that a heart that really trusted in him. Uh, when I give out of love and faith, it deeply impacts. The heart of God also, because he's not looking at the amount that we give.
He's looking at how we give it and how we bring it. And I wrote this down, living mission isn't about being famous, but it's about being faithful. And I love that 'cause there's not often glory in being faithful. The hard yards, um, don't look pretty. And sometimes it's really hard work, but we can dig deep and know that we are giving to an audience of one and that it's about.
Pleasing God's heart, not pleasing the heart of others. And I prayed out of that. Lord, help me give like the widow with wholehearted love and trust. Uh, and yeah. So that's, uh, scripture ties in with our light up theme today, which is being for the Gold Coast and how can we be for people, um, and for the people that God loves.
It's by. Giving what we have, what we have in our hand, even if it's a little bit, um, and giving with a, a, a sacrificial heart. A heart that's willing to be faithful, uh, towards God. Sometimes I've wondered, and the reason that story resonates with me a lot is I have. Often live my life thinking, oh, what I have is not a whole lot, I don't feel like it will make that much of a difference to contribute.
And I've had conversations with people here, even in this place about that. Uh, when it comes to serving, oh, well, I don't know. I don't think I have anything to offer the kids' ministry or the cafe or any of those areas of service. But what you have, um, adds to the whole, and God wants us all to bring our gifts, uh, in and offer what we have with.
A faithful and generous heart, and he multiplies that. And I've certainly experienced that in my own life. When I say yes to God, when I feel uncomfortable, because our insecurities can sometimes get in the way of giving also. And we can hold on to what we've got because we are afraid of reaching, um, out and saying, oh, here's what I've got.
'cause maybe we feel like it's not enough. Um, yeah, but it's. It's enough, especially when God is on it and breathes on it and multiplies it. So I want to, uh, invite a friend up today and I'm so excited to do so. Erin, come and join me. Ruthie's got a microphone for you or Annie does for you. Thank you. So just to give context to Erin.
Um, who, who is Erin? Okay, so Erin joined us, I wanna say three years ago. Was it three? Yeah, three years ago. And Erin is from Zigzag. Theater, you would know it as zigzag. 'cause we talked often about hosting drama classes here at the junction. Yeah. And Erin is the face of Zigzag and came about three years ago to hire a room in our venue here and run her drama classes.
And from then it's been quite a journey. It has. I'm so excited that you're sitting here. Um, I don't have time today to go into all of the detail of that story and how you came, but, um, let me just say, at the start of Erin coming to hire our venue for zigzag, she did not know Jesus. And she sits here today now knowing Jesus.
And there's a whole story in that, um, which we are going to capture on. I'm gonna have Erin in and we're going to interview her and capture that story so that we can share it with you all and encourage you, but. This week, God has been doing an amazing work in Erin's life. And this week, or last week, I think, yeah, Erin messaged me and said, um, I've been doing my soap devotion.
Uh, and that came about through Alpha, the Alpha course. Yeah. That Lynn and Justine and Nathan have been running. Uh, and um, Erin got to know what is soap and who is Jesus and started soaping. But God had been talking to Erin about what she could do with what's in her hand. Yes. And how she could, um, give back and contribute.
So, Erin, tell us about the message you sent me. Yeah. Two weeks ago? Yeah. Okay. So it was on Monday this week. Um mm-hmm. I was having like a really difficult morning with the kids. Um, they were pushing every single button. They, and I was not reacting the reaction. How old, how old are your children? So I have a baby who's nearly 10 months.
I have a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old at home. Um, and they were just, you know, having one of those difficult mornings, but the way I was responding to them was also adding fuel to the fire, and they were getting, um, more upset. So I thought, okay, this isn't working. I'm gonna throw them in the car. The baby needed a.
Sleep. Um, so I threw them in the cars. I'm gonna take them somewhere so they can just like run wild for a little bit and hopefully coa my baby will have a sleep, which he did. So I went to the creek, I let NRA and Jonah and my older two out and I was like, I don't wanna see you for a little bit. Like I will watch them, but I don't want you to come to the car.
I just want you to play on the beach, entertain yourselves. And then I thought, what am I gonna do? And normally. I would scroll Facebook or Instagram, uh, but I was like, I'm gonna do my soap. So through the Bible app, I've been doing like a, a mother plan. There's heaps of them. They're great. 'cause this is where I feel like I need most work.
Um, and so I, I'm really overdue. So I went back a little bit to where I should be and I started to do my soap for. For that day. Um, and I have it here to share so I can share that with you. Um, and then I will talk a little bit on that and, um, Kevs message last week as well, so I use, can I use this? Yeah. So beautiful.
Oh yeah. Perfect. So I use the, um, the message version of the Bible, which Justine from Alpha, um, introduced to me. And it really helps me because it helps me understand what I'm reading more as I'm quite new on this journey. So the scripture was from Proverbs and it was, um, when she speaks, she has something worthwhile to say and she always says it kindly.
My observation from this was the words that I say to my children have power. I need to ensure that what I say is kind and that they have a positive impact. 'cause that morning, I felt like the words I had used hadn't had that impact. In fact, it made their behavior probably even worse. So my application from this was like when Naya and Jonah wind me up with their words and behavior.
I need to remember that I am their mom and they look to me to be their example. The way I respond has an impact on them. The words I use will be absorbed and affect them. I'm going to get to the end of my fuse. It happens as a mom, as a parent. Like mothering is hard, but it is kingdom work and I need to try and take a breath before I respond to regulate my own emotions.
Um. God gives me grace in these moments and will forgive me if I don't respond in the most appropriate way, but it is my duty to try my best to. Um, and then I had a little prayer and I said, God, I'm so grateful for the children that you have blessed me with. I'm so lucky that I get to mother them full time and that I get to see them grow.
Please help me in the moments where I feel like I can't control or regulate my emotions. Please remind me to take a breath before I respond and remind me that the words I use have impact. Help me to respond with something worthwhile that will help them grow. And also with kindness rather than anger.
I'm so grateful to have you to guide me as a mother and to enable me to be the best mom I can be. Amen. Woo. Love that. Thank you. Did you wanna say more about, yeah, I just wanted to touch on, so. I did my soap and then last week I was a blubbering mess during Kevs service. It really, and I quite often am on a Sunday.
It touches me, I don't know, somewhere deep within, and I always get emotional. Kelly and I are always crying and hugging each other and, um, but last week really got to me because it has been, you know, it can be tough as a mom, but I, um, I started to, when I did Alpha, I realized with the mums who were in the alpha group.
How much God is helping us with being a mom. And I was like, what could we do to, um, bring these moms together who are in faith to help us on this journey? And that's when I came and spoke with Anita about starting like a mother's group and then. Kevs message last week about inconvenience, 'cause this mother's group has been inconvenient for me.
I've been thinking like, how am I gonna get this like on the go because I'm so busy and I'm like, you know, I'm helping my partner with the gym. And I'm like, but last week I realized that God is getting me to do this for these moms, including myself, who need to feel like they aren't alone and who can use scripture to help them with parenting because it's helping me.
So much like on a daily basis. And I do share frequently with my dear friend Kelly over there, and she shares with me. And it helps us both so much in our, in our journey as moms. And I wanna like, extend that to, to more people. Um. So, yeah, that's kind of it all, all tied in together and we're starting the mother's group on Tuesday.
Tuesday, so good. Aw. Thank you Erin for sharing. I love that. Um, God just speaks to us through lots of different ways and when Erin sent me that message saying that Kevs message had, actually, Kev got a fair bit of. Feedback last week about that word inconvenience. Uh, if you have a story to share about how that impacted you, I'm sure he'd love to hear some more about that as well.
But yeah, I love your, um, just. Open heart and saying, what have I got in my hand? You're in this season of motherhood. Yeah. And you wanna be able to sew in and help others. And I know there's other moms in the room also who have a similar heart, so we'd love for you to get on board and join in. Um mm-hmm.
There's a. Actually, there is a slide behind me, but there's also just some details online and we'll be in touch or Erin will be in touch with Yeah. How that's going to all roll out. So small acts done with great love light up the world. So I wonder if God's talking to you this morning about something that's in your hand, that's small, uh, that you can do.
Um, and actually it's not. It may not be small because in God's kingdom he multiplies our gift and, um, the potential it has to impact so many others. Yeah. So thank you for sharing. Thank you. Reach out to Erin today and there'll be more on Erin's story coming up, but Ruth's gonna come now and share the next part of our morning.
Thank you. Thanks.
Thank you ladies. Yes. Small acts make a huge difference, don't they? I'm gonna tell you a little story about something that happened this week that is a great example of that, and it starts with an accident. Um, I was trying to be organized and we had, um, an awesome volunteer in our office this week, and we are planning for a training event that's in two weeks time, and we need to provide food at this training event that is halal, kosher.
And gluten and dairy free. Oh, quite the challenge, let me assure you. Um, anyway. Smash it out. We've got a shopping list sitting in this cold shopping app, just waiting. One of everything that you can imagine that is kosher and halal and gluten and dairy-free. So like a watermelon, a rock, Mel, like just one of everything.
One of like seven different dips. It was, it's epic, all this fruit, and it's just sitting there waiting for us to place the order. And our barista came in that morning early and needed to put an urgent shopping list in. To be delivered at nine o'clock and every time she has placed an order for the last, I don't know how many months, and I've had a shopping list there, she'll say to me, do you need me to place that order?
'cause we're always like on the lookout for one another, how can I serve you? And every time I say, yes, please. So this time she comes in and she thinks I don't need to check with Ruth every time. There's a shopping list there. She needs it. So she goes ahead and places the order 9:00 AM all this fruit arrives like so much fruit, so much dip enough to feed a full training course of lifeline volunteers in several weeks time.
So we were having a laugh. Oh my gosh, what are we gonna do with all this fruit? I guess the staff are gonna be healthy, like whatever. Then this beautiful lady makes contact with me and is in need of some help. So I invite her in and we are catching up and she's sharing her story with me about, um, just what a tough place she's in.
And she had Googled and love the city came up and she thought she would reach out to see if there's anything that we could do. So I did what we normally do. Like I hear a little bit of her story and then I'm like, yep, here's a Kohl's voucher. Here's a, um. What do you call it? Fuel voucher. Like, let's get you on your way.
And then I started sharing with her about some other services that are local that might be able to help her. And like this great pantry that's down the road where you could get fruit. I say just hold on a minute, duck into the kitchen. And I come out with like four Kohl's bags worth of random fruit, um, that we didn't need anyway, she.
Cries and says she's about to get her boys back. 'cause you know, it's a split custody issue. And she had nothing in the fridge and the pantry. And so this fruit was just gonna meet the perfect need. And I was able to say to her like, God knows, God sees, I know Jen. That was me. I like, I was just like. But what made it even more incredible was that I asked her, as I often do, like, tell me about your faith journey.
Like, you know, do you, do you believe in God? And she said she doesn't. But that in the last little season when things have been hard, she's been. Asking, or I guess she said, I guess it's praying for some help. And I said, well, God hears those prayers and our mistake was actually God already at work knowing that you were gonna come in today and that you were gonna need some groceries and.
The thing is it was just fruit, but it made a world of difference for her. And I think that that's what we are hearing this morning is that these small acts of kindness, they actually can have eternal impact. Like literally fruit can have eternal impact. And that seems like an over the top statement, but.
It's actually true because God can use you to be a part of somebody else's God story. And that's just incredible to me that we get to live a life, um, with that kind of privilege where we can bring the small thing that we have and offer it. Because when we're serving somebody else, we're actually serving Jesus.
And so, um. Yeah, we live in a world, and I think Nate sort of touched on this, in the world that we live in, celebrates big things and big platforms, but. Uh, the Jesus that we know is so counterculture and he says, no. It's the little things that matter. It's the little things that are done with great love and great sacrifice.
Those are the things that impact, and so do the little things matter. Absolutely. And I wanted to share a soap, um, this morning that's found in Mark. Chapter nine verse 41. And a little bit of context here is that Jesus is chatting to, um, his disciples and he's, he's helping them understand what is humility, and he's helping them understand servanthood and even inclusion.
Um. They were concerned about things like status and who's in and who's out, and Jesus says, nah, none of that matters. What matters is that we pick up a towel and we serve, and what matters are the things that we do in his name. And this is what he says in um, in Mark says, truly, I tell you, anyone who gives a cup of water.
A cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah, will certainly not lose their reward. There is an eternal award or reward for people that do something as small as giving a cup of water, and it's not about greatness and it's not about recognition. It's about doing things, um, for people because people are made in the image of God.
And so when we serve people, we're actually serving Jesus. And so, um, Jesus places big impact and big, um, I guess, yeah, he says, do the small things in my name. It's as simple as that. And so what. My observation was in here, or my application. 'cause that was my observation, was that it doesn't have to be big.
It's the little things that matter. It's the listening ear and it's the lunch that's shared and it's the going out of your way to serve that person and to encourage, and anything that we do that actually reflects the heart. Of God, when I do even the smallest thing, even the cup of water in Jesus' name, it matters.
And so I am invited, as are you when we belong to the Messiah, to live for people because God is for us. And so what I wanted to encourage you with today was what? Little cup of water moment do you have? Because every single day we have these opportunities to simply give a cup of water opportunities to lean in and to show up.
And as I shared a few weeks ago, not walk around or walk to the other side of the road or the footpath, but actually to see the person and to lean in and to engage, and every act done in his name matters and echoes into eternity. So I wanted to invite a friend as well. Look at us. Still inviting our friends today.
Nancy, come on up and have we got a microphone? Oh. Wow, you're so organized. Come on up, Nancy. So most of you hopefully will remember Nancy from you, came at Christmas time and shared with us. So Nancy and her husband Tommy and their beautiful family are visiting us this morning and they are a part of an incredible organization called Convoy of Hope.
Convoy of hope. Understand what it means, not just to do small things, but also big things. But they start small. We do, um, in Jesus' name and serve people here on in Australia, but also right around the world. Um. And Nancy came when we launched our Radical Christmas appeal this year, and we were sharing about an amazing initiative that has been birthed out of yourself called Dress Her With Dignity.
So for those of you that weren't here, maybe you could just give us a little introduction to what Sure. Uh, that is all about. Yes. So Dress Her with Dignity is a program where we go into hospitals in the emergency department and clothe women who have presented, um, from domestic family violence. So when these women come in, generally they'll need their clothes to potentially be taken for forensics.
Um, otherwise they're not in a condition to really be worn home. So a lot of these women were leaving in hospital gowns, um, which. Obviously isn't a very ideal situation, which would kind of force you to go back to the situation you've just come from. So it's something very small and seems very insignificant.
However, it's having a huge impact for these women to be able to be clothed from head to toe, leave with a hygiene pack, leave with a set of underwear, that they can actually go to the next step of freedom and go to a shelter or go to. Whatever that next step might be. So yeah, that's incredible. And when we spoke at Christmas time, the program had sort of just.
Been running up in the Northern Territory, and thanks to your genera generosity as a community, um, we were able to invest $5,000 at Christmas time. Yes. And then, uh, some more since then. But what has happened sort of since Christmas to now and what has that story sort of looked like? So I, I wanted to come back and share because, um, even though.
The money that was re um, gifted back then went to, uh, the Northern Territory. It helped us start up in Catherine Hospital, um, which is incredible. But I know that the heart of you all and from love this city is to really reach the Gold Coast and to have a huge impact here. And I really believe that with that faith works that was put in place back in Christmas started something.
On the Gold Coast, and it started something supernaturally that we weren't prepared for as an organization, to be honest. Um, because we had already committed to opening up this program in all five major hospitals in the Northern Territory, and we were gonna just let it kind of slowly roll out to everywhere else.
However, something birthed. That day. And um, what has actually come about is the Gold Coast Hospital and Rabino Hospital has reached out to us asking, can we implement this program here on the Gold Coast? And our response, even though we're probably not prepared, was just. Yes, of course. Like we wanna reach as many women and children as we can.
Um, because it, even though it is such, again, seems insignificant, it actually has the power to change that scenario and change the next generation as well. And that's what our heart is for. Mm. Yeah. When you think about just a set of clothes or a, a, um, hygiene pack, it, it almost seems too simple. Like, it just seems like a nice.
Gesture. Yes. But it actually is life changing. Absolutely. Um, it's so interesting that you use that scripture just so with a cup of water, because I had the very same scripture as well, but I also, um, before that, I woke up this morning and I was saying to Ruth just earlier, um, usually when the Lord. Put something deep in my heart.
It is when I first wake up, when my head is completely clear and there's nothing else going on except waking up. And he just dropped in my heart and in my spirit, um, faith is small as a mu mustard seed can move a mountain. Mm. And talking about context, um, I kind of question it and went, oh, I dunno if that applies here, because just talking about our faith.
But I then went and researched a little bit more, um, into it. And the, the theology behind it is, yes, our, our faith is the object, but it leads us to God himself, like God can actually move a mountain when we put our faith into action. Um. And I, I also research a little bit more, and it actually says that the tree represents obstacles.
And that's what we are finding with these women. They have so many obstacles in order to find freedom. And again, I, I, I looked into, there's over 300 verses in the Bible that refers to us helping and serving humanity, helping and serving the poor, the oppressed, the vulnerable. And that's what we're doing through this program.
That's why something as small as a, uh, just a fresh set of clothing can have such a significant impact because research has shown us that when a woman receives something fresh and has that brand new smell to it, that brand new, um, gift behind it, it does something psychologically in their brain that makes them shift from their now and their, their situation to.
I actually can have a future. Wow. That looks different to what I'm in right now. Wow. All of that from a set of clothing, a set of clothing or a cup of water, we might say. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah. It really does have sort of. Echoes for all of eternity. Um, you are for women. I am for women, absolutely. Yeah, you are.
And so is, um, convoy of hope and love this city and our church. We love to partner with people. Yes. And it's a privilege for us as a, a community to partner with you guys and we are really looking forward to seeing where this partnership is continuing to grow and go as well. And can we share what love the city?
Yes. Son as well. Sure. So, so even um, at Christmas time, you, you gave the 5,000, which was a huge blessing, but, um. Like I said before, we can't, we weren't really prepared to open up on the Gold Coast and for Convoy of Hope, we will never start a project that we cannot sustain. Sustainability is such an important part to what we do and um, we have this saying that we say follow the miracle, and it was almost like God was just flooding these doors open for us to start here.
So we just kind of said yes. Strap in was like, okay, we know that God will make a way. And I was sharing with Ruth what was happening and then. I think you just messaged me like a day or two later and she says, well, we wanna be part of. What's happening here? So, love this city is gonna give another 5,000 to making sure that I know Jen.
It's amazing. So Rubina, um, is funded from Love This City. They're gonna be, they're in the process right now of, um, being completely set up for these women. So it's just absolutely incredible. We're so grateful. Oh, we're grateful as well for the opportunity and, um. I guess I wonder if you would just pray for us because, um, I just feel so strongly that.
God has got us all walking like these unique paths and he is placing us with people that, you know, Megan's gonna interact with people that I'm never gonna interact with and that goes across the board. And if we can all just approach every day with that sort of intentionality and a willingness to see.
A person and to listen and hear their story, and then allow God to use what's in your hand to bless them, even if it's just a cup of water to you, it might not seem much, but to them you could be a part of. Their God story, them understanding that there is a God in heaven who is for them and who loves them.
And I just think that that's an incredible privilege and um, I can imagine a community like that on the Gold Coast and beyond, where there is a body of people who are shining a light and making an incredible difference simply because they are willing to. Express their love for God by loving others. And so would you pray for us, Nancy, please?
That would be Thank you. Thank you, Jesus. That um, you are the Lord of justice. And Father, there is so many things in this world that just. Are terrible and things that shouldn't be happening. However, you see them, you see them in their darkness, you see them, um, exactly where they're at. And you've been so kind and generous to empower us to be able to be their light.
You've empowered us to, to have a heart to shift and change the circumstances around them. And Father, I just pray right now that you would just, um, breathe your spirit completely into us, Lord, that as we're going into our world, as we're going into our, our own, um, workplace. The shops, um, out when we are running our errands.
Father, would you open our eyes to see your people? Would you open our ears to hear the silent cries that are going on? Father, would you allow us to not be so distracted by what we are doing and, and the, maybe the phone in our hand, or the c our children around us, whatever it might be, but would you allow us to, um, just supernaturally.
See into the circumstances around us that we would be able to bring your life, that we would be able to bring your light, and that we would just have, um, godly wisdom behind every action that we do. Would you be in our tongue? Would you be in our actions? Would you be in, um, everything that we put our hand into?
Lord, let us have margin in our day to, to stop and do the works of your hands. Lord, and we just thank you so much for the heart of this church. We thank you for the heart of these people. Would you bless them and pour favor over them? We thank you so much, Lord, in your mighty name. Amen. Amen. Thank you Nancy.
Awesome. Would you give her a hand? Thanks Kev. Before you go, did you say that was, there was the one about the fruit and then was Oh yeah. Wasn't there another part to that? You told me one and I don't know who. Um, last week. Actually left a gift card in our letter box out the front. Um, and so I had that sitting there this week and was just trusting that God would have somebody in mind that that would be a blessing too.
And this lady, as she continued her story, said that it was her little boy's sixth birthday, um, tomorrow, and she didn't have anything for him. And so I said, well, somebody. In our community left a gift card trusting that God would know where to place that, and I think that person is you. Yeah. That cool. I think we mi we miss all the time, the miraculous things that are going on because we're looking for the big thing.
We're all looking for the big thing. And, and all these little things are happening. I remember at the start of the day, we think going, oh man, we got all this food. Now what are we gonna do, rah? And I didn't say anything, but I just sat, I thought, I wonder what that's gonna be all about. And I think if we can, if we can get to, even with things that we think are going wrong and mistakes, start to be a bit curious.
Why did that happen? What, well, why did I do that? I don't know. But, and then. It was amazing and I love, I love listening to Nancy and, and what Convoy's doing. You guys are amazing. You got a great husband there. Tommy too. When I see him, it's like looking in the mirror. Good looking guy. Hey, listen, we're gonna, I wanna do one more.
Portion of scripture, but those that are serving as communion this morning, could you just begin to distribute that? Uh, I want to talk about John chapter six just for a moment on this, because I feel like hearing people's stories is just so amazing and like I can't wait for you to hear Erin's whole story, like the way that she, that God got a hold of her.
It was quite miraculous and I, I guess you'll hear it soon. So, John, chapter six. Now for those of you that maybe dunno who John is, John was one of Jesus' disciples. He was one of the original 12. Uh, there were three that seemed to be a little bit more favorite. Uh. To Jesus in a circle. There was Peter, James, and John.
You'll notice that if you're reading Peter, James and John, Peter James and John. However, John had a little thing there that, uh, he was just to let everyone know, well, actually I was the one that Jesus loved. So he was, uh, he was definitely, uh, well connected with Jesus. And the backstory before we go into this, John chapter six, is, uh, Jesus has been doing something a little outrageous.
Uh, he suddenly started, his message has moved away from just the Jews. He's, he's starting to invite Samaritans into the equation. He's starting to engage them. This was very, very offensive to the Jews of the day. Jewish people felt like Samaritans were. A subhuman, they would refer to them as dogs. They had no appreciation.
So Jesus going into this, uh, was causing some major problems to the religious folk that were hanging out with him. Thank you, Jackie. Can you get that there? There we go. Right there. That's fine. Thank you so much. Jackie's amazing. She really is. She's normally dancing around the place. So anyway, what happens is that this causes major problem to the religious people.
Because it's like, what is he doing? And, and, uh, so what happens is that then he, they asked him questions 'cause he's also doing some miracles around the place. And they're inquisitive because what's he doing hanging on with Samaritans and now he's doing miracles. What is going on? And so Jesus tries to educate him a little bit to say what his connection to his heavenly father that did not go down with the Moses gang at all.
They did not, were not very happy about that. And so, uh, things became quite, uh. Aggressive for him, even to the point where they're throwing their scriptures out. They'll say they, they only with your Bible, the first five books is what the Jewish people use. They call it the Torah. And so, um, I. He actually says to me, he goes, listen, you guys search the scriptures diligently 'cause you think in them are alive, but hey, they're only there to point to me, but you won't come to me.
So he's, it's quite in a, it's, it's building up of intensity that's going on. And so what, what you got a situation is that the religious folk really don't, they're not really that keen on Jesus, but the common folk, they love him. And his, uh, his reputation is going before him and it's building, and the crowds are coming and they're coming in record numbers.
And this particular one, there's 5,000 men that have turned up, but if they've got women and children, it's probably, probably maybe 10 or 12,000 people and they've turned up and they're listening to Jesus. And then Jesus says something which we should all listen to, to another one of the disciples called Philip.
So Jesus saw the crowd coming toward him, and this is what he said to Philip.
Sorry, that's not the right one. There goes this ge. Jesus looked at the crowd toward him and said to Philip, where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat? Still not the right one. Okay, where would we find bread for these people to, where are we gonna go? So Sister Philip, come on. How, where are we gonna do this?
Where are we gonna get this from? I can imagine Philip's going, this is a big crowd and there's a lot of people here. And, uh, so he would've been thinking, I, I don't know. But then Jesus kinda like preempts and keeps going. He says to him, he goes this, he goes, he only asked this. John is recording this. So he is, he said to Philip, we are gonna get this to eat.
But John records down, he asked this only to test him.
For he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Tests are when God asks something unreasonable and impossible of you, and you go, I have no idea how this is gonna happen. No idea. And this is where we all fall over because God's whispering to some of you and he's whispering things and you're going, I have no idea that that is way too big, that Jesus, that is impossible for.
But if you could keep in mind when he makes the request, what he makes the request with Philip, he already had in mind how it was gonna go. It was just a test for Philip to see whether he would obediently step out in faith. It was just a test, and we gotta remember this. When God asked something of you, it's to test to see where your heart is, to see whether you can step out with him in faith, but you should relax 'cause it's not on you to get it done.
It's not on you to get it done. He's already got it in mind. He's just seeing whether you're gonna bring your little part. To the table anyway. Philip is freaking out and he just speaks the obvious too. Jesus said, well, it would take a half a year's wages just to give everyone a bite. Anyone a bite. And Simon, he just steps up and 'cause he's more practical, you know, doesn't more like a Trae like our Simon.
He goes, well, hang on, here's a little boy and he's got a few barley loaves. Two small fish. But how far will they go? Practical. Okay. Here's the little observation from Soaping. This thing out. 'cause to soap it out is to observe. Look into it, let it look into you, and then figure out how to apply it. There's a big crowd, over 5,000 plus people, and there's a little boy with a little lunchbox.
Nowhere else in this story. Is there an offering recorded? Like someone else didn't come up and say, I got this. I got that. Not just one little boy. See, 'cause Jesus always sees potential, but when he speaks, we always see impossibility. And then we also thinking back to last week, realize this is inconvenient.
This is gonna be inconvenient to do this. Listen, the miracle of the abundance of the feeding of all these people didn't happen with abundance. It happened with availability, just making yourself available. A little boy was willing to bring this little bit that he's got, and Jesus can supernaturally bless that to do a whole lot of miraculous things so everybody gets fed.
But it came from a test for Philip. Where are we gonna feed these people from? Ooh, I don't know. Could you be available? Could you bring your little bit? All these reflections this morning have been going in the same direction. I've been listening to them all. Going to just bring your little bit and when the thing feels impossible and you know, looks like there's no way, just remember, just remember.
All you have to do is bring you a little bit. He's not relying, it's not all on you to get the whole job done. He already knows how he's doing that. You've just gotta bring you a little bit, sometimes if I get my head in the wrong place and this, and I start to think about, Lord, do you wanna put, you know, when we wanna become one church in, in, with multiple expressions in multiple locations.
You, you and you wanna have like a junction point in some way, shape or form in every suburb to help people meet physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs. And you want it to be done through everyday ordinary people that just bring their little bit, I have no idea how he's gonna do this, but here's what we do as a team all the time, every day we step up and we bring our lunchbox.
Well, here's the lunchbox to go towards that. I guess you're figuring out whether it's gonna happen or how it's gonna happen. 'cause he's already got it in mind. If he delivered it to us 15 years ago, he's already got it in mind. And we've just gotta keep stepping up, bringing it, bring our time, bring our talents, bring our resources, bring the encouragement that we give to each other.
So the question you gotta ask yourself is what is holding you back? Is it thinking like. Well, that's way too big. I can't do that. That's too much to ask of me. It's just a test to see. I'm not telling you gotta do it. I'm just saying, do you have a heart for it? Do you have a heart for what I want to do? I mean, think about the people in the world that you see all the time.
Where's he asking you to step up? He's not asking you to do big, miraculous things, just spring the little bit that you've got.