Zach Peters' Podcast
A place for sermons, reflections, and general pondering on life and stuff.
Zach Peters' Podcast
"Bring the Bread" Matthew 14:13-21
This episode centers around the miraculous feeding of 5,000 people and what we can learn from it today.
• The miracle of the five loaves and two fish
• The interplay between human limitations and divine resources
• Understanding compassion as a calling
• Encouragement to bring one's small offerings to God
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Well, good morning, welcome to the church, welcome to the sermon. I've been in this sermon for like five days. You guys are going to enjoy it for a couple of minutes and then be done with it. This is how it goes. I'm ready, I'm excited.
Speaker 1:I had a chance in college to go to a couple of places. Like I mentioned, I got to go to Guatemala. I got to go to Guatemala, I got to go to Ecuador and when I went to Ecuador, it was a medical mission trip. Medical mission trip and it was this cool thing we had doctors, nurses, optometrists, dentists and a pharmacist all come together and sort of oh, I was not ready for that. Oh, geez, I was 21-year-old Zach. I needed to give preference when I threw that up. You needed to ignore 21-year-old Zach and just focus on the grid, that's on the background. That'll make sense in a second. But I had a chance to go to Ecuador and during the day we split up into three teams and one team would go here. One team into three teams and one team would go here. One team would go here, one team would go here, and then at night we'd uh, cause it's part of a sort of church choir group that I went with and we we went to different churches and we learned like 15 Spanish songs and we had like Spanish pastors with us and we do a church service in Spanish. It was fun, it was great and lots of just basic medical needs were met and in one group they even saw a little boy who was blind not be blind by the time we left, which is a great thing, right, so great thing.
Speaker 1:But I was in one village I can't 100% be certain of this I believe the village name was Loreto. It's on the outside of Quito, in the mountains, very, very beautiful, quaint place, not a very big village, and when we were there we were sort of touring around with the pastor. We had a little bit of a break and the local pastor there sort of brought us around the village, just showing us little places. They had a soccer field with some bleachers, they had like a big open-air barn thing where they had events, and then they had a big open-air barn thing where they had events and then everyone had their little homes and there were some farms and then there was this little church and the church was the size of that conference room in there and it was just a cinder block room, it looked like a prison cell.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to lie to you, so when I say that we walk in here and even though it's not ours and even though you know, hopefully you don't have an iron deficiency or whatever, but the reality is we're blessed, right, we're blessed. And so you can throw that picture up there now if you want to, tara. But this picture, ignore that, please ignore that. But you'll see, right here I saw on the wall they had this big paper with these grids laid out on it. I thought, well, what's that all about? Because I can't read Spanish, obviously.
Speaker 1:And so the pastor basically said to the translator well, they're trying to raise money to expand the church because, at the point where they were, everybody in town with the church, which is great, but the church couldn't fit everybody. So on a pretty day, it's fine, they just open the windows and people will be propped up in the windows and people would be outside. They'd had the doors open and they just crank up the the av system and they just blast it. But on rainy days or bad weather days or whatever, they can't, they couldn't fit everybody in in church, and so they had been trying to for two years, two years, and actually I'm glad you can see at the top. For two years they've been trying to raise money and in two years' time you see the little different blocks up there. They had raised that amount of money and each one of these little blocks represented like a cinder block that they needed. Essentially it wasn't necessarily a cinder block, but it's like a set piece. It'd be like a square foot. They wanted to add this much square footage. They knew how much the square footage would cost and you could sponsor a block, right. You give I think it was like it may have been $25 per block, something like that and in two years they could only manage to get. What is that? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, seven blocks in two years, because it's in the middle of nowhere and because it's South America, because it's a village and the people? They may have had food they weren't starving, right, but they certainly didn't have any access cash to go along to this project.
Speaker 1:And for the life of me, you can please take off the page now. For the life of me, I could not, could not stop thinking about this grid. I could not stop there. We went home, we were going to go back to the village the next day. We went back to the little complex we were staying and it was just in my head, could not get out of my head, and so I had raised extra money for the strip, for whatever reason. God's always blessed me. Whenever I raise money for something, I always have extra. And so I had this extra and it's like, well, okay, this works, I can get a couple of blocks taken care of, but that's a lot of blocks, a lot of blocks, okay. And so I wanted to do more, but my resources said I couldn't do more, and so, to make a long story short, I made some phone calls, I talked to the group and we ended up by the time we left, we ended up getting that thing more than three-fourths done for them. So in two years they got like seven blocks. And then when we left, by the grace of God, we were able and just a bunch of college students, really a couple of doctors we were able to get that thing down almost to nothing.
Speaker 1:Okay, here's the thing Saw a need impossible to ignore. The need, understood that I did not have the resources to really do what I wanted to do, but I did it anyways. It can be incredibly overwhelming to look out in life forever and see a need, see something that has to get done, and know that you do not have what it takes to do what you need to do. And I'm sure you've all been there before In the same vein of thought, maybe less practical. But maybe you're looking at sort of a spiritual need. You know this person needs a healing or, more importantly, you know this person needs to be connected with Jesus. And you're looking at your resources and you're thinking I don't got the personality for that, I don't got the knowledge for that, I don't have the opportunity to do that. I'm just not in a place where I've got the mental, emotional resources to help this person get connected to the hope of Jesus Christ, like I know that they desperately need. I'm going to tell you, even as a pastor, I struggle with that sometimes. I'm sure at some point in your life you have struggled with that as well.
Speaker 1:Not surprisingly, the Bible has something to say about this entire process Because while technology has changed, things changed, cultures changed people, humans, us, we are still relatively exactly the same as the people 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 years ago. We still have the same hopes, fears, dreams, desires when you boil it down to a very basic level. And so it's not surprising that the same God who provided for the people who were struggling 2,000 years ago is the same God that we serve today. He's still providing, he's still the master of all resources. We can either get overwhelmed by the need or we can take it to God and see what he will do with it. You guys ready? I put in parentheses here oh, come on, because that should have been better. Are you guys ready? I knew it, I knew. I knew when I wrote this down, I wrote my notes. I put in parentheses oh, come on, right, because I just knew, I knew it. All right, we're ready to go.
Speaker 1:Matthew, chapter 14, verses 13 through 21. You've heard this story before Now. When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns, and when he went ashore and saw a great crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said this is a desolate place and the day is now over. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said they need not go away, you give them something to eat. And they said to him we only have five loaves here and two fish. And he said to him and they took up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces of leftover and those who ate were about 5,000 men, besides the women and the children. Right, this is a scripture. This is the only miracle that's recorded in all four Gospels outside of the crucifixion and resurrection. Right, so this is in every single Gospel and every Gospel tells the basic same story but adds some extra details here. We'll talk about some of those in a second.
Speaker 1:But this was an isolated, desolate place. Jesus was trying to get away. Jesus was exhausted. Jesus was done ministering because it's probably exhausting talking and healing and doing this nonstop. And he's trying to get away. The people find out he's trying to get away. They follow him and this ends up being the scene to this massive miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, which you've all probably heard before very early on in your life.
Speaker 1:But after this day of traveling and appealing and preaching Jesus' disciples approach him with a logical problem. Logical problem Jesus's disciples approach him with a logical problem. Logical problem there's too many people, not enough time and absolutely no food, and so they want to send them into the villages, which would have presented their own problem, because it's not like they had Publix or Kroger's anyways. But the disciples are trying to be proactive here, they're trying to be practical here. They don't want these people starving. But Jesus has compassion, just like he had compassion on them to heal them in the first place. And he turns to the disciples and say you feed them, you solve the problem, you be the solution. Jesus is showing them and us the importance of compassion for the needs of the people, which is our sort of first focus area today.
Speaker 1:That little, this might be one of the easiest things I've ever said, from a stage that I know for a fact that nobody's going to ever give me pushback for this. But as Christians we are called to care for people's practical needs, not their wants, but their needs, right? I could ask that question to any number of people. They're not going to say no to that. I could ask an atheist should we care for people's needs? They're going to say yes. I could ask a Muslim they're going to say yes.
Speaker 1:Hindu, whatever, rastafarian, pastafarian, which is a made-up funny thing. You know what I'm talking about, brady Pastafarian. They worship the flying spaghetti monster. It is true, it started off fake and now people really do that. Interesting. Anyway, you could ask them should we take care of people's needs? Should people be hungry? No, no, they're going to say that, matter of fact, we know from experience that, as a church, one of the only things that the world will pat us on the back for is the fact that we, as a group of believers, have done so much to feed people and clothe people and educate people. They thank us for that. Now we tell them we do it for a specific reason. His name is Jesus. I don't care about that, but thank you so much for this.
Speaker 1:Now, all that being said, if having kids has taught me anything, it's taught me that we can know it's right to take care of people. We can know that we got to take care of people's needs, but it doesn't mean we're going to do it right. My kids know they shouldn't do certain things. They'll even apologize after doing them, but they still did their own thing. And so, no matter what you might feel in your heart or no matter what you say with your mouth, the reality is we are called to take care of needs, but it is not easy. It's not easy, okay.
Speaker 1:Do we really want that responsibility? Do we really want to be burdened and bothered with that? Do we really have the? Okay, do we really want that responsibility? Do we really want to be burdened and bothered with that? Do we really have the resources? Do we really have the time? And then, not just do we really have the time, but do we actually have any extra time? Right, I know, life is busy. Do we actually have any extra resources? Okay, because sometimes I ain't got no extra resources, okay, and so I know it's tough to fulfill this calling that we have. But Jesus had compassion, so should we.
Speaker 1:Maybe the reason why we struggle with taking action, with what we know to do is it's not a motivation problem. We want to do it. We see the need. We desperately want to step in there and do something. We see the need, we desperately want to step in there and do something. But maybe there are very real practical problems standing in the way of us doing what God has called us to do For the disciples.
Speaker 1:They can't find any food right. They're scrounging up five loaves and two fish, which is just bread about the size of a hamburger bun and some pickled or dried fish. That was their lunchable. We can go back and read in some records that this was a common thing. They'd wrap it up in some linen, put it in a small basket and they'd pull it open whenever it was time to eat and they'd eat it for lunch. So one person here had some lunch. 5,000 people plus here had some lunch. That's all they could find, all they could find, all they could get, and it's clearly not enough. Not enough.
Speaker 1:The season is spring, so there's plenty of water around. It's the rainy season and the grasses are green because there's rain. Jesus directs the crowd to sit down and get organized. Then he takes the fish, he takes the bread, he gives thanks, hold on to that, and then he breaks the bread and then the miracle sort of happens. Jesus does not bless the bread. He wasn't saying God bless this food, make it nourishing to my bodies. That's not what's happening here. But he blesses God for what is about to happen. He blesses God for the miracle that he's about to provide. Jesus turns to God basically and says God, you are awesome, thank you for how awesome you are. That word blessing here is not like the blessing we might think of In this instance. It's not necessarily a good translation, but blessing means to give honor and to praise. He wasn't giving honor to the bread, he wasn't praising the bread, he's praising God.
Speaker 1:Before there was a miracle, there was worship. Before there was provision, there was worship In your life. Whenever you're facing a resource problem and again I don't want this to diverge into sort of prosperity gospel stuff, but whenever you are looking at something that you can't handle, you can't do, maybe a good place to start is worship Worship. Worship before God does something, worship before there's a solution. Worship before there's an answer, worship whenever there doesn't seem like there can be an answer. Worship, worship.
Speaker 1:This sort of seems maybe a little bit like a Passover part of the story, this blessing, but it teaches us a little something. This prayer is a. It sort of recognizes where the blessing comes from. We are all gifted with the ability. We're all gifted with the opportunity to work hard, to be excellent and to be rewarded for that excellence. We live in a place where it's still possible to do something for yourself and that's a gift and that's awesome and those are certainly blessings. But never forget how we got to those blessings in the first place. It came from somewhere. Never forget where every good thing you've ever experienced in your life comes from, comes from somewhere. Sure, you worked for it, you earned it, you had to do stuff for it, you were part of the process, but hopefully we have enough humility to understand and recognize the role God plays in enabling us to have blessings, have resources and to do things that we want to do.
Speaker 1:This is a moment of worship. This is a recognition of where our resources come from. This is Jesus himself recognizing it. I think we ought to recognize it too In the process of doing what Jesus has commanded us to do. It's a little different for everybody in this room, but that process of figuring that out, there should always be worship in that process. Your life has to be a life of worship. We've touched on this a couple of times but your life has to be a life of worship, a life of appreciation, a life of gratitude. If we do that and we start walking in our purpose and walking in our calling and doing the things that God maybe has asked you to do, and even, as a church, what God has asked us to do, if we start with worship and include worship. I guarantee you we're going to have the resources we need to get things done.
Speaker 1:Amen, matthew, again, he's the only evangelist who notes, and again, every gospel story about this particular miracle is slightly different. In this particular one, matthew notes that it's only the men who are counted, right, so we say he fed the 5,000, but that's not including the women and the children. Some people estimate that it could have been closer to 10,000 people, like if every man had like a kid with him, or every man had a wife with him. That's close to 10,000 people, and so I know the disciples are trying to be practical here, but to send this crowd away to the surrounding villages would not have been enough. Right, that was more than the population of most places in that region.
Speaker 1:In that area they're out in the middle of nowhere, and so, while there were some villages around, you're talking 200, 300, 400 people, and then you've got five to ten thousand people here, and and so I just think it's interesting, and so they're out in the wilderness. They don't have the resources to do something. Praise god. And the total number. This is good, it's alright, anyways. Total number of people, this big group of Israelites out in the wilderness didn't have the resources and then they magically, miraculously get. I guess to them it might as well have been magic, right, they don't understand and they receive food. This sort of reminds me of something back in the Old Testament, whenever the children of Israel have left Egypt and they're wandering in the wilderness and they don't have resources and Moses basically prays God give us some food. And God provides food for the children of Israel.
Speaker 1:There's some symmetry here. Okay, and that matters, because many Jews expected the Messiah whoever the Messiah was going to be that he would have to do certain things, and one of the things that he would do is to show up, to show up in Passover season, in the spring, and repeat the miracles found in the Old Testament, including feeding people right. So there's this connection here to this Old Testament expectation of a Messiah doing something. And the people in the scripture get so excited, john tells us, they rush forward, they try to grab him and try to make him king on the spot. That's how excited they are, that's how connected they are to the Old Testament and this expectation that the Messiah was going to meet their practical, physical need in a very real way, and they're rushing for him to try to grab him. Jesus slips away and he goes away right, because they're so focused on the physical need, they're so focused on the food right, that they miss the actual message of Jesus. They're so focused on the miracle, they're so focused on the bread, they're missing what he's actually saying. And so Jesus leaves the crowd and he spends time with the people who aren't so focused on the miracle, but they're starting to comprehend the message that he's been preaching, which is salvation and the coming of the kingdom of God. Jesus is more than physical miracles. He is.
Speaker 1:The crowd had a hard time understanding that the miracles were just a side effect of his presence. The miracles are just the back cover of the book that is Jesus. It's a part of the book, it's a useful part of the book, but it's not the meat of the book. The chance at salvation, the chance at a brand new existence, a new heaven, new earth, all of that stuff which Jesus was, that was the miracle. That was what Jesus was preaching about. That was what Jesus came for, and it was more valuable than the food. It was even more valuable than the healings. It was his message. It was his message.
Speaker 1:Don't mistake what I'm saying. The miracles are great. And don't mistake what Jesus is doing here. He had compassion on them. He wanted to feed them, he wanted to take care of their physical needs, even though he probably knew it wasn't going to produce the spiritual results that he wanted to produce. But he did it anyways, out of love and compassion which, by the way, is a good lesson for us to learn as well, because the world will take our generosity but they won't accept Jesus. Does that mean we stop being generous? No, because it's not about what we get in return. It's about the fact that we are called to do something and we do it out of obedience and love. This also highlights another problem.
Speaker 1:There are people who follow Jesus for a chance at a show, for entertainment, for a miracle, for food. We see it all throughout the Gospels and we see it today. In churches all around the world, in groups all around the world. People show up. What can I get from this? Is this going to make me happy? Are they going to play my style of music? Can I sit in my chair? Are they going to have good events for my kid? Blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm not saying those things don't matter. Your personal preference matters, but if we're not careful, we get into a mode of church where it's all about us and all about what we get from it, and not about what it's really all about. Of course, there are people who see more than the physical. They see more than what I want and what I get. We'll get to them in a moment.
Speaker 1:But the crowd is cheering, the crowd is exhilarated, the crowd is losing their minds because this Jesus guy has performed this crazy, awesome miracle and they are so exhilarated and excited that they are attempting to make him king on the spot. All right, take over now, take care of Rome now, build us back up into a nation right now. And then, a couple of weeks later, literally a couple of weeks later, that same crowd, many of the same crowd, are standing outside Pilate's not the gas station. It's a joke, you can laugh later, but they stand outside Pilate's residence and they're screaming crucify him, crucify him, crucify him. Same crowd Three weeks before. Make him king. Three weeks later, kill him. The crowd missed the point. The crowd was so fixated on the physical, they were so fixated on the miracles that they missed the message that Jesus was preaching. And if they would have understood the message. They would not have been part of the crowd that was crying for his crucifixion.
Speaker 1:Are we here as Christians just to feel good? Are we connected and trying to be a part of the church and trying to be a part of a relationship with Jesus out of some sort of obligation that we might feel, or do we recognize the opportunity that we have been given in Jesus? There's real focus on miracles all throughout church history in various denominations. Some denominations get so tired of the miracles and all the stuff that goes along with them that they don't even believe them anymore. We certainly do believe in them. Why wouldn't we? They're all throughout the Bible and they're awesome. But let's not stay so fixated on the miracles and the wild and the things like that that we forget the real miracle, which is the fact that we have salvation. Again, not saying miracles aren't the thing that we should. We should pray for stuff, we should believe for stuff, but never get so wrapped up in what you're praying for that might be considered something supernatural that you forget that you're walking in the supernatural ability to have a connection to God when you don't deserve it. So next time you pray for something and you need a miracle and it doesn't happen. Don't be so discouraged. Remember that you're walking in them every day. We just don't do a good job of recognizing it.
Speaker 1:The crowd was fixated on the physical, they were fixated on the miracle and they missed Jesus, who was right there in front of them.
Speaker 1:The feeding of the 5,000 also has a different lesson for the disciples, who were having a very different experience than the crowd. Right, there's Jesus, there's the disciples. There's the crowd. Right there's Jesus, there's the disciples. There's the crowd.
Speaker 1:And the disciples were living a different lesson in this sermon. Right, they see the size of the crowd, they see the need, they see the practical realities surrounding them and they see the smallness of the human resources available to them. And they basically have to receive a series of reality checks. Number one they see a need, and then Jesus reality checks them and says you're responsible for the need. That's a reality check. Reality check number two we don't have the resources to do anything about it. And then there's a reality check. God does Reality check.
Speaker 1:I can't do this, there's no way we can feed these people, and then, a few minutes later, they're still saying that we can't do this, but they are experiencing. God can do this. God can do this right. We don't have to believe we can do it. We don't have to believe that we're going to scrounge up the resources. What we got to believe is that God can. God can Take the weight off your own shoulders for meeting the needs of the people in front of you and around you and recognize that we are connected to the God of all resources.
Speaker 1:Again, I ain't talking about prosperity gospel. I'm talking about the fact that he wants to get work done. He wants to use you, he wants to use this church. The disciples have to learn to see, like Jesus sees and jesus recognizes, the size of the need, while also understanding the greatness of god's resources for the need. God's got it. God's got it. Where's the practical need, the spiritual need and everything in between? God has got the resources to handle it. The responsibility to feed the crowd was placed on the disciples' shoulders. There's a survey of resources and, surprise, they don't got the resources. They don't have what it takes. Jesus is telling them to do something, and they're looking at what Jesus is telling them to do, and they don't have what it takes. Jesus is telling them to do something and they're looking at what Jesus is telling them to do and they don't have what it takes.
Speaker 1:This relates to us as a church in several ways. First, as a church, we have a mission as we've already talked about to care for the needs of the people. And I don't know if you've noticed recently, but there's a lot of needs out there. Go drive through some underpasses in Atlanta. There's some needs right. Go drive through some places. Even around here there's some needs. Okay, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're a little church plant and we don't necessarily have the resources to take care of the stuff that God has called us to do. Secondly, not only are we called to care for the practical, physical needs of the people right we are also called, probably to even greater extent, to meet the spiritual needs of the people around us. And, once again, I don't know if you've noticed, but there's some spiritual needs out there.
Speaker 1:It's a pretty broken and perverse place that we live in. The needs are large and I don't know if you've noticed I don't know if you noticed, but again, we're a church plant and it might seem like we don't necessarily have the resources to make connections with people who need what we've got in here. We don't got a nice sign. We don't have a nice multipurpose building where we can have community events and have programs for kids. We don't have a nice multi-purpose building where we can have community events and have programs for kids. We don't have a massive advertising budget. We don't necessarily have connections to the community like we do. Yet, okay, we don't have a lot of stuff we don't and, to be honest with you, that can be frustrating, that can be a little disheartening. If you're a pastor, I'm sure it might be disheartening for you because we all know we're called to do this stuff but we are in a position where it doesn't look like we have what it takes to do it.
Speaker 1:Thirdly, this gets a little more personal, but we can take everything we just said about the church. We can take everything we just said about the corporate structure and nature of what we are doing and apply it to your life individually, on a very individual level. You've got the same obligations and responsibility as the church. God, I know I'm supposed to help people, but I can hardly help myself. God, I know you're calling me to help this person, to know you and to get closer to you, but I don't got the knowledge. I don't got the personality. I don't have the ability to do that. I'm lacking wisdom. I'm lacking a biblical education. I'm lacking boldness. I'm lacking opportunity. I'm lacking fill in the blank. I can't do this. God, You've told me to do this, you've led me to do this. I You've told me to do this. You've led me to do this. I can't do it. Can't do it.
Speaker 1:And so we searched the cupboard when was the last time you heard that word? Before the cupboard? We searched the cupboard, we searched the drawers and we're looking for food, and all we find is some saltine crackers and some sardines. If my mom was here, she'd say that's delicious, and I would tell her that ain't right. She'd say that's delicious and I would tell her that ain't right, that ain't enough, that ain't a meal.
Speaker 1:And so we're just trying to do what God's telling us to do, but all we got is this little mess. I don't got enough to do that. I'm not enough. I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not a good enough Christian. I don't got enough money. I don't have enough time. I'm all messed up. I've got these bad habits. I've got this sickness. I'm in pain. I'm divorced. I'm depressed. I'm overcome in guilt. I'm overcome in anxiety. I'm too busy. I'm this, I'm that, I don't have what it takes.
Speaker 1:To which Jesus says bring it. Bring it what you do have. Bring it. You've got a little bit of time. Bring it. You've got one minute of prayer instead of an hour of prayer. Bring it. There's a $5,000 need and you've got $5, bring it. You've got enough boldness to know that you need more boldness. Bring what you do have. Bring what you do have to God and watch what he will do with the little that you can scrounge up.
Speaker 1:It's not about our ability. It's not about our talents. It's not about our gifts. It's not about how we feel. It's not about our bank account. It's not about how socially aware that we are. It's not about any of that stuff. It's about our willingness to take what we do have to him and watch him do spectacular and amazing things. Bring the loaves, bring the fish. It might seem insignificant, but God will multiply it. He makes an entire sort of lifestyle out of multiplying the things that you don't expect him to multiply. He does it. Rahab was a prostitute, but he used her Right. David was the youngest, forgotten out in the field, but he used him. Okay, god makes a very long habit of using the small, insignificant stuff to do amazing things. Don't count yourself out. Don't put yourself in a position where you don't think that you have what it takes to do something. You do, you do. Bring the loaves, bring the fish. I'm almost finished.
Speaker 1:If you walk away from anything today, you need to know two things you have a calling. You have a calling and your calling doesn't have to be spectacular. You don't got to be some epic, I don't know crazy missionary, some crazy preacher. You don't got to be Billy Graham, you don't have to be a crusader or anything like that, but you do have a calling and that calling might be uncomfortable sometimes. And the second thing you've got to know is as uncomfortable and as insecure as you might be in the calling that god has placed in your life is to understand that god has the tools for you to get the job done right.
Speaker 1:I had a. I had a friend in clayton, ge, georgia, where I used to live, and I knew, I knew if I ever needed to do anything and get anything done. I knew for sure he had all the tools, plus some, for me to get the job done, and so I didn't have to worry about owning something, I didn't have to worry about this or that. I knew where to go to get a job done. You've got a job to do and we know where to go to get the job done. That's the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the last. He's our creator, he's our savior, he is everything to us and we are offered the opportunity to worship him and for to be connected to him so that we can accomplish everything God wants us to accomplish, big and small. Amen.
Speaker 1:Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you're good, you're great. Lord, we love you. We love you. And, lord, in this moment, and Lord, in this moment, I simply pray that it would be ingrained into our head that we are enough whenever we have you, however small or insignificant that we might feel, if we bring ourselves to you, you can multiply it. However big, the need is in front of us, you have the resources.
Speaker 1:Let us not be overcome with fear. Let us not be overcome with insignificance, let us not be overcome with doubt or anxiety. But, lord, let us be bold in knowing that if we can scrounge up something, you can use it. We don't have to have the answers or the solution. We have to trust in the answer and the solution, which is you, lord. Lord, if there's anyone in this place struggling with self-doubt, I pray right now, in the name of Jesus, that your Holy Spirit would encourage them, connect them with confidence in you, lord, not confidence in themselves, but confidence in who you are inside of them. Lord, in Jesus' mighty and marvelous name, we pray and we all said Amen.