John 5; John 6
Miracles Still Happen Today
Scripture
John 6
5 When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”
8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”
10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.
12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
Observation
The miracle called the feeding of the 5,000 really should be called the feeding of the 20,000. We know that there were 5,000 men that sat down on the grass, but we don’t know how many women and children were also with them. Jesus took a boy’s lunch consisting of two fish and five small barley loaves, he gave thanks for the food and He then distributed food to everyone that was seated on the grass. The people ate until they were full and then the disciples collected twelve baskets of leftovers.
I love this story. A miracle is when something happens in our lives that had to have Divine intervention. Only God could have fed 5,000-20,000 people using two fish and five loaves of barely. It was enough food for a boy’s lunch and yet in God’s hand that food could feed up to 20,000 people with plenty left over. It was an Act of God.
I believe that God wants to do a lot of miracles through His church. I know that He does lots of miraculous things in the churches in China, in parts of Africa, and in many other countries. Many of those churches because of severe persecution live totally dependent on God for their daily survival. They cry out to God and He hears them and He intervenes and shows them His Mighty Power.
Eight weeks ago today our church had the opportunity to cry out to God and ask Him to work a miracle in my life. From what Kathy and others tell me the halls of the hospital were lined up with people praying for me. My brother in law said that he saw men praying to God who were moved to tears and they were desperately crying out to God for God to save me. I am glad that God’s Holy Spirit moved so many people to pray for me. He wanted to do a miracle. He wanted to show His power and His glory. He wanted to answer their prayers.
In Pastor Bruce’s message yesterday he shared Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God.” The angel Gabriel told Mary this when she was told that she would have a baby (the Son of God) and yet she had never had sexual relations with any man. Because all of us face seemingly impossible situations this verse needs to be deeply embedded in our hearts so that when we face the impossible we can turn to our Heavenly Father who doesn’t even have that word in His vocabulary.
Application
I look forward to seeing God at work in 2012.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I love it when things happen in our lives where we can’t get any of the credit. I hope it happens a lot in 2012. I pray that things will happen in our church where only You will get the credit, only You will get the Glory. I pray that You would move powerfully within our church and I pray that Your Hand would continue to stay on our church. It is exciting to watch how You work. You are a Mighty God.
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