God’s Specialty: Impossibilities │ Msg 1/14

0:25 Then at the right time he became human and made his home among us. So we read in John 1.14. In chapters 2 through 5, Jesus, the God-man, demonstrated his deity by turning water into wine, declaring his mission to save the world, healing a lame man, and also proving his divine authority to the Pharisees. And now we come today to chapter 6. By this time, Jesus' ministry was in full swing. People were pouring out of the villages when he came near, running to see him like hungry children sprinting to supper. They held out their hands to receive his healing touch, and they gathered in large crowds to feed on his teaching.

1:22 However, did they see Jesus for who he really was? Did even his disciples recognize him as the all-powerful God for whom nothing is impossible? The answer, quite simply, is no. They did not grasp his deity yet. Their lack of understanding became clear when the disciples were tested by back-to-back impossibilities. How to feed over 5,000 people with just five loaves and two fish. And how to cross an uncrossable sea against a gale-force wind in the middle of a storm. Sooner or later, like the disciples, you'll face a test that human reason declares impossible. You may be in one of those right now.

2:22 If so, I'm confident this message is just what you need to strengthen your faith in our Savior, who specializes in solving impossibilities. With your Bibles open, please join me as I read John's words from chapter 6, verses 1-15. Again, John 6, verses 1-15. And then locate Mark 6, verse 45, and I'll read verses 45-52 as we read the account of Jesus walking on the water from that passage. I'll give you a moment to find both. John 6, verse 1, and then Mark 6, verse 45, where you'll put your finger as we turn back to John 6, 1 to 15.

3:21 And remember, I'll be reading from the New Living Translation. After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him. It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration. Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, Where can we buy bread to feed all these people? He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. Philip replied, Even if we worked for months, we wouldn't have enough money to feed them.

4:22 Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish, but what good is that with this huge crowd? Tell everyone to sit down, Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. The men alone numbered about five thousand. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward, he did the same with the fish, and they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted. So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.

5:26 When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, Surely he is the prophet we have been expecting. When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself. And now, let's look at Mark 6, 45-52. Follow along as I read. Mark 6, 45. Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida. while he sent the people home. After telling everyone goodbye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake and Jesus was alone on land.

6:25 He saw that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About three o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. He intended to go past them, but when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they saw him. But Jesus spoke to them at once. Don't be afraid, he said. Take courage. I am here. Then he climbed into the boat and the wind stopped. They were totally amazed, for they still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves. Their hearts were too hard to take it in.

7:23 There are times when we turn on our radio and the disc jockey will say something like, and now I want to dedicate the next song you will hear to so-and-so. This morning I feel like beginning the message like that, except I don't know who the so-and-sos are. I don't know who really under God is the recipient of this message, but I know that some of you are.

7:56 I rather suspect that it is not the majority but a select few of you who need to hear what God is going to say to you today. I feel that in a very definite way. I believe God not only leads a pastor to know upon what to preach, but he leads a certain group of people to hear what a particular Sunday morning message is all about. And so it is to you that I wish to dedicate the message you're about to hear. I want to talk about the subject of facing impossibilities. And so I wish to dedicate the message this morning to you that are indeed, at this very moment, facing a situation that is clearly impossible for you to handle.

9:05 Webster tells us that an impossibility is this, something that is insuperably difficult, hopeless, extremely undesirable, incapable of being dealt with. there are a select number of you that face a situation this very moment that is insuperably difficult, hopeless,

9:46 incapable of being dealt with by you. Now, I've left room on the insert that came in your bulletin for you to fill in the blank. that is, for your own sake. Now, some of you are sitting dangerously close to the fellow next to you, and you might want to abbreviate instead of writing out your impossible situation, but nevertheless, I want you to put something down if, indeed, you're facing a situation that is desperately difficult right now. Now, you may wish to just put down the abbreviation or a couple or three letters because I want you, through this message, not to give that great attention just to the disciples' predicament, but I want you to focus on your predicament.

10:48 It may relate to something that has suddenly happened, abruptly, almost overnight, or perhaps it is the result of months, even years. The evolution of time has caused it now to become unbearable. It might be that it's your fault or maybe you are virtually innocent, but it's now impossible. Maybe it relates to your home. It may relate to your romantic life. It may definitely relate to finances or to your business. But for some of you this morning, there is an incredibly insuperable, difficult situation that you cannot handle. Now, with that as a beginning, I would like for you simply to bow your heads with everyone else.

11:46 Let's bow together. you need not close your eyes if you can keep your mind on four verses I want to read to you Don't turn, just listen. Don't argue. Don't answer back. Try not to doubt. Just listen.

12:12 Ah, Lord God, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you. And again, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me? A third verse. For nothing will be impossible with God. A fourth. Jesus said, The things impossible with men are possible with God. Our Father, we pray that you might in a very direct, specific manner address our attention to that which seems impossible to us and is, in fact.

13:29 but poses no problem to you. may we absorb what you have for us to grasp, and then may we leave, not on a cloud of emotion, but with a very firm conviction that with you there is no impossibility. We ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. From those four verses, two from Jeremiah, two from Luke, we're able to come up with two conclusions regarding God and impossibilities. First, his power is unlimited.

14:25 Second, his provision is unconditional. I don't even want you to question those two thoughts. With God, his power is unlimited. There is no such thing as mixing omnipotence and impossibility. They never go together. And the second factor is his provision is unconditional.

15:02 Did you hear the words repeated as you had your heads bowed? everything, all things, anything. And that means your thing. That includes the very thing you have either written down or thought of as the impossible area that you are now facing. One sage wrote, we are all faced with a series of great opportunities, brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems. Isn't that good? That's the motto the disciples needed to claim that day they were with the Lord, in which they entertained an impossible situation.

15:59 John chapter 6, the first several verses. The great opportunity that faced them was different than the one you're facing, but the principles are the same. The passage begins with those familiar words in the New Testament After these things The first four verses give us a setting for the impossibility After what things, the intelligent reader would ask What were the things that set the stage for this situation? Well, to begin with, the disciples had just finished their first preaching experience. And you have to be a preacher to appreciate the time following your first preaching experience. It's terribly depressing.

16:57 You feel you will never be able to stand before an audience again. This was their experience. They went, they came upon situations they were not prepared to face, and so when they came back, they were humbled, they were fatigued, they were weary. They were impressed with one thing. They were not called to preach the gospel. I'm convinced that was in most of their minds. They had failed, and so they wanted one thing, to get away from the crowd and to be alone with the Lord.

17:37 But after these things includes something else. It includes the growing number of people that were following Jesus. By this time, there were literally thousands of onlookers, in many cases just curiosity seekers. They weren't coming to have their needs met spiritually. They were looking for a show. They were following a circus. In fact, the verse tells us in the second verse that they were seeing signs which he had done, and that's why they were following. The verse says it was a great multitude. It numbered in the thousands.

18:17 Another factor that loomed large in the mind of the disciples is that Passover was near. We don't observe Passover in our Gentile society, but in those days it would be compared to a Mardi Gras at New Orleans today. It was a festive occasion. It wasn't all deeply spiritual. In fact, ashamedly so, very little of it was by that time. It was a massive press of people, multiplied thousands of them that filled the streets of Jerusalem for a period of time and the disciples had that ahead of them. So they were tired. They were weary. They wanted to be alone with Jesus. Have you ever had an experience like that? You have been with people, been with people, been with people, worked, carried on, done all you could do, and finally you had a little reprieve.

19:16 Just a little time to be alone. Don't you remember how you longed for it and how it came as a fresh breath of air? Just a cool drink in the middle of the desert. That's what was facing them. And so Jesus graciously went up to the mountain, verse 3 tells us, and he sat with his disciples. If you study it geographically, you find that they weaved their way up some four miles from the place where the crowds had been. So he got a pretty good distance away from the crowd. He got alone with his men, and I am convinced those disciples reclined near him and thought, Oh, this is what we need. And then abruptly the scene changes. A great opportunity presents itself that came in the form of an unsolvable problem. It was fast.

20:16 Look at verse 5. Jesus lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him. Now that was their opportunity. Now, there are two ways to view great opportunities. One is humanly, which we normally do. The other is from God's perspective, divinely, which we ought to do. I want to show you both of them in a brief span of time. First, humanly speaking, the crowd was large. Verse 10 tells us that the number was about 5,000. Matthew adds, besides women and children.

21:10 So I would suppose it would range between 8, 9, 10,000 people. you see they had gotten away from the crowd but the crowd hadn't gotten away from them they watched where those men went and they followed them and up they came toward that place where Jesus and his men were resting I want you to picture that and it was sudden it was unexpected life is filled with little unexpected sudden interruptions the horners experienced that when they woke up one morning and found a bug in their swimming pool now you might say what's so big about a bug in your swimming pool happens to me all the time not like that i have the joy of telling you an incredible story that happened abruptly without any plan on anybody's part. Two young fellows were joyriding late one night in a stolen car, 14-year-old fellows without a driver's license. They were driving a Volkswagen.

22:25 It sped around the corner trying to straighten out a 90-degree corner, and they couldn't. And so they chose to take a portion of the Horner's fence in the backyard and slid across the yard into the swimming pool. The Volkswagen, no longer on the highway, was now submerged in the swimming pool. The father of the family was inside and thought he heard something. He peeked out through the drapes and saw the lights on. He thought, I've left the lights on in the swimming pool. I'm glad I looked. he really was seeing were the headlights of the bug in their pool that particular night.

23:23 And a few moments later, a knock came at the door, and two fellows, very happy to still be alive, knocked on the door and said, our bug is in your pool. So the television cameras were out there as the crane came and lifted up the bug and pulled it out of their pool. Now, the tendency on the part of any of us with any kind of bug in our swimming pool is to say, why? Or why this? Or why now? Or why me? Why not the guy next door? I'm walking with God. He's not. Put the bug in his pool, not my pool. But God doesn't design it that way. He knows whose pools need bugs. He knows the kind of tests you need far better than you know.

24:26 You designed the tests that you could handle. God designs the tests you can handle. And he brings them upon us swiftly. The disciples were all ready for an afternoon of rest and fun and delight. But not God. he had it all arranged. Now from a divine perspective I love the way this verse reads. Verse 5 Jesus seeing that a great multitude was coming to him said to Philip such and such. Before we look at what he said look at why he said it. Verse 6 Jesus said this to Philip to test him. Now wait a minute.

25:19 Don't misread that. It doesn't say to mock him. Jesus did not design this to put Philip down or to embarrass him in front of the 11 fellows that were around him, his peers. I would like to use the word stretch. I think it applies. Jesus said this to Philip to stretch him. He wanted to develop a part of Philip's faith that was not yet developed. God never wastes tests on people. He designed certain kinds of tests for certain people. You might say, how come I keep getting the same kind of test? Because you haven't learned. The lesson is the only answer I know.

26:13 Philip was pinpointed by Jesus and asked a specific question because that question was designed to stretch him. You see, divinely, impossible situations come as a basis for testing. And so the ideal response is, Lord, you know better than I why I'm in the midst of this. please develop all that is in me to be developed so I can handle this from your perspective. But there's more. Look at the last part of verse 6. For he himself, that's Jesus, knew what he was intending to do. I have that underlined in my Bible.

27:07 Jesus knew all along what he was going to do. even before it happened Jesus knew what he was going to do so when it happened it was a perfect opportunity to carry out his plan he does that with us with the thing you initialed or you wrote down on your sheet of paper that's part of his basis for test because he knows what he's going to do it's incredible to me it's amazing how some people live in the throes of worry just live in the realm of worry and often it's because of the unknown early in the the summer we dedicated to the lord a whole row of young people who were going to the mission field some of you will remember that that morning in which I think 10, 11, 12 of them, forget how many now, but they are beginning to straggle back little by little how they were planning on the ministry for the summer. And some of them were inexperienced. Most of them were. And I asked them, look, ahead of time, I'd like to have all of you come into my office and let's talk together. I've got some questions.

28:23 I'd like to interview you. Well, to my surprise, that frightened one of them to death. The reason I know it is because the Monday or Tuesday after that Sunday meeting, Cynthia and I were talking together in my study, my wife and I, and she looked over and with me we found eight fingernails and two thumbnails right at the foot of a chair where one of the young people had sat. I would love to know which one it was, but I couldn't remember. There they were, all eight fingernails, perfectly peeled from the end of the finger and thumbnails right down there. And I think to myself, that is the way we are. When we face an uncertain situation that has a measure of threat, boy, off they come. We rip them off one after another.

29:16 God has no fingernails at the base of his throne. He has never come to a place where he thought, man, I don't know how I'm going to handle that situation. Now we get to that place and that's great. That's the very first place to start learning is to admit your ignorance. Not us. Oh, wow. We've got 35 different routines we go through before we say, Lord, I'm flat on my face. I can't do anything else. It's your move. And God patiently waits till we come to that place. He knows what he's going to do. He's not biting his nails over our situation.

29:59 But Philip didn't know. And so the test began. God gave him the exam and it came in the form of one question, which was a simple question. The answer was implied. Look at the question, verse 5. Philip, where are we to buy bread that these may eat?

30:27 And that's not a very difficult question, is it? What's it asking? Where do we go, Philip, to find sufficiency to meet the needs of this crowd? the question is where, right? Safeway, 7-Eleven, your supply, the tent where we have the supplies, where are we going to go, Philip? But that's not the question that was answered. Look at this. Philip answered, verse 7, and said to the Lord, 200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them for everyone to receive a little. That's just like Philip, by the way. Philip is a classic statistical pessimist.

31:24 He has as a brain a slide rule, and he reckons everything on the basis of sure things. Faith runs him crazy And when he's faced with an impossible situation He always reverts back to that which is Humanly possible And then reckons on the basis of that He didn't answer the question where? What was the answer? Lord, you are the only one that can handle this situation I give you this problem Not Philip You see, he had already begun to figure it out when he saw the crowd coming. And he figured that if one man could work an entire year, which is 200 denarii wage, then they could provide just an afternoon tea for everybody that was there. Just a half a cup and a half a cookie.

32:21 Everybody would have just a little to get them out of our hair. That was Philip's thought. Just to have a little bit. Phillips are notorious for what cannot be done. There's one in every home. There's one in every church.

32:45 There's one in every Christian organization. There's one in every Christian school, usually on the administration staff. There is one in every group. There is a Philip. You may be the Philip in your family. Now, I hope your name isn't Philip. I know some Philips that are here. Forgive me. I don't have you in mind, so stop squirming. We're talking to people who have a characteristic of this Philip. you know what cannot take place. That's your specialty. And that's where you can't. And therefore, your constant thought is, it's not going to work. So here is another alternative just to get it out of the way. Teddy Roosevelt, president of years past, wrote this.

33:49 It is not the critic who counts. We could say Philip. Not the Philip who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood and faith who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again because there is no effort without erring and shortcoming. Who does actually try to do the deed? who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.

34:51 And listen to the ending. Far better it is to dare mighty things and win glorious triumphs, though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits, those Phillips, who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. Phillips don't know how to dare.

35:25 They just don't know the joy of trusting against insuperable odds. I want you to. I want to learn how to do it. It isn't a natural thing with me to be like that. and so I enter into it with a measure of compassion as Philip tips his hand and doesn't answer the question. But while Philip is calculating how it won't happen, Andrew is busy among the crowd looking for sack lunches. If you will notice in verse 9, Andrew has been out among the group. Now I admire Andrew even though he is a limited optimist. At least he is out there in the fray.

36:20 He's looking for an answer. So he's checking guys' lunches. And he comes across a little fellow who's got probably more than anyone else. And he talks to the little boy and he says to him, come here. There's something I'd like to do with your lunch just to give it a try. The lad comes with Andrew, and Andrew stands before the Lord, verse 9, and he says, There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish. And I wanted to say, period.

36:59 Because right now, it's beautiful. Lord, that's all I've got. You take it from there. but he doesn't say it. He says, but what are these among so many people? Don't say that, Andrew. I want to say back to him. Don't add that. That shows a lack of faith. I want you to say, here's a lamb with five loaves and two fish. Now watch this, kid. Watch him. You won't believe what's going to happen with those five loaves and those two fish. Watch out. It's going to come out all over us. But not Andrew. Andrew is just on the edge of faith but he's really not much better off than Philip.

37:48 You've gotten a glimpse of the needs around the world through some travel. It happened to me when I went to Venezuela. It always does. I knew I was in for an infection just as soon as I left called World Vision. Man. You leave and you get on a plane where everybody else is speaking another language and all the announcements are in that language and you land and the culture's different, the language is different, and the needs are overwhelming. And you're met by a little fellow who by faith is living, puts you in a car, drives you to a post, drops you off, and you're aware of a few of these people that are on the cutting edge of evangelism. You minister and you realize more and more, man, it's coming in on top of us, the world's needs. Incredible number of needs. and I say, Lord, five loaves and two fish. What are these among so many?

38:46 Come back to a family of four children. Put them in bed at night. What are these among so many? You give $10, $20, $50, $100 faithfully to the work of the gospel, trusting by faith, and every once in a while the enemy comes in and says, Ah, what's that among so many?

39:12 Mary Thompson sensed that. And she put it down into a hymn that we don't sing enough. Give of thy sons to bear the message glorious. Give of thy wealth to speed them on their way. Pour out thy soul for them in prayer victorious. And it'll be enough. All thou spendest, Jesus will repay. Two children, give them to God. a career you're wondering about the future give it to god teetering on the fence of indecision not certain about what god would have you do give it to god what's in among so many that's all he needs how much did he have of the little boy's lunch he had all of it it's all the boy had That's all God asked.

40:07 He can't ask more. He'd be unjust. But you see, we're talking ourselves systematically out of that kind of a life because we're like Andrew. What are these among so many? Now look at how the Lord responded. It's just beautiful. I know you've read it. I know you've heard it. but just act as though you've heard it for the first time. Enter into it in that way. Look at verse 10. In calm fashion, Jesus said, Have the people sit down. Now, I think there's a practical word here. What do we do when we panic, when we are stricken by panic? Well, we pace. Often, at least emotionally, we run. Jesus said, Hold it. Everybody sit down. The word used by John means to recline.

41:02 That's the way they used to eat. Leaning on a side, on one elbow, he said, let's just rest. So they all rested. He put them in ranks. I believe in my heart there must have been about 12 ranks for a very specific reason coming up. So he divided them into groups, husbands, wives, perhaps with their families, and they all began to recline. a great host of them sat down at that grassy knoll.

41:33 And then Jesus, verse 11, took the loaves and having given thanks. It struck me this week for the first time, given thanks for what? That's probably what Philip thought. Okay, fellows, let's all bow our heads. And so the disciples bow their heads. let's thank the Lord for the food. The food.

42:04 What food, you know? You don't thank the Lord for an empty table, do you? You got a sack lunch and 8,000 people hungry and he's giving thanks for the food. You ever done that? That's a grateful heart. George Mueller did it. with a room full of orphans and there was no food. And he said, children, let's give him thanks for this provision. That's faith. He gave thanks and then the miracle took place. It's just beautiful. It says, He distributed to those who were seated all the food, all the bread, also the fish, as much as they wanted.

42:59 Contrast that with verse 7. To give each one a little bit, that's man's method. but when God takes it he gives you all that you want all the need all that you need. We trusted God a number of weeks ago. It hasn't been very many now for an incredible amount of money. It's so fresh in our memory we don't even have to blow the dust off of it. One of the highlights of our history here in an eight-day period, really more like seven or six, we announced a need vocally and in writing and we left it with God, $50,000, and he came through with over $62,000. That's his method. We thanked him in advance, and I am convinced there were Phillips who said it will never be.

43:55 I know that because some of them were gracious and honest enough to tell me, you know, I never dreamed it possible. That's the way we operate. and he distributed to all of them and they had as much as they wanted and when they were filled, John adds in verse 12, he said to the disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing be lost and the verse says they gathered them up and filled how many baskets? Yeah, 12. How many ushers? 12. Those fellows that did the ushering were the ones that just didn't know what they were going to do when the crowd came and God, knowing all along what he intended to do, left them with a full basket to munch on the rest of the afternoon. Sort of a memorial to what God can do. A beautiful response.

44:48 You say, boy, if I'd have been a disciple, I'd have responded like they did. I'd have been so filled with faith, I'd have never forgotten that experience. Really? Look at Mark chapter 6. Just for a moment now. Mark six. This is something John doesn't mention because Mark has already said it.

45:14 This is what happened on the heels of that miracle. If you want to know how the disciples responded, verse 45, Mark 6. Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat. I like the word immediately. God often plans two tests back to back. As soon as you have experienced his marvelous provision in one, right back in the pit you go, trusting him for the second, to see if you learned from the first. That's why it says immediately. Made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side to Bethsaida. He himself was sending the multitude away. After bidding them, that's the disciples' farewell, and the people, he departed to the mountain to pray. When it was evening, the boat was in the midst of the sea.

46:09 He was alone on the land. Separation is emphasized. Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night, that's between 3 and 6 a.m., he came to them walking on the sea, and he intended to pass by them. They can handle this. They learned the lesson from the loaves. They're going to trust me in this storm. So he was going to walk on by, taking a stroll there in the deep end. And when they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost. They really had been occupied with the Lord, hadn't they? They saw him and they cried out. They were frightened. He spoke to them immediately. He said to them, I'll take courage. It's I don't be afraid. he got into the boat with them and the wind stopped and they were greatly astonished. Verse 52.

47:02 or they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened. Can you believe that verse? Have you gained any insight from the provision of $62,000? you want to gain insight? Look back. Pick a month where God did something incredible. The problem is we remember the wrong things and we forget the right ones. Remember, when God manifested himself in a beautiful fashion,

47:49 Barclay says their heart was obtuse, blunt, dull. You know what I believe? I think they would have been happy to come back for another miracle service. They wouldn't have learned much. But we like services. We like times when that happens. We'd love to have another Sunday night like that one a few weeks ago. We prefer worship services to Thursday afternoon homework. They're a lot more exciting. We prefer Bible classes to evangelism. We would much prefer to come together another time for another study than to go through the process of reaching those neighbors for Jesus Christ and faithfully representing Him at work. It's a lot easier to come to church.

48:43 Nothing wrong with the church services, obviously. But you see, when the bills come to you, spiritually speaking, that's when it's painful. What have you learned from the most recent miracle God has done on your behalf? Then apply it now. Back to John 6 and we're all through. The people wanted to make him a king. You can read it for yourself. They wanted a beautiful welfare program. Man, you can't beat a deal like that. Food without work? Sound a little familiar these days, doesn't it? let's make him king. Man, anybody that can feed us like that, he deserves to be number one in the country.

49:37 Selfish motive for exalting Christ. Come to Jesus because of what you're going to get out of it. Rather than coming to Jesus Christ that he might take out of you what needs to be removed and replace it with impossible characteristics.

50:00 What is your response to this? I don't know where you are, and I don't know who the few are that this may have applied to, but I think there are some who have had this message dedicated to them today. Some of you could put these shoes on and wear them. as you think about your life. It may be a need for money, quite frankly. Employment. Now, I'm not making any great promises that you'll have your pockets full of money if you trust in Jesus Christ. It doesn't work like that. God's timing is altogether different. God sometimes says, I want you to wait.

50:49 That's all. and in the time of waiting, I will educate you in the school of learning in things you would never have otherwise gleaned. I will meet your needs, not your greeds, and I will do it in my time, which may be later than yours.

51:11 Isaiah 30, 18 says, The Lord longs to be gracious. He waits to be gracious. He waits for us to wait on him. What an interesting thought. At the end of World War II, the city of London was, I am told, virtually in ruins. So many children became little waifs, wandering and skirting through the streets without parents, without a home. such little boy, crippled by bombing blasts, was limping through the streets of London early one morning, starving to death. He came around a corner and he looked down that foggy street and he saw a little light burning in the haze and the fog.

52:11 He wondered, what's that? He walked up in front of a little donut shop. The window was foggy. It was smeared with hand prints. It was hot on the inside. It was cold on the outside. They were making fresh donuts. He thought, mashed his little nose against the window. I'd love to have one of those. So hungry. An American newspaper reporter was inside eating donuts and drinking coffee that morning, and He saw the little waif, and he bought a half a dozen hot donuts and put them in a bag and stuck them behind his back, and he wandered outside, unknown and unseen by the little boy. He put his hand on the boy's shoulder, and the little fellow looked up, and the reporter said, son, are you hungry? He said, oh, yes, sir.

53:06 Would you like a donut? Oh, yes. Well, I don't have any money. and the reporter pulled a bag around, and he said, Here. And the little boy took that bag and held it close to him, and he opened up the bag, and he looked inside, and he saw those donuts, and he looked up into the man's face and said, Mr., are you God?

53:33 Let's bow together. Let's drift back into reality, shall we? Jesus is God. His greatest delight is to provide you food when you're hungry. but he's going to do it his way. For some of you, you're living in a world of loneliness, vacancy, spiritual neglect. You've never given your heart to Christ. Jesus holds out his hands and says to you, come unto me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you myself. By personal invitation, you can ask Jesus Christ to come into your life.

54:32 suddenly things won't instantly change, but on the inside God will begin to do a work. He'll shore things up spiritually for you, that's for sure. Gives you a home in heaven, a whole new dimension for living. for you that have written down something or thought of something for that sheet of paper. I want you to gain insight from what you've learned from the loaves and the fish today. Our God provides. Would you trust him? Thank you, Father, for Jesus our Lord. The very thought of Him spreads sweetness through us. Thank you that through Him we have come to know you, Father, and through you we have come to an understanding of life.

55:35 We praise the Savior together because we know Him as the all-powerful One and because we long to trust Him more and more. Deepen our trust, our Father, as we walk through this journey called life and as we come upon those places that seem totally impossible, rather than panic, rather than running under our own stream or falling back on our own understanding, may we learn to trust in You May we remember that you are the God of impossibilities. That's your specialty. And in light of that, may we trust you to get us through whatever it is we are facing. Today I pray for those who have never come to know your Son as Lord and Savior.

56:35 I pray that they might this very day turn to you, Father, through Christ your Son, and trust in Him for everlasting life. I ask this in the name of Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us.