Children of the Bible
OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: 1 Kings 17:8-16
8. Then the Lord spoke to ELIJAH,
9. "Depart and go to the town named ZAREPHATH near the city SIDON and stay there. I ordered a WIDOW woman living there to feed you."
10. ELIJAH went to ZAREPHATH. Then he arrived at the entrance to the town, he saw a woman picking-up wooden sticks. ELIJAH said, "Please bring me a drink of water."
11. While the woman went for the water, ELIJAH called to her, "Please bring me some bread also."
12. The woman answered, "I promise by the living Lord God that I don't have any bread. I have only a little-bit of FLOUR and OIL. I am picking-up these wooden sticks to go home and prepare the last food for my son and myself. Then we will die."
13. ELIJAH said, "Don't be afraid. Go and do that but bring some of the bread to me, and then go make some bread for yourself and your son.
14. The Lord your God says, 'The jar of FLOUR will never be-empty and the jar of oil will always have OIL until the Lord sends rain on the land.'"
15. The woman left and obeyed ELIJAH. She and her family ate for a long time.
16. The jar of FLOUR never became empty and the other jar always had OIL in it, the same-as the Lord promised to ELIJAH.
EPISTLE LESSON: Romans 12:1-2
1. God touches us with mercy, so I urge you -- brothers and sisters - give yourselves as living gifts to God. Why?
(1) Because that holy gift is pleasing to God, and
(2) because that is true spiritual worship.
2. Don't agree to copy the world, but become a new person, as God changes your mind and heart. Then you will understand the things God wants. And you will know God's plan is good and perfect; yes, that pleases HIM.
GOSPEL LESSON: John 6:1-15
1. Then Jesus went across the sea GALILEE, also named TIBERIAS.
2. A large group of people followed Jesus, because they saw the wonderful things Jesus did to the sick people.
3. Jesus went-up a mountain and sat-down with HIS friends.
4. And the Jewish celebration named PASSOVER time was near.
5. Then Jesus looked and saw the large group of people coming, and Jesus said to PHILIP, "Where can we buy bread? Then these people can eat."
6. Jesus said that to test PHILIP, because Jesus HIMSELF knew the future happenings.
7. PHILIP answered, "Two hundred coins will not buy enough bread to let all of these people eat a little-bit."
8. One of Jesus' friends named ANDREW, brother of SIMON PETER, said to Jesus,
9. "Here is a boy with five bread cakes and two small fish; but that's not enough for all these people."
10. Jesus said, "Tell the people to sit-down." Now much grass was around that place. Then about five thousand men sat-down.
11. Then Jesus took the bread and gave-thanks and gave to those people sitting there. Also Jesus gave the fish the same. The people ate everything they wanted.
12. After they ate enough, Jesus said to HIS friends, "Gather-up all the food the people didn't eat. We will waste nothing."
13. Then from the five bread cakes the friends gathered-up twelve baskets of food that the people didn't eat.
14. Happened the people saw the wonderful thing Jesus did, they said, "Truly, Jesus is the Prophet from God come into the world."
15. Then Jesus knew the people were ready to come and make Jesus a king. Now Jesus departed and went-up into the mountain alone.
You know that we can read about Jesus' life and teaching
in the first four books of the New Testament --
(1) Matthew
(2) Mark
(3) Luke
(4) John
Each one reports things that the other three miss.
For example, which books tell us about Jesus' birth?
(1) Matthew
(3) Luke
And each of those two tell different stories
about Jesus' birth.
All four books together give us a full picture about
what Jesus did, and
what Jesus said.
How many things about Jesus do ALL FOUR books report?
Only a few:
His baptism.
His last week --
riding into Jerusalem on a donkey
His last Passover with the disciples
praying in the garden
His arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, burial,
and resurrection.
Jesus did many miracles.
Which of His miracles are in all four books?
Only one: Jesus feeding 5000 people using 5 loaves and 2 fish.
But only John tells us where the disciples got that bread and fish.
That boy.
-------------
Curiosity about that boy --
questions that the Bible doesn't answer.
Why so much food for one person?
each loaf = a major part of an adult meal, like a big bagel.
He had FIVE loaves. Why that many?
Maybe his parents are bakers.
But he can't eat all that himself.
So what is doing there in that crowd with all that food?
Maybe you can remember when you went to watch a big parade.
While you waited, you saw boys pulling wagons
that had ice boxes filled with cold sodas/pop
selling Cokes.
Maybe that boy in our story was doing the same.
This boy didn't have cold Cokes.
He did have bread and fish.
And his fish was almost gone.
What he had left -- 2 fish and 5 loaves --
Did he sell it to Jesus' Disciples?
Or did he give all his food to them?
The Bible does not say.
But Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report that
when the Disciples brought that food to Jesus,
THEY owned it.
The Disciples said, "WE have 5 loaves and 2 fish."
So we can guess that they did buy it for themselves,
and they paid that boy for his bread and fish.
That is only a guess.
-------------
Disciples complain that isn't enough.
But in the hands of Jesus, that little-bit
is plenty.
-------------
Often we do the same as the Disciples.
Jesus asks us to serve Him.
He asks us to give what we have to Him.
We complain, "What we have isn't enough."
We make excuses, "We can't do that good enough."
We think that we will fail. So we don't try.
We forget that our little-bit
in Jesus' hands
is plenty.
If everything depends on us,
yes, we will fail.
But Jesus says, "What you have, give that to Me.
"What you do, do that for ME."
We can stop complaining.
We can stop making excuses for ourselves.
We can proceed in His service,
and He will do great things through us for other people.
-------------
In our story, what Jesus does next helps us remember
the Lord's Supper,
and Jesus teaching two followers after His resurrection.
Jesus gives thanks.
He breaks the bread.
and He gives it back to the disciples.
Then they see that they have much more than before.
-------------
That's a picture for what Jesus does to us.
The Bible says that He bought [buy] us.
He OWNS us.
Jesus did not pay using gold or silver,
He bought us, paying His precious blood,
by His death on the cross.
When we become His,
sometimes He takes us
and breaks us;
we become fully depending on Him,
so He can do His work through us.
How does God break us?
Sometimes He breaks our health.
(Remember our previous story about Joni Eareckson Tada, the girl who broke her neck in a diving accident. Now she powerfully serves God in her wheelchair.)
Sometimes He breaks our finances;
We lose our job.
Or someone we trusted with our money cheats us.
Sometimes He breaks our hearts
when we lose our children in death or rebellion.
When we become broken,
and lost things we cherish the most,
On Whom can we depend?
Where can we go for answers?
Who can guide us from the dark to the light?
God alone.
When we can do nothing,
He can do everything.
Three times Paul prayed to Jesus,
"Please heal me!
Please remove my troubles!
Please make me strong and independent again!"
Jesus answered,
"No. My GRACE --
My love, My mercy, and My power --
are enough for you.
Paul, when you are weak,
I can show My power."
Paul tells us,
"I praise God that I am weak,
so I can depend on His power."
[2 Corinthians 12:7-10]
Same as that boy's bread,
Jesus takes us
and He breaks us
and He works through us
to help many other people.
------------
That's not only what Jesus does TO us.
He also did that FOR us.
Jesus gave Himself to our Father in Heaven.
And Jesus became broken for us.
He suffered terrible death on the cross instead of us,
He felt all the punishment that we earned.
And through His death,
He gives us life.
Thank you, Jesus!
Amen
in the first four books of the New Testament --
(1) Matthew
(2) Mark
(3) Luke
(4) John
Each one reports things that the other three miss.
For example, which books tell us about Jesus' birth?
(1) Matthew
(3) Luke
And each of those two tell different stories
about Jesus' birth.
All four books together give us a full picture about
what Jesus did, and
what Jesus said.
How many things about Jesus do ALL FOUR books report?
Only a few:
His baptism.
His last week --
riding into Jerusalem on a donkey
His last Passover with the disciples
praying in the garden
His arrest, trial, crucifixion, death, burial,
and resurrection.
Jesus did many miracles.
Which of His miracles are in all four books?
Only one: Jesus feeding 5000 people using 5 loaves and 2 fish.
But only John tells us where the disciples got that bread and fish.
That boy.
-------------
Curiosity about that boy --
questions that the Bible doesn't answer.
Why so much food for one person?
each loaf = a major part of an adult meal, like a big bagel.
He had FIVE loaves. Why that many?
Maybe his parents are bakers.
But he can't eat all that himself.
So what is doing there in that crowd with all that food?
Maybe you can remember when you went to watch a big parade.
While you waited, you saw boys pulling wagons
that had ice boxes filled with cold sodas/pop
selling Cokes.
Maybe that boy in our story was doing the same.
This boy didn't have cold Cokes.
He did have bread and fish.
And his fish was almost gone.
What he had left -- 2 fish and 5 loaves --
Did he sell it to Jesus' Disciples?
Or did he give all his food to them?
The Bible does not say.
But Matthew, Mark, and Luke all report that
when the Disciples brought that food to Jesus,
THEY owned it.
The Disciples said, "WE have 5 loaves and 2 fish."
So we can guess that they did buy it for themselves,
and they paid that boy for his bread and fish.
That is only a guess.
-------------
Disciples complain that isn't enough.
But in the hands of Jesus, that little-bit
is plenty.
-------------
Often we do the same as the Disciples.
Jesus asks us to serve Him.
He asks us to give what we have to Him.
We complain, "What we have isn't enough."
We make excuses, "We can't do that good enough."
We think that we will fail. So we don't try.
We forget that our little-bit
in Jesus' hands
is plenty.
If everything depends on us,
yes, we will fail.
But Jesus says, "What you have, give that to Me.
"What you do, do that for ME."
We can stop complaining.
We can stop making excuses for ourselves.
We can proceed in His service,
and He will do great things through us for other people.
-------------
In our story, what Jesus does next helps us remember
the Lord's Supper,
and Jesus teaching two followers after His resurrection.
Jesus gives thanks.
He breaks the bread.
and He gives it back to the disciples.
Then they see that they have much more than before.
-------------
That's a picture for what Jesus does to us.
The Bible says that He bought [buy] us.
He OWNS us.
Jesus did not pay using gold or silver,
He bought us, paying His precious blood,
by His death on the cross.
When we become His,
sometimes He takes us
and breaks us;
we become fully depending on Him,
so He can do His work through us.
How does God break us?
Sometimes He breaks our health.
(Remember our previous story about Joni Eareckson Tada, the girl who broke her neck in a diving accident. Now she powerfully serves God in her wheelchair.)
Sometimes He breaks our finances;
We lose our job.
Or someone we trusted with our money cheats us.
Sometimes He breaks our hearts
when we lose our children in death or rebellion.
When we become broken,
and lost things we cherish the most,
On Whom can we depend?
Where can we go for answers?
Who can guide us from the dark to the light?
God alone.
When we can do nothing,
He can do everything.
Three times Paul prayed to Jesus,
"Please heal me!
Please remove my troubles!
Please make me strong and independent again!"
Jesus answered,
"No. My GRACE --
My love, My mercy, and My power --
are enough for you.
Paul, when you are weak,
I can show My power."
Paul tells us,
"I praise God that I am weak,
so I can depend on His power."
[2 Corinthians 12:7-10]
Same as that boy's bread,
Jesus takes us
and He breaks us
and He works through us
to help many other people.
------------
That's not only what Jesus does TO us.
He also did that FOR us.
Jesus gave Himself to our Father in Heaven.
And Jesus became broken for us.
He suffered terrible death on the cross instead of us,
He felt all the punishment that we earned.
And through His death,
He gives us life.
Thank you, Jesus!
Amen