There are times when we all pause for a little while to reminisce of momentous times in our lives. Memory is a marvelous gift of God and often provides us great incentive to just praise the Lord.
The first sermon I preached was on the feeding of the 5,000 men in John 6. We are told in Scripture that this figure did not include all the women and children who were fed, also.
It was a Saturday night when my pastor, Dr. Jim Brown, knocked on my door in Batesville, Ark. to inform me that the children’s church director was gravely ill and that I was needed to preach in his place the next day. At 18 years old, I had announced my call to the ministry just a few weeks earlier. Needless to say, there was no sleep for me that night. By morning, I had my outline and notes all ready to go amidst the fear and trembling.
All was going well, until my pastor’s wife returned to the room just as I was ready to began my sermon. As she opened the door, a puff of wind transported all my notes to “the great beyond.” I am still puzzled, but somehow we managed to get all 5,000 men fed that Sunday and all the women and children, too. In spite of a sleepless night and a note-less sermon, we learned some valuable “little lunch lessons” that day.
The first lesson we saw was that this little lunch showed the mighty power of God. Jesus, who is the Bread of life and the greatest ever Fisher of men, took “five barley loaves and two small fishes” (Verse 9) and multiplied them many times over to feed the great multitude. Exodus 15:6 declares that He is “glorious in power.”
A second lesson we found is that God always provides more than enough. Verse 5 tells us that when everyone had been fed, the disciples “filled twelve baskets” with the leftovers.
Thirdly, we learned that faith and obedience always brings God’s best. The lad trustfully surrendered all he had to Jesus and the disciples in faith obeyed the instructions of Jesus. The songwriter, John H. Sammis, worded it well, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Next, we were reminded that little things become big things when placed in the hands of our Lord. I believe we all can agree with the songwriter, Mrs. F. W. Suffield, “Little is much when God is in it.”
Another lesson we observed was that Jesus is like the bread that was broken and blessed by God to bring us salvation from our sin. A Messianic Psalm, #69, Verse 20, describes His broken heart and I Corinthians 11:24 quotes Jesus saying, “This is my body, which is broken for you.”
Finally, we saw the compassion of Jesus which He displayed throughout His earthly ministry as He met the physical and spiritual needs of the people just as He does for us today, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:13) Without a doubt, Jesus provides all we need now and forever.
— Randy Zinn is pastor of Russell Missionary Baptist Church, Russell, Ark.; formerly of Okmulgee.
