Five Loaves, Two Fish, and a God Who Does More

we're in a series called heart for the house we want you to understand this church if you've been here a while we want you to love your church that you go through the good times and the hard times if you're new to Journey Church you're going to get to know our heart a little bit more to see is this the right place where you should commit and connect listen if you go to church you don't just attend church you are the church and you should get committed and connected and as we're going through this series it's really a refresh of our more initiative we started two years ago which I'll share more with you but if you're going to be a part of this church there's two things you need to know about Journey Church you will not find this anywhere on our website there's no literature that will tell you this about Journey but it's two truths about Journey you need to know about number one is we're underdogs that's who we are we are underdogs so if you're looking for a church full of talented people that just have it all figured out this is not it

we are a church of underdogs that just simply surrenders Our Lives we have not had anything handed to us on a silver platter we go where Jesus tells us to go to reach people Jesus would reach and sometimes that gets a little uncomfortable sometimes it's a little difficult but we we want to be more like Jesus and if you just read through the scriptures and look back in history God loves to use the underdog he loves to use those that it looks like you're too old he says I want to use you when it looks like you're too young he says I want to use you you look like you're too poor I want to use you too doesn't matter where you've been not only we underdogs but we're a church that trusts in God provision We Trust in God's provision that's a nice way of saying we believe in miracles we have never not paid a bill at Journey Church we will turn 15 years

old in February and I'll tell you we have stretched our faith we have trusted God with our finances and we are a church that really believes that everything we have is actually God's so when we talk about money here money shouldn't be uncomfortable because it's actually all his so if you're ever visiting this church you need to know this we don't need your money we don't want your money we believe it's all God's so when we talk about it we just want you to trust in God so that you can see that when you trust God with your resources he could do more with your money than you can and we see this over and over and over again it's something I've seen in my life and it's something if you're a part of Journey Church for very long you're going to see it as well so we're in this two-year generosity initiative called more and here's what that's about is we are believing God from more more for your life just tell

your neighbor more for your life come on you didn't preach very well there I'm believing more if you're watching online you should just type somewhere in the comments more because we believe God wants to do more in your life if you're alive he's not finished with you yet he's not finished with your family he's not finished with this church with the city with this region we are declaring out loud Central Oregon shall be saved that if there's someone who's lost Jesus came so that they would be found if there's someone that's dead spiritually Jesus came that they would be made alive we are believing God's best when all that's happening in our nation right now with division this is no time for you as a church to look like the world we are praying church we take God at his word we're going to Humble ourselves we're going to repent and believe that God can still heal our land we're going to believe God's best and if

we don't see it we're still going to believe God can do more he's a God that doesn't give up on us we take God at his word when you read at the end of a prayer to the Ephesians Church CH in Ephesians 3: 20 and 21 we read now to him who is able to do far more someone shout more more abundantly than all that we ask or think you can't pray big enough for God that family member you think can never be saved you're not praying big enough you know Thanksgiving is going to be around the corner and you think that you can't get together with your family because you're still arguing over those vaccinations or who should be president or not be president I'm believing more for your family more in Jesus name no little prayers at this church we got to believe that God could

do more than we ask or think I know your heart's hurting I know your head only has seen what you've seen but God can do more he's a living God you just look back at what he's done and we believe he could do more than we could ask or think according to the power at work within us God wants to use you my friends to him be the Glory verse 21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations we're believing this all generations forever and ever and the church said amen God's not asking you to have it figured out he's not asking you to have all the resources he's asking you to trust in him because when you surrender your life to him God could do more through your life than you could ever do in a thousand lifetimes when you surrender

your life to Jesus he transforms you God cannot leave you the same he takes you from a sinner and by believing in Jesus the Bible says you're now a saint that means you're set apart if you're a saint you're no longer the tail you're the head you're no longer the borrower you're the lender you've got to start believing God's word no weapon formed against you shall prosper you start believing who God says you are you're not a spiritual orphan to all who believe in Jesus and receive his name you become a child of God you start claiming those rights you understand what it means to be a child of the Living God you're a royal priesthood a chosen Nation you are set apart for his purposes you are a masterpiece of God he has created good works for you in

advance for you to accomplish with his power work within you that's who God is he wants to work through you when God chose Moses to be the deliverer for for the Israelites who were stuck in bondage in Egypt they were stuck for so many centuries do you know how many people are stuck because of the generations before them they're stuck in slavery of sin and God says Moses I'm going to choose you to deliver my people you're going to confront the evil ways of pharaoh you're going to take them from Egypt to the land that I've promised for them do you know what Moses said nope Moses did what so many of us do he made excuses I'm not

qualified I'm not educated enough I'm not sure what I'm going to tell them I'm not eloquent enough Moses tried to make an excuse why he shouldn't be the one to deliver God's people and you know the Lord said to Moses in Exodus 4: 2 the Lord said to him what is that in your hand and Moses said a staff he didn't say a big checkbook or a credit card with unlim mited resources God used what was in Moses's hand the Lord said what is in your hand this would end up becoming the tool that God would use it's not that the staff had any magical powers God would use that which

was already in Moses's hand and may I say to you today God is simply asking you what is in your hand God's not going to ask you to use something you don't have but he is going to ask you to use what you do have and when you trust that in the hands of the Lord it changes everything when Moses started taking the Lord seriously God did through Moses what mosa could never do on his own he ended up going places he would never go on his own leading people in a way that he could never lead them on his own because he trusted in the Lord so I ask you metaphorically speaking in your life what's in your hand give it to God I'm going to ask you to do something

with me now this is going to set the stage for where we're going in the scriptures today would you take out your left hand and just make a five all right left hand make a five all right perfect take out your right hand and make a two to make a two you got a five and a two now I want you to put them in front of you like this is your hands before the Lord a five and a two you got those before the Lord right now Lord we give you our five and our two we say God would you make much of what we have I'm asking that you would do that now in the name of Jesus so be it and amen and amen you can put your hands down if you don't know what the five and two is it's where we're going in the scriptures today so if you brought your Bible would you take your Bible hold in the air like you care somebody I want everyone to shout on the count of three word one two three word we're getting into God's word so that God's word will get into US John chapter 6 is where we're going today we're looking at one of the two Miracles that's found in all four of the gospels

now there are four books in the Bible described as Gospels there's Matthew Mark Luke and John all four are called gospels because they tell about the life and the account of Jesus there are 66 books that make up the Bible but four are called gospels now in these gospels as they share about the life of Jesus they share from a unique perspective from the author as they tell uniquely what Jesus did in his life but there are only two Miracles that you find in all four of the gospels one of course is the resurrection all four tell us that Jesus was crucified on the cross he was buried and on the third day he rose from the grave by the power of God himself he rose from the grave so all four share about the resurrection now there's only one other Miracle that's found in all four accounts and it's the story of Five

Loaves and two fish Five Loaves two fish Five Loaves two fish all four want to make sure that the readers when they learn learn about the life of Jesus you learn about the Five Loaves and two fish it might be a familiar story to you but may I just always challenge you if there's ever a familiar story in the scripture you should constantly ask God for a deeper Revelation I'm not saying a new revelation but you should want to mature and you should want to grow so if this story is familiar to you ask God to grow in wisdom and maturity if it's unfamiliar to you I believe today God's going to give you a revelation that's going to change your life John chapter 6 is where we're going you'll also find

this story in the other three books including Matthew chapter 14 Mark chapter 6 and Luke chapter 9 so you'll find the same story in those other three books today we're primarily going to look at the Book of John I'll reference those other stories as well as they share other details John chapter 6 starting with verse one work with me here I'm going to read the entire story are you ready after this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of G gilee which is the Sea of tiberias let's just pause after what after Jesus was doing some serious Ministry may I just say Ministry can be exhausting because Ministry is working with people and people have problems and Jesus was so good with people you know Jesus was exhausted furthermore the other accounts of this

story tell us that this was exactly when Jesus friend and his relative John also known as John the Baptist was beheaded not the John that writes this story which was John the Apostle ostle the disciple of Jesus that walk with Jesus talk with Jesus but his own cousin John was beheaded in prison for doing the right thing for telling the truth Herod had beheaded him and now Jesus goes to get alone the other accounts Matthew Mark and Luke tell us Jesus wanted to go get rest Jesus shows us a rhythm of rest John just tells us after this he went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and a large crowd verse two and a large crowd was following Jesus because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick now the word signs in the Book of John just simply means

Miracles Jesus was performing miracles on those who were sick anyone that was sick came to Jesus they were healed it's the power of Jesus when you really meet with Jesus you're not the same he has the power to heal so large crowds came why were there so many large crowds well we're going to see this in just a moment Jesus went up on the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples this was the way of a preacher and a teacher of Jesus day if you were a rabbi which means a teacher you would sit down that means you have the authority to teach he sat down on this hill and it wasn't just a small crowd this is large crowds we're going to see the number in a few moments now the Passover the Feast of the Jews verse four was at hand let's pause again the Passover is a huge celebration that the Jewish people still

celebrate today it's an awesome holiday how many you know when it's a holiday people travel so it was even in the days of old thousands and thousands and thousands of people would travel for the Passover that's where these crowds are coming from they're traveling for the Passover the Passover was awesome you would celebrate with food there was one special meal called the Seder it was a reminder of God's Deliverance that Moses LED his people out of Egypt to the promised land and God would pass over his people the spirit of death would pass over his people who who had the blood of the Lamb on their doorpost as they're getting ready to exit and there's so many meanings when it comes to the Passover so we're going to see with this miracle ancient truths that speak still today and we see it in the story so the Passover John wants us to

note this was at hand lifting up his eyes it says lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him Jesus said to Phillip where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat he said this John notes he said this to test him for he himself knew what he would do philli answered him 200 dinari worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little one of the disciples were in verse eight Andrew Simon Peter's brother said to Jesus there is a boy here who has five barley Loaves and and two fish

but what are they for so many Jesus said in verse 10 have the people sit down now there was much grass in the place so the men sat down about 5,000 in number Jesus then took the Loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed it to them he distributed them to those who were seated so also the fish as much as they wanted verse 12 and when they had eaten their fill he told his disciples gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost so they gathered them up filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten when the people saw the sign

that Jesus had done they said this indeed this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world now this story is a familiar one to many it's of often called The Feeding of the 5000 the story found in Matthew Mark and Luke tells us that the 12 disciples decided together to come to Jesus and tell him to tell the people it's time to go home you ever had people at your house and you're ready for them to go home they told Jesus the people are hungry you got to imagine they're saying this while their own stomachs are grumbling Jesus the people are hungry just send them home I wonder how many times you've told God what to do how many times have you told Jesus this is the best thing to do Lord this is the person I should marry or this is the this is the job that I should have or

this is this is the way that it should work the disciples are trying to tell Jesus what to do and John notes something peculiar that Jesus flips the script and he asks the question and in this particular case he turns to Phillip I'm not sure of the Revelation why it's Philip if he was on the money managing team with Judas Because by the way the disciples weren't poor they had had money the Bible tells us they had a money manager and he used to dip his own hands into the money so the problems we see in the church today and in politics C they're not new because when we don't have the heart of Jesus we have greed Pride gluttony but in this particular case it was Jesus that talked to philli and he said where are we to buy bread

where where are we to buy bread not how much would it cost to feed all these people not why should we feed all these people but where are we to feed all of these people now John who wrote a number of the books we read in the New Testament he wrote the Book of Revelation he wrote three little books called first second and third John John he loved Jesus and he thought that he was the most loved by Jesus he was the Beloved and John tends to note here that Jesus said this to test him maybe Jesus told after the fact or maybe he learned this lesson after the resurrection this was a test and I wonder in your life when you're going through a challenge you're going through a problem or it seems like you don't have enough or uncertainty I wonder if it's a

test there are too many times in our lives that God actually tests us and we don't even know it's a test the Lord gives us a pop quiz and we we don't even know it he wants you to know that this is the time no matter what you're facing in your hunger or in your lack or whatever you're going through this is a test do you believe God is who he claims to be this is a test in fact John goes even farther and says because Jesus already knew what he was going to do oh that Jesus he already knew what he was going to do do you know that God does not fret he does not worry he does not wonder he does not freak out with what you're going through you might be freaking out you

might be full of anxiety but God is never in shock and in Wonder and in awe saying I don't know what to do with this one this is too big for me yep you should be freaking out I don't know either Jesus already knew what he was going to do which tells me in your life if that was the case with philli could that be the case for you it got quiet really quick quickly I would just shout back amen that even if I don't know what to do even if I don't know the answer I can trust a God that already knows the answer Jesus shows us what it looks like to completely submit and surrender to the Holy Spirit you want to know what a life filled with the Holy Spirit completely and perfectly looks like it's

Jesus so what happens when you completely trust God you don't freak out you don't fret you're not full of anxiety in fact you know that you have a miracle work in God now we read stories like this and we say it's a miracle but do you know if you trust in Jesus he does the supernatural which is actually natural to God so we see it as this a miracle but when you get into heaven the Bible tells us there there's going to be no sin there's going to be no sorrow that's Supernatural it's going to be way bigger and better than you thought and God's like wait I don't want you to wait to get to heaven to start experiencing Heaven it's going to be better than you thought so we have a miracle working god that actually it's not a miracle to God this is normal to God so when we present our request to him and we say God I don't know how you could save this person God's like I know how I don't

know how you could heal this I know how I don't know how you could provide for so many in such a way God says I know how so now it's up to you will you trust him in the middle of it in Mark's account of the same story chapter 6 verse 34 it says when Jesus went Shore he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them I pray today you would align your heart with who Jesus really is he's a god of compassion the word compassion we teach often here because it's in one of our pillars it's what we stand upon here at joury church love and compassion the word compassion the root of this word in the Greek is spagna it sounds like you're haking a Lugi spna that's that's the Greek word spagna it means moved in

the bowels to action see in the ancient times the heart was described as the bowels it it wasn't the organ that pumps blood so that you can live the the word compassion is the picture of what the heart is it's deep in your bowels it's deep in what we call in our vernacular today your gut it's it's deep in that it's your passions it's what you believe to your core and compassion means if I believe it I'm moved to action and Jesus when he saw the crowds he didn't complain he didn't Grumble he didn't give up on a bunch of people who had problems Mark says he not only had compassion on them because they were sheep without a Shepherd that means they were lost today if you feel lost in any area

of your life any area any uncertainty you're not sure what's going to happen tomorrow may I just say today you have a God that has compassion on you when you're wandering and you're looking and you're wanting more in your life he has compassion on you in fact he meets you right where you are and you go to him and you tell him what to do and he flips the script and says what are you going to do where are you going to get this they were hungry they had no place to go and Jesus didn't give up on them if you're hungry today spiritually emotionally Jesus hasn't given up on you if you're lonely and you're lost and you feel like you're just in the crowd of this life Jesus hasn't given up on you he sees you he loves you and he wants to work the

best in you now this was during the time of Passover which represents God's compassion on the Israelites at a time when they were slaves at a time in history where it looked like they were overlooked at a time when they oppressed under the hand of pharaoh God had compassion on his people and said I'm not finished with you yet I declare over you today God's not finished with you yet some of you are still slaves you say how am I a slave you're a slave to sin God does not want you to be a slave to sin he wants to set you free he wants you to know who you are he doesn't want you to stay in the same place he wants to take you to his promised land so that you would know who he is so here you've got the Passover that represents God's compassion and his Deliverance of his people and here you got Jesus the

greater deliverer the one that Moses spoke about there would be one greater than me Moses would say and here we have on this hill an opportunity to see what kind of God we have as he turns to Philip where are we going to get enough bread to feed these people we see that this is a test Philip answered him verse seven Phillip answered Jesus 200 dinari that's eight months wages in this day eight months wages he didn't say a half a year he didn't say a year this this would take a boatload of money that would not be enough to feed people Philip's looking at the natural way to take care of this problem this is the normal way he says it would take eight months to feed all these people

eight months wages simply saying we don't have the resources for this Jesus this is not something we're going to be able to fix Jesus he's telling Jesus there is no solution to this problem Phillip did what so many of us do we figure out our own problems we look at our natural resources and then we simply tell God this is impossible there's no way out of this financially there's no way this is going to work I just don't have enough resources I'm not sure if you've ever had that type of self- dialogue that there's not enough and even if I had enough it wouldn't be enough Philip thinks he has a figure out now this is what gets

me Philip could be solidified in history he could be in the scriptures as one that would say Jesus you're asking me where are we going to find enough bread let me tell you Jesus the word of God says that when the Israelites were leaving Egypt they didn't have food and they didn't know where it was going to come from but they trusted in the Lord Our God Yahweh they would wake up and he provided Mana so you ask me where are we going to get this food it's going to come from Yahweh he did it before he's going to do it again I'll tell you where this Bread's going to come from it comes from my God Jesus I know you're God In the Flesh I know who you are you're the one that provided that Mana that's where it's going to come

from but that's not what Philip said he said where are we going to get all this money we don't have enough money Jesus I'm hungry the people are getting hry like what what's going to happen now Andrew Peter's brother he comes with his boy John knows specifically it's a boy is not a grown man men we like to have it figured out we like to fix problems we certainly don't want to admit when we don't have it figured out but I'll tell you is our God he loves to use children if we would just have faith like a child this was the only person that day that was prepared you know who gave him that

bread his mama this little boy said I'm going to church the mama said I want to make sure that you got enough food because you're going to keep following this Jesus wherever he would go so she gives him five barley Loaves and two fish five barley Loaves and two fish there's a whole bunch of meaning around this it wasn't wheat bread it wasn't gluten-free this is this is five barley loaves of bread it's often known as the poor man's bread but at Passover this was The Barley Harvest and this is the time scriptures say at Passover you would bring your first fruits that's your tithe of the barley and it was at this time that the barley bread was being made so he has five barley Loaves and

he's got two fish what kind of fish was it we know wasn't salmon until Jesus touched it now even then we're not even sure nobody actually knows what kind of fish it was it was probably some type of tilapia from the Sea of Galilee if we go there today it's often called St Peter's fish so he's got these two fish they were more than likely like sardines salted to preserve it so that this boy would have a meal so you got in some sense if we could just paraphrase this in our vernacular a Happy Meal is it's not a whole lot hey Jesus we got a Happy Meal but not sure how it's going to feed everybody and we're told what Jesus does next is AB absolutely spectacular because he doesn't feed a few people he feeds the 5,000 now it's noted that it's 5,000 men and some people get a little ruffled up about this 5,000 men it's the

cultural norm of the day because the food would have been distributed to The Men Who would have distributed to their family it just means there's an order we have a god of order and structure it doesn't mean that the women were overlooked or that the children were overlooked it just means that there was order if you go read this account in the The Book of Mark chapter 6 Jesus is such a god of order he knew exactly how to feed this many he said get them in groups of 50 and 100 he knew that Distributing the 12 to 15 100 Could Happen much quicker there are always the naysayers if you go to Reddit and get these people that say this is impossible to do this that's why it's a miracle Jesus didn't and sit down and show us how he distributed the bread and multiplied the fish it's a miracle of God that he didn't feed a few people

that day he didn't feed the 12 disciples that day he fed everyone that day which shows us that we have a God that's not for a few people There's Hope for everyone we have to keep preaching that message There's Hope for everyone when the world looks lost without a Shepherd we know who the Good Shepherd is we know he stepped into our story we know that we don't have to have it all figured out we don't have to have enough finances but we do have to trust him with what we do have Jesus it says in verse 11 took the Loaves and when he had given thanks he distributed to them here is the key to a miracle in your life do not miss this you've got to give thanks people that experience Miracles are the people that give

thanks I know this is true you can read the scriptures over and over it's a promise from the beginning to the end of the Bible you've got to give thanks if you want to experience a miracle you know before Jesus rose Lazarus from the grave he wept with those who were hurting so he Grieves with those who Grieves but before he called Lazarus out of the Tomb do you know what the Bible says just a few chapters later in the same Book of John it says he gave thanks if you don't give thanks for what you already have why should God give you a miracle if you're grumbling and complaining you like God's not doing it for me why would he do it for me because you're complaining what do we teach our kids hey say thanks be grateful I don't have enough I wish I had a big bigger better bike be grateful for what you have be thankful that's the heart of God he's just looking at us his

kids saying would you just be thankful it is a Biblical principle that if you want a miracle in your life it starts with Thanksgiving Paul when he told the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5 he says give thanks in all circumstances not some circumstances not the easy circumstances not the good circumstances give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus you want a miracle in your marriage start giving thanks you want a miracle in your finances start giving thanks you want a medical miracle you start giving thanks well what should you give thanks for you can go to the word of God I like how in Psalm 105 verse1 it says oh give thanks to the Lord call upon his name make known his deeds among

the peoples you could give thanks for all the examples of God in the scriptures God I thank you that you're a God Of The Underdogs I thank you that you're the God for the little children I thank you that you're the god of the Five Loaves and the two fish you thank God for all of his deeds of old in Psalm 107 vers1 it says oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever you want to know what you could thank God for his love God loved you when you were unlovable he loved you when you were hard to love he loved you in your worst God is love so if you have something to be thankful for God I love you and thank you that your love endures forever a political season not going to stop God's love come on

somebody all your hardships they will not stop God's love whatever obstacles in front of you you have a reason to thank God you want to know what happens when you give thanks you get to see God do the work it's not even about you you today might only see Five Loaves you might only see two fish this is metaphoric to whatever's going on in your life you only see what you can see you say I don't see it I don't feel it I don't even know how this could happen that's when God gets to do the work you do have to believe you do have to trust and you do have to give thanks if you go to the Book of Mark and you go to the Book of Luke it says after he gave a blessing which is a thanks he broke the bread I've learned this principle with a blessing the blessing comes after the

breaking you want to know people who are blessed they've been through something my greatest blessings have come through Brokenness when God's breaking me I'm confused I'm angry I'm telling God what he should do and he's just trying to teach me a lesson of multiplication Miracles I see the the little he sees the lot I see what's in front of me he sees what I can never see are you guys still tracking with me someone needs to have a mustard seed of faith today to say God I've looked at this with the wrong perspective I need to start giving thanks I need to start trusting you with whatever you're doing in my life the breaking is not to kill you we teach a principle with every mission trip team blessed are the flexible for they will

bend and not break that's not a a scripture but it's a principle of life that if you would understand that that in the Brokenness there's a blessing that's coming that in the stretching when God doing something that's more difficult than you can see God's just getting you ready to really bless other people because you know how God does his miracles he uses other people Jesus could have had Mana just show up that day and everybody just grabbed it some of you if you're new to church you say what is Mana well it's in the Old Testament scriptures in the book of Exodus when they didn't have food God provided they woke up and there was this food and they didn't know what it was and so they said to one another Mana the word Mana means what is it what is it some of us see God's provision and

today we're still saying Mana what is it this is what you want to provide this is what you're going to do Jesus could have provided Mana that day but he didn't he used people he used a boy because God loves to show off and show us that he doesn't need talent he doesn't need strength he doesn't need knowledge he doesn't need the credentials of this world he just needs faith that when you give him what you have he multip applies it and it says in John 6:12 when they had eaten their fill listen we have a god of abundance too many of us have a god of scarcity in our mind they didn't eat a little and they were like ah you know what I'm still hungry you ever eaten at that place you leave and you're like man I need to go get some more food not at restaurant Day Jesus they

had had their fill and Jesus told the disciples go gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost God doesn't waste anything he's a good Steward and he wants us to be as well so they gathered up and get get how many fragments with left they gathered up and filled 12 baskets someone yell 12 come on 12 baskets with fragments from the five barle Lo someone y five five barley loaves left by those who had eaten Jesus used his disciples to do the work you go collect the baskets he he didn't just say well they'll just leave the baskets when they leave and we'll pick it up afterwards no we as a church are better together if we're going to have a heart for this house we got to recognize that God uses people he used Noah to build the ark he used Abraham and Sarah who looked like they were too

old to be the promised seed for that Isaac would come out of he used David a little boy that was overlooked by his own father you think you have father issues go read about the life of David God uses people with daddy issues so that you would trust in our heavenly father you feel overlooked God doesn't over look you he's just looking for some faith that you'd confront the Goliath of this world God used Rahab you maybe we a stripper in this house today everybody else going to judge you but God he says I want to use you if you be faithful and obedient to me I will use you reab the prostitute I'll tell you God will use anyone he used Elijah to call up a prayer and God stopped the rain he used Elijah to call up a prayer and brought fire down from heaven the Book of James says when you pray you pray like Elijah

because Elijah was just a man like the rest of us so don't you be thinking Elijah was magical or he could do things you couldn't do you have the same God of Elijah he used Elijah Elijah when Elisha had an army of a hundred soldiers he had no food they were hungry they met a man of God who had a little bit of barley bread what kind of bread barley bread but there wasn't enough to feed a hundred soldiers so Elisha said you give that barley bread to my Soldiers the man of God said there's no way it would feed the hundred soldiers and Elisha said you don't know my God feed my soldiers and there'll be enough left over they fed those soldiers with what kind of bread barley bread and when there was left over there was still more you have a god of abundance a god of more he could supply all of your needs who was it that delivered the Israelites out of Egypt

what's his name Moses Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible the first five books of the Bible they're called the pituk that represents five books of the law the Torah the instructions of God it was Moses that would declare man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the Lord so we understand that wherever we get provision it's from God we don't trust in the things of this world we don't trust in the stock market we don't trust in our bank account we trust in almighty God we take him at his word but you have to do your part you can't keep living the same way expecting God to do Miracle you got to start giving thanks you got to start thanking God in the breaking and you got to realize God's going to bless and he's

not finished with you yet there are so many references in this story so that we would see the God of all scriptures now 12 how many disciples were there come on somebody 12 there happen to be one basket for each disciple that points back to the 12 tribes of Israel in the Book of Revelation we see the 12 tribes and we see the 12 disciples we see that they are the worshippers it represents this God's people God God gives and provides for his people you are his people we have a god of abundance today I prophesy over you we have a god of abundance please don't think small of our God I realize when I say Central Oregon shall be saved some of you start doing selft talk oh that's a little bit big thing to say around here I think that's just a little bit of vision to grow a church no we believe

Central Oregon shall be saved that every Church in this region would be overflowing you know I took a group of people I didn't actually take them a group of us traveled up to madis and we were part of a Prayer Revival service in madis a few days later a pastor and primeville got a hold of me and said can I go to lunch with you as well listen if we say Central Oregon shall be saved we're not talking about Bend we're talking about Redmond and madress and primeville and sisters and leine and crescent and shamol we are believing God's best over this region where no one else can see it we can see it the rest of the world's still wondering Oregon is that really a state is that really a place and we say absolutely yes John finishes his book with one last verse in John 21 verse 25 and he says listen I've told you about Jesus but

listen carefully now there are also many other things that Jesus did where every one of them written I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written listen God can do exceedingly and abundantly more than you can imagine so much more if I was to tell you all that God's done in my life the books in this world could not the world could not contain the books about what God's done in my life and I believe what he's going to do in your life he's doing it right now but you've got to trust him and believe that God can do more with what you have than you can do with it in a thousand lifetimes I want to share with you a story it's from our friend Veronica who's been a part of this church and served as a superhero would you listen to what God's done that God's begun a good work and he will complete it let's watch it together

[Music] [Music] [Music] hi my name is Veronica rmma most before we started the more initiative I I was super involved at Journey Church and and already very committed to my monthly tithing and in serving being involved at Journey Church for me meant helping to lead women's groups and um leading coffee I'm very passionate about the coffee ministry

here you're the center in the hub of everything that happens at the church and sometimes people that are afraid to go Upfront for prayer will come to you at coffee and ask for prayer so it's a pretty special Ministry this more initiative that was proposed as a financial initiative Encompass more things than finances I think that's how God [Music] works when the mo initiative started I couldn't commit a lot because I was committed to getting debt free but when God asked me to give more than that I I had concerns about um covering all the

bills I had to pray and ask God like how that fit into my commitment to get debt free he quickly uh responded to me and said that he was the god of my debt he called me to give 10 times more than I had initially committed to which felt like a lot to me because I'm I'm single and and I have a mortgage was like okay God it I trust you with whatever is [Music] next I still didn't have peace even after committing 10 times what he asked of me I came into commitment Sunday thinking that maybe the Lord would tell me that I needed to sell my

house I was willing to give him my house but that was easy for me so he asked me for something that was a little more challenging to step [Music] into the Lord planted in me a sign that he was going to bring me into a season of ministering to broken and hurting women he had given me the name of this ministry it was to be called Beautifully Broken and on commitment Sunday Keith stood on the stage and asked what we had to give that was Beautifully Broken and that's the very title that he gave me of this ministry that I was so scared to step

into he called me to share some of the hardest things that have happened in my life on a public stage and women came up to me afterwards and told me how impactful my 8 Minute share was in their lives God wants more from us than our finances it's surrendering that thing that's hard to surrender to the Lord and trusting him with all of your life no matter how terrifyingly frightening it [Music] is I got a refund in my taxes and a large refund from a dental bill that I

had um that covered the whole 2-year commitment I now have the money to pay off all my debt with the exception of my mortgage God truly was the god of my [Music] debt today every one of us is being called to something and whatever it is that's on your heart right now is a thing that God's calling you to you can do it you can surrender it you can give it there's nothing more beautiful than full surrender to God on the other side of your obedience is the blessing God wants to give you exceedingly abundantly more than you can ask or

imagine come on can we thank God for Veronica's story thank you for stepping out in faith Veronica and God is just getting started just getting started all the Brokenness of where you've been is just to surrender to him and realize that which the enemy tried to steal kill and destroy God's going to turn it around he's a god of abundance he wants to give life and life abundantly today I want to just challenge you if you've not been a part of this more initiative it's not too late we're at the one-year Mark and we're witnessing God do greater things we've got walls built behind us we're going to expand this Auditorium we're building new kids spaces we're going to continue to do more Ministry in this region where also we've got 38 acres in the fastest growing section of Bend right now and believing God's best over that property but all of this requires

money you know when it comes to Ministry sometimes we just think well it just happens no Ministry requires money and I want to invite you today to be a part of this the more initiative is an invitation for those who are not giving to start giving for the first time for those who are giving to trust God with what you have your Five Loaves and your two fish my friend if you're visiting here today for the first time listen we're not asking for your money we're asking for you to trust God with all that you have I I don't want to pretend and say well listen if you trust Jesus you don't have to give him your finances as well Jesus talked a lot about money you've got to trust him in absolutely every area of your life as we commit to this together we're believing God for more we have a heart for this house we are believing that we can give God what we have and expect more we've got two uh uh bends up here uh one over here to my

left and one over here to my right and let me just explain those so that you participate in this as well before you leave today one is simply an impact card this is believing that this church is for those who are not yet going to church those who don't like church those who have been hurt by the church even those who maybe said they will never step foot in church and there's a place here for you put the names of those who are not a part of a church listen we're not doing this to grow a building or to have programs we want to people people saved and we have seen countless time and time again people who've put names on this impact card they've come to church even in the last week it was awesome to testify someone who the last line on here says a long shot this is the atheist this is the antagonist this is the person says I'll never step foot in a church and just last week we had a long shot come do you know some of you who are coming to church here over the last year your name might actually be in

that box because someone loves you so much they've been praying for you so if you want to fill out an impact card it's out in the lobby you can fill that out and bring that right right back in there we still have another two weeks that those bins will be on there fill that out you could take one bring it back or do it before you leave today then finally there's a commitment card let me just explain this this is a way that we can just track together what God is doing here financially so if you're not giving you can mark on here what you believe God's leading you to give or if you are currently giving how God is stretching you in this we've seen it in our family where we've been stretched to give more than we've ever given before we've always tithed and we've always trusted God and been generous but when God gave K and I a number we're like whoa we're going to do this here we go and we've witnessed God work over and over you do this for the Lord yeah this is a an investment in the kingdom when

you get into heaven there's not going to be a Journey Church there but there will be people and we ultimately want to reach as many people as we can so if you fill out one of these commitment cards you'll open it up you'll see our our our uh our mission in here that you would see that ultimately we want to see God's promises fulfilled in this house we want to see hope in this house for more so if you fill that out just right over here to this B the one with less cards than the one with that that one over here uh so you just take that and you put that in there and it is so cool just to see God can continue to work through people uh that's just my financial plea to you today before you leave that we're expecting God to do more and I'll tell you I I wish I could stand up here and tell you all the stories but one way I want to just tell you is we're making a difference in Uganda we send a monthly amount to the City Church in ler Uganda we partnered with them for a long time under the leadership of doc Dr Alex mugia it is one of the poorest nations in the world yet they've got an

abundance of resources you know over the pandemic people couldn't work they didn't have the resources or money but Journey Church sent money during that time so that they could get rice and beans and we fed hundreds and hundreds of people who otherwise would not have had a meal if it weren't for you that's a part of what we're doing here we also support Stars which is a Ministry to disabled children Uganda is not like the rest of the world when you're born disabled you're often overlooked you don't have resources in fact many people in that culture see disabled children as cursed we support this ministry because they're given a chance of hope they're given Medical Care and attention physical therapy they're given the love of Jesus Christ they're given food but all of that takes money and when you give to Journey Church you're supporting Stars you're supporting the City Church you're supporting so much more than what

you can see with your natural eyes you give your Five Loaves and you're two fish God multiplies it you get to impact people one day you're going to get into heaven and get to realize you're part of something much bigger than you can see just if you get your eyes off yourself get your eyes on Jesus he'll do more with your life than you can imagine find finally we're almost done with our time here I have to give you a great invitation if you've never believed in Jesus this is your moment the Bible says today is the day of salvation which simply means this there's no better day you don't have to go get your life right first to follow Jesus but you do have to trust in him and believe in him and when you do God promis you the hope of Salvation which means when you die you get the gift of eternal life you also get the gift of God himself the Holy Spirit the power of God it worked within you it's a wonderful mystery but it

starts with your believing in him today I want to ask you if you've never done that if you want to be forgiven of every single one of your sins there's no sin so great he won't forgive you if you want the hope that you can know when your heart stops beating you'll spend forever with God if you want that today is yours I'm going to count to the number three and I'm doing this to give you an opportunity to be bold because there's going to come a point in your life that you've got to decide to follow Jesus and not the world you've got to decide in your heart that you don't care about the people around you as much as you care about God because God cares about you so I want to just ask you today if you want to cross over from Death to life you want to be forgiven and you want to be a saint and a child of God this is your day so when I count to three I'm just going to ask you to throw your hand up like this and to keep your hand up you're just going to be bold and you're going to keep your hand up and we're going to see it and

celebrate with you the Bible says when one sinner repents there's great joy in heaven so this is your chance right now when I get to three you throw your hand up and just keep it up from this day forward your life will never never be the same one 2 three throw your hand up right now yes come on praise God praise God anybody else keep your hand up keep your hand up anybody else it's not too late if that's you throw your hand up you're never too old you're never too young come on if that's you right now if your heart is beating and your stomach is sick saying maybe I should have thrown my hand up throw your hand up be a child of God today be forgiven anybody else right where you are I don't want to miss this moment I I think there's someone over here too but you haven't thrown your hand

up I'm not trying to manipulate or coers I just don't want you to miss a moment where God's pushing you to trust him stop trusting yourself is there anybody else that you just right now where you are you just say yes that's me that's that that's me right where where I am I don't want to do this on my own you can trust Jesus today today is your day shame and guilt are gone in Jesus name freedom is found in Jesus anybody else I don't want to miss this we came to church today to meet with Jesus did anybody hear a word from the Lord today anybody here today all right praise God amen amen all glory to God as we get ready to conclude our time I'm just going to ask would you stand to your feet if you need

prayer today I'm going to invite the prayer team forward any pastors that Elders that want to come forward to pray with those that need prayer today if you need a miracle I know a God that can do anything get out your five right now get out your two right now and just place them before the Lord Lord we give you what we have we give you our failures we give you our hurts we give you the little that we have and we say God would you multiply it when we put it in your hands when we give thanks to you God you can do anything so I pray that even after today there would be great testimony Lord that you are the god that's able you are the god of abundance we are believing that you're not finished with your church so fill us with oil Lord may we be like a lamp may we be like a city on a hill where the

world sees our good deeds and they just want to glorify you our father in Heaven we're asking for more in the name of Jesus we're asking for you to do what only you could do in Jesus mighty name so be it an amen and amen