“Immediately He made
the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He
sent the crowds away.” (Matt. 14:22).
Hey Gang: We learned in the last Morning Message that
Jesus did, indeed, have bad days. He had
lost his best friend, John the Baptist, had tried to go into the mountain and
pray but the people came to Him for healing and His disciples had failed to use
their God-given power to feed the people.
We know the results of their
failure. Jesus said, “Bring the fives loaves and two
fish here to Me” (vs. 18). “And
He looked up to heaven and blessed the food and breaking the loaves, He gave
them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds” (vs.19b.).
Sooo, what is going through your
mind this morning? If God suddenly spoke
to you and said: “I am going to send a
very hungry group of people across your path today and I want you to feed
them. I will provide you with a couple
fish a few loaves, what would you say?
In the early years of developing
the Village we had a group of young people who worked for us and showed up at
our table, completely unexpected, many times.
On one Sunday noon we began our meal with our family of six and ended
with more than twenty at our table, and I do not recall ever running out of
food. I know there is the proverbial ‘add
water to the soup’ but that was not the case.
It was now time to send the people
away and get out the bed rolls, build a fire and sit around chewing the fat
over what had transpired that day, Right?
No, that is not what Jesus had in mind. Keep in mind John’s words: “He
knew what He was going to do” (John 6:6).
It was time for another life-changing
learning experience. It was time to turn
up the heat. Hey, have you ever been
there when God says, “I need to get your
attention “Immediately, Get in the boat?”
It is here we find the Scripture
for the day: “Notice the first word “IMMEDIATELY!” One might get the
idea that Jesus looked at the failures of the day with a great deal of
concern. The shadows of the cross were
growing more ominous each day and He knew He did not have much time to prepare
His twelve to carry the Good News to the multitudes after He had ascended to
the Father.
One of the profound memories I
have of Korea was the night I pulled guard duty on the fourth watch. It was
black as coal and I was terrified. At
the point when I thought my thumper was going to explode, suddenly a heard
music. I thought surely my life was
about to end and the angels were preparing the choir for my home coming. There was a Catholic School just down the
hill from the Center and a nun had gotten up for her morning prayers and was
playing the Lord’s Prayer. Now I want
you to know folks, I mentioned I was a Laodicean Christian at that time, but I
took a gigantic step towards full commitment that night.
Again, I remember a question that
Pastor Stool asked that day: “Do you think Jesus was punishing the disciples or
trying to get their attention? What say
ye?
As Paul Harvey would say, “Be sure
and tune in tomorrow for the rest of the story!”
Blessings,
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