All four Gospels record the miracle of Jesus feeding the multitudes (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; and John 6:1-13). Jesus fed hungry multitudes twice in the Gospels. The first time was 5,000 Jewish men and their families.

John tells us about a young lad that Andrew brought to Jesus. We don’t know how he found him, or who he was. He had five small barley loaves and two small fish. Barely enough for a growing boy. But he willingly, we think, handed his lunch over to Jesus and well, you know the rest of the story.

I’ve often wondered about that young man. None of the writers gave us any information about the boy. We don’t know who his parents were. I think we assume his parents were there too, but nothing is said to make us think one way or the other. (Tomorrow’s blog will be about his mom, by the way.)

It has been held by some that the young man was John Mark, the writer of the Gospel of Mark. I don’t know how that got started but that’s what some claim. We just don’t know. All we know is that the boy gave Jesus his lunch, Jesus accepted it, blessed it, then proceeded to break it into bite size pieces and fed 15,000 hungry people with 12 baskets of leftovers.

I wonder what the boy told his mom when she asked him if he had eaten? Even more so, I wonder what kind of stories he told his buddies when he got home.

He might be like a rookie basketball player with the Chicago Bulls, named Stacey King. In 1990. King entered a game with not very much time left and scored one point from a free throw. In the same game, Michael Jordan scored 69 points. During the post-game press conference King said he would always remember this night as being the time he and Michael Jordan teamed up to score 70 points.

I wonder if the young man told his buddies about how he and Jesus had just fed 15,000 hungry people with 12 baskets of leftovers.

The truth is, that whenever we team up with Jesus, there is no limit to what good can happen. Anyone of us plus Jesus will always make a winning team.

Give him everything you got. A little or a lot. He can take it, bless it, break it, and do amazing things with it.

Always in Pursuit!

Don

I have grown to love the New Testament book of Hebrews. Each time I read this letter (or sermon, as some have dubbed it) I see something new about Jesus. I see something new about what it means to have faith. And I see something new about the faithfulness of God.

In the first four verses the writer, whom no one knows, makes a dynamic statement about the superiority of Christ.

He very quickly lists seven things about the Messiah in Hebrews 1:2-3. If you are interested in these, I taught on them this past Sunday and you can view the entire teaching on the Troy Mills Christian Church Face Book page or on the Troy Mills Christian Church You Tube channel. Just search for us, you will find us.

The seventh and final thing about Christ the writer stated was “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

The significance of this is this was a picture of the work Christ came to do having been completed. He came to be the perfect, once for all sacrifice for our sins. Never had a perfect or a “once-for-all” sacrifice been made. Sacrifices for sins had to be made over and over. Not to mention the one making the sacrifice for sin had to make a sacrifice for his own sin before making the sacrifice for the sins of others.

Christ came to be the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice. Because He was sinless, He did not need a sacrifice to be made for Him. Instead, He became our sacrifice, cleansing us of all sin, declaring us justified and making us righteous. This was His purpose for coming to the earth.

On the cross, found in John 19:30, He cried out with perhaps his final breath, “It is finished.” His purpose had been fulfilled. He had become the spotless, perfect, one-for-all sacrifice for the sins of mankind.

In the Temple or even back in the Tabernacle, there is never anything mentioned about a place for the priests to sit. Every time the priest entered the Tabernacle or the Temple, they had a task to do. There was always a sacrifice to be offered. First for themselves, and then for others. Their work was never finished. But when Christ came, He completed the work. He became our sacrifice that brought about cleansing from all sin, and a declaration of righteousness. One other benefit of Christ’s superior sacrifice was the veil that separated man from God was torn in two. From the top to the bottom, giving man full access to the Father.

Man was no longer separated from God by our sin. Because of Christ we are now reconciled to God and we can live free from the bondage of sin. Our sin has been removed “as far as the east is from the west.” It is a new day! A new life! And a new journey!

Always in Pursuit!

Don