Wednesday, April 30, 2014

May 1, 2014

"When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve baskets full of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children." Matthew 14:13-21

When a few people do small things in obedience to Jesus a big need can be met!

That is the story of the feeding of the 5,000.

Jesus and His disciples found themselves surrounded by thousands of hungry people miles away from any food source with not much money and nothing to eat. Does that sound like a formula for a happy ending?

Since you know the story you know that it was precisely the perfect scenario for a miracle to occur!

Each person who saw the need and cared about the need gave the little that they had and performed the small task they could do and Jesus did the rest! One of the disciples found a youngster with a lunch. The lad donated his lunch and the disciples went out into the crowd and got them to sit in an orderly fashion. After Jesus had bless the fishes and the loaves, He handed them to the disciples to begin passing them out. Moving through the famished throng they passed out bread and fish and handed out bread and fish and keep passing the out until people wanted no more.

After everything had been given out and was devoured, the disciples were instructed to collect the leftovers. Once the extra food was retrieved and returned to the Master it added up to twelve times more than they had when they started!

It is amazing what God can do when His people commit to doing what they can with the little they have, because it is all about Him and not about us!

The disciples found that out in a remote seaside location. FredWes discovered it with our "FLOW H2O" project this year. We committed to raising $8,500 for the cost of drilling a well in a remote African village. One after another, FredWes family members pledged to contribute what they could toward that goal. When the pledging was done, the total was $12,000! Over $10,000 of that has come in.

This Sunday we will present a representative from World Hope International with a check for our first well!

Little is much when God is in it!

Don't wait for big things, do little things in faith!