From Impossible to Possible: The Radical Call to Compassionate Stewardship

• Glorifying God [00:27:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor establishes that the primary purpose of the church and the gathering is to bring glory to God, rather than personal benefit.
• Compassion and Ministry [00:35:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes the Greek word 'splogitsomai' to explain Jesus' deep, gut-level compassion for the crowds, contrasting it with judgment or self-preservation.
• Emotional Health and Mourning [00:33:07 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues against the cultural notion that strength requires suppressing emotion, citing Jesus weeping at Lazarus's tomb as proof that mourning is necessary.
• Rest and Sabbath [00:34:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses Jesus withdrawing to a desolate place to illustrate the necessity of rest and recharging to avoid burnout in ministry.
• Compassion vs. Judgment [00:35:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the Greek concept of 'splogitsomai' (bowel compassion) with cultural judgment, urging the congregation to prioritize others' needs over self-interest.
• Political Ideology [00:37:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor warns that when political identity becomes primary, it leads to despising opponents rather than seeing them as objects of God's grace.
• Abortion and Special Needs [00:38:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > A personal anecdote about a YouTube couple aborting a child with Down syndrome is used to illustrate the 'culture of death' and the shift from rage to prayerful compassion.
• Divine Partnership in Miracles [00:42:45 ▶️ 📄]
  > Using the feeding of the 5,000, the pastor argues that Jesus desires believers to be partners in miracles by offering what they have, no matter how small.
• Divine Burden and Action [00:46:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor illustrates how God places burdens on individuals (Mike Dragich, Chad Starkey, Ron Armstrong) to start ministries or organizations in response to specific needs.
• Stewardship and Possessions [00:55:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that humans are stewards, not owners, of their resources, emphasizing that everything is a 'blood-bought grace gift' from God.
• Critique of Socialism/Communism [00:56:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explicitly debunks the idea that Jesus was a communist or socialist, distinguishing voluntary generosity from government-mandated redistribution.
• The Feeding of the 5,000 [00:51:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the biblical narrative to illustrate the concept of releasing small resources to Jesus, noting that the disciples were the instruments of the miracle.
• Sanctification and Divine Breaking [00:57:48 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor briefly introduces the concept that God breaks believers to use them, comparing the breaking of loaves to spiritual sanctification.
• Discipleship and Obedience [00:58:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that miracles happen in the hands of disciples who take steps of obedience, even when they feel inadequate or fear looking like fools.
• Generosity and Church Planting [01:01:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares personal anecdotes about planting a church and sponsoring children through Compassion International, illustrating that trusting God with resources leads to unexpected growth and blessing.
• Theological Symbolism of the Miracles [01:07:42 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the significance of the 12 and 7 baskets left over, interpreting them as symbols for the inclusion of both the 12 tribes of Israel and Gentile tribes in the movement of Christ.
• The Blessing of Giving [01:09:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that the giver (the boy, the disciples, and the believer) is blessed by participating in God's work, challenging the notion that blessing is only about receiving.
• Blessing God [01:10:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that believers can bless God through obedience, singing, receiving the Word, and serving 'the least of these,' citing Matthew 25.
• Eschatology and Parables [01:10:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Matthew 24-25, summarizing the parables of the virgins, talents, and sheep/goats to explain end-times judgment and the call to active faith.
• Compassion Sponsorship [01:16:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor transitions to a practical application regarding child sponsorship, praying for the congregation to sponsor children and explaining the process of how the gospel is shared with sponsored children.

• Sermon Illustration [00:29:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares personal anecdotes about his family sponsoring 40 children over 26 years, specifically naming and describing several children (Jelena, Mateus, Samuel, Sonia, Vitor, Denison, A-B-Z, Carlos, and Brandy) to illustrate the tangible impact of compassion ministry.
• Sermon Illustration [00:31:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts the story of meeting a teenage mother named Grace and her infant daughter Brandy at a child survival program, describing how the baby crawled into his lap, leading to their decision to sponsor her.
• Sermon Illustration [00:33:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus to illustrate that even the strongest man (Jesus) expressed grief, validating the need for emotional honesty.
• Sermon Illustration [00:38:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal story about seeing a YouTube video of a couple aborting their child due to a Down syndrome diagnosis. He describes his initial rage, then shifting to compassion by viewing the parents as victims of a 'culture of death' and praying for their redemption.
• Sermon Illustration [00:40:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references comedian Shane Gillis, noting that Gillis's cousin has Down syndrome and is described as 'the happiest guy ever,' used to contrast societal views of special needs with a perspective of them as gifts.
• Sermon Illustration [00:46:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of Mike Dragich, who started 'Project Savior Outdoors' after his Marine buddies began committing suicide, illustrating a burden placed by God that he acted upon.
• Sermon Illustration [00:47:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares the story of Chad Starkey, who started 'Surf Fish Serve' in Jamaica to use fishing trips to lead non-Christian friends to Christ through scripture memorization and testimony sharing.
• Sermon Illustration [00:47:00 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of Mike Dragich, a Marine who started Project Savior Outdoors after his buddies committed suicide, and Chad Starkey, who started Surf Fish Serve to lead non-Christians to Christ through fishing trips.
• Sermon Illustration [00:48:02 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares the story of Ron Armstrong, a former drug dealer who started 'Sponsored by Grace' after seeing needs in Brazil and Jacksonville, and is now running for mayor.
• Sermon Illustration [00:49:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes a girl named Brandy in Uganda, whose mother was a teen, to illustrate the impact of child sponsorship ($43/month provides three and a half coffees' worth of support).
• Sermon Illustration [00:52:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a personal anecdote about his grandmother saving 'purse bread' (yeast rolls) in her purse to avoid starvation, and his father saving crackers and Vienna sausages, to illustrate how people often hold onto resources out of stinginess rather than faith.
• Sermon Illustration [00:51:33 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the biblical context of the 'five loaves and two fish,' clarifying that the fish were small sardines used for flavor on bread, not large fish.
• Sermon Illustration [00:58:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor imagines the perspective of a disciple receiving a tiny portion of bread and fish from Jesus and being tasked with feeding a massive crowd, highlighting the absurdity and fear involved before the miracle occurs.
• Sermon Illustration [01:01:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor recounts his initial fear and resistance when called to plant a church in 2012, including a humorous exchange with an elder about going to prison and losing money if no one showed up.
• Sermon Illustration [01:02:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor tells the story of his wife's obedience in sponsoring a child through Compassion International despite having no money, which led to the sponsorship of 30,000 kids and the planting of seven churches.
• Sermon Illustration [01:03:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes a 'bait and switch' tactic where they invite pastors to a retreat center for relaxation, only to persuade them to sponsor children, resulting in 20,000 additional sponsorships.
• Sermon Illustration [01:06:46 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor contrasts the regret of spending $43 on a meal at Chili's with the lasting satisfaction of receiving letters from sponsored children who have grown up, married, and served in ministry.
• Sermon Illustration [01:09:30 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the story of the little boy with the lunchable to illustrate how small offerings, when given to Jesus, result in abundance (20,000 people fed).
• Sermon Illustration [01:10:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references an event called 'Bless God Summit' run by Ruslan Katie to illustrate the concept of leveraging time, talent, and treasure to bless God rather than just receiving blessings.
• Sermon Illustration [01:16:51 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes a hypothetical scenario where a sponsored child in Uganda is called aside by a local worker to receive a picture of the gospel, illustrating the spiritual impact of the congregation's sponsorship.

• Pastoral Charge [00:28:49 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor requests the congregation to sponsor children through Compassion International, suggesting they start with a number equal to the number of people in their household or on their insurance.
• Pastoral Charge [00:31:53 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor encourages existing sponsors to increase their commitment or new members to begin sponsoring children.
• Pastoral Charge [00:42:23 ▶️ 📄]
  > Go to the compassion packets, identify a need, and sponsor/release a child from poverty.
• Pastoral Charge [00:43:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > Sponsor a child to rescue them from poverty.
• Pastoral Charge [00:54:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explicitly asks the congregation to sponsor a child through the Compassion organization.
• Pastoral Charge [00:49:10 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor encourages the congregation to sign a petition for Ron Armstrong to be on the Jacksonville mayoral ballot.
• Pastoral Charge [00:59:54 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor challenges the congregation to self-examine whether they are currently obeying God's commands, implying they should be willing to risk looking foolish for the sake of obedience.
• Pastoral Charge [01:06:31 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor implicitly calls the congregation to sponsor children through Compassion International, contrasting the regret of consumer spending with the satisfaction of spiritual investment.
• Pastoral Charge [01:15:52 ▶️ 📄]
  > Trust God regardless of financial status.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > Sponsor every child available through the Compassion program.
• Pastoral Charge [01:16:40 ▶️ 📄]
  > Fill out a sponsorship packet for a child.

[00:02:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:02:13] Church. We're pumped that you're with us. Welcome Church of 1122. Whether it's your first time or you've been joining us for years, welcome. We're a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. And when I say a movement, we mean a family and we're glad that you're here. Speaking of family, to our Orlando crew, we raised the cross this week. Amber and I got to be there. What a holy moment, right? An exciting moment. If you're not a part of the Orlando campus, jump on the website, learn more about it. It's great. But also when I think about family,
[00:02:43] think about the summer. It is summer, at least here in Florida. So Amber, and this is a question for everybody. What's your favorite thing about summer? My favorite thing about summer is honestly

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:02:53] getting to spend more time with my kids, for sure. And warmer weather. Even Florida gets too cold for

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:02:58] me. I'm telling y'all. It's hot all the time. Hey, answer that question in the chat. What's your favorite thing about summer? Okay, another question for you, our Church Online family, and you, Amber.
[00:03:08] You're driving. Windows are down. What song are you guys blaring in the vehicle? We're probably

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:13] doing some forest frank maybe some fun country okay forest frank gonna see him in a couple of

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:03:17] weeks it's good so fun our song i mean she's in texas right we're still we're still repping that you know at the porterhouse but all right speaking of our kids we're pretty excited because we
[00:03:27] released for the first time ever a kids book here at 11 22 so amber tell us about it we're so pumped

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:03:32] we did y'all we are so excited the big brave choice launched this week and this book was written by Pastor Joby Martin and our kids ministry director, Lori Newell. It was written to help kids discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus, but also to understand what forgiveness
[00:03:49] looks like, that forgiven people forgive people. And it's not just going to be another book that you just put on your bookshelf and forget about. This is a gospel centered resource for us as we
[00:04:00] disciple our kids. I know for my family, this is going to be a go-to as we disciple our kids at home. I know y'all already have your copy. We've already been reading it. My five-year-old's like

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:04:09] dad, we got to talk about this. I mean, it was awesome. It really was. Yeah. That's awesome.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]
[00:04:13] And the book is designed for ages four to eight, but really I believe that this book is going to have impact for kids and for adults. I'm just going to buy a big stack of them. I'm going to
[00:04:24] give them away for birthday gifts, for baby shower gifts. Hey, Starbucks, here you go.
[00:04:29] It's an incredible resource. So you can order it wherever books are sold. You can also find it at joeymartin.com. And so go grab your copy. You are not going to want to miss out on this.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:04:39] Yeah, and for our Church Online family, you can actually, you'll see this in the chat, churchsource.com.
[00:04:43] 40% off.
[00:04:45] You can get that.
[00:04:46] So all that's right there.
[00:04:47] I want to make sure you grab it.
[00:04:48] Well, guys, it's filling up.
[00:04:49] We're getting ready.
[00:04:50] I want to, listen, push out all the distractions, right?
[00:04:53] Grab your Bible.
[00:04:54] Grab a pen.
[00:04:55] It's going to be an incredible message.
[00:04:56] I cannot wait to hear what God's going to speak to you.
[00:04:59] So get ready as we get ready to worship right now.

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:05:01] Let's worship together.
[00:05:02] Welcome to church.
[00:05:06] It's so good to see you.
[00:05:08] If you're not already standing, let's get up on our feet and get ready to worship our King.
[00:05:12] We lift our hands to the heavens, and we are here for you.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:05:21] We reach for the hem of your garment.
[00:05:26] We know it's the faithful hand of God through every season of our lives.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:09:19] Scripture says something powerful.
[00:09:21] It says we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.
[00:09:25] That means what the Lord has done in our lives, it matters.
[00:09:29] It matters, y'all.
[00:09:31] We're about to sing this song.
[00:09:32] It's called I've Witnessed It.
[00:09:33] and to witness it simply means that you were there for it to witness means that you were there for and we're about to publicly declare together tonight we're going to testify that we have firsthand seen the faithfulness of God that we have tasted and seen his goodness that we've
[00:09:50] experienced his constant provision his endless mercy his healing touch but see the testimony was never meant to end with just us what we have witnessed can become a witness to somebody else it points people to Jesus and so as we sing this next song it's a new one and I'll teach it to you
[00:10:12] but we're not just singing that we remember what the Lord has done but we are declaring and encouraging for everyone who is listening even in the spirit right now in this place we're declaring that our God is faithful for everybody who needs to be reminded that he
[00:10:27] is the God of hope amen amen I'm gonna teach this chorus to you it goes like this

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[00:10:33] testify with me the glory that is due to your name and we celebrate your faithfulness

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:19:50] god we can look back at the cross see the most beautiful form of faithfulness lord even if nothing seems to be going right on the surface right now in our lives lord we are not
[00:20:04] moved by surface level misconceptions we are moved by faith we know who you are no you do the impossible and so lord tonight we command our souls to get in alignment with the truth that you are a faithful god no matter how hope is hurt lord we pick it back up again and we put it
[00:20:25] back in you not for blessing not for breakthrough but because you are worthy you're worthy of our yes. You're worthy when the answer is no. You're worthy when the answer is wait. You are worthy of
[00:20:38] it all. We love you, Jesus. Be magnified by our lives. It's in that mighty name we pray. In Jesus'

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:20:46] name we all say amen. Amen. Y'all can take a seat. Amen. And welcome to the Church of 1122, where we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a
[00:20:58] joy to get to be here and worship with all of you at San Pablo and with all of you worshiping with this online. I have very exciting news for you guys. We have a new book that we're releasing
[00:21:08] here. Our first children's ministry book. Pastor Joby and our kids ministry director Lori Newell have written The Big Brave Choice. Forgiving like Jesus. Is there a more important topic for kids, parents? Yeah, we need to teach our kids how to forgive like Jesus. They have figured out how to
[00:21:25] fight like Jesus. They know how to turn over tables. We want to teach them how to forgive like Jesus. And here's the thing. This is just an extension of our heart here at the Church of 1122.
[00:21:32] too. We want kids to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And this book just points them to the heart of the Father for them in a language that they can understand.
[00:21:42] And this is a great weekend to be here at the Church of 1122. It's Compassion Weekend. You're going to hear us say an awful lot that we want to rescue kids in Jesus' name. And this book
[00:21:51] helps raise up kids in Jesus' name. And that's what we want. We want to reach one more generation.
[00:21:57] We want to rescue them, raise them up. We want to help them discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ, and we can't wait to see what weekends like this and resources like this do over
[00:22:06] the next few years to engage one more generation in the heart of the Father. Right now, we're going to continue to worship, so I want you to grab your Bible, grab your pen, and let's watch this video

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:22:16] together. So I grew up in church. My grandfather was a pastor, and all I knew was church. Every time the doors were open, I was there. My mom played the piano for the church and was in the
[00:22:31] choir. And my grandfather left a very lucrative family situation in Boston where he could have made a lot of money, inherited a lot of money, and he chose ministry instead. He really wanted to devote his life to ministry and became a pastor. My grandfather and my grandmother,
[00:22:49] when he retired from the ministry, they went on to be house parents at a boy's home. And so the Generosity that I, I think, have felt came from my grandfather and my grandmother being so generous.
[00:23:03] And that just made a huge impact on me.
[00:23:06] When Joby and I met, he was a youth pastor.
[00:23:09] And he had always said he would never be pastor of a big church or lead pastor of a church at all.
[00:23:15] He said youth ministry was his passion.
[00:23:19] We got married in Virginia in 2000.
[00:23:21] And nine months after we got married, we moved to Athens.
[00:23:24] It was really difficult for us.
[00:23:26] I remember we were living in an apartment around University of Georgia, and we were surrounded by college students.
[00:23:34] And I remember thinking, oh my goodness, what have we done?
[00:23:38] We are living amongst these college students, and we're probably just as poor as they are.
[00:23:44] And we just don't have any money at all, but we were just trying to follow the Lord and do what He told us.
[00:23:52] I remember walking out to use the restroom during this conference and the compassion booth was in the back and all of the little pictures of all the kids were spread along the table and it was like a tractor beam light
[00:24:06] was on this one particular card and all I could see was the sweet little boy with shorts on and blue rain boots and I couldn't get him out of my head And so I come back and I pick that card up and I take it back to where we were seated and it was dark and Joby could see that I had something in my hand and I just handed it to him.
[00:24:32] And I said, this is Blue Boots and we are going to sponsor Blue Boots.
[00:24:36] We did not have two nickels to rub together when I brought this packet back to sit down and handed it to Joby.
[00:24:43] And I could tell by the look on his face, how do you expect us to do that?
[00:24:47] We couldn't even afford to get here.
[00:24:49] And so I said, well, we've got the big cable package that costs $50 a month.
[00:24:54] We could go to basic cable, which costed $12 a month.
[00:24:58] Then we can support Blue Boots.
[00:25:00] And he went for it.
[00:25:02] So that little bit of faith and trust in the Lord has led to so many things in our lives.
[00:25:10] We had no idea that this 1122 thing would ever become a thing.
[00:25:15] It's not even something that we prayed for back then.
[00:25:17] You know, when we were sponsoring Blue Boots, that wasn't even something that was on our radar.
[00:25:22] We just thought we were going to be poor youth pastors the rest of our lives, you know.
[00:25:25] And here we are.
[00:25:28] And just the little bit of faith that we've had with every step that we've taken in our life has become such a blessing.
[00:25:35] And God has just gently pushed us forward to more and more for Him and for what He has for us and what He has for us as a church.
[00:25:45] and the Lord is saying just see what I can do put your trust in me whatever that might be no matter how small or how big it is just make that step and then watch me do the work and I will provide

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_10]
[00:26:01] amen and amen and amen the bible says he who finds a wife finds what is good amen church of 1122 would you join me in honoring the first lady of 1122 miss Gretchen Martin Way to go.
[00:26:35] Hey, if you got your Bible, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 14 as we march through the book of Matthew all year long.
[00:26:40] I want to welcome everybody that's watching at every campus.
[00:26:43] Those of us that are sitting in the rooms, those of us that are watching at outposts and all over the world.
[00:26:48] I met a brother at a new outpost in Australia this week.
[00:26:53] How about that, man?
[00:26:54] We got 1122 in Australia.
[00:26:56] What's up?
[00:26:56] The true southerners of our world.
[00:26:58] Hey, welcome to Compassion Weekend.
[00:27:00] if you're new at 1122, this is what we do at least one time every year. And I've got a couple of goals. I want to make this very, very clear. My ultimate goal in our entire time together
[00:27:12] is that we bring glory to God. That's why we exist. That's why you come to church.
[00:27:18] It's not actually for you. It's not what you can get out of it. You're thinking about it wrong.
[00:27:21] The reason we exist, the reason that we gather is to bring glory to God. And so we want to do this in two ways one is in preaching and receiving the word remember the parable of the sower I hope
[00:27:33] you did your part I hope you tilled up your heart so that it's good soil because I'm going to say some offensive things and if you get offended it's because you're a sinner all right so just
[00:27:43] receive that got it but I do I don't want you to get up during the middle of the sermon or whatever okay I want you to receive the word of God and then this my second goal is it will do
[00:27:54] what the word says and that we're going to sponsor several thousand compassion kids today that we're going to release them from poverty in Jesus name that's what we're going to do and both of these things the receiving of the word of God and the sponsoring of these kids is going to have
[00:28:12] an eternal impact if you don't believe me yet you will in the next 50 minutes and I would never ask you to do something that I don't do myself, okay? 1 Corinthians 11.1 is a haunting verse,
[00:28:24] especially if you're in ministry. The Apostle Paul has the audacity carried along by the Spirit of God to write down these words to a church in Corinth. He says this, follow me as I follow
[00:28:36] Christ. And so this whole sponsoring of Compassion Kids, I just want you to know that my family and you just heard testimony that we're all in on this thing. And we have been blessed so much. You
[00:28:49] think you do it to be a blessing, but you're actually the blessed one. And so if you haven't sponsored a kid, then today's your day. And what I would really like you to do is however many
[00:28:58] people live at your house or how many people are on your insurance, that's a good starting spot to how many kids you should sponsor. So over our marriage, the last 26 years, we have sponsored
[00:29:09] 40 children I didn't know that 40 kids that's a lot and currently right now today we sponsor nine children okay here's Jelena she's from Brazil she's seven years old we have sponsored her for the last three years this is my man Mateus he is from Brazil he's 18 years old look how big he is
[00:29:31] isn't that great we sponsored him for three years this is my man from Uganda Samuel he's 15 years old I plan to go see him next year this is Sonia she lives in Indonesia she's 17 years old we have
[00:29:45] sponsored her since she was three three years old we remember we did for those of you OGs we did the compassion mobile experience and we took our kids through that thing 14 years ago and that's where
[00:29:57] we sponsor her this is my man from Brazil Vitor I picked him because there's a UFC fighter named Vitor Belfort and I thought that was cool and so whatever I don't care and now he's a pastor by the
[00:30:08] way I don't know if you know that Vitor is my man Vitor this Vitor not the UFC champion is 11 years old we sponsored him for seven years this is my man I don't know how to say his name looks like
[00:30:19] dinosaur I don't think that's how he says it Denison he's from Sri Lanka he is seven years old and he turned seven yesterday. Praise God for him. This is my man. Good luck. A-B-A-T-E-R-D-O-U-R-O-U-Z-E.
[00:30:35] We call him A-B-Z. That's what his name is. All right. But when you write it, it just, he thinks you know how to say it. I don't know how to say it. He's 18 years old. He lives in West Africa.
[00:30:45] We've sponsored him for six years. This is my man Carlos. He's in Brazil. We sponsored him for nine years and then this is brandy brandy is 17 years old and we started sponsoring her when she was two
[00:30:58] i was on a mission trip with my man kevin from compassion sitting right over here and we were at a um at a child survival program where they're taking care of like teenage moms that got pregnant
[00:31:10] and could not take care of their babies and so one of the teenage moms mom named grace comes walking into this thing as I was visiting and when when Brandy was a little tiny baby man months old
[00:31:23] I'm not good at ages with babies okay about that long however long now she could know she's about maybe that long okay just crawled up in my lap and I was like Kevin you need to figure this thing out
[00:31:32] put a low jack on her and when she is able to be sponsored she is ours okay I'm I got a little bit of Calvinism in me and so this has been predestined before the foundations of the earth that she would
[00:31:43] be ours and so this is Brandy she is 17 years old this is what my family does this is what our church family does and if you haven't sponsored a kid yet or maybe you've only got seven and you
[00:31:53] want to get to nine today's your day that's what we're going to talk about Matthew chapter 14 is going to talk about what happens when we are faithful to God beginning of verse 13 starts
[00:32:07] this way it says now when Jesus heard this and the this that he heard is that his cousin John the Baptist has just been killed. By the way, thank you, Pastor Oney, last week for bringing
[00:32:18] the word. Amen? Y'all like Oney? You're welcome. I hired him, so whatever. That's right. So Jesus hears that his cousin, John the Baptist, has lost his head. And so he withdrew from there in a boat
[00:32:37] to a desolate place by himself. Why? Because Jesus knows that it's time to mourn. This is crazy, man Jesus is not surprised by any activity that's ever happened under the heavens he knows all things before they're going to happen he knows the very thoughts that you're going to have before
[00:32:54] you think him and yet he is the great I am which means he is eternally present in the right now and so when sad things happen Jesus took time to be sad don't you ever let anybody tell you that
[00:33:07] to be a strong man means that you got to stuff down emotion I don't know who said that but they're dumb. And you can tell him I told him that. How do I know this? In John chapter 11, Jesus's friend
[00:33:18] dies. His name's Lazarus. And Jesus sits down with Lazarus's sister, Mary. And you know what Jesus does? He weeps. Jesus wept. Shortest verse in the whole Bible. And he's the strongest man that ever lived. And so you should not withhold your tears in order to be strong. You should be strong. And
[00:33:36] when it's time to cry, you should cry. And that's what he does. And so he knows that it's time for him to mourn and Jesus often when the crowd would kind of suck him dry he would go and find a
[00:33:51] desolate place to be with the father to kind of recharge his batteries why because he knows if he's going to spend a life of ministry being poured out if he ain't got nothing to pour out
[00:34:01] he will not be available to his people this is important man by the way you need a decibel you need a desolate place too I hope and pray you have the kind of rhythm where it's not just go go go go
[00:34:13] go, but it's go, go, go, rest. This is what the Sabbath principle is all about. That you would reconnect and you would refuel so that when it's your time to pour out, you actually got something
[00:34:24] to pour out. This is what Jesus is doing. But the crowds heard it and they followed him on foot from the towns. Here's the thing about ministry, man. People don't really check with your calendar to
[00:34:35] see how you're doing. I don't know if you realize that. And so while Jesus, he kind of wants a break, they follow him and then look at verse 14 and when he went ashore he saw a great crowd
[00:34:49] and Jesus had underlined this in your bible compassion on them so it doesn't take a biblical scholar to figure out why we picked this weekend as compassion weekend so Jesus sees this crowd and they want and they want and they want and when Jesus sees them he's not mad at them he has
[00:35:10] compassion on them. The Greek word is splogitsomai. Say splogitsomai. You got to spit on the neighbor in front of you a little bit. Splogitsomai. You know what it literally means? It means from the bowels, from the guts. A pretty good translation of this would be like, he was heartbroken over
[00:35:30] them. When he sees the crowd, even though he could legitimately say, hey man, I'm heartbroken.
[00:35:38] and I got needs of my own.
[00:35:39] I don't have time for you.
[00:35:41] That's not what he does.
[00:35:44] He's heartbroken over these people.
[00:35:45] He has compassion on these people.
[00:35:47] Why?
[00:35:48] They have been burdened with these religious legalities by the Pharisees of all the things that they have to do in order to be made right by God.
[00:35:57] They are like sheep without a shepherd, and when he sees these people, his heart breaks for them.
[00:36:03] Let me ask you some questions.
[00:36:06] When you see people in need, do you feel compassion or judgment like which one's the lead foot when you see that guy on the street corner with nothing do you look at him and say well you know you're just at the end
[00:36:23] of the road of the decisions that you've made and that's why you're here is that your first thought or do you feel compassion when you see people hurting do you first think about yourself and
[00:36:34] what you want or do you think about other people's needs which one goes first I mean Jesus just lost John the Baptist by the way he has high praises to say it about John the Baptist he says of all
[00:36:49] the men born of women there have been none born greater you know what that means bro I know you think you're awesome you're not as good as John the Baptist Jesus dug John the Baptist and his
[00:37:01] heart's breaking for him and yet when he sees people in need he does not first think about himself he first thinks about what these folks need he's filled with compassion listen to me church and I don't mean just our church I just mean the church in general we need more compassion
[00:37:18] in this world we need more compassion and ain't a lot of it out there is there and so let me step on your toes a little bit listen when your political ideology is your identity then you'll
[00:37:31] begin to see your opponents as object to be despised instead of people to be loved. And when you sit on the couch every night and you feed that political ideology by just feeling your brain with
[00:37:42] whatever paid for cable news that you like to listen to most, then when you see people, you will not see them as objects of the grace of God that he poured out his blood for. You'll see them
[00:37:53] as people that are enemies of yours that are to be despised. Regardless of how you vote or your political ideology, whenever we see people in need, may we be the people that lead with compassion.
[00:38:11] Because what begins to happen is you get all caught up in your political ideologies about who's right and who's wrong, and what war is okay and what war is not okay. Listen, anytime people on the planet are hurting, the believer's heart should break for those people.
[00:38:26] Regardless, man, that should be our first step. And I know somebody, so you begin political? Yeah!
[00:38:36] We follow King Jesus first, and he gave his son to die on a cross for human beings that were lost.
[00:38:49] Man, I mean, I can tell you where it hit me this week.
[00:38:52] I'm not like a YouTube person.
[00:38:54] I know I'm on it, like my face is on it all the time, but my face ain't in it hardly ever, okay, unless I'm watching highlights of Georgia or hunting videos, all right?
[00:39:04] And this week, you know, it comes across my algorithm that that couple, I don't know where they are, where that YouTube couple decided to abort their child because they found out he was special needs.
[00:39:17] And my first instinct was rage, man.
[00:39:20] What are you doing?
[00:39:23] Because he doesn't make you comfortable?
[00:39:25] Are you kidding?
[00:39:27] He was diagnosed with a very high probability of having Down syndrome, so they decide to end the life of the human being that for the previous 19 weeks they had called baby.
[00:39:41] And yeah, I got mad.
[00:39:44] I got mad, you know.
[00:39:45] I thought, what are you doing, man?
[00:39:47] Maybe if you came to 1122 and you saw us roll out the red carpet with families of kids with special needs, you would see these kids as a gift from God and not a problem.
[00:39:55] Are you kidding me?
[00:39:57] I mean, are you kidding me?
[00:40:00] To quote the great modern-day prophet Shane Gillis, his cousin has Down syndrome.
[00:40:07] And the guy's like, how's he doing?
[00:40:08] Just the best ever.
[00:40:10] He's the happiest guy ever.
[00:40:12] I mean, you're all wrapped up in all your problems.
[00:40:14] this guy is living life what are you talking about then it began to shift man I began to think this is the downstream consequences of a culture of death where this man and this woman the air that
[00:40:29] they have breathed their entire life is that their wants and their comforts were primary they are victims in the hands of the enemy and I began to pray for them I began to begin to pray that their
[00:40:41] eyes would be open and that God would redeem them and soften their hearts and break their hearts for what breaks his and they would surrender their life to the lordship of Jesus Christ I hope and
[00:40:51] pray listen when I do this stuff do you feel judgment or compassion I usually feel judgment just confession time I'm preaching to me here I hope somebody else will pick up on something too but I'm just telling you I want to have the kind of heart Jesus has and I when I see somebody in
[00:41:08] need. My first thought is not about, did you do this? No, no, no. I want my first thought to be, how can I help? Because that's what Jesus thought. You know why we should think that? Because guess
[00:41:18] what? When I was an enemy of God, not just lost, that's not even a strong enough word. I was an enemy of God, a child of wrath. I had rejected the almighty God. Literally, the Bible says,
[00:41:33] I was an enemy and instead of receiving the judgment of God I received the grace of God he had compassion for me and he didn't just think a thing and feel a thing he did a thing and he sent
[00:41:45] his only begotten son to die on a cross that I would be rescued and redeemed into his family and if that's what he thinks about me a crooked wretched and depraved black-hearted sinner then may I have eyes to see people the way he sees people. Jesus had compassion on them and he healed
[00:42:06] their sick. You know what Jesus did? Jesus did what he could do. He could heal and so he healed. Guess what? Today you have an opportunity and when we get finished with the service you can go over to
[00:42:23] the sides or wherever. It's all different at every campus. You can go where all the compassion packets are and you can see a need and I pray that the spirit of God moves in you and that you have a
[00:42:32] heart of compassion and then you can just do whatever you can do and release one of these children from poverty in Jesus name verse 15 now when it was evening the disciples came to Jesus
[00:42:45] and they said this is a desolate place and the day is now over send the crowds away and go into the villages and buy some food for themselves so the disciples look at the situation like hey boss
[00:42:58] you've been teaching for like eight hours or something so give me a break on my 55 minutes if you don't mind okay they're there all day he's teaching them and they realize we got a problem
[00:43:08] these people are going to be hungry what are we going to do by the way this miracle is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels except the resurrection that makes them in all and if you go
[00:43:20] over to John chapter 6 don't turn there I'll just tell you what it says in John chapter 6 John records that Jesus and Philip have a conversation and Jesus already knows what he's going to do
[00:43:31] but he says to Philip he asked him how are we going to feed all these people and he asked him that to test Philip whoa does God test us yeah and guess what we got a test today actually we
[00:43:47] got a few thousand tests hanging up in our worship centers all over the place we got a few thousand test with the faces of these little kids and you got an option man you can do what you have the
[00:43:58] ability to do which is to sponsor a kid to rescue a child from poverty in Jesus name or you can just think about you and do whatever you want to do now here's what Philip does in John chapter 6
[00:44:07] Philip immediately looks at all his circumstances he begins to look around he's like boss I don't think it's gonna work I mean we better send him because we don't have enough food to feed all
[00:44:17] these people and then in John chapter 6 guess who steps up and speaks first Peter Peter's like hey uh I've been I've been eavesdropping in your conversation and I would like to say a couple
[00:44:28] things and here's what Peter says he said hey there's a little boy over here and he's got a little bit of food he's got five loaves and two fishes now I know it's not much but he's got
[00:44:40] something and here's what I love about this Peter comes to Jesus and says hey it's not much but it's something. And I think Jesus is going, you know, I can work with that. I can work with that. Even
[00:44:53] if you got a tiny little bit of faith, it is the object of your faith that matters, not the amount of your faith. If you'll remember a couple of weeks ago when he went back to his own town,
[00:45:03] because of their lack of faith, Jesus didn't do miracles in his hometown. And now Peter's got a little bit. I don't know what we can do with this little bit, but here's what we got. And Jesus is
[00:45:12] going that's plenty because I can take I can take your natural and put some super on top of it and you're about to see a miracle and he does more than anybody could ever imagine verse 16 and Jesus
[00:45:23] said they need not go away take very close attention to this you give them something to eat well that seems impossible right but I got good news if the tomb is empty anything is possible
[00:45:39] he says how about you give them something to eat so let me tell you I mentioned this a few weeks ago. I'm gonna say it again because nobody paid attention. Be really careful when you've got some
[00:45:51] kind of idea for the Lord. Be very careful when you begin to say things like, well, you know what the church ought to do is. Who do you think the church is? It's all of us here together. And if
[00:46:04] God has given you this burden on your heart, you could be the very one that he's calling to do something about it. I mean, the moment you begin to say things like, God, why don't you do something
[00:46:13] about the hungry. And God, why don't you do something about the needy? And God, why don't you do something about those that can't protect themselves? And God's going, you know what's funny?
[00:46:21] I was going to ask you the same exact question. Because here's the thing, man. Does Jesus need the fishes and loaves to feed anybody? No, he could have rained down manna from heaven. He did
[00:46:32] it in the Old Testament. He can do it in the New Testament. And yet he would love us so much that he would desire that we get to be partners with him in the miraculous. And so he looks at him and
[00:46:43] He says, why don't you feed them?
[00:46:46] Let me tell you some of my favorite stories around here.
[00:46:49] It's when people have a burden placed by God on them, and then they just do whatever it is the good shepherd tells them to do.
[00:46:58] I've shared this one a million times, and I'm gonna do it a million more.
[00:47:00] My man Mike Dragich with Project Savior Outdoors.
[00:47:02] Anybody involved in Project Savior Outdoors?
[00:47:04] You know what happened?
[00:47:05] Mike gets home from fighting in the Middle East, and all his Marine buddies start killing themselves, and he says, somebody's gotta do something about that.
[00:47:12] And the Lord said, I agree.
[00:47:14] I think you're the somebody.
[00:47:16] And so he starts Project Savior Outdoors.
[00:47:18] And we support it like crazy, but we didn't start it.
[00:47:21] He started it.
[00:47:22] One of my brothers named Chad Starkey usually sits right over in that area.
[00:47:25] I've known him forever, okay?
[00:47:27] He goes on a mission trip with me one time to Jamaica, and then he comes back and says, I'm going to start my own missions organization called Surf Fish Serve because all of my friends
[00:47:38] wouldn't qualify to be missionaries because I make people memorize scripture and share their testimony.
[00:47:42] And he goes, all my people, they're not even Christians yet, and I want to use the trip to lead them to Christ.
[00:47:48] And so we're going to serve, and they'll sign up for that, and we're going to fish, and then we're going to serve.
[00:47:54] We're going to do Bible study at night.
[00:47:55] And he just had a burden on his heart, and he began to do it.
[00:47:59] Let me give you another one.
[00:47:59] There's a guy named Ron Armstrong.
[00:48:02] Maybe you know that name.
[00:48:04] Ron Armstrong.
[00:48:07] You look at his mustache, and it just says Armstrong.
[00:48:11] I took him on a mission trip.
[00:48:13] It was actually a compassion trip to Brazil.
[00:48:16] He's married to Caitlin Armstrong.
[00:48:18] I'm pretty much sure that's where the whole, like, courting and all the thing, they knew each other before, and I think that he proposed when we got home.
[00:48:25] So you never know.
[00:48:26] Maybe you need to go on a mission trip, ladies.
[00:48:28] All right?
[00:48:29] So anyway, so he sees the need in Brazil.
[00:48:33] His heart is wrecked.
[00:48:34] By the way, Ron was like a drug dealer in some small town in Florida back in the day.
[00:48:38] He comes to 1122, gets saved shortly after he's going on a mission trip with us.
[00:48:41] Then he begins to see the similar kinds of needs right here in Jacksonville.
[00:48:46] And he thought, somebody's got to do something about that.
[00:48:48] And the Lord went, you know what, Ron, you're somebody.
[00:48:50] Why don't you do something about it?
[00:48:51] And then he started sponsored by grace.
[00:48:54] He didn't come to me and say the church ought to.
[00:48:56] He said, I'm going to do this.
[00:48:58] And so we partner with them.
[00:49:00] And now the brother's running for mayor.
[00:49:03] Yeah, praise God, dude.
[00:49:06] Praise God.
[00:49:06] He's just doing what the Lord has told him to do.
[00:49:10] By the way, if you have not signed the petition to get him on the ballot, you should because you know what we need in Jacksonville?
[00:49:15] Regardless of who you're gonna vote for, I'm not endorsing candidates.
[00:49:18] That's not what I do.
[00:49:19] But boy, you know what would be great?
[00:49:21] It's to have a gospel-saturated, godly person in all the conversations about the future of our city.
[00:49:30] Yeah, man.
[00:49:33] So he says, they need not go away.
[00:49:37] You give them something to eat.
[00:49:40] You see this little girl right here, Brandy?
[00:49:42] Her mom was a teenager when Brandy was born.
[00:49:49] And the Lord looked at me in Uganda, sitting at this little church.
[00:49:52] Everything Compassion done is through the local church, man.
[00:49:56] And the Lord said, you give her something to eat.
[00:49:59] Now she's 17 years old, doing great in school.
[00:50:04] Isn't that great?
[00:50:06] And here's the thing I think of all the time, man.
[00:50:09] What if this was your kid?
[00:50:12] What would you do?
[00:50:14] And what if you lived in a system?
[00:50:15] them and what if I mean she grew up with a single mom and her mom grace is doing the best that she could do working as hard as she can but she just couldn't put it all together man and what if what
[00:50:25] if you had some brothers and sisters somewhere on the other side of the world and for 43 dollars a month they got three and a half coffees a month you know what I mean I'm not against coffee but
[00:50:38] if you're spending that much on it good gosh man what are you doing and they and you knew that the people of God could do something about it.
[00:50:46] Like during our connect moment, it was mentioned that we got a book that just came out, right?
[00:50:50] The Big Brave Choice.
[00:50:51] Do you know why we do that?
[00:50:52] Because when we were raising children, we had a hard time finding gospel kids curriculum to like tell gospel stuff to our kids.
[00:51:02] It was all morality based.
[00:51:03] And so I did that to try to do something for our children here at 1122, Lori Newell and I did.
[00:51:10] These folks are just trying to get some food on the table.
[00:51:13] They're just trying to get them into school.
[00:51:15] They're just trying to get some medical help.
[00:51:20] Imagine Jesus right now says to you, why don't you do something about it?
[00:51:25] Verse 17, and they said to him, we only have five loaves here and two fish.
[00:51:33] And by the way, when you think fish, don't think like a slot red.
[00:51:36] That's not the kind of fish they rolled around with.
[00:51:38] Bread was the primary meal, and the fish that they would have in the first century were like these little sardine things, and they would wipe it on the bread to give it a little flavor,
[00:51:47] a little sardine-flavored bread.
[00:51:48] Doesn't that sound delicious?
[00:51:50] That's the kind of fish they're working with.
[00:51:52] And he said, we ain't got much.
[00:51:55] Now, I know this is what the Bible says.
[00:51:57] We have only five loaves here and two fish.
[00:52:01] And I'm going, are you serious?
[00:52:05] The Bible's gonna say there are 5,000 men.
[00:52:08] That does not count the women and children.
[00:52:10] I grew up in the low country of South Carolina.
[00:52:14] Anybody know what purse bread is?
[00:52:16] You know what purse bread is?
[00:52:17] We ain't got no old country people in here.
[00:52:20] All of Palatka just like, oh, I got something in here.
[00:52:22] See, my grandmama, wherever we went at the end of the meal, she would ask for some more bread.
[00:52:28] And when the bread came, she would take that big fat yeast roll and put a napkin around it and stick it down in her purse.
[00:52:35] Why?
[00:52:35] Because you don't know you might run out of gas on the way home and we ain't going to starve because Mert has some purse bread.
[00:52:41] She'd pull it out and divide it up and give it, you know, it tastes like a mothball and a mint and a butterscotch.
[00:52:48] You mean to tell me nobody had a little bit of purse bread?
[00:52:51] Or my dad used to work for Lance Crackers.
[00:52:54] You know what that is?
[00:52:55] When we were growing up, we called him the Cracker Stacker.
[00:52:57] That's what he did for a living.
[00:52:59] And he'd have a little pack of toast cheese somewhere in some boot or pocket, and if you got starving, he'd pull that thing out.
[00:53:05] Or if we were in our truck, I'm telling you, if you took a hard left, two cans of Viena sausages would come rolling out from under the bench seat.
[00:53:12] And we carried Vienas around because that lasts forever.
[00:53:16] They're not good to begin with.
[00:53:17] So how does it go bad?
[00:53:18] It can't go bad.
[00:53:19] So you mean to tell me nobody's got a Viena, a cracker, or some purse bread out of 15,000 to 20,000 people?
[00:53:26] I don't think that's true.
[00:53:29] I think what's actually going on is people looked around and saw the need, and they got real stingy with what they had, and they think, I've got to hold on to this.
[00:53:39] And there's one little boy that's got enough faith to go, I ain't got much, But I think if I take the little bit I have in my hands and I put it in Jesus' hands,
[00:53:49] I think it's going to be more than if I kept it to myself.
[00:53:54] That's what's happening in this moment.
[00:53:56] Which makes me wonder, I wonder how many miracles are still floating around in some purses because they didn't get released to God to say, God, I think you can do more with this than I can do with myself.
[00:54:09] So let me ask you, so what you got in your hand?
[00:54:13] You think you got $43 a month?
[00:54:16] You ever seen a miracle?
[00:54:18] You want to?
[00:54:20] Sponsor a kid.
[00:54:22] Did you ever think in a million years that you could be a part of the Great Commission on the other side of the world and release a child from poverty in Jesus' name?
[00:54:33] You can.
[00:54:34] You just gotta take what's in your hand and say, all right, Jesus, I'm gonna give this to you and see what you wanna do.
[00:54:40] And so he says, we only have five loaves and two fish.
[00:54:44] And Jesus said, bring them here to me.
[00:54:47] and I'm telling every single one of us to look at what God has put in our bank accounts, in our pockets, in our stored resources and say, God, what could you do with this?
[00:55:00] And you say, well, even if it's not much, hey, first and foremost, what you have to understand is everything we have is a blood-bought grace gift from him.
[00:55:10] First and foremost, you have to understand it's all his.
[00:55:14] You really think it's yours?
[00:55:17] Well, then take it with you when you go.
[00:55:20] It's gonna stay right here and it's gonna be somebody else's because the reality is we don't own anything.
[00:55:24] We are but stewards for a few decades of what God has given us.
[00:55:30] And there's three attitudes when it comes to money, when it comes to stuff, and when it comes to possessions.
[00:55:35] Most Americans think this, what's mine is mine.
[00:55:39] Now, when your kids do that, you call that selfish.
[00:55:43] When you think what's mine is mine, that is selfish.
[00:55:46] And by the way, as long as your fists or clenched around the stuff you have, your hands will never be open to the blessings of God to give you anything else.
[00:55:56] The second attitude, which is getting a lot more popular these days, there's a lot of people that think this, what's yours is mine.
[00:56:03] That's called stealing.
[00:56:06] When a bunch of people do it, it's called socialism.
[00:56:09] Let me just be as clear as I can.
[00:56:11] Jesus was not and is not a communist or a socialist, period.
[00:56:17] And some people are like, what about Acts 2?
[00:56:19] They sold their property, sold their houses and gave all that they had to the church.
[00:56:23] Yeah, they owned houses.
[00:56:25] That was called personal property.
[00:56:27] And they did not sell it by threat of violence from the government.
[00:56:31] They sold it out of the generosity of their own heart because God had stirred them to and they cheerfully brought it to Jesus through the local church.
[00:56:41] And then, by the way, not every single person did that because after that, guess where they met?
[00:56:46] They met in houses which people owned.
[00:56:50] Listen, man, giving away other people's money is not generosity.
[00:56:54] It's thievery.
[00:56:57] So some people think, well, if mine is mine, that's selfish.
[00:56:59] Some people think, well, if yours is mine, that's stealing or socialism.
[00:57:03] But the Bible teaches what's mine is yours.
[00:57:06] That's called stewardship.
[00:57:09] That's why around here we bring our first and best to him because we know it all belongs to him.
[00:57:14] And Jesus says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
[00:57:17] And every single time we bring our first and best to him, we're saying, Jesus, I want you to have my heart.
[00:57:22] and I don't want to grab onto something and then realize that it has a hold of me.
[00:57:27] And so Jesus says, bring them here to me.
[00:57:30] And then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
[00:57:33] And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and he said a blessing, and then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples.
[00:57:42] Man, I wish I had time to preach a whole sermon on that's the picture of sanctification right there.
[00:57:48] God will not give you away until he breaks you, but I don't have time to get into that.
[00:57:51] But here's what he does.
[00:57:52] He breaks the loaves and he gave them to the disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowds. So technically Jesus didn't feed the 5,000. The disciples fed the 5,000. Now all the power came from Jesus. All the miracle came from Jesus, but it was in the hands of the disciples
[00:58:13] that the miracles happened. I mean, think about this for a second. And Matt, some of us run by this stuff too quick because you're so familiar. As soon as I started reading the text, you're like,
[00:58:21] Well, I know it is, okay.
[00:58:23] I want you to think about this.
[00:58:24] I mean, you're a disciple.
[00:58:25] And you're like, hey, boss, we have 15,000 people here.
[00:58:29] And he's like, I got it.
[00:58:31] And he takes five loaves and he prays and he breaks it.
[00:58:35] And then he hands you one twelfth of five loaves and two fishes.
[00:58:41] You got that?
[00:58:42] So you got a sixth of a sardine and a little bit of bread.
[00:58:47] And he's like, all right, feed everybody.
[00:58:49] and you're looking at Jesus and you're looking at the people.
[00:58:55] You're looking at Jesus.
[00:58:56] How's this gonna work out, man?
[00:58:59] I'm about to look like a fool.
[00:59:01] And everybody's sitting down all orderly and you walk up to the first person and you're like, can I get you some fish and bread?
[00:59:09] And you're looking at the second person.
[00:59:12] I mean, this little kid, this was his dinner, man.
[00:59:15] This little kid was gonna eat five loaves and two fishes by himself.
[00:59:18] And now you're sitting there to a grown person and be like, and two people over you're like, I don't think you're gonna get any I don't know how this is gonna go and then I don't know how
[00:59:30] it happens man Matthew doesn't give us all the details but somehow in the hands of the disciples as they just take one step of obedience even when they think they might look like a fool
[00:59:43] the miracle begins to happen and they start handing out a little bit of fish and bread and a little bit of fish and bread they look down and like I still got something to give out and I still got
[00:59:54] does somebody give out and they give it out and they give it out and they give it out let me ask you this when's the last time God called you to do something that you knew if he didn't come through
[01:00:04] you might look like a fool to this world and if you can't think of a thing you might not be listening to the commands of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ why because with man these things
[01:00:16] are impossible but there is no impossible thing when it comes to God what has he called you to do this happens in the hands of the disciples and they hand out the food they hand out the food
[01:00:31] they hand out the food and then at some point they begin to enjoy being a part of the miracle I mean think about that when you got that first row done you're like I think this is gonna work
[01:00:43] you know you're on that second row you're still handing out you're still handing out you're looking down you're like yo Pete what you got and he's like I don't know how this is happening and he's
[01:00:51] handed out, you know, Bartholomew, what? You know, is it working? Yeah. And then got on the third row, he's like, hey man, can I get some more fish? You can have all the fish you want. And the more they
[01:01:01] give out, the more is multiplied in their hands. Listen to me, church. I want you to experience what radical obedience feels like. There's nothing like it. See, because when you are always in control of everything that you do then all you can do is what you can do trust me on this one
[01:01:23] when you let God call you to do something that doesn't make any sense in the natural and then you step out by faith and you just do whatever he tells you to do that's where freedom
[01:01:36] is and you're like what are you talking about pastor just trust I know it doesn't seem like a big risk right now but in 2012 when we felt like the Lord said I want you to plant a church
[01:01:46] I'm like, whoa, and we went all in, man.
[01:01:50] I'm signing documents, and I was like, Petey, Lars Peterson, he's on our elder board.
[01:01:56] I was like, what happens if nobody shows up?
[01:01:58] He's like, two things, you're gonna go to prison, and you're gonna be out dozens of dollars because that's all they can take from you because that's all you have.
[01:02:11] You know how free it is to just trust God and do whatever he says, and just trust him with results?
[01:02:18] Let me give you another example of God doing immeasurably more than what anybody ever hoped or dreamed or imagined, all of this started with the obedience of one faithful 23-year-old girl who was my wife.
[01:02:41] Yeah, man, she brought that packet over at that youth specialties conference.
[01:02:45] We just got married.
[01:02:46] We've been married a couple months, a few months, man.
[01:02:50] She said, we need to do this.
[01:02:52] And I was like, we can't do this.
[01:02:53] We ain't got no money.
[01:02:56] And like the video says, She's like, well, I mean, we got cable.
[01:02:59] And I'm telling you, my first thought was not compassion.
[01:03:02] My first thought was, how am I going to watch the Bulldogs?
[01:03:07] They didn't have streaming and stuff yet.
[01:03:09] This was 2000.
[01:03:12] And that one step of obedience, that one step of obedience, not by a pastor, an elder, a professional, but a 23-year-old faithful disciple of Jesus that felt the nudge of the Spirit of God, that heard the voice of the Good Shepherd
[01:03:29] and simply did whatever it is that he told her to do.
[01:03:32] That one step of obedience has led not only to 30,000 kids being sponsored here, but we've planted seven churches with Compassion International.
[01:03:43] And not only that, we use our retreat center to kind of bait and switch a bunch of pastors.
[01:03:50] We invite, hey, you wanna come down on a relaxing week at the retreat center and fish and hunt pigs with Pastor Joby and that?
[01:03:56] We sure do.
[01:03:57] and then we do it like a timeshare thing.
[01:04:00] We're like, ha-ha, while you're here and we make them sponsor kids.
[01:04:03] That's what I do every time.
[01:04:04] I don't care.
[01:04:07] 20,000 more children have been sponsored through us taking pastors to the retreat center.
[01:04:13] All of that, all of that can be traced back to, it's like one little boy.
[01:04:19] I ain't got much.
[01:04:21] What if we just sponsor this one little kid, Blue Boots?
[01:04:24] You have no idea.
[01:04:25] And honestly, sometimes when I'm talking to pastors, they'll say this to me.
[01:04:28] They'll say, pastor, aren't you afraid?
[01:04:30] that if you keep doing the compassion thing with your people that will hurt the 1122 budget like bro I'm never even what are you talking about I've heard you preach sermons all the time you can't
[01:04:43] out give God but you don't believe it for your church what are you talking about look my job is not to make budget my job is to make disciples and Jesus will build his church and here's the
[01:04:55] thing man generosity begets generosity like our most generous people also sponsor our most kids It happens all the time, and I don't care which one goes first.
[01:05:04] I'm just telling you the job of the believer is to make disciples, and Jesus said, upon this rock, I will build my church.
[01:05:14] And here's the deal, man.
[01:05:15] You have no idea what hangs on the balance.
[01:05:18] We've been doing this long enough that we've gotten a lot of letters from 40 different kids.
[01:05:26] And you sponsor a kid, and then you begin to see that you get to make disciples to the very ends of the age, the very ends of the earth.
[01:05:34] You think, how in the world?
[01:05:36] I didn't know God could use me to make a disciple in Sri Lanka.
[01:05:41] Let's be honest.
[01:05:42] Most of you don't know where Sri Lanka is.
[01:05:45] And then you get that letter, and that kid grows up and graduates high school, gets a job, gets married, has a kid.
[01:05:54] That kid grows up and is a leader in their community.
[01:05:57] That kid gets called into the ministry and as a pastor.
[01:06:01] That kid gets called into the mission field, and God used your little step of obedience to do something that you can never, ever dream up on your own.
[01:06:10] And then look what happens.
[01:06:11] Look at the crowd.
[01:06:12] And they all ate.
[01:06:14] How many ate?
[01:06:16] All.
[01:06:17] They all ate and were satisfied for a minute because the temporary things of this world can only temporarily satisfy you.
[01:06:30] But you want to talk about satisfaction?
[01:06:31] you get a letter from your kid and you read about what the Lord is doing in your life listen man think about how many times you've wasted $43 on things that don't I mean you go to Chili's
[01:06:46] and you walk out of there with regret I've never regretted sponsoring a kid not one time ever how about the satisfaction of hearing that the kid that you sponsored got saved or graduated they got married man
[01:07:06] and they all ate and they were satisfied and then look at this god is not a god of waste and they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces left over 12 they had leftovers man
[01:07:22] you think god's in heaven right now back in his fingernails going i really hope they can come up with 43 dollars nah man he is only he owns a cat cattle on a thousand hills it's all his anyway
[01:07:34] He's actually just inviting us into the miraculous and we get some satisfaction out of it.
[01:07:40] By the way, don't miss this.
[01:07:42] Remember, Matthew's writing to a Jewish audience.
[01:07:44] You notice how many baskets are left over?
[01:07:45] There's 12.
[01:07:47] John's gonna say right after this that Jesus says, oh, you want some bread?
[01:07:50] I am the bread of life.
[01:07:52] We're not gonna repeat this event, but in a few weeks, we're gonna get to the feeding of the 4,000.
[01:07:56] This, for whatever reason, this one doesn't get a lot of press.
[01:07:58] At the end of the feeding of the 4,000, there's seven baskets left over.
[01:08:02] What does seven have to do with anything?
[01:08:04] When Joshua moved in to take over the promised land, the land of Canaan, there were seven different pagan tribes there, seven.
[01:08:11] And so what Jesus is gonna do with the feeding of the 5,000 and feeding of the 4,000 is that there's room for the 12 tribes of Israel to come to Christ, and there's room for all the Gentile tribes
[01:08:20] to come to Christ.
[01:08:21] You know what Jesus is saying through these two miracles is that this thing that he is starting is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ.
[01:08:28] That's what he's saying.
[01:08:29] and those who ate were about 5 000 men beside the women and children so if everybody had a date and a kid man that's 15 somewhere between 15 000 to 20 000 people show up and so here's the question
[01:08:44] so in this miracle i don't like to call it a story because the same veggie tales the same flannel graph this is an actual event so in this event who's the blessed one the people that ate
[01:08:58] sure they were blessed they were in a desolate place they were hungry Jesus had compassion on them and their stomachs were full of course they were blessed but you know who else was blessed the disciples were blessed the disciples got to participate in a miracle man it happened in their
[01:09:18] hands you want to talk about a blessing that's a blessing have you ever been used by God to do something that you thought you could never do there's blessing in that you know who else is
[01:09:30] blessed the little boy can you imagine this cat when he gets home he's gonna like mom you're not gonna believe what happened she'd be like what's that big old basket you got he's toting it in
[01:09:43] like this he's like I know I came with a lunchable but look at what I got here where'd you get that Jesus that I took a little bit in my hand and I gave it to him and not only were 20,000 people
[01:09:57] satisfied and 12 disciples participate in a miracle. But look at all that we have. He was blessed. But here's one we forget about all the time. You know who else was blessed? Jesus. You're like, really? Yeah. So many times when we use the word blessing God, what we say is, God, please
[01:10:19] bless me. Did you know that we can bless him? My friend Ruslan Katie runs this event out on the left coast I'm gonna go to it next year called bless God bless God summit I love it so much
[01:10:32] and he talks about how we can leverage our time talent and treasure not to just always be on the receiving end of God's blessing but that we could bless God listen Jesus was blessed in this
[01:10:44] that Jesus was blessed in the obedience of his disciples like where do you get that if you go to Matthew chapter 25 we'll be there in the fall Jesus is talking about the end of the world how
[01:10:58] the whole thing's going to go down at the end.
[01:11:01] Chapter 24 can be very confusing.
[01:11:03] He's talking about the end of the world.
[01:11:05] The disciples are like, hey, boss, tell us about the end of the world.
[01:11:07] He's like, all right, there's going to be the abomination of desolation and wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes, and they're all like, what?
[01:11:15] And he's like, all right, let me tell you some stories.
[01:11:16] He tells three stories.
[01:11:18] He tells the parable of the virgins.
[01:11:20] It doesn't mean what you think it means.
[01:11:21] It means don't miss the party.
[01:11:22] Get saved.
[01:11:23] Then he tells the parable of the talents.
[01:11:25] That means don't waste your life.
[01:11:27] You leverage everything you have for the glory of God.
[01:11:29] and then the third one he tells is called the parable of the sheep and the goats he says he's going to gather everybody in front of him and he's going to separate them sheep on the right
[01:11:39] goats on the left and to the goats he's like y'all going to hell sorry you said over there I'm not saying you are put your faith in Jesus if you are and you won't have to and he's like y'all going to
[01:11:51] heaven and he says because when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink and I was hungry and you gave me something to eat and I was in prison and you visited me and I need I need to close and
[01:12:04] you clothed me I was sick and you visited me and the people are kind of surprised like when did we see you in need and then Jesus says these words in Matthew 25 10 and the king will answer them
[01:12:15] truly I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these brothers you did it to me you want to bless God. Sing to him. He's into it. He told us to. We bless God when we join our voices together
[01:12:34] and sing true things to him and about him and pour out our hearts to him. No doubt, man. You want to bless God? Receive the word of God diligently. You want to bless God? Then whatever you do for one of
[01:12:48] the least of these, it's a one-to-one blessing to Jesus himself. And so here's, if your neighbor's asleep, wake them up. Here's what you missed. What is possible when we take the little bit in our
[01:13:10] hands and trust it to Jesus is immeasurably more than we could ever hope, dream, or imagine.
[01:13:21] Don't you want to get in on that? So here's how we're going to close. We're going to sing. We're going to bring. We're going to pray. And we still bring. We're going to bring our first and best to
[01:13:33] Jesus, our tithes. And so all of our nine kids that we sponsor right now, that is in addition to our first and best here at the church. And we're going to do that because it's what we do.
[01:13:45] And then we're just going to do what Gretchen did 26 years ago when she felt the nudge.
[01:13:53] We're just going to do what the little boy did 2000 years ago. And he's like, I ain't got much, but here, I'll put it in your hands. And all I want you to do is do whatever he tells you to do.
[01:14:03] and in just a minute as we sing and we bring and we pray we're going to leave the lights up and you're going to go to the packets you're going to sponsor a kid we need you to fill out that
[01:14:15] packet right here right now because these are not random packets every single one of these packets represent that that is that kid's packet there is one picture for one kid for one packet and if you
[01:14:26] take it and put it on your dashboard and leave it this kid gets out of the rotation for a long time and that would be a travesty okay so I want you to feel that out right now we got people all over
[01:14:37] the place to try to help you if you can't see good if you you know need help also if you're watching online then you can sponsor too and we're going to put it on the screen you text the word
[01:14:50] sponsor to 83393 and listen this is where you just got to trust the sovereignty of God if you text that number God himself is going to pick a kid for you and that's your kid congratulations if you
[01:15:00] don't like that one get another one get a third one get a fourth one keep going until you get the birthday you're looking for I don't know what to tell you all right but don't put your own wants
[01:15:08] in front of the needs of these kids listen 11 22 we might be the most blessed church in all of America you realize this I mean we just baptized all those people and the national news is covering
[01:15:24] it and all of that the grace of God will not terminate on us but may we be a conduit of the love of God and it flow through us to Jesus by releasing these children from poverty in Jesus
[01:15:43] name would you please stand to your feet let me pray for you our good and gracious heavenly father Lord I pray right now that the real preacher here the spirit of God would just take over Lord I
[01:15:52] I pray that you would just call your people to be obedient to what you have called us to.
[01:15:59] Lord, for the folks that think they don't have enough, Lord, I just pray that they would trust you.
[01:16:05] Lord, for the folks that know they have plenty, Lord, I pray that they would trust you.
[01:16:12] And that, God, this would be for your glory, your name, your renown.
[01:16:18] And, God, I pray for every single one of these kids that are about to get sponsored.
[01:16:21] Lord, I pray we sponsor every single one of them.
[01:16:23] that compassion trusted us with when they gave us these packets.
[01:16:29] And Lord, we do this for you and you alone.
[01:16:32] We pray it in Jesus' name, amen.
[01:16:34] Look, we're gonna sing, we're gonna bring, and we're gonna pray.
[01:16:38] And let me tell you what's gonna happen.
[01:16:40] You're gonna walk over there, you're gonna get a packet, you're gonna fill it out.
[01:16:44] And then it takes a couple of weeks or so for all the processing to happen.
[01:16:47] It goes through Colorado Springs, and then it goes out.
[01:16:49] Let's say you pick a kid from Uganda.
[01:16:51] Here's what's gonna happen.
[01:16:52] They're gonna have that little compassion program, and one of the teachers, one of the compassion workers, one of the local church folks are gonna go up to your little kid that you picked, gonna tap him on the shoulder,
[01:17:03] gonna say, can I see you outside for a second?
[01:17:06] And that little kid's no different than your kids.
[01:17:08] And they're gonna think, oh no, I'm in trouble.
[01:17:12] And they're gonna hold that kid by the hand and they're gonna walk him outside and they're going to explain to them a picture of the gospel.
[01:17:19] They're gonna say a person that you can't see and a person that you've never met in person.
[01:17:25] this person loves you so much that they chose you and they're going to leverage that conversation to say and there's a God that you can't see and maybe you haven't met him yet but he loves you
[01:17:39] so much that he chose you and was willing to pay the price for so let's sing let's bring let's pray

[01:17:49] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_07]
[01:17:49] let's sponsor kids let's respond there's so much more we're standing already entrusted you with

[01:28:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:28:53] about that story is, and you're like, what's it doing? But you see in the disciples, he multiplies it and does what they could never have imagined. You have the opportunity to change the world tonight. Listen, someone came in here tonight and you said, I want to know God's will. I know God's
[01:29:12] will. He's 19 years old and he lives in God. And someone in this room right now, you need God's will in your life. You need God's will in your home. You should come take this packet from me.
[01:29:21] The rest of you should grab one of these packets around the wall and you should experience God's will in your life and in the life of that kid you're going to sponsor. Don't leave here
[01:29:29] without filling that packet out online. You're not left out. Text sponsor to 83393. Let's see what God does. Amen. We love you like crazy church. Can't wait to see you next week. Be free.