Wow! What a Lunch — Don Wilkerson

None of these messages are copyrighted and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to your friends. John chapter 6. I'm reading to you tonight from the King James Version a Familiar story.

Miracle of our Lord created your ministry of music tonight. Did bless our hearts? Amen. The song said open up your heart and open up your ears and your heart for the Word of God as well. Tonight don't let this Heat bother you.

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

If I see it bothering any of you, I'm gonna throw my hanky at you to do something praise the Lord John chapter 6. After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias and A great multitude followed him because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased.

Jesus went up into a mountain and there he sat with his disciples in the Passover. A Feast of the Jews was nigh when Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him and He said unto Philip when shall we buy bread that these may eat?

And he in this he said and this he said to prove him for he himself knew What he would or was about to do? Philip answered 200 pennies worth of bread is not sufficient for them That every one of them may take a little.

One of his disciples Andrew Simon Peter's brother saith unto him. There's a lad here which have five barley loaves and two small fish, but but what are these among so many and Jesus said make the men sit down now.

There was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in number about 5 ,000 and Jesus took the loaves and when he had given things he distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them that were sat down and Likewise all the fishers as much as they would When they were filled.

I love the way the writers just go right along and just matter-of-factly described a Miraculous miracle in verse 12. Verse 11 says he distributed in verse 12 says when they were filled. In other words, no big deal.

What else would you expect? When they were filled he said unto the disciples gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves Which remained over and above unto them that had eaten can say in a response to that is This which is the title of my message.

“Wow, What a Lunch” and the Sufficiency of Christ

Wow, what a lunch. We thank you as we look into your Word are the all-sufficient one. Hallelujah. Hallelujah Lord take our lunches tonight. Blessed let it go forth and let it be distributed to a lost and dying Humanity and world.

Thank you. We thank you that you are the all-satisfying one you are all All-sufficient unto us little is much when God is in it. Hallelujah Lord, we thank you that you dwell within us you dwell within this church.

You take the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and the mighty. You're doing it right here in this church and in this city and you're doing it in our lives and we thank you for it. Bless your people challenge us tonight through your word in Jesus name.

Amen. Now this miracle was motivated by the compassion of Jesus for the physical hunger of the people some who had actually walked now there was a Passover and so the crowds were gathering for the Passover and that was the cause for many of them coming but for many others.

They they knew that Jesus had gone off with his disciples. The word had spread regarding him. And so some of them walked about nine miles to reach him where he was and so Jesus was motivated by their desires their Their physical their spiritual hunger but I want you to note the relationship between the size of the crowd and The size of the only lunch around.

There was no bagel vendors available. Five loaves of homemade bread. I'm a fish. Seven pieces or elements of fish Enough to feed perhaps one family or one hungry lads. Appetite now compare the lunch. With 5 ,000 plus growling hungry stomachs the Disproportionate was enormous.

Now the size of the lunch in comparison to the size of the need reminds me of the size of the church in relationship to the multitudes of lost and hungry souls in need of the bread of life as Far as the strength of the church is concerned.

We are the church with a little lunch church to the unfinished task of world Evangelism the evangelism of the city the evangelism of the world that we are commanded to undertake. Let me illustrate this by giving you some staggering figures.

The population of the world at the time that Christ ministered in this miracle and when he was on earth the Population of the world was estimated to be at 250 million people. When Martin Luther sparked the Reformation The world's population by that time had doubled and it stood at 500 million people.

Or in other words, it took about 1 ,500 years for the world's population to double the first time. In 1793 a man by the name of William Carey Who is noted as the father of modern missions went to India and in going there? he also sparked a missionary movement of many others individuals as well as church organizations that realized that the gospel needed to be taken to the ends of the earth and at that time in 1793 the world's population had it doubled again and it stood at 1 billion people.

In the early 1900s there was another great missionary conference in Edinburgh, Scotland and Again, the church was gripped by the fact That the gospel needed to be taken to the ends of the world because they saw the burgeoning world population which at that time in the early 1900s had doubled again and it stood at 2 billion people since then in less than what six or seven decades.

The world's population has exploded and today it is approaching 5 billion souls weeks of the year every single week 2 .5 million children Enter this world and are added to the world's population. Perhaps it's hard for you to grasp the enormity of those figures.

But there's a few other figures you ought to let sink into your mind and into your soul. Out of that 5 billion people. It is estimated that two-fifths of them 2 billion people have no Absolutely, no Witness of a gospel among them.

There is no church among their language or in their culture. There is no missionary there. There is no pastor there. They do not have an existing church among them. 2 billion people. By the year 2000 there will be 22 mega cities with populations of 10 million plus in the world.

Right now Mexico City has a population under the age of 14 equal to the size of New York City and Muslims and Chinese make up 75 of the non-christian world. Only 5 of today's foreign missionaries live among them.

But you and I have but to look at this great city or. You have but to look in your neighborhood or in the office where you work or in your own family to realize that in the natural We in the church out when he's brought the little lad with his little lunch.

And he posed the question that I posed to you tonight regarding the Church of Jesus Christ and the Responsibility that is ours to take the gospel to the world. And if this is a missionary message tonight, I guess it is I cannot help but feel like Andrew tonight when I think of those figures I've just quoted to you and I think of the size of the church and I have to say tonight.

But what are we and what are these among so many? But tonight I have a stirring in my heart. I Have and I do carry a burden and it's this that we will find in this church find in every church. But especially in this church.

We'll find that love because I am convinced that just as Jesus took the loaves and when he had given Thanks, and he distributed to the disciples and it says and they were filled. And not only were they filled but they were satisfied.

I also believe that Jesus wants to take and he wants to bless your lunch and your witness and use it to feed this city and to feed a dying world and I believe that there is a lad here tonight. That's here tonight.

It'd be a lad recently come to the Lord. But you're young and spiritual to know that you have something tonight in your possession that is much more significant and potent and powerful and potentially useful than you could ever imagine and God wants some of you to come out of the crowd and out of your fear hiding and Some of you out of your backsliding and give up all the excuses of why you cannot give up your lunch.

And let Jesus take it and feed a whole big bunch. Hallelujah when Jesus took the lads look and can't think of it now. When Jesus took that lads little lunch and he lifted it up and here's the lad standing.

He'd given up his lunch and now Jesus is lifting it up in front of the crowd and I can see him standing behind Jesus and he sees this enormous crowd and Jesus lifts up his lunch and he said now father.

I thank you for this food that we 5 ,000 plus I thank you father that for the food that we are about to partake of his eyes must have bugged out if he's His I he might or he must have covered his mouth and probably could not hold back to help from Snicker when he heard Jesus saying thank you for this meal that we are about to partake of and that makes us About as much sense to some of you if God told some of you what he wants to do in your life and Through you if you let him you probably will have a laugh down inside you and say it's not possible.

But my prayer is that Times Square Church Will not only touch this city, but will touch the world for Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. You know how many nations we have come in you've heard the countries represented.

But in addition to that we have people sitting right here that have a burden one of our gentlemen here has a burden. Charles has a burden to go into the South Bronx in a ghetto and raise up a Neighborhood church there and thank God for that and one of these days, maybe we'll be able to send him forth.

We have another couple that want to go to Poland and minister. Others of you God may call you and I believe that we ought also to be not only a church that reaches this city. But we ought to be ascending church that we will commission and send people out to the ends of the earth.

Hallelujah, that's my prayer. I believe also that some of our best leaders and future workers are sitting right here tonight. You may not know it. Some of them are walking the streets right now. We pray that I pray that almost every Tuesday during our pastors prayer meeting and I say Lord raise up off of these streets some workers some of you sitting here Right tonight.

You may not believe it and There may be a lot of work that the Holy Spirit has to do in you yet. But still I want to challenge you you're a lad with a lunch and The seeds of the power of distribution are within you and one of these days Hallelujah breads gonna start rolling out of your life like the baskets that fed the one little basket that fed that Galilean multitude.

Surrendering Yourself as an Offering to God

I remember one night We have a teen challenge fellas sitting up here. Don't we are you here tonight fellas? Yes. God bless you and I remember as I was in a teen challenge of meeting one time with the fellows like that and I went to take the offering and There were a few people there besides the teen challenge father most of them were the teen challenge fellows and I started to take the offering and then I realized who the audience was and I realized that they didn't have anything to give.

And so the Spirit of Lord prompted me and I said now Fellas when the offering basket comes by I know you don't have a lot. But I want some of you to do something tonight. I want to put yourself. I want you to put yourself in the offering basket tonight.

By faith. I want you to give yourself and in fact Paul wrote in When he wrote to the Corinthians about their giving he said he commended them because he said you gave yourself first of all. But as I took the offering I prayed I said when the offering goes by some of you put yourself in the basket and You know young man came to me some Weeks later or months later.

He said brother Don. Do you remember that offering? I said, yes, I do. He said I want you to know I put myself in that offering that night. And when it went by he said when you said that God spoke to me and said yes.

Yes, I want to follow you Lord. I want to be your lad. I want to distribute your lunch and he said I put myself in the offering and I want you to know that young man's in California today working for the Lord.

Hallelujah. Now, let me turn your attention to this story of this lad with a lunch. First of all, let's talk about how this lunch was discovered now Andrew said it. But the others knew that there was a lunch or some portion of food.

But only Andrew was the one who had the nerve to say it. Now it was no mystery of how that little land a lunch was noted in 5 ,000 people. There was no miracle. I thought at first that man, that's amazing that they even discovered that lunch among 5 ,000 people.

But it was no miracle. You know why there was no food. And They all pointed they knew exactly where it was because their nose told them when you've been that hungry and you whether it's smelly fish or whatever everybody turned around and Smelled that that lows and pointed out and said here it is.

But only Andrew came and pointed out and perhaps Andrew you know who had brought Peter to G and bringing Peter to Jesus for salvation was about as ridiculous as Andrew pointing out the lad with the only lunch within miles of a McDonald's.

But you see it was the grace and the providence of God in bringing that lad there. It was the grace and the providence of God. We don't know his name. We don't know where he came from. We don't know why he happened to be there, but I'm going to tell you my version of why.

He was the only person who under the circumstance possessed such a prized possession and Regardless of how he got there. The fact was that he was there. Now let me tell you how I think he got there and this is preachers license.

This is preachers imagination and you'll have to just Let it bear witness to with your heart or not. Paul said sometimes I speak by You know permission or I speak by revelation other times I speak by permission.

I'm giving myself a little license here and tell you how he got there. I Believe he was one of 12 children. Woke up that very morning To the smell of freshly baked bread went into the kitchen and his mother's making all this bread for this big family he has his breakfast and Then his mother says to him now Sonny he said I want you to do something.

I'm gonna bake five loaves of bread and Five of these breads are going to go to your grandma because your grandma's sick and I want you to take them to her. You go down get two fish out of the Galilee come back and I'll have the bread ready.

So he went got the fish came back. She packed some a little lunch and she says this to him now you go directly to grandma's house. Don't you set your lunch down? Don't you turn to the right? Don't you turn to the left?

Don't you play with your friends. You go directly to grandma's house and you come back with that lunch. He says yes mother and off he goes with his lunch and As he's walking along the Sea of Galilee Intending on his business suddenly.

He looks up on the hillside and He sees the largest crowd that he's ever seen in his life. And he looks at the crowd and he looks at his lunch and he remembers what his mother said and he keeps intent on his mission.

But still there's that crowd there and what he did next he didn't mean to do but pretty soon he was moving closer to that crowd than he was to grandma's house and pretty soon He was on the edge of the crowd pretty soon he was in the middle of the crowd and pretty soon Andrew discovered him and Although this lad with a lunch on the way to grandma's house did not know it.

He was the right boy. With the right lunch at the right place at the right time and he surrendered it to the right person. It's always the way God works in place. His man his woman his young person. Precisely the right time to be his instrument of service.

It has been that throughout history God had an Abraham to father a nation. He had a Moses to liberate that nation. He had a Joshua to lead them into the promised land. He had a David and Solomon to be their king.

He had a Jeremiah and prophets to warn them of their backsliding. He had an Ezra and a Nehemiah to bring them back to restoration and to bring revival. He had a John the Baptist. He had a Mary to be the handmaiden of the Lord.

He had a John the Baptist to announce Jesus as the Lamb of God. He had a Paul to father the church God. Nothing for a man or a woman with a lunch. Hallelujah, and if you will not obey God if you will not do what God has called you to do.

He'll owe he'll bypass you and he'll always find somebody to accomplish his will in his work. The story is told of Martin Luther when he received that revelation in God's Word that the just shall live by faith and by faith alone he shared it with another fellow monk and This is what?

His peer told him he said to Martin Luther monk go back to your room and keep your mouth shut and Hold your tongue and say nothing of this anymore to anyone but you see a fire burned in Martin Luther's bosom and God gave he was a big man with a big mouth and he could not hold back his lunch.

Because God made him that way and his voice set that touched the nations of the world in the book of Esther when God Providentially placed a beautiful Jewish girl in the palace of the king of Persia. Little did she realize that the hand of God was placed upon her and she was in a position to prevent the very first Jewish annihilation or Holocaust and When Esther at one point was reluctant to be God's instrument to appeal and witness to the king.

Listen to what her uncle Mordecai said to her. I Commanded them to take this message back to Esther in the inner chambers of the palace and This is what Mordecai said think not with thyself that thou shall escape in the king's house more than all the Jews.

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time. Then shalt their enlargement and deliverance arise from another place. In other words if you don't obey God's still gonna save the Jews. He's still gonna find another instrument somewhere, but you will have judgment upon you because you didn't obey.

But thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed but who knoweth and but who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this and listen to me tonight whether you're a Doorkeeper in the house of the Lord or whether you're one of these pastors or anywhere in between.

You have to have the sense that you are the little lad with a little lunch. And that you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this. Whether it is in your home or in your office, or you're the only one that's saved.

You have to have a sense of divine destiny in with a place that God has put you hallelujah. Amen say man some of you did. You're looking at me. You're just looking at me. I know you're with me. Praise the Lord.

You have to have a sense of Divine destiny. I want to tell you this church does We have a sense of where God has and every one of you are important here in the house of the Lord. Every position everything that you do.

You have come to the kingdom and this church has come to the kingdom for such a time as this hallelujah. We've been praying for a thousand core people a thousand committed core people. We feel we need to do the job that has called us to do here in this city.

And I pray that you will sense the call of God and say God. I want to be that Esther. I want to be that Mordecai. I want to be that man that lad with a lunch hallelujah. But then listen, let me go on.

Vision and Character in Christian Service

I want you to note also that the lunch contain what the lunch contained and what it consisted of. It says there was a lad here which had five barley loaves and two fish. Now not only was it divine providence.

That there was the right person on the scene at the right time. But there was also something right about that lads lunch the barley loaves and the fish representative spiritually of something that God requires of every lad and Every servant of God.

I see two important things represented by the barley and the fish and that is vision and Character. Vision and character. Many have the former and they don't have the latter now. Pastor Bob spoke Sunday morning on When I wish he hadn't he spoke on vision.

No, I'm glad that he did because. And brother Dave talked about working and ministering for the Lord and both of them took my message. I already had this prepared, but I guess the Lord wanted to. Some of you didn't get it I guess and or you weren't here or you didn't get it.

You know, it's like the the pastor one pastor one time. He preached the same message three times in a row and finally a deacon came up to him and he said pastor Do you know that you preach that same sermon three times in a row?

He said yeah, I know as soon as you start living it. I'll go on to a next one another one the two fish represent The vastness of a need to which God has called the church. Turn to Luke the fifth chapter and you know the story if you want to look at it there you can turn.

If you want to in Luke 5 when the Lord called Peter you recall that and said they enclosed a great multitude of fish When they obeyed the Lord They obeyed his word. They cast their nets again into the sea after fishing all night having caught nothing and Jesus went on in that fifth chapter of Luke and Used an illustration and he said in verse 10 He said fear not from henceforth thou shalt catch men and I believe that Peter never forgot the lesson and the Lord wants us to catch men and I believe the size of the catch is Symbolic of the vastness of the need wants us to catch men and to fill the church's net full of the unsaved now here at times for you've heard us say It that we do not Believe we're just not looking for crowds for crowds sake.

If we wanted to do that my friend we could have you know There's all kinds of celebrities that want to come through here. We could put on a high hype promotion thing and we could fill this or double fill it and they'd be lining up but we we're not going to build the church that way and we don't believe in crowds for crowds sake or numbers for numbers sake or using hype to fill a building.

But we do have vision in the right sense of the word and we do believe that God wants us to catch fish and to catch a lot of fish and My friend we believe that God is going to By the hunger of God's Word drawing people that this place is going to be filled.

And not only is it going to be filled Sunday morning, but God's going to give us an extra service on Sunday. We'll probably go have to go to extra services on Sunday. I believe by the Jimmy and his outreach on Saturday.

It's going to grow and be filled. We may have to have meetings here Sunday night. God wants our nets full. We've got to have a vision to reach this city for God. Hallelujah. And our vision is to launch out into the deep and let our nets down for a mighty draw a mighty catch.

But at the same time Look at verse 8 in chapter 5. It says when when Simon Peter saw it when he saw the size of the catch then just casting the net or knowing how to fill a building to be successful in ministry that the character Peter began to see the importance of a character of a Fisherman that was as important as the size of the catch and when he saw it he fell down Before him and said Oh Lord.

Yes. I want to catch men. But he recognized that there was something in his life that had to be changed had to be dealt with in his life before God could launch him forth now the lad's lunch consisted of five barley loaves and Barley represents total surrender or the giving of everything to the Lord as an offering of dedication and Please follow me on this the Old Testament laws of the sacrifice and the offerings there was required that was required to be offered to God to the Lord.

One of those offerings was to consist of bread. It was the meat offering. It was actually a grain offering it was made up of either wheat or barley and this offering in Hebrew was called a Minshka. Which means which it means a present or the gift of an inferior to a superior.

The word is sometimes translated present. Such as the present that Joseph gave his brethren when they came to visit him and to fully understand the biblical interpretation of giving our Minshka or our offering to the Lord.

It must be understood that the kind of offering given to God Must be the kind worthy of the person to whom it is given. In other words, it cannot be cheap. It cannot be shoddy. It cannot be worthless.

If you are giving a gift to the Queen of England or if you were given a Given the privilege to present a gift to the president of the United States. You would want it to be worthy of a high office of the presidency.

So you would choose it accordingly. It's worth should be in keeping with the high office and the point or the application of the is this God is just as concerned about the quality of our lunch as he is in the quantity of our vision and You might be gone.

Ho to work for the Lord. You can volunteer for every outreach. You can be out on the street every day. You might be one who desires to share his lunch all day long to everybody you meet. But the Lord says what about your grain offering.

What about the quality of your offering. What about the quality of your lunch that you're presenting to the Lord? What are you offering unto him? Go with me if you will to Genesis chapter 4. Go to Genesis chapter 4.

I want you to see something that I did never saw. I never saw this before Genesis chapter 4. We must beware lest the offering that we give to the Lord is like the offering that Cain Gave and it was rejected.

Cain, Abel, and the Quality of Our Offering

You see Cain made an offering to God, but it was rejected. You know why because it had no character to it. It had no holiness to it. It had no worth to it. It God did not have respect to it. Now most of the time we're taught that the reason that the Lord rejected Cain's offering is that it had no blood in it and That's true.

But there's something else that I never saw. I do not believe that Cain's offering was rejected just because it had no blood in it and Neither do I believe that we are qualified for service or for ministry just because we're saved.

Or Just because we have a desire to work for the Lord or just because we have a vision to work for the Lord. It takes more than just being saved. There was something missing in Cain's offering what which was in Abel's offering and It was a reason that the Lord had respect unto Abel in his offering and it was also why Cain in his offering He had no respect.

Let's read it. Genesis 4 chapter. Genesis 4 verse 4 verse 3 and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto The Lord a present unto the Lord and Abel he also brought of the firstlings of the flock and with a fat thereof and The Lord had respect unto Cain and to his offering it was blood.

Yes. Excuse me Abel and the Lord had respect unto a. I'm just trying. I'm just seeing if you're still here. You're just with me. I Knew exactly what I was doing. You know, I'm learning from Bob, you know He's got a quick recovery and the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering.

But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect and Cain was very wrought and his countenance fell. Look at that fourth verse again. Here's the key words also brought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat Thereof listen carefully one of the most important and grievous things that is wrong in the church today.

Is that the fat is missing in the offering is missing and God I've got to be careful how I say this now God wants your fat. Oh, he doesn't want you fat. He wants you owe me go to me. Go with me to Leviticus in order for you not to think this is a Weight Watchers presentation.

Go to Leviticus chapter 1. I was almost going to develop my entire message around this. And I would have had some fun with this, but I but it's not a laughing matter. Leviticus chapter 1 verse 7 and the sons of Aaron and the priest shall put fire upon the altar and lay the wood in order upon the fire and The priest Aaron's son shall lay the parts and the head and the fat In order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar.

But his inwards and his legs shall be washed in water and the priest shall burn all On the altar to be a burn offering and offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. Now go to chapter 3 and verse 3 and he shall offer of the Sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord.

The fat that covers the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards in fact 12 times in Leviticus 3. It mentions the sacrifice and it says. And the fat Thereof and the fat thereof. I think in verse 16 or whatever.

Oh, yes. Look at verse 16 chapter 3 and the priest shall burn them upon the altar. It is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savor. All the fat is the Lord's and in each other offer. You can go through all Leviticus.

You'll see it again and again. Now going back to Cain's offering. It says that Cain brought of the first or brought of the fruit of the ground and What the Lord wants us to learn from this account. Is that the quality of?

Our offering Reflects the character of the one who is offering it. Abel's offering had fat in it means the Choicest part of the animal and the Genesis account Suggests that Cain took the first fruit of the came out of the ground.

He grabbed the first thing that came along. He didn't have respect for it. He didn't have respect for the quality of it. He didn't have respect for the character of the offering but Abel did. And Abel picked out the firstborn, but it was not just any animal.

He gave the best. The fat is the choices. It's u .s. Grade a number one. He gave the fat there was a man with a right heart and a right motive and God does not Look upon the largeness alone of our lunch or the largeness of our vision but he looks upon our hearts and Leviticus 3 17 says all the fat is the Lord's and When the bird offering was offered on the altar it represents our obligation to God In not just giving one aspect of our lives to him, but giving him Everything giving him the very best that we have.

Giving him everything that is within us presented a pure heart a Holy life to the Lord. It doesn't matter if we stand on 42nd Street and pass out tracts all day long. If the fat is missing from our offering to God God will not have respect for our sacrifice and our offering.

Listen to Psalms 22 and 28 and 29. In fact, if you understand this principle, you'll read the Psalms and you'll read about fat in a different light. It says for the kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among the people all they that be fat upon the earth Shall eat and worship.

That doesn't mean overweight people. It says in all they that be fat upon the earth. In other words They that have given the best that they have and surrendered all of their affections. Everything their affections are set on things above not on things on this earth.

Hallelujah and You see my friend in many cases the church may be large. But it's not fat. Our services may be filled with a lot of praise and worship, but we have not given our fat. We have not given our best.

We've not given our hearts unto the Lord. Now finally the miracle of a sufficiency and satisfaction in Christ, of Course is represented in the multiplication of this one lunch into a feast. Consider what one lunch in the hands of Jesus can do.

One Lunch in the Hands of Jesus

It's a look if you want to look at John 6 again, Jesus took the loaves and When he had given thanks He distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them that were seated and when they were filled.