TRANSCRIPTION | Sunday, October 17, 2021 | God In It Series | Is God In It?

 

Pastor Eric:

I think we would all agree that we want God in it, amen? We want God in our marriage. We want God in our business endeavors. If you're an athlete, you want God involved in your athletic journey. If you're a student, you want God in your educational process. You want God in your career path. We want God in this church. Can I get a witness? Amen. God In It. That's what we want. That's what we're longing for.

 

Pastor Eric:

What I'm going to do my best to begin this morning, is a journey of just how we can evaluate and examine, and make sure that God is in it. Have you ever had a moment where you were planning to bless someone and they didn't know that you were going to do it, and you were testing them a little bit? Maybe you could relate to having a child in the birthday gift or Christmas, and preparing a Christmas gift, or just somebody that you know and you care about. You've got something really special in mind for them, but they don't know it. If you've ever gotten engaged, you're the guy, you've got something special in mind. Maybe there's even a few tests of preparation to see "Is the person really ready for what I've got for them?"

 

Pastor Eric:

I want you to see something in John Chapter Six. It says, "And Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming towards him he said to one of his disciples named Philip, "Where shall we buy bread that these people may eat?" But Jesus said this to test Philip, for Jesus knew what he would do." For Jesus knew what he would do. This passage is in relation to the five loaves and two fish, one of the most famous stories surrounding Jesus, where Jesus made it possible to provide food for over 5,000 people. This morning, I want to take that passage of text and the multiple passages of text that are associated with the biographical sketch of Jesus in that moment. I want us to evaluate how God might be involved in our situations when we have a struggle, we have a challenge, we have a difficulty, and how that we can make sure that we have God in it when there is a challenge or there is a struggle.

 

Pastor Eric:

I think we have to start by asking a question of will you allow God to be involved in your situation? That's a serious question. It's not meant to be repetitious or cliché. Legitimate question, will you allow God to be involved in your situation? I would ask you even now, if you're in the challenge or you're in the struggle, could you say without a doubt that God is in it? Is God in it? I want you to pray with me this morning. Father, I ask you help me to preach. I ask you to help me to teach. I ask you, God, that you would help me to share your word in such a way, God, that hell would be pushed back and Heaven would come down. That, Father God, your holy spirit would provoke each and every one of us to take our next step in you, whatever that might be. Lord, let it be done in Jesus name. And this church said, Amen.

 

Pastor Eric:

Let me give you a little bit of background for the passage of text that we've just read in John Chapter Six. Jesus is growing in popularity as a communicator. People are coming from all over the nation to experience his preaching and teaching ministry. There's one issue with that. In that day, there were no large marketplaces positioned on every corner. If someone got hungry, they couldn't run out to the local restaurant or pass through the drive-thru. There were no convenience stores available along the pathways. So, as these people began to come and hear from Jesus, when they would assemble by the thousands, it could put a strain on the local demographic. In this particular instance, Jesus is preaching and there are at least 5,000 people present.

Pastor Eric:

Now, some commentators believe there might have actually been more people because apparently in that day, it was the custom to only count the head of a household. Some would say there might have been 20,000 maybe even 25,000 people here. Even if we just settle on 5,000 as the number, it's a lot of people. If you've ever hung out around church people, you know church people don't just get hungry, they get hangry. As these people are beginning to reach a point where their appetites are kicking in, and they want something to eat, there is a situation evolving that the only way it can be resolved is to make sure that God is in it.

 

Pastor Eric:

What I want to show is, we evaluate the texts that are associated with this moment in Jesus's life and ministry. There are some things that I think we can take away to make sure when we go through the challenge, when we go through the struggle, that we got God in it. Here's the first thing that I learned from evaluating what Jesus did with the five loaves and the two fish. Don't ignore the need or the problem. Have you ever noticed how that when we are going through some kind of challenge or we're going through some kind of struggle, we have a tendency to think that if we will ignore it, it will just go away? If we don't talk about it, if we pretend like it's not happening, maybe this thing will just go away. Maybe no one will even notice. Maybe no one will look at us in an obligatory way to think that we should be the ones to fix it.

 

Pastor Eric:

What Jesus does in this storyline, John 6:5, "Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward him, he said to Philip "Where shall we buy bread that these people may eat""? So, all the disciples are ignoring it. All the disciples are choosing to not talk about it. They're acting as though if they don't mention, maybe it'll just go away. Then Jesus puts specifically Philip on the spot and says, "Hey man, all these people are coming. What are you going to do about it? Like, what are we going to feed these people?" What we learn is that Jesus does this to test Philip, because Jesus already knew what he wanted to do.

 

Pastor Eric:

You're going to discover that in moments when you are in a challenge, or you are in a struggle, that God already has a plan despite the fact that hell has a plot. So often, God wants to get in it, but he is waiting, maybe even testing to see if we are going to allow God to be in it. One of the things that I learned about making sure that we've got God in it, is that we have to accept help. That comes easier for some people, and even some sections of society than others. I have noticed that there is a lot of pride in Kentucky. There's something about a whole of Kentucky folk that when we're going through something, we just really aren't comfortable accepting help.

 

Pastor Eric:

In fact, sometimes we could be strained and we could be struggling, and someone could offer help and we'd be like, "Nah man, I got it." And yet, up to that point we had been complaining for days of "I'm about to collapse. I don't know how much more I can handle. I'm so fatigued. I'm so exhausted." Someone offers help, "No, I got it." Some of you, that is you. You have a problem accepting help. One of the things that becomes a real issue with that is that if you don't accept help you can limit God's ability to get in it. Here's why, God uses people. What we want is for God to just flash with lightening and bring the miracle to our doorstep. But as you read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, is very rare that God performs a miracle in that way, that shape, and that form.

Pastor Eric:

The majority of the miracles in scripture are directly connected to God using people, using one person to bless another person, using one person as the start of the miracle in the life of another person. Sometimes I really think that we miss out on the miracle even getting started, because we won't accept help, especially when we begin to stereotype who the help is coming through. In this particular situation, they're trying to find a solution. The only thing they can come up with in regards to help is there is a boy here who has five loaves and two fish. Most of us would disqualify him, number one, because he's just a boy. Number two, because he's not possessing enough to resolve this issue with the snap of his fingers.

 

Pastor Eric:

Sometimes when God sends the beginning of a miracle into your life, you have to accept help even when it doesn't make sense to you, because that thing is going to begin to involve in a process for which God will only be able to take the credit for. When you get to the other side of it, it's going to literally blow your mind that it started in that kind of way with that kind of a person. Over and over again in scripture, God likes to use the league of the least likely. Some of you, you've been the boy, and other times you needed the boy. At this moment, we're talking about when you need the boy, when you need to be willing to accept help. Maybe it doesn't even make sense because here's the thing, if you want God in it, you're going to learn for a miracle to really unfold you must be willing to start in lack.

 

Pastor Eric:

God will never give you more than enough at the start of a miracle. One of the things that happens to us is we're always focused on what we've lost. You cannot find a single time in scripture where a miracle is associated with what was lost. The miracle always starts with what's left. You look at the lady who's running out of meals. She's just got a cup, but the miracle was in what she had left. You look at the lady who's indebted. She's about to lose everything she's got because her husband's passed away and she doesn't have a source of income on her own, but the miracle was in the jar of oil that she had left.

 

Pastor Eric:

What you discover in this story, is that the miracle was in what they had left. The way that it unfolds is, it says that there's a boy who's here and he's got five loaves and he's got two small fish. But what is that among so many? Have you not said that in your own way? Have you not made the excuse of "Well, you know God, I want you to be in it, but it just doesn't seem to me like that you want to be in it because God, all you've given me is five loaves and two fish. And unfortunately, they're two fish that Ron Trammell caught because they're small. What am I supposed to do with this? I can't even post this on Instagram." Yeah, you can. Here's the secret, it's what Ron Trammell does, you lean it up right next to the... It looks like a whale. Get it as close to the lens as you possibly can.

 

Pastor Eric:

Some of y'all got angles mastered in Instagram. Nobody's got it better than the fishermen. When you see a fisherman standing back here like this and his arms out like this, oh he's got a small fish. Five loaves and two fish. It's lack. It's not enough, like "What is this? Really? You want me to start feeding 5,000 people with that? For real?" Jesus was like, "Yeah, that's how this is going to go down." You ever had a moment where you felt like that God was calling you to something? Where you just didn't have enough education? You ever felt like God was calling you to something, but you just didn't have enough money? You ever felt like God was calling you to something, but you just didn't know enough people and you didn't have the right relationships?

 

Pastor Eric:

And because you didn't have the money, you didn't have the relationships, and you didn't have the education, you thought there was no way God can be in it? The thing that I would say to you is, do everything you can to check the box of the education, learn how to steward your money better, and build yourself as a leader so that you can establish more effective relationships. So often, God requires you to start before you get all those boxes checked. There's something that God likes about getting a started in lack, because it takes away the ability for coincidence to take the credit. See, God has a way of using the foolish things to confound the wise, and using the weak things to confound the mighty.

 

Pastor Eric:

I feel like I'm on a mandate from Heaven this morning to tell someone, don't be afraid to start in lack. God is very much aware that what you have right now is not enough, but the miracle is in the faith that you will exercise through the test because he already knows what he wants to do. He's waiting to see if you'll let him in it. Here's the thing, when you start the miracle and the thing begins to unfold... I need to give you one more just word of caution in regards to making sure that you can keep God in it, and that's this, you will have to get outside of your circle. "What do you mean, Preacher?" Let me give you a little bit of scripture.

 

Pastor Eric:

This one comes from Mark Chapter Six about the same event in Jesus's life. It says "And then Jesus commanded them to make all the people sit down in groups on green grass, and so they sat down in groups, in hundreds and in 50s." So, these people by the thousands are now breaking off into groups. The groups would have somewhere from 50 people to 100 people in them. The way that it says is that Jesus answered and he says to the disciples, "I want you to go and I want you to give these people something to eat." So, he took the five loaves and two fish, bless, broke, gave the loaves, and he gave them to the disciples to go and sit before the people.

 

Pastor Eric:

So, get the imagery in your mind. All of these people that have assembled together have come from their different regions to experience the ministry of Jesus. We know how people are because we know how we are. When you show up at an event, you try to find some people that you know to sit beside or to hang out with. What's probably happening is that rows are turning into circles. These people that have maybe known each other through industry, or maybe have come from the same neighborhood, or maybe have traveled together to get to this moment, they're beginning to sit down with people that they are comfortable with.

 

Pastor Eric:

So imagine, to some degree, groups of 50s, groups of 100 are sitting with people that they know to some level of acquaintance. Now the disciples are told, "You're going to take the five loaves, the two fish and you're going to begin to distribute them throughout the groups." If you were in a situation like this, and you are being told to start in lack, which group are you going to go to first? You're going to look for the group where somebody you went to high school with, somebody who was in your fraternity from college, somebody you used to work over in the fishing business with, somebody you used to hang out with at the tax collector's. You're looking for somebody that makes you comfortable.

 

Pastor Eric:

What you're going to do, is you're going to get this miracle started. You might even be looking for your mama's group because if this thing fails, mama's still going to love you. So, you're finding a circle that is most comfortable for you. Each of the disciples are looking out over these circles, over these groups, and it's like, "Okay, which one do I feel the best about? I know him. I know her. Oh, I haven't hung out with them for years so they'll give me some grace. I'm going to go over here and I'm going to get in this circle where I'm comfortable. I'm going to start to distribute. If this thing starts to fail, then these people are still going to love me and I'm going to have some extra grace with them just because of the relational leverage I have."

 

Pastor Eric:

But the way that this thing works, is that at some point each of these disciples would have had to have served by these calculations between five to 10 groups of people, five to 10 circles, if not more. At some point, in order to keep the miracle going they had to start ministering to circles with which they were not comfortable. I have watched it happen in the lives of so many people that God begins to get involved with. I've watched it happen when God gets in it. I've seen it happen with our church. We started in a little storefront, and I had a circle, six people I prayed with on a regular basis. We were comfortable together, but then God began to do something and we began to realize that we were going to have to expand our circle and expand our reach.

 

Pastor Eric:

So, we began to try to reach the town with a greater level of effectiveness, but then we realized that God had something more for us than just ministering to the zip code of Russell Springs. We were supposed to try to start ministering to Columbia, so we expanded our circle. We started looking for property that would be between the two towns. Then God began to grow, and God began to expand, and we realized that the miracle was going to keep going. We were going to have to get outside that circle. So, we began to talk about the Lake Cumberland region, and then as God grew that, we realized he's doing something. People are starting to come from five to 10 counties. Now, we're going to have to expand our circle if the miracle is going to keep going.

 

Pastor Eric:

So, we started talking about south central Kentucky. If you've been hanging out around here lately, God's saying something new, that if the miracle is going to be continued we can't just stay in the circle of south central Kentucky, but the state of Kentucky is calling our name to minister to zip codes we've never even thought about. I have no doubt that the circle will continue to expand because that's the only way you keep the miracle going. Some of you wonder why it doesn't feel like that God is in it now, the way that he used to be, and it's because you got comfortable.

 

Pastor Eric:

It became easy to minister to this group. It became easy to minister with this circle, and to hang out with these friends, and to always be with your clique. I get it. Jesus set an example. He was closer to three people than he was 12. He was closer to 12 people than he was 70. He was closer to 70 people than he was 5,000. And he was obviously closer to 5,000 than he was the entire nation of Israel. I understand structuring your relationships, but at the same time you cannot allow yourself to get comfortable if you want God to keep the miracle going in your life. You will have to get outside of your circle and move beyond your comfort zone. Don't ever let the enemy bring pause to your miracle, because you get stuck in one circle.

 

Pastor Eric:

I wonder... Hey, Aaron, could you come and help me this morning? We're going to get a visual for everything that we're talking about. Now, there's not 5,000 people in this auditorium this morning, but Aaron you're going to play at least the role of Philip, if not one of the other disciples. According to scripture, the way that Jesus did this is he took the five loaves, he blessed them, he broke them and he gave them. Okay? These people are hungry, what are you going to do about it?

 

Aaron:

Feed them.

 

Pastor Eric:

What you got?

 

Aaron:

Five loaves, two fish.

 

Pastor Eric:

Okay. So, I want to thank you for putting what you have in my hands. Take it, Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless this food, sanctify it unto the nourishment of our bodies. In Jesus's name. Amen.

 

Pastor Eric:

There's 12 of you. There's only so much to go around. Feed the people. Feed them. Does that make sense? Does any part of that make sense? It wouldn't make sense if he gave him the five loaves and the two fish. It really doesn't make sense if you start breaking it down further from there. What in the world? There is absolutely no way that it makes sense for a disciple to take this little amount that has been allotted to him, and start in his lack and begin to pass it out. It doesn't make sense. Because it looks the same to me.

 

Pastor Eric:

It smells the same. It tastes the same. It looks the same. Smells the same. Tastes the same. There is only one difference. Now, it's got God in it. When God gets in it, little is much. Some of you don't understand what's been going on in your life, but he's been taking you. He's been blessing you. There's been some breaking, and it hurt. But his plan is that you would ultimately be given. The whole time he knew what he wanted to do, and he's been trying to set you up for a moment where you would let him in it. So the question is now, will you accept the help? Will you start in lack? Will keep the miracle going by getting outside of your circle?

 

Pastor Eric:

I want you to just testify to somebody and tell them, "I want God in it." Thank you. Jeremy's going to play some music, and I want you to think about something with me. I want him to go back. I want him to look at this verse, the previous verse. So, Jesus took the bread. He blessed the bread. He broke the bread. He gave the bread. Does that sound familiar to anybody? It's Matthew Chapter 26, is the parallel passage. It's the moment where that Jesus is seated at the Last Supper. At the Last Supper, lounging with his disciples, preparing to feast, he has them bring him the bread. Scripture says he took the bread, he blessed the bread, he broke the bread, and he gave it to the disciples.

 

Pastor Eric:

He told them, he said, "What I'm doing to this bread represents my body," and I believe that included in that was the process that he took the bread through. What Jesus was showing them is that he had been taken from Heaven. He had been blessed with an incredible ministry, blessed to speak as never a man had spoken, blessed to open blind eyes, unstop deaf ears, raise dead people back to life. It was blessed. But then he was betrayed by a friend, and the world that he loved so much turned on him, and he was broken. Jesus allowed all of that through the crucifixion of the cross so that he could be given to you and me. He allowed it so that he could be in it.

 

Pastor Eric:

Jesus did all of that to prove that he wants to be in your life, taken, blessed, broken, given. Jesus is waiting for the moment to be in it. Will you let him in? Yeah, you're going to let him into your marriage, and you're going to let him into your business, and you're going to let him into your finances, and you're going to let him into your education. But the number one thing he was to be in, is your heart and your life. That's where it all starts. So, I'm going to ask every head to be bowed, every eye to be closed. This morning, if you're in this place and you would just say "I need to be saved. I need God in it when it comes to my heart, when it comes to my life, when it comes to my soul. I need... I need to acknowledge Jesus as savior and Lord."

 

Pastor Eric:

Maybe for you, it's the very first time. If that speaks to you, I'm going to challenge you to lift your hand right now, to bring yourself spiritually to the cross of Jesus Christ and say, "Jesus, I thank you that you love me so much that you would be taken, that you would blessed, that you would be broken so that you could be given so that I could have eternal life, so that I could have salvation. Jesus, I receive it today. I let you in." Come on, raise that hand. Be bold. Don't be timid. This is the greatest decision you will ever make in your life because you're not just setting up, you're now setting up your future, you're setting up your eternity.

 

Pastor Eric:

There are those of you that maybe even your hand is already lifted, yet others maybe it's not. You're saying, "For me, this moment really is more about a re-dedication. It's more about a moment of just saying "God, I've kind of put you out, and I've kind of distanced myself. I'm not really focused on you being in my heart and in my life. Today God, I just want to see some restoration, some renewal, some refreshing." Father God, for those that have their hands lifted right now, I pray that you would reach further down than they would be able to reach up, and that you would come into their life with an overflowing, overwhelming abundance of love. And that Father God, they would experience your grace in such a way that it would set them free from all shame, it would set them free from all condemnation, and that there would be a boldness that would begin to come over their life in regards to their relationship to you.

 

Pastor Eric:

That God, if need be, they would shout it from the rooftops to let somebody know "God is in my life. He's in my life through my savior Jesus Christ. He is my Lord. I worship him with my whole heart, my whole mind, my whole soul." I thank you Father, in Jesus's name. In Jesus's name. I want to take one more moment and I want to pray for somebody that you would say that you are saved, you would say that you have a relationship with Jesus as Lord. But there are some places in your life where that maybe you haven't been willing to accept help, and there's just an element of conviction that's coming over you this morning and you're like, "Hey God, give me another chance at accepting that help."

 

Pastor Eric:

In somebody else, it's been a hesitancy to start in lack, and maybe that even means something for you other than how I defined it this morning, but you realize hey that's me. That's where I've kind of isolated myself from God being involved. In somebody else, the miracle has been unfolding but for whatever reason, you just... Man, if you're honest and you're straight up about it, you just kind of have gotten paused, kind of stalled in a circle, in a comfort zone. There's more that God has for you today. Maybe this is your moment to lift your hand, and I want to pray for you. Father, you see these hands as well. It's people who are saying that God, they're grateful for a pre-existing relationship with you before this moment, but yet God there're these places in their lives that resemble for them that five loaves and two fish moment.

 

Pastor Eric:

God, they just want you to be in it. Maybe they've failed the test, and we repent to that, God, but we thank you that you always give us opportunities to take that test over, and over again. So Lord, thank you for grace. Thank you for being sufficient. Thank you God, for setting us up right now to begin to walk into a new level of grace, a new level of anointing, a new level of refreshing and begin to see you in it, God. For somebody that's been struggling with comfort zones and has gotten stuck in a circle, God, let the miracle keep going. I pray Father, that on the other side they will steward the excess, and that there will be more than they ever even thought possible. Lord, let it be done in Jesus's name. And this church said... Come on, can you give God praise one more time this morning?