The One in the Crowd

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 4 JANUARY 2025 am - PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

John 6 verses 1 to 13

I want to turn to a familiar passage of scripture. Can you imagine the scene before us today. A multitude of people coming from everywhere. The Passover was near at hand. The people heard of the Lord Jesus in the mountain. They had heard so much about him, how he healed the sick, preached and performed many miracles. The bible speaks of the multitude yet only one was spoken to that day. One who stood out from the crowd. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you were that person today? That God would reach down in this meeting and others would benefit from your attendance here today? Andrew brought him to the Lord. He stepped through the crowd to get him to Jesus. A young boy. A day he would never forget. Maybe that might be the same for you today. Maybe there are people celebrating through into the new year but life is empty for them. Maybe you are hearing of someone who could change your life completely today. This little boy took everything he had and handed it into Jesus' hands. What an amazing day this would become. What became of him? Did he ever follow Christ from here on? Did he become a preacher or a soul winner? Jesus came into the world to seek and to save your soul. He died on Calvary for your sin. Trust him with every doubt and fear you have. Come to the Lord. Come to the foot of the cross. He will save your soul today. This day would impact this child, this young boy. God's word says he has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the wise.

The problems of the day. Here the multitudes had gathered to come and celebrate the Passover. They went out to see Jesus. They had heard so much about him, of his great power, his great preaching, miracles and healing. This day bore its own problems. The people were unprepared for the journey home. The day was far spent, darkness was falling. They had made no preparation for the journey home. Some of them had travelled a distance. The Lord knew they had brought no food with them. Maybe they would fall and be faint on the way home. We are living in a day when people have made no preparation for their homeward journey. They don't really care. They never gave much thought. People are living without God and hope. The Lord looked at his disciples and said "you feed them." They wondered where they were going to get the bread. Philip said it would cost more than a half a years wages and still there would not be enough. Some times we get discouraged and despair as family members are not saved. They have no hope. We see the numbers filtering away from church. No hope. Andrew steps up in verse 9. "What are they among so many?" Andrew and Philip were looking at it in a practical sense. For us it looks like that too. When the Lord steps in the answer was in someone sitting among them. Maybe this morning God is looking into this assembly. Maybe God is coming with his finger pointing to you. You are the answer. In Revelation 2 we are reminded to be watchful and strengthen the things which are ready to die. Get a hold of them. Stir them up. Secure those things which remain. The problems of the day.

The person in the crowd. The whole focus changes. We see the crowd unprepared, hungry and faint. They had a distance to travel. The difference was in the crowd. Philip didn't have the answer. Andrew found a lad. It is wonderful the people God uses. Maybe we are looking for something but not the right thing. God would use the simplicity of a little boy. Think of the maid in Naaman's house. Naaman was a great man of valour. A soldier. A strategist. He had won many battles. The king praised him. He was in possession of a great power but he was a leper. The answer was living in his house. One little girl. God would use her to bring healing to one man. She had been taken captive and brought to this foreign house. God stirred up her heart one day. She said to Naaman's wife "if my master was down with the prophet he would be healed." God used those words and that girl. Maybe God is putting his finger on you. Maybe he is saying to you "here's the word you have to give to your family member, to your neighbour." The little maid had a big heart. Think of Samuel. Only a little boy living with Eli in the temple. He was serving God. All he died was open and close the doors. One night God came to him and God would turn the religious system on its head through him. Isn't it wonderful the people God would use? We are always looking for the big name to draw in the crowd. Jeremiah 5 verse 1 "run ye to and fro through the streets of Jersualem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth and I will pardon it." Ezekiel 22 verse 30 "And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it; but I found none." This boy was willing. He is about to open his lunch while listening to the Saviour preaching. Andrew is at his side and asks him "would you be prepared to give that lunch to the Lord?" Andrew knew the Lord could do so much with that little lunch. He didn't doubt God's ability. See him bringing him to Jesus and handing over the lunch to the Lord. God is searching for someone. This little boy was in the crowd and he gave everything he had. The boy was interested and concerned. He was listening to Jesus, watching him. There is a time to step up. It is good to come to church, to soak up the atmosphere, sing the hymns, hear the challenge from his word. What does God want me to do? What am I hearing? If you can use me today Lord would you do that? E M Bounds was a great man of prayer. He wrote "men are looking for better methods. God is looking for better men." Could God be speaking to you today?

The potential that is present. Andrew says to Jesus "there is a lad here".  Andrew did not doubt what the Lord could do. He could take this meagre lunch and do mighty things with it. Nothing is impossible with the Lord. He can do far above what we could ever imagine. He sees potential in this lad and what he has. He only has a few fish and loaves. It was nothing in his eyes but in the Lord's hands it was much. Little is much when God is in it. Do not give up on children. Keep going after them. The devil hasn't given up on them. We are not to despise the day of small things. Timothy's mother and grandmother saw the potential in him. They prayed and nurtured him. He grew up to be a mighty preacher and teacher. Remember Apollos in the book of Acts. He was eloquent in the scriptures but lacked something. A man and wife sat in the congregation and heard him preach. He knew the scriptures but they realised he lacked something. He stopped short at John the Baptist and his teaching. They took him to one side and taught him the things of God more fully. They sought to enlarge his potential. There were 20,000 people on the hillside that day. Andrew takes that little boy with him and gives his lunch to the Lord. In Luke 5 Peter was asked by the Lord to move the boat out from the shore so he could preach to the people from there. When he had finished speaking the Lord turned around and spoke to Peter. Some time you can hear God speaking to the people around you and then he turns to individuals. The Lord was using Peter's platform to reach others. He was challenging him. "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets and you will catch a draught." What potential he saw in Peter. Don't worry about failures of the past. Go out again. Peter saw the potential and he launched forth. Are you and I ready for a Peter's challenge? "Here I am, I failed in the past but I am ready to take it up again." Are we ready to take all we possess? Is there something in our lives that the Lord is not in control of and he wants to be. The widow woman put in 3 little mites into the treasury. It was all she had. It was nothing compared to what princes and rich men put in. It was to her everything she had. We are saved by God's grace. One day we bowed our knees at the cross and took the Lord as our personal Saviour. Are we saying "everything I have is yours?" Are we ready today to give everything? He handed over his lunch. The widow handed over her mites. Peter gave his all to the Lord.

The prize secured. Imagine the boy as he steps through the crowd. I am coming. Bring him to me. The Lord says watching the steps as he comes. He hands over the lunch. Jesus gives thanks and tells the disciples to make everyone to sit down. Jesus breaks the bread and then asks for it to be distributed to the crowd. Can you imagine the face of the little boy when they were all filled. Not merely a crumb or two. It filled everyone. What a miracle that was. Nothing was wasted. They took up the 12 baskets of remains out of what one boy had.

The praise rendered - verse 14. "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." All because of one boy giving his lunch. What a day to see the move of God and his power. Imagine going home and his mother asking him if he had enjoyed his lunch. Then him telling him that he gave it to Jesus. Could we say "I gave my heart, soul, everything to the Lord in his house today." Our lives will never be the same again. The impact will never be the same again.

This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.