Speaker 1: John Six, have you guys ever had a task or responsibility that was so large you didn't know where to start?
Speaker 1: She has Tell you what you know.
Speaker 1: Maybe you have to like clean the garage or have to do laundry.
Speaker 1: It's like okay, this is like impossible.
Speaker 1: So back in the day-day I used to work at Costco and we did this thing called inventory.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all know inventories.
Speaker 1: We had to count every single item at Costco.
Speaker 1: Now I don't know if y'all have been to Costco recently there's a lot of items there.
Speaker 1: So I show up on inventory day to do inventory and I find out that I'm doing inventory in the wine department.
Speaker 1: Now a couple things.
Speaker 1: First of all, I know nothing about wines.
Speaker 1: Second thing, I don't work in that department and they tell me, they say, nate, you have to go to the wine department and count every single bottle of wine.
Speaker 1: And I'm like where is it even at in the store?
Speaker 1: And count every single bottle of wine.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, where is it even at in the store?
Speaker 1: I'm like this is impossible.
Speaker 1: They said, well, you got to do it.
Speaker 1: So I'm like walking to the part of the store where some of y'all are very familiar with in Costco and as I'm taking this walk, I'm thinking I'm going to get fired.
Speaker 1: I don't know what I did Like.
Speaker 1: Why am I doing this?
Speaker 1: They got the wrong guy doing this job to inventory the wines.
Speaker 1: So I take the walk to the back of the store and there was somebody that greeted me.
Speaker 1: It was the manager of the wine department.
Speaker 1: And the guy goes.
Speaker 1: The manager goes oh, you're the guy that's going to help me do the inventory of the wines.
Speaker 1: They didn't even they didn't tell me that before.
Speaker 1: They said I was the one that was doing the wines when I went over there and I was there to help him.
Speaker 1: Not only was it like a relief to me I'm like I'm not going to get fired it was a oh, like we can actually do this because I can help you and, believe it or not, we got done with the inventory faster than anybody else and we got to go home early on that day, and how many of y'all know, when you go home early from work, it's a good day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
Speaker 1: And the reason why this happened is because what seemed impossible became possible when I was connected to the right person.
Speaker 1: When I was connected to the right person, we're going to go to a text of scripture in John 6.
Speaker 1: When they were in a situation that was impossible, they didn't have answers, they didn't have solutions, they didn't know what to do.
Speaker 1: You ever been in a situation like that, where you didn't have answers, you didn't have solutions, you didn't know what to do?
Speaker 1: If you're human, the answer is yes.
Speaker 1: If you're chat GPT, you have all the answers.
Speaker 1: These people, they didn't know what to do, but they discovered something that I hope that you'll discover today.
Speaker 1: They discovered that in the hands of Jesus, the impossible can become possible.
Speaker 1: In the hands of Jesus, the impossible can become possible.
Speaker 1: We're actually in this series called Signs.
Speaker 1: Everybody say signs together, ready.
Speaker 1: This is what we're doing.
Speaker 1: We're looking at the signs, the miracles of Jesus, and something that you'll find about the miracles of Jesus is he often used people like you and people like me to be a part of his signs.
Speaker 1: Now you think about this.
Speaker 1: This was Jesus.
Speaker 1: He could have done anything he wanted to do to show that he was the son of God.
Speaker 1: He could have taken a building and just kind of tossed it up and like spun it around on his hand like it was a basketball or something and said, hey, just so you all know I'm the son of God.
Speaker 1: He could have been like hey guys, I'm going to fly Ready One, two, cue the music.
Speaker 1: I believe I can fly Three.
Speaker 1: He could have done that.
Speaker 1: He didn't do it.
Speaker 1: He chose to use normal people like you and like me.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because he loves people and he cares about people and he has compassion on people.
Speaker 1: And what seems like an impossibility for people can become possible when they're connected to Jesus and when they put their impossibilities, their limitations, in the hands of Jesus.
Speaker 1: This is what we're going to see in John, chapter number six.
Speaker 1: If you're ready for it, would you say amen?
Speaker 1: It says in John six, verse number one.
Speaker 1: It says after this, jesus crossed the sea of Galilee or Tiberias, in verse 2.
Speaker 1: There was a huge crowd that was following him.
Speaker 1: Because they what's that word?
Speaker 1: Because they they saw the signs that he was performing by healing the sick.
Speaker 1: Jesus at this point is a celebrity.
Speaker 1: Let's put this in our vernacular.
Speaker 1: Jesus had gone viral.
Speaker 1: He is a celebrity.
Speaker 1: Let's put this in our vernacular.
Speaker 1: Jesus had gone viral.
Speaker 1: He is healing everybody.
Speaker 1: He is doing all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1: He had a blue check mark next to his name.
Speaker 1: Some of you know what that means these people?
Speaker 1: They were coming for the thrills.
Speaker 1: They were like man.
Speaker 1: They see the signs.
Speaker 1: They're like Jesus.
Speaker 1: What else are you going to do?
Speaker 1: In verse three, jesus goes up to a mountain and he sat down there with his disciples.
Speaker 1: This story is also in Matthew, mark and Luke, and what we know from Matthew's account is that Jesus actually came to this place to rest.
Speaker 1: How many of you have ever needed to take a break?
Speaker 1: You've ever needed to rest rest.
Speaker 1: How many of you have ever needed to take a break?
Speaker 1: You've ever needed to rest?
Speaker 1: Busy, a lot going on.
Speaker 1: You're like I just need a break, I need a vacation, I need a nap.
Speaker 1: Come on, mom, say hallelujah.
Speaker 1: Jesus, he went here to rest.
Speaker 1: On top of this, matthew tells us that his cousin had just died, john the Baptist, so he was grieving.
Speaker 1: So he comes to this place not because he's like, oh, there's going to be a bunch of crowds, I'm going to teach them, I can't wait, this is going to be awesome.
Speaker 1: No, he goes to this place because he's tired and he's grieving.
Speaker 1: He wants to rest.
Speaker 1: You know what that's like.
Speaker 1: In and verse four, it tells us the time of year that it was.
Speaker 1: It says the passover jewish festival was near.
Speaker 1: So when jesus looked up verse five and he noticed a huge crowd coming towards him.
Speaker 1: He asked philip, where will we buy bread so that these people can eat?
Speaker 1: Philip, there's all these people that are coming.
Speaker 1: Where can we buy bread?
Speaker 1: Do you know any place that we can make a large takeout order from?
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea?
Speaker 1: But here's the thing about this question.
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't ask him this question because he wanted to know the answer.
Speaker 1: He asked him this question verse number six because he wanted to test Philip.
Speaker 1: He asked this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
Speaker 1: Philip had already spent a lot of time with Jesus.
Speaker 1: Philip had seen Jesus heal the sick and Jesus tested him to see if Philip was going to respond with faith.
Speaker 1: To see if Philip was going to say okay, jesus, there's a bunch of people here.
Speaker 1: I'm not really sure, but I do know this you can heal the sick, you're a miracle worker.
Speaker 1: You do all kinds of amazing things.
Speaker 1: Whatever you think it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: Jesus tested him to see how he would respond.
Speaker 1: And look at Philip's answer.
Speaker 1: Philip answered him 200 denarii worth of bread wouldn't be enough for each of them to have a little Now.
Speaker 1: A denarii, it's a silver coin and it's one day's wages.
Speaker 1: This is what a denarii looked like in the first century.
Speaker 1: So you work for an entire day, you got one denarii.
Speaker 1: Philip says with all these people, we could have 200 of those things, we could have eight-month salary and it still wouldn't be enough.
Speaker 1: And Philip was right.
Speaker 1: But even though what he was saying is true, it was the wrong answer Because Jesus was trying to test him.
Speaker 1: And what good teachers do?
Speaker 1: Teachers give students a test for them to apply what they've learned.
Speaker 1: And in this moment, what Jesus is doing?
Speaker 1: Jesus is inviting Philip to apply what Philip has seen and learned about Jesus.
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you realize this, but there are times where God will test us.
Speaker 1: There are times where God will give us hardships and challenges and sometimes God will give us opportunities to have faith and obey him, because he wants to test you, because he wants you to grow.
Speaker 1: You realize that this whole Christianity thing is not just about having a head full of knowledge.
Speaker 1: It's like oh, I know a lot about God.
Speaker 1: Pastor Nate, he gave this story three weeks ago.
Speaker 1: It's kind of crazy, but I remember it.
Speaker 1: Jesus went to this well and talked to this Samaritan woman.
Speaker 1: No-transcript.
Speaker 1: I know some things about the Bible.
Speaker 1: Guys, the goal of this whole thing is not to have a head full of facts, but it's to apply in our lives what we learn about Jesus, what we know about him.
Speaker 1: Learn about Jesus what we know about him.
Speaker 1: And here what Jesus is inviting Philip to do is to invite him to apply what he's learned.
Speaker 1: And sometimes in our lives, what can happen is we can have a lot more information than we can have application into our lives, information than we can have application into our lives.
Speaker 1: And sometimes what God will do is God will invite you often to apply what you're learning.
Speaker 1: And even though in this situation, philip, he didn't pass the test, he was going to experience the power of Jesus.
Speaker 1: Because when Philip sees this limitation and it was a very real limitation he's going to see what Jesus can do in this situation.
Speaker 1: In verse number eight, one of his disciples, andrew Simon's Peter brother, said to him there's a boy here who's got five barley loaves and two fish.
Speaker 1: Now when we say like barley loves, we're not talking about like a loaf of bread, like wonder bread, you know I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Or we're not talking about like french bread, which.
Speaker 1: Can we just stop for a moment and just say is there anything more amazing than a fresh loaf of French bread from the grocery store?
Speaker 1: It's just amazing.
Speaker 1: I guess it's just wonderful.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I just made you guys hungry.
Speaker 1: I probably shouldn't give that example in the 1115 service because somebody will probably walk out.
Speaker 1: We're not talking about a loaf of bread.
Speaker 1: We're not talking about two big fishes.
Speaker 1: We're talking about like five little biscuits and two little sardines.
Speaker 1: That ain't a whole lot of food.
Speaker 1: That's not going to feed one man.
Speaker 1: It ain't going to feed this man.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1: So he asked the question what are these among so many?
Speaker 1: What are they among so many?
Speaker 1: And this is Jesus' response in verse number 10.
Speaker 1: Have the people sit down.
Speaker 1: Jesus' response is I'm about to show you.
Speaker 1: There was plenty of grass there in that place, so they sat down.
Speaker 1: The men numbered about what's that number?
Speaker 1: 5,000.
Speaker 1: Oh, that's a crowd y'all.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine having to provide food for 5,000 people, my goodness?
Speaker 1: And that's not even including the women and the children.
Speaker 1: That's 5,000 people.
Speaker 1: Verse 11,.
Speaker 1: Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, hold on.
Speaker 1: I got to stop here for a second.
Speaker 1: Jesus gave thanks for what was there before, what was there was ever in abundance for everybody else to share.
Speaker 1: It is, bro, because you think about this.
Speaker 1: He said Heavenly Father, thank you for this.
Speaker 1: A really good habit in our lives would be for us to practice gratitude is, before we eat, for us just to stop for a second and just say Lord, thank you for this food.
Speaker 1: Lord, I just thank you for this.
Speaker 1: Whether it's a PB&J or a T-bone steak, you know what I'm saying, it's just, lord, thank you for this meal that I'm about to eat.
Speaker 1: Jesus gave thanks and, after giving thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.
Speaker 1: Who were seated?
Speaker 1: It was the 5,000 men and all the women and children.
Speaker 1: So also with the fish.
Speaker 1: What's that underlined phrase?
Speaker 1: Can we say that to the last part of that verse?
Speaker 1: As much as they wanted, hold on, we went from five loaves and two fishes to a seafood buffet.
Speaker 1: As much as they wanted.
Speaker 1: And verse 12, when they were full, he told his disciples.
Speaker 1: And verse 12, when they were full, he told his disciples collect the leftovers.
Speaker 1: Oh, so we got leftovers too.
Speaker 1: They had leftovers, so nothing's wasted.
Speaker 1: So they collected them.
Speaker 1: They filled 12 baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten 12 baskets One would say one for each of the apostles and when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said this truly is the prophet who has come into the world.
Speaker 1: When you think about this text, there's some kingdom of God principles here.
Speaker 1: What's the kingdom of God?
Speaker 1: The kingdom of God is the place where God reigns and rules.
Speaker 1: So when the kingdom of God is in your life, you're allowing God to reign and rule in your life.
Speaker 1: When you want to move God's kingdom forward, what that means is I want God's reign, god's rule, god's purposes to move forward.
Speaker 1: There's some kingdom of God principles here that cannot be overlooked and will be incredibly powerful in your life.
Speaker 1: Here's the first one is that limitations are invitations to experience the power of Jesus in your life.
Speaker 1: Let's think about this text here Five barley loaves and two fish versus 5,000 men.
Speaker 1: That's a limitation and that's the best option they had.
Speaker 1: There's no restaurant that's doing takeout for 5,000 men.
Speaker 1: The best option is five loaves and two fishes.
Speaker 1: Now let's put this kind of in our context.
Speaker 1: Let's say everybody was hungry.
Speaker 1: Here Some of you are like stop talking about food, man, I'm getting more hungry.
Speaker 1: I didn't eat breakfast.
Speaker 1: Let's say all of us were hungry.
Speaker 1: You just listened to, let's say, a long, boring sermon.
Speaker 1: You just listen to, let's say, a long, boring sermon.
Speaker 1: Y'all are used to those.
Speaker 1: And somebody says Keith says you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to go get some food for everybody.
Speaker 1: We're like great.
Speaker 1: So he goes to Kingdom Kids.
Speaker 1: He notices a little kid has a little cup of goldfish crackers.
Speaker 1: Keith says hey, everybody wants people.
Speaker 1: People are hungry and they're getting kind of hangry.
Speaker 1: Pastor Nate gave one of those long ones again.
Speaker 1: You know it's kind of boring and he brings it in.
Speaker 1: He brings it in.
Speaker 1: Keith goes everybody let's eat.
Speaker 1: We're like ha ha ha.
Speaker 1: Okay, for real, what's going on, keith?
Speaker 1: We'd be like that's not possible.
Speaker 1: Now think about this.
Speaker 1: In this story there's at least a hundred more people here than there is in this room right now.
Speaker 1: There's 15,000, 20,000 people this place.
Speaker 1: There's people everywhere.
Speaker 1: All they had five loaves, two fishes, limitation, limitation.
Speaker 1: There was nothing they could do.
Speaker 1: But in the kingdom of God, our limitations.
Speaker 1: But in the kingdom of God, our limitations are invitations through which God chooses to work.
Speaker 1: In the kingdom of God, our limitations are invitations for which God chooses to work.
Speaker 1: Some of you look at your life and you think, oh man, I have this limitation, I have this over here, I have that over here, I have this difficulty, I have this over here, I have that over here, I have this difficulty, I have this in my family, I have this in my past, I have this struggle.
Speaker 1: God works through limitations.
Speaker 1: In fact, your weakness and limitations are not something God has to work around.
Speaker 1: They're the space through which God chooses to work through.
Speaker 1: God doesn't see your limitations and your challenges and say, okay, I got to work around this.
Speaker 1: No, god chooses to work through your limitations.
Speaker 1: God chooses to work through your challenges and through your difficulties.
Speaker 1: This is a theme time and time and time again in Scripture.
Speaker 1: It's what the kingdom of God is about.
Speaker 1: You think about the Old Testament, moses.
Speaker 1: God said Moses, I want you to lead millions of people out of Egypt.
Speaker 1: You're going to lead them.
Speaker 1: Moses couldn't talk.
Speaker 1: God I stutter.
Speaker 1: God said no problem, your limitation is an invitation for my power to work on your behalf and through you.
Speaker 1: And the children of Israel went out of Egypt.
Speaker 1: How about Gideon?
Speaker 1: Gideon was filled with fear and self-doubt.
Speaker 1: Gideon didn't want to be around people.
Speaker 1: He was hiding out.
Speaker 1: When I was a kid, we would call them a scaredy cat.
Speaker 1: He didn't have courage.
Speaker 1: God said hey, gideon, I know you're unsure of yourself.
Speaker 1: I know you're fear-filled, I know you have some anxiety in your life, but I want to use you to defeat the largest standing army in the world.
Speaker 1: I can't, I'm like, I don't even like to be around people.
Speaker 1: Like how can I get up in front of people?
Speaker 1: God says hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Speaker 1: Your limitation is an invitation for my power to work in and through your life, and what you think is your limitation is the way that you can experience my power in your life.
Speaker 1: What about Rahab?
Speaker 1: Rahab was a prostitute.
Speaker 1: She had a stained past.
Speaker 1: She didn't have this perfect church upbringing, but she knew about the city of Jericho.
Speaker 1: She knew a lot about the city of Jericho.
Speaker 1: And God said hey, we are going to.
Speaker 1: I want the people of God to overtake the city of Jericho.
Speaker 1: In Rahab.
Speaker 1: I'm going to use you to have a major part in this.
Speaker 1: Who me?
Speaker 1: I got a stained past.
Speaker 1: There's no way I can do that.
Speaker 1: God said no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, your limitation is an invitation for my power to work in and through you.
Speaker 1: How about the Apostle Paul?
Speaker 1: The Apostle Paul of 1 Corinthians?
Speaker 1: He had this thorn in the flesh.
Speaker 1: He prayed and prayed and said, god, would you change this?
Speaker 1: God said no, come on.
Speaker 1: Well, god must not love him.
Speaker 1: God said no to his prayer requests.
Speaker 1: No, this is what it was.
Speaker 1: Is that God wanted to work through his limitation so the power of God could work in and through Paul, and his limitation was the thing that would keep him humble, so God could use him to make Jesus known all around the known world.
Speaker 1: And here's what we see time and time and time again is that God uses our limitations because they're invitations for his power to work through us.
Speaker 1: Some of you, you look at your life.
Speaker 1: You're like Nate.
Speaker 1: You don't know me.
Speaker 1: Maybe you have this hardness in your heart like God can't use me.
Speaker 1: You don't know me because I have this over here.
Speaker 1: Well, the, this over here might be the very thing that God could use mightily, the very thing that God can work through the anxiety, the difficulty, the challenge, the past, the you name it.
Speaker 1: That God can use that to work through you and we can experience his power in our lives if we'll put those things in the hand of Jesus, because in the hands of Jesus what seems impossible becomes possible.
Speaker 1: You think about this small little meal that was placed in the hands of an all-powerful Savior.
Speaker 1: That meal was multiplied.
Speaker 1: Now I also want to say can we just give this kid in the story a shout out Because he gave up his lunch?
Speaker 1: Growing up, I never gave my lunch away to nobody.
Speaker 1: You try to take my lunch.
Speaker 1: We're going to fight.
Speaker 1: Man, I might give you a snack, maybe a piece of my fruit by the foot, but I'm not giving you my whole lunch.
Speaker 1: And I also have a question for John while we're at it.
Speaker 1: John, if you wrote this, why didn't you put the little boy's name in the story?
Speaker 1: I mean, I would like to know that.
Speaker 1: I want to give him a shout out.
Speaker 1: And this little boy gave up his lunch and he sacrificed his lunch and because of this, thousands of people were fed and this became a sign that Jesus was the Son of God, because a little boy gave up his little lunch.
Speaker 1: And some of you think this, some of you think, man, I just don't have a lot to offer God, I don't have a lot of gifts, I don't have a lot of ability, I just, I just I can't.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine if the little boy would have had that same mindset when it said I don't have a lot, god, I can't give this to Jesus, because you know, it's like five loaves, two fishes, like this isn't a really big deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, what are these among so many?
Speaker 1: But because he gave it and he sacrificed, there was a seafood buffet for thousands of people.
Speaker 1: And in your life, if you will say, lord, maybe I can't do everything, maybe I have some limitations, but you will put those in the hands of Jesus, I'm telling you, god can do the impossible through your life.
Speaker 1: I want us to have a little family talk as a church on Mother's Day and it's a really encouraging one.
Speaker 1: Maybe growing up you had family talks that weren't very encouraging.
Speaker 1: We have an encouraging family talk on Mom's Day.
Speaker 1: Is that God is doing great works in our church right now, like he's doing great things.
Speaker 1: Just a few weeks ago, on Easter Sunday, we had 575 people here across three services and the last, I think, three years or so.
Speaker 1: Our growth rate is 50 to 70 percent year over year.
Speaker 1: We have Connect, that is for newish people to our church.
Speaker 1: We used to do it every other month and we thought, hey, we're going to start doing it again every month, so it'll be a little bit smaller Now that we do it every month.
Speaker 1: It's just as big as it was when we did it every other month.
Speaker 1: And I could go on and on about what God is doing in our church.
Speaker 1: And I say that to say that we are a part of a great work that God is doing.
Speaker 1: And for us to help more people know Jesus, it's going to have to have us have the heart of this little boy that say I'm going to take a step and I'm going to sacrifice, and I'm going to take a step and I'm going to sacrifice and I'm going to grow and I'm willing maybe to do something I've never done before so other people can know Jesus.
Speaker 1: And I want to.
Speaker 1: As we wrap up, I want to give us maybe a little nudge of some things we can do this morning to help us to be like that little boy and to say, hey, this is what I want to do, to be a part of what God is doing.
Speaker 1: The bigger work For some of us, number one, is to join a serve team.
Speaker 1: As our church is growing, we have more opportunities than ever before for people to use their skills and gifts and I'll be honest, we need more people serving.
Speaker 1: And if we could have like five to seven people, even in this service that don't serve, that would say hey, I'll serve once or twice a month, that would be huge.
Speaker 1: It would be huge.
Speaker 1: Five or seven people that would either take the connect card and mark you want to serve and drop it in the brown boxes or go to the next steps and information table and say, hey, I want to serve.
Speaker 1: This would be a massive thing.
Speaker 1: Number two for some of us it'd be to consider parking in the street or surrounding neighborhood.
Speaker 1: Now, I know not everybody can do this, I know that.
Speaker 1: But when we do this, what happens is it opens up a space for somebody that doesn't yet know Jesus to have a parking spot.
Speaker 1: Every week we have people that come here for the first time and the parking lot is full.
Speaker 1: And how frustrating is that for people to come here for the first time and parking lot is full.
Speaker 1: And how frustrating is that for people to come here for the first time and there's no place to park and they drive around and they're like, ah, and when we, if we would be willing to park on the street, if you're able to?
Speaker 1: This is what happened.
Speaker 1: It would open up a spot for somebody.
Speaker 1: It would open up a spot and we'd have more people come and know Jesus.
Speaker 1: Literally, it takes like I park in the neighborhood and it's like a two-minute walk every morning.
Speaker 1: It's a nice little walk and if you're able to do it, that'd be awesome.
Speaker 1: Number three learn to trust God with the tithe.
Speaker 1: When we learn this principle that we see in Scripture of giving financially, god takes what we give and multiplies it and it really, I believe, changes our heart.
Speaker 1: It changes our trust and I know this is a hard one, guys.
Speaker 1: I live in the exact same world that you live in.
Speaker 1: I got bills, just like y'all do, and I get it.
Speaker 1: And when we give and when we choose to trust God, and when you do the math, it's like this is some crazy math.
Speaker 1: I don't give this much when you.
Speaker 1: I think God does some things in our heart.
Speaker 1: But I also believe and know that God uses our giving to multiply things.
Speaker 1: We right now have a small line item in our church budget this year that says future facility, future facility.
Speaker 1: Here's what we believe.
Speaker 1: If we're gonna reach the people that God wants us to reach, this building is not going to be big enough to hold all those people and if we have a 50 to 60 to 70 percent growth rate year over year, it ain't going to be long.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all talked to me about four services.
Speaker 1: Here's my response.
Speaker 1: You can start preaching the fourth one, bro.
Speaker 1: To me about four services, here's my response.
Speaker 1: You can start preaching the fourth one, bro.
Speaker 1: And as we learn to trust God and give, what's going to happen is going to prepare us for the future, prepare us for what God's going to do.
Speaker 1: That's what I believe.
Speaker 1: I believe in a few years from now, we're going to look back on this season of our church and we're going to say, look, what we got to be a part of.
Speaker 1: Because right now I'm standing where I am right now and I'm like I just looked back three years ago and I'm like, whoa, what happened in the last three years?
Speaker 1: We had one service three years ago.
Speaker 1: Now we got three.
Speaker 1: And this is what we believe, guys, the best is yet to come.
Speaker 1: As we give, it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: And then, number four.
Speaker 1: Go from the crowd of the church to the core.
Speaker 1: Fcc go from the crowd of the church to the core.
Speaker 1: Fcc has a really strong core of people, people that are faithful.
Speaker 1: Every Sunday they serve, they're part of groups.
Speaker 1: It's amazing and we actually have a larger group of people that we love and we care about and we pray for, and they're in the crowd of our church.
Speaker 1: They come when church is convenient for them, they come when things work for their schedule, but they're not in the court.
Speaker 1: They haven't said okay, I'm going to lay roots down, I'm going to commit, I'm going to be a part of this, I'm going to serve, I'm going to take steps of growth and for us as a church to help more people know Jesus and make Jesus known, this is what we really need.
Speaker 1: We need some people that are out here in the periphery, that are in the crowd, to say I'm going to take a step or two and I'm going to move into the core of the church, because the church moves forward through the sacrifices of many people and the commitment of many people and if we are better than me, when we all come together and we're a part of this, great things can happen than ever before in the history of our church and if we could have people that would say I'm no longer on the peripheral, but I'm willing to take some steps in my faith.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, guys, the best is yet to come and we're going to experience what only God can do and that little boy had, and I was willing to commit to something that Jesus did in me and through me, and I saw the power of God work through me.
Speaker 1: Guys, we could be those people y'all you know we think about, we think about limitations.
Speaker 1: Man, I'll tell you what I do the first draft for Sunday's message on Monday and every Monday, literally, I'm just like praying to God.
Speaker 1: I'm like God, how can I even preach?
Speaker 1: Like I can't do this, like why did you call me to do this?
Speaker 1: Like I'm being obedient.
Speaker 1: I'm trying my best Last night.
Speaker 1: I'm like reviewing this message and I'm praying through it.
Speaker 1: And I'm like God, if you don't show up, like it's not gonna happen, I can't preach.
Speaker 1: That's what I can do.
Speaker 1: I can say Lord, here it is, it's in your hands, have your will and have your way in my life.
Speaker 1: And then sometimes I'm reminded that's not about me, because some of y'all come and say really kind things about how God used the message in your heart.
Speaker 1: And literally I'm sitting there, y'all tell me stuff and I'm like I don't even know how that happened.
Speaker 1: And it just shows that God's grace is real and it shows that God's power can work through my limitations and there's a whole heck of a lot of them.
Speaker 1: And if we'll just say, hey, here it is, lord, here's my five loves, here's my two fishes, guys, you're going to see the power of God work in your life.
Speaker 1: Let's have a word of prayer, let's bow our heads and close our eyes.