It's really good to see you today. I hope you are doing well. Behind me will be some photos about some of the work that IGM Indian Gospel Mission does in and around Chennai. The mission arm of Venture Church Lightforce International partners alongside IGM who do amazing work in and around Chennai. Please do come along to the missions evening but there is also a Lightforce stand where you can find out lots more info about the work that we do in the nations and the photos behind me just give you a glimpse of a time that I was privileged to participate in one of IGM's regular feeding projects serving a community that was labeled as the Untouchables.

The incredible thing is that through the love and grace of Jesus and igm, the Untouchables were being touched with the Gospel and love of Christ. And you know there's something special about providing food and fruit plants to people, especially to those that are marginalised. And in his earthly ministry, Jesus did some amazing miracles. He he raised the dead. He turned water into wine.

But arguably the most famous miracle of Jesus is when he fed the 5,000. Jesus took the humble lunch of one little boy and was able to feed 5,000. Let's read of the account in John 6. One says sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee. That's the Sea of Tiberias.

And a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover festival was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

Philip answered him, it would take more than a half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one just to have a bite. Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. But how far will they go among so many? Jesus said, have the people sit down.

There was plenty of grass in that place. And they sat down. About 5,000 men were there. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted. So they gathered them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left, left over by those who had eaten the heart of this story is about how God turns a little into a whole lot. This is the only miracle which is accounted across all four gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Now normally we teach that if something is repeated in scripture, you'd pay attention. I'd like to say that if there's a story that's repeated four times through scripture, we better pay attention to what Jesus is trying to tell us. As we embark on this series of daring faith, we need to be expectant that Jesus is going to do some amazing things in us and through our lives. We need to prepare for a miracle. But how do you prepare for a miracle?

Well, at the heart of it you need to embrace this principle that God does a lot with a little many times for the rest of your life. You are going to need God to turn a little into a lot in your life. You might be in that season right now. Maybe you have got little energy. You need lots of energy.

Maybe you've got little opportunity and you're saying, God, I need you to turn it into great opportunity. Maybe you have a little bit of health and you're saying, God, I need great health. And as we embark on this new all in campaign, we've got zero pounds and we're saying, God, we trust in you for £130,000 to be able to do all we believe you've called us to in this next year. You see, I sense that the activity of the Holy Spirit is brewing over us as a church. And like Elijah's servant, Elijah anticipated the same.

He said, I sense a storm is coming. So he says to his servant, go and look. And the servant says, I see a cloud the size of a fist. In other words, what you're saying is going to happen, Elijah seems impossible because I can only see a cloud the size of a fist. But before he knows it, the storm clouds gather and Elijah is running to escape the downpour, the deluge.

You see, the activity of the Holy Spirit is brewing and before you know it, it will rain out upon our church, our city, the nations, and indeed the nations of the world. Now I'm grateful that we've got plenty accounts of miracles in this church, yet I believe we will see even more. And in this account of feeding of the 5,000, I believe that Jesus gives us four key principles of how we can prepare for a miracle. Number one, admit that you have an unsolvable problem. As a 12 year old boy, I was mauled by six dogs.

And as I lay bloodied and disfigured in the dirt, literally surrounded by the dogs, I realized I have an unsolvable problem. I needed a miracle. And in that moment, I called out to God and. And asked that just as he saved Daniel in the lion's den, I needed him to rescue me. And guess what?

He did miraculously. The first step to seeing a miracle in your life is to admit that you have an unsolvable problem. Unfortunately, instead of admitting we've got an unsolvable problem, like the disciples, we tend to do three things. Firstly, we tend to procrastinate. In Mark 6:35, they said to him, this is a remote place, they said, and it's already very late.

In other words, they're trying to put off an obvious problem. This is the classic definition of procrastination. We pretend it doesn't exist. We look and the other way. Procrastination.

And maybe someone needs to hear this. This morning only makes a problem worse.

I wonder what problem you are procrastinating over and whether today is the day that you need to admit that you have an unsolvable problem, which is the key to unlocking miracles in your life. The second thing that we tend to do instead of admitting that we've got a problem, is that we pass responsibility. The disciples were abdicating their responsibility. Someone else can deal with these hungry people. Someone else can feed them.

I want to remind us that in a season of all in, God calls us as a church to be all in. And the third thing we tend to do instead of admit that we've got a problem is that we tend to worry. John 6:7, Philip says it would take more than a half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite. When we face problems, we tend to become operational. We analyze why something is impossible.

But hear this. The amazing thing is that they were standing alongside Jesus, who could, if he wanted to, turn stones into bread. And yet instead of acknowledging who was alongside them, they procrastinated, abdicated responsibility, and worried. And I wonder how many of us do the same today. I'd like to remind you that Jesus is committed never to leave you, never to forsake you.

The same Jesus that was able to feed the 5,000 is the same Jesus standing alongside you today. And instead of procrastinating, passing responsibility or worrying, Jesus says, you feed them. God says, I want to do the impossible. He wants to do a miracle in and through you. The second principle of preparing for a miracle is give God what little you already have in verse 8 and 9 of John 6, Andrew Simon Peter's brother, spoke up.

Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. But how far will they go among so many? Now I really want you to get this principle because I think it is absolutely striking that the Bible specifically describes the loaves as barley loaves. You see, barley loaves signal poverty because in the ancient east, poverty barley was the inexpensive coarse grain eaten by poorer, low status households. And it's this detail that John uses to underline the humble, insufficient starting point of the miracle.

You see, wheat was the preferred grain. It was finer, tastier and more expensive. Barley was cheaper, tougher and often used for animal feed. In fact, in the Talmud the there's a passage where one man said, there's a fine crop of barley. And another man answered, tell it to the horses and donkeys.

God always starts with what I have. Amazingly, it wasn't the family with a lavish picnic basket that Jesus used. He uses the tiny unimpressive meal, the kind a poor family would pack. The miracle begins with with something modest, almost laughably insufficient. And here's something I want you to get and I hope this resonates with you.

Never let the little you think you have prevent you from giving to God what you have. There's a striking story in Mark 12. In verse 41 it tells us that Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and he watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.

They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything. God always starts with what I have. It may not be much, but I give it to God. God, I don't have a lot of time, but here's my time. I don't have so many finances, Lord, but here's what I've got, God.

My talent isn't much, but here it is.

The third principle of preparing for a miracle is that we put it into the hands of Jesus. In a world that's becoming increasingly self protectionist, the little boy teaches us an invaluable lesson. He gave willingly, cheerfully and immediately, even with the knowledge that he may not get much, if anything, to eat in return. There's another striking verse in this passage in verse 11 where it says, and Jesus gave thanks for that which was Offered to him. Spurgeon, the great theologian, says, a moment ago, they belonged to this lad, but now they belong to Christ.

Jesus took the loaves. He has taken possession of them. They are his property. Jesus looks up to heaven and thanks God for the blessing. Even though the boy's offering is tiny, Jesus treats it as something that the Father will use and that he is grateful for.

Jesus shows us that gratitude precedes abundance. Dependence precedes power. Thanksgiving precedes multiplication. And this is key. Jesus is demonstrating the spiritual principle that God works through what we surrender, not what we store.

This boy's small, poor meal becomes a seed of a miracle. And I want you to know that God delights in what we give, even when it is small. Please hear me. Jesus treats our offering to him as meaningful, valuable and usable. Our time, our talents, our ministry, and indeed our money.

He is grateful for it and he blesses it. The fourth principle of preparing for a miracle is that we expect God to multiply it. I admit that I've got an unsolvable problem. I give God whatever I have, I put it into the hands of Jesus, and then I expect God to multiply it. Verse 12 of John 6 says that everyone, that's everyone, had enough and was satisfied.

The amazing principle here is that whatever I give, I always get back more. It's part of the Abrahamic blessing which says that we've been blessed to be a blessing. In Jewish hospitality, leftovers belong to the one who provided the meal. Here Jesus is the host. But the incredible thing is that Jesus doesn't keep the baskets.

He hands the responsibility. Responsibility to his disciples. This is symbolic because we need to hear that Jesus shares his abundance with those who serve him. Isn't that great news? Isn't that amazing?

Amazing shepherd leadership from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I'd like to say that our city, indeed our world, is starving right now. Starving for truth, starving for identity, starving for redemption. And Jesus tells Venture Church, you feed them from the little that George and Pam Ridley gave more than 40 years ago when this church was planted. To what Mark and Alison have continued.

Our little has been multiplied countless times across families, communities, and indeed the nations of the world. The story of this church has been of countless people like that little boy offering up what little they had, expecting the God of the miraculous to do only what he can do. And as a result of that, the Bible says in Mark 10, verse 27, that all things.

Can we just say that all things. There's nothing excluded there? Okay? It's all Things, your marriage, your family, your finances, your future, your dreams, your career, your neighbourhood, your children, the children you don't yet have, the children you're trusting. For all things are possible with God.

And you see no more powerful an example of God doing the impossible than through the resurrection of Jesus. Because if God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can raise a dead marriage. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can raise a dead career. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can raise a dead dream. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, he can raise your dead finances in Jesus name.

I wonder where you are this morning.

Where are you in terms of trusting for a miracle, preparing for a miracle? Do you need to admit that you've got an unsolvable problem?

Or are you procrastinating? Are you passing responsibility or worrying?

Or have you indeed been stopped by your thought of what little you have, whether that's your talent, your time or your money thinking, ah, this is not good enough. And maybe this morning you need to hear, put what little you have into the hands of Jesus.

The third principle we covered was put it into the hands of Jesus. And I wonder whether we're truthful with ourselves that we say, well, that's true in the Bible and that's true for others through countless testimonies that I've heard. But I'm not that convinced personally that Jesus will do that for me. And then fourthly, let's expect God to multiply it for more and more of these activity in and through our lives. Can I ask, just as a sign of our surrender to him, would you stand?

If you're comfortable, just lay out your hands before him and just for a moment, just do business with God. Whatever you want to give to him, whatever you want to lay at his feet, indeed, whatever he stirred in your heart in this moment, just surrender it to Him.

Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would do something new, that you do something fresh amongst us. But above all, Lord, I pray that you would captivate our hearts with the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that our hearts would be overcome with their magnificence, the glory, the beauty, the power that is Jesus.

Holy Spirit, would you begin to just minister a greater revelation of Jesus right now, of his undying love, his compassion, his commitment.

We acknowledge, Lord, that we can't do this ourselves.

We rely on you, Lord.

Maybe you are here this morning, online or in person and you need to acknowledge that you have a problem and that you are not yet a Christian or give what little you have your heart as it is, put it into the hands of Jesus and expect him to multiply his work redemptive work through you. We'd love to pray with you if that is you. Please do not miss this opportunity to respond to the grace of Jesus. And maybe you are here and you're saying I need a miracle. We would love to pray with you after the service as well, but I bless you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and trust for an increasing revelation of his love in and through your life as his activity through the power of His Holy Spirit draws you closer to our Saviour in Jesus name.

Have a wonderful day. Thank you.