What is in your basket?

Whatever we release in obedience, God will increase in abundance.

Mark 6:33-43

33 But the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him. 34 And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things. 35 When the day was now far spent, His disciples came to Him and said, “This is a deserted place, and already the hour is late. 36 Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.”

37 But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

And they said to Him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?”

38 But He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

39 Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties. 41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were about five thousand men.

BIG POINTS

1. When we do what we can do, God will do what only He can do.

Mark 6:37

37 But He answered and said to them, “You give them something to eat.”

God desires us to be involved in His miracle working process.

Throughout scripture we see the theme of God using the obedience of ordinary people to do extraordinary things. It all starts with a seed that we sow.

In John 2 you can read the story of Jesus turning water into wine. Jesus could have spoken to the empty jars and they would have immediately been filled with merlot. But He didn’t. Instead He told the servants to fill the jars with water. This would not have been a quick or easy task. They had no running water and the jars would have been cumbersome to carry. The bible tells us that each one held around 20 to 30 gallons of water. That means they would have weighed, when filled, anywhere from 160 to 240 pounds. That doesn’t include the weight of the jar itself and there was six of them. There is two different ways they could have gone about this task.

1. They could have used smaller buckets to go back and forth to the well. This would have included a lot of trips back and forth.

2. They could have carried the jars back and forth to the well.

Either way you look at it, there was a lot of work to be done. Once the jars were filled Jesus told the servants to scoop out the water and take it to the master of the feast. Somewhere between them dipping into the water and delivering it to the M.C the water became wine.

You can’t turn water into wine, but you can carry some jars.

2. What is in your basket?

Mark 6:38

38 But He (JESUS) said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.”

And when they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.”

If you read this story in John 6, you will see that it was a little boy who had packed a sack lunch. In an amazing act of faith, he gave what he had to Jesus not knowing what the outcome would be. Through his willingness to release what was his God preformed a miracle that has echoed through history. This one small yet significant act not only fed over 5,000 people, but it is still used today to show the goodness of God.

What can you release to God that will make a difference?

3. God uses small things to make a BIG difference.

Mark 6:41-42

41 And when He had taken the five loaves and the two fish, He looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. 42 So they all ate and were filled.

God is not impressed by how much we have to offer and He is not intimidated or limited by how little we have to offer. All He cares is that we are offering what we have.

Whatever we release in obedience God will increase in abundance.

Not only did the people eat until they were full, but the Bible records that there were 12 baskets left over. The little boy started the day with a small sack lunch, but when it was all said and done over 5000 people ate and he had twelve baskets of food left over. I would say that is a pretty good return on his investment.

WHEN GOD BRINGS INCREASE… HE RELEASES IT UNTIL IT IS OVERFLOWING.

The real key to this story is obedience. When we are obedient to the things that God has asked us to do, He will bring Increase.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14 (ESV)

28 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. And he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them, 14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.