Abundance

John 6: 12 So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." 13 Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. 14 Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

The word, ‘abundance,’ could probably be defined in a few ways. One of those ways might be to say you are certain of having enough. Another of those ways would be to say you are certain of having more than enough.

All of us have been in a place of abundance at some point in our lives. Even the poorest on earth at some point have understood what it means to have more than enough of something or other. We understand the principle of “too much!”

Jesus is making a sublimely divine point to all those who care to look in on the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. One of the main points is that it didn’t matter a bit whether it was 5,000 or 50 million. There was going to be abundance as long as Jesus was ministering. Jesus did not serve out of poverty, though He had none of the trappings of riches. He served out of the abundance of wealth capable of more than meeting any need. This is the power of creation.

We think our problem or tribulation is more than we can bear, that our potential impoverishment too great for Jesus to meet. Alternately, we are just as likely to think our need is too small to be noticed, (too unimportant to make the Lord’s radar screen.) Neither is true. Just as the Lord met the need of the Israelites wandering in the desert 40 years, and the need of His 5,000 disciples here, He will always be aware of – and be willing to – more than meet whatever need each of us have as children of God. This is the power of creation. When you can speak matter into existence, nothing is beyond your reach. Nothing is too hard for God.

Mark 8:15 Then He charged them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." 16 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have no bread." 17 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "Why do you reason because you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive nor understand? Is your heart still hardened? 18 Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember? 19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments did you take up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." 20 "Also, when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of fragments did you take up?" And they said, "Seven." 21 So He said to them, "How is it you do not understand?"

Our job is simply to focus on Jesus, and He will take care of the rest. There will always be abundance in what is needed.
- Pastor Bill

Sanitized

John 4:10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed." 11 He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" 12 Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place.

It used to be commonplace to find strips of paper which declared, “Sanitized for your protection.” Whether the item in question was legitimately sanitized or not is anyone’s guess, but the paper declared it and so the tendency was to believe it true.

What if the item had been sanitized, but no paper of declaration affixed? Alternately, what if the paper was affixed, but the item had not been sanitized?

Do you see the point? How does the existence of a man-made strip of paper provide a basis one way or the other for belief?

Here we have a man, (a MAN!), walking – who has not walked in 38 years – and the lawyers look on to see if he has the strip of paper affixed. What do we see? We see a man walking while carrying his bed. This is a man who could NOT walk 5 minutes ago, and therefore he could not carry his bed. Hello? Is anybody paying attention? This man is…WALKING!!!

A flat out miracle based in love has happened, and those who are in the know look instead for the paper to verify the case of the miracle having occurred. The man is walking without having been ‘sanitized’ for his own protection. In fact, he is judged unsanitary since he is now carrying his bed.

The problem is the paper was created by man and not God. 24 chapters in the Mishna deal with what man can or cannot do on the Sabbath. God had merely said, (in the fourth of His Ten Commandments,) “Remember the Sabbath Day, and keep it Holy.”

Somehow having God heal you – on the Sabbath, by the way – was not regarded as keeping the Sabbath Day Holy. It was somehow NOT reflective of God’s glory to perform a wondrous healing on THE day God had set apart from all the others that He might be remembered and cherished above all names. Hmmm…

One consistent ploy of Satan is to do everything he can to make God appear a hard master. Adding TO God’s Word is a sure way to do that. If God’s Word is Holy, then it stands to human reason adding TO God’s Word makes it even MORE Holy! We have to be careful we never do LESS than God’s Word calls for, but we also have to be just as careful not to impose MORE than God’s Word calls for.

- Pastor Bill

Many Returns

John 4:1 Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John 2 (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), 3 He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 But He needed to go through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink."

Have you ever been in that place when/where Jesus asks you for something? Are you kidding? Do you mean…me?

Sometimes when we least expect it, when we feel least deserving, when we feel least able – that is the time Jesus shows up and asks something of us. Can we not see His heart in this? Here we are going about our life, depraved or otherwise enthralled with the morass of everyday issues and problems, and Jesus shows up with an answer in the form of a question.

Basically, “Hey, can you do something for me?” Have you got a minute? Can I trouble you for a sec?”

Would you, "Give Me a drink?"

Jesus is ALWAYS interested in drawing us into His circle, His discipleship. The last thing Jesus desires is for anyone to be an outsider. The fact is if you’re going to remain an outsider, you’re literally going to have to do so over Jesus’ dead body. He is just that serious about drawing each of us into His influence. But are we open to it?

Sometimes - in fact most times - what Jesus asks of us instead of a drink, is for just a little bit of our time. And that may seem strange at first, considering we are ‘Samaritans’ and we are steeped in sin and we know it. But still, Jesus says, "Give Me a drink.”

How we respond determines who we are capable of becoming in Christ. You see, the Lord will never violate our will. If we are open to the first step, He will lead us to the second, and so forth. If we are closed to any offer of extending ourselves in His direction, He will never impose. We may find each and every day’s experience to be just like that.

Tomorrow morning, first thing, when Jesus asks for you to “Give Him a drink” - (just a moment of your time) – how will you respond? John 4:13 Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." There is a principle of eternal multiplication and reciprocity in everything we do for the Lord. No matter how small. The returns are more than we can ask, think, or imagine.
- Pastor Bill

Matter of Time

Time is something we can’t quite figure out, can’t grasp, cannot fathom.

It seems a blessing that it moves so slow when it comes to the length of our lives, but a curse that it moves so slowly when it comes to something we want.

This week is my son’s birthday. As he has matured, his desire for his birthday to come is waning. It used to be he would be practically counting down the days, then the hours, then the minutes in the weeks and days leading up to his birthday. This year he announced to me he really “wasn’t that excited” about his birthday. What a change!

And that’s the way it goes with this matter of time. We don’t know why or how it changes, but it does. It seems relative to us because it is. That’s one thing we sort of inherently understand.

Now try eternity. If we have a tough time grasping time, which is linear and palpable – and real to us in our existence, imagine coming to grips with eternity. Imagine the finite grasping for the infinite. Poof!

Jesus wants us to know what is coming. We actually do know what is coming but we have a great way of putting off thinking about it because time moves so slowly relative to the perceived length of our life.

So Jesus comes along and says, “Excuse Me, but I’d like to talk to you about your eternal destiny.”

That’s exactly what happened when Nicodemus came to see Jesus in the evening after a long day’s teaching and ruling over the Jews. Nicodemus came for one thing and left with another. He came seeking to know what Jesus was doing right now, and Jesus sent him away with a certainty about what He is doing forever. Imagine the interruption in the train of thought.

John3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Talk about a reversal of direction. Nicodemus comes to inquire of Jesus, and Jesus sends him on a mission to inquire of himself. The question he MUST ask himself – this religious leader, this teacher of the Jews, this one who has given his entire life to the church: “Are you born again?” You MUST be born again, nothing else matters. Are you born again? Nicodemus? You MUST be born again. Are you born again? Are you? Are YOU? Time matters, but eternity matters more.
- Pastor Bill

Water Pots

John 2:6 Now there were set there six water pots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. 7 Jesus said to them, "Fill the water pots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom.

Wedding feasts were a very big deal, culturally speaking, (even bigger than weddings of our day,) and so you can imagine the amount of planning and expense that were invested in the proceedings. There was to be joy all around in the celebration, and nothing depicted that joy more than the presence of wine. Historically, for the Jews, wine and joy have always been inextricably linked.

And suddenly, the wine was gone. Mary, Jesus’ mother, became aware of the situation and alerted Jesus to the potential problem. Her concern over the wine may have indicated that she was in some way a participant in the planning of the wedding, or even a close relative of the wedding party.

What happened next is a startling revelation of the work Jesus has come to do on earth, and a picture of the transformation process which takes place in the lives of believers.

It is a simple command, really. "Fill the water pots with water." But for those not knowing what to expect it may not have been so simple. We seem to have a built-in resistance to things which either don’t make sense to us, or are not clearly defined for us. But the servants conveyed Jesus’ exact wishes, and they filled the water pots to the brim.

A.W. Tozer used to say you can have all of The Holy Spirit you will allow. I suppose the opposite is also true. Will you allow yourself to be filled to the brim – or are you hesitant, not really certain of what it might all mean? It is, after all, undefined territory.

Jesus brought about an amazing transformation when those pots were filled, but not before. He changed the water into wine. He turned the mundane into the sublime, and, in so doing, the water pots – and what they contained - became presentable to the master of the feast. Prior to the transformation they would have been unacceptable.

And when the master of the feast tasted the wine, he called the bridegroom. Do you see the picture? Will you allow yourself to be filled at Jesus’ command? - Pastor Bill