06/21/20 INTERRUPTION! JESUS FEEDS THE 5,000 — Today our pastor John Green preached the very BEST sermon EVER from John 6:1-15 (and Mat.8). Since most of my FB-friends will never hear it, I thought I’d just add some of my own insights about the miracle.

Philip (a nay-sayer bean-counter with analysis paralysis) said, “LET’S DO THE MATH—If 80% of the 5,000 men are married that’s ~4,000 Wives; and ~2.5 Children per family (like Americans) means ~12,500 Children. Also 1 denarius ~ 1 day’s wage; 200 denarii ~ 200 days’ wages à 5/8 of a year’s salary; if one makes $24,000 a year, 200 denarii ~ $15,000. His conclusion: IMPOSSIBLE! (Besides, how many Long John’s Silvers and Captain D’s would you have to call to order fish sandwiches for over 21,000 people?!) Unfortunately churches are FULL of Philip’s!

Andrew was diligent; he searched the crowd and evaluated their resources. His conclusion: EXTREMELY DOUBTFUL! Today, far too many believers (even pastors and church leaders) think they can function in their strength WITHOUT divine help from Jesus. Let’s DOUBT Human Strength and TRUST in God and Jesus!

For EXTRA CREDIT in college math classes I taught, I gave assignments like this: Identify the Scripture passage(s) these equations represent and interpret them: 5L + 2F < 5,000M, but  5L + 2F + JC = 5,000M + 4,000W + 12,500C + 12B !  (Answer in tomorrow’s post)

Jesus did NOT do IMPRESSIVE things; He was NOT trying to IMPRESS them. Jesus did IMPOSSIBLE things; He was trying to convince them He was God in the Flesh, the Promised Messiah! There is NO PROBLEM you will ever face that is TOO BIG for our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! Scripture tells that the crowds were following Him primarily because of His healing miracles. He had satisfied their gnawing hunger. But Jesus wanted them to LEARN that their MOST PRESSING NEEDS were SPIRITUAL, NOT for PHYSICAL Health and Sustenance! And ONLY HE COULD SUPPLY IT! LET’S MAKE SURE THAT NONE OF US MAKES THE SAME MISTAKE!! REPEAT after me: There is NO PROBLEM I will ever face that is TOO BIG for our SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! ( 14 MORE CPs — STAY TUNED! )