Title: Five loaves and two fish
Contents
February 14, 2010 Sermon
Text: Mark 6:35-44 (Mark)
35. As it was getting late, the disciples came to Jesus and said to him, “This place is empty, and the time is ending.
36. Send the crowd to go to the villages and villages to buy something to eat.
37. He answered and said, Give ye something to eat.
38. He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” He looked and said, “There are five loaves and two fish.”
39. And he commanded his disciples to make them all sit in groups on the green grass
40. And they sat down in groups of some hundred and some fifty.
41. And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven and gave thanks, and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set them before the people. And he also gave the two fish to all.
42. Eat to your full stomach
43. And he gathered the remaining pieces of bread and the fish in twelve baskets full.
44. There were five thousand men who ate the bread.
Title: Five loaves and two fish
1. May the Lord help us in 2010
Today is New Year's Day, a national holiday unique to our nation. Lunar New Year is the biggest national holiday of the year, which is celebrated in anticipation of the coming year as we spend the last year. At the start of the new year, people wish for a new year and use all sorts of methods to bring good luck. In the past, most people saw the secret of soil cleaning. These days, perhaps, looking at the fortune-telling published in newspapers or on the Internet, one might expect a year of good fortune. But the Bible says, “All these things are in vain.” They are self-proclaimed gods, not gods. The things that such demons do sometimes match the fortune, but even if they imitate them, they cannot be the masters of life and death clothes.
If we are attached to the tree of death, we will bear the fruit of death, and if we are attached to a tree bearing good fruit, we will bear good fruit. (John 15) (John 14:6) Life, love, and physical blessings are contained in Jesus. Eternal life and heaven have nothing to do with any tree or any god except Jesus. It just cannot be imitated. You and I, who are attached to Jesus, are the branches of Jesus who became the vine. Our church and we wish that the New Year will be a year of testimonies with the branches of this vine overflowing with the fountain of life and fruits of life and various blessings. It is also a blessing to change bad habits and become new. Be the year when your prayers are answered. People (Acts 17:23) pray for blessings ‘to an unknown god’. The children of God in Christ Jesus have the privilege of praying to the Almighty God the Father. I pray that you will give your prayers in 2010 without ceasing to God, receive answers from the Lord and have a blessed New Year.
The vine attached to Jesus was grafted to Jesus as the Son of God when at some point in my heart the word came to me as ‘Amen’. That is the moment of spiritual rebirth, when you are born again as a child of God and change your status as a son of God by breaking free from Satan's curse. After that, there are times when the Word becomes Amen and faith comes moment by moment. This is the evidence of becoming a united child of God who is believed by the Holy Spirit. Even though they are in the church, there are many people who come just to have a religion without faith, to hear the good word, to comfort and depend on it. That person is a weed. The Word is rationally incredible. If he clings to the tree of Jesus and continues to long for the essence (grace), he becomes a grain and has the potential to participate in eternal life and God's grace and blessing.
2. Five bottles given by a child.
The story of Oh Byeong-eun is recorded in all of the ‘four Gospels’, and the Gospel writers also treat it as very important. In the text, at sunset, these people almost all day were listening to Jesus without eating. The disciples, who were exhausted from the heat and hunger, went out to the village to buy food for each. But Jesus commanded the disciples, who had nothing, to “give them something to eat.” I hope that this will be a time to assure you that Jesus, like the crowd, is the sure protector who not only provides eternal life but also our physical needs for you who are the brides of our Christ and children of God today.
The Lord can just make it and use it, but he is looking for something to give to bless you. And He is a God who does not waste it, but reaps what is left over. The parable of this verse symbolizes the Messiah who came as the Bread of Life, the Bread of Blessing, that does not dry out even if you break it or feed it. In the new year, I wish the family and church a miracle of Oh Byeong-Eye.