Title: Let's Occupy the Spiritual Heights
Content Lee is preparing Happy Day 517. Happy Day is a day when God sees the lost souls return and dances with joy. In order to succeed Happy Day 517, we must first occupy the spiritual heights. Spiritual heights are our thoughts. Happy Day said, “Evangelism is not allowed. It starts by treating the negative thoughts that evangelism cannot be done. The devil implants negative thoughts in our thoughts, which are spiritual heights. If your thoughts are taken over by the devil, you cannot evangelize. Evangelism is sure to happen if we occupy the spiritual high ground of “can do”. Through the text, I hope that you will realize why evangelism is possible and occupy the spiritual high ground.
1. Evangelism comes first (verses 10-11)
“When the apostles returned and reported to Jesus all that they had done, they took him away to a town called Bethsaida, but a crowd knew and followed them. Jesus welcomed them and told them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who were to be healed.”
Jesus took his disciples to the town of Bethsaida. The crowd knew and followed Jesus. There were five thousand men, so if you include women and children, there were at least more than ten thousand people. In the morning, Jesus began to talk about the kingdom of God to people from distant villages with a hungry stomach. In verse 11, He also healed the sick. He made it so that the day would go down. There are things we don't understand. Why did Jesus not feed and teach the hungry people first, but wait until the end of the day and then feed them? Isn't it basic to human beings to feed the hungry first? Still, Jesus violated the basics of humanity. Why? This is because evangelism (Luke 9:2) takes priority above all else.
“Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
2. We must occupy the spiritual highlands (verses 12-15)
As the day wore on, the disciples became worried. In verse 12, the disciples asked Jesus. “Send out the crowds to go to villages and villages throughout, so that they may dwell and find something to eat, for here we are in an empty field.” What was Jesus' answer to the disciples' request? “Give ye something to eat” (v. 13a). How great is this? What was the disciples' reaction? “We have only five loaves and two fish, and we do not buy food for all these people…” (verse 13b). See verse 13b. “I can’t do it” is not a word originally. The disciples stopped answering because they knew that Jesus' words, "Give them something to eat", didn't make sense. How can you feed so many people with five barley loaves and two fish? What would you do if you were disciples?
When the Israelites left Egypt, they were divided into two groups. They were divided into one group with negative thoughts and one group with positive thoughts. Only Joshua and Caleb thought positively by occupying the spiritual highlands. The rest of the Israelites could not occupy the spiritual highlands. I complained and complained. As God heard, he did to them. Joshua and Caleb entered the land of Canaan as God had promised.
“Say to them, As I live, saith the LORD, I will do to you as you have heard in my ears, and your corpses will fall in this wilderness, and those of you twenty years old and older who were numbered who murmured against me. All but Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun will by no means enter the land that I swore to make you dwell” (Numbers 14:28).
3. When we occupy the spiritual highlands, the Lord works (verses 14-17)
“Because there were one and five thousand men, he said to his disciples, “Sit them in groups of fifty and fifty.” After the disciples had sat down in this way, Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up to heaven, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples. He gave them to put them in front of the crowd. After eating, they were all full. Then they gathered twelve baskets of leftover pieces.
The disciples occupied the spiritual highlands. Jesus said, “Sit down by fifty.” The disciples obeyed. They obeyed without complaining even though they were not understood. It has taken over the negative and suspicious spiritual heights. They thought only of what they had and did not complain or be negative. Based on the words of Jesus, I thought positively. I obeyed the words of Jesus. They obeyed Jesus' command before they even saw the five barley loaves and the two fish multiply. What is the result? Jesus Himself worked. What did Jesus do? He took five loaves and two fish and gave thanks in advance. He broke it and gave it to his disciples. Jesus did a miracle.
Brothers and sisters, how can we make disciples of all nations? How can we witness the gospel to the ends of the earth? We can't. No one can lead us to the Lord in our own strength. Jesus said: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:44). Without Jesus Christ, evangelism and church revival cannot be expected. Just as Jesus Christ worked through Paul, so He saves through us. “I dare not say anything except that which Christ worked through me in word and in deeds, in the power of signs and wonders, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, to bring the Gentiles to obedience” (Romans 15:18). In this way, if we occupy the spiritual heights and obey the words of Jesus, Jesus Himself works. I hope you believe it.
This is what Jesus told us to evangelize. If we too obey, Jesus Himself will work. Evangelize! You can. Evangelize! Just do it. Evangelize! Let's do it. Happy Day 517! Let's occupy the spiritual highlands.