THE LESSON OF THE LOAVES

Leading Like Jesus

Part 2
February 12 & 13, 2005
Tom Holladay

“Jesus soon saw a great crowd of people climbing the hill, looking for Him. Turning to Philip,
He asked, ‘Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?’ He was testing Philip, for
He already knew what He was going to do.” John 6:5-6 (NLT)

Lesson #1: The yardstick lesson

Do not measure a problem or challenge according to your own abilities.

“Philip replied, ‘It would take a small fortune to feed them!’” John 6:7 (NLT)

Jesus loves “impossible” circumstances

Why? Because it provides a perfect test.

• God puts us in impossible situations to stretch our undeveloped faith.

• God puts us in impossible situations to strengthen our eternal hope.
• God puts us in impossible situations to show His incredible love.

Lesson #2: The scales lesson

Little in the hands of Jesus becomes much.
“Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. ‘There's a young boy here with five barley
loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?’” John 6:8-9 (NLT)

‘Tell everyone to sit down,’ Jesus ordered. So all of them—the men alone numbered five
thousand—sat down on the grassy slopes. Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and
passed them out to the people. Afterward He did the same with the fish. And they all ate until
they were full.”
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How God makes our “little” into His “much”

“‘I’ll conquer the Midianites with these three hundred!’ the Lord told Gideon. ‘Send all the
others home!’” Judg 7:7 (TLB)
“So David defeated the Philistine with only a sling and a stone. He hit him and killed him.
He did not even have a sword in his hand.” 1 Sam 17:50 (NCV)

• God reduces our resources.

• God magnifies our need.
• Someone trusts God with what little they have.
• God uses the little we have to show how great He is.

Lesson #3: The ledger sheet lesson

Every encounter with a problem or challenge can bring an increase
“‘Now gather the leftovers,’ Jesus told His disciples, ‘so that nothing is wasted.’ There were
only five barley loaves to start with, but twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of bread
the people did not eat!” John 6:12-13 (NLT)
“And He climbed aboard the boat with them, and the wind dropped. They were scared out of
their wits. They had not had the sense to learn the lesson of the loaves. Even that miracle
had not opened their eyes to see who He was.” Mark 6:51-52 (Phillips)

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 THE LESSON OF THE LOAVES
Leading Like Jesus
Part 2
February 12 & 13, 2005
Tom Holladay

I know some of you were expecting to see Pastor Rick here this weekend. We’re in the second
part of our series, “Leading Like Jesus.” He was planning ion being here until actually late
Friday night we made a change this week. You know how some guys, in their mid-life crisis get
a new sports car? Pastor Rick, for his mid life crisis, got braces this last week, which is a really
cool thing – with some jaw things and some headaches. He did a little bit of speaking on Friday
and his mouth got pretty ripped up. It’s a horror story and I don’t want to go into all that. So it’s
a little bit difficult to speak this weekend. But not only that but his cheek started to swell up like
a chipmunk! He’s watching on the Internet so he hears us laughing at his pain!

Before we ever start this message I do want to say one other thing. You are always so kind when
we have to make a last minute change to whoever happens to be speaking, the music. But there
is a group of people behind the scenes that when we make a last minute change that really has to
work hard. I want to take a moment to appreciate them. We’ve got people who do graphics for
our video. We’ve got people who stuff the bulletin. We’ve got people who run the outlines that
go into the bulletins. Last night and also this morning you got an outline in your bulletin and that
means somebody had to work really hard this weekend! Thank you for your ministry!

The title is “The Lesson of the Loaves” which is a very strange title. It’s just a phrase that comes
out of the Bible. This verse is about Jesus and His disciples and something that happened after a
miracle that Jesus did. “Jesus climbed into the boat with them and the wind dropped. They [the
disciples] were scared out of their wits. They hadn’t had the sense to learn the lesson of the
loaves. Even that miracle had not opened their eyes to see who He was.”

The miracle that is being talked about here is a miracle that a lot of you are familiar with, the
feeding of the 5000. The incredible thing as you read that is not just a miracle to say Wow! to
but there’s also some lessons. There’s some lessons about leadership in this miracle of the
feeding of the 5000. In fact, you see that from the very beginning. Before Jesus even did this
miracle He shows us He’s doing it to teach some things.

Remember that Jesus walked around for three years in public ministry. He had twelve guys with
Him. In everything He did He was teaching them about leadership. Everything He taught, every
miracle He worked, He knew that these guys were going to lead the world to understand who He
was. They were going to lead a revolution that took over the world. So He’s teaching them
about leadership as He did everything and He ministered to people. That’s certainly true with
this miracle of the feeding of the 5000.

Look at what happens even before the miracle. John 6:5-6 “Jesus soon saw a great crowd of
people climbing the hill, looking for Him. Turning to Philip, He asked, ‘Philip, where can we
buy bread to feed all these people?’ He was testing Philip, [you might circle “testing Philip”] for
He already knew what He was going to do.” It’s clear from the beginning that Jesus was using
this miracle to teach them and to teach us something. There’s some incredible lessons about
leadership in this miracle.
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It’s interesting that from the other gospels we discover that the disciples had been talking about a
problem they had been facing as leaders. Here is Jesus teaching 5000 men. If there were 5000
men there, that means there were probably 5000 women, maybe 5000 kids. There was a huge
crowd – ten to twenty thousand. They’re watching Jesus teach all day long. The people are
getting more and more hungry. It’s getting towards evening. They’re talking off to the side,
“Jesus doesn’t understand – these people are getting hungry. And it’s getting more and more
towards evening.” They’re starting to worry about this thing, about what everybody’s feeling,
what everybody’s going through and how they’re getting more and more hungry and they’re
probably thinking, “Jesus, could You at least cut the bead of life thing? Could You not talk
about that? These people are getting hungry. We can see it in their eyes. Can we not hear that
right now.”

Jesus was a visionary type thinker. Anybody work for a visionary type thinker? You think,
They don’t understand the logistics. I'm sure that’s what the disciples were thinking, “Who’s
going to go to Jesus and tell Him, ‘Jesus, You’ve got to stop talking!’” In the middle of this
Jesus turns around to Philip and says, “Philip! Where are we going to find enough bread to feed
all of these people?”

The disciples don't know that they’re about to see one of the most memorable miracles that Jesus
ever worked. They do not know that they’re about to seer some of the most greatest lessons on
leadership, true leadership, great leadership – that were ever taught. Three of them that we’re
going to talk about together this morning.

Lesson one: The Yardstick Lesson. Do not measure a problem or challenge according to your
own abilities.

Don't measure it according to your own abilities. That’s the wrong measuring stick. If you
measure it according to your own abilities you say, “I'm here – there’s the problem, there’s the
challenge. If I measure up I’ll give it a shot.” Anytime you face a problem or a challenge and
you feel small next to the problem, there’s no way you’ll lead in that circumstance. The world
has a lot of problems and challenges that are tall. And if we don't lead in that circumstance,
nobody’s going to lead. So you don't measure the problem or challenge according to your own
abilities.

That’s what the disciples did. That’s what Philip did. He measured it according to His own
abilities. He figured out, “I don’t have enough ability.” Then he did what we all do in that
circumstance. He panicked!

John 6:7 “Philip replied, ‘It would take a small fortune to feed them.’” He looks at Jesus and
says, “What are You talking about? This is an impossible situation.” He looks around. There’s
all these people and there’s noting to feed them with. There’s not even a golden arches nearby.
What I think is a greater miracle than the feeding of the 5000 in some ways there wasn’t even a
Starbucks nearby! This huge miracle that happened, happened without the resources there.
That’s what Philip immediately sees – it’s impossible.

Jesus loves impossible situations. He’s God! Impossible circumstances do not bother Him. Can
you imagine Jesus Christ biting His fingernails at this situation? Can you imagine Him pacing
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up and down wondering what’s going to happen? No. He loves impossible situations. Jesus is
the one who healed the woman who had been sick for twelve years. She’d tried every doctor and
no one could help. He’s the one who healed the man who had been sick for 38 years. An
impossible situation. He’s the one who healed the guy who had been dead for four days. That’s
pretty impossible. But Jesus Christ healed him. He loves impossible situations. He even loves
allowing us to be in impossible situations.

Some of you were in one right now. In your family. In your personal life. In your business.
Some of you, we’re talking about leadership, some of you right now are in an impossible
situation as a leader.

When I say impossible situation, I'm not talking about things you brought on yourself. God will
help us there also. But I'm talking about circumstances that come into our life we don't have any
control over those. They happen and it’s impossible. It doesn’t measure up.

Why does God allow those to happen? There’s a number of reasons but as we talk about
leadership here are the reasons to focus on.

It provides a perfect test. Jesus did this to test Philip, to test the disciples. It provides a
perfect test. It’s pretty easy to notice as you take a look at the story of the feeding of the 5000
that Jesus allowed His disciples to struggle with what was going to happen before He worked the
miracle. Has that ever happened to any of you? Or does God always give you the answer right
away what’s going to happen? In my life, it certainly happens that He allows me to struggle a
while with what’s going to happen. He allows me to see how impossible it is. Why does He do
that? It provides a perfect test.

Let me be very clear about this. When God tests us it is not to grade us. It is to grow us. God
tests us not to grade us but to grow us. God doesn’t need to grade us. God knows our hearts
already. He knows every answer you’d write down on the test. He knows everything you would
think. He knows us already. So He doesn’t need to test us to grade us. Why does He test us?
Because it impacts our hearts. It grows us. We come out on the other side of the test – we’ve
learned something, we’ve grown. We have changed in our lives. How do we change? How
does God grow us? Three things:

God puts us in impossible situations to stretch our undeveloped faith.

God also puts us in impossible situations to strengthen our eternal hope. All of a sudden
we’re not just looking at this world anymore and the things we’re holding on to. We realize
there’s more than that.

God puts us in impossible situations to show His incredible love. When finally we see
God’s answer which is different than we think it would be we see how He loved us all through
the circumstance and the situation.

So in light of this – not measuring a problem or challenge according to your own abilities, here’s
the homework on this point. Go home this week and think about an impossible situation that
you’re facing right now. Think about an impossible situation you’re facing as a leader. Get out
a piece of paper and write down on that piece of paper everything that you cannot do about that
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situation. You’ve probably already wrote down an a piece of paper everything you can do and
you should do that. But I'm talking about a different piece of paper. The one where you write
down, Here’s what I can’t do.

For instances, for some of you, you should write down, I cannot force another person to
change their mind. Even God has chosen not to do that. So you can’t force another person to
change their mind.

Or you write down on there, “I cannot re-write the past. I cannot always figure out why.”

I don't know what the cannots are for you. But you write that down on a piece of paper and take
that piece of paper and give it to God. And you say, “God, I need Your strength!” Maybe you
pray a three word prayer, “God, help me.” Sometimes the shortest prayers are the best prayers.
“God! Help me!”

As you and I do that we’re saying, “I'm not measuring this just according to what I can do but
I'm measuring it according to what You can do.” It’s amazing the answers that come when we
get outside our own minds and not trying to figure it out ourselves and realize that God, in this
impossible situation, wants me to connect with Him. That’s why He allows it. He wants us to
connect with Him.

I was reading this last week about a group of engineering students who were given the problem,
How long should a three pound beef roast stay in a 325 degree oven for the center to reach a
temperature of 150 degrees? They had to do these projects – all kinds of different things. One
kid did this series of experiments. Another kid went out and bought a roast, an oven, a
thermometer and a watch. Another one got out a spreadsheet and did all these mathematical
calculations on the conductivity of roast and figured it all out. But the kid who got the quickest
answer was the kid who picked up the phone and called his mom: “How do you cook a roast?”

Sometimes – often – the answers to the most important and biggest questions of life are not
figured out logically. They’re discovered relationally. The reason God allows impossible
circumstances in our lives is to remind us of the fact that He is there. We can turn to Him.
“God! How do You cook a roast? God! How do You figure out this problem? God! How can
You help me in this circumstance?” Connect with Him relationally. That’s not measuring the
problem according to your own abilities. That’s connecting with God.

When you and I feel inadequate for something – and who doesn’t at times? If you’re trying to
lead in a great way you’re going to feel inadequate sometimes. When we feel that way, we’ve
got one of two choices. We can choose control and comfort. Or we can choose trust in God.
We can choose, It’s all about me. Or we can choose, It’s all about Him.

There is a second lesson in the feeding of the 5000. I call it the Scales Lesson.

That’s when you’re trying to face a situation or a circumstance, you’re trying to balance it out.
You think, “That balances out pretty well. I think I can handle that one.” But what do you do
when you’ve got 5000 people and they all need to be fed. You think I’ll throw in everything I’ve
got – five loaves and two fish – but what is that going to do to the scales? What do you do in a

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circumstance when you throw in everything you’ve got and it just won’t move. It doesn’t go
anywhere.

Jesus helped His disciples to deal with that problem too. Here’s the answer He gave to them:
Little in the hands of Jesus becomes much.

What you might feel like is little but you put it in the hands of Jesus Christ and that becomes
much. Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, had his problems with what Jesus was proposing they do –
feed all those people. Andrew, another of His disciples, had his problems with what Jesus was
proposing they do. Jesus told them to go out and search the crowd and find all the food that they
could to feed these hungry people. Andrew comes back and look at what he says. “Then
Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. ‘There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and
two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?’”

The thing about Andrew is, he should have stopped one sentence earlier. If he'd stopped one
sentence earlier, he would be the hero of faith in this story. He would have been the disciple
who came to Jesus and said, “Look! Five loaves! Two fish! You can do it, Jesus!” But he
didn’t stop. He goes on and says, “But what good is that with this huge crowd?”

What I don't like about that is it reminds me of myself. Sometimes you’ll make this great
statement of faith then put a statement behind it – “God can do anything! If He really wants to.”
I know why we do that. I know exactly why I do it and possibly why you do it also. We want to
give ourselves an out. We’re self protective. We want to make sure that if it doesn’t work out at
the end, we can say those four magical words: I told you so. At least we can say that. We’ll feel
better about ourselves.

Whenever you’re saying those words – I told you so – you’re not leading. When I'm saying
those words I'm not leading. I'm protecting. I'm thinking about myself. But I'm not leading.
Because leaders don’t say, “I told you so.” They say,” We need to look to God in faith.” They
say, “We failed. Let’s pray together about why we failed.” But they don’t say, I told you so
because that is all about you when you say that.

Andrew struggles with this thing of faith and so does Philip. They both struggle. Two
perspectives, same wrong answer. Philip says “It’s impossible. It’ll take too much, a small
fortune.” He was looking at the problem. Andrew says, “It’s impossible. We have too little.
We can’t meet the need.” He was looking at themselves. Jesus’ miracle gives powerful answers
to both of these leaders in that moment. “It would take too much!” … No need is to great for
Jesus Christ. “We have too little!” … Little in the hands of Jesus Christ becomes much.

As I look at these two guys and the way they struggle with this like any of us would have
struggled with this. There are two life challenging questions in the way that they responded. In
your own life, an impossible circumstance you’re facing, a tough time, a difficult situation as a
leader.

1. What have I decided is too big for God to accomplish?

Why don’t you let God decide that. He may not want you doing that right now. It may be just
about your pride that you want to do that. I'm not saying that we should do every big thing that
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comes into our mind. What I am saying is there are some situations that God wants us to be a
part of. What have I decided is to big for God to accomplish so I'm not going to get involved?

2. The question from Andrew is, Where have I decided I have too little to make a
difference?

We’re talking about the PEACE plan, going around the world to make a difference. Some of
you are thinking, I know, “That’s going to be great for a lot of other people. Not me. Because of
my fears or lack of abilities, not me.” Where have you decided there’s too little to do all that
God wants to do in my life?

Those are challenging questions. Because we often look at life and say, “There’s not enough!”
Not enough money. Not enough time. Not enough energy. We’ve got this little sentence that
we sometimes play in our minds and we fill in the blank in different ways, “When I get
more__________ then I'm going to __________.” When I get more time then I'm going to do
ministry. When I get more energy then I'm going to spend time with my kids. When I get more
money then I'm going to give like I’d really like to. When I get more confidence then I'm going
to lead. When I get more experience then I'm going to lead. There’s all kinds of ways we fill
that in.

There’s a little secret about this – this feeling that there’s not enough. You’ll never have enough!
Not for the great things that God wants us to do in our lives. The needs are too great. Our
resources are too small. As great as some of your resources are. Some of you have great
resources financially. Some of you have great resources with your abilities. But there is nothing
compared to the incredible impact, the eternal impact, that God wants us to make with our lives.
So you and I look at it and say, How could that happen? God is more than able to make up for
any lack of ability that you might have. God is more than able to maximize the abilities He’s
given you.

Look at what He did with five loaves and two fish. “‘Tell everyone to sit down,’ Jesus ordered.
So all of them—the men alone numbered five thousand—sat down on the grassy slopes. Then
Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people. Afterward He did
the same with the fish. And they all ate until they were full.”

What’s always made me smile about this story is how the disciples must have felt during Jesus’
prayer. Can you just imagine that? Here’s Jesus – five loaves, two fish – ten, fifteen thousand
people. And He’s praying, “God, bless this food to fulfill all of our needs.” I'm sure they were
thinking, “This is ridiculous! This thing is not going to work. There’s going to be a riot, a
sardine riot! It’s not going to happen.” Then Jesus starts dividing the bread, dividing the fish.
And all of a sudden everyone is filled.

What an incredible lesson! They all ate until they were full. The miracle is so simple. It’s not
like lightning flashes from heaven and the bread grows so it can fill everybody. Jesus just
divides it and everybody’s filled. The leadership lesson in the miracle is so simple. You and I,
we take what we have, we give it to Jesus and it’s more than enough for what He wants to do in
our lives. That’s the simple lesson in this miracle of the feeding of the 5000 for every one of us
as a leader.

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This lesson is not an uncommon one in the Bible. It’s very familiar. You see it in about a dozen
different places where God teaches it again and again and again. It’s a common theme. A
couple other places where God takes our little and makes it into His much. A couple of other
leaders that God used.

A guy by the name of Gideon in the Old Testament. He had an army of about 15,000 people
and God said, I'm going to cut it down to about three hundred. Now go and defeat the enemy.
God took his little and He did incredible things with it.

A guy more familiar to you by the name of David. The whole Israelite army was there to
defeat a guy by the name of Goliath. But there was David all by himself with just a sling and
five smooth stones. He went out and defeated this enemy.

Every one of these experiences that people go through, trusting God in difficult circumstances
for more than they could ever imagine you see the same pattern happen again and again and
again. If you’re going to lead like Jesus, if we’re going to lead in the things that God wants to
accomplish in our lives and through our lives happen in this world, you and I need to understand
this process. If you don't, it’ll confuse you. If you don’t, you’ll wonder, What in the world is
God doing? Here’s the way it happens every time as you read the different experiences people
had with God.

Step One, God reduces our resources.

You see that God wants to do something great in your life and the first thing is He reduces your
resources. Which is totally counterintuitive. Wouldn’t you think if God wanted to do something
great in your life, the first thing He’d do is fill your bank a account to overflowing. Give you
more energy than you could ever imagine. Make you feel like Superman, ready to take on the
world. That’s not what He does. He reduced Gideon’s army to three hundred. He reduced the
Israelite army to one kid and five stones and a sling. The disciples, they go out to find all the
food they can find in that huge crowd. And they come back with five loaves and two fish. It’s a
pretty sad day. He reduces our resources and right alongside of that,

The Second Step is He maximizes the need.

He does let us escape from how big the need really is. We want to. We want to pretend that it’s
really not that big. I can probably handle it. Then He just shoves it right in front of us – here’s
the crowd, here’s how big it really is, here’s how big the problem really is. He maximizes our
need.

Have you ever asked yourself, Why doesn’t God make our lives easier? Why doesn’t He just
give us all the time that we need while we live in this world? Why doesn’t He just give us all the
money we need while we live in this world? Why doesn’t He just give us all the resources we
can possibly need? I think you probably know the answer. I know it for myself at least. If I had
all the time, all the money, all the resources I needed in this world I would have never looked to
God and trusted Him. Never. I’d just have trusted in myself the rest of my life. I’d have gone to
heaven and God would have said, “I wanted a relationship with you!” and I would have said, “I
never knew! I never understood.” It’s in the very lack of resources sometimes I realize how

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very much I need God. Not only on this earth but also in eternity. Where, by the way, He will
meet all of our needs for all of eternity. He magnifies our need.

Then something happens. In that situation of reduced resources and magnified need – here I
am and here’s the problem, the scales are out of whack – in that circumstance, someone trusts
God with what little they have.

It’s an incredible moment. Whether it’s a David who trusts God with His five smooth stones or
Gideon trusting God with his army of three hundred, or a boy trusting Jesus with five loaves and
two fish.

What we want to do is we want to wait for someone to come along who looks like has enough
resources to meet this great need. To lead in this great way. And they never show up. The need
is so great but the opportunity is so great. What God always does instead is to wait for someone
to come along who’s willing to trust Him even in light of the fact the need is so great.

In this case it’s a little boy. We don't know his name. I wish I did. God often works like that.
Nameless people in untold stories. But great glory to God. The miracle of God leading through
our lives in a great way always happens when someone decided to trust Him in that kind of
circumstance.

A couple of years ago now, when Kay Warren, our pastor’s wife, decided to trust God to say, “I
believe God wants to use me to make a difference with the AIDS crisis around the world.” Can
you imagine how that felt? Can you imagine the courage it takes to trust God in that kind of a
moment and circumstance? God can take our little and He can do more with it than we can ever
imagine. It starts with us trusting Him there.

Now, some of you – it’s capturing your heart. You want to make a different with the AIDS crisis
around the world. Capturing the hearts of people around this country. That’s how it always
starts. Then here’s what God always does. Here’s the last part of it.

The Fourth thing that happens is God uses the little that we have to show how great He is.

He doesn’t discard what we have and do something better. He uses what we give Him to do
something greater. That’s what I love. It’s not like the boy comes up and says, “Here, Jesus.
Five loaves and two fish.” And He goes, “That’s nice. That’s cute.” And throws them over into
the trash. “Now watch what I, Jesus Christ, can do!” No. He takes the loaves and He takes the
fish and He uses what the boy gave Him to meet everybody’s need. It’s incredible. That’s what
God does. He uses what we give Him to meet the needs.

Some of you right now, what’s the ordinary start. Where do you need to trust Him? Where
could God use you in the circumstance you’re in to show His greatness?

We’re talking about leadership, leading like Jesus. Here’s where you start as a leader. You lead
where you are. Start there. You lead where you are. It’s easy to think, When I get the corner
office, I'm going to lead this company in a great direction. Lead where you are. You don’t try to
take somebody else’s position, you just do the kind of leadership that you can where you are.
Character leadership, integrity leadership, lead where you are and watch what God does with
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that. We think, in this school when everybody knows me, when I finally get popular then I'm
going to lead in a way that really makes a difference. No. You start where you are. We think as
parents, when my kids start to perfectly respect me, then I'm going to be the leader. No. You
lead where you are. You start where you are and you watch what God does. Little in the hands
of Jesus becomes much.

And all of us in this world, even if it looks like you have a lot, only get a few years in this world.
It’s a short life. Whether you feel like you have a little or a lot of things, in terms of eternity we
only have a few things to manage in this life. You take what you have and you put it in His
hands and it becomes much.

There’s a third lesson in this experience that Jesus and the disciples had in the feeding of the
5000. The Ledger Sheet Lesson.

This is sort of the bottom line lesson. It’s what happens when you begin to add things up. The
real bottom line here is every encounter with a problem or a challenge can bring an increase.
You just start to add this up and what happens. You’ve got 5000 men who need to be fed.
You’ve got five loaves and two fish. Add Jesus Christ into the equation and it equals everybody
was fed until they were full.

But the bottom line, there’s more to it than that. You put another bottom line down. There’s
something else that happens. The Bible says “‘Now gather the leftovers,’ Jesus told His
disciples, ‘so that nothing is wasted.’ There were only five barley loaves to start with, but twelve
baskets were filled with the pieces of bread the people did not eat!”
Think about this. There are twelve disciples – twelve baskets left over. Anybody think that’s a
coincidence? Jesus wanted to make sure that everyone of those disciples who were wondering
how in the world this was going to happen had a full basket of bread left over. They’re looking
at this going, Look at what Jesus Christ can do! Look at the increase that can happen. Not only
did he meet everybody’s need but there was this increase of twelve baskets left over.
Luke 6:38 “Give, and you will receive. You will be given much, pressed down, shaken together
and running over. It will spill into your lap. The way you give to others is the way that God will
give to you.” That’s the increase. We’ll have more than we could have expected.
How does the increase come? The increase comes when Jesus gets involved. That’s when it
comes. If Jesus hadn’t been there that day of the feeding of the 5000 they would have had five
loaves and two fish. But when Jesus Christ got involved everybody’s need was met. So the
increase comes when Jesus Christ gets involved.
I'm excited for some of you because I know that in a few months you’re going to see an increase
in your heart. In a few months, during the month of April, we’re going to do our Extend The
Vision spring growth campaign. We’re going to give together to the next phase of buildings for
our campus. I know for some of you that’s a faith challenge, a growth challenge. You’re going
to ask God “What do You want to do in my life?” And you’ll take steps of faith that you haven’t
taken before. As you do that there will be an increase that happens in your life.

I know this because we have thousands, literally thousands of letters about this where it has
happened in peoples’ lives. As I talk about that increase I think it’s good to be clear about what
it is. I hear some people talking, “Every time God gives an increase it’s always something
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financial. It’s always something material.” That always seems so shallow to me. Financial
things and material things only last as long as we’re in this world anyway. I’ve seen it.
Sometimes God does give a financial increase to people. But I’ve seen other people just as
faithful, for some reason He doesn’t give the increase financially. He gives it in other ways.
That’s how God works. There’s a lot better things than material things.

Sometimes God gives the increase through deeper relationships. Sometimes God gives the
increase through an increased faith. Sometimes God gives the increase by a new perspective on
life. All of a sudden you see things like you’ve never seen them before. Sometimes He gives the
increase by a new peace of heart. You’re not worried and anxious like you were before. There’s
a lot of ways He gives the increase. But He does it. That’s the lesson of the ledger sheet.

Now we’re back to where we started. Mark 6:51-52. The Bible says “Jesus climbed in the boat
with them and the wind dropped and they were scared out of their wits. They had not had the
sense to learn the lesson of the loaves. Even the miracle had not opened their eyes to see who
He was.”

How would you like to have been a disciple? Think about it. Two thousand years later people
are reading the story of your life and the story is they had not had the sense to learn the lesson of
the loaves. Wouldn’t that be great? Your great legacy in life!

This is an example of the fact that leaders are constantly learning and they don’t always get it
right. Do you want to be the kind of leader that God wants you to be? These disciples – they
changed the world! But the story of their lives in the Bible is a very honest story. They didn’t
learn it always the first time. They stumbled over it. They didn’t get it right. They went back
and forth. You think leaders always get it right the first time? Then you’ve never met even one
leader. None of them do.

What I love about the disciples is being scared out of their wits, being afraid sometimes. I admit
I'm afraid sometimes as a leader. They didn’t have the sense to get it the first time. I’ll admit I
don’t have the sense to get it the first time, sometimes, as a leader. None of us do. They’re an
example to us to the fact that leaders keep on going and keep on growing and finally you do
begin to get it. The Bible says here they didn’t get the lesson.

I don't want to miss it. I don’t want any of us to miss this lesson in what Jesus did in the feeding
of the 5000. This lesson of the yardstick. Reminding ourselves that I don't measure things just
by my own abilities. I also measure things by God’s incredible power. This lesson of the scales.
The fact that little in the hands of Jesus Christ becomes much. In this lesson of the spreadsheet.
That when I trust God with what might seem to me would be an impossible circumstance and an
impossible challenge not only does He meet the need when Jesus gets involved but He also
brings an increase. I want to trust God with those things. I want to trust God with what you can
learn in every miracle.

In every miracle of Jesus there are two things to make sure to learn. You learn about how God
works and you learn about who Jesus is. How Jesus works and who Jesus is.

In this miracle of the feeding of the 5000 like all the other miracles you see that God’s ways
are not our ways. We want to ‘this’ much with our lives; God wants to do THIS much with our
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lives. So when you feel like His ways are not your ways, it’s not because He want to reduce
your life but because He wants to increase your life. It’s one of those circumstances where you
feel like, “God, here’s the one thing I won’t do. I won’t go into the pool.” And God’s pushing
you into the pool. Anyone else have this experience? You know what I'm talking about? Why
would He do that? Because He wants you to know that He’s in the pool too. He can meet your
needs there too.

So in this experience of the feeding of the 5000 every miracles is an example of how God works.
His ways are not our ways.

But even more, to me it’s an example of who Jesus is. Because if you don’t trust who He is,
you’re not going to trust how He works. And every miracle that He ever worked is an example
of who He is! Jesus said, “I'm the bread of life.” And then He fed 5000 people. Jesus said,
“I'm the light of the world.” And He made a blind man see. Jesus said, “I'm the resurrection
and the life.” And He raised Lazarus from the dead. It begins with who He is.

Leadership starts in the heart. It doesn’t start in the head. You need that but it starts in the heart.
If you’re going to lead like Jesus, it starts by saying to Jesus Christ, “I need You as the leader of
my life.” That’s where it begins.

Some of you have never really made that decision. You’ve never said to Him, “I want You as
the leader of my life.” You’ve thought about it. You’ve talked about it. You’ve considered it.
Today, will you? Right here, right now, say to Him, “Jesus, I want You as the leader of my
life?”

How do you do that? You just talk to Him in prayer. Just tell Him. He’s already done what
needs to be done to have that kind of relationship with Him. That’s why He went to the cross
and died. That’s why He was resurrected from the dead. So now you and I need to trust Him.

Others of you, you’ve made that decision but lately you’ve been taking more of the leadership
back for yourself. God brought you here today to say once again to say, “Jesus Christ, You’re
the leader. I recognize You again as the leader of my life that I need every day of my life.”

As we close I want to give you an opportunity to talk to Him.

Prayer:

All across this campus, wherever you happen to be right now, whatever venue, just turn your
heart to God. Trust Him now. Say to Him, “Jesus Christ, I begin by trusting You as the
leader of my life.” Some of you are praying that for the first time. He’s hearing that prayer.
I want to invite all of us to pray, “Jesus, help me to learn to lead like You. I want to learn
that so I give my abilities to You in this moment. I trust You to do more than I could ever
do. I give what I have to You in this moment. I trust You to use it in greater ways than I
could ever imagine. Jesus, I thank You in advance for the increase, for the growth that will
happen in my life.” In Your name I pray. Amen.

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