People must wonder where I come up with ideas for lessons...I KNOW I see that sort of look sometimes on Sunday "WHERE in the WORLD did he come up with THIS one??!!". When Bobby asked me to teach tonight, I confess I rather felt like a kid in a candy store with a fifty dollar bill; Having the ENTIRE Word of God to choose from for teaching material was what the aircrew would call a target rich environment. But as I listened to Bobby's sermon last Sunday night I was struck with a deep need to add MY AMEN to where God's Holy Spirit in Bobby's heart took us that night: That had to do with this whole rather scary idea of "LAY MINISTRYS". YIKES!!! There it is! He's gonna talk all about US having to DO something WE sure don't feel able to do; THAT "MINISTRY" stuff is for the PRO'S, and WE sure don't want to give up OUR amature status here y'know! Don't despair! My desire tonight is for us together to look into God's precious Word given to us and SEE what He has for us here concerning how WE can become fellow ministers and servants to one another and to our sin-sick world...and LIVE to tell the tale!
	[OPEN IN PRAYER]
	The title of this lesson is "Who DID feed the 5000?". It is taken from all four gospels, but don't panic, tonight I won't make you read them all out loud. The central passage is found in Marks Gospel chapter 6, vss 30-44, but I want all you out there to also note the other 3 passages for your OWN perusal later, I trust; they are Matt 14:9-21; Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:1-15. I will borrow as it were from these other accounts as needed to fill out the picture and I wanted to make sure you knew where to look to check up on me in case I tried to sneak a fast one in on you somewhere tonight. 
	[READ MARK 6:30-44]
	The feeding of the 5000 (NOT to be confused with the feeding of the FOUR thousand elsewhere in scripture) is the ONLY miracle to be recorded in ALL FOUR Gospels. Given the essentially limitless number of miracles they ALL had to choose from, this fact should make us sit up and pay attention to what was going on (ie try to avoid the dangerous trap of Christians who view the Lord's miracles with a sort of bored "I knew that" attitude similar to the guy in the crowd who keeps giving away the magicians tricks). 
	Let's understand this event in the surrounding context: What had just happened before? TWO things: John the Baptists execution and burial, and the disciples amazing miraculous road tour. We know from Mt 14:13 that jesus seemed to take the news of Johns martyrdom hard, desiring to pull back for a while, retreat and think and pray "apart" from the maddening herd of gawkers, desperate cripples and half-hearted believers for a LITTLE while at least. The disciples were coming back from an exhilarating but most surely exhausting whirl-wind combat preaching tour filled with wonders,and miracles and rejections; they were excited, but worn out too; they ALSO needed some R&R. The point to consider was that NONE of them were especially in "peak" condition to jump immediately into another round of preaching, healing or teaching. BUT such WAS the case they found themselves in: Jesus "felt compassion"; the Gr implies a DEEP INNER sense of burden and concern for the growing mob of people. 
	So FIRST, I want us to consider again the heart and character of our Saviour. See His never ending river of love, compassion and tenderness for US! For you see, WE USED to be in that crowd; THEY were NO different from US before we came to know the Lord: they are parents, business men, blue collar workers; bankers, and bakers and candle stick makers. Same as in ANY town. And they are LOST as surely as WE were on that day when WE saw our terrible lost condition, realized our unbearable debt of sin before a righteous God and FOUND in Jesus our blessed HOPE of salvation NOW and for ALL eternity. Jesus saw them and compelled by His love for them, taught them and healed them. 
	OK, so where are the disciples during all this? THEY are standing around watching the CLOCK. THEY can see the sun dropping down, and THEY can see that they are out in the STICKS! I mean flat out in the middle of NO WHERE! 
	WHERE are their hearts FOCUSED? ON THE PROBLEM, NOT on the SAVIOUR! By the time they interrupt Jesus, they have already assessed the problem ("OOH, about TEN THOUSAND people standing or sitting around, some of whom are starting to look a little bit HUNGRY!) INCLUDING their assessment of the probable costs ("about 200 denarii", equaling 200 days wages for the ave Joe Working stiff) AND their ULTIMATE assessment of their resources ("WE AIN'T GOT SQUAT!!"). Given these seemingly incontestable bits of fact, they had already formulated a plan, BASED on their assessment, BASED on THEIR LIMITATIONS: LET'S GET THE HECK OUTTA DODGE! Tell all these folks "HEY! You're on your OWN!!".
	Jesus then scares the living daylights out of them. In response to THEIR plan He says, "YOU give them something to eat...!". The Gr for "YOU" was even EMPHASIZED in the text. In Johns account Jesus even casually turns to Philip, who was from this local area of Bethsaida, and inquires of him as to "where" they could get the food, as if asking, "Hey Phil, got a couple of THOUSAND of my friends here, can you recommend a good restaurant??!" 
	Philips response is to rather bluntly point out that "WHERE" was NOT a really big issue since the "HOW" was absolutely out of range! John, looking back on that time, comments that Jesus was "testing" Philip, since Jesus already KNEW what He was going to do. Remember from last Sunday, a test is merely a way for someone to find out something about someone else (usually a teacher trying to find out about a student), BUT HERE, the "test" is REALLY designed NOT to tell Jesus something "new" about Philip (a little HARD for GOD to learn something NEW, EH?), BUT RATHER, to help PHILIP find out something NEW about JESUS. 
	BUT, the disciples were INACCURATE in their assessment. They did NOT have NOTHING. Jesus MADE them go and look, to discover what in fact WAS "available". Imagine their FAILURE to get excited when Andrew reports back what their RE-assessment has NOW revealed, "Well, instead of NOTHING, we ACTUALLY have exactly FIVE loaves of bread (probably harsh rye bread typical to poorer folk) AND TWO WHOLE FISH (probably salted and dried or roasted)". WHOOOOO!!! BIG DEAL!! I can SEE them all rolling their eyes at this late breaking news flash. I can hear them snorting "AGH! How TRIVIAL! HOW INSIGNIFICANT! HOW INADEQUATE!!". This situation has NOW gone from being very embarrasing to down right RIDICULOUS! I mean REALLY, Lord, QUIT FOOLING AROUND! We don't need some kids Happy meal, WE need a major CATERER AND one who works unbelievably CHEAP! 
	How often WE feel the same way! How often WE see ourselves and say "NOPE! Nothing HERE! There is NOTHING in ME that would qualify ME to be a useful servant in THIS or any OTHER church!" "WHAT? ME help minister to OTHERS?! NO WAY! I CAN'T!" THAT IS ABSOLUTELY FALSE! God's word clearly states that ALL who are in Christ HAVE BEEN GIVEN (NOT EARNED, GIVEN!) SPIRITUAL GIFTS designed specifically FOR the building up of the body of Christ, OUR CHURCH, and for accomplishing God's plans for our lives! Like that little boy with the much maligned box lunch, it may not LOOK like much, BUT JUST SEE WHAT THE LORD JESUS DOES WITH IT! We MUST realize that what WE see as being "available" in us is NOT what the Lord see's, NOR does it constitute any limitation to HIM. It is NO EXCUSE, EITHER! That boy offered WHAT HE HAD and Jesus MADE it MORE than ENOUGH! 
	Jesus TELLS the 12 to seat the crowds in a manner suited to the easy distribution of the meals. UNDERSTAND. The apostles genuinely WANTED to serve Jesus, and so though they STILL were not able to see the solution, the disciples decided to comply, they obeyed, they acted on what they DID know. AT LEAST THEY WERE WILLING TO DO WHAT THEY COULD WITH WHAT JESUS HAD GIVEN THEM SO FAR: HIS COMMAND TO SIT THEM DOWN. 
	Then Jesus, serving as the host at this impromptue bar-b-q, spoke the customary Jewish blessing over the miniture meal. The words gave thanks are from eulogeo meaning to "praise, extol, or to bless"; the object of the blessing was NOT the food, IT WAS GOD THE FATHER WHO HAD GIVEN THE FOOD TO THEM. 
	Then He broke the loaves, divided the fish AND GAVE THEM TO THE DISCIPLES. The Gr here is POWERFUL: it LIT means "KEPT GIVING"; this imperfect tense of the verb indicates the bread multiplied in Jesus hands WHILE he was giving it out; HE WAS MAKING IT AS HE WAS BREAKING IT! 
	OK, we KNOW what Jesus was doing, but what about the DISCIPLES? What were THEY doing all this time? THEY WERE FEEDING THE PEOPLE JUST AS JESUS HAD TOLD THEM TO! But HOW!? Did they have any money yet? NO! Had they found more food somewhere else?? NO!! They STILL had NO money, and NO food to give out on their own! So HOW could they be FEEDING people? They had FINALLY quit looking at THEIR limitations, and had STARTED to LOOK UPON JESUS as He PROVIDED the food TO them. 
	QUESTION: Did Jesus NEED the disciples to pass out the chow? NO! He had JUST CREATED matter out of NOTHINGNESS! Logistics would NOT have been a problem! So WHY have the doubting cranky disciples do it? So they could SEE His provisions, and PERSONALLY EXPERIENCE HIS ABILITY TO USE EVEN THEIR CRUMMY INADEQUATE RESOURCES. Jesus WANTS us to participate in what He's doing in our church and in the world; He lets US pass out HIS provisions, food we neither brought NOR believed in when before showed up!  
	The disiples had started with the same vision problem we can have: they were focused on the wrong thing! They saw the apparant smallness of their own lives resources, and failed for that moment to gaze upon the Lord Who loved them and WANTS to demonstrate HIS provision THROUGH OUR seemingly tiny gifts. In the end, they DID get to participate, to experience FIRST HAND His ability to provide and use THEM while doing it. 
	So what ARE the qualifications for succesful servanthood and personal ministry for us to follow? The disciples, as well as all the other brothers and sisters written about in God's Word ultimately showed three qualities that WE ALSO can have:
		1. Their attention, their HOPE, their focus was (finally) on JESUS!
		2. Their hearts yearned to serve the Lord and the Body of Christ EVEN IF imperfectly and with faltering hands!
		3. Their hearts yearned to GROW in Jesus, in order to BECOME BETTER servants!

SO, WHO fed the five thousand? JESUS did THROUGH His disciples because they had focused eyes, open willing hands and hungry hearts.