DEVOTIONAL

Prayers: Father God, As I read your most holy word, please speak to me, encourage me, and help me to live out your words through Jesus Christ my Lord, through Him and in Him in the unity-ty of the Holy spirit all Honour and Glory be yours today and always and Father God, I come before your throne of grace and mercy, I confess and acknowledge I have sinned against you in thought and deed, today I ask to forgive me and, in your grace, purify my heart, cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. And in your great love lead me and help me to walk in the paths of righteousness, so that I may bring glory to you the one triune God. Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy. I now receive your forgiveness and mercy in the name of my Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.

Scripture Reading for Prayer and Praise: Psalm 150:2

"2 Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.” 

Worship Song Sung or Said: To God Be The Glory (Fanny Crosby)

https://youtu.be/3vbGFupxwu0

To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life our redemption to win,
And opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
  And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

2

Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truly believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
  And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

3

Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the earth hear His voice;
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
  Let the people rejoice;
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
  And give Him the glory; great things He hath done.

God’s Word for Today: Matthew 14:13-21

"13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place.” Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.” 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late.” Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, They do not need to go away.” You give them something to eat.” 17 We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered.” 18 Bring them here to me, he said.” 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass.” Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.” Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people.” 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.” 

Devotional/Study:

This morning we are looking at Jesus Christ's amazing miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Apart from Jesus' resurrection, this is the only miracle that appears in all four Gospels. This miracle is amazing because it shows us Jesus' love and His power. Jesus is having a tough week. He’d been traveling around, teaching about God’s kingdom, everything was going fine. Then he comes to his home town of Nazareth, and no one wants to listen. After he leaves Nazareth, he gets the terrible news that John the Baptist, his cousin, has just been killed by Herod. 

On hearing the news of John the Baptist's death Jesus and the disciples got into a boat and withdrew to a solitary place somewhere near a city called Bethsaida.

It seems that John's death affected Jesus so deeply that He wanted to be alone. In the gospel of john, we are told that Jesus went up on the mountain with His disciples. That’s where we pick up the story today, with Jesus going out for some alone time. I would suggest Jesus seeks quietness, rest, and time for reflection to grieve and pray and reflect on what had happened. 

The people discover Jesus has gone across the lake by boat; we are told "the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.” v13. They travelled long distances from to be near Jesus and were determined to see Jesus for all kinds of reason. People followed Jesus not because they thought he was a nice man or because he was interesting. It was because they saw the signs, he had performed by healing the sick. John 6:2 

Some wanted to know who He was, and wondering if Jesus was the long-awaited messiah. Maybe some of them were to see the show.  As I was thinking about this it raised a question for me. Why do we come to Church, why do we worship Jesus? Do we really know who He is? As soon as Jesus landed, the rest was over because a large crowd waited on the shore as he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and we are told He had compassion for them v14. The word here literally means to be moved in one’s guts. His heart went out toward them. We read in Mark 6:34 "they were like sheep without a shepherd.” 

Despite his weariness, Jesus was moved by his compassion for these people because they were lost and longing for a shepherd, and he was the true shepherd. Instead of resting or sending the crowd away, we are told in Luke 9:11 "He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.” 

Although Jesus had hoped to be alone with the disciples for a time of rest, he did not send away this needy crowd. Instead of rejecting them He embraces the opportunity to teach them and heal the sick among them. Jesus showed compassion to a people who were desperate, a people who were waiting for God to rescue them, a people who were waiting for the Messiah to save them. A people, who were longing for hope and healing,

Everything is going well, and it’s getting to be evening. And the disciples notice a small problem– there’s no food and the place where Jesus had been teaching was deserted, far from any town or village. So, they go to Jesus and say to Him "This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus responds by saying in v15-16 "They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” The disciples must have been taken aback at this response. Now, put yourselves in the disciple’s place. We would be thinking, Give them some food!? What food!? The disciples are willing to help, but they don’t know what to do. 

They noticed the problem, but cannot do anything about it. This was a major crisis and they had no power or means to solve it. Their answer to Jesus’ question is this in v17 "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”  John 6 gives us a more detail telling us that the food came from a lad that Andrew had found with "five barley loaves and two fish.” All that was available was this boy’s lunch. I am sure we can all picture what’s going through their heads. In the gospel of Mark version of this story they say to Jesus in Mark 6:37 That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat? 

At this stage the disciples could only see the impossibility of the situation. Then Jesus something amazing He directs the people to sit down on the grass. And then Jesus took the loaves and fish, looked up to heaven, thanked God beforehand for the provision he was about to give, and then broke the loaves. As Jesus broke the loaves, the miracle occurred. 

The miracle occurred in Jesus' hands. He broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to then give to the people. He did the same thing with the fish. The disciples than fed the crowds, numbering five thousand men, plus women and children. Everyone had enough to eat, and they gathered up the leftovers.   Jesus did what the disciples thought to be impossible. He multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed over five thousand people. This was an incredible miracle because the disciples saw with their own eyes a miracle that no ordinary man could perform. What Jesus did here was humanly impossible but it was possible because of who He Jesus was the one and only true God.                                                                                                                       

I wonder what image you get when Jesus looked to God in prayer, blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to the disciples to be distributed. Well, it reminds us of the Holy Communion. What an extraordinary moment that was for the disciples and the people. There are many things we can learn from this passage however for me it reveals amazing things about Jesus our Lord and saviour that the Jesus we worship is the most loving person the world has ever lived and we know the ultimate revelation of His love was what he did on the cross.                                                                                                                     

What this miracle shows us is the love and care he had for the people. He provided for their needs physically and spiritually. Jesus was emotionally moved and showed His compassion even to some of those who would reject Him. Jesus touched the lives of those who were seeking Him and today He will touch your life and bring healing and wholeness if you seek Him. Regardless of what state or situation you may find yourself in today, Jesus is able and willing to meet your needs. You can bring your troubles to Him because in Jesus you will find sympathy, compassion, and a love. 

The feeding of the five thousand demonstrated his control and power over creation. In this miracle we see something truly amazing we see the humanity of Jesus and the deity of Jesus. I wonder what the disciples were thinking at this time. Remember the story of the stilling of the storm. After Jesus had stilled the storm, the disciples said in Mark 4:41 "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" What a wonderful saviour we have. 

Personal Prayers: