Never Not Enough

Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast and I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message. This week, we want to look at a scripture in John chapter six, verses one through thirteen. I'll read it and I may interrupt myself if I get excited about something that I see while I'm reading, and you just hang in there with me,

Are you excited? Say ah?

Sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is the Sea of Tiberius, and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. At this point, they are following him for the stuff he can give, not for who he is. It is the first stage of following Christ. At first, you follow him because of what he can do for you. Progress with him long enough, and your question will no longer be what can he do for you?

It will be what can He do through you? Now Jesus is on a boat. We studied about the boat in a previous week. We learned that.

Jesus picked Peter not because he was such a great preacher, but because he had a car or a boat in this case. You know how some friends that you have you have because they can give you a ride. Well, Peter was like that for Jesus in some sense, some kidding, of course, but the truth needed transportation. Jesus is the Truth, and in order for the Word to get out is going to take a vehicle. It's going to take a vessel,

Here. Jesus is so successful that.

He can't even get away for a little bit of a retreat you see in verse three. Then Jesus went up on a mountain side and sat down with his disciples.

The Jewish Passover feast was near.

When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread for.

These people to eat?

And he asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

He already knew what he was going to do.

Can I tell you something about Jesus hanging on that cross while everybody wept and thought that the light of the world was extinguished.

He already knew what he was going to do.

Can I tell you about every situation in your life that you didn't see a way out before God ever lets you get in it. He already knew what he was going to do to bring you out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.

I can't find any help.

At elevation Ballatie to preach about the way maper. So Jesus is messing with Philip because he is the Messiah after all. Whatever Philip answered him, I think he took a little while before he answered, because he gives a pretty precise calculation.

He doesn't guesstimate. He says eight months wages. Hold on a second. If we took eight months.

Wages, we still couldn't pass a crumb out to everybody who came to hear you preach.

It's five thousand men out here. Many of them brought their wives.

Crumb snatching kids are running around. Eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite.

And another of his disciples, Andrew Simon.

Peter's brother, spoke up, here's a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.

But how far will they go amongst so many?

And Jesus said, have the people sit down and be humble. There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.

Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks.

Huh can you say thank you over a little bit? Can you be grateful over what seems to you not enough? If I look at this passage. I see the theme not enough. Look, it's not enough. Now the Bible says in verse ten, there's plenty of grass, but we don't need grass.

We need grub, and it's not enough.

But Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks over what was not enough, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted.

And he did the same with the fish.

And when they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces that are left over.

Let nothing be wasted.

So they gathered and filled twelve baskets. Each of them got to take one home, twelve disciples, twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left.

Over by those who had eaten.

I told the Lord I didn't want to preach this text because I preached it so many times before that there would be many in the church who would think I didn't have time to study this week. And I reached and grabbed something from Sunday School. And plus, I said, all the Sunday school people in the church are going to look at me judgmentally when I read the text about the feeding of the five thousand, because.

I already know this starring, and I.

Know how it ends, and I know I am aout the little Boy, and I know i'mbout the leftovers, and nothing you can say about John chapter six now I don't already know, and I already know that this is the miracle, the only miracle other than the Resurrection that is recorded in all four of the Gospels. And so are you really going to bring me out here today and preach about this little Bible vacation, Bible school, backyard

Bible like you see the Bible.

I think the Bible is a good starting place, but he said, I look at the Bible as basic instructions before leaving Earth you know b ibl e And just because you can make an acronym out of it doesn't mean it's true. He said, the Bible is a good place to start, but then you should progress past the Bible. I've never had that problem, because for me, the Bible is not only a starting place for me to understand my own life, life, my own needs, my own psychology, my own psychopathy, that a thing.

My own. Is not only a.

Place for me to discover who God is in his fullness.

But I find that the.

More I read the Bible, the more the Bible starts reading me. And so something so simple as this story can unfold with new layers and levels of meaning, not only from the customary background in which it was written, but also in seasons of our life. We will see our needs differently, and there may be a sense in which the driving point of this passage is what.

To do when there is not enough.

I thought it would be a good time of year to preach about not enough, in a time of year where there is so much demand and so little supply, so little time here in Charlotte, we have people all over the world. It's getting dark right now, about two thirty in the afternoon.

Not enough. They like, not enough patience.

Do any of you have any family members that there is no supply.

Of patients that could equip you? Oh, y'all are gonna look at me like that? Not enough. I like this author named Brene Brown. She's you. Like Brene.

She says that the mantra of our day is never enough. She says we live in an age of never enough. And she's right because no matter how much information we seem to put out into the world, we come up with more ignorance, less wisdom.

She says that often we wake up.

In the morning and our first thought is I didn't get enough sleep. We go to bed at night and I didn't get enough done. We earn a lot of money, but we don't have enough opportunity to enjoy it. We have opportunity to enjoy our lives where we don't have enough money to get out the house.

Never enough.

But when I read the passage this week in preparation for the season that we're in as a church, God spoke something new to me. When I began to realize that this in John chapter six is the collision of too much and not enough.

And God said, I want you to realize that.

With my spirit within you and the power of my word on your lips. In Christ, who is enough, in Christ, who before all things.

Existed, was all things, and now.

Is the Word made flesh to dwell among us in Christ. You are never not enough. Say it with me, never not enough. I don't know what a little bit of bread you've got in your cupboard today, but I want to tell you, in the hand of the Master, it is.

Never not enough.

I feel a spirit of faith rising up.

It's never not enough.

Push your neighbors so hard they think they're gonna fall over. Tell them it's never not enough. It is never not enough. And what a powerful practical passage where we can see this principle illustrated dynamically. Never not enough, Never say it, never not enough, never not enough, never not enough, never not enough, never not enough, even in a draw, even in a famine, never not enough. God will send a bird to drop food where you are, if you will be in position.

It is never not enough.

I got a little bit of oil, Gets your a little bit of oil. Get some jars from your neighbors. It's never not enough. Give me something to feel. I'll fill it. It's never not enough. I thought scarce was a situation, but now I found out it's a sensation. Because I found out that there can never be enough money to make you feel like you have enough. Until God within you becomes enough.

It will never be.

I thought enough people could compliment you where you would get enough compliments, where you would have confidence. But I found out that if Christ is not the cornerstone of your core concept of yourself and your character, it'll never be enough. But now, when He speaks over my life, who I am in him and what I have because of Him, there is no shortage in this world that can disconnect me from my supply. You hear what I appreciate to you this Christmas season.

It's enough. And the disciples are going to learn this.

And in order to learn this, there are three things they must do. I would love for you to take that pen that we generously gave you because of the financial support of our ministry partners and write these three points down. And the first thing that the disciples had to do that we must do if we are to receive what God has promised to us. Because God's promises are optional. Though they were promises, they are but the promise is always attached to a principle, and you cannot

Peace is produced by.

A process, and so it is provision. Both are in the passage. But the first thing we must do to receive all that God has will to supply is to do what many of you are doing, especially in the first few rows today, lean In.

Lean In, I mentioned.

That this miracle is recorded in all four gospels. It seems to be an insignificant miracle to record in all four gospels. I don't mean that it's not cool. It's very cool, very impressive, very entertaining.

But to choose one miracle.

To record across Matthew's gospel his record, and Mark's gospel his record, and Luke's gospel his record, and then.

John wants to talk about it too.

When we see people getting up off of stretchers when Jesus walks through the street, and that's not in all four gospels. We see little girls being raised from the dead. Even Lazarus didn't make all four gospels.

But this little boy did with some barley bread.

Barley bread, the cheapest bread available in the day.

This is not a yeast roll, This is not a cheese biscuit. This is not even pumper nickel.

And yet it's recorded in all four gospels, which is fortunate because John leaves something out that I need to know about the situation that created the provision. Okay, And what John says is verse one. Sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore, like it was a good time for a retreat and a good time for a buffet.

The time when you finally.

Get five minutes for a shower and hear somebody banging on the door of the shower.

This is the situation for Jesus.

He is finally on the boat and he gets up to situate.

And he sits down.

To tell his disciples whatever he wants to tell him, and here come people. Write it down. Your greatest opportunities will come at the most inconvenient times. You won't be in a good mood, you won't feel ready, you won't have an extra fifteen thousand dollars laying around, and no kids.

Going to college.

Uh, God is going to show up in a time of shortage to see do you really trust me or do you trust stuff?

That's the question.

And the disciples first instinct it was a pretty logical one.

It's Jesus.

Jesus is irrational, and Jesus will just teach people all day long.

Who needs to be healed? I got all day I'm eternal.

But the disciples it was like, hey, man, probably they should.

Eat and Matthew Records it.

He said that the disciples came to Jesus with the suggestion send the crowds away. Okay, there is always a temptation to send away the very thing that God sent to supply you with, the very thing you prayed for. Remember, they followed him because they wanted to make a difference. Now here comes a chance to make a difference, and they do this because they were operating by this. They were operating by this, not by this send them away.

They wouldn't have had lunch. Can I tell you how I know that?

Because it was a little boys lunch that ended up feeding the multitude.

Not Peters.

Peter didn't pack a sandwich. Why are you pointing that out? Because the very provision was in the inconvenience, you see it. It was what they wanted to go away, that was carrying what they needed that they signed up for in the first place. And so when you come to church, there are certain things that the preacher will say that you will lean into because your neighbor needs to hear that, because you've been trying to tell your husband, and would you Please listen to Pastor Steve and he's.

Saying something important stuff right now, and you lean in to that.

Can I tell you the word that you need the most in your life is the one that you resist at first, that one that makes you cross your arms and look at me like you think you're Connor McGregor.

That word, that's the one you need to lean into.

The one that makes you uncomfortable, the one that makes the one that makes something inside of you conflict with something else inside of you.

That's the tension that produces growth.

That's the one, the one, the one that challenges your comfort zone.

That's the one that's.

The one to lean into, even if you got to lean in with crossed eyes, even if you got to lean in with sweaty palms. It is the word that God brings to you that you most fiercely resist at first, that often releases the resource that you need the most. So are you leaned in to where we're going as a church in this season? Because not everybody is. Some people come to church and sit back, and sit back

Lean in to.

The difficult conversations if you want to stay married. It was the thing they wanted to send away that held the supply that they needed to accomplish the mission.

That they signed up for.

And that's why the man said, Ah, he's leaning in.

That's why we give with a cheerful heart. I'm leaned in. I'm leaned in.

How can you be a part of what you're not leaned in towards? How can you receive from God if your posture is this? But if you lean in I'm not talking about physical posture is fine. I know you got a back thing and you're paying attention, but you just need some lumbar support. I know. I'm talking about the posture of your heart.

Blake me.

The posture of your Heartlake Norman, and the posture of your heart is most reflected in where.

You put your treasure. Your treasure. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So they had to lean in. And here's the second thing that they had to do, not only to lean in to the situation that they wanted to send away, but after they had

Watch it again. Verse three, Jesus went.

Up on a mountain and sat down with his disciples verse five when he looked up. So it matters your vantage point in terms of what your decisions will be. It matters where you're seeing it from, It matters at what altitude you are looking at. Your situation, what conclusions you will come to now?

I would suggest to you that the only reason.

Jesus was able to see the needs of the crowd is because he saw them from Heaven's perspective. If he had not been on that mountain side seeking the will of his father in Heaven, he would have seen the people.

As an inconvenience.

But because he had been on the mountain side spending time with God, when when they saw an inconvenience, he saw an invitation.

It was where he.

Saw it from that determined what he saw.

And if you look at your.

Life from the level of your life, you will only ever see problems obstacles.

If you ever look.

At your life from the vantage point of your heavenly Father, who knows the hairs on your head, and not one sparrow falls from the sky, you will not see shortage. You will see opportunity. You will see space for God to move, You will see room for God to maneuver. But you have to you have to go up to look down. This is such a powerful principle. If you

But there are two ways of processing information.

One is called bottom up, one is called top down. Bottom up processing is when you look at something and don't have knowledge about it, and so the way you look at it is based on your visual or sensory perception of it. It would be like you looking at this microphone. You would know certain things about this microphone. Through your sensus. You would see that it is perhaps

And he would tell you he knows more.

About this microphone than he knows about his wife.

Is scary? Is scary?

They'll go on and on, how is a special thing on the microphone? And which battery and what all these little numbers mean on the microphone?

Why?

Because he brings his knowledge and experience to the situation. That's not bottom up processing. This is called top down processing. It means I take what I know and I apply it to what I see. So I don't start with what I see and guess about what it is.

I start with.

What I know because of what I've seen, and I apply it to.

What I'm looking at now.

So I want to ask a question, Church, are you living life from the bottom up or the top down?

Because when you have a revelation of.

The faithfulness of God, I'm trying not to holler, Hollywood, I'm getting excited. When you see him move the mountains in your life. You look at the next mountain, You look at the next need, you look at the next man, you look at the liath, you stare him down and say, God's got this.

I've been there, done that, But the slink shut. Bring it on.

I got my stick up to this too.

I'm living from the top down. And the word.

Became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. I know his glory. I know he's good. I know he's a provider. He's Jehovah Zira. He's been there for me. He'll see me through.

Tot.

Somebody say I know something, I know something, I know something. Jesus knew something that they didn't know, because he came from somewhere they hadn't been.

The only way I know.

This is because of what he said later in John chapter six, and it was the first of seven statements that he made that started with two English words, I am. The background of this phrase is so sacred. It is the very name that God gave Moses. When Moses wanted to know how. God did not answer the how, he answered the who never not enough. He left a blank.

I am.

I am what you need I am.

So he performs the miracle. He feeds the people.

And then he reveals his identity and he says something very challenging to his Jewish audience. I am the bread of life.

If you're hungry, I am enough for every appetite.

Do you believe this or do you have to go get your needs met somewhere outside of God.

I am the bread of life.

When you bring your offering next weekend, you will be declaring who God is to you. Is he a bare minimum, is he an insurance policy?

Or is he the bread of life? He said?

I am the bread of life. So what you're searching for, I supply.

What you need.

I am the next thing, he said, refers to darkness. For the times that you live in confusion. I am the light of the world. There will never be so much darkness that my light cannot guide your path. The world will never get so dark that the witness of a unified church cannot shine brightly the love of God. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. But this light is not up you. It shines through you. I am the bread of life. If you're hungry, I am the light for

I am your way out. I am your way in.

Feel trapped, I am feel stuck. I am feel locked out, feel feel feel unincluded.

I am feel unwonted.

I am I am passage to greener pastures. Not only am I the gate, I am the good shepherd.

You need some direction in your life.

Get behind me and follow me through the valley, through the pain, through the toil, through the pestilence.

Follow me. I am the resurrection. Even if it.

Does if I say, get up, it's gotta live. I am the Resurrection and the Life. I am the true vibe. If you feel disconnected, hook up with me. You looked up with everybody else and they left you like they found you. But when you get connected to this, I am the true vibe. I am the Way, the truth, and the life, and I'm making a way for everybody who will walk by faith. Shout if you.

Believe you.

I'm seated in heavenly places with Christ. Philip, shut up for a minute. You're doing your calculations how we can buy bread, and we're standing right in front of bread. He is what you don't think you have enough of thank God for Andrew. Andrew saves the day Philip from the bottom up.

Let's see, it's about five thousand million, and.

There are CPA anointing on Philip about to mess up the whole miracle, and that will always mess it up. Okay, are you going to do this by reason or revelation? Well, let's see they're doing the offering at the church. Honey, I think we'll give them a little bit on nerves over there, and then a little bit to the fire department and it'll just be great.

Want to be wonderful. He wasn't wrong. What he said was correct.

It was just incomplete, just failed to account for the greatest resource they had.

So watch this, watch this, lean in, look down, listen up.

The Bible says something it never says again. Here Andrew spoke up. You never see him talk again in the whole Bible except this one time. And thank God he talked, because what he said next led to a miracle that all four Gospels would record. He spoke up, He spoke what he spoke up, he was hearing something else. All Philip heard was Reason's excuses.

But Andrew, he hears something different.

In Jesus question he said, women, he wouldn't be asking us this if he didn't know what he was going to do. God will never ask anything for you that He will not give to you. Please believe that. And that's how I can say that my God shall supply all my needs according to his glorious riches from the top down.

As never not enough.

But if you listen down, you'll find a thousand reasons why not to trust, A thousand reasons why not to pray, A thousand reasons why not to forgive? A thousand reasons why not to stay, A thousand reasons why.

Not to participate.

You have an opportunity next weekend to come before God not with empty hands, but with the faith filled heart. We have preached these messages that have built your faith. Many of you have experienced healing in your life, and now you get to make that same way for somebody else. There will be another voice after I put the mic down. It will tell you all the reasons it doesn't make sense. It will be the voice of calculation, not the voice of faith, and it will keep you from seeing what

He asks a question of his own, though, how far will it go?

Among so many? Is that the question isn't enough? Will it even matter? Will I have enough? If I give to God? Will I have enough? It depends on who you think he is. If he is bread, how could you ever need bread? See, there's a question in verse nine, how far will they go?

Among so many?

And I think there's an invisible verse in here that didn't make the final cut. I think it's the verse where Jesus said, you want to find out, bring it to me, because you have seen what it can do in your hands. You have seen how many fish your boat could catch without.

Me in it. Put it in my hands. I'm not giving my offering away next weekend.

I'm transferring ownership to someone who knows what to do with it.

It's an investment.

By the way, where did the twelve baskets come from? You think it's possible that Jesus put them in the boat before they ever got in, because he already.

Knew what he was going to do.

He already knows, he knows all those voices that would keep you from doing it, and he allready knows your needs, and if you have the faith to believe it, I declare that they are all ready met in His name this day. What are you doing in this offering next weekend? I'm living from the top down. I am declaring who God is to me. Father, I thank you for the

Faith without works is dead.

So show them what to do with what they've heard, Show them who you are, and then allow them to see what they're going through through the lens of who you are. We don't want to live by reason. We want to live by revelation. And you are the bread of life. You are the light of the world. You are the Gate, You are the Shepherd. You are the Resurrection and the Light. You are the Vine. You are the Way. And now God, we want to be way makers. We want people to find you through us. That's what

You are enough for me.

Speak to our hearts good, speak to our deepest needs. Made the knowledge of who you are be greater than the fear of what it is or what it's not. I pray that we would see a true mint, this release of faith and a tremendous release of provision on behalf of your people as this year ends. Many need miracles in their families, in their bodies, in their minds, and you are the great I am thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry.

Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

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