Introduction:
•    When I hold this golf club in my hand, it’s just a #1 wood that I usually slice badly. But when you place this club in the hands of Tiger Woods, it turns into PGA championships.
•    When I place this glove on my hand, I am somewhat able to play softball in a pick up game with other semi-ambulatory old geezers. But, put this glove on Derek Jeter, you have World Series titles.
•    When I place this paintbrush in my hand I can produce something that somewhat resembles a picture as long as the paint by numbers doesn’t involve any math. But in the hands of a master like Picasso or Monet you get a priceless work of art.

The bottom line is that if you place whatever you have in the right hands, you’ll get amazing results. So why can’t we do that with God?
•    Imagine what God could do if you placed your finances in his hands?
•    Imagine what God could do if you placed your marriage in his hands?
•    Imagine what God could do if you placed your life in his hands?

While we often say we do just that...in reality we almost always hold something back, for us, because we think we can handle it ourselves.

This is what we see in our very familiar text this morning.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Jn 6:1 (pg 814 in the church Bibles). Here we will see what happens when we place what seems to be impossible in the hands of Jesus.

I. John 6:1-4        The Setting
Read: Jn. 6:1-4

Let’s walk through these verses.
•    ‘Some time after this’ We know from the other Gospels that a year or more has passed since John last wrote about Jesus’ activities..
•    ‘a great crowd of people followed him’ We know from Matthews account of this event that there were 5000 men and that means with women and children there were anywhere from 10-20 thousand people total following Jesus around the countryside. Why were they all following him?
•    ‘because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick’. Perhaps they were sick, perhaps they were thrill seekers, perhaps they thought he might be the Messiah and wanted to be on the inside, perhaps they were just curious. They all had a reason for following Jesus.

Transition: Picture this in your mind. Jesus and his disciples are walking around the countryside and 10-20 thousand people are following them…to see what Jesus will do next. But now the people were getting hungry and tired. Knowing this, Jesus had compassion for them and wanted to do something about their situation. As impossible as it may have seemed at the time.

II. John 6:5-6        The Impossible Task
Read: Jn. 6:5-6

The text tells us that Jesus already knew what he was going to do but it seems he wanted the disciples to agonize a bit. He wanted them to see that it was an impossible situation. And then see how they would respond.

Is there something else? Yes. Those who participated in the Experiencing God small group will remember that God always shows us what he is doing so that we can join him in his work. Jesus is doing the same thing here with his disciples. He gives them the opportunity to join him in what he is about to do.

Jesus is asking his disciples to trust him and to help him feed these people, even though they don’t know how it is going to be done.

Transition: So how do his disciples respond? How do they join Jesus in his work?

III. John 6:7-9    The Responses
Read: Jn. 6:7-9

The disciples must have looked at each other with faces full of wonder...what is Jesus talking about? This is not possible? While we don’t know exactly what all the disciples thought, we do know how 2 of them responded to Jesus’ outrageous idea.

Phillip: Phillip’s response came directly from the checkbook. “We don’t have enough money to do what you are asking, even if there was a place to buy food. We don’t have the resources to do what you are asking, Jesus.”

Phillips response lacked faith, even though he had seen Jesus do miraculous things in the past. This is now, this is impossible, it can’t be done. Jesus was thinking about meeting people’s needs and Phillip was thinking how it wasn’t in the budget. God, forgive us for the Phillip in all of us. How many times have we said we can’t do what God is calling us to do because we don’t have the resources: money, equipment, time or staff? Scripture proves over and over again, when God calls, God provides. We need to respond with faith, join him at his work and trust that he will provide all that we need.

If Phillip was a realist, Andrew was a dreamer.

Andrew: Andrew must have walked though the crowd and spied a young boy who brought the lunch his mom packed for him. 5 small loaves of barley bread (each about the size of a dinner roll) and 2 fish (each about the size of a sardine) I can imagine the other disciples rolling their eyes and saying ‘You’ve got to be kidding, is that all you got? Get real Andrew, what are you thinking?’

I think Andrew’s response showed perhaps a little faith. He knew it was impossible to feed 10-20
thousand people with the boys lunch…but Jesus had done some miraculous things…perhaps?

Do you notice something about both Phillip and Andrews response? Both turned away from Jesus in order to get the job done. Ultimately both flunked the test because they failed to see that with Jesus all things are possible.

ILL: Cobra Motto

What was the correct response? The response of faith! “Jesus, this is impossible, it can’t be done, unless you do it.” That should be our response to seemingly impossible situations in our lives as well.

Transition: What happens when we place the impossible in Jesus’ hands? He does the impossible.

IV. John 6: 10-13    The Impossible Made Possible
Read: Jn. 6:10-13

Imagine in your mind what this looked like…Jesus telling the people to sit down on the shaded side of the mountain, in the cool grass and wait to be fed by Jesus. Sounds a little like this, doesn’t it?

Read: Ps 23:1ff  ‘ The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.my cup overflows.’

The promise of God is that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Now, notice two very important words… ‘gave thanks’. John says Jesus thanked the Father for the food, even before any miracle took place. Perhaps this is to teach us to be grateful for whatever we have…a little or a lot. And to be thankful for what God will do in our lives…even before he does it.

Also notice that 12 baskets of leftovers were collected. You may not know that when traveling, the disciples would have carried a basket for food and other necessary items. So each disciple had a basket of food to take with them. Put that somewhere in a safe place and remember it.

Transition: The people witness a miracle. How do they respond?

V. John 6:14-15    King or Christ?         
Read: Jn. 6:14-15

The other Gospels tells us that Jesus not only fed the people this day, he also healed the sick and taught them. The people’ plates were full..in so many ways. And they got fired up.

We need to remember that people in Jesus’ day knew much more Scripture than we do today. This is why Jesus’ words and actions that day perhaps reminded the people of Moses’ words in Deut. 18:15 ‘The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.’

Jesus recognizes that the people are about to try and force  him to be king. But not the kind of king Jesus came to be. That wanted to make Jesus into their image of a king. But Jesus can never be made into the image of what we want him to be. We are to be made in the image of what Jesus wants us to be. So, John writes that Jesus left the area, he took off to a lonely deserted mountain to be alone.

Transition: The parties over. What happens next? Lets look.

VI. John 6:16-21    Christ Over All Situations?
Read: Jn 6:16-21

Jesus sent his disciples to the other side of the lake, where he would catch up with them later. Since they took the boat they probable thought he was going to walk around the lake. Well, things got bad on the lake and a sudden gale threatened the lives of the disciples in the small boat.

Jesus, wanting to avoid the crowds, takes a short cut across the water. While walking, on the water, to the other side of the lake, he catches up with the disciples who are being ravaged by the storm. The disciples see Jesus, walking on the water, and are terrified, not just of the storm but that Jesus had died and they were seeing a ghost. Jesus, knowing their fears, reassures them that it’s him. And he tells them not to be afraid.

Another miracle occurred here besides Jesus walking on the water. When Jesus entered the boat they found themselves immediately safe on shore. And you thought teleportation came from Star Trek.

Should the disciples have been afraid of the storm when Jesus wasn’t with them? Perhaps? It would have been the natural thing to do. But, didn’t they have a reminder of Jesus’ presence, power, and provision for those who followed him? Remember the 12 baskets of food? They were probably sitting at the feet of each of the disciples in the boat as they battled the storm. Jesus wanted them to have a reminder of his presence, power and provision…but again they failed.

Don’t be too hard on them. We have a constant reminder of Jesus’ presence, power and provision…the Holy Spirit. Do we always listen to him? No. Jesus wanted them to know that even though they were ravaged by the water, even though escape seems impossible, Jesus does the impossible.

Conclusion

Lets pull this together with a few points of application.

1.    Jesus commands us to do more than we are humanly able, because he enables us to do what he commands. This means what is over our heads is always under his feet.
2.    The magnitude of the task should not be used as an excuse for not attempting it, especially when it is the Lord’s will. This means we never assess a challenge in light of our own ability to get it done.
3.    God multiplies our resources to accomplish his will. This means little is much when we place it in God’s hands.
4.    God will ask us to do the impossible so that we and others can see him at work. This means he uses impossible situations to reveal himself to an unbelieving world.

Is there something in your life that seems impossible for you to handle?

Is there something God is calling this church to do that seems impossible with our limited size and resources?

We all must remember, with God all things are possible.