Everyday Miracles | Jesus And The Food You Want | Judah Smith

Hey, welcome back. I am so glad you're here. It is the month of May and we've been talking about miracle May, miraculous May. What if in the month of May you could experience and realize a miracle you need or want? Maybe as we're in the third week of May, you're already experiencing a miracle of some kind.

Hey, let us know. We want to hear about it. Um, and if you're still asking, still waiting, believing, we're here for you. We are talking about some of the most normal natural areas God does miracles like miracle in our money, miracle in our food, miracle in our taxes, all different ways um that God does miracles.

And I got good news for you. God cares about the littlest, most ordinary, practical things in your life. I am telling you. And that brings us to this week talking about food. Um, I got a confession to make and this is a weird confession. I'm not sure how it's going to go over or how it's going to land.

And so, in some ways, I'm glad that I'm in a studio and not in a live uh audience. Uh, we should do live studio audiences though. That would be fun. That would be awesome. But, um, I love food. I really do. I look good. I like good food.

Who doesn't like good food? Like, I've never heard anyone ever say like, I don't I don't like good food. I just like ordinary food. No, everybody likes good food. Um, truth be told, 25 years ago, I married Chelsea Renee Smith, and she has brought so many layers and dimensions and depth to my pallet and appetite.

So, babe, thank you. Uh, things like sushi and Thai food now have changed my life. But here's my true confession, and this is going to seem weird, but I forget to eat. It's like a thing. And it's a thing that my wife didn't believe about me. She honestly I would tell her like she's like, "Have you eaten?"

And I'm like, "Oh, I don't know. Uh, I can't remember." But now, our firstborn, Zion at 20 is the same way. It'll be 56 p.m. And you'll ask him, "Have you eaten?" And he'll be like, "Uh, I can't remember. Uh, I don't think so." And and that's me.

So, an ironic topic for me right now. It is 1:19 p.m. and I can tell you I have not eaten yet. Um, I kind of like the feeling of not eating, which is also a weird and bizarre thing. But it seems I am surrounded in my life by foodies.

I mean surrounded. There is a man sitting directly in this direction behind these cameras. His name is Wes. Perhaps you saw him in the introduction overview interview we did together. Uh Wes has been in my life for many, many years. He's currently watching a Champions League soccer match on his laptop while I am sharing the story of Jesus.

Wes, he's a foodie. Wes, he has a problem. Wes obsesses over food. He loves food. Um, I have so many other friends that are foodies, but I particularly wanted to draw your attention to Wes because you can right now in this world that you're in go to the introduction video where Wes and I sit down and talk about this series and perhaps you'll hear about Wes.

Um, he worships food. He struggles worshiping food. That's the bottom line. Okay, he doesn't maybe he doesn't worship it, but as for me, I worship Jesus and I forget about food. So you tell me who's more spiritual. You do the math as they say. Uh the truth is we all love food to an extent.

And um what is my favorite food? What's your favorite food first of all? Think about your favorite food. My favorite food is breakfast food. That's my favorite favorite food in the whole world. I love uh gluten-free pancakes, gluten-free French toast. Uh, I love eggs and cheese. Sourdough toast with a lot of butter and homemade jam.

Get out of town. Okay, now I'm actually remembering I like food and I'm hungry. Uh, I love a good Sunday brunch on any day and at any time. Like an all day cafe is my kind of thing where you can get breakfast for dinner, right? So good. Um, food, like money, is one of those things we think for some odd reason Jesus doesn't care about.

But I got news for you. He cares about the food you want, the food you desire. My friend Joe, who also works on our team here, ordered me, it's now 1:22 p.m. today, ordered me a kale salad. Directly over in this direction is the room where I put on um bronzer or or shirt and that room now smells You ever had a kale salad?

It's it smells like someone died back there. Um and so I'm not sure kale is really my thing. Is that relevant to this message? I'm not entirely sure, but it's food. So Joe, if you can hear me, um I don't want any more of your kale salads because it it literally well smells like a small rodent died in that room.

Um but kale's good for you. So maybe I should maybe I should have kale. The point is we are allowed to enjoy food. We are allowed to talk to God about food. And that brings us to a story for foodies everywhere. I got something exciting to tell you.

Jesus plays chef in this particular story. Supernatural chef, like magical, mystical chef, but he takes five little loaves of bread and two dried fish and he multiplies them to feed what is probably more than 10,000 people. Now, here's the significance. Do you know that this story where Jesus fixes food for 10,000 people is told in all four gospels?

I was going to say gospels, but gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Now, some would argue, the scholars, theologians that if it's recorded in all four, it's even more uh important or prevalent or the point there needs to be made. So, if you like food and you love walking with Jesus, who cares about the food you eat, guess what?

This story is in all four of the gospels in the New Testament. So, that's exciting. Now, I had to choose one to read from. So, I want to take you to our story. Luke chapter 9 and beginning in verse 10. I'm going to read in the Passion Translation.

Check out the story and we're going to talk about Jesus and the food you want. Months later, the apostles returned from their ministry tour and they told Jesus all the wonders and miracles they had witnessed. Jesus wanting to be alone with the 12 quietly slipped away with them towards Bethada.

But the crowd soon found out about it and they took off after him. When they caught up with Jesus, he graciously welcomed them all. I love that about Jesus. He taught them more about God's kingdom realm and healed all who were sick. Now, the day wore on and the 12 came to Jesus and they got practical.

They said to Jesus, "Listen, it's it's it's getting late. We we we we've got to send all these people away. You know, some villages and there's farms. They they got to get something to eat and probably find a place to sleep. There's absolutely nothing to eat out here in the middle of nowhere."

Jesus responds, "Listen." and he says, "You have the food to feed them." It's one of those moments where you're like, "I know like Jesus is never like wrong, but like maybe he's just a little off." And they replied, "All we have are five little loaves and two dried fish.

Do you really expect us to go buy food for all these people? That's not in our in our church budget here, Jesus. Like, that's not in the books. That's not in the budget. We we can't nearly feed 5,000 men here, not even counting the women and the children.

So, we're pushing like an a basketball arena full of people. And he tells the disciples this. He says, "Have them all sit down in groups of 50 each." And now, Chef Jesus starts cooking. After everyone's seated, Jesus takes the littlest lunch in the world. Five little loaves, two dried fish, and while people are seated, I can imagine the scene.

He He looks up to heaven, not because he needs to, but because he's doing it for the people. in the presence of his disciples. He it says he first of all he looks up to heaven and he gives thanks for the food to the father and then he starts breaking off pieces of bread and fish and he starts giving them to his 12 dedicated teenagers if you will and they start dispersing to the crowd.

I love this part. The bread and the fish start multiplying before their eyes. I just I got to see a video of that. It just keeps there's more fish, more bread. And it says, "So everyone ate until they were filled." That's a good verse, by the way. Like if you're like, "I don't know if Jesus is my guy."

Well, Jesus wants you to be full. Want you to eat till you're filled. I love that. It says, "Afterward, the disciples gathered up the leftovers and it came to exactly 12 baskets full." Wow. Couple observations for us to make today. If you're hungry, it matters to Jesus. It matters to Jesus.

He cares about your food. He cares about uh the trouble it is to get the food. He well he multiplies and makes food here for people to eat. We we like to spiritualize it and we will here in a moment but let's not miss the obvious in front of us.

People need to eat. Jesus knows that. So he multiplies food so that they can eat. Not just eat just enough, but eat until they are done eating. In other words, this is pretty much buffet style. And you can go back to the buffet as much as you want.

Now, remember one thing we talked about earlier in the series, the miracle is never about the miracle. It's always about the man who does the miracle. Even the nature of this miracle tells us about the nature of God. I'm going to say it again. The nature of the miracle tells us about the nature of God.

What's the nature of this miracle? There's more than enough. There's leftovers. Oh, do I love leftovers during Thanksgiving and Christmas? I can't get into it. Not right now. I don't want to get distracted. Let's stay the course. But there's enough leftovers, which is to say the miracle tells us about the man, the nature of the miracle, nature of the man.

So the nature of the miracle is everyone gets to eat as much as they want and there's some leftover which tells us about the nature of the miracle man which is he is more than enough and he always has more left over. He is sufficient. He is enough.

In other words, Jesus is enough to help you order good food or make good food or afford to buy food or help you go to the grocery store. He's God enough to help you with your food and he's God enough to help you with your faith. He's God enough to heal cancer and he's got enough to make sure you get pizza.

He's got enough to help you with your debt that you have to your business partner. That's hundreds of thousands of dollars. And he's got enough to help you order the rad the right pad tie with just enough peanut sauce. I know the spectrum seems ridiculous and insulting, but it's true.

That's who God is. Peanut sauce matters to God because you matter to God. Your $250,000 debt to your business partner matters to God because you matter to God. He cares about your food because he cares about you. Now, I'd like to have some fun with you in relationship to some of the numerical indications and evidence within this passage that are very meaningful to me.

Some would ask, why do you think suddenly Jesus says kind of an administrative organizational moment with chef Jesus, he says to the disciples, tell them to sit in groups of 50. So 10,000 50 I don't know how to do that math, but there's several there's lots of groups of 50.

Why 50? Here's my suggestion. Between Passover, between Passover and Pentecost, there are 50 days. Pentecost, which is a celebration, a Jewish celebration, is always 50 days after Passover. Passover is essentially the celebration of God's forgiveness. Pentecost is a celebration of God's provision. Now if you know the story from Israel to the early Christians, Passover and Pentecost play a significant role.

Passover is the Passover lamb commemorated thousands of years ago where the blood was over the doorpost of the Israelites. So they were not killed, they were preserved, they were saved and their heir and their wrong covered and forgiven. Pentecost is the first fruits of the harvest to celebrate the provision of God for the Israelites.

And now Pentecost and provision, what do they mean for or now uh uh Passover and Pentecost, what do they mean for you and me? But they mean forgiveness and provision. I wonder if Jesus has them sit in 50s, groups of 50s to tell them, I am your forgiveness and your provision so that you will know I will provide for you so that you will know I can forgive you.

I think that's what's happening here. I think he puts them in groups of 50 and they all go, "You got 50, we got 50. What's the 50?" First of all, a lot of those people, the number 50 would had incredible amounts of meaning for what was probably a predominantly Jewish audience. 50 is an important number and even the numbers matter to Jesus.

This story has a message for you. If you believe Jesus can forgive you of your sins, that same Jesus can provide for your food. Same power, same person, same miracle. He does it all. He is our Passover and he is our Pentecost and he is every day in between.

There's another number that excites me. It says Jesus keeps breaking off, you know, chunks of bread and it just keeps going. Breaking off chunks of dried fish. It just keeps going. Everybody eats as much as they want and then there's leftovers. But something odd happens here. We are told there are 12 baskets full of leftovers.

There are 12 disciples. Not 10, not eight, not six. There's 12 disciples. 12 in the in the scripture is the number of divine government, God's construct, God's government. I believe the reason there are 12 baskets full, some would argue it's so every disciple could go home with a supernatural uh basket of leftovers to bring to their family and friends.

That could be true. And I like that theory as well that now all 12 disciples having been a part of the distribution and a part of the organization and a part of that miracle day now get to go home and all 12 of them get their own personal basket of leftovers to give friends and family.

I like it. I'm with it. I think it's significant. But I think the number tells us something about God as well. And I'm going to say this very carefully. 12 is the number of divine government. Governments come and governments go. What do I mean? Governments invented and built by men in countries and continents in the worlds known and perhaps even unknown.

There are governments. Now, next week we will talk about the taxes you owe. And you'll be surprised to observe Jesus honor the current construct in that moment. That construct he honors, by the way, no longer exists today. But yet, he honors it. Much is made of governments today.

Much is made of whether or not we should adhere to governments. I am here to tell you that I believe we're to honor the construct, but I do not believe our faith is in the governments of men. I don't believe that. I believe that my source and my sustenance comes from the divine government of heaven.

I don't intend to say that to say that we should not honor the construct, not recognize abiding guiding laws that keep us from hurting one another. And I think the updating, changing, and transitioning of laws to execute more justice and equity is imperative and important. But I'd like to pause right here and tell you there is a government that is eternal and there is a government that is divine.

And where man's government fails to provide for those who need things like food, God's government is always available, ready, and is always able and capable of serving and caring for everyone. My faith is not in the governments and constructs invented and built by men. My faith is in the divine government.

And I have to say I think one of the reasons there in 50 and then there's 12 left over is to say Jesus is our forgiveness and our provision. And he has a kingdom that always has a surplus and leftovers for all. And that kingdom provides things like food and provision for all of his children on earth.

I think that's the message. Who knows? Perhaps you're watching this message and you're dealing with deep disillusionment with the government of your respective country or city or region of the world you live in. I have good news. There is a perfect government. There is a divine government and it's ruled by a king and his name is Jesus.

And he cares about those who need food and other practical necessities. And we can trust him. We can trust him. One last observation I'd like to make from this chef Jesus story. And that is the nature of the miracle tells us the nature of the man. And the nature of this miracle is this.

Don't send the people away. I want them to stay. Don't send the people away. I want them to stay. And here's what I love about the nature of God that we see through the nature of this miracle. He wants you and I to stay with him. He's enough.

Which is to say, you don't have to look any further. He's the one-stop shop. Whatever you need, he has. His divine government and construct and leadership has all things available to you pertaining to life and godliness. He is our forgiveness. He is our provision. And he is everything in between.

I love that about Jesus. Jesus cares about the food you want. Cares about your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And if you're like me, he cares about your midnight snack. He cares. And I'm so grateful that he does. I pray you feel encouraged. Can I pray for you? God, thank you for these ancient stories that are like hearing them for the first time when we consider, discuss, talk about, and read them.

It's extraordinary. Meet us where we are today. Oh, the only God who can forgive and provide. That's you. The only God who is king of the whole earth and has a divine government. that is able and capable of providing for all people. We thank you for that and we trust you, God.

We are inclined to go elsewhere for certain things. Remind us today that you have all things and we can stay with you. If you're watching this and you want to receive the free gift of forgiveness that only Jesus offers, just say, "I want that. I want him." And it's done.

And you'll never be the same. I am so grateful uh you watched this talk, this message, and I'm excited to conclude the whole month of May with, believe it or not, a message entitled Jesus and the Taxes You Owe. So, I'll see you next week. And don't forget, let us know on pastor chat if you're experiencing a miracle, you're praying for a miracle.

We want to know and we want to join you. Thanks, church. ((music playing)) It was my cross you bore so I could live in the freedom you died for. And now my life is yours. And I will sing of your goodness forever ((music playing)) more. Worthy is your name, ((music playing)) Jesus. You deserve the praise.

Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name. And now my shame is gone. I stand amazed in your love undeniable. ((music playing)) Your grace goes on and on. And I will sing of your goodness forever more. Worthy is your name, Jesus.

You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. Jesus, you deserve the praise. Oh, worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place.

You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise.

You're the name above all names. Be exalted now in the heavens as your glory fills this place. You alone deserve our praise. You're the name above cuz worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Oh, worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. ((music playing)) Jesus, you deserve the praise.

Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name. ((music playing)) Jesus, you deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Worthy is your name, Jesus. You deserve the praise. Worthy is your name. Heat. ((music playing)) Heat. Heat. Heat. ((music playing)) ((music playing))