God is Setting You Up

hi gatekeepers it is so good to be

joining you guys this weekend even under

crazy circumstances in a way I have a

real sense of anticipation for what God

wants to do both today as I preach but

just in this season of our lives I was

thinking about it this morning and just

praying for this meeting and I was just

thinking there's never been an unusual

context in human history where God has

not shown up in unusual ways and what

the world's narrative of our current

situation would be and what the enemy's

desire for the narrative would be that

hope has lost that things are getting

worse that Korona is something that we

can't get past and has us in lockdown

and I have such a sense of God wanting

to bring such peace to our hearts even

now even before I begin preaching that

he is not in lockdown that he is not

retreating because of Korona

God has not met his match in corona it's

not like somehow this is an enemy that

he didn't foresee or a context that he

didn't know about but this is a moment

in human history where it's unusual for

us and God is going to show up in

unusual ways and so I really want to

invite you to raise your sense of

expectation and anticipation for what

God is going to be doing in these days

raise your sense of awareness of what

the Spirit is saying and where the

Spirit is leading not just about the

pandemic but about your destiny about

the destiny of your family about the

destiny of your neighbors because I

believe if we tune in to what heaven is

speaking in these days we will hear

incredible destiny words that empower

many for the season to come and so I

just want to really encourage you with

that I wanted to share a message with

you this morning called an impossible

life we're living in impossible

circumstances

and I believe God wants to speak into

them and I'm gonna read a couple of

passages from the Gospel of Mark and

then we're gonna jump right in I'm gonna

just dig up some things from these

passages so the first one I'm gonna read

mark 116 220 and then the second passage

will be in mark 6 from verse 30 so here

we go

as he Jesus was going along by the Sea

of Galilee he saw Simon and Andrew the

brother of Simon casting a net in the

sea for they were fishermen and Jesus

said to them follow me and I will make

you become fishers of men immediately

they left their nets and followed him

going on a little further he saw James

the son of Zebedee and John his brother

who were also in the boat mending the

nets immediately he called them and they

left their father Zebedee in the boat

with the hired servants and went away to

follow him and then Mark 6 the Apostles

returned to Jesus and told him all that

they had done and taught and he said to

them come away by yourselves to a

desolate place and rest awhile I love

that that the intention of Jesus even in

desolate places is to bring us rest from

many were coming and going and there had

no leisure even to eat and they went

away in the boat to a desolate place by

themselves now many saw them going and

recognized them and they ran there on

foot from all the towns and got there

ahead of them when he went ashore he saw

a great crowd and he had compassion on

them because they were like sheep

without a shepherd now such an important

moment in the story that everything that

follows the crazy miracle that follows

is rooted in the compassion of Jesus

throughout the Gospels you see that when

Jesus works in incredible miracles when

he heals the sick and when he restores

people to life he's moved by compassion

and just before we get into the main

part of the preacher I really want to

encourage us as people to be moved by

compassion to be seeking miracles in our

lives and in the

of those around us not because we're

hungry for more power or hungry for

another testimony to share with our

friends but rather we allow God to so

deeply imprint his love in our hearts so

that we'd be moved by compassion

whenever we see the broken though we'd

be praying for the sick not because we

think miracles are cool but because

we're so moved by the compassion of God

for the broken that's what motivated

Jesus wherever he went and so he was

moved by compassion and he began to

teach them many things and when he grew

late his disciples came to him and said

this is a desolate place and the hour is

now late send them away to go into the

surrounding countryside and villages by

themselves something to eat but he

answered them you give them something to

eat

notice this don't raise an issue to

Jesus unless you're willing to be the

solution that's Justin 101 Basics in

Christianity so often you see people

coming to Jesus was the problem and he

flips it round to them and invites them

into being part of the solution and so

often we can be people who just want to

complain about problems and our prayers

can sometimes be a long list of

complaints before God but if we tune in

to hear him often God is flipping those

things back to us and inviting us into

the journey of being part of the

solution for those things Jesus says to

them you give them something to eat and

they said to him shall we go and buy 200

denarii worth of bread and give it to

them to eat and he said to them how many

loaves do you have

go and see and when they had found out

they said five and two fish then he

commanded them all to sit down and

groups on the green grass so they sat

down in groups by hundreds by fifties

and taking the five loaves and the two

fish he looked up to heaven said a

blessing broke the loaves gave them to

the disciples to set before the people

and he divided the two fish among them

all and they all ate and was satisfied

and they took up twelve baskets full of

broken pieces

and of the fish and those who ate the

loaves were 5000 men okay the first

thing I want to draw out of these is

that God is setting us up in the

ordinary here we have in these two

stories the first one the disciples

ordinary day of work

they're just mending their nets they're

at their boats it's something that

they've done hundreds of time over it's

their ordinary routine and then in the

second story the disciples have actually

just come back from an incredibly

successful ministry trip you would think

that that would be the pinnacle moment

where God would meet with them and of

course they'd come back full of stories

because God has done incredible miracles

through them and yet one of the most

profound miracles happens off the back

of the ministry trip after the ministry

moment is over once they're tired and

hungry and are just looking forward to

downtime God is wanting to interrupt us

in our every day ordinary moments you

know the biggest moments of Destiny

unfolding in our lives are not going to

be at the big conferences necessarily

they're not necessarily going to be on

your weekend meetings they're not

necessarily going to be in prophetic

times where the local prophet is in town

there they're not necessarily going to

be in high points of the Christian

calendar because when you read the Bible

you see again and again and again that

God actually loves to invade the normal

ordinary everyday moments of his people

and radically changed their destiny in

those moments if the disciples had the

mindset that the synagogue was where God

would meet with them that the synagogue

was the only place God would speak to

them they would have totally missed the

destiny moment where Jesus rocked up

that day on the beach and spoke to them

as they were at work their normal paying

jobs if the disciples had

had the mindset that even with life with

Jesus that it was the ministry moments

the moments where he sent them out

specifically there were the only moments

where God would work they would have

missed the invitation to be part of one

of the most remarkable miracles recorded

in the New Testament for you and I if we

buy into the narrative that God only

wants to speak to us specifically when

we're surrounded by other Christians or

where we're in a meeting we will miss

the still small voice of the Spirit

interrupting us every day because he is

speaking to us every moment of every day

and the words that he speaks are

incredibly pivotal to our destiny

sometimes we pack our schedules so full

our Diaries our calendars are so

jam-packed that we have no room for the

interruption of the Spirit and I really

want to say this clearly this setting

isn't important it might be a conference

or it might be your workplace but the

reality is wherever we are the important

thing is are you and I open to

interruption because if we're not open

to interruption then we will

consistently miss the voice of God and

even in our context today with Korona us

hiding in our homes and being locked

down the enemy won't want to speak to us

and say you know take your foot off the

gas pedal with God take your foot off

the gas pedal because that's what the

church is doing and that's what God must

be doing in this season this is a season

to just kind of calm down and rest a

while and just put your foot on the

brake maybe for this season but the

enemy doesn't understand the way God

loves to speak that God loves to speak

in moments that would be unexpected in

moments where everyone's thinking

nothing's happening right now God loves

to speak into those very moments I love

the story of the disciples on the road

to Emmaus after Jesus has died has risen

again but then some of the disciples

don't know that yet and there's these

disciples were taught that are walking

away from Jerusalem on the

and they are bereft there's full of

grief because Jesus has died and they

thought he was the Messiah and they

don't know what's happened and why it's

happened

and Jesus appears to them and we're told

they don't recognise him and he begins

to open up the scriptures for them and

they stop to where they were going and

they invite Jesus to come and have a

meal with them and we're told that as he

breaks the bread they recognize who he

is and instantly he disappears I love

that story because at the end of it they

look at each other and they say weren't

our hearts burning as he spoke to us and

it's such a strange story what why did

Jesus not allow them to recognize who he

was at the beginning and then at the end

let them recognize him just as he

disappeared well I believe part of it

was that Jesus was training them to feel

his presence and to recognize his

presence outside her looking at his face

and recognizing his face he made them

understand that their hearts burning

within them was a sign of the presence

of God amongst them without them being

able to see him physically in the way

that they had been used to up until that

point and I want to say over us that in

this season we're gonna have many our

hearts of burning moments where God is

teaching us in a very different season

of humanity how to recognize his voice

and how to hear him and to recognize his

interruption in perhaps ways that we

would not have recognized before because

God is more than able to interrupt our

everyday and our unexpected

circumstances the second thing I want to

point out is that God is setting us up

in the utterly hopeless in the story of

the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus very

intentionally I believe takes them to a

desolate place to a place that is

utterly hopeless in order to work this

miracle of incredible abundance he's

teaching them that there is no context

that is hopeless there is no context in

the kingdom that is desolate

because even in the desolate place God

does such a miracle that there are

leftovers in the first passage that we

read where Jesus chooses his disciples

Jesus chose utterly hopeless disciples

he chose to work with the least likely

people ever and we just think about

Jewish custom of the day for a moment

together in ancient Jewish times in the

times of Jesus the first five books of

the Bible the Torah were pivotal to

everyday life the Torah dictated what

people did what they ate how they

planted their crops who they saw what

they touched what they were wore it

really dictated every aspect of their

lives and because of this going to

school and learning the Torah was the

epitome of Jewish life it was something

that was so important that every Jewish

family sent their sons to learn the

Torah and the way the education system

of the day worked is that for Jewish

boys at the age of six they would go to

school between the age of six and ten in

their first level of education they

would memorize the first five books of

the Bible then at the age of 10 those

who had excelled would go to the second

level of education where between the age

of 10 and 14 they would then be

instructed to memorize the whole of the

Old Testament and to learn other

rabbinical teachings and that would be

the curriculum at the age of 14 those

who really were the cream of the crop

would apply to local rabbis in order to

become their disciples and they would go

through a lengthy interview process and

at the end of that process the rabbi's

would choose the very best of the best

of those who they were willing to

represent themselves because to become a

disciple of a rabbi meant that you had

been endorsed by that rabbi to become

just like them and so the rabbi's would

be incredibly careful obviously who they

would choose who they would allow to

represent them and though

only the best only the chosen only the

validated would be allowed to become

disciples of rabbis for all other Jewish

boys at the age of 10 after the first

level or at the age of 14 after the

second level for those who didn't make

the cut they would leave school they

would be the dropouts those who weren't

invited to the next level of education

those who just hadn't made the grade

those who were substandard those who

hadn't made their Jewish mummys really

proud those would be sent off to learn a

trade and so when Jesus goes to find

fisherman tax collectors he's not just

choosing strange people he's choosing

those who were dropouts those who had

failed those who hadn't made the grade

those who no self-respecting rabbi would

shoes and he went and he spoke to them

and he called them to himself and we've

got to understand this then when Jesus

goes to call the disciples he's not just

inviting them into a radical life he is

speaking the most incredible radical

words of affirmation and validation over

them when Jesus went to that beach that

day and he says to Peter and he says to

the others come follow me they

recognized that a rabbi was calling them

that a rabbi was saying to them I

believe you are exactly who I want to

represent me to the world I believe that

you have what it takes can you imagine

the sense of validation and affirmation

in that moment where their whole lives

they thought they hadn't made made it

that they were substandard here as a

rabbi saying them to them you are

exactly what I want you are the one who

I'm going to make fishers of men and so

God is setting us up in what seems

utterly hopeless in circumstances that

seem like no God can't surely cannot use

that surely God wouldn't choose to use

that well here we have two examples

where God very intentionally chooses the

death

as a setting in order to show his

goodness and I believe he's setting us

up in our lives for the very same the

third thing that I want to show us is

that God is setting us up for a world or

terrifying faith adventure whichever way

you want to see it I want to be honest

with you

faith journeys are often terrifying I'm

sure the disciples would be able to tell

us that again and again right at the

beginning they meet Jesus one encounter

and immediately they leave everything

they'd ever known behind it's radical

it's crazy and we would be lying if

we're saying it's not scary I want to

focus in on the miracle of feeding the

5,000 for a moment Jesus breaks the

bread he gives thanks for it

incidentally gratitude is always a

really good context for seeing

multiplication in the Bible he gives

thanks for the bread and he passes the

bread and the fish to his disciples now

let's just put ourselves in the context

of the disciples for a moment you've got

thousands of very hungry people who

retired it's been a long day they've

been in a desolate hot desert place and

Jesus ups the ante of anticipation by

getting all of these people to sit in

groups of hundreds and 50s he is making

people think that Jesus is about to do

something and so can you imagine being

one of the disciples where you're aware

hey hang on Jesus we've only got five

loaves and two fish and now you're like

grouping everyone together and now

everyone is looking at us like we're

about to do something like we've got a

solution

the disciples must have been freaking

out wait Jesus we've got nothing to give

then Jesus gives them the most pitiful

amount of food I mean imagine dividing

up five loaves two fish between twelve

men he gives each of them what could

have been a barely a handful of food and

sends them into the crowd now notice the

story doesn't say that the

multiplication happened when Jesus

prayed we were not told them

miraculously a mountain of food appeared

behind him and the disciples were

running between the mountain of food and

the people that's not what happened he

broke the bread

he gave it to his disciples each

disciple is holding a pitiful amount of

food now if it was you in the story how

much food would you decide to give to

the first person how much food you'd be

looking at your hands you'd be looking

at the first person and surely

everything in them was terrified because

now people are looking at them with

expectation well that's what faith

journeys are often like they're not

sometimes we sanitize them with our

Instagram testimonies of what happened

at the end of the story and we're not

really taking people with us on the

journey of absolute terror as we journey

with Jesus and faith the word faith is a

great word when you're thinking of it

spiritually it's a really really

terrifying word when you're thinking of

it in any other context because it means

we actively choose to put ourselves in

impossible situations in situations

where God if God doesn't show up we're

in trouble that's what faith means it

means that you're living in

impossibilities and some of us we've got

so used to living lives that we would

say our lives of faith but actually

whether God shows up or not we're able

to do all the things that we've chosen

to do well I'd venture to say those

lives are not lives of faith if you can

do everything that you're doing now

whether or not God shows up then I'm not

sure you're living a life of faith

because faith operates purely in the

realm of the impossible which then by

definition means that if we're living

lives of faith consistently we're

choosing to put ourselves into positions

where it would be a disaster if God

didn't show up but thankfully for us God

loves to show up in those contexts but

we we need to be honest about this so

that we encourage each other so that we

don't make each other feel like it you

have to be full of confidence the whole

time because honestly their faith

adventures that I've taken half the time

I'm just scared but I've heard the voice

of Jesus and I trust him enough to push

past the scary

and that's what I believe the disciples

did that day they must have been

terrified but they'd been with Jesus

enough to know that he wasn't cruel that

he wouldn't send them into a crowd of

thousands of hungry people in order to

embarrass them in order to just show

them up as people who were fools in

order to prove to everyone that they

really were substandard as everyone else

had thought they knew Jesus enough to

know that that's not his heart and so

that day I believe as the disciples

walked into the utterly wild adventure

of faith they had that one thing keeping

them going which was the trust and the

character of Jesus that he's good that

he wouldn't be setting me up to fail and

so somehow as if I do just the simple

thing that he's told me to do everything

else will follow and you know often in

our faith adventures what he asks us to

do is incredibly simple we we often try

to complicate it because we're trying to

find another solution on the other side

and we complicated but often their faith

steps that he's asking us to do are

incredibly simple I want to ask you

today what are the faith steps that he's

asked you to take that you're hesitant

to take you might have really good

reasons when we apply earthly logic not

to do the things that he's asked you to

do but I want to say that you know him

enough to know that he is good and he is

kind that he doesn't set his people up

to fail because somehow is just mean and

he likes to see people for that's not

the kind of God he is and so the very

simple thing he's asked you to do there

seems incredibly impossible do it he is

good and he is kind and he leads us in

places that are impossible so that he

can come through for us and that's the

last point that I want to pick up from

these stories God's intentions are over

the top in our unlikely spaces in our

wild adventures of faith his intentions

are completely over the top in the story

of the five thousand Jesus chooses to

multiply so much

feed that they have 12 baskets of food

leftover why would you do that

what a waste they're in a desert place

by the time they get home presumably

most of that food will be spoilt anyway

it's a waste well I believe he does it

for one of the reasons to portray to us

to explain to us to show to us just how

lavish and abundant our God is he's not

the god of the just enough he's the God

of them more than enough in every

context of our lives

he is over-the-top he is lavish he is a

God who is not ashamed to be

over-the-top and he's like that with his

affection towards us he wants to pour

out his love in a measure that would be

embarrassing unless you adopt the

childlike posture of the kingdom where

as a child you're able to lap up all the

affection that he's pouring out on you

he wants to be over-the-top in how he

blesses us he wants to be over-the-top

in how he blesses us financially I

really do believe that that God is not

stingy with financial resources over his

people he wants to be over-the-top and

how he blesses up blesses us with

resources blesses us with wholeness

blesses us with healing and sometimes as

Christians we can become like Scrooge's

like we're scrounging around like we

have to be the kind of checking of the

levels of goodness that God is

dispensing where we become more

religious than we ought if we're honest

and we try to be more spiritual than God

himself and dictate to him how much is

reasonable to give and how much is

over-the-top and no no God you don't

want to bless that person in our

community he's just new you don't want

to make him prideful don't give him that

much blessing we try to begrudge Jesus

his generosity and there's a parable

about exactly that in the Gospels in the

Gospel of Matthew where Jesus tells a

story of a master who pays all of his

workers the workers who started right at

the beginning of the day

the workers who started right at the end

of the day he pays all of them

generously and at the end when the

workers who started at the beginning or

grumbling they're begrudging the Masters

generosity he asks them why he says why

do you begrudge me my generosity I

believe some of us have got so used to

just expecting that just enough that in

our own lives

we're unwilling to allow the generosity

of God and we complain whenever we see

the generosity of God over others but I

want to tell you today we serve a God of

abundance we serve a God of leftovers we

serve a God who chooses twelve men to

change the world just because we serve a

God who multiplies food for 5,000 with

leftovers just be God because and then

he does it again for 4000 just because

with leftovers each time because he

wants to show us and reveal to us the

heart of a lavish father and so today in

your ordinary everyday moments whether

you're locked down in your home or at

work wherever you are in your unexpected

God wants to interrupt your day with His

goodness and his kindness in the utterly

hopeless he wants to invade with his

goodness and his kindness in the world

terrifying adventure of faith he wants

to invade with his goodness and kindness

and if we allow him t he wants to so

infiltrate our lives with you over the

top abundant generosity of God that it

is embarrassing unless we're willing to

adopt a posture of child likeness god

bless you guys today