John 6:1-9: “After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee Which is the sea of Tiberius and a great multitude followed him. Because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased and Jesus went up into the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples”
Everybody followed him, and Jesus escaped to the mountains. When Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” Philip answered, “We got about 200 pennyworth of bread, and it is not sufficient for them.”
Philip did not have enough. Not having enough is a part of life. The desire is to feed the multitude, but the reality is we do not have enough. I grew up at a time when innovation was an eight-track player. My mother bought a big console with a television, record player, and eight-track player, and the radio was all in one.
Mother made enough money that she could buy it, but she could not run it. Before the remote control came out, the children were the best remote controls of all time. At that time, parents never had remote control; they had kids. All the parents would do is tell you, ‘Go over there and turn on the record play, turn on the eight-track.’ Children were cheap labor. Children were the first people that worked for food.
If a child would not work, he would be threatened with, ‘no food for him.’ I was the remote control for my mom, and I remember murmuring and complaining.
How our parents could have enough money to buy those gadgets and yet, not buy remote controls? But everything moved so fast. Sooner, rotary phones came up, and then cell phones, flip-top cell phones. It was a big one and looked like a suitcase and only rich people had it. Then, Blackberry came up, and everybody had a Blackberry phone.
After using various phones, androids and iPhones entered the scene. I particularly favored the iPhone. From iPhone 1 to 7+, I was a dedicated user. However, when iPhone 7+ came out, I decided not to upgrade further. It felt like they were just trying to get more money from me. The 7th version was meeting all my needs – it could handle calls, connect me to the internet, and download all the apps I required.
1) Put certain people out of your life
Our ability to access the world is so big. I do not think God meant for our world to be so big. Sociology and psychology, I do not think it is healthy to have all of those people in your space all the time. There are too many people with too many opinions, ideas, and concepts, and it is absolutely crazy.
That explains why we are all stressed out and nervous and cannot sleep at night. Some people take sleeping peels all the time. We could save a lot of money if we start putting people out of our lives. It is too crowded, and it lasts too long—24 hours a day and news coming at you round the clock.
You do not need to hear from people at three o’clock in the morning—you need to go to bed. Some of the people who comment on my stuff on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram Comment in languages that I can not even translate. I do not even know whether to be happy or mad or fight.
2) Make Jesus the central pillar of your life
You have another brother inside of you. You got to put him on lock because if he comes out of control, you will lose your job, your life, friends, and family—and that man is Jesus.
There are over 7 billion people on the planet. We have more people on the planet than we ever have in the history of the world. We can not even get out of a city when there is a hurricane. Over 6.8 billion people on the planet have a mobile device. That is too many people: out of 7 billion, 6.8 billion people have a phone. On any given day, 1.4 billion people long on the Facebook
So, 1.4 billion people in your phone right now waiting on you to say something. That is a lot for you alone. It used to be you, your kids, your friends, and your little church. It used to be two or three people who would sing in the church, and they knew each other and everybody’s mother. But today, you have friends that you do not even know, and all of them have an opinion about your life. We have more people but have less peace.
3) Withdraw yourself from this multitude and be with your family.
How could we have that many people in our pocketbook and still be lonely? More people do not mean more quality. We have lost sight of what relationships are. We use people’s names just to brag, ‘Look at how many followers I have.’ They are not following you. They do not even know you, and they do not like you.
Like little cute babies with fat Jaws Who can not talk. They eat what you say they should eat. You can command them at any time, ‘Hey, get up and go to bed.’ Kids are cute till they can talk: It is then they will have their own opinion,’ ‘I do not want to wear that. I do not like that.’
Everybody has an opinion about you, and the people with the strongest opinions about you do not even know you. The more people can access you, the more they think they have a right to you. By the time you use the strength that it takes to withstand all of these people that you are never going to meet anyway, you do not have enough left for the people that are in your life.
The most important people do not get our attention. We spend all of our time dealing with these superficial people who do not matter. Many people would not eat at the dining table without their cell phones. They cannot talk to people who cook, buy, or pay for the food, but they are talking to people who they will never meet.
These strange people keep taking away your time. They complain all the time because you are not there enough or you do not call or text enough. ‘You missed my birthday or my anniversary or wedding.’ This is so much for you alone to attend. Withdraw yourself from this multitude and be with your family.
4) Train yourself to operate when working out of deficit.
The truth of the matter is that we are surrounded by people who need us and not people who feed us. Most of the time that Jesus performed a miracle, it was a crisis, a blind or a lame or a woman with hemorrhage. These miracles that Jesus performed changed their lives, and he drew crowds towards himself.
Jesus was very effective. If you are effective, you do not have to advertise it much. Anytime you have to oversell a product, then there is something wrong with it because if people need it, they would come get it.
Jesus went up to the mountaintops and talked to his disciples, and while he was talking, the crowd was building in. He had to have just said to the crowd, ‘Go home,’ but he did not. This was not a crisis. Nobody was bleeding and sick. They were just hungry, and all he had to do was to say, ‘I will see you all tomorrow.’
But this was an opportunity for Jesus to teach his disciples a lesson. He wanted them to understand that there are going to be contradictions in their lives: that there is going to be more demand than supply. We must train ourselves to operate when working out of deficit.
Christians get in church and enjoy great music and great singing, but some of them cannot wait to check on their phone and make calls. They cannot have worship experience without the responsibility of responding to people. They feel like those people would die if they did not answer or respond to their messages.
They are not going to die. This is the death of creativity. We do not have enough databases in our heads to hold all of these situations and be creative. Our creativity is diminishing, and worries and fears escalating. Our divorces are also escalating, and our children are less literate and compassionate.
We are not developing at all. When was the last time we created new stuff?: we just copy and paste. There is no original thought because your brain is tired. All these unnecessary texting, calling, and liking are the enemy we have been looking for. If our world must experience a new dawn, we must break free from the clutches of the disguised chains of the enemy.
The Bible says he leads me beside still waters. When was the last time you spent time in a calm and stable place? In calm places, you could figure out how to pay off your home, bring love back into your marriage, and deal with your children. Learn to cut off your phone.
Everyone keeps asking more and more and more, and you love them enough to give it. The truth is, you do not even have enough. You will continue to give until you give your entire self. Each time you give anyone your time, you deduct your life span because time is life. You had better spend your time where necessary.
This text argues the difference between ideals and reality. The idea is, ‘I want to be there for you.’ and the reality is, ‘I only have 200 pence.’
Philip told Jesus, ‘If we try to feed them, we are going to run out. We have only crumbs.’
5) You have only crumbs, but the people deserve loaves.
That is why our families cannot stand a storm, and our marriages cannot go through a test. That is why people change six churches in three years. We do not have enough. There are so many people in our lives. If you get rid of them, they won’t die.
If Jesus felt the virtue come out of him when that woman touched him, do not act like you do not feel virtue go out of you when people keep reaching out and calling and asking for more from you.
The excessive demand is getting out of hand that even the church cannot handle, “I need you to come check up on me.” “I need you to come over here.” “I need money.” You call your mother, sisters, and brothers, and the people at work would say, ‘What about us? Oh! You see, it’s been a day, and Jakes have not called.’ The ideals are, ‘I really do love to do that,’ but the reality is, ‘I am running out.’
6) Stop giving people “YOU”; give them “GOD.”
When I was pastoring a small church, I did everything. I had little staff. I preached at all the funerals, weddings, and services. Years later, our membership had grown up to ten thousand people.
I could not do all the funerals and weddings. I thought I was good at it, and I would do it all alone. I would love to do it myself because I thought my delegation would not do it right. I drove in circles from one home to another, and that was very frustrating.
And I realized it was a benchmark between growth and failure. It was a changing system, and I thought I would thwart the growth of the church. Then the Lord spoke to me, “I have finally put you in a position where you cannot give them you, and maybe now, you will give them me.”
God said, “I set you on purpose. I mean to put you in a situation where you would not have enough.”
You are a limited resource, and no matter how much you love people, you cannot be there for everybody. I want you to forgive yourself and for not having enough because the weight and the pressure is on every last one of us.
If you maintain the mentality of your storefront, though God put you in a bigger place, you will lose back down to the level of your leadership. This is because you are not a big enough thinker to incorporate a system to subsidize the fact that you are a limited resource. Yes, you have the passion, but not enough product.
7) Stop being everything all the time
Jesus asked them this question while he already knew the answer. Jesus set them up. The Bible says, ‘This he ask him having already known.’ God intentionally will put you in a position of being overwhelmed so that you can discover him. Have you ever been overwhelmed? Do you feel like people are pulling at you and calling you and asking more? I want you to just say, ‘I do not have enough.’ We are not enough, but we have a God who is more than enough.
Relieve yourself from the stress of being everything to everybody all the time. Let go of the burden and the guilt that you carry for the marriage that did not work. Let go of the guilt that you did not show up at somebody’s wedding. You are not omnipresent. Release those burdens and let them go and enjoy the joy of your salvation in Christ.
Let your neighbors and friends know that you love them; however, you will disappoint them, let them down sometimes, and get on their nerves too. We will definitely miss their calls, but if they can handle it, we can make it. That is what a real relationship is all about.
People will always want to blame you for their dysfunction, but you are not the Messiah. Jesus created a problem for them to discover their limitations. Jesus often does things to make us take inventory and count what we have so we can make better decisions. Do not overextend yourself and commit to more people than what you are physically able to do.
8) Stop singing and dancing over top of pain and problems.
Jesus said, what do you have? He said we got 200 penny worth. There came a little boy with five loaves of bread and two fish. They had to snatch in the kid’s launch. Two fish and five loaves of bread accounted to seven articles. Seven signifies completeness. You have got to be whole before you can help anybody.
You cannot serve anybody unless you have seven in your bag—the minimum requirement for the miraculous. You have to be whole on the inside. Stop singing and dancing over top of pain and problems. Stop helping people while you are bleeding to death while believing in God that somebody is going to sense it and rescue you—nobody will ever will. They are going to sense nothing. They are going to abuse you till you pass out and die.
People treat you just like you treat yourself. You got to stop people and say, ‘Wait a minute, I got to go back and get myself together so I can help you.’ Do not help anybody else till you are okay. You will be enough when you have reached that number of completions.
Make sure to find peace within yourself. Avoid getting consumed by ambition, greed, or the need to prove yourself to family members. Don’t feel pressured to keep up with others or overspend due to low self-esteem. It’s not worth going into debt for years just to buy a new coat for your wife. Prioritize your financial well-being over material possessions.
Ego puts us in a lot of situations of stress, pressure, and anxiety. Some of this pressure is that we have to live up to people who are not going to love us anyway. When they brought the fish and bread, Jesus said, ‘What is this against so many people?’ But Jesus unlocked the miracles. Jesus will take ‘you’re not enough’ and make it more than enough if you will present it into his hands. Even though you are limited and you let people down, present your few unto the Lord. God can always accept our few if we are ready to hand over unto him. Even though you cannot sing like Don Moen, offer your little voice unto him, and he will make it tremendous.
If you give him what you got, you will be surprised what God will do with your little bit. You do not know what you have unless you give it to God. The devil wants you to feel inferior, incomplete, and insufficient, but kick his tummy by offering all you have to God. You will never be enough in your own strength for your children, yourself, and your companions. You are not enough for your child. God is able to take your pieces and make them whole.
God already knows the answer before he asks you the question. It is a test environment to find out what you got. Taking the fault of everything and everybody and blaming yourself is not a way of life that God wants. You are not God. Let yourself go. God is the all-sufficient one. He destroys yolks and bondages and sets captives free. Stop yourself from controlling and running everything and everybody.
AMEN!
“Many times, we get so wrapped up in achieving our goals that we miss the opportunity to stop and be thankful for the things we have achieved.”s
