Guest Speaker: Pastor Joe Sugrue
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
So we have before us the great failure of the crowd to understand the significance of Christ, their Savior and Messiah who had come to free them from the slave market of sin.
The Lord also used the miracles to test His disciples. As we have seen, they failed the test.
This reveals the principle of grace in time of failure and the patience of God in training up His children.
The Lord doesn’t need our bread, your muscles, your intellect, or any of the resources you have to offer. But He did it this way to show that He is never going to work apart from human instrumentality.
What little we have will be used to have a profound effect on the world if we are willing to give it to Him.
Everything God does is designed with purpose, failures and victories included.
Believers have three enemies, the flesh (OSN), the world, and the devil (KOD) and we face all three simultaneously and not one at a time.
Phillip and Andrew went to worldly viewpoint by wanting to buy bread (world). The crowd wanted a king (rejection of authority = devil). Fear entered the hearts of the disciples in the boat (OSN).
Jesus Christ has already defeated all your enemies. Will you believe Him at His word and walk through the storms of life with courage and confidence.
Jesus is a king and He has invited them to be a part of His kingdom, but His kingdom is eternal and heavenly and not earthly.
Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off the Lord. When Peter got out of the boat all he could see was the Lord and he had confidence.
Grace Bible Church
Basic Training in Doctrine
The primary purpose of miracles was to focus attention upon the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The miracles announced to Israel that He is and was the eternal Son of God and that He was also Messiah.