Bro. Chris Fanara preaching "Lessons from the Feeding of the 5,000" on September 15, 2021

[Music] [Music] so [Music] so so so so [Music] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] good evening everybody welcome to our refreshing and inspiring midweek service tonight let's stand together let's begin the service please 4 56 in your songbooks 456 count your many blessings name them one by one i'm racing both hands how many blasts tonight oh yes i sing together now oh when upon is [Music] [Applause] [Music] blessings now [Music] [Applause] [Music] so i'm in the conflict whether great or small [Music] is [Music] [Music] see [Music] amen wonderful singing tonight and so often if we're not careful we count our burdens instead of our blessings and it's good to be in the house of god tonight what a blessing to be together and i was pulling out leaving the college this afternoon and i saw brother sam fenera pulling in and my heart rejoiced to think of god's people meeting together tonight to be in the house of god and i look forward to wednesday night what a joy it is to be here we're glad you're here and i want to welcome our online listeners as well let's commit this service to the lord and ask god to do a great work in every heart tonight father in heaven we sure are grateful for the privilege to gather with our church family and the lord sing songs to thee and father to hear the preaching of thy word and i asked lord that every heart would be opened tonight and i pray that we would leave here rejoicing in your goodness to us we thank you for the way that you've blessed us so abundantly i pray for your touch upon every aspect of this service may bring glory and honor to thee for we ask these things in jesus name amen you may be seated thank you so much for standing amen turn your song books please 433 433 please precious lord take my hand lead me on let me stand if you don't know the song sing along with us and learn it we'll start on the first together four thirty-three singing together on the first now when my way grows [Music] is [Music] [Music] now [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes [Music] draw with me here [Music] is [Music] foreign uh [Music] oh that's good singing thank you so much [Music] [Applause] [Music] on a hill far away [Music] and i love that old cross where the deer is [Music] [Applause] [Music] till my truth is [Music] and exchange [Music] jesus [Applause] bear [Applause] is till my trophy's cross i will and exchanges jesus jesus there's just something about that name savior jesus like the fragrance after the rain jesus jesus jesus let all heaven kings and kingdoms will all pass away his name is wonderful his name is wonderful his name is wonderful jesus my lord jesus everything his name is wonderful jesus my lord almighty god adore him his name is wonderful jesus my lord there's just something about that [Music] those are good songs on a wednesday night i thought about first john 3 behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us right that we've been called the sons of god it was bestowed because of an old rugged cross and a man named jesus who hung there in blood for us there's something about that name you know the muslims don't sing the muslims don't sing muhammad muhammad muhammad and the buddhists don't sing buddha buddha buddha but we sing jesus jesus jesus i thought about the angel said you're going to call his name jesus then mary looked down in the face of that child and whispered his name jesus and all of heaven and earth rejoice as that name resounded there in that stable because there's no name like that name that name makes the devil tremble by that name we're saved there's no name like that name thank god for the name jesus they've tried to maybe you've heard about the news lately they've tried to vote him out they tried to remove him but jesus is still on the throne they couldn't recall him he's still on the throne tonight thank god for that's a good that's a name worth coming to church on wednesday for right there thank god for those songs those girls sing pretty good don't they it's hard not to sing good i could probably sing decent about that and well no all right take your bulletin take your bulletin with me tonight if you need one wave the ushers down trip them as they walk by whatever it takes but make sure they know that you need a bulletin please wave at them and they'll give you a bulletin as they pass by we'll go over these announcements for the week really we could call timeout and shout over jesus though i enjoyed that that was worth coming here you fought traffic had a long day at work you might not have even had dinner yet but that's okay because you've got to hear about jesus already coming up on friday at 8 a.m we have a live broadcast as we always do but this is a special one because you have the opportunity and i'm nervous i'm nervous for pastor and i'm nervous for brother mo here it says here that you have the ability to call in live on the air is that true brother moy europe yeah i can't wait to call i'm excited about it we should all do that this friday at 8 00 a.m you can call and you can tell us about your rash and all your medical problems and those things that you're dealing with not really don't do that but call in and be a blessing at 8 am this is going to be an interesting broadcast on saturday at 9 15 a.m we have our faithfulness rally and of course every member of the church is encouraged and invited to come and be a part of that as we have a short challenge from the word of god and then we pair up and go out soul winning and visit the uh the uh those that are follow-up visits and shut-ins in our church so come at 9 15 a.m we'll meet in the youth auditorium and we'll have our faithfulness rally at 8 p.m every saturday night we have men's prayer and if you've never been come and get in on it this saturday and it's worth your time it's worth that little 20 minutes 30 minutes of your saturday evening to come get encouraged and edified and just energized if you will for sunday services god meets with us at men's prayer so all you men from the the most senior men to the youngest man you come with your father you come you college men and we'll have prayer meeting at 8 p.m there on saturday of course sunday is a busy day a packed day sunday school at 9 45 and the services you can see following there north valley publications if you look at number four this sunday you'll be one of the first to purchase a copy of a new book that is being produced by north valley publications i've already read this book i know pastor is using this in his church ed class but it's a book called jonathan edwards the preacher i always tell this to the young men in bible college you got to read the bible and second to that you got to read biographies of great men this is a biography of a great man a man god used to shake new england and bring revival to his area of the world and you had a plan to buy this book on sunday it'll be available through north valley publications you can get that there at the bookstore the sunday school classes are beginning to take up offerings to cover the cost of the mission conference upcoming and i think that's a great idea i was having lunch yesterday with several preachers and they were asking for things like this and i said here's something our church is doing for missions conference and they thought we'd never thought of that before but i tell you what it does it takes the burden and the weight off of the pastor so he can enjoy the meeting if we take care of these little things even before the meeting happens all of us pitch in many hands make light work and a sunday school class ours will take care of a gift basket others are taking care of gift baskets and we'll begin that on this sunday the brick campaign is up and running again and would you pray about that if you need a brick campaign card the ushers have those even tonight if you'd like to get one if you'll just raise your hand they'll get you one you don't have to pay tonight just take it home and pray about it but all that you give to the brick campaign goes to debt retirement and we are chiseling away at that much quicker than scheduled it'll be gone before you know it and these little bits help so 500 you can purchase a brick and it'll go here on the foundation in memory of someone or in honor of someone or a sunday school class a bible verse you can take care of that workers training workers training begins this sunday night at 505 pm in the golden state baptist college chapel every church member is invited to come and hear from brother flood and others as we go through these several weeks of workers training so make sure you have that on your schedule for sunday afternoon youth hour will be this sunday as well 505 to 5 30. brother reimers as always we'll do the teachers meeting at 5 30 and i'll make one last announcement for brother martinez number 10 his big day is this coming sunday it's their sweet 16 anniversary a lot of prayer a lot of preparation a lot of perspiration a lot of paying that's good alliteration brother worship is it not has gone into that big day so if you would please pray there's another one pray for him for his big day that god would bless give them souls for their labor and we're looking forward to getting a great report from that big day pastor's going to come at this time and speak to us for a moment good thank you i'm so glad to be in church it's been a wonderful week a wonderful day and uh thank you for the bricks i know they're not gonna sound like a lot we're up to seven and i just read the inscription what they're putting on the last week or so and that's tremendous we had somebody uh drop by uh two more bricks today that's nine and the money for that br those bricks and and so it's on its way i think brother luke flood told me we have 53 left on this to end to this uh the foundation to the end of the building i'd like to turn the corner but you know i'm not going to keep working this uh maybe year after year but it's just wonderful to see we are going to do this i don't know when brother flood will do it maybe after the last day of october the 10th but people are going to be standing around this building let's just destroyed at the trump people are standing around here see these buildings that will be around here during the tribulation and i will promise you people will be delirious some will have anguish they'll be wondering and we're going to perhaps take as many as 10 bricks as a church family and we'll just keep buying them how to go to heaven someone's going to show up here and they can't get in the building but it's going to say they'll read those things how to go to heaven and then we're labeling the romans road to salvation every scripture verse and then how to pray i think it's going to be one of the greatest things this church has ever done you know years ago david azarella was saved and baptized here he's a pastor and he he was in charge of this when we opened up these three roads here they weren't here we opened up compassion lane why is that called compassion that's where the buses go that's their driveway and romans road on the way in you could see it on the way out we put the signs up day one and a delivery man was here and as they were putting those signs up he said i wonder you know what all those signs are about he walked them down the street stopped at every plan of salvation scripture and led that man to christ and we're looking forward to that i also want to say it's been such a marvelous day in school i love wednesday elementary chat your your kids are the best they are such a blessing this year has been a blessing to me because brother martinez goes with me to all three chapels and leaves music and if i want to lead something i do i've had a strong voice all day except for about two hours this afternoon and it's back now i felt like i was in the service tonight i was sitting over there saying amen i don't want to sit it's just you know it's got to come out and that doesn't work but uh good singing high school chapel is such a blessing and then college and just the class i teach today how about brother galvan deep and wide there's a fountain flowing deep and wide are you ready get your hands ready brother manly take your arm away from your wife there come on let's go deep and wide i know it's the first time you've seen her here we go try it together turn that piano up please [Music] [Music] i will make you fishers of men i will my will which where we are here we go i will make you fishers of men i will make [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] man you you find another one and brother cooper make an announcement about fishing for souls every day if you will i'll see the track right where are we going to next let's get one more in there i got a yeah that's a good one you could go ahead all right so out in the lobby we have the display for jesus every day it was empty brother riemer sent me a picture monday and he said looks like it uh went over well the track rack was emptied out but we're going to have more tracks bundled and prepared for this sunday so thank you for starting this off so well being faithful to it and we'll continue it on this sunday jesus every day if you've missed this week you can start next week it's never too late to start fishing for men they're out there john rice said the sea of humanity is full of fish and they're always biting so we're going to fish every day we had a whole big stack of people volunteer on sunday night i was amazed i got the sheet today i'll work in the nursery i'll drive a bus it's just wonderful i understand that ten of you at least if not more went and looked for my weed out there i made a mistake last time i made a mistake was uh i can remember the day so vividly 1923 last time i made a mistake haven't made a mistake since i looked at that weed and it was there today but the weed is blossomed it's a flower strike that from the message people went out there looking and said where's the weed where's that's a flower so two mistakes in 90 years i guess here we go dew lord until lord how do you remember me [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] all right in my father's house in my father's eyes in my father's house me i got in my wife's car tonight to come to church and she has brother martinez playing and brooks singing this song and it's not in our hymn book do you know brother caleb gallon this this is just what heaven means to me and i know you don't have music that you know you know those words i'll figure it out yeah you know how it starts you have it on your cd but that was years ago who knows remember what it is i can't remember the first word right now i'm going to have a class tomorrow morning i get to go with brother galvan he has 22 people at pianos in one of his piano labs and we're going to talk about filling the holes tomorrow and i heard you feeling the holes on this one and it was good come on brother martinez please there's a country where no twilights unending days for night will never be a city where no storm clouds will ever gather now this is just what heaven means to me what will it be when we christ forever now this is just what heaven means to me then at last we'll see the face of jesus [Music] before his image are the loves just lord of all i'll be there oh this is just what heaven means to me it be [Music] the glassy sea we'll join our loved ones and crown christ oh this is just what heaven means to me yes this is just i want to remind you tomorrow night we have the memorial service for brother mark giovanni what a good man you know i said on the radio this week one day he served god to the very last day he was in the ministry serving god i hope if the lord carries and i go home i hope i'm serving god the very last day his service tomorrow the viewing is from four to six service uh with brother birchman i'll be there as well from six to seven and then the final viewing seven to eight so if you wanna come that'd be great we hope you will it's um 471 east santa clara street in san jose sort of downtown then i want to talk about the offering tonight brother cooper mentioned our classes many of our classes are taking 500 worth dollars worth of different things i know the spanish department has signed up for two thousand dollars before the conference and i don't know what we're making the budget right now it's the 17th 18th and 19th of october i would have guessed it's going to be 25 to 30 000. we have six or seven missionary families they're kids we have to feed them sunday saturday sunday monday and we'll take care of them and we have always gift baskets from the publications in their room and we have fruit baskets and food there we have to make sure they have lunch every day we'll feed them here in the dining hall and then we'll make sure they have dinner after every service one of our chefs will make lunch for them on saturday night we always take them to a restaurant here and they have orientation and then there's travel expense by car at 4.50 to 5 a gallon now and there's airplane uh and there's love offerings and uh and it's always really i i love pastors conference so much i love it being around those preachers and get i love it and i love youth conference it's just wonderful but this is where god speaks to you and i directly it's our church and missions conference is such a blessing and i know we'll reach it i know we will by the 17th we'll have all the money and then we'll some nice probably perhaps we generally don't even take offerings but let's have taken care of ushers please come and tonight we're beginning to work on that and i hope that we'll do our very best to have a great offering brother david rush you're out the last week i think about seven 800 tracks i think 500 this afternoon teenagers you've had a long day and god bless you had a soul saved today come and lead us in prayer for a good missions conference offering please let's pray father in heaven we do thank you for our church we thank you for the wonderful service we've had so far i pray lord that you would anoint the preacher and the preaching to come thank you for the offering lord and the ability to give towards missions conference and what an honor to give to worldwide missions to know lord that the impact that it's making will reach eternity and we want to be a part of that we want to invest in it we don't want to sit on the sidelines or we want to be involved thank you so much for a wonderful church who gives i pray that you'd meet these needs bless the offering now in our name we pray amen what a joy it is to be in god's house tonight i'm thankful that no matter what goes on outside of these walls we have a place like this to come to as a haven i'm glad that it is a place at times to escape the craziness of this world and i'm so thankful that we have the north valley baptist church at times it's even uh a place to escape the craziness in our own homes if you know what i'm talking about you know i'm so thankful we had a wonderful day as pastor said in chapels today and tremendous elementary and middle school high school chapel and just a great day at school we've had such a great spirit since we've been back and went home and decided that i was going to spend the afternoon in the backyard praying and reading and studying making sure that i was set ready to go and i got a call from my dad about four o'clock and he said i saw the city truck in front of your house i i forgot to tell you i said forgot to tell me what dad they're turning off the power at four o'clock i'm like well they didn't leave a notice at my door no one said anything about it so maybe it's just your house if you know where we live we're on the same block just a street apart and i thought well maybe it's just his house about two minutes later my daughter addison came out the door and she said daddy someone turned the power off and i thought great just what i need to get me in the spirit tonight get me ready and so we went inside and we started getting ready and of course there was no ability to have a hot dinner or anything like that so my wife made some amazing sandwiches and i made the comment i said you know what i really should have invested in a generator that i had on my house she's like yeah you should have i thought oh man i'm a failure i blew it i'm a loser as dinner went on my wife said to my kids would you like to miss patch class and come here daddy preach and reagan immediately said no i'm good and addison said do you guys sing any past the pirate songs and i said no she said no thanks and my wife then began to ask me questions about my message tonight although she didn't ask me about the message she said you have any funny stories to tell and i said you know babe i i don't she said do you have any jokes to share with the people i said i don't i all i have is the word of god that's all i have tonight i'm sorry and so i apologize i have failed already today and uh have you ever been there before you feel like i i just blew it if you remember a few weeks ago before school started pastor addressed us and he said we're getting back to school let's make sure families that we get back into schedule you know the night before school let's calm the house down you know let's light a candle at dinner let's play some soft even tied music you know turn on kmbc and then families have family devotions get to bed at a decent time and i thought i'm going to do that i'm going to do just like pastor said i'm going to set my house in order it's going to be great after dinner the kids were kind of putting things away and my wife says all right guys grab your bibles we're going to have family devotions my youngest daughter addison said what are devotions and we looked at her she said oh is that when we go around the room and say what we're thankful for i thought i blew it i'm a failure so it is great to be at church this evening and escape if you would turn with me to the book of mark this evening mark in chapter number six is where we'll find our text mark in chapter number six perhaps one of the most familiar one of the most famous bible stories of all time if you have been in church for any period of time especially if you grew up in sunday school you have undoubtedly heard this story dozens and dozens of times in mark chapter six it is one of the four places that we find the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand it is the only miracle that jesus performed that is found in all four gospels it's amazing how well we know a story and or how well we think we know a story maybe we've read the passage dozens of times maybe we've heard many messages preached about it and yet you as i was reading it god showed me things that i had not seen before and my hope this evening is that i will be able to be brief and that i will be able to be concise and i will be able to give you something that will be a help brother bertram was encouraging me before time and he said brother fener let me let me share with you two things that i've learned while preaching all these years he said always preach about jesus always preach about jesus and then he said always preach about 20 minutes and so i'm going to try to do those two things today i want to take after brother bircham and i've alliterated all my points brother bertram so i hope i make you proud mark chapter 6 the feeding of the 5000 let's begin reading in verse number 30 this evening the bible says this and the apostles gathered themselves together unto jesus and told him all the things both what they had done and what they had taught and he said unto them come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat and they departed into a desert by ship privately and the people saw them parting and many knew him and ran a foot thither out of all the cities and outwent them and came together unto him and jesus when he came out saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were a sheep not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things and when the day was now far spent his disciples came unto him and said this is a desert place and now the time is far past send them away that they may go into the country round about into the villages and buy themselves bread for they have nothing to eat he answered and said unto them give ye them to eat and they say unto him shall we go and buy two hundred penny worth of bread and give them to eat he saith unto them how many loaves have ye go and see and when they knew they say five and two fishes let's bow our heads together in prayer god we do love you and i'm so thankful that we have this place to come lord to be an escape from all that is going on outside lord i pray now that our attention would be focused on your word god i pray that you would please use me as i seek to be a blessing and a help to these people god i pray that i can be an encouragement to someone tonight in jesus name we pray amen very familiar story one that i believe we all know the disciples had been out preaching and teaching and doing miracles and they came back to be with jesus and as they began to tell jesus of all the things that had happened the miracles that had made had been done the places that they had been jesus says to them let's go and go to part into a desert place let's take a break let's get some rest let's go away from the busyness of what's going on and let's go and take a little getaway the people then see jesus and his disciples going down to the sea of galilee where they board a ship as they see him departing they begin to follow on the coastline i imagine they may have been saying over there in that boat you see that boat that's there's jesus jesus and his disciples they're going out let's follow them let's see where they go maybe we can go and maybe we can see jesus maybe he'll do some miracles let's see if we can follow him and as they began to go the crowd gathered and as they began to tell people like anything when you see a crowd gathering what's going on what's taking place and jesus jesus is on that that boat over there we're gonna follow him we're gonna see where he's going and the people began to gather so at the point that jesus and the disciples get off the ship the bible says there is a multitude gathered we know there are five thousand men plus women and children some estimate as many as ten to fifteen thousand people have now gathered to hear jesus the bible says that as jesus got off that ship they immediately he had compassion on them because they were as sheep having no shepherd the bible says he began to do miracles he began to heal their sick he began to teach them as the day went on the disciples came to jesus and they said jesus we have a problem all these people out here have nothing to eat jesus we're in a desert place the surrounding isn't good the location isn't good and the day is now far past we're running out of time jesus send them away let them go send them back home so they can take care of themselves and jesus looks at his disciples and he says give them something to eat feed them figure it out feed them and they go and they bring back five loaves and two fishes jesus takes it and he blesses it he breaks it he divides it they distribute it to everyone the bible we know the story every single man woman and child eat are filled and they take up the remnants 12 baskets full an amazing story an amazing miracle recorded in matthew mark luke and john this evening i'd like to point out a few different aspects of this story and then apply them if you would look at mark chapter 6 verse 35 and 36 i wanted to notice this evening i want us to see the outlook of the disciples the outlook of the disciples the bible says in verse 35 and when the day was now far spent his disciples came unto him and said this is a desert place and now the time is far past send them away that they may go into the country round about and into the village and buy themselves bread for they have nothing to eat the perspective the outcome of the disciples was a negative outcome or outlook they said jesus don't you know where we're at we're in a desert place look around you this this isn't a good place to be to have all of these people it's not a desirable place it's not a place where we have provision or we have resources it is a desert place they said jesus we're in a bad spot not to mention we're running out of time it's going to be dark soon the day is ending jesus we have to send them away the outlook of the disciples was dark the outlook of the disciples was negative that we are in a bad place and we're running out of time but i like us to notice the obligation of the savior look in verse number 34 and jesus when he came out saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were sheep not having a shepherd he then responds in verse number 37 he says give ye them to eat see the obligation of jesus christ was you don't understand i i know we're in a bad place i know that we're running out of time but you don't understand because i have come to seek and to save that which is lost i can't turn the multitude away i can't send them off with this need i am here to meet the need of this lost multitude i am the great shepherd there is a need i have to meet i can't send them away he had an obligation the disciples looked at the physical and said we're in a bad spot let's get rid of them let's let's not deal with the need of the people let's send them away but jesus said no we're not going to send them away feed them feed them this obligation created an opportunity because he said go and find some food look in verse number 38 this evening he sayeth unto them how many loaves have ye go and see if you go back a verse in verse 37 he answered and said unto them give ye them to eat and they say unto him shall we go and buy 200 penny worth of bread and give them to eat he saith unto them how many loaves have ye go and see see the outlook of the disciples was negative it was dark the obligation of the saviors there is a need that i have to meet i can't send them away there's something i have to do about meeting their need this created an opportunity the disciples then began to dis disperse and i imagine they went around and began to ask people do you have any food is there anyone who has any provisions the master is wanting to know do you have any food is there any bread we have an opportunity here jesus wants to do something he wants to meet a need and we're wondering is there anyone here who has some food that they can give to jesus that opportunity came to a little lad john chapter six verse nine the bible says and there was a lad i imagine that little boy sat there and as the disciples came by they said does anyone have any food do you have any food over here is there any food over there and there sat that little boy and that little boy no one knew it but that little boy knew that i have a bag and inside my bag is is a lunch i have five loaves i have two fishes my mom packed it for me perhaps and there it is and there's an opportunity here jesus wants is asking does anyone have any food and i have something in my bag to give it's not much it's definitely not enough to feed everyone but it's all i have and jesus is asking for it but i see now there is an option that option is a choice am i going to give jesus my lunch or am i going to keep it for myself i know it can't feed everyone so maybe i should just keep it for myself maybe i should just nibble on it here and there maybe i'll eat it myself or maybe i should give it to christ i imagine as the disciples came by he that lad maybe raised his hand and said mr disciple mr disciple come here what is it you're asking for and maybe perhaps peter came and said well little boy the master has this multitude 10 to 15 000 people who are hungry he wants to meet their need and he has sent us on a mission to find someone who has something that he can use and that boy said well i don't have much sir it's really not a lot it's just five loaves and it's just two fishes but i'll tell you what peter go ahead and give it to jesus and let jesus do something with it i see the outlook of the disciples was negative but there was an obligation of the savior he said i can't send them away there is a need i have to meet which created an opportunity for the people but it came down to an option that is a choice of that young lad to give what he had to jesus we of course know the outcome look in verse number 39 this evening and he being jesus commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties and when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes he looked up to heaven and blessed and break the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before them and the two fishes divided he among them all all and they did all eat and were filled and they took up 12 baskets full of the fragments and of the fish you see the outcome of this story is that jesus did the impossible jesus took these five loaves and these two fishes and he blessed them and he break them and he sent them throughout the multitude and every single person ate and was filled and they took up the fragments and there are 12 baskets left we know this story it's an amazing story let's bring it home now for a moment let's apply it to our lives i think it's very obvious that we live in a dark day as we look around us we look we see what's going on in this world it is not hard to see that we are living in a crazy day when you read the news when you see what's going on in the world around us but not just the world around us when we see what's going on here in america in our very state of california it's easy to have a negative outlook it's easy to say well here we are we are in a desert place and you know what time is running out that is a true statement last week we had that evangelist amazing preacher and he preached about the soon coming of jesus christ the reality is he is coming soon the day is drawing nigh we are running out of time but let's not forget that there is an obligation the bible says in the book of second peter 3 9 the lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but his longsuffering to us word not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance can i say this evening that there is still an obligation of the savior he still wants to save people he didn't he has not quit he is still on the throne he has not given up and said all right well i guess there's nothing that he can do no his desire is to still meet the need of the multitude i'm reminded that not only does the savior have have an obligation that you and i have an obligation as well matthew 28 19-20 says this go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost teaching them to observe all things that whatsoever i have commanded you and lo i am with you always even unto the end of the world can i remind his church family that we have an obligation to reach the lost i i know we're in a bad place i know we're in a desert place i know we're running out of time but that does not change the obligation that god wants to still save old sinners and it's up to us to give the gospel with that obligation there comes an opportunity we have an opportunity this evening last sunday night was such an amazing service for the work of the ministry we got these nifty little books you still have yours in your bible you know what this is this is a book of opportunities there are opportunities in here we're looking for hot lunch volunteers bookstore workers brass instrumentalists security parking lot set up you know what this is an opportunity pastor says look church family we are running out of time we still have a mission to reach this world with the gospel of jesus christ there is opportunity for you to serve at the north valley baptist church but i see it comes down to an option in your life and in mind it comes down to a choice will we be used of god will we do something for the cause of christ i feel that so often in my life i miss opportunities the holy spirit prods and perhaps i don't yield myself perhaps i miss the opportunity to do something for the cause of christ i remember one sunday afternoon we had finished church and we were going with our family to get a bite to eat at the sizzler how many sizzler fans do we have good old sizzler steak and a uh side salad good stuff right there and we had gone to sizzler we had got out of the car and we were waiting for pastor mrs trevor to join us and we began to walk in and a young man approached me and i could see very quickly that he appeared to be maybe a vagabond or someone who was traveling from place he didn't have any belongings with him his clothes were dirty and scruffy and he asked me do you have any money do you have any cash and honestly i did not i did not have a single dollar in my pocket and i said no i'm sorry i don't have any cash he turned and walked away and the moment he did the holy spirit smote my heart saying go talk to him give him the gospel tell them the good news and i have to admit this evening i didn't heed the holy spirit instead i heeded my stomach and we went to sizzler we went into scissor we had a good time we had a good meal and as we came walking back out we walked to the car and the family was waiting there and i began to check my pockets honey do you have the keys any of the kids you have the keys looking through the windows oh there they are doors locked i locked my keys in the car i'm like well this is great this is the only set of keys i have and now i'm stranded here and so i called triple a where's brother kiss oh he's not here i called triple a and they were going to be about 20 minutes before they came out so pastor loaded up my wife and the kids and they went home and i sat there by the car and i waited they pulled off and about two minutes later around the corner came that same young man and again the holy spirit just smote my heart and said go give him the gospel go talk to him go go ask him some questions and i approached that young man and i said you know before you were asking me for for some money would you like a meal he said i would i haven't eaten i think it was four or five days i said let's let's go and we were at jack-in-the-box i said let's go into jack-in-the-box and i'll buy you a meal and i had the opportunity to buy him a meal and we sat down and i asked him questions about what are you doing and you know where you trying to get to and told them a little bit about our church and i said let me ask you the most important question and there at that drive through with jack in the box he bowed his head and trusted jesus christ and saved them and while i'm so thankful for that outcome i often think about that first opportunity where i didn't listen that opportunity that i passed up i'm thankful that god gave me a second opportunity but the reality is this evening is that god is not going to force you or i to do his will god will never force us into being being used of god he he won't force us into a position where he will use as that has to come on our own and it comes to a choice the bible says in john 4 35 say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh harvest behold i say unto you lift up your eyes and look onto the fields for they are white already to harvest the truth is ladies and gentlemen we must make a choice if we are going to serve god if we are going to do something in the day and the place in which we find ourselves it may not be perfect it may not be ideal it may be a desert place we may be running out of time but we still have an opportunity what is your choice going to be i'd like to say number one god isn't as concerned as you and i are at what we have to offer him you know sometimes we get so hung up on ourselves and what we think we can offer god you know sometimes we may look and say i can't preach like a brother cooper i'm not a fiery preacher i i'm not a a deep biblical teacher maybe like brother bircham i don't have the vision and the faith and the god can spirit of our pastor i can't sing like a brother martinez or sister so and so i i can't teach a sunday school like they do i can't run a bus route like they do i'm not as dynamic as they are can i remind you that god isn't concerned like you and i are as to what we have to offer god he isn't concerned with it john 15 5 we're reminded that for without me ye can do nothing you know what that tells me it's not about us it's not about what you can do it's not about what i can do it's not about any talents it's not about any abilities it's all about him god wants to use you this evening god wants to use me with or without any talents and or abilities i want to say number two that god has already given you what he needs you to have in this story the disciples come to jesus and they said jesus we need to feed the people we don't have food send them away and jesus says feed them they said should we go buy 200 penny worth worth of bread meaning should we go get what we don't have should we go into town and get the resources we need and jesus said no what do we have go and see see what we already have right now don't don't be concerned with what we don't have don't be concerned with what you can get or what you might acquire in time what do you have right now that god can use and we know that lat says all i have is five loaves and two fishes jesus didn't say oh yeah that's a little tough that can you get more get some more come back and see me no that's not what he said he said good bring me that that'll work i'm reminded of the story of moses in the burning bush one of my favorite bible stories where god appears to moses and says moses i want to use you moses i want you to go to pharaoh and tell pharaoh let my people go and moses says god who am i that i should go before pharaoh i'm a nobody god i don't even know what your name is what if they ask me what if they say who sent you i don't even know what name to call you by god i'm a stutterer i can't be i can't do anything for you god and god answers moses and said moses what's in your hand what do you have there moses i imagine looked at it and said well god it's it's a rod it's a piece of wood it's a stick i found it on the ground and now i walk with it it's a rod and god said i can use that amen he didn't tell moses a rod i'll tell you what moses go back and get a sword when you got a sword in your hand come see me i can do something with that he said what do you have now a stick great i will use that rod i will empower you i will use that raw to do amazing things why because it's not about the rod it's not about the five loaves and two fishes it's all about jesus christ whatever you have today god can use god wants to use you god wants to use me this evening but it's not a matter if god can do something with us it's a matter of will we give what we have to god say why i don't have a lot i have two legs and two arms and i i can't sing can i tell you something ladies and gentlemen this may shock you as of today i have yet to receive a single phone call from a single church anywhere in the world calling me asking me to come sing i know you're shocked in fact brother romero doesn't even let me into our own choir it hurts i'm not a singer you will never see me up here singing i know you saw me once in the staff group but they were desperate everyone else was out of town and i was the only person left you notice i was never asked back so i can't sing so what well you're not a a deep academic teacher i know i'd be the first to admit that i said well what is it that you have then to have god use you you know in high school in elementary i was very shy kid by nature i'm still a very shy person i am not someone who likes getting up in front of people i can remember in elementary my my least favorite time of the day was from 8 to 8 15 because that was the time where the teachers were going to take attendance and that was the time that i would have to speak up and say here it's not funny my face would get beat red my ears and my neck would get on fire and i would be scared to death of having to stand to not even stand just to sit there and say here it lasted all the way through college i was a senior in college still embarrassed when i had to say here or present in class i can remember my seventh grade year at teen camp it was the mount zion baptist camp and pastor was the guest preacher that year the very first evening i i knew that god began to work on my heart i knew that i i was supposed to surrender i knew i was supposed to go forward i was supposed to kneel at the altar i was supposed to make a decision but i knew that god could never use me i knew that i would be scared to death to stand in front of people and to speak or to preach and so i put it off i also knew what it meant if i made a decision there was something that had to happen after the service all of the teens went down to what they called reflection circle and i knew what it meant if i made a decision i would have to go in front of everyone take that microphone give them my name my church and tell them i had made a decision and there's no way i could do that and so monday night i fought it tuesday morning i fought it tuesday evening god again began to work in my heart and i said i can't do it i'm not going to do it wednesday morning wednesday evening this the same thursday came and i knew it was the last day that if i was going to make a decision it was going to have to happen on thursday but again i knew god couldn't use me i knew that i didn't have what it takes i i couldn't stand in front of people and so i didn't make the decision thursday morning thursday night came and finally i gave in and said all right god whatever you have for me i'll go forward and i remember bow on the knee and i surrendered to preach that night we went to reflection circle and i honestly thought about skipping i thought if i go hide in my bunk no one will know i can probably get away with it and i remember my youth pastor that time came he's all right everyone let's go to reflection circle and he walked with me as if he knew i was trying to get out of it i went as far back in the line as i could which wasn't a smart thing because it made that line feel like eternity finally it came to me and they put the microphone in my face and i said chris fenera north valley baptist church tonight i surrendered to preach and i remember putting my head down and walking back i struggled with that decision all through high school because i knew i knew i knew i knew god couldn't use me i didn't have what it takes i couldn't be a great preacher i couldn't do this or that and so i knew god couldn't use me i went to bible college my freshman year and i enjoyed it i enjoyed every aspect of bible college at golden state i had a great time i remember miss chrissy houston who taught the kindergarten class at that time she would often have the preacher boys come and preach in her sunday school class and i'll never forget she asked me and i said yes and i had my notes a page long a page full of notes for five-year-olds noah in the ark i was scared to death i got up there i went through those notes what felt like 30 minutes was probably 30 seconds i looked up at them and they stared at me and i thought they had no idea what i just said i began to panic i looked around the room and i saw some toys and i walked over and grabbed a boat and a few animals and the lesson continued i walked out of there that day thinking i am a failure if i can't even preach and teach to five-year-olds there's no way god's ever going to use me what am i doing here and as that freshman year came to an end i began to contemplate should i go back to golden state maybe i should do something else with my life maybe god isn't calling me to preach and i'll never forget there was a message preached in college chapel i don't remember who preached it but they preached on say yes to every opportunity if you're asked to do something just say yes and i made a decision like probably a naive freshman i said all right i'll say yes to anything and everything that summer came and as everyone went home for college i was asked to teach a boy's sunday school class second grade boys sunday school class and i remember that decision i made and so i said all right i'll do it i'll teach that second grade boys sunday school class i had no idea what i was in for it was an awesome summer we had a great time but it's amazing over the course of that summer god began to do a work in my heart and really i began to see a small glimpse of maybe there is something i can do for god maybe it's not here maybe it maybe it's just teaching a sunday school class it's just second grade boys i i know it's not some major prominent position in the church but it's second grade boys maybe i can do this maybe god could use me doing this and over that summer god did a work in my heart and as i came back to school i changed my major to secondary education i began learning and studying and i graduated and i've been in the christian school for the last 15 years as i look back on it not to say that i am anyone special or that i've arrived but i look at the lives of students and think i had a small part in their life i look at some of the men on staff who once upon a time were students in our high school and i think wow i god allowed me to have a small part in their life i got to make a little impact in their life and i think if god can use someone like me to do something small with what little i have god can use you god wants to use you this evening i'm reminded that the outlook was dark the obligation is pressing the opportunities are available the option this evening is yours you can decide you might think i don't have a i don't have a lot what i have isn't enough it's just a little bit but can i say when you take with the little you have and you say god here it is do with it what you want use it god i've had a prayer that i've prayed every single day from the time i got hired on staff to this morning it's not deep it's not anything that's going to blow your minds it's god please use me today god take take my life and just use me let me make a difference in the life of someone today help me to be a blessing let me be an encouragement this evening the outlook is dark the obligation is pressing the opportunities are available the option is yours and let me say the outcome is eternal what we do here is not for today it's not for tomorrow it's for all eternity god can use you god wants to use you the choice is yours let's bow our head this evening and ask brother caleb to come to the piano please and i'll have pastor come and lead the invitation as he sees fit let's stand together i don't have to say one word you just come god speak in your heart come on god want little as much when god is in it just what we needed tonight teenagers what wonderful young people your tender hearts god bless you all stay tender before god live that way in your home if you're here to be saved would you make sure that we see you right now raise your hand if you're lost without christ can we lead you to christ who needs to be saved anyone [Music] our father we're so very grateful for your institution the church tonight we've been revived in our heart encouraged with hope believing that god you're in control of everything especially our own lives god may we trust you may we not doubt we will not fear may we not live with worry and anxiety but may we believe that we serve the almighty god whose mercies are every new is faithless every morning i thank you for your grace your loving kindness thank you for your forgiveness i thank you for the fact that you gave us the holy spirit of god to empower us for your usefulness and for your hope and to assist in the work of the ministry with our little that we have we surrender to thee bless this great great church the children's program that's finishing up now in jesus name amen all god's people said amen it's so good to be here tonight you know sometimes in life things don't happen the way we want them to happen there's a whole bunch of people millions tonight in our state that are bewildered they're just bewildered i was sitting there thinking i wonder where they're going to turn i wonder if we're not very far away from i think there might be a room up there there might be two seats i think there's a seat over here left because we just keep every day given the gospel these people are so hungry they're so needy you you at least have hope they have no hope you at least have peace and contentment in your heart and jesus they don't have that you at least know the hymns that we sang tonight and the songs we sang and the courses we sang and heard the special music i'll leave you revived just revived i guess you had to live in this moment i was preaching in arizona and on monday night my tuesday tuesday night the election i was going to get up on wednesday morning catch a flight to get back here when i went to bed bill clinton lost the election it was so wonderful and i walked outside early in the morning the headlights said bill clinton is our president he was a womanizer he was not a good man george h bush said character matters we threw it out the window i was so disillusioned just so discouraged and i came to church brother carl and susie you'll remember this your son was in the quartet with some of those boy those men and uh they sang i am with thee through the fire through the flood i'm covered by the blood for i am with thee i never did this before and i don't do it i don't like it when i go to a church and they choirs things and the pastors stand up sing it again we just heard it why do we need to hear it again and that night i said fellas i can't tell you how that helped me would you be willing to sing it again and i'll tell you what it got on in that service that night i know this is going to sound weird strange i even had them sing it from the invitation i think they sang at four perhaps even five times that night we walked out they're so fired up i am with thee god god hasn't forgotten us everything is all right in my father's house just maybe the multitudes are going to start coming because they're so disillusioned i sure love you folks let's straighten up the psalm books please corral if i could see you upstairs in the bridging tower just briefly please pick your kids up tonight don't leave them and pass the pirate pick them up and then say thank you love you god bless you you're dismissed you

Channel: North Valley Baptist Church

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Length: 79min 4sec (4744 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 15 2021