Feeding the 5000: BELIEVE – Part 5
Springcreek Church | Senior Pastor Keith Stewart
Sunday, October 24, 2021
This is a powerful story about how Christ multiplies a little boy’s lunch to feed a multitude. But just like every other miracle we’ve looked at in John’s gospel, there’s so much more to this story than meets the eye. Lean in, listen and learn about the power of Christ that sets us free from anything that holds us down or holds us back.
SERIES: BELIEVE
There is always more to miracles than what meets the eye. They’re intended to remind us of Who Jesus is. This is especially true when it comes to the Gospel of John. When John tells the story of Jesus, he intentionally selects 7 miracles – what he calls “signs” – because of the message behind these supernatural events. John wants us to see Jesus as we never have before so that we might BELIEVE and by believing, we might have LIFE in His name.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. One difference between Phillip and Andrew is how they thought about the challenge issued by Jesus regarding finding food for the thousands gathered in the wilderness. Pastor Keith characterized the difference as Bottom-up processing versus Top-down processing. As a refresher, bottom-up processing is based on only what I see and can take in. It’s very much in the moment and doesn’t really add other prior experience or knowledge into one’s evaluation. Top-down processing is where I, too, assess the present situation but bring into that evaluation what I already know and have experienced. Sometimes we’re guilty of taking a bottom-up approach to a new challenge or situation. We get so caught up in thinking through the difficulty, the cost, the energy, or the mechanics that we become easily discouraged. But with top-down thinking, I bring to bear my knowledge of Who God is, what He’s done for me in the past, His promises, His ability, His will and direction. Describe a time in your life when you got caught up in bottom-up processing and its effect on your outlook, your faith, your personal life or your relationships. Now describe a time when you found yourself up against a significant obstacle or challenge but you brought top-down thinking into the equation.
2. Jesus is the bread of life – food for our souls – and has the ability to satiate our spiritual hunger so that we hunger no more. The people of His day couldn’t understand that about Christ. Have you ever had to examine your own personal God image? Have you ever been guilty of expecting God to be a certain way only to discover that He’s not that way at all? What do you think are some of the most common distortions people have today around their God image?
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