StewardSHIFT (Part 1)

Rhordan Wicks

INTRODUCTION

God wants to bless us. This is never in dispute. Yet we are never blessed unto ourselves. God’s blessing is a river that must be allowed to flow constantly for it to retain its character. If not, our ‘blessings’ will meet a dead end and can instead become a curse.

We are blessed to be a blessing.

God promised Abraham to bless him so that he could become a blessing to others (Genesis 12:2-3). God promises to generously provide so that we can “share freely and give generously to the poor” (2 Corinthians 9:9). 

We need to move away from a ‘scarcity’ mindset of fearing we will never have enough or might lose what we already have. This undermines the ‘rich and glorious inheritance’ we have been given from the ‘immeasurable greatness’ of God’s power (Ephesians 1:18-19).

DISCUSSION

The miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand appears in all four gospels. (See Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:12-17, and John 6:1-14). 

  1. Read John 6:1-14 out loud together as a group once over.

  2. Take at least 15 minutes to close your eyes and imagine the scene. Feel free to use your imagination through all your senses:

    (a) A deserted place up in the mountain, surrounded by five thousand men and even more women and children sitting still and listening rapturously to Jesus teach for hours. 

    (b) Imagine you are the boy with the five loaves and two fishes. Let the Holy Spirit lead you in your imaginative contemplation of the scripture. Note: Have the facilitator of your group reread John 6:1-14, this time slowly. Remain in a few minutes of contemplation.

    (c) Share your observations. Some questions for discussion if you do not know where to begin:

    (i) How did you feel when you responded to Andrew’s call for what food was available? Did you hesitate when you were asked/told to share your food with everyone else at the mountainside?

    (ii) What did you think Jesus would do when he took your food? Did you think the disciples would keep it for themselves? What was the first thing that Jesus did?

    (iii) How did you feel when you saw Jesus/the disciples distribute your food and ask everyone to take ‘as much as they wanted’? What were you thinking? Did you also eat as much as you wanted?

    (iv) When everyone had eaten their fill, did you help to gather the leftovers? What crossed your mind when you saw that the leftovers filled 12 baskets?

  3. Through this exercise, is there any message God has for you specifically?

    (a) Is there something in your life that you are being called to share with someone else?

    (b) Out of the five thousand men and more who were on the mountain, it may well be that many had packed food with them. Yet, only one boy with five barley loaves and two fish offered his food. This was all it took for Jesus to perform this miracle.

    What impact was made through this one offering? (Read John 6:14)

WHAT WILL YOU DO

  1. Think about all the blessings that you have.

     To assist in this exercise, you can consider each category in turn:
    (a) Time
    (b) Health
    (c) Everything you own
    (d) Gifts/talents
    (e) Persons in your life

  2. Give thanks for all that you have.

  3. Give it all to God.

MEMORY VERSE

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” – Romans 11:36 (NIV)

SUGGESTED SONG