In this sermon, the preacher discusses four areas where Christians may fail in their spiritual journey. The first area is the failure to fully embrace sanctification and healing in body, soul, and spirit. The second area is the failure to fit into a local body of believers, often due to a strong sense of individuality. The third area is the failure to endure trials and tribulations, often leading to discouragement and a desire to escape difficult situations. The fourth area is the failure to fully surrender to God's plan and trust Him completely, even when faced with challenges. The preacher emphasizes the importance of seeing the face of the Master and being broken and useful in His hands, just like the bread that fed the 5,000. The sermon encourages listeners to have a vision of what God wants them to be and to trust Him throughout their journey.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. Greetings to all in Jesus' precious name. I've been much encouraged this morning already. The open meditation and thought of that, thought of the foolishness of holding on to our tin cans. If the Lord has given us all in all in Him, how foolish it would be to hold on to our tin cans, which we use for begging. I know there's a place for us to be beggars, but there's a place for us to rejoice in what God has done. Turn to James chapter 1 for the opening scripture. James 1. James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect, and entire, wanting nothing. The opening meditation was a blessing, encouragement to continue on, to be sanctified in the Lord, and so forth. It seems to me like many Christians are going through trying times, being tried, being tested. Many of the churches are going through trying times, being tried and tested also. I'd like to share a message this morning on failures that hinder Christian usefulness, or Christian growth, you might say. I was blessed this week with a little note that someone sent our way. It said, instead of telling God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big your God is. That was a very fitting word for me. It's so easy to get caught up with how big our problem is, and we complain to God about our problems, but we forget. Jesus said, if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, it shall obey thee. Let's just tell that problem how big our God really is. I think of the, it takes faith to do that, and I think of Joshua and Caleb coming back from spying out the land, and the ten spies persuaded the people of the evil, the great giants, the great walls, and the land that swallows up its inhabitants thereof. But Joshua and Caleb saw it from the eyes of faith, and they said, those giants will become bread for us. Those trials and those tests that we're going to go through in life, they can either swallow us up, or they can become bread for us. Amen? That's how I see it. And so this morning, I have brought along some illustrations. I want to use these illustrations in the message. And it's the process of bread baking. And I'm not a bread baker. I wish I would have the experience of doing it at least once, I could tell you I'm a baker, but I have not done it. I've seen my wife do it many, many times, and I greatly enjoy fresh homemade bread. But there are so many Christians that lose their way as difficulties of life come by. And I thought of young Christians and how those who first get born again in the time of their baby stage of the Christian life, there are so many obstacles that come against newborn Christians in many areas of life. Especially if you were not raised in a Christian home. And how I survived that, the only answer I have is that it was God's grace that carried me through. And I'm sure many of you could testify the same. And when I see someone, a newborn Christian in the faith, my heart goes out to them because I realize and I know and understand they're going to go through many fiery trials. And you know how you just want to take that little child of yours and just help him through all those trials. But the Lord wants to take us through there, the Lord wants to walk us through those things. And I'm amazed at the strength of newborn Christians and the faith they have and how God keeps them over and over again. They just somehow, they're able to walk through it. It is the power of the Spirit of God working in their hearts and lives, helping them through their tests and their trials, speaking to them, giving them direction, illuminating their hearts and their minds and they're able to go on. Then I thought of the older Christians. That's really where the test hits the road. Endurance, longevity, many years. Even King David appeared to lose his way when the giants came at him in his older age. And there was other men there who took care of them for him. But there are many older Christians who seem to lose their way. In fact, maybe even more so than those young ones who are new in the faith, full of the Spirit of God, walking in God's grace, expressing God's grace daily. But many older Christians, it seems, they lose their way. And here I have four areas of failure that hinder Christian usefulness. And we bow our heads for prayer. Our Father in heaven, look upon us, O God. Save us from the enemy. Save us from our own selves. Save us from going our own way. And Father, do speak to us, older Christians, by your Spirit. Grant us the grace to walk in the same kind of faith that you did when we were young Christians, Lord. And I pray that your grace would abound in every heart here today. Father, take over this vessel. Speak through me, Lord. You know, Father, I am undone. And without you, I can do nothing. And I'm looking to you, Father, for your anointing. That you may use this vessel for your honor and your glory. Father, would you speak to the body today. Speak to the church. Speak to individuals, Lord. This is our prayer, in Jesus' name. Amen. These four areas, I'll name them, that I have here. Number one is failure to go on in the Christian life in the area of being sanctified. Cleansed. Made whole. Healed. Body, soul, and spirit. The verse that was brought earlier this morning. Second area is some fail in the test of fitting into a local body. And number three is some fail in the test of fire when trials and testings come. And then number four, some fail in the test of brokenness and usefulness. And I'd like to walk through each one of those in light of bread and of baking. And I have brought along some dough and some wheat and a loaf of bread. Number one area that I have here is the area of failing in the test of sanctification process of the whole body, soul, and spirit. As it says in 1 Thessalonians 5.23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a process that God takes us through, you and I personally, in many different ways. That of sanctifying us wholly, body, soul, and spirit. And I don't know what all that means. But I do believe that at salvation we have been saved by faith when we look upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness. We receive that by faith into our own lives. And the Spirit of God comes and dwells in my spirit through faith. And does such a deep work of sanctifying and changing. Like it says, I will give you a new heart, a new spirit when I put within you. And I will cause you to walk in my statutes and to keep them. That's salvation. And I don't know if that's just the salvation of the spirit. But I know that when the Spirit of God comes and dwells in the heart through faith that we are saved. And I know that that does not necessarily mean that all of my issues have been taken care of. There are people who come to faith in Christ Jesus by listening to a preacher on the television or by hearing someone preaching. And somehow in their heart they take a step of faith and they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation. And their soul is saved. Maybe even without specifically confessing any sins. But there is the area of the soul, the area of the emotions where many people carry through their lives that do not get dealt with at the time of salvation. But this is part of the sanctifying process of the Christian life is to deal with every issue in your life that the Spirit of God brings to you. Every one. I remember in our first year when I was saved, my wife and I were saved. We were saved in the middle of a revival meeting and much good heart anointed preaching against sin. And we hit the altar time and time again, confessing the sins that were preached against, recognizing the Spirit of God, bringing it home to our heart and opening up our heart and confessing. Yes, that is me. And we hit the altar, we repented, we confessed and we got free from those sins. But there are many Christians who have never had that kind of opportunity, may I say, or have never taken the opportunity to deal with the further issues in their lives. Sins that they have committed but have never specifically confessed them. And many times they are bound by the power of those sins in their Christian life. It hinders Christian growth. It hinders usefulness in the Christian life. But if we are willing to open up our heart and allow the Spirit of God to deal with every area of our heart, we can begin to come to freedom, more freedom and more freedom. By the time those two weeks of revival meetings were open, when we got saved, our hearts were so clean and so free, you know, we were on the way. Praise God. But I remember a year later, we had revival meetings again and the preacher came around again and he preached again against sin and other things. And you know what? I had to hit the altar again because sins were brought to the surface that I had forgotten about, that I hadn't realized. And the Spirit of God again convicted me. And again, I was able to confess those things that I had done and I was able to be free. I even had to go back to my employer a year or two after I was saved and say, Hey, would you forgive me? I wasted time when I worked for you and I did this. I hadn't thought about it before. But the Spirit of God began to work on my heart and life. Sanctifying me, cleansing me, cleaning up my old life, taking out that filth, taking out those things which were hidden deep down in the heart. They come out. And I believe there's people here today who don't know the freedom that there is in keeping your heart, opening up your heart continually that way. Many Christians, I believe, fail in this area of sanctification. They do not go on to perfection in this area. Issues in the heart, they keep them under. They never allow them to come up. It's too painful. But I have to say, if that's where you're at, you will be hindered in your usefulness as a Christian until you deal with them. Unforgiveness, bitterness, so forth. And Hebrews says, But exhort one another daily, while it is today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. And if you have recognized, if God at any time has convicted you of sin in your life that you've never confessed, and you just put it away and said, ah, does it really matter? You are in danger of hardening your heart. You're in danger of the deceitfulness of sin, allowing it to stay there, knowing it's there, but not dealing with it. This is very, very dangerous to the Christian life and a great hindrance to the usefulness in a Christian's life. This process of baking bread, and this is the example, is of wheat. You take wheat and you put it into the milling machine, into the mill. In the olden days, they would use stones, different kinds of milling processes, and they would use stones that would grind the wheat and it would grind it into flour. And there was also, they would use other kinds of grains. But there are some grains in the wheat that are useless. There's a few right here that I see are not in very good condition. But when we used to grow wheat on the farm where I grew up, and when you take a handful of wheat like this, before the wheat was cleaned, or before the wheat was separated, may I say, or sifted, you would see some dirt in it and you would see some small, shriveled up grains of wheat in it. Or those shriveled up grains of wheat would be hard and they would not be useful in the process of milling. They would not bear forth flour. They were basically just a hulk with a shell and they didn't have life inside. You see, these grains of wheat, they have life inside of them. And I would like to liken this unto individuals, and that each grain of wheat that we have, these individuals are taken and they're put into the grinding mill and they're ground up together, and then they're all brought, then it comes out as flour, and each one of these individual grains of wheat loses its identity in this process. Once they have been through the grinding wheel, you can no longer pick out each one as an individual, but they lose their identity as they go through there. And when you have ground the wheat, they are no longer individuals, but they are as one. You take that bowl of flour, and you can't discern any one kernel in there, but you see the whole as flour. And that is the picture that I have here, that unless you allow God to put you through this process of sanctifying your heart in life, you'll be unable to be useful in the Christian life in certain areas, in a large way. There are some grains of wheat that don't allow themselves to be crushed or ground. They have been hardened. And if you're at that place where you've hardened your heart from the deceitfulness of sin, repent and turn from that. And there are some that allow the life within them to die. You see, there's life in those kernels. And when that is crushed and ground, it becomes useful, and that life begins to become useful in the flour. 1 Corinthians 10 and 17 says, For we being many are one bread and one body, or we are one loaf and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread, which is Christ. Furthermore, the Bible says, Be ye of one mind. This process of grinding and this process of sanctification brings you into oneness with one another in the body. There are some Christians who are unable to live a normal Christian life. They're unable to flow in a normal body. They just have so many problems, and they don't know why. Well, this is why. Because there are issues in their lives that have never been taken care of. Failure number one is not allowing yourself to be sanctified. Not going through all the way. Unable to flow in freedom in a body. Romans 15, 6 says, That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Other verses speak of being one, being together, allowing yourself to be made one. And when you have sin in your life, when you have areas in your life that you've never dealt with, you will not be able to flow together with the rest of the body who is one with Christ. If you are not clear and clean in every area of your life, how can you be of one with Christ? Yes, I know we're in Christ, but God wants us to become one with Him in every area. Didn't Jesus pray that we would become one with Him and the Father? And part of that prayer is a process of sanctifying, taking away all the dross that is within us. All, or to be filled with the knowledge of Christ. Peter says, These are the type of things, being of one accord, one mind, one heart. Clean through Jesus Christ. That is what makes oneness. Not an outward show or dress and so forth. You can take the soldiers in the army, all of the same uniform, but they're not one in heart. The only way to be one in heart is through the unity of the Spirit of God into Jesus Christ. Having your sins washed by the blood of Christ, having everything cleansed and taken care of, and flowing together in Christ with the body. Amen? So my encouragement is, do not fail in this area. Let us not keep the feasts with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The second step, second area of failure, is failing to fit into a local body, and this point flows right after the other one. If you are at that place where you're not sanctified, you will not be able to fit into a true local body, clearly. But even some who have been through a sanctifying process, they have, God has worked mightily in their hearts, God has wrought salvation, God has sanctified them, they may be clean, they might be a place where there's nothing hidden at all, but yet somehow they're unable to flow in a local body. A baker, he'll take that dough, and he'll knead that dough. I think my hand's all sticky here, the way it looks. But I'm sure your sisters know how to knead bread. The flour is taken, that there's no more individualism in there, there's no more your own identities, but you are now a part of a lump of flour. And the baker then takes that, and he puts the oil in there, and he puts the water in there, and we today, our wives, our daughters, they put yeast in to make it to rise. And the baker takes that, and he kneads that flour again and again and again. Now why is that process necessary? I think there's probably some sisters who don't even know why they do that. Right? I asked my wife why. Well, she just does it until it comes to a certain constituency, then she says it's enough, and she's finished, and just puts it in the bowl and lets it rise. And then a little while later, she'll come back, and she'll punch it down, she'll take it out, she'll knead it again. And I asked, well, how do you know when to stop kneading it? Well, she just kind of knows when to do that. I'd like to read in this, it's called the Basic Care Bulletin, about this process, and there's some very good points that I want to pull out of here. Listen carefully. Protein is made up of unique sequences of amino acids which are arranged one after another in long chains. The shape of the chain depends on hydrogen atoms which are abundant in amino acids. These hydrogen atoms act like tiny barbs to hook the chain together. Some proteins have many of these hydrogen hooks that the protein chain becomes an intricately tangled mess of barbs hanging on to each other. The gluten in wheat is just such a protein. It is long, strong, and tangled. Before bakers can use gluten for baking, however, they must untangle it using a process called kneading. Kneading works like a mother gently combing out the tangles of a daughter's hair. Bakers add water and oil to the whole wheat flour, and this works like a cream rinse on hair to soften the gluten and break the hydrogen bonds which keep the strands tangled. Proper kneading straightens out the gluten proteins to their greatest lengths. As the strands untangle, they give bread dough an elastic quality. When fully untangled, the smooth gluten threads slide smoothly past one another without tearing or snagging on each other. And I thought about that, and I thought, OK, here we have these individual wheat grains that are taken and put together in one body. And so often there's little snags and snares that we just kind of rub each other the wrong way, we catch on each other, we find something wrong with each other, and that's what happens when you begin the process. But as this kneading continues, and as the baker kneads that lump and continues to gently work that lump over, those tangled threads just kind of untangle, and after a while they flow together in a smooth way, and that's when the baker knows to stop kneading them. If the kneading is not done properly, these things will continue to be snagging each other, and they will allow the gases that are produced by the yeast to escape through those glitches or whatever in there. I see Ben, he's a baker, he's shaking his head back there. But if it's not kneaded properly, when the yeast gases begin to expand, then they slip through there if it's not kneaded properly. But if it's properly kneaded, then the elasticity in this dough will catch those, it will be like little balloons, little air pockets in there, and that's what causes bread to rise. I'd like for us to think about the pastors of a local congregation. The pastors are the ones that do this kneading, gentle working over of this lump. Working, kneading gently, and it says that insufficient kneading results in bread which fails to rise properly. And that speaks, doesn't it? Instead of stretching, the gluten catches on its own tangles and tears. This condition allows the trapped yeast gases to escape and causes the bread dough to fall. And when baked that way, the dough then produces heavy bricks instead of light, fluffy bread. Any heavy bricks here today? Oh, that we as pastors would know exactly how to do that. A good baker does not pound or slap bread dough. Rough treatment only tears the tangled gluten fibers into short pieces. Instead, kneading must be gentle, smooth, and firm. Yet, even proper kneading if carried to excess will produce the same end results. This is why a baker must carefully watch the dough to see when the gluten fibers have reached their elastic limits. At first, the dough feels sticky because all the water and oil has not yet been absorbed. Sticky dough clings to the kneader's fingers without any capacity to stand alone. However, as the gluten absorbs more water and oil, it becomes smooth and only slightly tacky. Most bakers learn to endure the sticky characteristics of bread dough so that they can more easily detect when the dough is ready. Gentle kneading eventually untangles the elastic strands of gluten and the dough begins to resist the kneader's touch. I don't know what they're talking... I mean, I believe it, but maybe you sisters understand that. This is the point at which kneading must stop. Once the dough feels resistant, the gluten strands will tear if they are kneaded any further. So, we as pastors, we can do damage by doing too much kneading. And we also do damage by not doing enough. That's what spoke to me. So much for the ins and outs of bread making. This dough has been taken and it is put into a mold. One thing about the dough in this stage, it is very floppy, it's very movable, it's like play dough. You can shape it the way you want it. You can do with it whatever you want, basically. And it really isn't much good by itself. You can try to stand it on end and it won't stay there or just kind of fall over. It really is not sufficient yet. But you take this dough and you put it into a mold and there you take it and you put it into the fire. Which is what we Christians really don't like. You take that thing, you put it into the oven and you bake it or you let it rise first a while again and then you bake it. There's many times Christians fail in this area of their lives. They fail in the area when it comes to having the heat turned up in their lives. And I think probably one of the greatest areas, one of the reasons why so many people fail in these testings is because they don't see the big picture. They don't see that God is wanting to bring us and conform us into the image of Christ, personally and as a body. And we might look at the hands that have caused all that pain, we might not like those hands that need us over and over again. We might look at those hands and say, you're hurting me, I don't like what you're doing to me. But we fail to see the face of the baker. We fail to see the face of the master in the process. If he watches, he carefully, lovingly, kneads the bread, takes that lump and brings it to a place where it has the elasticity and to where it's supposed to be, to where it will become a beautiful loaf of bread. But we fail because we don't see the master's hand or the master's face. We look only at his hand, perhaps. The third step, third area of failure is in the baking process where the dross is burned out or the harmful things that harm us or that hinder us are burned out. It's a process. The Christian life is a walk. It's a narrow walk. It's a way. It's a process. Sanctification is a process likewise. And we need to be willing to allow the master to have his way in our lives. The dough here really is no good unless it is put into the fire and it is baked. It's just simply a flat glob. I mean, you can put that dough right here in the corner and it won't even be able to hold its own. It will just kind of roll over to the side and fall down eventually. You see, we really are not much good unless we've been through the fire. I think of the mother of Zebedee's children. She came and she worshipped him and desired a certain thing of Jesus. And he said, What wilt thou? She said, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on the right hand and the other on the left hand. And Jesus said, You don't know what you're asking. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? And are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I have been baptized with? They said to him, We are able. And he says unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I have been baptized with. But the sin on my right hand and my left hand is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them of whom it is prepared of my Father. And he says that they shall be baptized with the same baptism that he was baptized with. And I think that includes a lot of things. I'm not speaking just of a water baptism, but rather a baptism of fire. There's another verse, other verses where John says of Jesus, He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. And I believe that may be a prophecy of Pentecost, but I also think it avails to the fact that the Christian life is a baptism of the power of God and that power of God in your life will bring you to a place where the fires will burn. You will need to learn to endure hardships and difficulties and testings and trials. And that is what we call the fires. Another picture we could take is that of a goldsmith who puts the gold into that hopper and then he puts the fire, he turns the fire up and as the fire is burning, the dross is burned off and he takes that scoop and just scoops the dross off and he turns the fire up some more and he just scoops some more dross off and as the fire gets hotter, the dross continues to rise until the gold is pure. And he knows that the gold is pure when he can look down into that gold and he sees the reflection of himself. Because all the impurities have been taken out of it, what's left is pure gold and when you have pure gold you have transparency. And that's what God wants from you and me. He wants you and I to be transparent. He wants us to be see-through. He wants us to be able to be free from all impurities. And that's the picture we have here. The fire of God burning. What do we do when the fire comes? We shrink back. We don't like it. We grumble. We complain about how big our problem is instead of telling our problem how big our God is. Let's remember. He wants to form us. He puts us into a form and He puts us into this mold and we can say that this would be the mold of Christ. Be ye not conformed, it says to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. Another verse says, for whom He did foreknow He also did predestinate us to be conformed to the image of His Son. And so when we allow ourselves to be needed and taken as a lump in a local body, He will also put us into a form and then He puts us into fire and you see when we come out of the fire we will have the form of Christ. And the fire is that which takes away, actually when you're baking bread and you put it in the fire, I understand that the germs and the yeast that is expanding and multiplying there, those little germs, they die. And those germs would be harmful if you were to eat a lot of them. But the fire purifies them. It puts to death all the old men. It puts to death that which is me, myself and my own. And then we have, we have the, following that we have, after it's taken out of the fire, we have a loaf of bread and that loaf of bread is then taken out and it is the perfect image of the form. And that's what we want. We want God to conform us into His image. Is that right? But if we resist this process, in any of these areas, if we resist in any of these areas, He won't be able to conform us. We won't become like Him. You see how this loaf of bread is firm. It's solid. It stands. It is in the image of the form. It no longer is floppy. It no longer just rolls around. But it's been through the fire and it has the perfect form that it was put into. It's been through the fire. That's what God desires from each one of us. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Do we know that? Do we know it here? Or do we know it here? Do I know? Am I thoroughly convinced that everything that happens to me, everything that God allows to come into my path is for my own good? Do I believe that? If I believe that, I won't be discouraged. There is no room for discouragement at all in my life if I continue to believe that verse. We are formed into His image. Let's look at John chapter 5 for a few, some verses here. Excuse me, John chapter 6. This is where Christ feeds the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes. This is the chapter where He speaks of the bread of life. I did a little study on the bread of the old days. There was three basic types of bread. Or in the Hebrew time, there was the there was a barley bread which was a coarse type bread. There was a wheat bread which was a better bread. And then there was also in the tabernacle it talks about the fine flour. Even when I think even when Abraham what does that say? When he met those when those three men came to Abraham he told Sarah take a look at that scripture if I can find it. In Genesis 18 the three men came and he Abraham hastened to the tent to Sarah and said make ready quickly three measures of fine meal. And in the tabernacle you will see that they used fine meal. And the fine meal was the best of bread. And in the process of today they make the meal so fine they separate the the holes from the from the white particle part and it's actually not as good for you. But even in the Bible the fine meal was that which was for the best. It was for the highest society. And many times your type of bread indicated your status of wealth or prestige or poverty. And barley bread was a very coarse type of bread. And here we have in John chapter 6 this where Jesus fed the multitudes. I noticed here let's read some of these verses in John chapter 6 verse 1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee which is the sea of Tiberias and a great multitude followed him because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were at his ease. And Jesus went up into a mountain and there he sat with his disciples. Now notice verse 4 In Passover a feast of the Jews was nine. I'm not sure why that's there. Here was the Passover coming close. During the Passover they would they would have seven days where they would not eat leavened bread. I'm not sure that has something to do with this or not. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great multitude coming to him he says to Philip When shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this he said to prove him for he himself knew what he would do. It's like Jesus had a plan in mind. He wanted to give them the teaching about the bread of heaven. And so when the multitudes came he asked Philip he said How shall we find enough bread to feed this multitude? Philip said Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may take a little. One of his disciples Andrew Simon Peter's brother turned and said to him There's a lad here which has five barley loaves and two small fishes but what are they among so many? So we have barley loaves here specifically they are more of the coarser type. And Jesus had them sit down and he took the loaves verse eleven and when he had given thanks he distributed to his disciples and the disciples to them that were sat down and likewise of the fishes as much as they would when they were filled he said to his disciples gather up the fragments that remain and let nothing be lost and they gathered them together filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above unto them that had eaten and there was about what five thousand people there I guess. Not sure. He took the bread and he broke it and he gave it to the people. Then let's go over to verse twenty six people still were seeking came to seeking Jesus as he went across the ship went across the sea and in this time is when he walked on the water which we heard about this morning verse twenty six Jesus answered them and said verily verily I say unto you ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled labour not for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed you see he's still he's still now he's going to use the feeding of the five thousand for a lesson to his disciples and these people around him there then said unto him what shall we do that we might work the works of God Jesus answered and said to them this is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent and I've done some studying this verse before and I wrote in my Bible what does it mean to believe Jesus said this is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent and later on he says I am the bread of life and he goes into the discourse about the bread there except ye eat of me and drink eat my flesh and drink my blood ye have no life and no part in me and so forth but this verse here says that the work of God is to believe on him whom he hath sent and I have here in my Bible the definition for the word believe it is believing unto losing your life in him and that's the whole picture that we're looking at here yes you might get born again and be walking in God's grace but believe but you only came to faith you only came to be saved through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ that is how you were able to get saved but the Christian life is a continuation of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ every day every moment of your life and this believing takes you down a road if you continue to believe in him you will come down you will walk down this road of sanctification you will walk down this road of allowing yourself to be put into a local body somewhere I believe and become a part taker to be on the inside of that local body not on the fringes not on the outside but to be a very part taker and this is a part of believing unto losing your own identity in Christ the Christian life is not a shallow thing it is not to be shallow it is not just salvation but there is a continuation to believe unto the point of losing your life in him sometimes people are too individualistic to allow themselves to be kneaded together to be molded and that process of kneading the dough is a process that I see or even the grinding is a part of it grinding up that wheat is a process of losing your identity losing that who you are what you think is right what you want for the church and allowing yourself to be molded into a part of the body any of the wheat kernels that do not allow themselves to be broken that do not allow themselves to become useful they are not useful in they are not they cannot be taken in to that lump and then as that lump is worked over over all God and I see how God is able to mold his body God is the one who molds the body of Christ if I may say it that way with this picture but we as pastors also have responsibility but this part this is not just a believing back there when I got saved this believing is a continuation unto the losing of my life the losing of myself giving up my own individuality giving up my own things viewing up my rights unto God and through that if each one does that that's what forms a beautiful body of Christ and that body goes through the fire it comes out a beautiful loaf of bread Amen? Now let me ask you makes you want to have communion doesn't it? There's a beautiful loaf of bread how can we utilize it? Can you put this whole thing in your mouth? So many Christians fail on this fourth point they fail in the area of brokenness they fail in the area of becoming really useful to where God uses them their full extent this loaf is not useful unless it is broken you can take this loaf of bread you can break it you can break it up into many small pieces and each piece of each piece of this bread becomes a useful food for the body and likewise you can become a useful vessel in the body of Christ you can be that bread of life you can be that vessel in God's hand that is broken that is useful that smells good and that is good to be around that people love to be with you people want to be with you people come to you just to be with you because there is a sweet savor around you and they love to be with you because you have something to give you have life to give this bread gives life this bread gives strength and how much more Jesus he said I am the bread which came down from heaven I am the bread of life I am that manna which came down from heaven and bread is a very daily source of food in any third world country bread or rice or something like that but Jesus he used this to show to them and he said to them I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger he that believeth on me shall never thirst and I know you and I know that Jesus he gave his body to be broken and his body was broken and when his body was broken and he was put to death and when God raised him up then that same life the life of Christ was then dealt out and given to the multitudes just the same way that Jesus took that bread and he fed the 5,000 and he fed the 7,000 with those barley loaves even so Jesus Christ today is to be spread out to be given out to be passed out and every one of us should be a part of that loaf of bread but Jesus is the actual he we are the body of Christ we are that bread today and bread is that way bread must be eaten bread must be given out that beggar he would never do that he would go back and tell his fellow beggars look he said I have found bread don't you want to come along and I'll show you where the bread is and that's exactly where you and I are to be as Christians we are also beggars and we are beggars who have tasted of that heavenly bread that heavenly manna that Jesus said I am the bread of life and we have eaten of that bread and that bread was good and that bread gave us life why should I keep that bread to myself bread needs to be eaten or it will spoil amen and also this thing about being broken there is much that could be shared about that but when Christians are unbroken you know we could look at that loaf of bread and just continue looking at it but unless it's broken it's not very useful and that's the way Christians are even Christians who have been through the fire they have been molded into his image God has given them gifts God has given them talents God may have even given them a ministry but unless they are broken that cannot really flow through them we ourselves are like a shell we ourselves are like almost like a kernel of wheat and unless that kernel of wheat is broken except the kernel of wheat fall into the ground and die it standeth alone the Bible says and that loaf of bread could just stand alone there for a long time but if we fall in the ground and die then that life which comes forth that is what gives life out and so we as Christians in this process of life in this process of the Christian life in this process of becoming useful we need to let go of our own abilities of our own talents of our own dreams of ministry or of what we think God wants to do with us and this is especially with young men and I guess it's with young ladies too but I know I can speak for myself God has given me a gift God has given me specific talents and I know that they're they can be very beautiful but the problem is if I'm unbroken then God will just kind of hold me off and just hold me off and He'll wait and He'll wait until I'm willing to let go and let God have His full reign into my life and heart and everything and lay at His feet the gifts and talents He has given me and allow Him to have them back and say Lord they're yours you gave them to me and now I am giving them back to you and laying down your own dreams and your own desires and allowing God to just break you of that which you want to be and that which you want to do brokenness Jacob needed to be broken in his own way and reasonings and then he wrestled with the angel until morning and then the angel touched his hip and Jacob limped for the rest of his life a reminder of how hard it was for him to let go of his own way Jesus said in verse 32 very very to feed the hungry would you be poured out like wine and so forth four areas of failure that hinder the Christian usefulness in the area of sanctification in short not dealing with issues in your heart not being clean not having sins all confessed and up to date allowing sin to continue in your heart be careful be not deceived that a seekfulness of sin hardens the heart and might bring you to a place where you are hard to break and hard to crush but be quick be diligent to keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life the second area is failing in the area of fitting into a local body too strong of an individuality believing in yourself your own way not yielding to that grinding wheel which brings you to a place of losing your identity in the body of Christ the third area when trials and tribulations come and testing and the fire gets too hot they say to Jesus come off the cross but the temptation is to get down off the cross jump out of the oven the oven is too hot I can't stand it it's too much for me and we get discouraged and we lose out and the fourth one is having been through all of that I think of the verse in Galatians where it says have you suffered so much in vain let me find that verse foolish Galatians oh foolish Galatians who have bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth crucify among you this only will I learn of you receive you the spirit by the works of the law by the hearing of faith are you so foolish having begun in the spirit yes many people begin are you now made perfect by the flesh they turn to other means to keep them have you suffered so many things in vain if it be yet in vain have you suffered so many things in vain have you been through so much and you stop short of the final process of the fire or of the breaking or whatever it may be let go of your own dreams and visions and trust God to lead you all the way may the Lord add his blessing to each one my heart's prayer and desire for you is that and for us the body that we could see the face of the master and not complain about the hair that put us in the oven not complain about the hands that need us and work us over again and again look at the face of the master and have a vision of what he wants us to be broken useful bread in the master's hand as he goes and feeds the 5000 he gives it to his disciples and they go and pass it out that's what Jesus wants from each one of us shall we kneel for prayer O precious Savior precious Lord Jesus we delight to see to know we delight to taste and see that the Lord is good yea the bread of heaven feed me Lord till I want no more thank you Father for giving us eternal life thank you for giving your Son the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross and to shed his blood to cleanse us from evil to cleanse us from sin I pray Father that the blood would avail here in the hearts of each person here Lord that each one may be cleansed freed delivered from all the bondages and sins and Father that each one may see the need to become a part of the local body and to fit in not to be on the fringes not to be on the edges but rather yielding up giving up their own individuality giving up their own rights and becoming a part of a blessed body of Christ then Lord when the fire is put up help us Lord to stick together help us Lord to look into your face help us Lord to tell the problems about how big you are help us Lord to be broken break us Lord that we may become useful vessels bread in the hand of the Master bread that will feed the thousands oh Father would you do it and would you be glorified through it all for Jesus sake we pray Amen Father the words of Jesus where he said he that will seek to save his life shall lose it but he that will lose his life the same shall save it or shall find it I believe there is a lot of truth in that in the life of a Christian not just looking at a sinner man but in the life of a Christian will I be poured out like wine upon the altar for the Lord will I be broken like bread to feed the hungry or will I hold on to my little tin cup or my own identity my own rights I was talking to another brother from another local fellowship here a couple days back and we got on to the subject of Jesus great burden of his heart as he was going to the Father in John chapter 17 I will that they be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they be one as we are what hinders that oneness if we're really honest with ourselves what hinders it well I I'm not willing to yield in that area visiting with brother Ken Lowry last Sunday he said I'd never trade what God has done in my heart through all this cancer experience said it was worth it all said the Lord showed me one thing very clearly I am totally dependent upon God for everything without him I can do nothing he stripped me of all my own resources and my own will and he said he just sees that what causes so many problems is self on the throne whether it's in the home whether it's at the workplace whether it's at the local church Jesus longing cry for his people oh that they be one and where that is really lived out and tested and seen is in a local church assembly brother Emmanuel thank you for sharing with us the word of the Lord this morning these beautiful lessons in the bread the kernels of wheat appreciate it so much like to just open it up this morning maybe you have a word of testimony a word of confession word of blessing encouragement feel free raise your hand that the spirit of God prompts you to be faithful to the spirit of the Lord raise your hand so hand up front here in the brother's side toward the center others get your hand up so they get a microphone to you so we can redeem the time speedily thank you hand in the back also okay brother Paul yes I appreciate being here today and just the way that the Lord spoke through these messages you know many times we think of the Christian life as an imitation of Christ that we are supposed to try to be like him and do what he would do and there's a truth in that but it's more truly to be a participation in his life the life of Jesus Christ and like Tim brought out there in consecration we think of consecration I need to consecrate myself and it can become a legalistic and a bondage to us but what are we supposed to consecrate is it the old man or the new many times we try to consecrate the old man the one who's dead the one who was crucified with Christ and so we say I'm gonna let that old man you know I'm gonna put myself on my bootstraps and try a little harder and I'm gonna consecrate myself and that doesn't work it's the new man it says in Romans there chapter six that know you not that you have been crucified that you are dead with Christ and it says yield yourselves therefore as those that are alive from the dead amen and so we participate in that life as we embrace the cross of Christ first of all I am no longer live Paul said I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me and so as we hear these messages we have to realize that it's a participation of his life not me deciding where I'll consecrate and that I'm gonna try harder and in church life that's what happens God brings things to us that don't feel good and that you know we don't get to choose those but what will we do when we embrace the life of Jesus who was like that lamb who came would not open his mouth will we allow him to live through us through another human being his life to come out or will we let that old wheat stay up there on that stalk and be unfruitful so I pray that we can become a church of people like that participating in his life and that he could do wonderful things through each of us Amen Thank you brother Paul in the back others get your hand up so we can get the microphone to you while he's sharing appreciate that just thank the Lord for the message this morning and brother Emmanuel for simple object lesson I do I do well with things like that retaining that seems like every time we have children's lesson I it just sticks and I just bless the Lord for that but I thought about the wheat there in the jar you know we can sit here in an hour and see this whole thing just right before us and it all makes sense and I think we can all comprehend it but I think many times that wheat kernel in the jar can't see the end result and that's how it is many times for us I believe in our life when we're going through the grinding or we're going through the fire or whatever it is we can't always see the end result we can't see the broken piece that's going to be used we can't even see the loaf maybe if we could see the loaf we could be encouraged in that and so the only thing that can keep us going many times is our trust in the in the baker and I had to think there's two times in that process where the wheat can't even see the baker he can only trust it's in the grinding process when he's in between the stones he can't see the face of the baker and when he's in the fire all he can see is fire he can't see nothing else but he can trust the baker and I believe that's why in those processes many Christians lose their way right there it's because we do have a choice we're not like the loaf that doesn't have a choice we have a choice and the only thing is our trust in the baker that's going to keep us there and I think that's why it's so beautiful how the two sermons went together about we must believe that all things work together for good we must trust the face of he who can calm the storm but sometimes just gives us power to walk on the waves and I think it's it is what makes the difference of whether we'll make it to the end and be useful either personally or the body I believe whether we can trust the baker and see it all the way through or whether we can just submit to his plan for us you know I know there is a part that the devil has to play in all our lives but in this process this morning we didn't hear anything about the devil and I think that's proper I think our greatest enemy many times is our own self our own flesh that wants to rise up yes the devil appeals to that but it's sometimes in that order we need to fear ourself and running away from the fire and the plan God has for us more than we need to fear the devil making me do this or that so I just bless God for the message amen thank you there's a hand back there yeah I was very blessed with the message today I just was encouraged with the manual sharing about the bread of love I mean the bread that has to be formed together it was like a couple days ago that was going through a down deep of fire and situation of and I started to become very discouraged and very bitter and towards God and I was just wondering why he let this war up in heaven that this was a split between heaven and the war I started to just blame on God and everything because I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure there's a reason for this and I just started to read here John 5 verse 5 and 6 it says a certain man was there which had infirmity 38 years when Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case he says unto him will them be made whole there's people that may have seen that there's no hope for this man 38 years going through the situation that they felt that there's no hope and this man was trying to going through the middle of the water and trying to be healed and Jesus saw his faith and he said that it says will them be made whole and I just had to think this verse for myself you know I'm not even 30 years yet I mean there's like I'm in the 20 something and I just pray for a church that I would have more faith in this poor environment and I just there's a faith that has lots to do with trust and obey and look unto him which it says somewhere things to come for in the future forgetting the past and reaching out for things that are before us and that's a very powerful verse there and I just think if we look before in the future and forgetting the things that are in the past we come in the far ways and I just think it's a very blessing and I just bless the Lord that that my thinking is sort of clear with the Bible verses and I just I was just blessed the last couple of days when I was reading the Bible that God revealed and the clearness that I never had been experiencing before at least this last couple of years that it's making sense to me more and more and I'm just very pleased with that but there's just times that I fall down into the pit why that gets us so discouraged and I just feel like there's no hopes and I believe that Satan is there trying to deceive me and saying that there's no hopes but in the midst of those times I just give up and feel like it's God's fault because He created the demons in the world and society and we could all blame it on God but we don't understand it once we're up in heaven we can't understand everything why that is but down on earth I guess it's too much for us like Emmanuel shared we can't put that whole bread in our mouth all at one time and we have to have teaching the rest of our life here on earth it's like we're never done learning in one day it just takes time Thank you for sharing ever looking unto Jesus it's another hand here on the brother's side over here and then also in the back Brother Jeff with the way the messages went together it was so encouraging to realize that Jesus didn't call Peter to swim through the storm and yet if we didn't know better if we weren't reminded like we are today or through the scriptures we would really work at swimming you'd think that Peter was probably a good swimmer he spent a lot of time on the water but he went down and the Bible doesn't record that he tried to swim he didn't have something to fall back on he was sinking, he was probably wearing his heavy cloak and down he went and all it says he said was help and Jesus quickly grabbed hold of him he didn't say come on, do a backstroke or try the Australian crawl or whatever he just said he reached out grabbed him I also was blessed by the analogy Brother Emmanuel brought out of our ministers, our pastors as being bakers I think of the best bakers online went back to that children's poem about the gingerbread man the best bakers are those who never lose sight of the fact that they're made of the same stuff as those that they are needing they're very much in touch with their own need to be baked and kneaded and sifted and ground and that leads to the last thing I want to say I just want to bless our ministers right now I want to thank you for your willingness to come to the homes and to as Brother Emmanuel said, get your fingers sticky and knead the heads of households and their wives and find out where they're at do they need a little more kneading or do they need a little more baking that's a very personal ministry I also know it's a very exhausting ministry and it's a very vulnerable ministry because oftentimes what in my life has made you men such a blessing is your vulnerability your willingness to share your personal struggles and that's hard work and if we as a congregation can just support our ministers and encourage them in their vulnerability in their transparency in their own refining fires and treasure this process it's going to be a blessing but when there's an intimate work like that when there's a vulnerable work like that there's great room for blessings but there's also great room for hurt and if we could just bear up our ministers in a process and if we as a congregation can be vulnerable and allow them to do the kneading, do the baking I believe there can be a continuation of this revival I think we have heard mentioned as a revival of humility a revival of brokenness and if we can allow God to do that process in and through human vessels participate in that process I believe there's going to be great blessing for our congregation that we have been crying out for for some time now. So praise God for how the messages went together and for both men being in touch with who they are it seems that we heard the overflow of humble hearts this morning and I'm grateful for that Thank you brother the other microphone here somewhere? Yes I was very blessed with the messages I thought of the children's lesson that was brought up being attentive is very important in this all. My mind went to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 a couple of verses there when this was brought out about the loaf is not any good yet until it's broken into pieces where people can utilize it it gives life to those that eat it in verse 11 in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians it says for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh then the next verse it says so then death worketh not in us but life in you. I just thought that was a very good picture of that I bless God for the message. Amen Amen Thank you brother Is the other microphone somewhere else? Okay. Wouldn't you rather be a part of a loaf that's complete than just one colonel but that takes breaking that takes dying to self it takes losing my life in Christ and for his sake thank you each one for sharing and thank you brothers for ministering faithfully the word of God to us this morning trust the Lord to continue his workings just might share this yet that sometimes when we're in the fire or when we're in the grinding process we forget that God loves us don't forget it Jesus loves me one of the men who was mightily used of God as he was nearing the end of his life he said what is the greatest lesson or truth you have learned in your life and he said oh that Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so. Yes how I thank God this morning to be able to be here in this place hear these words to my own heart