Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] So I'm still new at this. So for those that don't know me, so if I take the microphone away and you can't hear me, then you're welcome to like, hey, put the mic on your chin.
[00:00:10] So I'm Ludwig.
[00:00:12] I'm from Cape Town with my family, Desiree, Kaylin and Josh.
[00:00:17] And I think today is my fifth time preaching, so this is going to be fun.
[00:00:25] So I grew up in a small little town called Mossel Bay.
[00:00:29] So a small, little Afrikaans town on the.
[00:00:31] The. The southern coast of South Africa. So it's about 400km out of Cape Town.
[00:00:39] It's a really. Was a really, really small town. All that there was to do was it was. There was a lovely sea that was warm, moderate temperatures. We had lots of pubs and then one cinema that you can go watch a movie with movie at.
[00:00:56] So that was all that was in the town.
[00:01:00] So I grew up there, went to school at a place called Point High. And so my favorite part of growing up was going to school. It was, like, lots of fun. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We used to get up to the lots of antics.
[00:01:14] So I remember once being in an Afrikaans class and then waiting for the teacher to turn his back, because when he turns his back, I would chat to my friend. I was like, I'm going to jump out the window, and then you're going to throw my bag through the window so that I can go mess around in the music class and entertain all the kids with the piano.
[00:01:38] And so he turns his back. I like, jumped through the window. It was quite a high window, so I had to climb on the chair, on the table, on the windowsill to get out.
[00:01:47] And so now I was standing there waiting for him, and he's not throwing me my suitcase. I'm like, pass my suitcase.
[00:01:56] At that point, the teacher had already turned back and was looking at him, so he was waiting for the ideal time. Anyway, so I ended up getting my suitcase. And so that's how I spent most of my Afrikaans lessons, was in the music class playing piano to all my friends or the other kids in there that actually took music as a subject.
[00:02:15] So one of the mottos at Point High was that if we needed to get 50% to pass your year, and so the motto was if you got 51%, then you studied too hard.
[00:02:29] So you need to make sure that you get 50%, because then you pass and you can go to the next grade. But anything more than that was too hard.
[00:02:40] So needless to say, me and tests were not good. Friends because this was before the continuous evaluation thing where you literally had to write a test. We would call them exams. You write a test and then another test and you add the two and the average is your mark. So the test was very much the point in my.
[00:03:02] Where it became very obvious that I wasn't prepared for it.
[00:03:05] I managed to get 50%, but never really a lot more than 50%.
[00:03:13] And then at the tail end of school, I needed to, I wanted to study it and I needed 70% to get into the things. I'm like, oh dear, how on earth am I gonna get to 70%? I've never gotten. I got, I got 90% once in my life, I think, anyway. So being a little bit of a skabanger, I was like, okay, so that tests, there's no way that the teacher makes up a new test every year. So they must have tests from previously and then they must probably collect these tests in a particular, and then that's what the exam will be based on. So I went hunting for these tests.
[00:03:58] What I didn't know, because I didn't pay a lot of attention in school, is that this was just a normal thing. They would sell books with the tests of past papers and you can buy the last 10 years worth of paper papers.
[00:04:13] So I found these tests and this was the best thing ever because I thought I found a cheat code in life. Like I've now discovered the exam. So I would.
[00:04:21] So I studied these tests and in that moment my relationship with tests changed radically. Where previously it was, oh, no, if you fail this, you fail the year.
[00:04:34] Now the test was more, okay, so this is what you know, this is what you don't know. This is what we're going to ask.
[00:04:41] The tests, instead of becoming a thing that was going to fail me, became the thing that prepared me for my future.
[00:04:49] And so I went through all of these tests and I made sure that I got 71% at the end of matric, because 72 would have been proof that I studied too hard.
[00:05:02] So I ended up getting into it.
[00:05:06] But my relationship with tests and the definition of tests radically changed in that moment.
[00:05:13] And so the story that we're going to talk about today is when Jesus, he says that he tests us, but I want to make sure that we hear that. Well, it's not the kind of test that you take. I don't know if you know what a fuse is, electronic fuse. So you used to get these fuses that you put in, and it's a 5amp fuse. So you put electricity through it and you take it up to 5amps and then it works. But the only way to test the fuse is to put six amps through it and then see if it blows. And then you throw it away.
[00:05:44] Right? So the way that the law tests us is not the way that you would test a fuse. It's the way that this exam papers test us. It shows you who you are, what do you truly know, what do you truly believe?
[00:05:58] And it's in preparation for your future as opposed to something that's setting you up for failure.
[00:06:07] So if we.
[00:06:10] So just to. Can we put out one pizza, one verse six, just to set the context.
[00:06:19] So this is talking about being tested or trials.
[00:06:23] So in this you rejoice, though now for a little while if necessary. You have been grieved by various trials. So see that as tests or tribulations.
[00:06:33] So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
[00:06:49] Though you have not seen him, you love him.
[00:06:52] Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible, filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
[00:07:08] So this is just to frame when Jesus talks about him intentionally testing us.
[00:07:15] It is to refine your faith. It is to prepare you for the things that are about to come in your life.
[00:07:30] Yeah, I think I.
[00:07:32] So I was tested quite thoroughly two weeks ago where.
[00:07:39] So we're following the Lord. We're coming to Zimbabwe. We pack up all our stuff, we drive to them. And now we've been here for three months. And my. I get to the point where my. My passport. I need to get new stamps for my passport. So I'm like, cool. An easy way to do this is I'm going to fly home to my parents when I get my passport stamped, take them a little package, get some groceries, fly back and get a new passport in my stamp. Sorry, new stamp in my passport.
[00:08:12] So I do this and then I drive down to. To the. To Zimmer to get an extension on my permit for my car.
[00:08:22] And they go, you did what? You flew out the country without your car? And I'm like, yeah, that's. We fly out without our car. Yes.
[00:08:31] They go, oh, well, that means that you now need to pay a fine. So I'm like, okay, I'm out for literally 36 hours. So say the fine is $2,000 and you need to pay that or else they're gonna. You can't drive the car anymore.
[00:08:46] So I'm like, okay, surely there's been a mistake. So I go speak to the supervisor. And they're like, yeah, no, didn't you read the fine print? So on the thing, it says you're not allowed to leave the country without your car.
[00:08:58] So this is a problem.
[00:09:03] So I drive home because. So I drive home, and because we're living in accountability, our phone my guys. I'm like, guys, we. I'm in trouble here. It's a $2,000 fine.
[00:09:16] What must we do? And so I get hold of some people to try and make a way.
[00:09:22] And then they ask me, how much would you like the fine to be?
[00:09:29] I'm like, Lord.
[00:09:36] So I'm like, give me a second. Let me phone you back.
[00:09:40] So phone my accountability guys. And I'm like, mani, like, what am I gonna do here? Like, they're asking me how much the finals be. And he said, they say, I speak to Mani. I speak to Rory. And Rory is. His words to me is like, we're gonna pray, and we're gonna ask the Lord to make a righteous way through this. I'm like, well, you might have faith for that.
[00:10:02] I do not have faith for that at all.
[00:10:05] And so I'm like, end up driving. And.
[00:10:10] And Rory connects me with one of his guys that speaks Shona that's involved in this. And we walk into the building, speak to the first guy. And now the conversation happens in Shona. So I'm quite discerning. So I can feel the temperature in a room, even though I don't understand what's being said.
[00:10:28] And so they're speaking, and you can see the body language, the folded arms, the angry face, and there's nothing they can do. So we walk to the next supervisor. We speak to that person.
[00:10:39] Another angry. This is very. All I hear is very important, very serious, big problem. Those kinds of words.
[00:10:45] Walk to the third person. And I'm like, I am not having feeling faith in this. I'm like, I'm going to need to rely on my friend's faith for this, because I don't have any.
[00:10:56] We end up going to four of these different offices with people all shaking their head. And then the last of the offices, they end up phoning a person that actually has authority to be able to decide whether or not they're going to. What the fine's going to be.
[00:11:11] And if I. Again, another five minutes conversation in Sha. And all I hear is things like, $2,000, 50%, very serious makeover. Like those kinds of words. And.
[00:11:26] And so the phone gets put down and I ask the guy, what are they saying? And he goes, just don't ask any questions. So we walk out and he says that they've given you a warning and that don't ever do that again. And then they wavered the fine.
[00:11:43] And so in that.
[00:11:47] Yeah, so thank you, Lord.
[00:11:51] But the reason I was hesitating in telling that story, but for me, it was such a testament of God. So, I mean, I've been afraid of those kinds of interactions since coming to them. Like, how am I supposed to deal with that? Like, $2,000 is a ginormous amount of money.
[00:12:09] And to be able to be put for the now, in hindsight, the Lord puts me in that position.
[00:12:15] He's the one that exposes that thing he makes. He gives me the accountability people to walk with in these things.
[00:12:23] He makes a righteous way. I run to him in the province saying, lord, I believe, but help me in my unbelief.
[00:12:31] Anyway, so I'm thankful that the Lord came through.
[00:12:39] Sorry.
[00:12:41] And we got a road trip out of it.
[00:12:44] Then we had to take the car out the country to get the car's passport stamped.
[00:12:50] Okay, so let's go to John.
[00:12:59] So we're going to talk about John six. So if you have your Bible, would you mind opening to John six? We're going to be reading a bit of the story and to just bring you into where we are in the narrative. Jesus is.
[00:13:12] It's basically halfway through his ministry, which means that he'd already called his disciples. He'd already turned water into wine, he'd already done his miracle, a lot of his miracles.
[00:13:27] He had already thrown people out of the temple he'd already sent, or his disciples had already returned from the ministry trip that he had sent them on. So they had already. So a significant part of the story has already happened.
[00:13:43] And what happened in John 5?
[00:13:45] Maybe do John 5:18 first, it's essentially Jesus had just had a very fiery argument with the Jewish leaders where he essentially claimed that he is God and that the law and the prophets and all the stories up until now point directly to him, which is then where this is right in the middle of it, where this is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Not only because he broke the Sabbath by healing the guy on a Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
[00:14:27] So if ever anyone asks you why was Jesus crucified, this is the reason is because he claimed to be God. So the Jewish understood, even though the language might be tricky for us in our modern context to understand what he's saying. But the Jews very clearly saw that Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, to be claiming to be God, the same God that took them out of Egypt into the promised land.
[00:14:54] And so that's why in John 6. So now Jesus. So let's actually read this together. Let's do John 6, verse 1 to 15 after this, after this fight, Jesus went away, the other gospel says, into the wilderness, to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.
[00:15:16] And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.
[00:15:23] Jesus went up the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.
[00:15:27] Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
[00:15:31] Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?
[00:15:42] He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.
[00:15:47] Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.
[00:15:53] One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, there's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.
[00:16:02] But what are they for so many? Jesus said, have the people sit down. Now, there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5,000 in numbers.
[00:16:13] Jesus then took the loaves. And when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.
[00:16:22] And when they had eaten their full, he told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost. And so they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.
[00:16:37] And when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, this is indeed the prophet who has come into the world.
[00:16:44] Perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
[00:16:54] Lord, will you help us unpack this piece of passage, Lord, in Jesus name?
[00:17:02] So as I'm talking through the story, would you mind sticking the appropriate verses up? So we start at the beginning where Jesus withdrew.
[00:17:14] And a large crowd was fallen. The first thing that I noticed. So verse one, I think one or two.
[00:17:20] The first thing that I notice is that, that Jesus withdrew himself. And the people in this story are ones that followed him.
[00:17:29] So it's not people that are random strangers, people that said, oh, there goes Jesus, I want to be with him. And then got on their donkeys and they packed their stuff and then walked and followed him.
[00:17:39] So the people that he's testing here is it's the people that are following, not the people who are running away from him.
[00:17:46] Then the next significant thing here, I think verse three, verse four. Now, the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
[00:17:55] This is directly in reference to when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. There was the Passover where the angel of the Lord came and killed the firstborn son. Right?
[00:18:08] So what the Jewish, Jewish people would have heard here, they would have directly linked Jesus going into the wilderness with this story, because this is what's in their mind. So the whole thing that we're talking about needs to be from, in context of him claiming to be God and claiming to be the God that led them out of Egypt.
[00:18:30] Okay? Then the next verse, lifting his eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd coming towards him.
[00:18:38] And he said to Philip, where are we to buy bread?
[00:18:42] This is such a fascinating question for me because Jesus did that to test him deliberately.
[00:18:48] He knew what the answer was.
[00:18:50] Philip missed it completely. Like, so very similar to me. And I'm going, like when, when I was stuck with this, fine, I can imagine the Lord sitting next to me going, so what are we going to do about this?
[00:19:06] And my response is, I have no idea. I've only got this amount of money. That's the only way I can solve it. I can maybe.
[00:19:13] And then to try and solve it in the way that we solve it. And I think the one thing that Philip missed in this moment is that glint in Jesus eye of like a dad looking at her son going, so what are we going to do about this problem that we've got? And it's like, I don't know, I don't know, but he knows.
[00:19:35] And so maybe a slightly different way to ask that question is if we, if we ask if, if we imagine Jesus saying something, so where is the bread that will feed all of these? Where is the bread that's supposed to feed all these people supposed to come from? So the question is, this problem that you have, where's the solution supposed to come from? Is it supposed to come from your bank account? Is it supposed to come from him? Where do you run to to solve this?
[00:20:08] And so in the same way as me with my fine, I was like, no, there's no credit card, or there's no the Money in my wallet is not enough to. To make even a dent in this.
[00:20:24] And then verse eight, one of his disciples, Andrew Simon Peter, said to him, there's a boy here who is five, who's got five loaves. So what I love about this story and what resonates with me, one of the things is that they didn't believe. They didn't see. They essentially failed the test, but they still participated. So they said, okay, well, let's at least try. Let's go find a little. Let's go see what. What can we find. And they went and they said they found a little boy, and the little boy has five loaves. And then the next interesting thing here for me is in my context, I'll be like, okay, cool, so 10% is that. That's what we give to the Lord, right?
[00:21:08] And then, so this little boy, he didn't break off 10% of his bread and 10% of the fish. Jesus was like, cool, I'll take all of it.
[00:21:17] I'm going to take all of your bread, and I'm going to take all of your fish.
[00:21:21] And he's like, watch what I do with this treasure. I mean, that to me, is such a beautiful thing of like, we always argue, how much are we supposed to give the Lord? And he goes, yes, yeah, I'll take it.
[00:21:48] So then the next part, have the pieces, have the people sit down, and then the Lord breaks, gives bread. And again, the link here back to the Exodus story, just so that we don't miss it, is that the Exodus story is the Lord came and he was the cloud. He's the fire. He's the one that we following in the day and at night.
[00:22:11] He's the one when the people said, what are we going to eat? He's the one that provided the manna.
[00:22:18] And then later on, and I think in chapter seven, he talks about that he is the bread of life. So he's not just the bread that is provided. He's not even just the provider of the bread. He is the bread that is being provided.
[00:22:30] And so he's sitting there and he's breaking up these bread pieces and giving to each person.
[00:22:35] And it says there that they all had their full. There was an abundance of bread, bread given to them. There was an abundance of blessings to the point where there was 12 baskets left over.
[00:22:53] So another interesting observation that I have here is that Jesus did this twice. He divided the bread, he multiplied the bread twice, and the disciples missed it the second time as well. And so even though God is putting us through these tests, it is to grow us and to teach us and to train us.
[00:23:13] So I suppose the point there is to pass your tests when they come.
[00:23:19] For me, what's resonating with this story is the reality that the Lord, he is sovereign.
[00:23:28] So he's put me in a position to grow me, to make me more like him. And so from the perspective of if he's put me here for a reason, then that means the things he's testing me with is also there for a reason.
[00:23:42] That those are the things that I need to be paying attention to, that I can.
[00:23:47] And it's the same. It's the same. And no matter what the trial is, who do we run to when we under pressure? Do we run to the Lord?
[00:23:56] Do we run to our finances? Do we run to my dad to see if he's got some money to pay the thing?
[00:24:04] So I suppose that leaves us with the question, like most of this talk has been around, who is Jesus in this? He is the bread of life. He is the make, doer of, maker of miracles.
[00:24:14] And so as a response to that message, the question is, where are we at? Like, are there. I suppose there's many. There's a couple of different types of people here.
[00:24:26] There's the ones that not sure if they even believe this to be true.
[00:24:31] So if Jesus goes into the wilderness, the kind of person that will not follow him because they do not believe that he is true, then there's the kind that feel that they're being tested unjustly, or you're being tested, but you run to worldly things. You don't run to him.
[00:24:53] Shall we take a moment and just close our eyes and just respond to.
[00:24:58] Just ask the Lord, where are we in this story, Lord? As we take a moment to. For this to settle in our hearts, will you come and reveal in our hearts who we are in this narrative?
[00:25:24] Are we the people with hard hearts that are going, you are not, Lord.
[00:25:39] Are we the ones that have followed you where you've gone? And our life is tough, why is this happening to me?
[00:25:54] Are we the little boy that Jesus says, have you got some bread and fish for me? And you say, I've got a little bit, but you can't have it.
[00:26:14] If you resonate with the people that. That are. That are feeling their hearts a little bit hard and you're not sure if this. If Jesus is real, would you mind raising your hand? Is there anyone like that here?
[00:26:28] Everyone's eyes is closed, so there's no.
[00:26:45] Is there anyone here that.
[00:26:49] Thank you.
[00:26:58] For those that put up their hand with that question, let's pray a risky prayer and ask the Lord that if he's real, to reveal himself to you in whatever manner you are able to see him.
[00:27:18] It is the one prayer that he consistently answers for every person. And you can do it in your own words. Just something along the lines of, lord, if you are real, show yourself to me.
[00:27:43] And if so, if there's a group, if there's people here that feel like the trials and the test that they're going is just too much, like I don't have enough for this.
[00:27:52] Would you mind raising your hand?
[00:28:06] Thank you.
[00:28:10] You guys, you can put your hands down. So have you been honest with the Lord?
[00:28:19] Where you go, Lord, this thing is so far above me. I. I can't do it. I don't know how to do it.
[00:28:28] Will you take a moment now and pray that prayer? Honestly, You're not going to catch him off guard. He's the one that put you in this situation.
[00:28:45] You can ask him. Lord, these are all my troubles.
[00:28:49] 1, 2, 3, 4, I don't know how to do this.
[00:29:02] And we ask him for his wisdom and Father God, as we praying. Will you come and speak into each of these hearts? Will you come and bring your. Your comfort? You say that you are the comforter. You say that you are the counselor.
[00:29:19] Will you come and speak into each person's heart here that's feeling like this and bring them the peace that only you can.
[00:29:32] And I want to encourage those people to reach out to the people that you trust that you can be accountable to and share your story with them.
[00:29:44] I don't know if I would have passed my test without my friends.
[00:30:08] Yeah. Lord, I want to just thank you for each heart represented here today.
[00:30:13] I pray that you will come and empower our quiet times with you come empower interactions with you. Will you come and bless when we seek you? When people read their word? Will you come and speak through your word to people? Will you speak through other people?
[00:30:32] I pray that for that over the next week that you will come and engage with our hearts in a way that is so radically powerful and way that we haven't experienced.
[00:30:43] I pray that you will pull us towards you and that you will bless us in Jesus name. Amen.
