Bulletins - Whitehall Baptist Church

- - Hebrews 10:24–25KJV1900
- - Romans 15:13KJV1900
- - Nehemiah 9:6KJV1900
How Great Is The Greatness Of God
- - Philippians 2:7–8KJV1900
His Mercy Is More
Behold Our God
- - Isaiah 40:28KJV1900
Ancient Of Days
JOHN 6:11-13 | GOD’S GLORY IN THE FRAGMENTS
ILLUSTRATION: I have been blessed with a father in law who is gifted in doing a lot of different things.
Similarly to my dad, they both have the ability to figure things out and usually have an answer on how to fix whatever the issue is.
When me father in law runs into an issue, not only does he often know what to do to fix it, he usually has a part there that will take care of whatever the issue is.
Now the question of if it is the correct part for the job is a whole different question.
But, as a rancher in eastern Montana that lives in the middle of nowhere, he is usually able to figure out how to solve the problem with something he has available.
A couple of years ago, I experienced this first hand.
His Ford tractor had it’s muffler broken off and it was incredibly loud.
But there was nothing to fear, because it just so happened that he had a muffler handy!
Now, it was a muffler for a Honda civic, but that is beside the point.
It just so happened the the muffler pipe for that tractor was exactly the same size as the muffler for that Honda Civic.
And so he employed me and my wealth of knowledge with automotive repair… which in reality covers little more than oil changes, and I got that muffler installed!
Now if it had been me, I would have thrown that part away years before…
But sometimes when you keep that part that seems worthless around long enough, you do end up needing it.
So wives, now you know why your husbands garage looks the way it does!
Because while it may seem worthless to you, we know one day it will be the perfect part for that specific job we are doing.
EXPLANATION: We saw over these past few weeks, Jesus has made His way up onto a mountainside, when He notices a multitude of people approaching.
He knows what they are coming for… To witness more miracles.
Rather than trying to escape away, Jesus has compassion on the people and He begins to ask His disciples how they plan to feed all these people.
Philip answers that “8 months wages wouldn’t being enough to buy enough food for everyone there to have even a little.”
The Bible tells us there were 5000 men there, besides women and children.
Some have estimated there could have been upwards of 15,000-20,000 people total there on that day.
And what is even crazier, according to the Bible, it seems like no one thought it would be a good idea to bring any food.
I know the chaos that was about to ensue, because I have children.
And I know what happens when they get hungry!
To say that this was a crises would be an understatement.
As the disciples look around Andrew speaks up and informs them that there is a single little boy here who’s mom had sent him with a little sack lunch of 5 pieces of bread and 2 small fish.
And Andrew asks a logical question, “what are they among so many?”
We know the answer… they are nothing.
It was just a little lunch for one little boy.
If they split it up, now no one will be filled… as least if they let the little boy keep it someone would have a decent meal.
But that little boy gave all he had to Jesus and Jesus takes that little meal from that little boy, and He has his disciples make all the men sit down and then He blesses it.
And one handful at a time, Jesus hands pieces of bread and fish to each of His disciples to distribute to the crowd.
You can imagine the surprise of the disciples as they came back to Jesus after dropping off the first handful and being shocked that there was anything left to make another trip.
And yet there was more.
Over and over the disciples would make their way back to Jesus and find another handful to take out and distribute.
It takes time to feed that many people, probably hours, but as the last person receives their bread and fish, you can imagine the amazement of the disciples!
“I didn’t believe it was possible.” - Thomas
“I never denied it was possible.” Peter
Judas said nothing, he was just shoving pieces in his pockets.
The people had come to witness a miracle and they had seen one
But in the midst of their celebration and excitement, the disciples look over and see Jesus looking around
They believe Jesus was done with the miracle, but he wasn't done just yet
John 6:12 KJV 1900
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
While the disciples were still focused on the loaves, Jesus was concerned with the fragments.
The pieces that most would have left behind for the birds or just discarded… But not Jesus.
APPLICATION: We live in a world that throws away broken things
Landfills are full of people’s stuff that they didn't want anymore
If something is broken, it's easier to jump on Amazon and just order a new one than try to fix it
And while that is the case with broken things, sadly it is so often the case with broken people as well.
We don’t know what to do when someone is broken.
We don’t know what to do with ourselves when we are broken.
And if we are honest with ourselves, we are all broken in one way or another.
Situations and circumstances that have left our lives in pieces
People that we once trusted, have hurt us.
Things that we thought would bring us fulfillment have left us empty
Everywhere you look, you see fragments of lives.
There’s division and divisiveness
Broken families, broken marriages, broken lives!
You may have come in this morning with a smile on your face trying to give the appearance that you have it all together.
Someone asked you how you were doing and you said the customary, “I’m good, how are you.”
But inside, you know you aren’t “good”
You’re hurting… You’re broken.
Maybe you’re here this morning and your life isn’t falling apart, but you can just sense things aren’t what they should be.
Friend, no matter who you are, or where you are from, this morning we can learn some lessons from some fragments that will leave you encouraged this morning.
Because so much of life isn’t spent celebrating the loaves… so much of life is spent with the fragments that remain.
For a few moments this morning, let’s learn some lessons from the fragments!
V.12, JESUS CARED ABOUT THE FRAGMENTS
John 6:12 KJV 1900
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.
EXPLANATION: It’s an amazing thing to think that Jesus cared about the fragments
There were so many other things that he could have been focused on.
Jesus had 3 1/2 of ministry He was going to spend doing incredible works on this earth:
Healing the blind
Healing the lame
Healing the deaf
Healing the sick
Casting out demons
Teaching the Truth
Preparing to give His life!
And yet here in John 6, He took time to care about some fragments?
If it were me with Jesus, I would have been saying, “We don’t have time for these leftover fragments, let’s keep on going for the next big thing!”
But Jesus wasn’t concerned with the bright lights and the notoriety and the next big thing.
Jesus was focused on the forgotten fragments.
But don't miss the word Jesus uses here in v.12.
He says gather up the fragments, "that nothing be lost”
That word "lost" is the Greek word apollymi
It means to perish… to be destroyed… to be lost forever.
Now here's why that matters.
Because John uses that exact same word all through his Gospel… but he doesn't use it for bread.
He uses it for people
You know the verse:
John 3:16 KJV 1900
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Perish is the same word.
Just a few verses later in this very chapter… Jesus is going to say it again:
John 6:39 KJV 1900
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
It’s the Same word again!
And in His great prayer the night before the cross:
John 17:12 KJV 1900
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Same word again!
Do you see what John is showing us?
When Jesus stood on that hillside and said, "Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost"… He was preaching a sermon with bread crumbs.
The same Savior who would not lose a single crumb of barley bread… will not lose a single soul the Father has given Him!
If Jesus cared that much about fragments of bread… how much more does He care about fragmented people!
APPLICATION: And I’m thankful He was.
Because so much of my life, is just a bunch of broken pieces.
Fragments from bad choices and dumb decisions.
Has anyone else ever made a decision they regret?
Ever said the words “I wish I had…”?
There’s so many times that I’ve looked back on my life and I see where God has me now and I think… “How did God do that? Because I did a great job of trying to make a mess of things!”
ILLUSTRATION: If you’ve ever felt that way, you’re in good company!
Because the Apostle Paul felt that way too!
1 Corinthians 15:9 KJV 1900
For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Paul was looking back on his life and he says, “I have some regret!”
I was a persecutor of Christians.
Paul was responsible for the deaths of countless followers of Christ!
What regret!
And with that in view, he says in v.10
1 Corinthians 15:10 KJV 1900
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Paul says, “My life was a bunch of fragments, but by God’s grace, I stand here today a changed man!”
God didn’t leave Paul in his broken life… He cared about and called this fragmented man!
APPLICATION: Friend, God cares about the fragments of your life!
You see there’s a reason your life has been so broken!
There’s a reason you’ve made so many bad decisions you regret!
And the reason you made those bad decisions is because the bible says you and I are sinners.
Romans 3:10 KJV 1900
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
Romans 3:23 KJV 1900
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
You know the thing that makes God so glorious is that He is absolutely perfect.
He has no sin and He cannot sin.
And the one thing that separates us from God more than anything is that you and I are sinners.
And the Bible says, Romans 6:23
Romans 6:23 KJV 1900
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
That death is a separation from God for all of eternity.
There are only two places that are going to last forever, one is heaven and the other is hell.
And if sin separates us from God and God is in heaven, then that should tell you where you and I are headed in our sins.
But the second half of that verse says “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
God has offered you and I eternal life through Jesus Christ!
Romans 5:8 KJV 1900
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
While you were broken and fragmented with a life that was nothing but leftover pain and heartache, Jesus Christ died for you!
He paid for your sin!
But how do you receive that gift?
Romans 4:4–5 KJV 1900
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 10:9–10 KJV 1900
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:13 KJV 1900
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
If you are here this morning and you are doing your best to earn the forgiveness of your sins, can I remind you there is no amount of work you can do that will make God owe you anything!
It is only through the gift of God… the sacrifice of His perfect Son Jesus Christ that you can have the promise of spending eternity in heaven!
Oh friend, I am so thankful that Jesus cared about the fragments
He didn’t want any of them to be lost!
And he doesn’t want you to remain in your brokenness this morning!
Whether that is the brokenness of your sins and your need for salvation
Or the brokenness of decisions you wish you could go back and do differently!
Jesus cares about your brokenness
He cares about the fragments
V.13, JESUS DOESN’T WASTE THE FRAGMENTS
John 6:13 KJV 1900
Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
EXPLANATION: This is an absolutely incredible scene!
After the disciples had made trip after trip handing out the loaves and the fish, Jesus then tells them to go back and collect the fragments.
And as they do, they come back with 12 baskets full!
Now, there is much debate about what they did with the baskets, and no one can say for sure.
I kinda think they took them to the little boys house and he was blessed because he was willing to give what he had to the Lord.
But regardless of what they did with the leftovers… what we do know is that Jesus didn’t waste them.
And the truth is, Jesus never wastes the fragments.
ILLUSTRATION: In the medieval glassmaker's shop, glass was one of the most precious things a man could own.
So when a sheet of colored glass shattered, the master glassmaker didn't sweep up the pieces and throw them out.
No, he gathered them.
Broken reds. Fractured blues. Splintered pieces of gold.
He kept every fragment, because those fragments were exactly what he needed.
You see, a stained glass window is not made from whole panes of glass.
It is made entirely of broken pieces.
Each one gathered, cut, and set into place by the master's design.
And when the morning sun rises behind that window, the light doesn't shine through in spite of the broken pieces.
It shines through because of them.
The master never wasted a single fragment.
He was building something the whole pieces could never become.
APPLICATION: Friend, God has a purpose for the fragments in your life!
He has a purpose for the brokenness you have gone through!
Through the situations of life that have left you feeling like all that remains is the broken pieces of what was, God wants to use your broken situation for His glory and for your good.
He wants to shine the light of His goodness through the brokenness of your situation!
Romans 8:28 KJV 1900
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.
James 1:2–4 KJV 1900
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers 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.
It’s through the pain and stretching that God is growing you.
ILLUSTRATION: This week during family camp, some of the church decided to take a little hike.
While I have been accused of underselling the challenge, I think it may be more likely I overestimated the potential as I prefer to believe in the abilities of those taking the hike.
We considered making a video in which we would flash the pictures of those that began the hike and didn’t finish and then flash a red “X” over there face with some sad music included, and then conclude with those who didn’t finish the hike… but I decided to hold off on doing that.
Isaac shared with me that during the first of August he is planning to do a 50 mile marathon.
Now I’ve never ran a marathon, let alone a 50 mile marathon, but in competing in sports, I learned sometimes there is some pain required to see the gains!
No Pain, No Gain!
And so you go to practice and you push yourself so you can be stronger and faster and better equipped for the challenge in front of you.
All the pushing and the resistance and the pain has a purpose!
APPLICATION: Friend, the fragments of your life have a purpose!
God hasn’t allowed you to go through the things you’ve gone through on accident!
He has a purpose behind it!
Maybe it is for your growth!
Maybe it’s for His glory!
Maybe you can’t see it from where you are now, but one day you will look back and it will make sense then!
God never wastes fragments!
And He isn’t going to waste them in your life either!
Jesus Cared about the Fragments, Jesus Never Wastes Fragments
V.12-13, JESUS USES THE FRAGMENTS
John 6:12–13 KJV 1900
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
EXPLANATION: I don’t want you to miss this final incredible piece of this amazing miracle.
Yes the feeding of the 5000 was amazing
Yes the filling of 12 baskets of fragments is miraculous and encouraging.
But don’t miss this… Jesus could have collected the fragments Himself.
But instead He used these 12 broken men, to be a part of collecting the fragments with Him.
I don’t know what they did with the 12 baskets of fragments after they collected them.
But I am confident why there were 12 baskets.
It’s because there were 12 disciples.
I know that may seem simple, but don’t miss it.
Jesus used the broken fragments to teach broken men about the sufficiency of a perfect Savior.
Jesus used the broken pieces in the lives of these broken men to bring glory to God.
ILLUSTRATION: Peter had hit rock bottom.
Just a few days before, he had promised die before denying Jesus.
And then that fateful night came
3 Times in one night, Peter would deny even knowing Jesus!
And then Jesus rose from the dead, and Peter is humiliated because he hadn’t stood by Christ.
And so he does what so many of us do when we know we’ve failed God…
He went back to his comfort zone… He got on a boat and went fishing.
A few of the other disciples followed with him and he ended up back on a boat in the middle of the sea and that night he didn’t even get a bite.
He was a failure as a follower and now he’s a failure as a fisherman.
He was completely broken… nothing but fragments.
Then someone stands on the shore and asks if he’s caught anything… talk about insult to injury
And then there is a familiar command… cast your net on the other side.
When he does there are so many fish that climb into the net the boat begins to sink.
It’s about that moment that John the disciples leans over to Peter and says… “That’s Jesus”
Peter makes his way to the shore and he and the other disciples are sitting around the fire when Jesus singles Peter out and 3 times he asks Peter a question: “Do you love me?”
Now, Jesus wasn’t suddenly having an identity crises.
Jesus didn’t ask a question because he didn’t already know the answer.
Jesus asked Peter that question, because Peter needed to be asked that question.
Peter needed to be reminded he loved Jesus.
After the third question and answer, Jesus does something for Peter that should be an encouragement to all of us here.
He gives Peter a familiar call, “Follow me.”
Do you remember what Jesus had said three and a half years before to Peter?
“FOLLOW ME!”
Jesus was saying, I’m not done with you!
I still have a purpose!!
And it was Peter just a short time later who would stand up on the day of Pentecost and would preach the Word of God and 3000 people were saved and baptized!
God used the fragments of Peter’s life and turned them into a greater story for His glory!
God used Peter’s broken life to reach other broken lives for Christ!
APPLICATION: Friend, could it be that God wants to use your broken life, to collect the broken lives all around you?
To come alongside others who are broken and pick them up and show them that God is a God of miracles and He can use broken lives!
One that will use the fragments of your broken life to come alongside another broken life and lift them up again…
And show them that Jesus has a way of using fragments for His glory!
EXPLANATION: You see Peter would later write to the young preachers just starting into the ministry:
1 Peter 5:6–11 KJV 1900
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Peter said, I’ve learned from my failures in my pride… humble yourself!
Depend on Jesus… He cares for you!
And I can’t help by think he must have gone back in his minds eye to that night before Jesus death as he wrote v.8-9
But then tears filled his eyes as he wrote v.10… “But the God of all grace… He called us…”
It’s all for HIS glory!
Peter knew God uses fragments for God’s glory!
And friend, He will use your fragments for His glory as well!
CONCLUSION
ILLUSTRATION: On Christmas Eve of 1866, in a little town in New Jersey, a baby girl named Annie was born.
Her parents said she was the greatest Christmas gift they'd ever received.
But by the time Annie was three, her mother was dead.
By the time she was six, her father was gone too.
Her dying father's last act was to place his two little girls in a Baptist home, where at eight years old, Annie got saved at a revival meeting.
She grew up with a dream — she wanted to be a concert pianist.
She loved music.
She loved poetry.
She became a schoolteacher in the very school she attended as a girl.
And then, in her second year of teaching, her hands began to ache.
It was arthritis… And it was merciless.
Within a few years she could barely walk.
Then her adoptive parents died within months of each other, and Annie was an orphan for the second time in her life.
She was sent to a sanitarium in New York hoping for healing, and instead the doctors handed down their verdict: Annie would be a helpless invalid for the rest of her life.
She was in her twenties.
Over the next forty years, the disease locked up every joint in her body.
Her hands twisted until she couldn't hold a pen, couldn't hold a fork, couldn't dress herself.
She lay on nine pillows just to bear the pain.
But, from that bed, Annie started writing poems — striking the keys of a typewriter with her knuckles because her fingers would no longer open.
And the words that came off that bed of suffering began to spread.
Magazines printed them.
Publishers put them in books.
And when word got out that the woman behind those poems was a shut-in, three thousand letters poured in from hurting people in just seven weeks.
Her sickbed became a counseling room, and broken people traveled from all over just to sit beside it.
Because Annie Johnson Flint, with knuckles on a typewriter, wrote words that were placed into hymnbooks:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater, He sendeth more strength when the labors increase; To added afflictions He addeth His mercy, To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
But here is what is so powerful: She said her poems weren't born from her own need, but from the needs of others.
And she knew, she never could have encouraged so many broken people if God hadn't gathered up the broken pieces of her life first.
APPLICATION: Friend, I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you are going through right now.
But I do know that if you are still breathing, God isn’t done with you.
Maybe God brought you here today because you’ve never accepted Christ as your Savior.
Why don’t you stop trusting in what you can do to get yourself to heaven, and instead trust in what Jesus already did for you!
Maybe God brought you here to let you know that He has a purpose for your brokenness.
Would you allow Him to shine the light of His goodness through the brokenness of your situation
And Maybe God brought you here to let you know that He wants to use the fragments of your life to reach into someone else’s brokenness and lift them up!
That’s what Jesus did for you when His body was broken on the cross!
He did it so that you could be lifted up out of your sins!
Friend, God isn’t finished with your broken pieces!
Let’s give those precious fragments to Him this morning!
- - John 6:12KJV1900
- - John 6:12KJV1900
- - John 3:16KJV1900
- - John 6:39KJV1900
- - John 17:12KJV1900
- - 1 Corinthians 15:9KJV1900
- - 1 Corinthians 15:10KJV1900
- - Romans 3:10KJV1900
- - Romans 3:23KJV1900
- - Romans 6:23KJV1900
- - Romans 5:8KJV1900
- - Romans 4:4–5KJV1900
- - Romans 10:9–10KJV1900
- - Romans 10:13KJV1900
- - John 6:13KJV1900
- - Romans 8:28KJV1900
- - James 1:2–4KJV1900
- - John 6:12–13KJV1900
- - 1 Peter 5:6–11KJV1900

Hebrews 10:24–25KJV1900

Romans 15:13KJV1900

Nehemiah 9:6KJV1900

Philippians 2:7–8KJV1900

Isaiah 40:28KJV1900

JOHN 6:11-13 | GOD’S GLORY IN THE FRAGMENTS

APPLICATION: We live in a world that throws away broken things

V.12, JESUS CARED ABOUT THE FRAGMENTS

V.13, JESUS DOESN’T WASTE THE FRAGMENTS

APPLICATION: Friend, the fragments of your life have a purpose!

V.12-13, JESUS USES THE FRAGMENTS

APPLICATION: Friend, could it be that God wants to use your broken life, to collect the broken lives all around you?

CONCLUSION

APPLICATION: Friend, I don’t know what you’ve been through or what you are going through right now.

John 6:12KJV1900

John 6:12KJV1900

John 3:16KJV1900

John 6:39KJV1900

John 17:12KJV1900

1 Corinthians 15:9KJV1900

1 Corinthians 15:10KJV1900

Romans 3:10KJV1900

Romans 3:23KJV1900

Romans 6:23KJV1900

Romans 5:8KJV1900

Romans 4:4–5KJV1900

Romans 10:9–10KJV1900

Romans 10:13KJV1900

John 6:13KJV1900

Romans 8:28KJV1900

James 1:2–4KJV1900

John 6:12–13KJV1900

1 Peter 5:6–11KJV1900