Get It Together! - Pastor Stacey Shiflett
NOTE: This outline was constructed after I preached the message, just in case you listen to the message and realize there was no outline!
Get It Together!
Mark 6:39 And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.
Introduction: The story has been preached for 2,000 years: five loaves and two fishes fed 5,000, and they left full.
Mark 6:42 And they did all eat, and were filled.
Out of everything in the story, the burden is Jesus' leadership.
The Gospels give us little glimpses into how He thought and operated.
Before He ever asked the blessing, before He ever broke the bread, He made those people get it together.
Notice:
A. The Place (the green grass)Green grass in a desert place shows a Savior who cares about order and cleanliness.
Even the leftovers were gathered up.
B. The Process (ranks by hundreds and fifties)Groups made room for aisles and pathways, so everyone could be served and seen about, with seconds and thirds if needed.
They were all filled.
Mark 6:40 And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.
C. The Performance
Mark 6:41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.
He waited for them to get it together so He could bless them in ways they never imagined.
The disciples received twelve baskets of leftovers only because the boy gave first.
You cannot receive when you never gave.
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.
I. Get It Together in your Participation
No explanation and no promise.
Jesus only said to sit down in the green grass in groups.
The boy gave without knowing what Jesus would do.
The disciples did not know either.
God does not tell us in advance.
Fifty years saved, and He has never told me ahead of time what He was going to do.
You don't ever know what He's going to do till He starts doing it.
We live in a day when God's people won't get it together until they know what is in it for them.
It is our responsibility to position ourselves so that we are prepared to receive whatever He wants to do.
The disciples who could not help the boy.They wanted an amazing miracle but had not spent time beforehand getting it together.
Mark 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
You want God to do an amazing thing, but you're not willing to do just something simple.
II. Get It Together in your Poverty
ILLUSTRATION: The prodigal son
· Luke 15:13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
We are quick to get it together for what we want to do, but when it is what God wants, we act like it is a big deal.
He got it all together to break his father's heart.
God put him in a hog pen where he had nothing left to gather.
With no suitcase and nothing in his hands, he still got it together.
Luke 15:17, 18 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him,
III. Get It Together in your Preparation
A. They were preparing new converts.Barnabas and Saul spent a whole year discipling new converts, and those Gentiles were called Christians first.
Acts 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
B. They were preparing leaders.Four or five years later, Paul and Barnabas were no longer the only teachers.
Acts 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
C. They were preparing themselves.
Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
They fulfilled the work and returned to their sending church
Acts 14:26 And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.
God wants you to keep doing what you are already doing, only in more places.
You say you wish God would use you.
Why don't you get it together? He might.
IV. Get It Together in your Prison
· Acts 16:25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
We want God to shake the prison, loose our chains, and vindicate us.
But the earthquake came only after they prayed and sang with the chains still on.
Acts 16:26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
God might not take the chains off till you can sing with them on.
God might not loosen the bonds until you can pray with them on.
God might not vindicate you till you can stand strong when you are outnumbered.
Get It Together
Get your walk with God together.
Get your prayer life together.
Get your marriage together.
Get your family together. Your kids do not need a dramatic testimony for God to use them.
Get your church together
Conclusion: We have plenty of people wanting God to do something amazing who cannot do something simple.
Go do what He said, where He said, and how He said it.
You do your part, and He'll do His part.
If He gives you instructions, there is something coming.
