"Jesus said, 'You feed them.'
'But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,' they answered. 'Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?' For there were about 5,000 men there.
Jesus replied, 'Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.' So the people all sat down. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!" (Luke 9:10-17 NLT)
What we see as limitations, Jesus sees as possibilities. Later in the book of Luke, Jesus said, "What is impossible for people is possible with God.” (Luke 18:27 NLT)
A number of years ago I launched a Friday morning men's group in the fall. It started with me and 2 other guys. We had a vision of multiplying so that we could connect more men into Christian community. The hope was to multiply into 2 groups within one year. A good vision.
But Jesus thought bigger.
The group met weekly but started slowly. This may not be exactly how it turned out, but it was something like...first week it was me and Gary; Rocky forgot or slept in. Second week it was me and Rocky; Gary forgot or slept in. Third week, I missed and it was just Rocky and Gary. This went on for weeks. Our vision of multiplying into 2 groups in one year wasn't looking to good.
And then Jesus did His thing.
The group grew and grew. By late spring we had 18 guys showing up every Friday and we multiplied (the original group still meeting on Friday and the new group meeting on Thursday). This happened 6 months earlier than we had originally visioned. Then just a couple of months later one thing led to another and a second Thursday group multiplied off of the fairly new Thursday group. Later in the summer a couple of the guys felt the call to launch a Saturday morning group. And they did.
What resulted? Jesus took our original vision of multiplying in one year and QUADRUPLED IT!
Epilogue: Two weeks after the Saturday group launched, I was at our church campus for a morning leadership meeting. A random fella, not from our church, walked in the building around 7:30 am. He had noticed our church for awhile and was looking for information about who we were and how he could get connected. (Why at 7:30 am...I don't know!) I gave him a little tour and then asked, "You know, we have a men's group that just began meeting a few minutes ago. Would you like to check it out?" He replied, "Sure." I walked him into the room and the guys welcomed him in with open arms! The man became an active, weekly member of the group.
How could have things been different for the man if I didn't have this almost instant way of connecting him? Not sure. But it seemed the timing of this Saturday morning group launching was just right...just as Jesus had planned, through His multiplication efforts.
How have you seen Jesus: Multiplier active in your life? How has He flipped what seemed impossible to being possible and more so? What does Jesus: Multiplier mean for our lives?
What could Jesus: Multiplier mean for those in your life, who only see what is before them and not what is possible with Jesus' hand in it (especially when the dream/vision is about Jesus' mission to reach more people with His love)?
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