Jesus Messiah Is the Complete Provider
Liz Hoyt · Tidal Church Moncton · July 27, 2025 · What Do the Miracles of Jesus Mean? series
Liz Hoyt looks at the feeding of the 5,000 in John 6:1-14 and warns against treating God like a vending machine. Jesus is the complete provider and the bread of life, and He is always enough, even when our needs go unmet.
More from Liz Hoyt · The What Do the Miracles of Jesus Mean? series
Topics: Faith, Discipleship, Worship
Transcript
[0:00] Jesus, He's Messiah, name above all names. So we are in week four of our series on miracles and each of these miracles pointing to a sign telling us more about Jesus and who He is. And we are on the fourth of seven signs in the book of John. We know that we've talked about how Jesus has turned the water into wine, how He healed an official's son, and how He has walked on water. But today I wanna start with vending machines. Everyone know what a vending machine is? I have a displayed something here in case we don't, but have a, how does it work?
[0:45] So how does, actually, I have it in my pocket. How does a vending machine work? We know that money goes in, product comes out, what you need, right? So I see, I need it, I get it. Actually, quick question. Has anyone had that where the gum is kind of like just, or the chips are just dangling on the edge and it won't come out? So you just go up and you start shaking it, right? Yes. Have any of you ever not have anything come out at all and you're like, I just spent money and got nothing? Or how about my favorite, boys? I think, not that I'm boys. I think do it more where you like reach your hand into the hole and start reaching to see what you can get. Yeah, that was never me, 'cause I would've been for sure the one that would've gotten her hand caught.
[1:33] That would've been me for sure. So we're talking about vending machines, but have you ever thought that maybe we treat God a little bit like our own vending machine? Insert, you know, assumed amount of good works. I prayed, I've done my duty. I have prayed. You select your desired blessing, you press Amen, and your order is promptly delivered. Limiting our view of God to a cosmic vending machine that dispenses blessings whenever the appropriate amount of reverence, prayer, and good works are applied.
[2:21] And just like culture, we too often are looking for quick fixes and prompt responses to our needs. We need it now and we need it today. We view God as just another way to get what we want. I mean, what we need in quick time with little effort or patience required, leading to self-focus rather than God seeking and patience, wisdom, trust, surrender, all tossed out the window. But before I get too deep down this road, the reason I am floating around with this microphone that I clearly don't need for myself is I have someone who would like to come introduce our passage today.
[3:09] Come on over, buddy. This is Cedar. He's a good looking buddy here. He's waving to the masses. Come right up here. So Cedar, how old are you? I'm five. I'm gonna be attending six in August. So almost a birthday coming up, right? Yes. That's exciting. Okay, so why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself. So what's your favorite thing to do? Favorite to do? My favorite thing to do is go swimming. You like to swim? Have you been gonna swimming lessons this summer? Yes, I'm going swimming lessons. Has it been going well for you? Yes. So do you have a favorite way you like to swim? Doggy paddle. The dog paddle. I like it.
[3:56] Okay, so you, oh look, they're cheering for you. So do you go over to kids ministry over there and go to kids? Yes. So what's your favorite thing about being over there? We get to have fun and we also teach. Teach about who? God. Oh, we teach about God. Thank goodness you remembered that part, right? Okay, so tell me, what do you have here in your basket? I have five loaves of bread and two fish. So what do you think this story? Is it a story that comes from the Bible? Yes, it's a story about the Bible. Oh, can you tell me about that story? So God prayed over five loafs of bread and two fish and He cut them and He made more and more bread and fish.
[4:55] Did He feed a bunch of people? Yes, He did. How many did He feed, do you think? Like a 5 billion, please. 5 billion. I mean, come on. Right. Okay. So actually here, I take this from you. Do you wanna show them your fish? Did you catch them? Bought them from the supermarket. Okay. Put the stinky little critters back in there. I got 'em there. I'm for sure gonna load this on the ground here. Just him a little bit here. So you wanna pray for everybody today? He's gonna, yes. He's gonna pray for us to get started. Go ahead. Our Father, I pray that You bless us with abundance and all of us, and I pray that You give us this day as we came here Tidal Church, and we will also be here every Sunday.
[6:00] Amen. Amen. Good job. Give me a gimme, a fist bump. There we go. Thank you, my friend. Oh yes. Take that with you. Good job. You're good. Bye. Bye. So that we're quite entertained, actually. He told me I wasn't supposed to tell, but there's a big bite outta one of these. He was getting hungry. I had to calm him down. But that guy right there, he is your church of today. He is the church of your today. The stuff that we can learn from those guys, and he's also the future church. It's exciting. So today we are reading the miracle, the feeding of the 5 billion or the 5,000, the sign that Jesus Messiah is our complete provider.
[6:49] So let's just start a little bit 'cause, like, talking a little bit about the passage, because we know that today in this passage that Jesus is in front of a hungry crowd and a crowd gathered to listen to His teaching to see what He might do right there. There was probably a buzz and excitement in the air, kind of like when you go to like a hockey game and you're like, everyone is like buzzed in excitement. You just feel it, the electric charge that's going on. There was probably jostling for positions so that they all could see a little bit better and see what this man was about to do. They were hopeful in their longing that this just might be their savior. This could be what they had been longing for, that Jesus would be their great rescuer, and the air is thick with anticipation.
[7:40] They had come to expect miracles from Jesus, and yet again He did not disappoint. And it actually was a miracle so epic of proportions that it actually didn't just show it in one book, it actually showed it in read. You could read it in all four books of the gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. So at this point in time of history, they are near the celebration of the Passover, commemorating the Israelites' liberation from slavery from ancient Egypt. The Passover, it was like kind of like 4th of July in the States. Big over the top, but even bigger. The Passover was the equivalent for the Israelites and their great rescue and Exodus, their independence. Moses, who brought them from bondage into the promised land.
[8:37] He is considered the great hope, and the crowd is comparing Jesus to Moses, and they're seeing Jesus as the hope of the one that would save them from the corrupt government, just like he did. And Jesus at this point, as you know, he's gaining popularity. He has already turned water into wine. He has healed the lame man of 39 years. He's calmed a raging sea. He's raised people from the dead. He has walked on water, and He has been creating quite the stir. The crowd has started to grow, and the crowd is chasing what they believe will be their next Moses, their political savior, the man to fix it all. But the crowd is clearly only interested in what He can physically do for them, not seeing Him for who He really is.
[9:28] They weren't reading the sign that He was Jesus Messiah, the complete provider, only that He was a provider of lunch. They are not looking for a savior from sin. They're looking for a miracle man to heal the sick, feed the hungry, get 'er done. The following, they're following ahead of selfish motives, much like our cosmic vending machine where good works, prayer in, get what I need right now comes out. So actually, let's read John chapter 6, verse 1 to 14. So sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee.
[10:13] That is the Sea of Tiberias. And a great crowd of people followed Him because they saw the signs He had performed by healing the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with His disciples. The Jewish Passover festival was near, as we've said. A lot of celebration. It was in the air when Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him. He said to Philip, "Where should we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what He was going to do. Philip answered, "It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite." Another of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Well, here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.
[11:08] But how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down. About 5,000 men were there, and women and children. Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they all had enough to eat, He said to His disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces of five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. And after the people saw the sign that Jesus performed, they began to say, "Surely this is the prophet who has come into the world."
[12:03] Jesus knew that they intended to come and make Him king by force. He actually withdrew to the mountain by Himself. So here's the problem. Our crowd was looking for more than a king. They were looking for more than a savior. They were looking for more like a king and even not a savior of souls, but a savior for the physical needs. They were okay with Him being their king, provision, their military prowess, their provider of cheap food and easy living, the provider that would fulfill all their wants and all their needs. But they were much less impressed with the Savior, if we were truthful.
[12:53] How often have we looked at God and wanted to be impressed by prompt delivery of our needs, and we were much less impressed with what He could do with our souls? See, the crowd craved the miracles. They needed the miracles so that they could get what they needed from Him. And like the Galileans in the passage who were anxiously awaiting a provider, wanting to even forcibly take hold of the situation. I've never heard of that before, and make Him provide. I feel the pain. I admit I've tried this tactic before when I have tried to force or pray my way into what I wanted.
[13:38] We can forget that our needs are not just for bread alone or health alone or wealth alone or status alone or even happiness alone. And we are shortsighted that He is our complete provider, because without food or shelter, He would still be enough. Without good health, He is still enough. Without friends, He is still enough. We say it, but do we live it, that He is always enough?
[14:27] Do we put actions to our words, or are they just platitudes? Do our lives reflect our belief that Christ is our complete provider? When we feel desperate, He brings peace. When we are lost, He gives direction. He is always enough. Jesus Messiah, our complete provider. Someone that exemplifies kind of that storyline that Jesus is enough was Corrie ten Boom. Maybe some of you know her. A lady that has inspired so many with her deep faith in a good, good God. Maybe some of you have actually read her story or seen the movie that's inspired by her called The Hiding Place.
[15:15] But let's just, I'm just gonna give you a quick highlight of her life for you. Corrie was a single middle-aged Dutch watchmaker. And later on she actually was a Christian writer and public speaker. Corrie, with her father, his sister and family, they helped Jewish people escape from the Nazis during World War II by hiding them in their home. They were caught. They actually were arrested, and they actually ended up in a concentration camp. Here Corrie and her sister together endured harsh conditions, including overcrowding, lice, and fleas. She witnessed this, the death of her friends, her family, people she didn't even know.
[16:05] She experienced a loss of her dignity, her physical suffering, and the psychological trauma of witnessing unspeakable actions. Despite this, despite the fact that her basic human needs were stripped away, still, Corrie and her sister held secret worship services, finding strength in their faith and sharing it with the other prisoners. And in the midst of that dark, dark place they found themselves, He was still enough. Corrie is quoted as saying, "You can never learn that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have."
[16:53] Because I mean, if we were honest with ourselves and we had to trade places with Corrie, Would Jesus still be enough? Would He find, would we find the face of Jesus in the midst of that horror? Sometimes I can't even find it in the midst of my today. If your basic human needs were stripped from you, would Jesus, your complete provider, still be enough? So what do we need? How many of you have needs that aren't really needs? I mean, say, a car that doesn't just work, but I mean it's top tier, or a new iPad, or clothes that aren't just warm but makes you look like somebody, right?
[17:46] We overestimate what we need to live a purpose-filled life. Instead of mentally keeping a list of what we need, health, wealth, status. We need to recognize and acknowledge our total dependence on Christ Jesus Messiah. He is our complete provider because without Him we are nothing. Let me pause for a second 'cause we don't like to hear that, 'cause we don't wanna believe it. But without Christ, actually, we are nothing. He's your complete provider. Our desires and our needs actually skew our view of who God is. Jesus is what sustains us above all.
[18:31] And in Matthew 4:4, He says that man cannot live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. So if we can continue on in this passage the next day after the feeding of the 5 billion, I mean 5,000, we see Jesus in a second encounter with the same crowd. We see that the encounter is much different. In the first encounter, the crowd were hungry and they were fed. It was a miracle. Jesus was a crowd favorite. But the next encounter with Jesus, He shifted the focus from an earthly need to an eternal one. He offered them life in Jesus, but the reaction was much different.
[19:20] In the earlier part of chapter 6, we read after the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, "Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world." But if we look later on in the chapter, it's the second day. The next day, the same crowd, the reaction was different. Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, you were looking for Me not because you saw the signs I performed because you ate the loaves and had your fill." And we continue in verse 33, "For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to this world." "Sir," they said, "always give us this bread." Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life.
[20:08] Whoever comes to Me will never grow hungry. And whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen Me, and still you do not believe." See, the crowd came to see Jesus, but not for Jesus. The crowd came to see what Jesus could do, but not who Jesus was. The only thing we need in this world is a right relationship with Christ. He is the only thing on this earth that can truly and completely provide for us. See, the closer we get to Jesus, the more we get to know who He is. The more we look for the signs that point us to Jesus, the less we need of what this world has to offer.
[21:01] And the closer we are to our great provider, the more our unnecessary desires fade away and become less important. Try it. Instead of pursuing what you need, stop and ask your heavenly Father what He wants from you. Draw closer and your perspective will change. Truthfully, I've had to take my own advice this week. My husband, he will thank me for this. But I needed a new outfit. I was gonna preach on Sunday. My focus was what? On what I was gonna wear, what I looked like, not on what I was gonna do. I had to take my own advice and shift my focus because God brings clarity to my messy mind.
[21:53] God brings clarity to a messy world and He is the only thing that lasts. My, isn't and doesn't that, and it doesn't fade away. He alone. He alone will satisfy. And Psalm 107:9, He satisfies the thirsty, your true thirst, and fills the hungry with good things. Like the crowd, we too can reject the bread of life. Can gasp. Are you sure? Ah, not me. In our pursuit of all that we need. But we can find everything we need in Him, not around Him or in spite of Him, but because of Him.
[22:40] Wait, wait. We can find everything we need in Him, not around Him. Certainly not in spite of Him, but because of Him. He is our provision when we are desperately lonely. He is our provision. When we are in despair, He is our provision. When we are looking for direction, He provides us with the deepest desires of our hearts. We overestimate our needs, but we underestimate the power of God. We overestimate our needs and underestimate the power of Christ in our lives and what it can do. Not the temporary, not the fleeting, but the lasting, meaningful parts of who we are.
[23:28] You are a child of the Most High. He is always, always enough. Jesus is always enough. He is your complete provider. He provides all that we need. He works for you. He is not against you. He sees you. He is for you. It may not always look like it in your timing and in your way, but He always provides what we need. As it says in Philippians 4:19, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus." You're running through life with your list of all the things you need to make you happy, fulfilled, and at peace.
[24:20] Really, a list of set expectations that we feel we need and that God should provide. We are human after all, and culture and our own human desires have shaped what we think God should do for us. We have overestimated our needs and created unrealistic expectations of what God should do. And often because we believe it is our right, it is our right for these things. It isn't our right that God provides, it's His, it's our privilege that He does. It isn't our right that God provides. It is our privilege that He does.
[25:09] Funny thing is, there, there have been times when I am over here with my list of expectations and how I think it should go. And God's over here taking care of it way better than I could have dreamt. God's over there taking care of me in a much more superior way than my human expectations could even fathom. Because in my own stupid human stupidity, I overestimated my needs and underestimated who God was in my life. And in our overbloated sense of need, we lose sight of who God is. We miss the signs: all knowing, all loving, all wise.
[25:55] He knows you better than you even know yourself. And instead of being disappointed with your cosmic vending machine of, you know, good works, in prayer, in "I've done my time," and you press for your desired blessing, take a look around you, wait with patience and watch what God can do. See, God's provision is rooted in love, wisdom, and a larger plan for your life. He knows what you need uniquely and personally. He doesn't take a blueprint of somebody else's life and lay it over top of yours. Stop looking at your neighbor and what they have and start asking what you can do with what God has already provided you.
[26:48] My husband Jeff and I have, we've truly felt God's provision over the years so many times. And I'm telling you, it didn't always go according to my plan. My plan was much more comfortable and, you know, a lot smoother. It's not where we found ourselves though more than once. We have found ourselves in between jobs, waiting on what God has next. Three little girls living in uncertainty and not seeing what was next. And it seemed to outsiders that we were blindly following God on an uncertain journey. But in reality, He was all we needed. We found ourselves living on the top floor of an Old Inn with much of our belongings packed away in storage. And it certainly wasn't ideal and the money certainly wasn't flowing pretty, like, very freely.
[27:38] But it was in these seasons that God provided in real ways. He provided physically for us in the form of someone that actually, without prompting, quietly paid for our rent for months. But even more than that, I look back on those times and I remember the friends that we made and we still have today, the adventures and memories that we made because we weren't worried about the future, but we were content with where God had us. We learned how to catch mice in the kitchen and not to walk too loud on top of our neighbors. And we may not have had the fine comforts of a beautiful home that we called our own. But we found contentment in knowing that God had a plan and we found contentment in our current situation because Jesus was enough without unmet needs.
[28:33] How can God reveal Himself? It has been in my greatest times of need that God has revealed Himself to me and my relationship has deepened. God provides in a way that is way beyond our expectations and is always better than I could have dreamt up. Our experience at the end will always be one that we will remember and actually cherish. He doesn't just provide fish and loaves like our benevolent rent donor. He actually provides for us completely and in a very personal way. So what are you chasing today? Are you trying to use your Heavenly Father as your cosmic vending machine?
[29:22] What has stolen your focus and your frantic frenzy for obtaining more? Are you allowing your needs to rob you of a deeper relationship with Him? He so much wants to be all that you need. 'Cause Jesus Messiah, He's your complete provider. Can we pray? So, dear God, I, you know what? I thank You most that You know me. You understand me. You know what my needs are.
[30:10] And I'm not like my friends down the street. You've made me to be who I am and You are caring for me. And in my overbloated sense of need, You still provide even more than I can imagine because without You, my life would be pretty meaningless. And I thank You for all the years that You have been faithful in my life, my family's life. God, You have been truly faithful. Not my way, but Your way. But it has deepened my relationship with You and who You've created me to be.
[30:58] Thank You God for all that You've provided because You are so good even in the midst and in the face of my needs and my wants. You still are so good. And with every breath, God, every breath that I have that I am able to, I will sing of Your goodness in Your name. Amen.