Matthew 14:13-21

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

The Miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Disciples have a responsibility to feed the multitudes for the Lord.

  2. Disciples have a responsibility to dedicate their abilities to the Lord.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let God guide you with Scripture.

QUESTIONS

  1. What two miracles of Christ are recorded in all four gospels?

  2. How do skeptics try to explain away this miracle?

  3. What spiritual lesson was the Lord teaching through this miracle?

  4. How can we give people spiritual food?

  5. How did the disciples use their abilities in this situation?

ANSWERS

  1. The Feeding of the Five Thousand and the Resurrection.

  2. They say everyone shared their lunches with one another because of a little boy’s example.

  3. If you dedicate what little you have to the Lord He can multiply it for the blessing of many. More specifically, if you dedicate what little spiritual food you have to the Lord He can multiply it to feed the spiritual hunger of many.

  4. By teaching them the Word of God.

  5. They organized the people to sit down in groups of fifty; they distributed the food; then they collected the leftovers.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. This parable teaches the spiritual lesson, “Disciples have a responsibility to feed the multitudes for the Lord.” The spiritual food is Christ Himself. Refer to a parallel account of this miracle in John 6, which is followed by the Lord’s Bread of Life discourse. He is the true Bread; He is the food that meets and satisfies spiritual hunger. Do you know people who are hungering? The Lord is the only one who can satisfy that spiritual hunger. Share the food that you have with others! Discuss the excuses people use for not sharing what they have. Remember, the Lord can multiply even your smallest efforts.

  2. The disciples used their abilities for the Lord in this passage. Their abilities varied from organizing and distributing to clean-up ability! We all have been given abilities by the Lord. Discuss the large and small abilities the Lord has given you. How can you use your abilities to serve Him? Are you?

CHALLENGE

  1. When our Lord saw the multitudes that had followed Him around the sea He was not irritated or impatient with them. The Bible says He had compassion on them. Aren’t you glad we have a compassionate Lord, who looks upon our weaknesses with kindness? Thank Him for this today.

KEY VERSES

  • “And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.” Matthew 14:14

  • “So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.” Matthew 14:20

Matthew, Talks, New TestamentDeb HarmsMatthew 14:13-21