After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias.² A huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick.³ Then Jesus climbed a hill and sat down with his disciples around him.⁴ (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)⁵ Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?”⁶ He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.⁷ Philip replied, “Even if we worked for months, we wouldn’t have enough money to feed them!”

⁸ Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. ⁹ “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?”

¹⁰ “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) ¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. ¹² After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” ¹³ So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves.

¹⁴ When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting!”

¹⁵ When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.

But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.

³² Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. ³³ The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”

³⁵ Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

 Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

Take a moment to read through the passages slowly. Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you through them.

Is there a word or phrase that God is drawing to your attention? What is He saying to you through these passages?

1) What stood out to you from the Scripture passages and/or this week's message?

2) In what ways is God challenging you and/or encouraging you through the message?

3) In what ways do you feel like we are primed to feel like we don't have enough, or like we aren't enough in our culture?

4) In what ways do you think the pandemic has amplified our feelings of insufficiency?

5) What do you think prompted the little boy in the passage to come forward with his five loaves and two fish? What gets in the way of our willingness to offer what we have in situations where the need is great and our resources are few?

6) Tamille shared that this is the only miracle story that can be found in all four of the gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which emphasizes its importance. What is it that makes this story so significant and relevant for us as followers of Jesus?

7) In what areas of your life have you been dealing with feelings of insufficiency or inadequacy? What is it that is causing those feelings in you?

8) What would it look like to take what you have, bring it to Jesus, and let Jesus do what only He can do in those circumstances?