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<p align="CENTER"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">“THEY TOOK UP TWELVE BASKETS FULL” MK 6:43</span></p>
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<p align="CENTER"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">THE TESTIMONY OF A GIVER – BASKET PEOPLE</span></p>
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<p align="LEFT">A boy gave his lunch to Jesus and He used it to feed five thousand people. Afterward, “They took up twelve baskets full of the fragments.” Basket people find a need greater than their own and say, “Lord, here’s what I have; take it, bless it and use it.” What a contrast this boy was to the disciples. Notice: (1) They tried to escape the problem. “Send them away, that they may go… and buy themselves bread” (V.36). Your faith only grows by facing your problems and looking to God for answers. Indeed, when you solve the problem, you position yourself to receive what God has in store for you next. (2) They didn’t know what they had. Jesus said, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see” (V.38). Moses had a rod, but it, but it parted the red sea. David has a slingshot, but it brought down a giant. You may not know it, but God has given you the answer. He’s given you something capable of multiplying once you put it into His hands. The key is, “Go and see.” (3) They despised the day of small things. “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” (Jn 6:9). Instead of looking at your lack, look at God’s abundance and His willingness to work on your behalf. “Do not despise this small beginning, for the eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the work begin”. “ For who has despise the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth” (Zech. 4:10)</p>
<p align="LEFT">The widow woman at Zarephath- (1 Kings 17: (13) “And Elijah said to her, fear not; go and do as you have said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for you and for your son. (V14) For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the Earth” The woman now had the promise before her. Would she believe it and act upon it? Or would she reject it? Thank God, she believed the promise, and acted accordingly. To be sure, that promise given by the Holy Spirit through Elijah long ago, is jus as apropos today as it was then. If we “seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; then all of these things shall be added unto us” (Mat. 6:33). (V 15) And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days, (V 16) And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah”. Her house refers to her relatives, and possibly her friends; This is a law of God which applies even now, at least for those who will dare to believe Him.</p>
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