Jentezen Franklin - Packing Their Lunch
Welcome to Kingdom Connection and I want to say a Happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers out there. I know this is a different time for all of us, and you may not be able to gather like you normally would and celebrate like you are used to, but God has a plan for all of this. and I'm excited to be right in the middle of what He's doing. Happy Mother's Day to all of the beautiful, wonderful, you know, giving mothers that are out there. You do so much. You care and love so much, and we do appreciate you. I believe that God's gonna speak to you today through this message: Packing Their Lunch.
I won't go long, but I wanna go for a few moments to John 6. John 6. And I'll begin reading in John 6 with verse 9. There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many? And then for the sake of time, you know this story probably. If you don't, I'll sum it up in just a moment. But I wanna focus in on verse 13. Therefore, they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. Twelve baskets.
I wanna talk to you for just a few moments because this miracle had to do with a lad who had a prepared lunch. The lunch had been prepared by his mother. Mother had, on purpose, sent the boy off with something in his lunch bag. The Bible said he had a bag, or a basket. He had a lunch basket. And she had provided the basket, and she had provided the food. Five pieces of bread, five little biscuits, and two fish. And the question that I wanna ask you as mothers - if you're not a mother, then you are an aunt. You are something to someone, and this will relate to you. What have you packed in my lunchbox, Mommy? What are you packing in my lunchbox?
The whole miracle was dependent upon a mother packing something that the child would take. It was with intense care for this young child, that she packed that lunch for her child. When God chose Abraham, the Bible said that he was an idol worshipper. What did God find in Abraham's resume that impressed Him? What were his qualifications? What were his unique distinctions that made God, out of all the people in the earth, choose him to become the seed through which the nation of Israel would come? And ultimately the Messiah would come through that lineage. His name would never die.
Abraham. He's called in scripture three titles. The father of the nation of Israel. He's called the friend of God. Not only that, but he's called the father of our faith in the New Testament. He would channel through him the very lineage of God that ultimately would bring us Jesus Christ. What was the unique qualification? The key that unlocked the favor and the trust of God is found in Genesis 18:19. I know him, that he will command his children after him. God said, when it's all said and done, I'm choosing this guy because I know I can trust him to put something in his children that will outlast him.
That was the great ingredient that God was looking for in a man. To entrust such a heavenly treasure and marvelous revelation that God would give Abraham. He said, I know that the highest priority that I can look at is, does he pass on what he has beyond himself to his children? When you save an adult, you save a half life. But when you save a child, you save a whole life. The selection of Abraham by God included how he raised his children. You remember when he built an altar. The ultimate test was when he had his miracle child Isaac, and he was willing to pass the ultimate test in God's eyes for a parent is when you don't understand what's going on with that child or children, and you will still lay them on the altar and trust God with those children. Not worry yourself. Not panic. Not live in fear and torment, but to lay the child on the altar. And when he did that, God said these words.
Now I know that you fear me because of how you laid your children, with a situation you didn't understand, on the altar. And you were saying, I trust you with my child more than I trust my way and my will with your child. God never was totally convinced of who Abraham was until Abraham laid his son on the altar. Isn't that something? God said that settles it. And then He said, I swear I'm gonna bless you. He made God swear because that would not panic about his child, but lay his child on the altar. When they were in trouble, when they needed God's help, one of the true dimensions of love for God is revealed when we're willing to put our children on the same altar that we have built.
Sometimes it's our desire children from everything. Shield them. We don't want 'em to go through nothing. We don't want 'em to hurt. We don't want 'em to be lonely. We don't want 'em to cry. We don't want 'em to be rejected. We don't want 'em to be heartbroken. We don't want 'em to lack. We don't want 'em to have to pray. We don't want 'em to have to go to the same altar that we had to go to. We must arise and say, I went to an altar. And to my children, if you're going to get what God has for you, you're gonna have to go to that same altar. And I can't, God does not have grandchildren. Just children.
I'm telling you, the safest place in the world for our children is to be on the altar, doing the will of God. And for us to try to deprive them and give them everything we didn't get... sometimes we're so busy trying to give them everything that we didn't get that we're not giving 'em what we did get. The faith in God. The consecration. The dedication. The prayer life. The Bible reading. Paul said, I am persuaded that He's able to keep that which I've committed unto Him. To go back and to give your children to God. To put them on the altar. To say "I don't want just doctors, and nurses, and lawyers. But God, whatever you want with this child. Whatever your will is. It may not be bright lights. I put my child on the altar for your divine purpose. I trust you with my children more than I trust me and my pathway for my children".
Redemption was made available to the world when our Heavenly Father laid down His Son on the altar of Calvary and let Him go the route that most parents would not allow their child to go. It is our own tendency and nature to shield, and to guard, and to shelter. My kids will never have to sacrifice, we say, like I had to sacrifice. They'll never have to go through trials, and tragedies, and valleys, and challenges, and loneliness. You should never expect them to be what you are and have what you have if you're not willing to lay them on the altar and say God, I'm not a panicky person when I see my children going through things. I believe all things are working together for the good, and I trust you, even if it's not turned out like I thought it would turn out.
It's still the will of God for young men to abstain from vulgar words. Oh, I'm getting old fashioned on ya. But my parents put stuff in my little lunchbox. When I'd get smart mouthed and slip up and say a cuss word - one time they washed my mouth with soap, and I still remember the taste. Well, it's a different time, and they're listening to different music. Well, maybe God wants some parents to start putting some stuff in the lunchbox that God can use. Like some convictions.
See, I got a question for ya. Why was there only one person out of 5.000 who had a lunchbox? Where were 5.000 people, and nobody had a lunchbox? The only conclusion is, I think when they got out there, the main diet was always fish and bread back then. You read every meal is fish and bread. I think that some of 'em just decided, they probably ate some that morning. But they didn't have refrigeration. They didn't have YETI coolers. They didn't have ice, you know? They didn't have all stuff.
So you're sitting out in a hot desert, listening to teaching all day. The fish smells gross. It's nasty. The grease and the bread are mixing together. And all the people started throwing away their lunchbox that had been prepared for them and handed to them. There had to be some other kids there that they're mama made 'em a lunch. Packed 'em a lunch. But you know what I think? I think that they all just said it's not important anymore. It's no good. That's not for here and now. Only one kid, if you were to ask him, why did you hold onto your lunch, this is my sermon. I'll preach it like I want to. If you were to ask him, why did you hold onto your lunch? I could see him in my mind being interviewed. He was saying, all I know is, my mama gave me this. She passed it down to me, and she told me now, boy, whatever you do, don't you throw this away.
I don't care what other people do. God's looking for some people who will hold onto what other people are throwing away. We need to hold on to convictions. We need to hold on to worship. We need to hold on to shouting. We need to hold on to praying in the Holy Ghost. We need to hold on to fasting. We need to hold on to consecration. Separation. All I know is, my mama gave it to me, and she said don't you let this go. When's the last time you added something to your conviction list instead of always taking 'em off? I don't believe that anymore. I don't believe that anymore. I can do that if I want to.
When's the last time your mama and daddy passed you down a basket of faith and you're still holding on to what they gave you? And I don't care what other This matters. How we raise our children. What are you putting into their lunchbox? I remember my precious daughters. Pulling up, I always took 'em to school. And they would get out, and I can remember little bitty things, like little ducks. I used to call 'em little And they would have their little ponytails, and they'd have their lunch. And they'd get out, and they'd wave, and have two teeth missing in the front, and wave. And the thought hit me one day. Oh my God. What am I sending them into?
When you see 'em going off to school, getting in that car, going to high school, going to junior high school, they're facing things you cannot imagine. Their little ears are about to hear stuff you can't imagine. Their eyes are about to see things you can't imagine. And the only thing that has a chance of preserving them is what have you put in my lunchbox, Mama? Have you put any scriptures in me? Have you put any Bible stories in me? Have you put any hymns and spiritual songs in me? I know you can sing, whoever, whatever. The latest, greatest pop song. But do you know any praise I love that stuff. When I hear my little granddaughter in the back seat, throwing her hand up sometimes or just singing. Dee-dus. Dee-dus. You make the mountain twemble. They don't even know what they're saying, but it's getting in their lunchbox. It's getting in their lunchbox.
My God, there's enough secular mess. We need some spiritual stuff. We need some mothers who lay hands on their babies and send 'em out with a prayer. More than a kiss and a hug. A prayer. The blood be on you today, child. Somebody take a praise break if you believe your family, your family is destined for God's purpose, not man's. Not man's. It's not a penalty to be a preacher's kid. It's not a penalty to be raised in a family that goes to church. Why are you depriving me, Mama? I wanna date him. Why, Mama? I know he's not a Christian, but you take me to church, and your rules, and I can't get high. And so and so... their mama bought them the weed. And I just don't understand. Why, Mama?
It's not a penalty. It's a privilege to be in a Christian family. It's a privilege to have a Holy Ghost mama that says I'll take my belt off if I have to. I don't care how old you are. That's a privilege, not a penalty. We need some women of God who will take their place in love and fight for their families. You got a short amount of time to pack that lunchbox. We need to raise children that know the book is right. It's the Word of God. It's not a way. One of many. It's the way. The truth. Not some truth. The way. The truth. The life.
When that mother packed that lunchbox, she had decided that what she gave and put into that child that seemed so insignificant and that when Jesus gets a little, He would multiply it. What got me about the story that I'd never seen before until a few weeks ago is not only did Jesus multiply the fish and the loaves, but He multiplied the baskets. Because they started with one basket, but they picked up food and put it in 12 baskets. Which means the basket is what was used to transfer from one generation to another. What God wants today to do in this service is so fill you that you will, in return, put some of the things that you're learning and growing in grace in into the lunchbox of your children.
And God says even though it may seem a little thing, you know, talk to 'em. Tell that little Bible story. Or call 'em up and pray for 'em. And if they're even adults now, you just keep loving them, and keep reaching out to them, and keep praying for them. But God says I'll multiply. And I won't just multiply the fish and the loaves, but I'm gonna provide another basket for another generation in your family. He came home, and I could see him with a smile. And he says look, Mama. I still got the lunch you told me to hold on to. Times 12. And the baskets. Are you gonna pass on curses or blessings? Are you gonna pass on defeat, fear, and intimidation? Depression? Or are you gonna pass on be not sorrowful, for the joy of the Lord is your strength? Fear not, for I am with you. It's more than monkey see, monkey do, Mom.
Now listen to me. Let me close with this. 2 Chronicles 6 is a shocking scripture. 2 Chronicles 6:7-10. It says this. Solomon did all that was in his father's heart. Everybody look at me just a minute. Solomon's the child. He did all that was in his parents' heart. The temple was in David's heart. God said you're not gonna get to build it, but the temple was in his heart. It wasn't just taking them to church, but church was in his heart. Living for God was in his heart. Loving Jesus was in his heart. He had a lotta issues, but you know what? You could not deny, even God said he's a man who's got me in his heart. He's a man after my heart. This guy has got me on his heart. And whatever is in the parents' heart is the only thing that'll get transferred to the child.
Solomon did not do what David did. David didn't build the temple, but there was a temple in David's heart. And because there was a temple in the father's heart, the son built the temple. What I'm saying to you is children will only tap into what is really in your heart. Is worship really in your heart, or do you just do it to tolerate it? Let's get worship in our heart. Let's get the kingdom of God in our heart. Let's get the Word in our heart. Let's get living for Jesus in our heart. Let's get controlling our emotions, and our tongue, and our fits. Let's get it in our heart. Because children tap into what's in your heart. That's why you gotta be sure that you're giving 'em more than outward religion on Sunday morning. But you have a training camp for champions.
When I leave this world and Cherise leaves this world, our goal is to leave five champions behind that will, in return, produce more champions and more champions. And the basket keeps getting passed from generation to generation. You believe that? I just wrote this down yesterday. God, I am not going to raise any duds. None of my children. None of them. Praise God. Hallelujah. I love it when the Lord, see, that didn't do nothing for you, but that's a declaration to hell. That none of my children are duds. None of my children are waste. None of my children are just accept. I accept nothing from hell concerning my family. None of my children will fail. All of my children will be marvelously blessed and mighty in the earth. That's how you gotta be. Shout my children will not be duds. Alright. But does anybody here wanna raise some champions?
Lemme close with this. This is a good landing. Here it is. Paul said the time for me to depart has come. The Apostle Paul. The time of my departure is at hand. Now listen to this. But he understood that you're not ready to depart until you impart into another generation. And so he imparted into Timothy, his son in the Lord. And when he got his lunch fully packed, he said now I'm ready to depart. Because you're not ready to depart until you impart your faith to your children and your children's children.
Do you believe that, church? The miracle happened because of what a mother put in her little kid's lunchbox. What are you putting in your kids' lunchbox spiritually? You have no idea the influence that you can have on that child's life, even now. It's remarkable that what you put in is the only thing God can bless and multiply.