RockneCAST

The Holy Spirit and the Multiplier Effect (#245, 19 Sept. 2024)

I am reading Martin Copenhaver's 2014 book Jesus is the Question the 307 Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered. Chapter 8 covers the loaves and fish miracle covered in all of the Gospels. Copenhaver uses Mark 6:31-44 to explore this topic.

In this episode, I cover the story, its meaning, and the multiplier effect in action through the stories of Millard Fuller and Mother Theresa.

I also give you a take away.

Loved this one!!

Broadcast on:: 19 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: other

What is going on dudes of the Racking Cast? I am reading this awesome book called "Jesus is the Question." The 307 questions Jesus asked and the three that he answered. This is a book by Martin Kopenhaver, I don't know how you pronounce his last name, but it's a really good book and for once I'm actually going to do a podcast on the book before I'm actually finished. I've been reading a chapter every morning, but I came across a great chapter that I think would all really benefit you. It's the loaves and the fish story that comes straight out of Mark chapter 6, 31 through 44. This is probably the one story that everyone can remember from Sunday school. You probably already know it, but as an adult it means that much more. This also may be able to give you a little nudge if you're thinking about doing some creative pursuit, starting a business that what you may already have is what you need to move forward, no matter how small that it is. I think this is just such a powerful story. I couldn't wait till the end of the book to share this story with you. So first I'm going to talk about the story. Then I'm actually going to read it from the Kopenhaver book, Jesus is the question. It's so good. We're going to talk a little bit about Millard Fillmore, not Millard Fillmore, Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, how cool that particular, and it's kind of this Bible verse in action. Then we'll tiny little bit on Mother Teresa on how she started her orphanage in India. Then we'll do a little bit of a tangent on the lives and the conservatives. And then I'll kind of give you a takeaway for your day. So I hope you find this one interesting. I certainly had fun reading the chapter. I hope you get a chance to read the book. Jesus is the question, the 307 questions Jesus asked and the three that he answered by Martin Kopenhaver or Hover. I'm not sure how it's actually pronounced. Martin, if you're listening, send me an email to rackingcast@gmail.com and explain how. So first off, let's just go through the story because some of you may be like, "Oh my God, I kind of remember this from Sunday's call, but I'm not really sure." Well, I hadn't really thought about the story for a long time, but it's so really good because it's basically the power of multiplication with the Holy Spirit multiplying your actions in the world as it is. So this comes out of Mark 631 through 44. So Jesus was super busy as a pastor. He needed to be able to get away. So a lot of times he would go out with his disciples. This kind of get away from the congregation, but people who wouldn't leave him alone. They were always wanting Jesus to heal, Jesus to touch them. They were always asking Jesus questions and Jesus would kind of get exhausted, but Jesus did what he did. So here's the actual section from the book and then we'll do a little bit of a deep dive into it. Jesus can see that his disciples are exhausted. This is when he has been teaching all day, healing the sick, making the blind, see all these sorts of things. So he says to the disciples, let's get you to a bit of a break in a quiet place so you can rest from awhile. I'm all about getting away to a quiet place. It's not an unexpected suggestion, Copan other rights. Jesus was a pastor who was always running away from his congregation. His times of intense engagement with people were within rhythm with times apart, either alone or with his closest friends. So Jesus and his disciples get into a boat to go to a place where they can have a moment to themselves. The people are so eager to see Jesus however, that they will walk or run or hobble along the shore. They're all waiting like a huge welcoming committee. Even as Jesus is getting out of the boat on the other side of the lake. Jesus kind of takes pity on them because he is Jesus. Jesus takes pity on them because as Mark puts it, they're like a little sheep without a shepherd. Another image comes to mind, writes Copan other. Baby birds with beaks open as wide as they can be, waiting to be fed with the words from his mouth. Jesus teaches them until dark so even though he wants to get away, he goes ahead and gives a sermon. The disciples were dog tired and now they are hungry too. But when however pictures of them like my children used to be on Sunday mornings, that's the way I was. When I was in Sunday mornings and then afterwards we get some KFC and then you get all like Zox didn't take a nap the whole afternoon. But late in the fellowship hour, they had had enough of church and were tugged on their coat and said, Dad, are we ever going to leave? The disciples are kind of like that. They've had enough of church for that time. They just want to get out of there. They're able to mask their own needs by claiming to have great concern for the people. They say to Jesus, this is a remote place and the people look awfully hungry. We should send them away so they can buy something to eat. Jesus turns it right back at them. You give them something to eat. He said, you guys do it. The disciples of this plant are kind of puzzled. The people blanket the landscape as far as the eye can see. The disciples ask in essence, even if we could find a deli open at this hour, and this is Martin paraphrasing, do you expect us to have enough money to buy food for this entire crowd? Jesus turns it back to them, this time with a question, how much do you have? And they figure out, well, we have five loaves and two fish. And then Jesus offers that blessing and tells the disciples to serve up the scraps as if they are fit for the king. In the end, not only is everyone fed, but also everyone at the public supper that are leftovers, enough to fill five baskets. So it seemed like meager pickings had become at least 5,000. So among five loaves of bread and two fish, 5,000 people were fed. And I learned this today for the first time. This story is present in all four gospels. So people were absolutely amazed by this. And this really struck me because one of the things I love about this book, and I will do an entire podcast on the book itself. But this particular one, I think is my favorite chapter so far in the book. And I think it's the most important gospel miracle because it's in all four gospels is chapter eight. It's a question about abundance. Because what I like about this is that rather than complaining about what they don't have, how are they possibly going to do what they need to do to be able to feed so many people. Jesus first asked them to see what they already have. And then to have that asset they have offered into the world and allow them the Holy Spirit to multiply what they already have. And then it is like magic, and it's considered to be a miracle where the small amount of food feeds everyone. Now Copenhagen gets into this question of well that they wasn't really a miracle, or once people saw that there were some other people offering food that they dive in. Frankly I don't care, I think it's a miracle either way, because it does kind of show that one of the things I love about the Holy Spirit and I'm just learning about the Holy Spirit. I didn't really know a lot, I didn't really think about it a lot until Pentecost last May, I knew Jesus, I knew God, but I didn't think a lot about the Holy Spirit. I think the Holy Spirit of the three that we've talked about in the Christian Trinity, I think the Holy Spirit is the most important now they're all God so I'm not dedicating Jesus and I'm not dedicating God. So what we've talked about the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit, even though it seems the most ephemeral ephemeral is actually the most tangible. This is where we see God made manifest in the world to achieve great things through faith. This blows my mind that this power exists, and why wouldn't we want to tap into the power of the Holy Spirit, but you do need to do two things. One, you need to respond to Jesus questions and think about what do you already have and do you have faith that if you offer what you have, will the Holy Spirit multiply it. The question over and over and over again is in emphatic yes, and this is one of the things that I think is so wonderful you know it took me so long to figure out about the power of especially the Christian message. But, in particular, the power of the text of the Bible, in terms of the kernel of wisdom. I for most of my life was like the children, Mark, Martin Copenhauer's congregations like oh my gosh, isn't this ever going to be done. I just couldn't connect with it. I could resonate with it. I had to wait to be called, and I feel like I have been, because all of a sudden get it. I feel like the scales have come off of my eyes and I understand, or at least I'm beginning to understand. And that's why I'm hoping I can share this with you in such a way that you can use this inexhaustible power to your own benefit. You know, I'm so obsessed with the concept of the stoic audit, auditing your assets that that is what do you already have number one. And number two, are you using the assets that you have already have. I think so much of human misery arises because we lament what we don't have. We don't have enough money. We don't have enough time. We don't have enough resources. We don't have enough friends. But are you truly evaluating the assets that you do have the time that you do have the intelligence that you do have. Are you maximizing those gifts. And this applies in so many different areas, whether it's financial, whether it is spiritual, whether it's in your own relationship, whether it's in your own business. Are you maxing out on the gifts that you already have. You know, one of my favorite movies is the secret life of Walter MIDI and it's, it's his search for this photo that he couldn't find was going to be on the time of the life magazine. Last issue, he searches the whole movie, and I'll give you a spoiler alert so spoiler, don't listen to this for at least the next 30 seconds if you actually haven't seen the movie yet. So he searches the whole movie for this photo, and it turns out this photo was in his billfold. He was carrying it all along. The very thing that he was seeking, he already had. And then Copenhagen reminds us of two concrete examples to see this actually manifest. And this is why I am more conservative than I used to be it's not that I didn't understand some and I still think there are some benefits to some of the liberal interests of ideas that that exist out there. But I think really what it comes down to. Do you believe in the power of humanity to create abundance when they pursue the or an end their own ends. That is they are offering what they have. Do you think the government should fix everything that you have. But I think I find that so often a lot of bleed heart liberals. They, one, try to offer a solution number one. But rather than offering what they own have a lot in the Holy Spirit grow that they ask someone else to do that for them. And I do think there are points where no matter how much I try to create roads. I'm never going to be create me roads so I can track travel back and forth the Walmart to get my groceries. So yeah, there are some things that no matter how hard I try I'm never going to be able to educate all of our children. That's how they say it my children, my children. So I have there are certain things I cannot do. I can't fight the Russkies if they attack us if they probably deserve to attack us but that's another podcast but I need to rely on the military. If there's some crazy guy in the street. I'll try my jujitsu but for the most part I need law enforcement. Yeah, so there are some of those things. But in your personal life or other assets or their talents or the things that you already have and are you utilizing them. You know, there is this guy that I once that said that I had kind of like a radio face. And that is kind of kind of an insult, but I do have a radio voice. And that kind of it does stay like when someone tells you that you don't look like a kind of kind of ugly. You kind of you kind of remember that. But one of the things that I've really discovered over the last couple of years in terms of looks. There are so many things that you already have that you can max out that will significantly improve your looks. So like if you're a young dude out there and you're like, oh my God, I can never get laid. I'm just like, no one ever likes me. Well, I would at least before you arrive at that conclusion. I would at least kind of do like an audit to see whether you're maxing out the looks that you do have because yeah, there's only so much. You can you can change but there's a lot of things that you can change. Number one, how groomed are you? Do you get a haircut every two weeks and doesn't look good. And I'm not talking like one of those like retro 70s look that a lot of the team boys are wearing. I'm talking about grooming like Don Draper grooming. Are you groomed? Or are you working out every day? I got a calisthenics app, the better me app that I try to find an hour every day. So regardless of what I look like, at least I can like have some definition and have some flexibility. Do you have decent style? Are you maxing out on your wardrobe, the stuff fit? Have you incorporated fast into your life? Are you drinking every day? If you're drinking every day, I'll tell you two concrete impacts that that had when I was drinking every day. My face was all puffy and it made my face even redder than it already was. And it made me look significantly less attractive. So I just bring this up by saying you got to get started, utilize are you maximizing what you have. And if you do and you have the faith to believe that it can be better, that's the first step. So he offers two examples. I'll focus primarily on Miller Fuller. You're like, "Who the hell is Miller Fuller?" I had no idea who Miller Fuller was. But he was the founder of Habitat for Humanity and he started it in the 70s. Notice this is a little tiny organization. And now this organization, it probably has at the time in 2014, it said that there were 600,000 people living in Habitat for Humanity homes. Now in 2024, I bet you it's more like a million or maybe 2 million people. It's the largest provider of housing, as I understand it, at least this is the club claim Copenhagen makes in the book outside of Habitat for Humanity. And this is the kind of affordable housing that I can get behind because it's a transaction. And it requires, as I understand it, the people that are going to get the housing, they actually have to help build it. They can't sell it for a particular period of time. And they do it in conjunction with other people that are also trying to help them out. So they have to give what they have. And if they don't have any financial resources, they have time. Everyone can give some time, and everyone that's relatively healthy can give some sweat equity. And so they require that, give what you have, and we will multiply that. When Millard Fillard started this, he was criticized. And you can just see the liberal critics saying, "Oh my God, this is total bullshit, Millard." So I have kind of a weird name, Rocky, but at least my first name isn't Millard. Maybe he had a little bit of an inferiority complex because his name was Millard. Can you imagine, like, going to the bar and be like, "Hey, what's your name, man?" Yeah, my name is Millard. I think if my name were Millard, I would go by, like, Mill or Mill. Millard or Mill. But Millard was a Christian hammer. He overcame that his first name was Millard with the power of belief. And I guarantee you, and I've never done a deep dive into the life of Millard Fillard. And I can guarantee you that he would have used this gospel, the loaves and the fish, over and over and over again as he tried to make money and raise money for this worthwhile organization. How much money do you have? Give what you have and God will multiply. That is the absolute power of the Holy Spirit. And he had a belief in the faith that it would happen that he could take what he had and multiply it beyond anyone's wildest dreams. And not only that, think about the joy that he created for people. I've never done a habitat project. I really feel like I should. But think about the joy that those teens have when they build those habitat houses in providing housing for community members in need that they put in their own set out sweat equity. So they are paying for it. They're paying for it with their sweat, their smiles, their positive attitude. And they're doing it in community with other people. So I absolutely love it. Not like any program. There's probably flaws. There's probably issues in habitat for humanity. But look at it's track record. And to me, if you need any greater proof of the Holy Spirit and action, that is it. The other example that's very brief that I'll just very briefly use this is Mother Teresa. When she started her old orphanage, they say that she only had three pennies when she started this. Now, I would doubt it. Mother Teresa, she was kind of badass. I mean, she would, you know, she would just like, she just like would take all these lepers in. And I just, I can't imagine the patience. But maybe she was kind of like one of these nuns that was kind of like front of the scene, all peace and love. But behind the scene, she was kind of like a badass nun. But in any event, she won a Nobel prize. Everyone knows Mother Teresa as the paragon of virtue. With the exception, by the way, of one person, which I think is kind of hilarious. Remember Christopher Hitchens, the great British intellectual that would rage against God and say that God is total BS. And he was like this attacker of Christianity and there would be all these really good debates. He hated Mother Teresa. I have no idea what Mother Teresa had some skeletons or anything like that. But the point for this particular podcast is that, regardless of what Christopher Hitchens thinks, she's clearly did a lot of good work in New Delhi with her, with her orphanage. And she started that with just three pennies. Give and God will multiply. So this, I think I'm going to definitely encourage you to read this book. And this chapter, I think, is the best one. So, I think my takeaway for you listeners of the rocky cast is give what you have. Start. Start. What do you got? Start. Have the faith to do it and grow that every single day. There are a lot of things that I love about Christianity, but the thing I love most about it are the metaphors. Or some of it's literal and some of it's figurative, but the metaphor and the literal application of the seed. You have this little tiny thing that you plant and you cultivate. And it can grow into this giant tree through the time for the faith through nurturing and through the power of life in the world as it is. And through the power of the Holy Spirit in terms of maxing out. You know, when I started this particular podcast, I had a desire to share what I've learned and to grow the podcast has this podcast become as big as grow grow broken Joe Rogan. No, it hasn't. But it here it is. Here I am four years later. It's something I'm going to do the rest of my life. I love doing this podcast and I love sharing this podcast with you. Now, regardless of how big it grows or not, I have no idea, but I'm going to keep doing it because I would do it for free. And in fact, I am doing it for free with the exception of like the two pennies that I make per episode with my Spotify account. But so my, that's my takeaway. What do you got if if you're, if you're not where you want to be, start, have a plan, and you do have to have enough, you're going to be like, oh my God, I want to be on a multifamily complex but only have two dollars. Well, the bank's going to say, well, you're going to need 30%. But start. If you need to know that like, hey, I need this amount of money, well, then start saving. If you need to have a certain debt ratio, start reducing your debt, start. That is the absolute key, but most of all have faith. Listen to what your inner desires are, offer it into God, offer it into the church, and let it grow and see what happens. And what I found is is that when you do that, you unlock the awesomeness that is you. And that's it for this episode of the racking cast read Mark chapter six verses 31 through 44 by the book, Jesus is the question the 307 questions Jesus asked. And the three that he answered by Martin coping, hover or haver I don't know how it's pronounced, but it is a very, very good book. I definitely recommend that you read it. At some point I will do a episode on the book as a whole, but I really wanted to get this episode out because I was very inspired in reading this yesterday, the lows in the fish, probably the best story that Jesus ever told of all of his stories are really great. But this one, well, I guess he didn't only tell it, he performed it, he made it happen. And I think that this people like Millard for are this concept in action so that's my takeaway in my command to you. What do you want to do. Number one, number two, what resources do you already have. And number three, are you using those, are you maximum out maximum maximizing those things out. Let's start. So I hope you enjoyed this particular rapidly cast if you did. Listen to it spread the word let's grow this audience. And I have infinite gratitude to each one of you who's tuned in if you like this episode. You can tune in to Spotify, apples, Google all places where podcasts are in give me positive reviews. I haven't gotten many. I've gotten a few negative ones. But yeah, spread the word share it and start growing this podcast would be so that's it for this episode of the record cast. Until next time you and I see each other on the rocket cast.

In this episode, I cover the story, its meaning, and the multiplier effect in action through the stories of Millard Fuller and Mother Theresa.

I also give you a take away.

Loved this one!!