Sharing

Good morning boys and girls. Happy Sabbath. I hope you guys are excited to hear today's children's story. Today's story, you might be wondering what it's all about since I am wearing an apron. Well, we're not cooking today, okay? But I still don't want to get dirty.

Today, we are going to look at this little plant and what it represents to me. Okay, when I see this plant, I get pretty excited because you see it full right full of its weird little leaves. It's a it's a tiny miniature aloe vera, but it has multiplied. It started out tiny like this just one. And now it looks like this, because I moved it from the small container to the bigger one, and it's got the bigger container, the more space, it just multiplied like crazy. So I'm going to take it out of its pot like so, and I am going to start separating each little plant. So far I only have these two, but I'm pretty sure I could get over 20 of them out of here.

And you know what? I want to share these because what's the point of me keeping them all 20 little plants for myself, right? And, you know, people like things when somebody shares with them. We all like to be shared with, right? So I'm going to share these.

And the Bible tells us a very, very well-known story of a little boy who shared. This little boy was in a big crowd. There was about 5,000 people in this crowd listening to Jesus. Jesus was telling them stories, parables. He was talking to the people, telling them things that they probably wanted to hear or they probably needed to hear. And they were having such a good day that they forgot about the time. It started getting late.

They started to give maybe a little rumbly in their tummy. They started getting hungry and guess what nobody brought food because nobody really thought about it except for one little boy this little boy had two fish use my cute little fish but two fish and five loaves of bread. They were probably about this size, I want to say, because he was a little boy and he had five of them, which is a lunch that his mom probably made him, you know, to be out there listening. But when the time came that nobody had food later that evening and everybody was hungry, this little boy was willing to share his food with the people, with Jesus.

The Bible in John chapter 6 says, verse 1 through 14 tells us the whole story. But chapter 9, verse 9, I'm sorry, tells us, there is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. Just five loaves of bread, five, and two fish for 5,000 people. How is that going to feed everybody? Well, Jesus made that miracle. He multiplied it. Just like this little thing multiplied from one to about 20 or more in here.Jesus multiplied those two fish and those five loaves of bread. And he fed 5,000 people. And he multiplied it so much that they filled up 12 baskets worth of leftovers. Leftover food. Okay? Because one little boy chose that he wanted to share.

And there's other verses in our Bible that talks about sharing. There's one in Luke. Luke chapter 3, verse 10 and 11. And the crowd asked him, what then should we do? In reply, he said to them, whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise. So in other words, if you have two coats and you see a person that has none, maybe your little friend, a little cousin, go ahead and share with them. If you see somebody on the street that needs gloves, mittens, it's cold right now, it's raining, so I can't do the story outside. I'm in my kitchen. But, you know, if you see somebody out there that's getting wet, maybe doesn't have an umbrella and you have one umbrella, your mom has another, maybe your brother has another. Why don't you share an umbrella with somebody? You know, something like that.

There's another verse in Hebrews, the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 16 says, So don't forget to do good things. Okay? Share. Share whatever you have. Whether it be clothes. It be food. Maybe somebody is hungry doesn't have enough food for lunch for a snack and you have a little bit extra Go ahead and share with them, you know, give them that extra dollar Or maybe just share your snack half a sandwich a juice box, whatever it may be Jesus is asking us to share what we have with others.

But you know what the most important thing to share is, Jesus. Jesus' love for us and for everybody around us is the most important thing that we can share. Just like when we receive a gift or maybe an accomplishment or maybe you reach, you know, a goal and you did a full cartwheel perfectly or maybe you learn how to ride a bike or maybe you got honors or in high school or junior high, or maybe an awesome birthday gift, whatever it may be. Whatever story you have that you share with others, maybe those people will share your story with others, and that those people will share with others. And the story about God's blessings, about his love, all those will multiply the same way when you tell somebody Jesus loves you. I love you. I love you enough to care, to share with you what I have. It might not be much, but what I have. Sometimes it's just sharing a smile. And you might brighten somebody's day just by doing that.

So remember to share, okay? Because Jesus loves a cheerful giver. So just like this little plant that I am going to pull apart. It's many, many little plants in here. And I will share with you next week. I'm asking you to not forget to share God's love with others, not just about sharing your things, but about sharing his love, the story of him with everybody around you.

Let's go ahead and pray, boys and girls. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this beautiful day and for these beautiful children. We ask you now to continue blessing them and to show their kindness to share that with everybody else. Their kindness, the compassion, and the love, Lord, that you've given them. Allow them to share it with others so that they may also get to know you. Thank you, Lord, for guiding them. Continue with them and continue protecting them. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Okay, boys and girls, don't forget. Look me up next week and I'll share my stuff too. Bye.