Well, each of us have our own unique struggles in life, and each of us know what it's like to meet times in life when we find ourselves out of gas. So how do we keep pressing on when we feel completely depleted? This reality is certainly true inside Angola, the largest maximum security prison in the US and home to 6,300 prisoners, a place reserved for only murderers, rapists, armed robbers, and habitual felons, where the average sentence in Angola is 88 years with 3,200 people in one place serving life sentences.

90% of the inmates will die here. Warden Burl Kane led this place for years. He was an outspoken Christian and a man with a near-mythical reputation for turning Angola, once known as the bloodiest prison in the South, into a model facility. Pastor John preached in Angola's chapel on November 20, 2009 to about 800 prisoners.

He preached on John 6 on Jesus' feeding of the 5,000 and His walk on water. Here's one of my favorite clips from what is one of my favorite sermons all time on the goodness of Jesus when it feels like we have run out of gas for life. Here's Pastor John.

So far, He's done this miracle, the miracle of multiplying the loaves, the point of the loaves being let your eyes run up the beam of glory to see the one who with a simple word and a prayer can feed 5,000 people with a little basket full of food. See Him, love Him, know Him, make Him your treasure.

That's what I hope is happening in your heart now. So let's go to verses 16 to 21. When the evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. So they're leaving Jesus behind. Now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

Verse 18, "The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rode three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea." Let me stop there a minute, make a comment that Warden Cain mentioned to me earlier. He said, "You had a preacher here a couple of months ago that said what happened in the feeding of the 5,000 was that when Jesus took the little boy's lunch and gave it out, everybody was inspired to share their lunch, and that's how everybody got fed." Boy, is that ever classic liberal unbelief.

The reason we know that's not what it means is not only because of the words I paused over that He distributed the loaves. They all ate from the loaves that He distributed, but what's He going to do with the walking on water? Who cooperated and gave their lunch to make that happen?

Like the molecules cooperated. Let's turn into ice. Don't like that kind of unbelief, and I'm sorry it was preached in this pulpit. You guys are smart enough to see through it, I am sure. Okay, we stopped where we shouldn't have stopped. Verse 19, "When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and coming near the boat, they were frightened.

But He said to them, 'It is I. Do not be afraid.' Then they were glad to take Him in the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going." Now there are several amazing, remarkable, surprising, almost inexplicable things about this, and I don't mean the walking on the water merely.

I'll affirm it, I believe Jesus walks on water. He made water. He speaks water into being every moment of the day. He upholds the universe by the word of His power. This is no problem for Jesus to walk on water. So that's there and that's true. That's our God, Jesus Christ.

But here's a couple of puzzling things. I said that the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 is unpacked in 71 verses in chapter 6. This miracle has no unpacking. It's never mentioned again in this gospel or in this chapter. It happens. The crowds never hear about it. Only the disciples see it, and it's over, and it's never mentioned again.

What's the function of it? What's the purpose of this miracle here in this bread story? That's my question. Here's the second thing. When they see Him, wind is blowing, the boat's about to be sunk, they're three miles out from land, nobody's swimming to shore probably in this kind of water.

It's dangerous. They're going to live their lives. Jesus comes walking on that tortured sea, and they see Him, and He says, "It's I," and they gladly, gladly welcome Him, Him, Him into the boat. And you know the next thing it says? They're at the shore. That story's over. There is not a word said about the storm stopping like in the other gospels.

There's not a word said about the waves going flat and a great calm and the wind ceasing. Not a word about this storm being conquered by Jesus. That's not the point. The point is, He got in the boat. He got in the boat in the storm. No comment about the storm.

And as soon as He's in the boat, the story's over. So here's what I think the point of this miracle is. I left out an important part of the bread story. Let me go back and pick it up and then relate it to this. What did I leave out?

I left out the 12 baskets. Okay? Let's go back and get the 12 baskets. How many, tell me this now, how many apostles were collecting leftover pieces? 12. How many baskets did they take up? Do you think there's a reason for that? I do. What would be the point of Jesus seeing to it?

This is amazing. Jesus seeing to it that 5,000 people are fed from 5 loaves and exactly 12 baskets are left over for 12 apostles. What's the point of that? And here's what I think the point is. Picture yourself now as one of the distributors of the bread. You see this little boy's got 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Jesus prays, gives you a basket and you say, "Whoa, where did that come from?" And you start giving out and you feel like, "I can't feed 5,000 people. He's assigned me to feed 5,000 people. I'm going to run out of food." Or you might say, "I can't do this prison thing.

I'm going to run out of gas here. I'm going to run out of emotional gas. I can't do this. This boat is going to sink and me in it." I think the reason for following the basket lesson with the boat lesson is to underline the basket lesson. The basket lesson is you join Jesus in His ministry here, there will always be just enough for you.

Just enough for you. You're not going to get rich here. I ask about that. Of course, you may try and prove that you're an idolater. You're going to get rich. Finally, you're going to get rich. Forget that. We don't get rich here. We don't get rich on the planet.

We get one basket, just enough. One for me, a personal attention to you from Jesus Christ. You join Him in His cause. He looks on you as an individual. I got a basket for you. I know what your need is. Tonight in the cell, I know what your need is in the dormitory.

I know what your need is tonight. There'll be a basket for you tonight and tomorrow and the next day and the next day. My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. But not everything you may think is a need. He knows what you need.

You know what you need. He knows what you need, and it'll be there. God never runs my life the way I think He ought to, ever. I try to do stuff, and He's always got a different plan for my day, a different plan for my marriage, a different plan for my kids.

And if I didn't trust Him as a good shepherd and a good father and a good guide and a good provider, I'd get very, very discouraged. So the point of the baskets is He individually provides for His own when they join Him in His cause and trust Him, and then you get on the boat.

Three miles out, where's Jesus? He's three miles away up in the mountains, and they're about to drown in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. They think, "Well, I guess the basket lesson doesn't come true. Doesn't work on the water." And just when they think, "We're history," He comes walking on the water.

Now what's the point of that? I will walk on water to do what I said I would do. I will walk on Angola water to get to you. I will go through bars to get to you. I will climb fences and cut my hands to get to you. Till I bleed to death, I will get to you.

So I think the function of these stories for the followers of Jesus is you get a basket when you need it, just one for you, tailor-made, and in the moment when you think, "There can't be any basket for me here because the waves are slopping over the side of my boat and Jesus is three miles away," He comes walking on the water.

And He gets in the boat and the story's over. This is not a story about getting people out of storms. This is a story about getting Jesus in the boat. This is the boat. I got my boat. I got my issues. They're not yours. And I got to trust Him for my family issues and my church issues and my health issues.

You got your issues. You got your boat. You got your storms. You got your hungers. You can trust Him. Amen. Till I bleed to death, I will get to you. That is a powerful line. I love this sermon. And you can find the whole thing to listen to or to watch at DesiringGod.org.

It's titled, "Jesus Came Not to Give Bread, But to Be Bread." Whether you listen in the car, at the gym, doing chores, thanks for inviting us into your busy day. And if you have not done so yet, you can subscribe to Ask Pastor John in your favorite podcast app in YouTube or in Spotify.

To find other episodes in our archive or to submit a question of your own to us, go online to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. I'm your host Tony Rehnke. We're back with Pastor John in the studio on Friday. We'll see you then. you