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[0:00] As Cal was talking about the book that he was bringing, he was saying that Ron's going to bring us the word later on. I was a bit concerned when he said, where's Wally?

[0:11] And I was hoping he wasn't going to point at me. Oh, there he is there. There's our Wally over there. But no, it's so good to be here. Thank you again, Cal, for allowing me to preach here.

[0:23] And it's so good to see you all. It's just a pleasure and a blessing every time I come here. So, yeah, I'm so encouraged after leaving here. And, yeah, we're wearing the word of God this morning, which nourishes us and encourages us and blesses us from the word.

[0:39] So it's great to be here. Thank you. Looking this morning, we're going to be looking at Mark's gospel again in Mark 6. And just looking at the incredible miracle that was feeding of the 5,000.

[0:55] And just a quick recap, I'd like to just have a look. If you've got your Bibles open, just open up to Mark 6, chapter 30. Sorry, verse 30 to 44.

[1:09] But preceding our passage this morning, we've got Jesus has sent out the 12. And he sent them out in authority. He sent them out to cast out unclean spirits, healing the sick.

[1:20] So just have a look prior to verse 30 at the moment. And we read about, sandwiched in between Jesus sending them out, is John the Baptist's death. And that's Jesus' cousin.

[1:34] And Mark is kind of sandwiched in between this tragic event, in between Jesus sending out the 12. And them coming back to him to tell him all that they've done. Mark records for us in verses 14 to 29 of this chapter, a feast.

[1:48] However, it's not a feast that you'd probably want to go to. It was a very worldly one. It was one which was hosted by a man with incredibly loose morals and sinful desires.

[2:01] And the purpose of that feast was for indulgence, debauchery, sinfulness. Somewhat polar opposite of the feast we're about to read and look at this morning.

[2:14] I think I've mentioned many times in the sermons that I've preached so far. But there's a particular phrase I like to say. And it's like, there's a lot going on here. So there's a lot going on.

[2:27] If you've got your Bibles open or your app or whatever it is you access the Bible with, just let's read from the Word of God. We're going to start from Mark 6 at verse 30.

[2:38] Let's read the Word of God together, shall we? The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest for a while.

[2:54] For many were coming and going and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them.

[3:05] And they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them. Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

[3:17] And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place. And the hour is now late. Send them away.

[3:29] Go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, That is Jesus. You give them something to eat. And they said to him, Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?

[3:45] And he said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said, Five and two fish. Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass.

[3:58] So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people.

[4:12] And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.

[4:26] And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. Before we go any further, let me pray for us. Father, we thank you for your word.

[4:39] We thank you that it is living. We thank you that it teaches us. It corrects us. But Lord, also that it interprets itself. And that on every page, Lord, we find Jesus.

[4:53] The author and perfecter of our faith. Would you help us this morning by your Holy Spirit to have eyes that are open to your word. To have hearts that will be good ground to be sown in.

[5:06] Lord, that we would take this as a gathered church here in Bells Hill into our week, into our workplaces, and proclaim the name of Jesus until we meet again. And Lord, we thank you this morning and praise your name.

[5:18] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I wonder what comes to mind when you hear this story, the feeding of the five thousand. What strikes you most about the story?

[5:31] What's the one thing that kind of sticks out in your mind and goes, you know, it might be from a childhood story. It might be from a Sunday school story. It might be from a previous sermon that someone's preached. And when you eat, do you think of food as a gift from God?

[5:46] There's so many questions I could probably ask you this morning about this. But there is a key question. I'm so thankful Carl picked up on this. And Carl said he's not read anything that I've prepared this morning.

[6:01] He's not done anything in preparation for this. It was just purely the Spirit working in both our lives. And the question I would like you to keep in mind is, what does this tell me about who Jesus is?

[6:15] Hold on to that question for the duration of the sermon. And if you can, remember, what does this tell me about who Jesus is? Every time, without fail, not just this morning, but every time you open the Bible, every time you look at any page on the Bible, whenever you are doing your own devotions, when you're hearing another sermon, when you're hearing a podcast, whenever you are listening and accessing the Word of God, ask yourself, what does this tell me about Jesus?

[6:44] The passage that we've just read this morning is probably one of the most remarkable miracles performed by Jesus. The feeding of the 5,000. It's one of.

[6:55] We've got a record of Jesus completing and carrying out many other miracles. We know that. We read our Word. But there are only two miracles that are recorded in each of the four Gospels.

[7:08] The resurrection of Jesus and the feeding of the 5,000. The miracle is so significant that it's not only in every Gospel, but Jesus refers back to it as a teaching point multiple times throughout His ministry.

[7:23] Of all the miracles that Jesus performed, this is unique among all the miracles. While we can appreciate someone with leprosy being healed, an arm going back, a leg being completely healed of that, you know, because we need that.

[7:39] We can take the light in someone, you know, that has their sight restored, for instance, or someone who's been paralyzed to be given the ability by Jesus, the laying on of hands, to walk again.

[7:52] But this miracle that all of us here can actually relate to is being hungry. It's quite incredible. It's an astounding, miraculous event recorded, as I say, in all the four Gospels.

[8:05] It's more than just a supernatural provision of food. It's a profound revelation of the faithfulness of God and the identity of Jesus as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.

[8:19] I recently came across a story that I was reading and I was looking at and I thought I'd share it with you this morning. And the story was that there was a young preacher.

[8:32] Obviously, it's not me because I'm not young, but I don't feel it. And he was very nervous, very nervous about preaching his first sermon. And it was about the feeding of the 5,000.

[8:43] And he was saying that Jesus gathered them all up, told the disciples, gather them all up, let them sit down, and then he performed this miracle, massive miracle.

[8:55] How many, what food do we have? He said, so, and the preacher, he said this, he said, so Jesus performed this miracle of feeding two men with 5,000 fish and 5,000 bread.

[9:11] And he didn't think anything of it. He'd just think, right, I've said the numbers correctly and he carried on with his sermon. And little Johnny was sitting in the front, 10 years old, scratching his head. And the sermon thinking, the preacher, the pastor was thinking, what have I said wrong?

[9:25] So he was at the back when everyone was leaving. He was like, and what did you think, little Johnny? Do you think that was a really good miracle? He was like, no. No, not impressed at all. Didn't like that miracle.

[9:37] The pastor was bemused. He thought, right, he was actually, one of the most astounding miracles we've got. So then very next week, the pastor decided he's going to preach exactly the same sermon. Okay.

[9:47] But this time, he got his numbers correct. And he was like, ah, that's what it was. I got my numbers wrong. He said, 5,000 fish, 5,000 loaves for two men. Right. He switched it.

[9:58] He got it right. He got five loaves, two fish, five thousand men. He said, isn't that not a miracle? Little Johnny replies, nope. He was like, how can it not be a miracle?

[10:10] He said, well, we'll just leave. We'll just have all the leftovers from last week and we'll feed them with that. Let's look at verse 30 together.

[10:22] The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. I remember when the kids were younger and they still do it. Reuben does it just much later now because he's almost 16 and he's a teenager.

[10:37] They would come home from school or nursery or primary school or even high school today, I still ask them, and they just want to tell you everything that's happened in their day. They have certain excitement and joy in telling me how their day was and I did this and I scored this goal in PE and I did this in art and there was drama and there was music and all this.

[10:56] And it's something that we still do today as a family. We sit around the table, we eat together for dinner every night and we ask one another about how our day was. That's the first thing we ask.

[11:08] I do try and take a real interest in my kids' lives and ask them. Some days it was coherent in what they were trying to tell me and other days it just wasn't.

[11:18] It was just so much they wanted to tell me. And I can only imagine that's a little bit what the disciples were a bit like when they were like a child desperately wanting to tell Jesus what happened when they returned to Jesus.

[11:31] All excited and to use a colloquial Scottish phrase of full of beans. Do you still have that question in your mind? What was this telling me about Jesus? It's showing us I think here that we need to be utterly dependent upon who Jesus is.

[11:47] The disciples have been given the honour of being an apostle and all that means is one who was sent a messenger who was sent. They were commissioned by Jesus to heal to cast out to teach and yet in this quite new profound power of God within them to do these things it's not the status that matters.

[12:10] It's not the power of their own doing. And it's the complete same for us today. As Christians we are we are saved by grace alone in Christ alone.

[12:22] We cannot boast of any of the good gifts and the blessings that Christ has given to us in his mercy and by his grace. It's not our status. It's not the status of the disciples that mattered.

[12:37] It was only the one who sent them and it was Jesus. It is his status. His glory that counts and matters. Because the sent one as the messenger is not greater than the sender.

[12:55] The disciples returning to Jesus is just as important as being sent by Jesus also. Though, as it's said, they were instructed to do these things.

[13:05] To preach, to teach, to heal, to cast out demons. And all these things they've been doing may be fruits of true discipleship. But they are not its root of true discipleship.

[13:20] Because the root of all these things is attached to who? Has to be Christ. It is. It's the author and perfecter of our faith.

[13:31] Faith is the very vessel in which it carries us to Christ. Carries us to Jesus. And that is the root that is attached to Jesus himself. And in returning to him, it shows us, just like the disciples, our very life source as ones who are saved in Christ is rooted in him and is sustained by him.

[13:56] To quote a song in a City of Light song, would I be gladly be made nothing that Christ would be made more.

[14:08] Is the very root of your life this morning, the very root of your dependency firmly on the rock of your salvation in Christ? Do you strive every day to return to Jesus?

[14:24] The one who came to give life and life to the full as we find it in John 10.10. Do we depend on Jesus? Do you place your trust in him in every single thing that you do?

[14:37] Do you prayerfully consider and lay that out before him as you move through and navigate this life? If you're hearing this for the first time here this morning or online later, I call you to repent of your sins, return to Christ, believe in the name of Jesus and you will be saved.

[15:00] you might ask the question why? There's another question to ask. Why would I? Why can I trust this Jesus that I'm speaking of this morning?

[15:11] Why would I do that? Why shouldn't I put my trust in something else? Because it's carried me so far, been okay so far. Or maybe you're just trying to figure all this Christian stuff out.

[15:22] Maybe you just don't know who Jesus is yet and you're just still on the fringe and you're just thinking about it. maybe the fire within you that once was there has gone out. Maybe we need to return to Christ and fully depend on him again.

[15:37] I don't know about you but there's another song and I don't know if you've heard it or not but it says I have seen my father's glory revealed in Jesus Christ. Throughout the ages God has been so incredibly faithful to his people.

[15:53] We sing that, we believe that, because we believe in the triune God, believe the father, son, the Holy Spirit. As it says in John's account in John 1 14 and the word that's Jesus became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory.

[16:11] Glory is of only son from the father full of grace and truth. Christ Jesus is the revelation of God. Verse 31, move with me, track with me.

[16:25] Do you still have that question in your head? I hope you do. What does it tell us about Jesus? We have Jesus the comforter. Mark goes on to record for us that Jesus takes them away to a desolate place.

[16:41] Quite a stark picture isn't it? It's a desolate place. And Jesus at this point is demonstrating that he is the great comforter. The disciples have returned as we've already looked at and have been full of excitement and wonder but they are human.

[16:57] They're fallible. And Jesus saw their need. This frail, we've just sung about it, frail humanity. He made them face the fact that they needed rest.

[17:11] And the most excellent way Jesus teaches us to find this is to go off into a desolate place, a quiet place to spend time with him. The throes of life and work and retirement as well, they can be hectic, it's energy sapping at times.

[17:33] Throughout Jesus' ministry set the example of removing himself away to go and spend time in prayer with the Father. And we should be no different. We find comfort in that and find comfort in Christ.

[17:46] God's faithfulness is also on display. As we move through 32. And they went into the boat to a desolate place by themselves. And saw many going and recognized them.

[17:59] And they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

[18:10] And he began to teach them many things. Why does Jesus here take them to a desolate place? Surely if you wanted to hear and they're hungry, they want to rest, surely you'd take them where you could eat something.

[18:24] You could maybe get into a room somewhere or an inn. No, he takes them to a desolate place. And commentary says that the wilderness is the venue for Jesus' instruction and another exhibition of the kingdom's coming.

[18:40] part of this story, part of what we read here in the feeding of the 5,000 in Mark's account is looking backwards to Exodus.

[18:54] Why does Jesus go into the wilderness knowing that it's a desolate place, as Mark puts it? Well, Jesus is displaying to the people that he is God.

[19:05] He's displaying it once again through the faithfulness of God and looking back to the Old Testament using the same blueprint that has been previously used by Almighty God in the history past.

[19:19] We'll look at that a little bit more in detail in a minute. But now the crowds are closing in on Jesus and all his disciples. And I love how Mark records it for us. They didn't even have time to eat.

[19:30] It's like there's so many people surrounding us we didn't have time to eat. It's like a man after my own heart. I'm like no, no, let's get some priorities first, right? Let's get a good scrambling us and then we'll speak to the people. No, no, no, no, that's not happening.

[19:41] Because verse 34 it says when he went ashore he saw a great crowd they were already there. I don't know about you if you've ever been that tired where you're just like I'm done with people today I just need to go and have a cup of tea and sit down into your quiet place and just relax.

[19:56] Nope, the crowd were already there right on him. It's like being asked for the 400th time the same question over and over. Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy. So Jesus got back in the boat, didn't sail away, didn't go away, even though they were all tired, needed to relax.

[20:19] Now what does he do? Well he had compassion on them didn't he? It says that because they were like a sheep without a shepherd and began to teach them. Because the actions of the crowd which ran there, remember, they moved Jesus so much they had compassion on them.

[20:39] They'd run from nearby towns just to hear the words of Jesus and they got there ahead of them, running around the shoreline to be in the presence of Jesus. Is that something we do?

[20:52] Just to get to the word of God, do we run, do we get there, do we seek after it in everything we do? This physical need of the disciples, their tiredness, their hunger, needed for rest, it's all there at the forefront of their minds.

[21:09] Yet Jesus doesn't turn the crowd away. Jesus once again is displaying his obedience to the Father's will, his love and compassion upon the people are evident and they're desperate, they're desperate because you don't run to something if you're not desperate to get there.

[21:27] we're told in John 6, 37 that all the Father gives to me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

[21:39] Christ will never turn anyone away. And Jesus out of his compassion began to teach them. something else I like to include when I'm preaching is either a good Hebrew word or a good Greek word out of the text.

[21:58] We can understand it a little bit better now I've been practicing this one so bear with me. If there's any Greek scholars in the room forgive me for my pronunciation for what's coming. But there's quite a unique word here and the unique word is the compassion word and in the Greek it's splod commits a mine.

[22:19] It took me a while to get that one. It means this it is a gut wrenching mercy towards someone in need.

[22:31] It's not just oh here's a bottle of water brother. That you're thirsty. It's not that. It's a gut wrenching. It is a body moving word.

[22:43] Splod commits a mine. towards someone in need. There's no other word like it. And Mark records it for us here. This compassion word it's only ever used to describe Jesus himself.

[23:00] Or the other time it's used is to describe the actions of people within the parables that resemble Christ's character. That's splod commits a mine. Jesus would not and could not turn the crowd away because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

[23:22] There's such a warmth there I think in that word in the kindness and the compassion and the love of Christ so deeply moving. We ought to strive to see others as Jesus saw them.

[23:35] The need of others is a genuine motive for our Christian service. let's look at this phrase they were like sheep without a shepherd. This isn't the first time that we hear this phrase or saying in its occurrence in the Bible.

[23:52] We read about this in Numbers 27. It says this let the Lord the God of the spirits of all flesh appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them who shall lead them out and bring them in that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.

[24:14] There is a Moses theme in our passage this morning as well. Moses was God's appointed leader of Israel as we know from coming out of Exodus when Moses introduced us to the metaphor of the congregation of Israel being without a shepherd as we read about in numbers at that time he was nearing the end of his life and the end of his ministry but he has a genuine concern for the nation of Israel for the people compassion once again who's going to lead them into the promised land that was one of his final thoughts on his death bed who's going to lead them and Jesus being God incarnate takes up this role and fulfills this prophecy as the good shepherd Jesus does what is promised to the people of Israel all those thousands of years ago Jesus displays the faithfulness of God fulfilling that promise and does what was promised again as it says in

[25:18] Ezekiel 34 for thus says the Lord God behold I I myself says the Lord will search for my sheep and will seek them out I will find them with good pasture I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep as for you my flock thus says the Lord God Jesus like the leaders in Israel passed Jesus is now the fulfillment of this prophecy and acts as the good shepherd of the people in their time of need and we can see that from the text that the hour was late and you may be thinking why what does that matter if it's late or why is that important well this new Moses in Christ in a new and different wilderness is about to do a new thing but in an old kind of way an old testament blueprint and he's going to feed the people in the evening if you go back to

[26:26] Exodus chapter 16 you'll read at the beginning of the chapter that the Israelites were hungry well they did what the Israelites did best and they grumbled against Moses and they complained I think Aaron was there as well actually for my name sake wanting to go back to Egypt where allegedly there was meat and bread but notice it isn't the crowd that are genuinely grumbling against Jesus here it's not the Israelites it's not the crowd who is it it's the disciples they're the ones who want to get rid of the people send them away throw them into the nearby towns they can go and buy stuff and whatever they need there but this gut wrenching compassion he has on them what does he say he turns to them and says you give them something to eat what am we going to do with that we've seen how many people are here it's over 5,000 and that's just the men not sure what the disciples could have ever been ready for that response from

[27:35] Jesus you know they've just gone out they've just healed they've just preached they've just cast out demons in the name of Jesus and now he wants us to feed 5,000 people I mean how does this power extend does it keep going further and further I think their reaction shows how little even after everything that's happened with them and what we've just described they're willing to trust Jesus to do the impossible I wonder if that's something you've ever experienced in your life you've been praying maybe for an unbeliever maybe someone prayed for you at one point and you found out years later that they were praying for you for that salvation that gift of faith to be imparted into your life I can certainly see myself in that situation after everything Christ has done for me for everything he has saved me from and bestowed his goodness and mercy upon my life at times

[28:35] I still have those moments of doubt I'm sure I'm not the only one they must have turned around and gone surely this can't be the right answer maybe he got it wrong did someone else ask him something first no okay well maybe they couldn't you just maybe you know the reaction was a little bit but the scene is now set the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus has just told them to feed them as I said the numbers were probably more because we only get the 5,000 men there were women there were children there also the numbers would be much greater which should make us marvel even more I think the fact that what Jesus did in his provision Jesus looked up he looked upon them with compassion recognizing their need and he began teaching them with spiritual about the kingdom of God and as the day wore on the disciples became more concerned about the lack of provisions to feed the vast multitude they urged

[29:43] Jesus to send the people away to buy food but Jesus says no you feed them he had other plans and little did the disciples know what they were about to witness is a miracle that were forever etching their minds the truth that Jesus is the Lord of all creation the great provider the fulfillment of God's promises because now there was a physical need we read that and we only read that there were five loaves and two fishes that's all they had that is not enough to sustain five thousand yet Jesus gave them a simple command bring them to me what does this tell us about Jesus in this moment we catch another glimpse God's faithfulness could have been so easy for

[30:46] Jesus just to turn them away go and provide for their needs in a conventional manner does that still mean that Jesus was providing because he knew there was stuff in the surrounding towns possibly but he chose to do something extraordinary something that would reveal his divine power and provoke faith in the hearts of his followers Jesus took the mere provisions looked up to heaven blessed the food broke it again old blueprint new kind of way and in turn gave it to the crowds and in that miraculous moment the five loaves and two fishes became what was an endless supply it seems more than enough to satisfy the 5,000 men besides the women and children just pause and think about that just for a second we've got Christmas coming up what's the biggest Christmas dinner you've ever hosted I think at one point we had 19 or something or 20 that's a lot of people just in itself and you panic about have we've got enough food is everyone going to be satisfied have we've got enough drinks have we've got enough cups to give everyone the sustenance now scale that up to 5,000 people men women children all hungry all looking to you and going you need to help me here and then they turn to

[32:11] Jesus and they go well no no he turns it back on them and goes you feed them put yourself in their shoes they're in the wilderness the desolate place Moses in Israel they've been asked to sit in groups of 50 and 100 once again thinking back to Exodus Moses ordering Israel into the same groups in Exodus 18 then producing enough food from nothing to feed the 5,000 albeit from the five loaves and two fishes what questions would have been asked then who is this Jesus who is that man over there who's just done that what question are we asking ourselves this morning what does this tell us about Jesus who can make bread and fish appear from nothing where have heard this before it's an old testament blueprint in a new kind of way the people would have known that

[33:15] Jesus did not simply multiply the food that was there he created abundance from nothing the provision of bread and fish in this wilderness echoes the provision of God to his people in the wilderness Moses in the evening they had bread and quail here in the evening they have bread and fish Jesus stamping and demonstrating his divine sovereignty over the natural world his ability to transcend the laws of physics with a mere word that is the Christ that is the Jesus we're talking about the one who was at the beginning of creation the begotten son of God everything was created through him and he is standing before the disciples before the crowds and before us this morning that is the

[34:18] Jesus we serve that is the one the Christ who has saved us he's proclaiming that he is God most of the crowd would all have been Jewish you might have had a few gentile hanger on us but they would have known the story they would have known the exodus they would have known this blueprint and once again it's happened before their eyes who is this Jesus for only God can create something out of nothing only God this ex ex nihilo it's called from nothing or out of nothing it was no sleight of hand no illusion it wasn't like they had a big curtain and it was just like food being passed out from behind the curtain like this nope it wasn't that it was a tangible unmistakable manifestation of the divine power of the creator but why did he perform this certainly it was an act of compassion meeting the physical needs of the people yet there's a deeper significance here a profound lesson about that faithfulness of

[35:38] God because throughout the Old Testament we see God faithfully providing for his people we can see that and even in the most desperate circumstances the manna raining down from heaven to provide the Israelites in the wilderness he multiplied the widow's jar of oil and flour during famine time and time again God faithfully demonstrates his ability to supply all our needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus you can look back in your own life and wonder how did we survive we can no money in our account at one point I think Reuben was a baby we had no money in our account all the bills were paid for all that but we had no food and then a very good friend of mine drops me a note and says you okay what do you need and he bought shopping for us and was like how does that happen how does that happen if not for the Lord in feeding the 5000

[36:41] Jesus was not only echoing these past instances of God's provision but he was also foreshadowing what was to come because his role in him being the bread of life was about to be fulfilled just as he miraculously satisfied the physical hunger of the crowd here in Mark 6 what we're looking at he came to satisfy the spiritual hunger of all who would repent and believe in his name placing their trust in him through that sacrifice on the cross and Jesus boldly proclaims this in John 6 35 I am again that echo of the name of Yahweh I am the bread of life Jesus says whoever comes to me will never go hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty he was the fulfillment of the manner in the wilderness the true sustenance of our souls the miracle also unveils profound truths about the identity of

[37:47] Christ now I'm not going to hazard a guess really about how and who from the crowds knew or recognized Jesus who he was but in Luke's gospel it's recorded as Jesus asking the disciples afterwards who the crowds thought he was and with Peter you may have known it stating that you are the Christ who do you say Jesus is this morning is he just a prophet of old a good teacher a healer what do you think his Herod did and said he was a righteous and holy man or do you recognize Jesus as the long awaited Messiah the one who prophesied to usher in the kingdom of God the son of God the only one who can deal with your sin and your eternal destination I urge you this morning if you don't know Jesus don't be like Herod or even some of the crowd that you hear

[38:53] God's word while refusing to respond appropriately to it in the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus put his divine stamp on the words he had spoken in John 14 anyone who has seen me has seen the father Christ is the fullness of God dwelling amongst us he was not just a wise teacher or a profane prophet he was the son of God he was the son of man as described in Daniel coming from the ancient of days he was the word in flesh Emmanuel God with us the one through whom all things were made and in whom all things hold together and Jesus identity was not just of the creator and the sustainer if that wasn't enough of the universe he's also the redeemer of humanity the bread he offered was not merely physical sustenance but spiritual life itself that truth explicit

[40:01] I am the living bread that came down from heaven whoever eats this bread will live forever this bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world so as we come to a close this morning I'd like to leave you with three things Jesus revealing himself here in Mark 6 as a compassionate shepherd king who sovereignly provides for his people miracle miracle here is not merely about multiplying bread and some fish it's about the character of the saviour and what it means to rest in his care trust in Jesus trust in his compassion for your weariness and your need because the disciples came to Jesus exhausted from ministry and the crowds arrived hungry and shepherdless but Jesus saw them with compassion shplod knitzel my gut wrenching wanting to fulfill their need he didn't see it as an irritation he didn't see it as an inconvenience but deep moving compassion he didn't send them away he drew them closer brothers and sisters whatever burden you carry today whatever exhaustion weighs on your soul

[41:26] Jesus sees you with that same tender compassion he's not distant unmoved by your struggles he's the good shepherd who knows his sheep by name and he cares for every detail of your life bring your weariness to him bring your spiritual hunger to him because he welcomes you with that compassion second of three points just to leave you with marvel at the sovereign love that still pursues you notice that Jesus took the initiative at every turn to see the crowd's need he tested people he took the loaves and fish he blessed and broke them he distributed them through the disciples from beginning to the end this was Christ's sovereign work and here is the gospel truth your salvation operates that same way you did not find

[42:34] Jesus he found you he did not choose him he chose you before the foundation of the world his love pursued you when you were dead in your sins and that same sovereign love sustains you now until we all go to glory the miracle reminds us that from eternity past to eternity future God is still according to his perfect will and unfailing love orchestrating and control of all things rest in that the same savior who fed 5,000 from loaves hold your life in his sovereign hands and lastly participate in Christ's mission with what you have been given Andrew bought a boy 5 loaves and 2 fish utterly insufficient by our human standards yet

[43:42] Jesus took it blessed it and multiplied it beyond anyone's imagination God delights to work through inadequate vessels like me to display his glory never did I ever imagine in my wildest dreams that I would stand up and preach and yet this inadequate vessel has the highest honor a Christian can either bring someone to Christ or preach the word of God you may feel you have little to offer little faith little talent little time little resources but offer it to Jesus anyway place your insufficient gifts in his sufficient hands because it's not the size of the offering but it's the size of your saviour that matters as you serve in the kingdom whether in your family whether here in the church your community your workplace remember this that Christ works through your weakness to demonstrate his strength you're not called to be sufficient you're called to be faithful with what he has given you trusting in him to do the immeasurably more than what you could ask or imagine so in conclusion the crowd ate and they were satisfied twelve baskets remained

[45:15]  I don't know if this is a coincidence or not but there's one for every disciple one for every doubting disciple it's a reminder that Jesus always provides abundantly but the bread from that day could not satisfy forever because within hours the stomachs would growl again and they might grumble again and Jesus knew this that's why he later declared I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst the miracle of this feeding the five thousand points beyond itself I think to a greater miracle of the cross and the resurrection where Jesus would not only give not just bread for the body but his very body and blood for the salvation of souls he who had compassion on the shepherdless crowd would become the lamb led to slaughter he who sovereignly multiplied bread would sovereignly defeat death hallelujah he who loved the hungry masses would set his love upon a people and save them to the uttermost so come to him today hungry weary empty handed full handed and find that he is enough trust in his compassion in that shplod can it to my rest brothers and sisters in his sovereign love serve with what he's given you for our shepherd king will never leave us or forsake us amen let's pray father we thank you once again that your word teaches us about who you are it teaches us about who our jesus is that he sees us with that compassion that gut wrenching compassion in our need in our failures and lord we love you for you first loved us thank you for your word today lord you imprint it upon our hearts as we leave this place go with us into our week until we gather again in your name for yours is the glory the kingdom and all power in jesus name amen holy