Monday Night @ Frirst B Jan 23rd First B Jackson 2022-01-24 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Check one two. Hello, everybody. Hey. Welcome to another Monday night. It's good to have each and every one of you. Glad to see you. And could we thank those two back there, Barb and Scott, for, making a wonderful burrito night? I loved it. The chili pork verde, the ground beef. And you know it's good because everybody like, a lot of yeah. We're coming back, like, again and again. But we very much appreciate it. Thank you. We could always use help back there. The dates are filling in, but if you see an empty date and you're willing, love to have some help back there cooking. Can be really easy. It can be a soup, as as easy as soup and grilled cheese or something like that. So, making our way through the the gospel of Mark right now. It is conversation style, so keep that in mind. For the end, if there's something that you'd like to add, I always love to have the conversation at the end. But before we get there, can we worship and song together? Let's sing together. Open our hearts to the Lord. How great thou art. Oh, you're not an awesome wonder. Consider all the worlds I have in place. And I see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder that pop throughout the universe displayed. You know the chorus? Thou art. When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear them birds sing sweetly in the shoes. When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur and see the brunt and hear the gentle breeze and sings my soul Anton died. Our scarce can take it in. That on that cross, my burden gladly bearing be bled my soul my savior God to thee how great thou art how great thou art how great great thou art Thank you that we just get to come here and worship you freely and fully like this. And and we do worship you because you are good. You are great, in fact. We see it in creation, God, but also the story of the gospel, the way you lived, loved, died, and rose for us because of your love for us. Thank you, God, for the divine great rescue mission that you came on to reconcile us, bring us to you. The relationship was broken, and, God, you repair it. That's the story. That's why we're here. Thank you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Doesn't stand a chance when I stand in your love. And there's power, there's power that can break off every chain. There's power that empty out of grace. There's resurrection power that can save. Yeah. I want you to hear this. This is from Jesus, he's speaking to us here. In John 14, he says, my peace I leave to you and my peace I give to you. I don't give as the world gives. So it's not like a peace that we find here because this place isn't gonna match that kind of peace that Jesus gives. Don't let your hearts be troubled and don't be afraid. So we weren't promised easygoing or an easy life, but he did promise us peace in in the midst in the midst. Amen to that. And here's a song about who we are in him, who our identity, a new identity that he gives us. Okay? Amen. Man, y'all can have a seat for a minute. I just want you to know when we sing that song, we're not making these things up. This is right out right from, Jesus and John, he says, so if the son sets you free, you're free indeed. And it's through faith. It's it's through belief. And we're gonna see just how important belief is that we have been through the gospel of Mark. And I wanna share more. So here's where we're at. Mark six thirty through 56. Alright. Here we go. The gospel according to Mark, chapter six, 30 through 56. This is where Jesus feeds the 5,000 and walks on water. So two amazing miracles we're gonna see. What does it say? What's it mean? How do we apply it? That's that's always my goal. And tonight, rather than read it all at once and then go back and comment on it, I'd like to pause and comment as we read. So I'm doing things just a little bit different. But as always, I would like to hear what spoke to you in this passage as well. So I'll share some thoughts. But if there's something that really jumped off the page at you, please, please consider, sharing that at at the end. You don't have to share, by the way. It's just it it really helps because we're this is one of our goals here, to encourage each other and build each other up. That's part of the reason that we meet here on a Monday night. And then here's another one that let me just put this in front of us. It says, teach and counsel one another with the wisdom that he gives. That's one of our goals on the Monday night. So let's keep that in mind as we read this. So here it is. Mark 30 or sorry, Mark six thirty through 56. And I'll use the the clicker here. It says the apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Okay. What's this about? This is a callback, to verse seven from the last week that we studied. Jesus Jesus sent out the the 12 disciples in pairs. He gave them authority to cast out evil spirits, and he and and they shared the message of the kingdom is near. Repent. Turn away from God for excuse me. Turn away from sin and turn to God. And that's exactly what that's exactly what they did, taking nothing for their journey except a walking stick, no food, no bag, no money, no change of clothes. Can you imagine this, though? He's going, okay. You're going on mission for me. Oh, by the way, don't bring anything. I just I just need you to to depend on me. And and this is what's so cool about it is that they experience God's power. They cast out demons. They healed the sick. They showed their willingness to go in obedience, and then God moved powerfully. I think there's a there's a message there for us, really. Showing our just simple obedience, our willingness to go, and relying on God's provision and allowing and then once we do that, we get to see God's power. I just really like that. So they come back. They report to Jesus. And take a look at what Jesus says. Verse 31, he goes, guys, let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest a while. Kind of an interesting response though, isn't it? Like, they come back, they're all fired up, and he goes, guys, it's time to rest. Time to rest to go to a quiet place. He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat. Thank you, God, for time to eat like tonight, just to sit around these tables and first visit with one another and sort of talk about the day and just talk about life. We're grateful for that time. Thank you. So they left the boat for a quiet place where they could be alone, but many people recognized them and saw them leaving. And people from many towns ran ahead along the shore, and they got ahead of them. So I'm gonna I'm just gonna pause right there and make a comment. Life is demanding. Ministry is demanding, as you well know. Right? It just is. And I like that Jesus makes a point to say, guys, let's seek out quiet and rest. Guys, we need quiet and rest. I I heard some pastors say once, sometimes the most holy thing you can do is take a nap. But really and may I encourage us to to do the same, whatever quiet and rest looks like for you. Full transparency. Got myself one of these recently. It's the music cozy. Don't be jealous. It doubles as headphones and a night mask. My wife thinks it's ridiculous, and it is. It's seriously. It's kinda laughable. It's okay if you laugh. It's alright. But for me no. Like, seriously, like, little things like this. I know that's kinda silly, but little things like this that it helps. Like, just go off in a quiet spot. You know? Block the light out just for a moment. But quiet and rest filling up. If Jesus made it a priority, it seems that we should too. So I wanna make a point of that. Verse 34. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And so he began teaching them many things. I love this. Let's pause there. Isn't this wonderful about Jesus? Doesn't that show Jesus' heart and his love for us? He was tired, but he said, you know what? These people, I love these people. I'm I'm their shepherd. These are my sheep. And so he taught them. He took the time to taught to teach them. Early on in Mark, he said as much as they could understand. My mind, goes to this Psalm when I when I see a verse like that because Jesus fulfills this Psalm so perfectly. The Lord is my shepherd. I have what I need because of him. He lets me rest in green meadows. Interesting that the miracle we're gonna read about, he sets them down in this nice this green area. He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength, and he guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Such a compassionate shepherd. Back to the, verse 35. Late in the afternoon, his disciples came to him and he said, this is a remote place, and it's already getting late. So they're kind of far away from, you know, town, I guess. Send the crowds away so they can go by to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat. But catch this. This is interesting. Jesus says, you feed them. Okay. So what would you think if you're one of Jesus' disciples and he told you that? K, guys. Here's your over 5,000 people. Go ahead and feed them. Oh, me of little faith. Seriously, I'm I sweated on a Monday. We're feeding maybe 70 to 80 people at most. And you know what? There's an Albertsons less than a mile away. Okay. We're gonna be alright. There wasn't an Albertsons. With what? They asked. Great question. We'd have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people. And then Jesus answers that question with a question. He goes, well, how much bread do you have? Why don't you go and find out? So in simple obedience, they go and find out. Isn't it interesting that that Jesus says, what do you have? Not what don't you have. Guys, what do you have? Find out and bring it to me. And then they came back and they reported, we've got five loaves of bread and two fish for 5,000 people. Okay. Jesus, here's what we have. Notice that Jesus doesn't rebuke this little offering. That's something that caught my attention. Jesus said, really, guys? No. He said, alright. Here's what you here's what you give given me. Here's what we have. I'll do the rest. So Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups of, on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of 50 or a 100. And then he took those five loaves and the two fish, and he looked up toward heaven, and he blessed them. Then breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to his disciples so they could distribute it to the people. So just it just it's appearing. Another miracle of Jesus. And they ate as much as they wanted. Isn't that great? They ate as much as they wanted. They they weren't hungry. In fact, look at this. 43, 44. Afterwards, the disciples picked up the 12 baskets of leftover bread and fish. They had leftovers after feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. It's incredible. In simple obedience, they said, okay, Jesus, here's what we have, and then God did the rest. He multiplied that little offering, and he made it enough. In fact, he made it more than enough. There were leftovers. Again, I'm I'm thinking of Old Testament references here, like Isaiah's call for Israel to come to God's banquet. He goes, is anyone thirsty? Come and drink. Come on. This is what I see Jesus doing in this in this miracle. Come on. Come on, Israel. I'm the your true shepherd here. Even if you have no money, come. Take your choice of wine and milk. These guys get it's free. Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me. And you will eat what is good, and you'll find the finest food. Look at look at this. Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen. And you will find life. So Jesus is doing a whole lot more than just a miracle to fill the stomachs of these people. And I really wanna point that out. This is more than just feeding their stomach. Jesus is feeding their soul. This is food for the soul. This is more than just a miracle. The message was what was important. The kingdom of God had come near in Jesus. Believe it. Receive it. Verse 45. Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida while he sent the people home. And after telling everybody goodbye, he went up to the hills to to himself, by himself to pray again. There's that time to rest and pray again. This is two times now in this chapter he's talked about getting rest and taking that time. Late that night, the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land. He saw that there were that they were in serious trouble, rowing hard and struggling against the wind and waves. About 03:00 in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. He intended to go past them. But when they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror thinking he was a ghost. I think I would too. And so they were all terrified when they saw him, but Jesus spoke to them at once. He said, don't be afraid. Take courage. I am here. Ain't that awesome? Could you just can can you hear Jesus saying that to you right now in this room? Don't be afraid. Take courage. I'm here. Then he climbed into the boat, and the wind stopped. There's that confirmation again just like he did a couple chapters ago in chapter four. It's Jesus. He's the one who has authority over nature. He can walk on water. He can calm the storm just by saying the word, just by speaking it. It happens. Silence. Be still. And they were totally amazed for they still didn't understand the significance of the miracles of the loaves. That just happened, and they're going, still don't get it. Their hearts were too hard to take it in. So no, they didn't understand at the time, but know this: They would later. They would later. Just not yet. And let that encourage us. I I I felt encouragement in that that not everyone, including myself, not everyone understands everything all at once. Not everyone understands everything all at once. We just don't. Sometimes it takes it just takes time. And a hard heart can be softened. Verse 53. After they crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boats to shore, they climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard that he was. Look at this. Wherever he went, in villages, cities, or the countryside, they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed. There's that faith again. Like, remember the the bleeding woman just in the chapter before who thought to herself, if I can just touch his robe, if I could just touch his robe, I'll I'll be healed. Like, she had determined in advance beforehand, before he even did it, Like, if I just do this, he he he can heal me. And the more faith that's demonstrated, the more God's power is seen and experienced. Can I just say that again? The more faith that's demonstrated, the more of God's power that is seen and experienced. This faith thing really matters. It really matters. God can move powerfully among people of faith. Because remember in his hometown, when he showed up, they had already determined determined beforehand, he can't do this. He's just Mary's kid, the brother of so and so, this, that. And so Jesus could not move among them. He could not he could not perform miracles among them because their faith just wasn't there. But when the faith is there, God moves powerfully. And I still believe that's true for for today, for right now. So I'm gonna stop there for right now. But I find these miracles just to so validate that message. The good news had come. Jesus is the good shepherd. He responds to the call of faith every time. When someone calls out in faith, he turns his face toward them. Can I just say that to you tonight, to us? When we call out in faith, he turns his face toward us. You know what else is cool about this? He takes that little offering, and he multiplies it to show that he's more than enough. He goes, what do you have? Just bring what you have. I'll make it enough. Ain't that awesome about Jesus? He shows patience toward toward the hardhearted. His disciples, they didn't get it. Not yet. But he doesn't just write them off. He just brings them alongside, keeps going keeps going with them. He has authority over sin and sickness and death and nature and demons. There are just so many takeaways, guys. I can't I can't just name one from those two. I just can't. I'm sorry. There's no three point sermon there. There's so much stuff, so much wonderful stuff going on. But you've heard from me. Okay? I've talked a lot. I would like to hear from you. Here they are again. Verses 30 through 56. Jesus feeds the 5,000, and he walks on wonder water. And I'd like to know what was it that spoke to you. You don't have to share, but I always appreciate when you do. And I'm gonna pray just one more time and give us a minute to consider what really jumped out from this text at you. Lord, thank you again. We get to read these miracles aloud, aloud on a Monday night and take them to heart. And, Lord, may we hear you tell us, don't be afraid. Take courage. I am here. God, you're the good shepherd. In Luke, you say, don't be afraid, little flock. It gives your father great happiness to give you the kingdom. Thank you. All you're asking that we would do is reach out in faith, God, that we would do that and see you move powerfully. In Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Any thoughts? Any thoughts from Jesus walking on water and feeding the 5,000? Anything that stood out to you? I have a microphone, but it's just for the people that are listening online. One thing I really liked about tonight or my takeaway tonight is that we have this little amount of faith and it's multiplied. Like, the mustard seed is the smallest seed and that grows into the kingdom and this little amount of food and it's multiplied to feed five thousands and so many other times in the Bible there's this just juxtaposition. The other time Jesus walks on water and everybody's all freaked out or nobody calms the water and everybody's freaked out and he says, ye of little faith. And you hear that a lot, but in this tonight I really take away that, of course, yeah, we have little faith. What's one of your favorite verses, Carl? Lord, I believe, but help me with my unbelief. We'll never have enough faith, but God can multiply that and we'll never have enough provision to feed the 5,000, but with God he can multiply that. And so that was sort of my takeaway is that lots of times it's have little faith, but it kind of makes sense. Yeah. Of course, I have little faith. I mean, I'm a I'm I'm a human. Yeah. Yeah. Good point, though. And all he's asking us to do is whatever measure of faith that he's given us to put that into practice. But then as we do, he does multiply that. He adds to it. And in our little faith, that verse tonight that I really liked, Jesus spoke to them and said, don't be afraid. Take courage. I'm here. I'm here. And isn't that the truth? It's always here. Amen. Even even with our little faith. Yeah. Patient. Such a good shepherd. One of the things that kinda jumped out at me is, you know, we look at five loaves and two fish as such a small minuscule amount, but it was all they had. They gave all they had. And then he increased it so much that they had 12 baskets of leftovers. If we do our part and if we give all we have, he always meets us where we're at. I've seen it time and time again too, right here on this soil. A quick story. We were in Africa and in Kenya. This school was built on the edge of a dump site. And the amount of kids they would have like a community day. And we got to help in the kitchen part. And I thought, that is not enough food to feed that many people. And it it was it was weird. I like, I I'll call I'll call it a miracle. It was weird that the food just kept coming. Like, it was enough. There it was like, I thought we had a certain amount of cabbage here. No. There. It was enough. Everybody was fed. There was leftovers. I just thought, how cool? How cool are you, God, that you would do that? Just love it. Thank you for sharing that. Appreciate that. Yep. I think what stood out to me was kind of the bookends like in the beginning when we were talking about how the disciples were returning from being sent out and just how they were instructed not to take anything. I'm yeah. Just gonna be going overseas and just feel like God's gonna speak to me about like my long term assignment in two months. So I'm just like going through my stuff and I'm like, Lord, what do I need? What do I need to keep? What do I need to store? Really nothing. You know? So like, Lord, what is it? What does that mean? So I'm just but it's true that like when we're the times I have been overseas and just where I just have a little suitcase, it's so freeing to just be like, Lord, what am I gonna eat today? Where am I supposed to go? Like, just that lightness of not having a burden of stuff. So I was thinking about that in the beginning. And then I love just the end where where the woman, yeah, who touched Jesus' garment, who bled for twelve years in chapter five. And then the last verse in 56 where it says, they all just wanted to touch his garment because of her testimony. And a lot of times, like, we don't know. Right? Like, we may be wrestling like, Lord, okay. You spoke this to me. I wanna obey. And it you know, you're just wrestling with it yourself. Right? And you do obey. And you have no idea. Like, we have no idea the ripple effects. Right? Like, all those people came in faith because she was obedient in that faith. And so, yeah, that was just an encouragement. It is. Thank you for sharing that. And then that it is so true. How many people were affected because that person just acted in a simple faith and obedience? The people are paying attention. People are watching. They're watching us, church, to see how we respond, how we act. They're at our faith, and it can affect theirs too. Yeah. It's contagious in a good way. Any other thoughts? Okay. Let's see. Let me gather my thoughts. When he's when he's feeding when he's feeding them and he's got the bread, and they're kinda looking at, like, we don't have enough. And he's like, don't worry about what what you don't have. What do you have? And I think that a lot of times, we we're like, there's not enough of this or not enough of that. And we look at what we don't have, and God's like, no. No. No. Focus on what you have. You have more than enough. I'm giving you plenty to for you to work with. And so I that's that's what I took from that. I think that many times we're like, we we don't have it. We don't have this. We don't have that. He's like, no. Show me what you have. Let's work with what you have. We've got more than enough. I gave you enough. Show me what you have, and let me let me show myself. Let me reveal myself with what it is that you do have so that you see who I am. You know? So that's And he did. What it is. Yeah. Amen to that. Yeah. Yep. Love it. Yeah. Thank you. How often when we pray do we expect miracles, an absolute miracle take place? I would say very, very seldom. We pray We pray for just got news of a good friend of mine who's had come back from a very serious heart condition. They didn't expect him to live. And now he's up and around and going in. So I wonder what how effective our prayers would be if we truly expected something miraculous to take place. Now, I know when I have prayed, it's not that I don't pray with that in mind. But like, I was just reading about a person that was in, well, where they were doesn't make a bit of difference, but they were in the presence of a youngster who was absolutely crippled, couldn't walk, couldn't they prayed for the Lord to heal us. And right in front of their eyes, the Lord healed this little fella so that he could actually get up and walk around. They weren't expecting it, but it absolutely happened. And I think if I know for me, I don't pray with that kind of expectancy, but I should. I really should. Doesn't that show us that we should? Yeah. I think it does. So, at any rate, it's wonderful to hear about the Lord operating that way despite our lack of of putting our trust and faith and that he will perform something miraculous. And that's such a good that's such a good point too, Alan, because Jesus moved among those who had faith and also those who didn't. I mean, he just did. He he was he was doing miracles in the temple with a man with a withered hand. That that guy, as far as we know, didn't ask, and Jesus was like, come on forward. Come here. Let me let me show let me show you To to show just like you said, Elsa, more of who he is. And that's what Jesus wants to show us in the gospel, more about who he is. I love it. Thank you guys so much for sharing your thoughts. I love the the the the back and forth here, the one anothering, the teaching and counseling with the wisdom that he gives. I'm just thankful. Should we stand and sing one more song together? In the dark, we were waiting without hope and without light till from heaven you came running. There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the dawn and prophets to a virgin came the word from the throne to crave in the blue. Sing Here's his resurrection. We'll sing. A little closing verse here, just from what we we read, and let's let this bounce around in our hearts and minds this week. Jesus spoke to them, but I believe that he's speaking to us saying the same today. Don't be afraid. Take courage. I am here. Would you carry that with you this week? Also, speaking of carrying things with you, is is there leftover food in the back that needs to go home? K. So we have some to go boxes, and there's some of that delicious food that's left over. So would you please grab some food on the way out? Have some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Your your little tummy will thank you. Lord, thank you for this evening, God. Thank you for food for the stomach, but thank you, God, for food for the soul. God, may we be nourished by your word, taking this to heart, not to be afraid, but to take courage because you are with us. You will never leave us or forsake us. That's your promise. God, that faith would be flowing out of us. Lord, that it would be about whatever measure you've given us, God, that we would put it into practice, but that more could see who you are, God, the power that you have. In Jesus' name, amen.