08/04/24 Pastor Cody The Compassion of Jesus Christ

[Music] for [Music] all [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah for [Music] you [Music] what [Music] [Applause] [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] well good morning [Applause] church good morning [Music] hey there you go I love it hey it is good to see you here my name is Cody I'm the pastor here welcome to First Baptist Church we're all about loving God loving each other and loving our community and world Amen now we had a great time at National Night Out we had roughly it's hard to tell with such a large campus someone said there's a thousand people here and I was like those are Pastor numbers those are just picked out of the air but we probably roughly had about 700 people here and so praise the Lord for that and so thankful for y'all's U faithfulness and giving and the ability that we have to love on our community in really tangible ways I do have a letter here from the family of Norma Houston you can also follow along in the bulletin if you didn't get one be sure to grab one of these it says Dear church family thank you so much for your kindness and graciousness to our family during this time of loss your love and generosity you're truly appreciated special thanks to all who

Helped provide the meal for our large family sincerely the family of Norma Houston so thank you guys so much for loving on them I know that Norma touched so many lives even here in this room and so just thank you for loving the family of that dear Saint and we just U I want to express that appreciation to you hey we got a busy couple of weeks here we got women on Mission tomorrow night and so they're going to have heart-to-heart Center for Women's Ministries here it's a counseling peer-to-peer counseling and other resources like that's going to be here at 6 pm and so if you want to have information about that Ministry come and be a part of that who's hosting that night who's hosting Caro Carolyn Miller okay she's gonna be hosting that so I know Carolyn she's gonna do a fantastic job and so be there for that all ladies are welcome to attend also we have a youth volunteer meeting that's this Wednesday night at 6: p.m. So if you want to serve in the youth ministry have a heart for that myself and Thomas we're going to be meeting with that team to coordinate all of our Wednesday night events together so that way we are set up for success for the fall students no students no students yeah so you know don't don't don't bring the teens okay we won't have any of that until the until the color War at the end of the month also right after a business meeting we got church pot might go oh I didn't know about it you know just run over to Casey's and grab a pizza or something okay and come and be a part of that we got lots of business take care of things that you know we just have to communicate to you as well and so you don't have to be a member to go to a church business meeting but in order to speak up and vote and things like that you do so if you want to see how we treat each other that's a great way to get to know that also if

You are interested in making an eternal impact in the lives of children aana is in need of some volunteers you can contact Thomas gson and we will get you plugged in there there's all sorts of other stuff in the bulletin other than that why don't you find a friend or a neighbor shake their hands say welcome to First Baptist Church [Applause] [Music] [Applause] no [Applause] [Music] do [Applause] I'm at I'm e really [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] well good morning First Baptist Church it's a great day to be in the house of the Lord this morning we'll get those lights fixed and just yeah there we go it's a good day to be with you all to gather together to worship our Lord and Savior to remember his life his death his resurrection and that he's seated at the right hand of the father even now interceding for us at this time in our service we'd like to just take a moment to prepare ourselves for worship so I'd invite you to Bow your heads and close your eyes and ask the Lord to prepare your hearts and your minds for corporate worship if you're with family and friends feel free to pray with and over one another but I invite you to do that right now and so Lord we come before you today together to worship Lord we pray that you would help us to throw off the distractions to get our minds off

Of the things of this world and instead to focus in on the things of you the things that you would have us to focus on Lord help us to think of your goodness and your mercy your grace your love for us Lord help us to remember and preach to ourselves the Gospel and let that overflow into worship through song worship as we hear your word preached worship as we Fellowship together and worship as we go from here to Proclaim your good news to the Nations it's in Jesus name we pray amen I'd like to read to you first out of the book of Ephesians in Chapter 2 veres 1-6 it says and you were dead in the trespasses in sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of Disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we by Nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind now that first first little bit is pretty depressing right that's like well kind of a rough thing to start out a Sunday morning with right but then we get some of the best words ever put to paper but God being rich in Mercy because of the great love with which he has loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by Grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the Heavenly places in Christ Jesus so I'd invite you to stand as you're able as we sing glorious day he called my name and I ran out of that grave I wased my shame who can carry that kind of wa was my [Applause] truth till I met you I was breathing

[Music] my all my failures I tried to hide it was my TR till I met you call my name you name and I ran out of that grave out of the darkness into your glorious day you call my name and I ran out of that [Applause] grave out the darkness into your glorious day now your mercy has sa my soul now your freom is all that I know the made do Jesus when I met you called my name and I ran out of that [Music] grave out of the darkness into your glorious day you called my name and I ran out of that great out of the darkness into your glorious [Music] day my was heavy but chains break at the weight of your glory I need a shelter I was an Oran and you call me a citizen of Heaven when I was broken you are my healing now your love is the air that I BR I have a future my eyes are when you call my name I ran out of that grave out of the darkness into your glorious day you called my name and I ran out of that [Applause] phrase out of the darkness into your glorious day you called my name and I ran out of that place out of the darkness into your glorious

You call my name and I ran out of my out of the darkness into your glorious day what a cause we have to celebrate this morning and every morning amen for those of us who believe there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus praise the [Music] Lord his Mercy is strong than Darkness every our are many his Mercy is more what love could remember or we have done Miss call no he helps their thr into us our sins they are ready his Mercy is more praise the [Applause] Lord his Mercy is stronger than Darkness new everyone of s they are many his Mercy is B patience wait as we constantly what father so tender is calling us home Hees the weakest [Applause] the our his Mery is praise the Lord his Mercy is [Music] stronger than Darkness new every s they are many his Mercy is [Applause] morees of kindness he lavished on us his love the pain his life was theost we stood we could our s they are his Mercy is more praise the [Applause] Lord his Mercy is [Music] stronger Darkness every many his Mercy

Is praise the [Applause] Lord his Mercy is more stronger than Darkness every heart our s they are many his Mercy is more are his Mercy [Music] is you can be seated as our ushers come forward if you're a deacon you got to know how to count to seven one two three four five six seven eight got plenty don't I you have no idea what these deacons do that you don't ever see and you just need to know that and you need to pray for them because some of us like me are out of our comfort zone so that being said you pray for us every one of these deacons and you'll you'll see the who they are later on here when we do the Lord's Supper but heavenly father I thank you today for these men that serve in this church and thank you for those that inspire me to keep going when I don't want to and I thank you today that we're here to worship and that's the main thing we do and we need to keep that onon in our minds and we're thankful for a pastor that he teaches the word every week and we depend on that and so we thank you today in Jesus name Amen in Romans chapter 5 we read for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life more than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation and that's what we're going to sing about right now is the birth the life the death and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ so I invite you again to

Stand as you're able to sing with us come behold the wonderous [Music] mystery theous my in the da of the king he the theme of Heaven's praise say Ro in humanity in our long in our Darkness now the light of has look to Christ Toc took our flesh to behold theous the perfect son of man in his in hising never tra nor stain see the true and better come to save the H Christ The Great and true fulfillment of the LA in him we [Music] stand come behold the wonderous myy Christ the Lord on the tree in the of Ru the in see the our Redemption see the father's plan of bringing to Glory [Music] SL by death God of life but no great every him praise the Lord [Music] is what a taste of Del how unwavering home Christ in resurrected as we will be when he comes what aast of Del how

Christ in power res as we will be when he comes what [Music] a Christ in power as we will be when [Music] he's coming back again but we don't just look forward to the future reality if we are in Christ we are in Christ today that has meaning for your lives and my life today we can call upon his name and we can be confident that every trial and tribulation that we go through in this life has a purpose it's ultimately for our good and for his glory in Ephesians 3 we read now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen [Music] as morning and dayaks to you I bring [Music] my oh gracious God my source of strength in you I live and by wisdom each deed imp myign hand R my help me stand be glorified today as day I seek your will in all of my and though the temp tries me still I cling to your let every of my life display the matchless work of Christ make me a living sacri be glorified today to the darkest night your spirit

Still in is here and though my strength FES like the light new mercies will I rest in you abide with me until our Tri and suffering give way to final Victory be glor glorify today by resting you with me until our Tri and suffering give way to final Victory be glorified today [Music] Lord help us to rest in you to know that you will fulfill your promises Lord that if we are Believers that we can have confidence that you care for us that you love us and that you will gather us unto yourself once and for all Lord I pray for those here who may not know you God I pray that this would be the day where they can share in that confidence and in the joy that we have together as your body it's in Jesus name we pray amen all right kids it's it's that time hey older kids go to the back let the little ones sit in the front yeah you got to serve you got to serve the younger ones let them sit in front all right well welcome here guys hey how you doing good to see you hey are you guys you guys glad to be here yeah it's a good day it's the Lord's day and it's family worship and it's always such a special time where we can have you guys in the service with us and hear you guys sing and just be a part of the worship together so today we're going to be talking about how Jesus fed 4,000 now tell me is it is that a different story from Jesus feeding the 5,000 yeah it is yeah absolutely and so

Jesus feeds the 4,000 I got to ask you guys do you know how many people 4,000 people is do you know how it's a lot there's probably about 250 people in here today okay and so if we doubled it we' we'd be full that would only be 500 but there's Jesus fed F 4,000 people okay now I got to ask you something else how much food do you think it would take to feed that many people yeah we probably have to fill this room up with food in order to fill the bellies of that many people yeah it would it's it would take a lot of food okay well the Bible tells us that 4,000 people followed Jesus into the desert where there's no grocery stores there's no water to fish there's no water to grow plants and they were all so hungry that they were about to faint okay now tell how hungry would you need to be to get to that point yeah probably neat to not have food in your belly for about 3 days and then it said that Jesus found seven Loaves and three fish and he fed 4,000 people okay I want you guys to think about this way I have a loaf of bread here it's actually a hot dog bun but it looks like it looks like a loaf of bread okay now I just with you guys right here if I if I gave this to let's just one person if I give this to one person would that fill you up it would okay maybe for some of you might okay but what if I was to break it off into half and I'll get and start handing it out to you guys okay I bet you I could break enough pieces off from this loaf of bread to give each and every every one of you a piece You' probably have a little piece like this now I need a volunteer someone who doesn't have a gluten allergy you don't have Olive do you have a gluten allerg okay here come eat this I want you to pretend you're really hungry okay oh all right are you full no of

Course not it's it's crazy to think of feeding 4,000 people with just seven loaves of bread and three fish it's it's impossible it's impossible right so like if Jesus breaks the bread somehow full pieces of bread are come enough to fill all the bellies of 4,000 people and leftovers it's truly a miracle and it's a miracle that shows that Jesus is Lord over our physical bodies and he satisfies our physical needs right and he does so abundantly well you know what Jesus what does he call himself he calls himself the bread of life right life we are physical and we're spiritual and this story this miracle shows that he has the ability to take care of all of our physical hunger okay praise the Lord he's Lord over our physical needs well it ALS he's also Lord over our spirit and he satisfies our spiritual needs in the Book of John it says that all who eat Jesus talking about the bread Jesus as a bread will never hunger again he also satisfies our spiritual bodies Jes Jesus is the bread of life now there's a couple things I want you guys to take away from this when Jesus broke the bread and he broke the fish and he hand it out what did he do before he did that he thanked the he thanked God the Father for it what do we do before we eat we pray we thank God we worship Him recognizing that he is Lord over this abundance of food we're going to have a potluck here okay and there's going to be lots of food and I want you guys to know this that God is compassionate on us he loves us so much that he would provide all that wonderful food to fill our bellies and it is good and right for us to pray and thank him for it but I want you guys to think about it even like I want you guys to think about it as worship we're worshiping God when we thank him for the food that he gives us and I want you to worship Him and thank

Him for the new life that he has given you if you have accepted him as Lord over your life all right let's pray dear heavenly father thank you so much for these children thank you for your word and for showing us just how compassionate and good you are Lord I pray that you would satisfy us here this morning as we feed off your word we pra these things in Jesus name amen all right let's go over here and get well if you have your Bible while the little little ones are chittering away I think he's giving out little hot dog buns over there Mark chapter 8 is where we're going to be Mark chapter 8 we're going to be in verses 1- 10 today I for one I'm so thankful not only for Thomas's leadership but for the many volunteers that pour themselves into the lives of our kids and have done so for literally literally years I would name a bunch of them but I'm afraid that would leave a few out because there's there's literally dozens that have done that whether it's through aana or Kids Quest but also our Sunday school teachers and so I'm thankful for you guys your ministry makes an eternal impact in the lives of these little ones and also in the families that bring them here so thank you guys so much hey Mark chapter 8 is where we're going to be over the last few weeks we've seen Jesus leave Northern Israel and enter into Gentile territory remember that according according to the tradition of the Jews go back here according to the tradition of the Jews Gentiles they were unclean they were considered dogs the Gentiles they had heard of Jesus and so when Christ enters a region just to the North of Israel called Ty

And siden that was cof [Music] phenicia he went in and he healed a woman whose daughter had an un clean spirit and then after that he goes to the north then he travels East and then he goes to the South across the Jordan and into an area called the decapolis near the Sea of Galilee it's where according to the Book of Matthew he performed innumerable Miracles healing the blind causing the crippled to walk making the deaf hear the mute speak and those that were unclean clean and as a result they glorify the God of Israel and today we are looking at another feeding of the multitude like what happened in Mark 6 so let's stand together in honor of God's word as we read Mark 8 verses 1-10 God's word says this in those days when again a great crowd had gathered they had nothing to eat he called his disciples to himself and said to them I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat and if I send them away hungry to their homes they will faint on the way and some of them have come from far away and his disciples said to him how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place and he asked them how many loaves do you have they said seven and he directed The Crowd to sit down on the ground and he took the seven Loaves and having given thanks he broke them gave them to the disciples to set before the people and they set them before the crowd they had a few small fish and having blessed them he said to these also he said that these also should be set before them and they ate and were satisfied and they took up the broken pieces left over seven baskets full and there were about 4,000 people and he sent them away and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of dalua let's pray so Lord we do thank you for this

Time that we get to have to worship you and make your name famous here in camton I pray that our Praises are pleasing to you we thank you for this time that we get to Fellowship together and experience companionship in Christ Lord it's so important for Christians to be together to do that to observe the Lord's Supper and to sit under the preaching of the word and Lord we just pray that our ears would be open and our hearts would be receptive Lord as you've dealt with me may you deal with all of us here under the preaching of the word that we might live our lives in light of the truth contained in your Scripture Lord we also want to pray for many people that we know and that we love folks like Janet wget for Denny Johnson Lord we pray for them Lord it was so good to see Kathy up here on the stage we thank you Lord for bringing healing to her body so that she can be here and Minister Among Us and be with us and fellowship with us we want to continue to remember the many that are sick we just give them over to you and ask for you to work we ask that now that you would work in our hearts Lord and if we have spiritual deafness I pray that you would take that away and help us to hear if we have spiritual muteness Lord help us to profess faith in you but Lord most of all I pray for anyone that's here that may not know you that today would be the day that they come to know the Savior Jesus Christ it's in his name that we pray amen well I really appreciate how Thomas opened up the passage talking about how these are different events when we look at the passage there's a lot of really smart people experts that say that the these are actually the same event that took place with different oral Traditions I mean if we look at all of

The similarities here's some of the similarities it says that they were all in the wilderness area between Mark chapter 6 and Mark chapter 8 the feeding of the 5,000 the feeding of the 4000 you look at that you say well everyone's in a Wilderness Area there's a large crowd in both situations in both situations Christ has compassion on them toward them in both situations the disciples show doubt in both situations Christ asked what resources are available and in both instances there's bread and fish in both instances Jesus Works a miracle in multiplying the bread and the fish until everyone is satisfied there's also a lot left over in both situations afterwards Jesus leaves by way of the sea and even after that the Pharisees they confront Jesus Christ with hostility in fact there's a lot of similarities between CH 6 and chapter 7 and of course chapter 8 actually if we look at a comparison between the two we see that it's almost a mirror of both of these events but they're completely different because it's not about just the similarities it's about the differences the fact is that just because there are similarities it doesn't mean there's the same if we look at biology that's one of the ways that we make categories in PE in animals as biologists they look at animals they observe them they put them into two very broad categories right if you're looking at an animal there's either vertebrates or what invertebrates right all right yeah they're both animals but then you look at you continue to go on with similarities you look at if it has a backbone you ask questions like does it have hair or feathers right does it have scales it's because it has feathers it doesn't mean that's an eagle right it could be a canary could be a finch if it's a finch what type of Finch doesn't mean that it's a house finch it could be a Crossbill Finch which just because it's

Cross Bill Finch doesn't mean that it's a red finch or a r Red Cross bill it could be a tward cross bill you see it's just because they're similar it doesn't mean that they're identical there's differences and what are the differences well there's a different word even for baskets which actually is very important in the first feeding there's a Greek word for a small Jewish basket which was primarily used by the Jews to carry lunch and carry some things around it was a woven basket but here the Greek word for baskets is used primarily indicating a gentile audience the locations are difference one was T takes place in Bessa the other one is in the decapolis the number of men are different the number of loaves are different there's different kinds of fish the word fish here in this passage is completely different than the Jewish word for fish in that part of the Sea of Galilee these are most likely small almost sardin likee fish and most importantly Jesus himself says that there's differences between these two events which we'll get into next week but our passage it begins with this phrase in those days indicating that this is directly after the events that took place at the end of Mark chapter 7 where Jesus Christ heals a death man by pulling him aside privately spitting on his on his fingers and touching his tongue and then putting his fingers in his ears and saying apatha which means be open it takes place immediately after that you see in Mark chapter 5 every at the end of chapter 7 everyone's really excited about Jesus but remember that in this region everyone was cold toward Christ back in Mark chapter 5 they literally Begg Jesus please leave us we don't want you here and the demon-possessed man that he had delivered went around and shared with

Everyone what God had done for him and as a result of that we see everyone excited about Jesus and that excitement doesn't taper off it continues on through Mark chapter 8 where there's 4,000 men Matthew clarifies that there's also women and children that are there a crowd of 15 16 up to 20,000 people were being fed by Christ but before we get to the feeding we have to remember that these folks were hungry they were there with Jesus for three days for three days they sat in the wilderness they were with Christ listening to his teachings watching The Miracles resting Under the Stars sleeping on the ground and forgoing meals you know as Baptist we have a hard time you know when Pastor preaches late for lunch right and here the people are so hungry it's it's not just a physical hunger that they're dealing with it is a deep Soul hunger where people are so willing to focus on the Lord and is teaching for days and the crowd is there and they run out of food now remember that this is a feasting starving culture food wasn't plentiful like it is today if Mom don't cook in the ancient world there ain't no food you can't just run out to the grocery store you can't go to IHOP or you know wherever it is that you want to go I want to go to IHOP by the way I don't know why sounds good if there's a bad Harvest people die in today's world we have plenty and thank the Lord that we have plenty it's part of his good grace on us that we get to enjoy these things but for these people they had to go into seasons of starving but food for three days is bad it's really bad if a doctor says to fast for a day we have a hard time with that these people were are with Jesus and they haven't eaten for three

Days and why is that why were they so willing to forgo eating and not go home when they started getting hungry it's because they were hungry for Christ they were hungry for God and Jesus he felt compassion on them Jesus is described as passionate throughout the Scriptures and yet here he says in the first person I feel compassion I have compassion that word in the Greek it means to feel within your bowels it means to sympathize and to feel alongside with someone's plight compassion it comes from the Latin word in the Greek for us it means to suffer with that's what compassion means and you see compassion is the root of all Ministry we might call it as Paul does in 2 Corinthians the love of Christ Which comp propels us and Jesus he felt compassion on the crowds because of their hunger they had been with Jesus in a desolate place and that word here desolate is different than what we saw in chapter six in chapter six that desolate place was almost a rural area sparsely populated with homes and very small villages but this word in the Greek means literally empty it is the Wilderness that these people are in and so why the compassion well remember that the crowds in John chapter 6 they had been fed and they came back to Jesus the next day expecting Jesus to do it again they were they were hungry and they wanted more bread and Jesus said that's that's very presumptuous of you're hungry for bread but I am the bread of life and he goes into all of that but these people these people there's nothing presumptuous they had heard about that miracle there's nothing presumptuous about these people they've been they've been fasting for three days they just want to be near Jesus and it's almost like Jesus is proving his point that he made The Sermon on the Mount seek first the kingdom of God and

His righteousness and all these things shall be added to you but let's not forget that Jesus is full of compassion because he is fully God if we look at the Scriptures we see this that the Lord the Lord a God compassionate and gracious slowed to anger and abounding and steadfast love and faithfulness this is the God that we serve Deuteronomy 4:31 for the Lord your God is a compassionate God he will not leave you or destroy you or forget the coven with your fathers that he swore to them he is full of compassion we look at Psalm 103:13 as a father shows compassion to his children so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him if we look at Lamentations the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases his compassion never comes to an end they are new every morning great is your faithfulness and the Son of God is a reflection of the glory of the father and it shines through in his compassion and here's a big point is that when Jesus saw suffering he saw hunger oppression and death his heart went out to those that suffered with action we look at John chapter 6 those people were hungry why was the change different here well these people they wanted Jesus's teachings they wanted not signs as not Miracles as signs but because they grew to love the Lord and the people didn't want to go home because they saw God at work even if it meant like I said sleeping on the ground missing some meals and all because of their Joy of being with Jesus it's a little bit different today I guess you could say many times people are so full of the world that there's no room in the schedules for Christ we presume upon the Lord figure well God gets it he understands I work

All week and meanwhile we wonder why we're spiritually starved while we haven't seen God at work we wonder why we don't see God at work but God he falls so far down the list of so many priorities Jesus he had compassion on the crowd of 5,000 why because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd and Jesus he met that need by teaching them and here in the feeding of the 4,000 the people there taught and Jesus had compassion on them because of their hunger which prompts him to feed them and that's why the preaching Ministry of the church is so important because it is through the pulpit Ministry that people are fed spiritually by the Gospel Proclamation having solid staff members and volunteers is so important and the motivation and the right heart must come from a place of compassion out of concern for the lost in Mark chapter 6 the disciples they point out to Jesus hey it's getting late and people are hungry let's send them away and get them something to eat and it's here that Jesus he's the one that points out that the people are hungry they're genuinely hungry and they need food in verse three he says and if I send them away hungry to their homes they will faint on the way and some of them have come from far away that word far away in the New Testament refers to the Gentiles in the book of Acts in the book of e Ephesians remember that Mark he is writing to the church in Rome comprised primarily of Gentiles and so this truth it resonates very clearly with these people because they see God's heart for them so the disciples asked Jesus how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place and some people they look at that and they go how can the disciples be so thickheaded how can they be so hard-hearted that they

Don't remember that The God Who fed the 5,000 can easily feed the 4,000 I think that maybe is a bit unfair to the to the disciple deciples there's plenty of debate there and plenty of different views and I can't go into it for the sake of time but here's what I think that the disciples are learning I think they're learning not to presume upon the Lord not to say well he did it this way one time so he's going to do it this way do it again the same way I don't think that they're presuming upon the Lord and we see that actually illustrating in the life of David back in the Old Testament we see the Philistines I have this in my notes so I'll recall it as best as I can you have the Philistines that are attacking through the Valley of rafaam back in the Old Testament and David Goes to the Lord he says Lord how should I defeat these Philistines and what does the Lord say he says go out and meet them and do battle with them and so David does and God gives them the victory immediately in the following passage it's the exact same situation the Philistines are Marching through that Valley of heram and instead of David saying this is what God told me to do last time I'm just going to do it again you know what he does is he goes back to the Lord and the Lord says don't attack him head on this time go and get in the trees and as you hear them marching past then attack their flanks and God gave them the victory we mustn't presume upon the riches of God's grace we shouldn't assume that God is just going to do the things that we've seen him do in the past we need to be going to him and asking himl what is your will in this situation what is your will in my life when we start to presume upon the Lord we start to rely on our own wisdom and our own thoughts and our own experiences rather than the strong Firm Foundation of

Christ but it is a legit question how can anyone feed all these people if we had collectively right here if we had 4,000 people plus their children and their wives show up at our church expecting a meal I don't know what we'd do we would have no idea how to handle that but God can do infinitely more than what we could ever think or imagine last time they said you know send them away and give them something to eat and all that kind of stuff Jesus he told the disciples you give them something to eat and so they basically asked okay yes Jesus we're all very hungry what can we do about it and I don't think that they were questioning Jesus's power as much as they were questioning Jesus's purpose remember that over these last couple of weeks we've seen about two or three months of Jesus's Ministry among the Gentiles it's very short in our Scripture but it's two or three months of his ministry and in all of that Jesus he is he is teaching and he's healing and he's performing Miracles and he's delivering people and it's just an astounding time of ministry but what happens is in this situation these disciples very Jewish people are all of a sudden now being forced pushed to eat with unclean Gentiles you see Jesus he can heal them he can teach them but to eat here's what Jesus is doing he is showing them the impact of the Gospel and how it will go out to every tribe every tongue and every nation Jesus he asked them about the resources they came up with bread and fish taking those those loaves of bread and the fish he thanks the Lord that's a tradition of the Jews which Jesus is showing the Gentiles to point them to the father and then Christ the creator of all things he takes the bread

And the fish and somehow miraculously he starts breaking it off and it just keeps breaking and breaking and breaking even the fish he is the image of the invisible God he is God Almighty and he can do whatever he wants to and he could have just caused food to miraculously peer in people's midst but he doesn't do it that way what does he do he gets them all sit down and he includes the disciples in the work of the ministry to allow them the joy of participating in that Heavenly work and for the Christian there is nothing more satisfying than being used by God these disciples they would soon be used to distribute that bread of life to the entire Known World and Mark he points out that there's even a second blessing that is given just before the fish are distributed once again pointing the Gentiles to the truth to give thanks to God as we as Christians give thanks to God remember what Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:4 he says for everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with Thanksgiving for it is made Holy by the word of God and prayer I don't know if Christians believe that there's nothing super superstitious about saying a meal before or saying a prayer before meal yeah this is where we get it from we receive it with Thanksgiving and it is through that prayer that it is made holy for our benefit Christ he prayed these people were satisfied that word satisfy it's a Greek word it's the same word used to describe feeding in verse four it's chazo which means plenty it means filled in the Book of Revelation it's even used to describe the birds gorging themselves who can feed people in a desolate Wilderness with such limited resources ultimately it's only Christ that can

Satisfy and that's the truth once they are taken care of Christ Jesus he sends them away so that they would not faint in the wilderness and so why does Jesus perform this miracle among the Gentiles well it's because he wanted them to understand also what he was communicating to the Jews which is that Jesus wanted them to understand that he alone satisfies he is the bread of life Jesus is the greater Moses just as God rained down that Mana from Heaven to take care of his people Christ was proving that when we are with him he takes care of us as well I was recently reading a story you guys y'all need to read this okay it's a free book it's about the Life of George Mueller and it's just his answers to prayer okay God he cares for his people he cares about you and I was reading this and there was a story in there about he ran orphanage in Bristol England and it was the end of November and one of the big boilers went out in this facility it was a facility that housed 300 orphans and it's where they kept their infants and their their toddlers as well as a lot of helpers and things like that and the boiler goes out end of November and they don't have hardly any money and so he's praying he's praying he's praying and he's trying to figure out exactly what to do he was tempted at first to say God's just going to deal with that but then he started to check his spirit and he's like that is that is fake Faith that's not authentic Faith that's counterfeit Faith I am going to specifically pray and ask for wisdom and so he started to sit down and plan he thought about gas stoves to try to do it that wouldn't work because there's no way to do ventilation in that in that facility he had talked about installing some wood burning fireplaces but all of these things just

Wound up being way more expensive and so he thought maybe we can just repair it but I don't even know what it looks like because the boiler was back behind bricks and it was all bricked over so he prayed he prayed he prayed and finally contacted the manufacturer and he said I need you guys to come out he had received a donation and was able to repair that boiler but he prayed for two things he prayed specifically firstly that the north wind that had started blowing and had caused it to start snowing so early in December it was cold that would turn into a southern wind and he prayed secondly that the men that come have a mind to work that they would get it done very quickly and so two very simple very practical prayer request and so he prayed and he prayed and he prayed and it was about a week later that the wind starts blowing from the south and it gets so mild that they don't need any kind of fire it's very warm and actually very pleasant for that time of the year and so he's praying praying praying finally the guys they come and it's a Wednesday night that they finally come in Wednesday afternoon and they take down the brick work and they find the leak to the boiler very quickly and they're working on this thing it's 8:30 at night and their boss comes and George Mueller walk downstairs and he says sir how are things going and the boss says well my guys are going to be working late and they'll be here early in the morning and the foreman on the job said if it's the same to you boss we'd rather just work all night and just get it done and those two prayer requests that the Lord would change the direction of the wind and that the Lord would give the men a mind to work were answered very specifically they were get able to get it fixed up and prepared and everything like

That before before a really awful blizzard came in just a couple of days after that God cares guys he cares about you even the little things and the big things he cares because he is compassionate secondly Jesus you know what he wants is he wanted his disciples to see that he was not just for the Jews but also for the Gentiles man does not live by bread alone he is the spiritual bread that satisfies even the Pagan world you see the lost they may be consumed with materialism and many Christians too but it is a characteristic of a Lo of the lost you know designer labels and you know brand new toys and vein surgeries and fad diets and $60 water bottles and guess what eventually skin sags and things break and hair Thins and health Fades and what you discover is that Christ is ultimately much more satisfying than anything else that this world has to offer thirdly Jesus he wanted them to know that he always meets and exceeds demands the people they ate and they were SA Saied and the leftovers fit into seven large baskets like I said that word basket is a gentile word but it occurs Only In this passage in the parallel passage in Matthew and in one other spot and it's in Acts chapter N9 when Peter when Paul is being lowered out through the back window in a basket this is not a tiny little you know Dorothy keeping Toto in the basket right this is a basket that can accommodate a fully grown man it's a huge basket and they fill it up with all the bits and pieces all the leftovers and they collected seven of those and when we come to Christ and when we explain our needs he breaks off those blessings

And he gives us exactly what we need bit by bit until we are satisfied the crowds were Amish Christ he gave over and above what they needed because the blessings of God are an endless well and he desires for us to come to him there is no lack of good things that God cannot do and we are meant to be spiritually hungry and to feast in Christ and this is a demonstration to the disciples to say I see that suffering I see that need I see the hunger and I'm not just enough for the Jews I'm enough for the entire world so what does all this mean for you well it means that Christ's blessings extend to everyone that comes to him by faith no matter what your background is no matter what you've done Christ invites you to himself not for food the point of this passage is not about food it's about the blessing of Christ Mark he quotes Isaiah more than any other prophet and here's what Isaiah says the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it Christ is concerned for the Lost Isaiah 256 on this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for All Peoples a feast of rich food a feast of well-aged wine of rich food full of marrow of aged wine well-refined Isaiah 496 I will make you as a light for the Nations that my salvation May reach to the very ends of the Earth Christ is concerned for the Nations and he's concerned for you as well and if you've never tasted and seen that the Lord is good then I encourage you to trust in him today because it is only in Jesus Christ that you can be satisfied and he invites you to himself in fact he commands it come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest not like this

World gives but true rest and so I encourage you to turn to Christ head heart hand head God wants you to know that he shows his compassion with action Jesus saw our greatest need wasn't bread or fish but Salvation and so he went to the Cross to pay the full atonement for our sin and Ransom sinners from hell and that applies to every person that trusts in him by faith heart God wants you to believe that your compassion must be paired with Christlike action compassion without action leads to hypocrisy out of one side of the mouth there's cares but in the action they're simply words don't be like that exemplify The Compassion of Christ and hand God wants you to demonstrate compassion toward needs there's all sorts of needs that you might be able to meet a friend with a financial need take a moment and consider that maybe someone you know is lonely or going through a rough patch be a listening year be a safe place that could go a long way you know that neighbor is sick go and visit them take them some soup let your compassion be like that of Christ at this time we are going to move into our time of response first Sunday of the month we partake in the Lord's Supper it is open for every person that is in Christ if you are not sure where you stand with the Lord then you know leave leave the juice and leave the bread in there just pass it by and consider why you're not able to participate and then talk with someone say I'm ready to follow Christ I want to follow Christ can you talk to me about how that can happen because we want to include you and we want to see you come to Christ but that's between you and him brother Steve would you come forward and lead us in the taking of the Lord's Supper [Music]

CH 2 Jus first Shar [Music] you have to be smarter than this [Music] thing okay can you hear me all right a little better okay Jesus instituted this supper and for us it becomes a celebration we are celebrating what he has done for us it's for believers because if you haven't trusted Christ then there's nothing for you to celebrate because you're not in him we read in 1 Peter 224 that he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds we are healed and that's our celebration that we are gathering together to do here we take the bread we take the juice in remembrance in fact on the front of the communion table it'll say in remembrance of him and that's what we're doing this morning we're remembering him and remembering what he has done for us he gave his body to die it was a sacrifice that he did not deserve to pay but he did it on our behalf because we could not save ourselves otherwise our actions our Deeds words weren't enough so he did that for us and in Corinthians 1 Corinthians in the 11th chapter and the 23rd verse he says for I received from the Lord that which I delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he'd given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me let's pray for a moment here and we do that father we just bow before you and take a

Moment to remember you to remember what you have done for us and we ask that you would bless this little piece of bread as a token that enables us and reminds us who you are and what you've done we thank you for it in Christ's name amen [Music] as morning Dawn and they awaits to you I bring my oh gracious God my soul are strength in you I live and each hour is yours by wisdom each deed EMP by Sovereign hands you my spirit help me stand be glorified today I stay unfold I seek your will in all our lives and the T me still I cl to your let every effort of my life display the M worth of Christ make me a Living Sacrifice be glorified today oh [Music] and Jesus said take the bread and eat it in remembrance of me [Music] another remembrance that we celebrate here is that he shed his blood for us and we're told in Hebrews and throughout the Old Testament without the shedding of blood there is no remission of [Music] sin so that sacrifice that blood sacrifice that Jesus made for us God accepted as full payment for our sin we celebrate that

In 1 Corinthians 11 in verse 25 says in the same way he took the cup also after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me so let's pass these out and I'll pray as they're going father we do thank you that we can celebrate what you have done for us and that we can accept your sacrifice on our behalf and have life in you so help us father to remember that and always count on it as the only way that we can walk with you we thank you for that also in Christ's name [Music] as gives way to night your spirit still is here and my strength it's like the light you Mercies I rest in you abide with me until our Tri and suffering give way to final Victory be glori today I rest in you abide with me until our trial and suffering give way to final Victory be glorified today [Music] as we consider what Christ has done for us let's make this our prayer the second half of verse two let every eort of my life display the matchless worth of Christ make me a Living Sacrifice be glorified today sing that

Again let every effort of my life display the matchless worth of Christ make me a living s be glorified today [Music] we than I got gentlemen you can go sit down hang on ladies and gentlemen we have a special privilege this morning as far as I'm concerned and that is we get to recognize a couple people who've been ministering in our midst and leading us and teaching us as they've gone through life Nancy is she still here did she give up on there she is come on up here just real quick Nancy has been our financial secretary for eight eight years she recently resigned and decided she needed to retire I don't understand that at all I'm old they I'm old but I'd like for you to we the church has a small gift for her and I would like for you to show your appreciation for you know those treasured reports and all that bookkeeping that you know takes place that's what she's done for the last years for us and so I would like you to show some appreciation to her for [Applause] that I have to grin I know we have we have lots of new people but those that stand understand what she's had to put up with for the last few years okay not that the others didn't all right and then also most of you are aware that Austin's last Sunday is with us is this Sunday is right now he's leaving God's called him into a wonderful of I've already talked to him I'm so excited for

He and Deborah I am just excited God's called him in the Seminary he's going to be attending Midwestern in Kansas City and he is open doors wide open I don't know how you could even question that God's provided for this cuz it's just amazing he's been with us 2 and half three and a half time flies when you're having fun three and a half years and God has just used him in a great way in our church he God sends people for a season and this has been our season with Austin and Deborah and he is about to do something just exciting I can't wait to see what God's going to do with what they're giving him to do with and so Austin Deborah and I do you don't want to see anything tired of talking Pastor you want to do this I'd go ahead I'll shut up I gave mine up hey I this is wonderful couple and you guys know just how greatly they've been a blessing to our church and if y'all would just come up here and lay hands on them and pray over them as they go from here and like the whole church coming up so you know Lord we just love this family we've seen them grow we've seen them have start a family we've seen them the purchase of their first home We've walked through a lot of Firsts with them and I'm just so thankful for their ministry here they've learned a lot they taught us a lot and we just ask for a blessing on them Lord thank you for how you've made it very clear for their next steps to be at Midwestern I pray that it's over and above anything that they could ever think or imagine Lord we'll miss them but Lord we also thank you for the infrastructure that you've placed in our church to continue on Lord good philosophy of ministry and passion

For your word thank you for what you've done with the students through through him and Deborah's Ministry just pray that you would bless us and watch over us Lord as they leave and father we just intercede on their behalf Lord and if it Be Your Will I know this is a very practical request but let there be an offer put in on their home exactly what they want so that they wouldn't have that hanging over them Lord father we he starts classes in just a what a week two weeks something like that but they're leaving tomorrow to go get settled at Kansas City be with them as they start this new Endeavor in their life in Jesus precious name [Applause] amen that'll conclude the service guys head on down and