7/19/20 Mark 6:30-44, 52-56 “Be in the Midst of Jesus!”

17 Jul 7/19/20 Mark 6:30-44, 52-56 “Be in the Midst of Jesus!”

7/19/20   Mark 6:30-44, 52-56  “Be in the Midst of Jesus!”

I have a confession to make today.  I’m a man.  There it is.  I do things like men do because that is the way we are made.  Unfortunately, one of these things is that I think I can fix things.  If something breaks around the house, I will always try to fix it before I turn to the professionals.  The same thing happens in the yard and with the car.  One would think that by now that I should start out with the professionals instead of ending with them.  This is especially true when it comes to our relationships with others, particularly of females.  I have learned the hard way over the years that the last thing women want me to do is fix their lives or problems or whatever happens to be happening in their lives.  Instead, they want support.  They want me to verify their self-worth.  So, if you think you can fix a woman’s problems, then think again or you will probably be in for a bad experience.   We begin today with Jesus and the disciples having quite a problem.  It seems that there were about 5000 men who were totally lost, listening and finally they get hungry.  Let’s see if we can find ourselves in this situation.

I’m going to begin today with a true story from Michigan and I personally know of other similar stories like this that are true.  Bob, his wife and five kids were at Sunday night service once where they were talking about sacrificial giving and a special offering was taken at the end of the service.  Bob looked in his wallet and all he had was a $50 bill which was supposed to buy groceries for his family for the upcoming week.  Bob made a move of faith and put the bill in the plate.  Then they all left and went out to their car.   Within minutes they were back inside getting the pastor to come out and see a miracle.  The skeptical pastor went outside and looked into their 20-year-old station wagon.  Looking in he saw that the whole car was filled with groceries.  He remarked that someone had blessed them by giving them this food.  But Bob said, “Pastor, you don’t understand.  Before the service, I made sure that all the windows were rolled up and the doors were locked.  Plus, I only have one key so this must have been the Lord working!”  The pastor said, “Giving truly is the only key to God’s provision!”  And by the way, Bob had no family living in the area and no one from the congregation ever claimed responsibility.  We have friends that have had things like this happen.  It’s wild to be in the midst of a miracle.

I would like to start at the end of our readings for today.  In verse 52, it tells us that the disciples had not understood about the loaves.  They didn’t get it.  How often in life have you not understood something that is occurring?  It has happened to me many times.  I will keep nodding my head or saying yes but I really don’t have a clue as to what you are doing or talking about!  And it has gotten worse as my hearing isn’t quite what it used to be.  I have even told jokes or funny stories from the pulpit and people haven’t gotten it.  Then about 15 seconds later someone will gasp and laugh as it finally hits them.  Of course, I have had other people come to me after and say that they got it but it wasn’t that funny.  That is a whole different story.  So, let’s see if we can sort this out for them and for us.

I got some of this outline from Pastor David Dykes.  One of the first problems we have and the disciples had was that they measured the problem of no food for all these people in light of their own resources.  There were thousands of hungry people here listening to Jesus, and they desperately needed this, and now they are hungry.  So, Jesus tells the disciples, “You give them something to eat!”  The disciples responded by saying that it would take 8 months of a man’s wage to have enough to buy them something to eat.  Plus, there wasn’t a grocery store anywhere nearby.  There wasn’t even a super market.  In other words, there was no way they could do this.  I can’t do this.

Basically, Jesus sends them into the crowd to see how much food they have on hand.  This would have taken a little time but they were in a bind.  So, they fan out looking for food and all they find is 5 loaves and 2 fish.  Other sources say that they got these from a boy.  Out of all these people, this was all they got.  There wasn’t enough food to feed 5 people let alone 5000 men.  Also, these weren’t exactly big loaves of bread like we have today.  Chances are that they would be rather small by our standards and the fish weren’t very big either.  In other words, the disciples all together could not feed this group.

What would eventually happen was the farthest thing from the disciple’s minds.  They were not relying on Jesus in any way, shape or form.  This is what happens to us on a daily basis.  I know that most of you don’t go to Jesus every time you have to make a decision.  Why don’t you?  I know that you don’t go to Jesus most of the time in prayer for the many things you do on a daily basis.  Why not?  Are you just as capable of handling these things as the very maker of the universe?  I don’t think so!

I tell people this all the time and I know that for most people it’s just in one ear and out the other.  Jesus is waiting to help you with everything that you do.  There isn’t anything too small or too large for Him to handle.  On the other hand, there really isn’t too much that you are equipped to handle on your own.  If you don’t believe me, then take a look at your track record.  How good is it?  When you finally humble yourself to the point of admitting that you aren’t that good at most things, then I want you to restart your life by getting back into your prayer life.  You cannot feed 5000 people on next to nothing so quit trying.  Jesus can do it and make it look easy because it is easy for Him.  Anything you bring to Him is easy.  Please quit messing your life up because of your ego and turn to Jesus on all fronts.

Next, I would like you to see just what happens and what you need to do.  Other writers tell us that this was a boy who had the bread and fish.  This would be quite a feast for a lad.  His mother was thinking ahead by sending this much food.  Anyway, the boy gives to Jesus all that he has to give.

There is a lesson that this lad is teaching us and it goes right along with this first part.  Far too often we don’t like to give to Jesus all we have to give.  This is why you don’t get results when you pray.  I remember when I first came to Jesus and had to learn how to pray.  I also had to learn to give as there is no holy giving like this in the secular world where I came from.  I had to look up what a tithe was.  It’s 10% of your income.  Jesus commanded me to do this.  We were at a time in our lives where we relied on every pay check just to pay the bills.  Anyway, I started to write the check for 10% that week and every week since.  At first, I wondered if anything was happening but it wasn’t long before I saw results that would have never happened unless I totally followed Jesus.

And it’s not just money.  It’s your life.  So many times, I have run across Christians who just don’t get this concept.  They figure that if I can just hang on to this bad behavior, I’ll let Jesus handle the rest.  When you come to Jesus, give Him all of your sin and bad behavior.  If you don’t, the stuff you didn’t confess will come back and haunt you.  When Jesus says to give Him all, He means everything.  This is not a joke, folks!  I guarantee that you will like, love the results when you do this.

This lad gave away his lunch.  He had to be hungry like the rest of the crowd.  It was dinner time.  Now I don’t know about you, but the boys I know have huge appetites.  As a rule, they devour food.  They don’t give it away.  But he gives Jesus everything he has because he was believing all that Jesus had been telling them.

Now look what happens!  Jesus takes these few morsels and transforms them into a feast for all the people.  Not just the 5000 men, but all the women and children also.  People, this is a gigantic miracle!  Everyone could eat all they want and there were still leftovers, 12 large baskets do be exact.  I have been to local buffets where there are people that eat far more than I could even dream of eating.  Think about that when you think of this passage.  There could have been 5000 gluttons there like the ones you see at buffets.  That, my friends, is a lot of food.  And this boy was responsible for all of it.  It doesn’t tell us but I would guess that he went back home again feeling very satisfied that he was a part of a miracle beyond anyone’s imagination.  That is what Jesus does.  He makes you feel not only good but great!

And that is where we find ourselves today.  There are far too many people who think they know Jesus but have never given their lives to Him.  But they still expect Jesus to answer them when they pray.  I can’t guarantee that He will ever answer them but He might.  He will even use non-believers to help further His cause.  We have read about this in the Bible.  However, if you confess your sins to Him and ask Him to be Lord and Savior of your life, then I will guarantee that He will answer you every time you pray.  It is that simple.

Look at this boy!  He gave all he had and they got baskets of food in return.  After I started to tithe my income, I have never been short of money again.  Look around you at some Christians.  They all have a story or two to tell you about how great our God is.  He is generous beyond our understanding.  He has never broken a promise.  He has never had to resort to lying.  All of the nasty human traits that we take for granted in our modern broken world, don’t exist for Jesus.  If you have something that has overwhelmed you, that has gotten you so down you don’t know which way is up, then go to Him.  Talk to Jesus.  Tell Him all you have to tell.  Then wait to see what happens.  It may not happen as you want, but something will happen.

Now, I’m just going to show you a few miracles that came from Jesus that are in the Bible.  There are many more, plus there are many miracles that other people performed.  The evidence is overwhelming.  Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding where it was least expected.  By the way He also walked on water and calmed a storm.  He not only fed 5000+ people as we read about today but He also fed 4000+ people at another time.  As far as healing goes, He healed the Centurion’s son, He healed the lepers, healed the paralytic, and Peter’s mother in law.  He helped the disciples catch an extraordinary amount of fish.  He cast out evil spirits several times even to the point of sending the evil spirits into pigs.  This list goes on and on.  In addition, look around you.  Jesus has healed many people who are listening today.  He has healed some of your friends and family.  He has helped them and helped them.  And all He asks is that you come to Him in prayer so you can talk.  Jesus Christ is not a hard taskmaster.  He is easy and His burden is light.  So, go to Him and go to Him often.

You can always count on Jesus to help you.  Look in your Bibles and find out all that He has already done for you.  Look in your life and see all the things He has laid out for you.  Do you ever look back and know that you should have made a different choice in a situation?  That is God telling you to follow Him.  Don’t ever, ever follow the ways of the world.  I don’t care what they are doing, it is wrong.  Look what has happened when you have made the right decisions.  Things have turned out much better.  And the best part is that you know, you know what the right and wrong paths are.  You are a child of God and He has given you the ability to know right from wrong.  Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life.  Without Him in your life, it will be a hard life and end up being meaningless.  Jesus has always loved you and always will.

Just look what He has planned in the future for you.  I could take up a whole other sermon on the wonderful aspects of heaven, your future home for eternity.  Jesus has the foresight to think of everything.  You will always be busy in heaven doing things you love to do.  You will never have a sad or unhappy thought again.  For those of you who are a little older, there will be no pain.  Everything will be perfect and you can visit with anyone who is there from throughout history.  I guarantee that you will never be bored.  Things will be great and it will all be for you.  If you want to visit with Jesus, it will be His pleasure.  I cannot think of any place that even comes close to compare it.  It’s all good.  It’s all far, far beyond good.

So, we can look in history in general, we can look at your history plus we can look forward to being in the most perfect place.  This should be more than enough proof that whatever your crisis is today, Jesus is more than enough to solve it.  There ain’t no mountain high enough and there ain’t no valley low enough to keep Jesus from helping you, if you ask.  Far too many Christians don’t use Jesus wisely.  They think that Jesus is just going to come to the rescue.  He might, but you have a better chance if you go to Him in prayer.  This is why I stress prayer so much.  It is your life line to God and to His answers to your problems.  James tells us in 4:3 that you do not have because you do not ask.  Faith is the first key and asking is the second.  Do not be afraid to go to Jesus with anything and everything, whether it is big or small.

Today we looked at the story of one of the biggest miracles in the Bible.  And right in the middle of all this, we find Jesus in their midst.  This is what you want in your life also.  Your story might not be going so good at the moment.  Look at some of the things we have talked about and bring Jesus into the middle of it all.  You will never regret asking Jesus just as you will never regret anything about Jesus.  He loves you and He will never stop.  That is a promise.  Thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.