In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines the account of Jesus miraculously feeding 5,000 men (15,000 to 20,000 people) in Mark 6. Pastor Babij explains that the miracle was actually a purposeful teaching moment; Jesus was teaching His disciples to simply be obedient with their limited resources to Christ’s commands and then watch God work.
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okay we’re going to be looking at uh the gospel of Mark chapter 6.
but before I do that I do want to give a congratulations to uh the Gus’s brand new baby boy and Natalie and Brian and uh happy grandparents of course and so everything’s everything’s well right okay good everything’s well I knew there was a little complication there but she’s well and uh so continue to pray for them another they have a rich man’s family now you know a boy and a girl so that’s what they say I don’t know where that comes from but all right let’s bow together in a word of prayer Lord this morning as we look at your word I thank you for um again the privilege and the opportunity that you give us to have the word of God in our hands to be freely be able to read it speak about it teach it preach it and I pray Lord that would continue and this morning as we uh gaze upon a very familiar passage of scripture help us to see the things that we don’t normally see when we read it and I pray Lord that we would be able to practice what is taught here to the disciples Lord enable us to understand it and then to do it and I pray as we do Lord that we would receive the blessings that come with serving you and your people and I pray this in Christ’s name amen so this morning we’re going to be looking at chapter 6 verse 30 to verse 44.
and just by way of reminder remember that this is a a package that a narrative package that is given there’s a rejection Story three actually rejection Stories the rejection number one was the opposition of Jesus in his own town from his own Town’s people but in that story the disciples learned that missions Ministry would not be easy that sometimes the people that are closest to you will reject you and then also sometimes those who are not open to Jesus may discover that God will not no longer be open to them and so that was the first part and the second part was the 12 went out on their own without Jesus to preach the gospel of the Kingdom to cast out demons and of course even doing that some uh have was re not responding to them and even rejecting them because they were knocking the dust off the bottom of their feet uh after they got done with their mission as a judgment against the people for not listening for not receiving and then of course we came to the last one last week and of course that was the arrest and death of John the Baptist so it appears that the arrival of John the baptizers death brings disciples actually the disciples let me say that again it appears this from our text that the arrival of John the baptizers disciples with the news of his burial coincided with the return of the twelve from the preaching tour in Galilee now look at verse number 30 of our texts it says in the apostles that’s chapter 6 of Mark verse 30 the apostles gathered together with Jesus and they reported to him all they had done and taught all right so that is what they’re doing now they’re coming back to Jesus in fact the gospel of Mark helps us to bring those two events together where it says and his disciples came and took away the body and buried it and they went to report to Jesus all right so it seems like the death of John the Baptist and the reporting of Jesus was right after that and so the last time we were in the text we experienced all the drama the verdicts about who Jesus is how truth affects conscience how revenge and death became the wicked response against the spoken truth of God’s servants so we saw that the human heart is still very much Wicked above all things and capable of expressing all the drama of human fallenness herod’s banquet was filled with fear and pride and self centeredness and greed and lust and drunkenness and hatred and revenge and death so the purpose of herod’s banquet was to make himself look good to make himself uh look good especially in in front of his important guests and when contrasted with what we’re going to see today there’s a quite a great contrast because today we’re going to look at a different banquet a banquet that took place on the Hills the open Hills of Galilee a banquet in which Jesus provide presided over a banquet which purpose was to minister to the crowd’s spiritual and physical needs and finally a banquet Where Mercy compassion truth were very much present quite different than herod’s banquet and what we really learned this morning from our text is that even though serving people can at times be rewarding it can also at times be very difficult and weary some but at that point when you are weary when you are weary always have time for compassion because weariness could Rob us of our discernment when compassion presents itself and so that’s what we learn we’ll learn about Jesus in his response to the disciples this morning so the question is still out who is Jesus actually this text this morning this morning answers that question it portrays Jesus and it unveils his own character in person to the point where we begin to see who Jesus is and who he is he we’re going to find out that he is the god who is compassionate this this word this word is a special word this word compassion all right so there when we think of that there are at least two things that needs to be impressed upon our minds and hearts concerning the true identity of Jesus all right and the first one is this that Jesus is the one who cares for his servants all right he cares for Assurance again verse number 30 Jesus really what he wants to do in verse number 30 and onward he wants his servants uh to minister with glad results where it says in verse 30 and the apostles gathered together with Jesus and they reported to him all that they had done and taught see the conclusion to this samage sandwich narrative is that the apostles reported back to Jesus about their trial Mission they found out on that mission that ministry will not be easy but neither impossible they preached they taught they did Miracles they experienced the power and the Providence of God right in their midst so they came two by two to report to Jesus about what they did by way of Miracles and what they taught by way of preaching the kingdom of God that is how to enter the kingdom of God by repentance of sin and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ one could imagine they we really could imagine and that’s the point of Mark 2 he tries to put put us into the story Into The Narrative it draws Us in and we begin to imagine the excitement of the the disciples reporting to Jesus everything they experience both success and failure both casting out demons and people responding to the word of God and rejecting the word of God all these things they were reporting and one thing they were sure of that God empowered them and was near to them for blessing they knew that for sure and that’s one thing we all need to know when we’re ministering on behalf of God that God is near us for a blessing he wants to use us he wants to speak through us he wants to use our gifts one commentary that I reference identified Jesus method of mentoring his disciples as four things going on number one he taught them both verbally and practically he sent them out to do the same thing he did he had them return and report and evaluated what took place and then he had them relax and rest and retreat so you know what that means for us it means this if you have been a Biblical Christian for some time and if you have been taught the word of God and have been brought under the instruction of it don’t you think it’s time that you get up and actively Minister and serve others with the knowledge the experience and the spiritual gifts that have been bestowed upon you so see today and is really a time for you to serve the body of Christ so you it’s it’s like asking when and where and will I serve and if you are serving thank you for serving if you are not you need to serve if you’re a Believer so Jesus wants his servants to minister with glad results but if there’s a second thing that comes under the care of Jesus for his servants and it’s this that Jesus wants his servants to plan for rest and recupative fellowship with him he wants to them to recuperate from Ministry while they’re fellowshipping with him now look at verse number 31 and 2. it says this Mark chapter 6 verse 31 and he said to them come away buy yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while for there were many people coming and going and they did not even have time to eat and they went away in the boat to a lonely place by themselves so again see Ministry is not easy it’s not an easy place to be because teaching and preaching and all kinds of ministry to all kinds of people with all kinds of physical and emotional and spiritual issues May at times be very strenuous time consuming constant demands of people no time for leisure little time to sit down and relax enjoy a meal and and fellowship and then of course no time for quiet undisturbed companionship with the master Jesus Christ sometimes Ministry could be that busy the Gathering of the disciples to Jesus means that in the midst of busyness and business they are accountable only to him and so the greater accountability the more Ministry the greater demands on all of us to be alone with Jesus just like Jesus did when he broke away and he went to a quiet place to pray to the father he usually did that over after very much a lot of ministry in fact the interjection in verse number 31 come away all right along with the command rest a while that is actually an imperative there arrest while gives a strong sense that times of relaxation and retreating away from the constant grind of ministry should be practiced I remember reading a pastor say uh if we don’t come apart we will come apart now surely on one hand there is nothing spiritual about laziness some people’s whole motive for a living is to recreate in vacation laziness is a sin according to scripture we are really created to work and somewhat extract enjoyment from work now on the other hand there’s nothing spiritual about being a workaholic constant work can actually Express itself or be an expression of avoidance of other responsibilities like spending time with your family and raising your kids like maturing in your relationship with your spouse a sin of Pride and selfishness and greed may be underneath workaholic motives so neither one Are Spiritual but God doesn’t want us to work but he also wants us to rest so that is what the apostles and Jesus did they got into the boat and headed to a quiet private place to get away from the crowds for a while now for your information some say they sail to the eastern shore of the lake of Galilee where there was a quiet place to scope out others say they sail to the western shore and uh and the reason why is because there’s two communities that are identified as bethsaida which which they actually went to uh that in Luke chapter 9 verse 10 should be identified with the bethsaida near Julius on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee Mark chapter 6 verse 45 this name designates a village on the western shore of Capernaum which is really the traditional place if you go to Israel you’ll find out this is your traditional place in which they say they landed on that day to take some rest and of course that’s probably the place it’s probably the western shore and the reason why it’s not the Eastern Shore is because uh Not only was the distance too great to followed by foot 15 to 20 miles but the Jordan is too high and Swift in springtime to make a Crossing feasible especially with uh by such a large crowd now with that said uh Jesus cares for his servants but there’s a second thing about that we’ll learn about Jesus and that Jesus is the one who has compassion for others and this is a great instruction and and really a test for us as we see what is really going on here from verse number 33 onwards before I read that here’s what’s happening the 12 apostles in Jesus set out for some needed RNR because of the ministry they just got done with the crowds actually figured out what Jesus was up to and so they began to run where they calculated the both would come to shore look at verse number 33 what it says verse chapter six and the people saw them going and many of and many recognized them and they ran there together on foot from all the cities now see this is what happened the crowd began to run a distance of about four or five miles didn’t know they were doing a 5k that day see and as they passed town after town the crowd of men and women and children grew larger and larger Luke chapter 9 verse 10 mentions the locality as being bethsaida near the northern shore of the lake of Galilee it says and when the apostles returned they gave an account to him of all they had done taking them with him he withdrew himself to a city called bethsaida and if you look at verse number 33 the last part of the verse it says and got ahead of them so just imagine they see the boat take off but it was visible to them from the shore and they says we’re not done listening to what Jesus and the disciples have to say and do so they began to watch where he pulls out and calculate where he’s going to come in and they start running to catch up and the Bible says they got there before the boat got there now now think with me think with me for a minute wasn’t this trip supposed to be a trip for r r wasn’t it supposed to be a trip to kick back with the boys in a quieter place maybe the apostles were thinking this is not fair let’s turn back let’s go to the Eastern side of the lake and get away from them so they can’t catch us maybe they had feelings of anger maybe resentment maybe discouragement Maybe the apostles saw the very negative and the unpleasantness of a situation that they were coming into however here’s the point here is a lesson for the apostles as well as for us this morning and here is a great teaching moment because before they got to the shore it is very important to notice what Jesus saw and how he responded to the crowd already assembled on the shore what did she what did Jesus see and do well if you look at Mark chapter 6 verse number 34 it says this and when he went ashore he saw a great multitude and he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd and he began to teach them many things see in other words when you are weary and tired always have time for compassion because the other emotions can take over I’m tired I don’t want to deal with this I’m tired I’m weary I don’t want to give attention to this but that’s not what Jesus Does so see he’s really teaching the apostles listen you I know you thought you were coming here for r r but the work’s never done and these people look at them look at them and he had compassion on them and he quickly assessed what was going on with them not only and compassion is something that is is is is motivated to do something compassion in scripture is never word uh never a word that sits back and relaxes and watch watches others do it compassion is a word that drives people to do something whatever you can that’s that’s wrapped up in the word compassion so Jesus felt compassion on them which that is the start there’s got to be a a redefining of the emotions that I have towards this particular person or towards this group of people a second thing that he saw was that they were like sheep without a shepherd he saw that they were spiritually hurting they didn’t run five miles for nothing they heard about Jesus they heard the message of the Apostles and their inner heart was inflamed for more and if they had a run to get it boy if we can only be like this group of people to run to the word of God to run to get more teaching and then it says there that Jesus began to teach them many things so the first thing that goes on the first thing that Jesus does is he meets their spiritual hunger first that’s very important in Scripture Jesus was concerned because they were shepherdless a huge flock that lacked order lacked discipline lacked instruction lacked leadership see the failure of Israel’s leadership to teach the word of God and obey God is clear from the Old Testament we find passage of scriptures like in numbers where it says in chapter 27 it says who will go out and come in before them who will lead them out and bring them in so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd and then in First Kings under the rule of Ahab it says so he says I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep which had no Shepherd see the Old Testament also points out a shepherd who will be faithful to feed the People by teaching the word of God if you’d like to take your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 34 Verse number 23 and then the Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 24 really does bring me back to the thing I said in the beginning that this would be a different kind of a of a banquet because this would be a banquet in which Jesus would preside over in Ezekiel it really gives us it teaches us that Jesus is identified as the davidic shepherd Messiah where it says in verse 23 of Ezekiel 34 then I will set over them one Shepherd my servant David and he will feed them and he will feed them himself and be their Shepherd now this is a prophetic thing focusing in on a Shepherd that would come and Shepherd Israel and of course that Shepherd is pointing to Jesus in this particular passage of scripture then over to Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 24 something quite similar it says this my servant David will be king over them and they will all have one Shepherd and they will walk in my ordinances and keep my statues and observe them so see Jesus now becomes the davidic shepherd Messiah who comes to meet the needs of his people and he comes now with compassion so how does Jesus nourish the people spiritually and and satisfy their spiritual hunger well if you notice back in in mark it tells us that he does this by beginning to teach them many things in fact the Gospel of Luke says that but the multitudes were aware of of this and followed him and welcoming them he began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing see the gospel of Mark of course has not been uh this is not new for the gospel of Mark the kingdom of God has been the subject from chapter one so this state of fulfillment of the Messianic time anticipated in the Old Testament has really been realized partially in the coming of Jesus Christ that when the Old Testament speaks of the coming kingdom of God it refers to God’s personal visitation to this Fallen World to manifest Redemption the people of Israel in the Old Testament look forward to the day when God’s rule would be manifest here on the earth in the coming of his anointed one however that first coming of Jesus brought not the fullness of the kingdom of God but only part of that view of the kingdom of God in his first coming because he came as a servant not as the king the first time so the content of preaching was the kingdom of God for right there in Mark chapter 1 where it says let me remind you not after now after John had been taken into custody that was in the beginning chapter 1 verse 14 Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and Believe In The Gospel so the human obligation was to hear the gospel content and obey the two imperatives and that the imperatives are repent so you turn from something your sin against God and unbelief and idolatry to Jesus Christ and then you believe you turn to someone in this case and of course that someone is Jesus Christ so the purpose of the first coming of Jesus is told to us in the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 where he said to them I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also for I was sent for this purpose and of course he kept preaching that’s what he did so Jesus purpose for preaching was basically Evangelistic to win converts to the Christian faith to win converts to the kingdom of God and don’t forget this not only are we born again by the living seed of the word of God we continue to grow by the word of God so here’s a very important fact that genuine conversion manifests itself in a person by their Newfound desire for a growing knowledge of Truth one simply cannot be a Christian and have no desire for the knowledge of Truth it is impossible and why do Christians want God’s word why do Christians crave God’s word because the life of God is in their soul and the spirit of God indwells them and that now they have a new appetite for Spiritual things like first Peter 2 2 says like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word so that it may grow them in respect to Salvation so here is given the most instinctive characteristic of a newborn baby they want milk they do not understand why they want milk at that point they are born alive with this strong desire for their mother’s milk and if a baby doesn’t have it they scream bloody murder until you give it to them and if they don’t want it you say to yourself there’s something wrong the baby will not grow or stay alive if they don’t have this milk it is the same exactly the same with real Christians because of their new life in Christ they long for they must listen to the pure milk of the world of the word of God they do not want any substitutes they do not want old junk food or fast food no they want the apostles teaching which is Christ’s teaching newly born Christians only know they want unadulterated spiritual food that’s what they know so Jesus is really reminding us that our concerns in this life must be higher than just food and drink in houses and clothing and money and occupation it is profitable for all of us to often give our thoughts to higher things and we see from our text the first priority in doing Ministry is spiritual which is met by preaching and teaching the word of God that is always first you can now I know that today that there’s a strong emphasis on social the social gospel let’s go and feed people let’s go and clothe people let’s go and build houses let’s go and build buildings let’s go and do those things which are which are needed but they are not the first thing that is needed because you can do all those things and leave and not give the gospel see there must be the spoken word there must be the taught word or what good is it what good is it but it doesn’t mean that we don’t meet the physical needs of people in fact if you notice in our text back in Mark chapter 6 verse 35 the second thing that compassion sought out was not just the spiritual needs of the people but it met their physical needs too well before I look at that let me just say to you that compassion uh is something that drives someone to meet spiritual needs and now Jesus does something as a master discipler worth noting this is what he does he includes his inner circle in the solution to the process that we’re going to see in a minute so with the death of John the baptizer this was a transition period for Jesus from this point forward there’s a shift from a predominant public Ministry to a predominant private one that’s as far as Jesus is concerned because of this Jesus is involving his his Apostles by giving them more to do as they become more public and the message of the kingdom is given more emphasis so what do the disciples do well if you notice in verse 35 and 36 the disciples recognize the need and offer their solution now just just remember this the disciples are not arguing with Jesus they’re not offering anything contrary to what Jesus would desire they are actually at a point where they are thinking in their minds okay we were supposed to have rest and relaxation that is not the case it is Ministry time but they don’t have a bad attitude actually so what Jesus does is he includes them in the decision-making process and look what it says in verse number 35.
all right so the apostles before I realized that they were burning daylight and the people needed to be let loose so they can get something to eat it says in verse 35 and when he was when it was already quite late his disciples came up to him and began to say began saying the place is desolate and it is already quite late send them away so that they may go into the surrounding Countryside in villages and buy themselves something to eat all right so now remember this crowd is probably around 15 to 20 000 people this is no small crowd how do you how do you feed 15 to 20 000 people in fact in fact how do you even go get food to bring back to feed that many people in those days it would be way harder than in our day but at least the disciples you notice in compassion recognize the need it’s getting late these people need some food all right but the disciples are throwing a curveball by Jesus Look what Jesus says to me to them in verse 37 the first part but he answered and said to them you give them something to eat whoa that’s a difficult request what do they do now well there to act on Jesus command that’s what they’re to do also it is apparent that his disciples have a source of Supply that they have entirely overlooked see Jesus is trying to lead his disciples to think of his Almighty power that they have experienced already to think of that he’s a place that they can rely on to think of his wisdom and to think of his already thoughtful care and compassion he’s trying to get them to think there and by the way this is really no social gospel but there are social Ministries that are the natural outgrowth of the gospel and that’s the way it usually should happen so what Jesus is saying and teaching is that like Jesus we should seek to meet others needs with compassion so what’s the first thing they do well look at verse 37 the middle of verse number 37 to 40 or let’s well let’s look at the first thing they do is this well if we’re to narrow it down to okay how am I going to meet this Need and Feed all these people well do what you can do and Obey that’s the bottom line do what you can do and Obey so what do the disciples do first the disciples do the math all right and they conclude all right now look what it says it says and they said to him verse 37 shall we go and spend 200 this is the second part of verse 37 200 Denari and on bread and give them something to eat of course the calculation and the math is this it would take approximately eight months of wages a small fortune to buy the food necessary to feed such a large crowd all right uh well what’s next well Jesus gives them another command in verse number 38 the greedy says he said to them how many loaves do you have and then he says go look and of course what the disciples do next they went to search out food all right it says in verse 38 and when they found out they said Five Loaves and two fishes now of course five barley loaves of bread and two salted dried fish the Gospel of John tells us that a young man provided this food he provided his lunch for the apostles this problem is beyond their ability it’s beyond their resources however they are very willing to obey everything Jesus asked them to do see the disciples were the hands and the feet which was which was required to carry out this miracle Jesus included them this miracle wasn’t going to happen without them so this is a significant transition in Jesus passing to his disciples Ministry all right and and showing them listen you have resources because of who you are that you need to realize and I am the resource do what you can and so that is exactly what’s going on here do what you can and obey the Lord Jesus Christ you know I was uh there was a a man named ed Dobson not not James adoption Ed Dobson was a pastor in Link in Virginia my friend used to go to his Sunday school class and he really liked the guy uh but he he recently wrote a book uh called sing through the fog and Pastor Dobson was diagnosed with ALS Lou Gehrig’s disease and this is a really a degenerative disease with no no no known cure at all whatsoever in his book seeing through the fog Dobson writes about many simple tasks that he can no longer do as a result of his condition then he writes these powerful words in his book so what in the world do I have to be grateful for and then he says this so much Lord thank you that I can turn over my bed Lord thank you that I can still get out of bed Lord thank you that I can walk to the bathroom Lord thank you that I can still brush my teeth and the list goes on and on and on and he is saying in the book that in his what he learned in his journey with ALS is to focus on what I can do and not what I can’t do see he learned to be grateful for the small things in his life for the many things he can still do and when it comes to situations where it looks bigger than us and it looks daunting and we are ready not to do anything because we say we can’t do that so we don’t do anything compassion does something and what does compassion do compassion does whatever it can to meet a spiritual need and also to meet a physical need so the disciples do the next thing that Jesus asked them to do in Mark chapter 6 verse 39 through 40 the disciples organize the great crowd and set them down in sections of hundreds and fifties notice what it says in verse 39 and he commanded them all to recline by groups on the green grass and they reclined in companies of hundreds and fifties now scripture again is being very descriptive here it says that he sits them down on green grass that means something it means that this event took place in late springtime about mid-april and that the time of sunset was about 6 p.m so this happens sometime in the afternoon before the evening but the green grass also alludes to the Yahweh Shepherd leading his flock to what Green Pastures where does that come from when they come to your mind Psalm 23 for the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me to lie down in what in Green Pastures he leaves me besides Still Waters he restores my soul he guides me in the path of righteousness and onward and onward where then it says and you know I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever see Jesus is being portrayed here as the shepherd who provides the spiritual and the physical needs of his flock so Jesus No Doubt is the great Shepherd and has something greater in mind in this context he would as the true Shepherd of the sheep Supply the needs of the flock that day and the only thing to do for the disciples was to trust him to obey him to serve wherever they can and to enjoy the moment so in a very real way this was spiritual relaxation because they were seeing the hand of God before them in fact this particular Miracle is the only miracle that is recorded in all four Gospels that means that this miracle had the greatest impact of any other miracle that Jesus ever did on the apostles heart and life and practice see throughout the Old Testament there are examples of God supplying food miraculously we see that Jesus is greater than Moses the time that Moses was asked to supply six hundred thousand foot soldiers with food and the Moses asked the Lord where am I going to get this food and this is the response that God gave Moses is the Lord’s power limited I think in the King James says is his arm too short to supply such a need that’s not a great need for God and then of course Jesus is the greater than Elijah Elijah’s servant acted to feed 100 by the multiplication of 20 barley loaves so the examples were there in Scripture that our God even in the wilderness what does he do he supplies his people as a shepherd with food from heaven in the wilderness so these pictures are definitely there for us to see so there is surely something else that we learned about Jesus that Jesus is showing himself as the host of the Messianic banquet this is a picture of in a sense the end when Jesus comes and he is supplying all the needs of his people both the physical and the spiritual needs of the people as they sit down at his feet and recline on Green Grass and they’re nourished by him and there are enjoying him and they are worshiping him so what’s the second thing we can do the first thing we can do is of course to do what we can the second thing we can do is to trust Jesus to do what only he can do and says in verse number 41 and he took the Five Loaves and the two fish and looking up toward Heaven he blessed the food and broke the Loaves and he kept giving them to the disciples to set before them and he divided up the two fish among them all and they all ate and were what satisfied so one can quickly see a parallel here between the feeding of the five thousand and the Last Supper all right now it could be that when Jesus lifted up his eyes to pray that it would be a prayer where he would say praise to you or actually the the judaistic prayer uh table prayer would be praised To You O Lord our god king of the world who makes bread come forth from the earth and who provides all that you have created so this is we we are seeing Jesus here that he is supplying food to this great multitude and it’s not running out his Supply is abundant so we if we put ourselves into the hands of Jesus Christ with the little that we have there’s no telling what he can do with us and through us and sometimes that’s where we delay the most I don’t have anything to offer yes you do you have yourself to offer you have your spiritual gifts to offer you have your time to offer you have your compassion to offer you have something to offer so you know what sorry about that excuse it doesn’t fly and recognizing the last thing is we recognize that a little can become a lot with Jesus look at verse 43 and 44 and they picked up 12 full baskets of broken pieces and also of the fish and there were 5 000 men who ate the lows so that means as I said already with women and children the hungry crowd was fed completely and totally to the excess of 15 to 20 000 people and now they still had leftovers in fact remember there’s 12 baskets 12 disciples so who’s collecting the food or the apostles and the apostles are looking down and when they’re done the apostles looked down and all their baskets are full that’s that how could you not forget that that the supply and surplus of God Is So miraculous that it will never run out the 12 apostles baskets were full after everyone ate and so no miracle affected them more than this one so Jesus after this miracle is known to be the one who has compassion he is the one who is the Good Shepherd he is the one who is the bread of life Jesus is the one who shows his compassion and rescue sinner in a lonely place on the hill of calvary that’s where the focus is he’s going to do something that no Shepherd has done before he’s going to meet the greatest need of humanity he’s going to die as a the Lamb of God on the cross and take the load of sin for Sinners so when Sinners come and believe in him by faith and repentance they can be forgiven and set free and have a relationship with God he who one day laid out down his life for the Sheep so see in a very real way God God’s will is to fill his creatures with himself to meet their needs with his Surplus and to expand their smallness by his greatness that’s what God does that’s what he wants to teach us this morning because we are sometimes filled with unbelief and our faith is real small see if we are to imitate Jesus we will be compassionate by first meeting spiritual needs by teaching and preaching the word of God and living the word of God and secondly by meeting physical needs by doing what we can trusting that little can become a lot with Jesus and that’s his Department that’s not ours our department is to offer anything we have and let God do the rest so when we are weary from serving God’s people always have time for compassion because that’s when miracles happen let’s not miss that let’s pray Lord thank you so much I pray this narrative In this passage of scripture would have an effect on us like it had on the apostles I pray Lord that we would never be the ones who win our called upon when we’re worried and tired to complain and Grumble and say we’re not available and that we would step up in a way that wherever we’re needed we’re willing to serve and do what we can do for the Lord Jesus Christ and I prayed Lord as we do that we would believe that you can take the little things that we offer and make them great you can take the little things and multiply them and perform great things through our lives thank you Lord for that because you know what Lord when we think about it like that no one’s exempt from service everybody’s needed everybody’s wanted by you in this way so Lord again make us people that have compassion and move toward the need and not away from it and I prayed this in Christ’s name amen