Caring For People - February 16, 2025

All right, open your Bible to Mark chapter number eight.

Mark chapter number eight.

This morning I want to speak with you about caring for people.

Caring for people.

And when I look at Jesus, I see that he loves people.

He's a God of compassion.

And he's always loving people, leading people, and ministering to others.

And today we're going to be in Mark chapter number eight, verses one through nine.

And this is the feeding of the multitude.

And more specifically, the feeding of the 4,000.

And so let's take a look.

Mark chapter 8, verse number 1.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

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Verse number 1.

In those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him and saith unto them, look at Jesus' heart here.

I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days and have nothing to eat.

And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way.

And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness?

They're like, How are we gonna feed all these people?

And he asked them, Well, how many loaves have you?

And they said, Seven.

And he commanded the people to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and he gave thanks and break and gave to his disciples to set before them.

And they did set them before the people.

And they had a few small fishes, and he blessed, and he commanded to set them also before them.

So they did eat and were filled.

And they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets.

And they that had eaten were about four thousand.

And he sent them away.

Let's pray.

Lord, we recognize your greatness.

We bow before you.

Lord, please minister to our hearts, nourish us from the word of God, feed our spirits today.

We love you.

We pray you'd open up the passage, you'd speak to each and every one of us individually in a specific way, and strengthen us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen and amen.

You look here at Jesus.

This is the second time that we see in the Gospel of Mark that he feeds the multitude.

And the first time, if you remember right, was uh a few chapters ago where they had five loaves and two fishes, and they fed five thousand, which were men, which means that there was probably women and children.

Some commentators say that he probably fed 20,000, 25,000 people with five loaves and two fishes.

Well, here we see that he does it again.

And I find it fascinating how he is a miracle maker.

He is a nourisher, he's a provider.

And we see here in this situation, they have seven loaves.

And we see that there's a few small fishes and he feeds 4,000.

And I know that as you're looking at this, maybe you're like me and you're like, okay, the math doesn't make sense.

Over here, you had five loaves, two fishes, you fed 5,000 plus women and children, 20, 25,000.

Here you have seven loaves and he feeds four thousand.

And the only thing I can think of is God does what God wants.

He can break and multiply and and nourish and feed, and it doesn't always make sense to us.

A few other things I notice inside of this passage is there are people following Jesus, and they want to be with him.

And that's why we're here today, right?

We want to be with Jesus.

We want to get close to him, we want to hear his words, and and we see that that they're fasting.

These aren't just fans where it's like, I'll just go to church or I'll just follow Jesus if it's convenient for me.

I'll go if there's a concession stand, if there's a booth to eat at, if there's all these pleasantries.

No, no, no, no.

There's no modern conveniences here.

They're following Jesus and they've been fasting for three days.

And Jesus sees it.

And they're hazarding their lives just to get close to God, just to hear his word.

And Jesus notices their position.

I want to tell you this today.

Jesus knows your plight.

He knows your frame.

He knows if you're empty.

He knows if you're feeling comfortless.

He knows if you've been seeking hard after him in a zealous way.

And you have nothing physically to take care of yourself.

You have nothing financially to take care of yourself.

Jesus sees that.

And I know sometimes we get like this too, where it's like, okay, in the past Jesus showed up and he fed the multitudes, but that was back then.

And we sometimes think that he can't do it again.

Have you ever been there before?

Like you feel like you put God in a bad position because you're needy again.

But I want to remind you, there's never going to be a time when you're not going to be needy again.

This is an interdependent relationship where Jesus has made you and designed you and formed you to hunger and to thirst for his righteousness.

And as much as you and I try with all of our power to mitigate all those losses and all those insecurities and all those fears where we can stack all this nourishment up so that we will never have another need again, Jesus has a way of leading us into hungry places again.

And if you're in here today and you're like, man, I'm back into this needy spot.

I hate this needy spot.

I want to tell you, Jesus led you into that needy spot.

He led you in fasting.

Why?

Why?

Because you won't truly know the benefit and the blessing of feasting until you've come through a season of fasting.

And in this situation, Jesus does it again.

He shows up again.

How many of y'all need Jesus to show up again in your life?

How many of y'all need God to just come on back in and have some compassion on you and have some love on you and see your situation?

And maybe you've been tempted to draw back and say, man, I just feel so insecure and so bad that I'm in this spot again.

But Jesus is saying, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, listen, I will give you rest, I will nourish you, I will strengthen you, I will take good care of you.

Listen, learn of me.

I am meek and lowly, and I will strengthen you and I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

See, God loves it.

He loves the fact that you depend on him.

God's economy is designed for you to depend on him.

He is God, you and I are not.

And I looked at this passage and I remember reading it, going, He just did the miracle before, and they they need it again.

And I got to thinking, man, I I so many times I'm like, man, I'm in need again.

I don't like being in need again.

And the Lord's like, no, no, I made you that way.

I want you to draw close to me.

I made you to to to to fast in that season.

I wanted to check your hunger.

I wanted to check your thirst.

I wanted to see if you'd come after me, even if it meant you suspending your luxuries and your modern conveniences.

I wanted to see how far you would go in your zeal.

And I love the fact that you're here with me.

And I look at this passage of scripture and I see Jesus' heart where he's moved with compassion.

That's your pain, your plight, your hunger, your discomfort inside of his heart.

He is he is moved by your situation.

Some of you in here, you think, I don't know if God sees, I don't know if God knows, I don't know if God cares.

And I'm here to tell you today, he does see.

He does know, and he does care.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God still gives compassion to each and every one of us.

I see this situation, and and Jesus solves the problem the same way again.

He says to them, you know what, I don't want to send them away fasting.

I see the need and I want to fill it.

You know, in the Bible it says, Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness.

And he asks the disciples this question.

He says to them, hey guys, I don't want to send them away fasting.

And they say, Well, how are we gonna satisfy all these people in the wilderness?

And they're asking the same question.

Can God supply for us in this situation?

And perhaps you're there today.

Can God take care of my bills?

Can God take care of my family?

I lost my job, I lost my relationship, the economy's doing this, all the tariffs and all the political changes and all this.

Can God still supply in this wilderness?

Absolutely.

Can God?

God can.

God certainly can, and he certainly will.

That doesn't mean it's gonna be easy, and it doesn't mean that you're gonna get to call the shot.

Sometimes he takes you deeper into fasting than you've ever been before.

But it's only so your weakness can magnify his strength and glorify him in his deliverance.

And so he says, How many loaves have ye?

And they say, We only have seven.

Have you ever been there before?

Where you're looking at your bills, you're looking at what's what's going on in the marketplace, you're looking at what's happening in your family, you're looking at what's happening in the church, and you wonder, how am I gonna do it again?

I don't have the workers, I don't have the laborers, I have this person calling out, there's no finances here.

We are empty, empty, empty, empty, empty.

And God's like, excellent.

I've been waiting for you to get empty of self.

The only hope of an increasing savior is a decreasing self.

I must decrease, so he must increase.

And many times we freak out and flip out and stress out because we look at what we have and we think it's not enough.

But I'm here to remind you today that little is much when God is in it.

Labor not for wealth or fame.

There's a crown and you can win it if you'll go in Jesus' name.

I'm here to remind you today that my God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do for you.

He's able, he's able, he's able to deliver thee, friend.

Don't you ever forget when you get in the middle of a wilderness situation and you're wondering, can God?

God can.

Say it with me.

God can.

God can do it, guys.

He brought you to this moment.

And the Alpha and the Omega, the one who started your journey, is the one who's gonna take you to the end of your journey.

You can bank on it, you can trust him.

He's a good God, he's a wonderful father.

And we see he takes, and they say, Well, all we have is seven loaves, and he says, Bring it to me.

Hey, listen, you take the little that you have and you put it in God's hands, and you watch what he does.

Now, I know what many of us think, all I have is this, and so I must take this and eat this and die.

We're like that wood old woman in the Old Testament when the man of God came to her, and and she says, All I have is a little bit of corn of meal and oil, and I'm gonna just mix it up, and my me and my son, we're gonna eat it, we're gonna die.

And the man of God says, No, no, give it to me first, give it to God first.

And what happened in that situation?

Because she gave it over to God Almighty.

Oh my soul, that barrel of meal didn't wax, uh, didn't didn't empty at all.

I think they ate for three and a half years or something in that situation.

Here's what I want to remind you of.

Listen, when you put God first, you take the little that you have, instead of just consuming and say, here you go, God, I'm gonna put this in your hands.

You multiply it, you show me what you can do.

And how many of you guys have found out that God can do a whole lot more than you can?

He certainly can, but you've got to trust him.

You've got to believe in him, you've got to be able to say, Okay, let's, hey, what do I got to lose?

Hey, listen, what do you got to lose today, anyways?

You put it in God's hands and watch what that miracle maker can do.

Watch what that breadbuster can do, watch what that magnifier can do.

Put it in his hands and watch him multiply it.

Oh, yeah, friend, that's my favorite place to be is watching Jesus work.

And so they put the seven loaves in there and they get the two fishes, and Jesus just starts multiplying big time.

And so today, I want to ask, answer this question.

How do we solve big problems?

Y'all got any big problems out there?

Anybody got any big problems?

Come on, God will put us in those situations.

And you say, well, how do I do it?

How does he how does he how does he how does he how do we fix those issues and solve those problems?

How do we do it?

Number one, write this down.

Use what you've got.

Use what you've got.

Sometimes we we're like that foolish person that's looking to the ends of the earth when what you have is enough.

You just have to learn to take what you have and give it to Jesus and put it in his hands and trust him with it.

That's why you think about tithing, you think about giving, and you think, oh man, I don't have enough for my bills and this.

Listen, tithe.

Give it to God and watch what God can do.

How many of you guys have seen some unexpected blessings come out of nowhere?

Come on.

Anyone out there, that's my favorite thing is to watch King Jesus work.

And you say, Well, what if I don't have enough and I put it in his hands and it all falls apart?

Listen, trust the Lord.

He's a good God.

And so you say, Well, what do I do?

Use what you've got.

Use what you see, God's more concerned in what you have versus what you don't have.

What you don't have, he'll supply.

But what you have must be turned over to his lordship rather than you being a possessive owner of it.

You say, Well, what is it?

Seven loaves.

Give it to Jesus.

Find out what he can do with it.

Number two, you say, How am I gonna see these big problems solved?

Organize the problem and the people.

See, Jesus knew the whole time he was teaching and preaching, the whole time he was leading them in that wilderness that they were fasting, they didn't have any food.

And he knew that eventually they're gonna get to the end of themselves, and he was gonna take their zeal and take them to the end of themselves.

How many of you ever been there before?

Your zeal took you so far with Christ, you stepped out in faith and you tried and you went at it, and then all of a sudden, you're empty.

Woo! How many of you have been here before?

Where you went empty and you got like the children of Israel in the in the book of Numbers, where you're like, you know what?

God brought us here to kill us.

And you start getting upset, blaming, shaming, and and griping and complaining about what God is gonna do.

God just brought us here to kill us.

No, he didn't, friend.

He brought you here so you can trust him at the next level.

But he emptied you out so he can install his magnificent blessings in your life.

Amen.

And so you look at this situation and they're using what they have, and he starts organizing the problem.

How many of y'all got some problems out there?

Anybody got some problems?

Anyone got some car problems?

Anybody got some bill problems?

Anybody got some people problems?

Problems, problems, problems.

I like what what up that movie, What About Bob.

I'm on vacation from my problems.

And all you gotta do is baby step Bob.

You know, when we see problems, God sees solutions.

It's all a matter of perspective.

Our perspective determines our performance.

If you're looking through a lens of fear and insecurity, then it's you're gonna lose your hope, power to come through.

But if you're looking through a lens of faith, hope, and love, then the abundance of Christ is gonna take you way beyond what you see into the realm of the unknown.

You say, Well, I want to see it, and I want to see it now.

Okay, well, here's how this works.

You've got to take what you can see, give it to him, and then let him organize the people and the problems.

You see, well, I want to I want to know he's gonna do it first.

No, no, no.

That's not how faith works.

See, you want to see the solution first before you actually do the work.

Am I right?

You wanna have a guarantee and you wanna see the money in the account, you wanna see the food, you wanna see all the stuff, you wanna see everything done beforehand.

That's not faith life, that's sight life.

And God blesses the faith life.

And so when you're looking at your problems, you've got to be able to get yourself to the place where you're like, okay, God, here's all my bills.

One, two, three, four, five, here's all my holes in the lineup right here.

One, two, three, four, five, here's all my problems, 50,000 of them, right?

And you have to be able to speak life and victory and encouragement, knowing that all of you are gonna get fed in the name of Christ.

All of you are gonna experience the power of the filling of God.

And so I'm gonna organize you out and I'm gonna prioritize you out, and then I'm gonna say, okay, King Jesus, go ahead, multiply the blessings and nourish all those things.

That's a spirit of anticipation and expectation that's that's empowered by the faith of Christ.

So, in your life, what do you need to organize?

What is it that you need to organize out and and and confront it so that you can conquer it and look at the problem not as a problem, but as an opportunity for God to provide a solution?

All of us have some things we need to organize out.

All of us have some situations that instead of complaining about, we need to proclaim Christ's victory over.

And if we start doing that, you're gonna get your gide up back.

You're gonna get your gide up back.

How many of y'all need your get your giddy up to come on back?

You need to get some some some kick in the gate once again, right?

And to be able to come on through once again to know that you're gonna see some victories in your life.

That happens on the inside, friend, before it happens on the outside.

That's faith.

And so we see here he's breaking down the small pieces.

He's saying, use what you got.

Number two is organize the problem and the people.

Now, check this out.

Number three, write this down.

You've got to team up.

You gotta team up, you gotta work together with others.

Listen, Christianity is not a solo sport, amen.

And it's not where we just sit there and we spectate.

No, no, no, no, friend, you've got to get in the game.

Hey, turn to your neighbor and say it's time you get in the game.

Yeah, yeah, you gotta get in the game.

And listen, turn to your other neighbor and say, hey, I need some help.

Yeah, hey, I need some help.

We're gonna team up.

It's teamwork that makes the dream work.

I can't do this on my own.

How many mamas and daddies out there, brothers and sisters, you've been doing it all by yourself, and you're getting a little bit bitter and upset when really what you should have done is said, Hey, I need a little bit of help.

Come on, and we need some sisters and some brothers to be able to sing that old song.

We don't need somebody to lead.

No, come on.

We need to have some of that.

And if all of us are trying to team up and help each other, I'm telling you what, you'll never be alone.

You're gonna have some extra horsepower.

Right?

You're gonna be able to get some stuff done.

And if you look at how Jesus is organizing them, he's working with his disciples, and he's got the 4,000 out there, and he's got the little, and he begins to break it, and the disciples are passing it.

And can you imagine him just passing the bread, you know, and passing around and come on back and high fiving and chest bumping?

What's up?

You see my Jesus?

Look at him work, watch him work, watch him work.

I'm telling you, I told you he can do it.

I told you he could do it.

Listen, I saw him do it two chapters ago, and guess what?

It's high time for him to do it again.

I imagine him chest bumping, high fiving as the miracle was happening.

You know what happens a lot of times is we walk away before we see the miracle happen again.

Hey, don't walk away.

Team up.

Turn to your neighbor and say, I'm not walking away.

I'm not walking away.

I'm getting in the game, friend.

I'm gonna team up, I'm gonna watch the dream work come to pass.

You say, What happens next?

Number four, write this down.

Give out the solution one person at a time.

One at a time, inch by inch, it's a cinch.

Hey, how many y'all get a little overwhelmed when you see how many bills, how many people, how many problems, how many issues, and they all just hit you at once.

And then you start sinking.

You're like the wicked witch of the west.

Right?

But if we read our Bible and we pray every day, we're gonna grow, grow, grow.

Now, here's the deal.

If we can work the way Jesus teaches us to work, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will be added to us.

All we have to do is not be overwhelmed at all the woes and fears and worries of tomorrow.

And just simply be right here, right now.

Right here, right now.

I'm with you, Jesus.

I'm with you.

Now, what do you want to do?

I can't solve all these issues, God, but I'm gonna look at you.

You gotta put your blinders on.

Back to the horses.

You know, those horses, they put those blinders on, don't they?

Right when they're running the race.

Right.

Why do they put those little blinders on?

Yeah, they focus them big time.

Because without that focus, you start looking at that horse over there.

And then you look at that horse over there, right?

Before you know it, wherever your eyes go, you run towards, right?

That's why you got to keep your eyes on Jesus.

Everybody say, keep your eyes on Jesus.

Keep your eyes on Jesus.

And as you're looking at Jesus, you're watching the very one multiply the blessings.

And every time he does it, one at a time, he gives you a little bit, and then you go, here you go, son, here you go, daughter, here you go, co-worker, here you go, friend.

And if you can just go one at a time, oh, isn't it easier?

Then you're not getting crippled inside your heart trying to do it all at once.

That's where the anxiety and fear comes from.

Because we feel like it's up to us to solve all the problems.

Come on, how many all are with me on this?

You felt like you had to do it all.

And then you just like feel discouraged and you want to quit.

Because you know you're limited and you have these handicaps and you just know you can't do it all, so you end up just backing away when Jesus is saying, No, no, I want you to lean in.

I want you to trust me.

And listen, I'll solve the problems, I'll nourish the souls, I'll feed the children, I'll take care of the bills, I'll take you from fasting to feasting.

And I'll do it with the little that you have.

Pretty cool, right?

See, we don't really need all the stuff that we think we need to solve these problems.

All we need is the person who has all the power to dispense it to us and then steward it out one at a time.

You can do that.

You can just stay right there with Jesus, walk with him, and say, okay, God, one at a time.

Let's nourish, let's bless.

When they got done, when they got finished, what's the scripture say in the Bible there?

The scripture says that in verse 8, so they did eat and were, what's the word?

Oh, how many of y'all want to get filled?

Yeah.

I want to get so filled, I get, I get you ever get that sugar coma, that bread coma, you know, where you're just you're so full that you can't even do anything.

You're just laying there so blessed and you're fat and happy, you know?

Well, I bet you these people, they went from from fasting, like I don't know where it's gonna come from.

All of a sudden, their belly's like, wow, we're so full right now.

How many of y'all want to get full?

Yeah, you want to get full spiritually, mentally, emotionally, relationally, financially.

Listen, God can do that for you.

He is a filling God.

He says, Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

Now, how much of y'all want to get filled?

Open your mouth, go, ah, ah, ah, ah.

Come on, let me see it.

Let me see you do it.

Let's see it.

I want to see it.

See, our issues, listen, don't walk around upset going, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.

No, open that sucker up, right?

And be like the Pac-Man.

I'm ready to eat some of those cherries and all that good stuff.

Listen, God wants to bless you.

And he's led you through a season of fasting, of loss, of insecurity through your zeal, which was good, so that he can magnify his power and his strength in your life.

God wants you to be full.

Amen.

He's gonna fill you.

That's why the Bible says, be not drunk with wine, we're in his excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

I'm telling you, today, Jesus loves you.

Jesus cares about you.

You look here, he's caring for people.

And so today, let's go out full.

Let's go out spiritually full with hope, with anticipation, with realizing, okay, how do we solve these problems?

We're gonna break it down one small piece at a time.

We're gonna use what we got, we're gonna organize the people and the problems, we're gonna team up, and we're gonna give out the solution one at a time.

You can do this.

You can do this.

Turn to your neighbor and say, You can do this.

Yeah, yeah.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.