Caring for the Sheep (Phil Hamm)

Last week we learned that obedience and leadership cost

John the Baptist his life. On the other hand, Jesus sent

out his disciples with very little.

They were material sacrifices that they had to make, and I'm

sure that the disciples were ready for a break after

travelling to towns and villages around Capernaum doing their

ministry. They were physically,

emotionally and spiritually depleted.

So Jesus wanted to give them, wanted them to go on a retreat

to a quiet, desolate place across the Sea of Galilee.

Now, the Sea of Galilee is about 19 kilometers long and at the

widest place it's 11 kilometers wide.

It would fit into Pigeon Bay. Everybody know where Pigeon Bay

is. It's it comes from Colchester to

Point Peely. That area in there is Pigeon

Bay. And so the Sea of Galilee would

fit into that area. Just to kind of give you a local

perspective on that. It's not very big and sometimes

it's about it's seen a valley and sometimes the winds come

down from the hills and the surface gets pretty rough and

very rough and WAVY. Let's take a look from our

passage this morning and we'll begin reading in Mark Chapter 6,

Mark 6 · chapter mention

Mark 6. And we're going to start, we're

going to overlap a little bit from last week.

We're going to start in verse 31 to get the context a little bit

here. And we'll read verse 34

initially here. And as we go through, we will

read the little different sections and explain a little

bit more about them. So I'm going to be using the new

King James here on the screen. So looking at verse 31 of Mark

Mark 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6. And he said to them, come aside,

buy yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while, for

there are There were many coming and going, and they didn't even

have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted

place in the boat by themselves. But the multitude saw them

departing, and many knew him and ran there on foot from all the

cities. They arrived before them and

came together to him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw

the great multitude and was moved with compassion for them,

because they were like sheep, not having a shepherd.

So he began to teach them many things to try to escape the

crowd. They had gotten into a boat that

would hold the 13 plus people and headed across the lake.

Back in 1986, because of a drought, a fishing boat from the

1st century was discovered on the western shore of the Sea of

Galilee. It is believed to be like the

fishing boats that Peter and James and John and Andrew had

used. The remains of the boat are 27

feet long. They're it's about 7 1/2 feet

wide and it could be rowed by 4 rowers and it also had a mast

for sale. So it was important for Jesus to

get away and to be able to relax and rebuild.

It's also important for us sometimes to take that time to

rebuild emotionally and spiritual.

However, when the boat landed on the shore, there were thousands

of people who had been watching them go in the boat across the

lake, and they went along the shore.

They raced along the paths along the shore and got to where Jesus

was going to land before he even got there.

So much for a place of solitude, so much for rest.

It's not going to happen. So when you see a crowd, what do

you see? When Jesus saw the crowd, he had

compassion. Jesus didn't brush off the

crowds. Instead, he capitalized on the

opportunity to teach them. On that grassy hillside.

Christ saw the crowds as sheep who needed protection and needed

feeding. He sensed the hopeless feelings

that and he brought hope. He sensed their spiritual needs

and showed them how they could be transformed.

He taught them long into the afternoon.

I think some of us would get a little bit upset if we had to go

more than an hour here this morning, but these people were

sitting there listening to Jesus for hours.

You know, sometimes just when you think you have time for

rest, there's a new challenge in life.

I'm sure that some of you experienced a time when things

were really rough. The kids have just finished

their exams and they're getting ready to go off for summer.

And some of the. I'm sure we'd like to work but

don't have any jobs. And it's all that tension that's

there. And maybe you're struggling

financially and wondering where you are going to get the money

for your next purchase or for the rent or something.

Maybe you volunteered here to help in DBS or summer Sunday

school and you're wondering how are you going to be able to get

everything done? Moms are sometimes exhausted.

What happens when a child gets sick keeps you up all night and

then you have a dozen responsibilities the next day?

Your hubby, you have to get them off to work.

You have to get the other kids off to school.

You might have to get to work yourself, either at home or in a

workplace. There's no rest.

Life can be a real challenge sometimes, but Jesus is there

with compassion. Moving on to verse 35 when the

day was now far spent, Jesus's disciples came to him and said

this is a deserted place. Duh.

That's where we were going to a deserted place.

Obvious right? Well, and the hours late send

them away, that they may go to the surrounding country and

villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to

eat. But he answered them, You give

them something to eat. And they said to him, Shall we

go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to

eat? But he said to them, How many

loaves do you have? Go and see.

And when they found out, they said five and two fish.

Then he commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on

the grass. So they sat down in ranks in

hundreds and in 50s. And when he had taken the five

loaves and two fish, he looked up to heaven.

He blessed and broke the loaves, and he gave them to his

disciples to set before them. And the two fish he divided them

among all, so they all ate and were filled.

And he took up 12 baskets full of fragments and a fish.

Now those who had eaten the loaves were about 5000 men.

So after a day of Jesus teaching, disciples were getting

tired of the multitudes and they were hungry.

As we began our story in verse 31, they had not had a decent

meal themselves as there had been so many people around that

they did not have time to eat and today had been no better.

Their solution for supper was to send all the people away to get

their own food. Even if it was possible for the

people to go and buy bread to get their own food at that time

of day, it would have taken a pretty good sized bakery to have

baked enough bread to feed maybe 10 to 15,000 people.

Jesus on the other hand challenged his disciples to feed

the crowd. The response was that would take

200 denarii to feed all the people if they could find a

place to buy it. One denarius is about one day's

labor. So if we kind of figure out what

that would have cost, well, the minimum wage is what, 1750 or

somewhere around there and, and you got 8 hours in a day.

So do the math. What does that come out to?

Well, I I did the math, it comes out to about $27,500.

For them, it was an impossibility.

But notice that their focus on is on materialism, right?

On the materialistic part, and they have no vision of the

supernatural that God might bring to them.

So Jesus extends the next challenge to them.

How much food is there out there?

So the disciples combed through the crowd, trying to find

something to eat. All they could find in that that

throng of people is 5 rolls and two small dried fish.

So Jesus prayed, he blessed the barley buns and then divided

them to be distributed, disciples distributed to the

groups that were seated on the hillside.

And when everybody was stuffed, there was still leftovers.

We're having a potluck after and everybody here is welcome to

come back at 12:00-ish and join us in the gym for food.

And I'm sure there's going to be a few leftovers as well

afterwards, so feel free to come, there's going to be a lot

there. So what does Jesus do?

He makes sure that nothing gets thrown out, but rather he

collects the bread and the fish fragments and there was about 12

baskets full. Jesus does not want to be

wasteful. Just think about this story next

time there are leftovers and you're ready to throw them into

the garbage. Here we see there was abundance.

It wasn't just enough food to feed the crowd of 505,000 men

plus women and children, I'm sure.

But here's a crowd that's fully satisfied, not only spiritually

from Jesus's wonderful teaching, but now from the food, the

feast, the food they just had. Jesus had created abundance 12

baskets extra to share at a later meal.

This was a very simple meal. I'm sure our meal is going to be

a lot more elaborate than this. And the feast of the Lamb, which

we will experience in heaven with him, will be fabulous as

well. Here in this passage, we see

that there's a reflection of God's provision for the people.

Jesus really didn't need the bread and the fish.

Like the children of Israel on the way to the Promised Land,

Jesus could have provided food for the multitudes that had

followed him without any of the bread and fish.

But he did it because it was a small boy, a young lad that was

willing to share with the multitude.

So what do we have to offer Jesus and His Kingdom that He

can use and multiply? Would you part with it and give

it to Jesus as we continue on in Matthew chapter or Mark 6?

Sorry, verse 45. It says immediately He made his

disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other

side, to the side of where He sent the while.

He sent the multitude away, and when He had sent them away, He

departed to the mountain to pray.

Now when the evening came, the boat was in the middle of the

sea, and He, Jesus, was alone on the land.

Then He saw them straining at the at rowing, for the wind was

against them. Now about the fourth watch of

the night He came to them walking on the sea, and would

have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on

the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out, for they

all saw him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with

them, and said to them, Be of good cheer it is, I do not be

afraid. Then he went up into the boat to

them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in

themselves beyond measure, and marvelled.

But they had not understood about the loaves because their

hearts were hardened. So here we see Jesus getting the

disciples off into the boat. It sounds like it was quite a a

sudden movement for that. And I'm wondering if possibly

the weatherman recognized that there was going to be a strong

windstorm. And Jesus sent his disciples off

into the boat before darkness had set in around 6:00 in the

evening. Then Jesus dispersed the

multitude to their own homes. Now Jesus had finally had time

to spend with his Father, rejuvenating his Spirit and

receiving guidance for the ministry ahead.

He went to a private place up on the mountain to spend time with

his Father. When things get busy, do you set

aside time for God or is he the last one on your schedule?

Up on the mountainside, Jesus was also able to see his

disciples battling the storm. Mark says that he saw them 9

hours later screening trying to get the boat to their

destination. How do we know it was 9 hours

later? Well, the night was divided into

3 hour watches and this was the 4th hour.

So it was sometime around 3:00 to 3:00 AM to to 6:00 AM in the

morning that Jesus was looking out and here with the disciples.

They hadn't made it there. They should have made it in

maybe 1/2 an hour or most an hour.

So this was very difficult for them.

So Jesus headed across the water to do what no natural man could

do, to walk on the water. Well, I tried my hand at walking

on the water one time, but I had a couple of floats that I could

walk on. I couldn't do it supernaturally.

I'm sorry. When Jesus got to the boat, they

didn't recognize him. He thought Jesus was some kind

of a ghost or spirit. He called out to them, do not be

afraid, have courage in his eye, do not be afraid.

Then he went up to them and hopped in the boat with them,

and the wind stopped and the lake became calm.

When you experience the storms of life, do you try to get into

trouble by yourself or do you turn to Jesus and call on Him to

calm the storm in your life? Continue on in Mark 6 verse 53

Mark 6:53

when they had crossed over. They came to the land of

Geneserat and anchored there, and when they came out of the

boat, immediately the people recognized him, ran throughout

the whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds

those who were sick to wherever they heard that he was.

Wherever he entered into villages, cities, or the

country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him

that he might just touch the hem of his guard, that they might

just touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched

him. They were were made were they

were made well. After the storm, disciples and

Jesus finished crossing from beside a on the east side of

Galilee, Sea of Galilee to Genesaret on the West side just

below Capernaum. When the people recognized the

miracle worker, they began to bring sick people to wherever

Jesus was teaching and working. Jesus travelled around the

region and people brought their sick to the marketplaces.

Now the marketplaces were not only places of trade and

commerce in the 1st century great Roman world.

They were places of discussion and dialogue.

They were places of judgement and they were places for idle

people and those who were seeking work, places for

children to play. If any of you've been down to

Mexico, some of those towns in Mexico, you, you have the, the

big church in the background in the front.

You have the courtyard and people come there and gather and

sit around and sometimes there's markets nearby and, and food

stalls. And we, we've been, I've had the

opportunity to go to Guadalajara and, and to Mexico City.

And, and that's kind of the way the layout is.

There's these marketplaces that are there for people to spend

time at. So as Jesus passed by the people

on their beds around the marketplace, they reached out

and touched the hem of his robe and were healed.

Just as we had learned about the woman who had that issue, she

had touched Jesus and was healed.

So these people also received healing from Jesus.

So what are the things we can learn from this passage?

Number one, do we have a place of solitude?

It might be your bedroom. It might be on the deck or a

balcony. It might be in the backyard, at

the beach, or in the woods. Sometimes we can't get the

solitude when we want it, but Jesus was able to finally spend

time with His Father. Where is your place of solitude

and rejuvenation? We all need those places.

If you don't have one, try to find a place where you can just

relax. Maybe bring your Bible and read

through the scriptures and just spend time with God.

Second lesson, What do you have to offer?

The lad had five buns and they were like when we say loaves in

Scripture, it isn't like a big loaf of bread.

A little kid wouldn't be bringing 5 loaves of bread to,

you know, to a desert place. He was taking little rolls and

two small fish, dried, probably salted fish that were famous in

that area. And so this is what Jesus used.

It wasn't much, there were 5000 plus people there.

Wow. So like the young lad who gave

up his meal for Jesus to do a miracle.

What little bit can you offer? What does God want to do with

the little that we have to offer?

God multiplies it. Just this morning I want to

share a little bit how God provides in my life, how He's

provided so bountifully in my life.

Both Lydia and my wife and I were raised in godly homes and

have godly grandparents. We met at a Bible school in

British Columbia and both had gone.

Both of us had gone to receive a solid Bible training and we

discovered each other on a hayride.

We both had felt the call of God on our lives and we had already

served in the church and and summer ministries.

Then after graduating and getting married, we worked in

several years. I worked in the computer

industry for a couple years and we were at a youth retreat with

our our youth and in Banff, and we were offered an opportunity

to serve the Lord in Japan. At the end of that time in

Japan, we felt God calling us to serve and so we look forward to

serving him more in Japan. But we were asked to go to

seminary for three years. Why can't I get back there right

away? Frustrating for me a little bit,

but we went to seminary and we were broke and we didn't know

how how God would provide for us.

But we applied anyways and, and we were accepted and we went

well. Three years later, I was able to

graduate and we had no debt and $100 in the bank God had

provided the whole time and we were ready to go back to Japan.

But then they said, well, we want you to get some pastoral

experience. So we just got settled into our

new pastoral position in Aurelia and and Lydia experienced a

thyroid condition that not if it had not been diagnosed in time

would have led to her being going going home to be with the

Lord early, leaving me with three boys to raise.

What a miracle to have a Christian Doctor Who had

experienced a similar condition could identify exactly what it

was and treat Lydia. Since the Japanese doctors

probably would not have diagnostic because Japanese

don't have these thyroid conditions in their country.

So they would not have been able to diagnose the problem and it

would have been LED led to some serious issues.

God had us at the right place at the right time, and God provided

abundantly as we served him in Irelia and then as well in Japan

for five years. And at that point, our oldest

was in going into grade 10 and needed to get into a English

speaking high school, which didn't exist in Hiroshima.

We were where we were church planting.

So we came back home retail resettling took some time and at

one point in this journey we were back down to 100 bucks in

the bank and we had a mortgage payment due.

But God provided. And we have enjoyed the abundant

life which He has promised. Since God allowed us to receive

ministry experience and seminary training, we felt that we wanted

to finish our life serving God full time.

So at 60 years old, I went back to full time service in Japan

for two years. And God continues to bless us

abundantly, providing more than we can ask or think.

So if anyone is ever hesitating to serve God because they fear

material poverty, let me say that with careful stewardship,

our bank account is almost the same as it was 16 years ago when

I retired. In our house, well, you know

what housing costs are like. The value is doubled.

So our net worth is far more than when we felt it was

necessary just to go and serve the Lord.

God continues to pour out his blessings so we can be generous

to others. You know, we have a problem in

our garden. Yeah, we have too much lettuce,

so if someone wants to help us out, there's some extra lettuce

in the kitchen after the potluck, you can take it home

with you. God is so good to us in so many

little ways. We see His hand of of provision

for us. It's so exciting.

So just give the little bit that you've got and He will provide

the rest. The Third Point we want to raise

is what do we fear? What are the storms that you've

been battling and how can we here at LEMC help you and bring

peace to your heart? The worst fear that many people

have is sharing their worst fear.

If you don't, Satan can keep you bound.

God wants you to be liberated and healed from your past.

Bring those storms that you've got to God and to godly

counselors. Call on Jesus and He will calm

your storm and He will bring healing to your heart.

What healing do you need for your soul and your body?

We had a wake up call a little about 5 weeks ago.

Again, God put us in the right spot at the right time.

We are in the ER and Lydia had chest pains.

She had gone just for a checkup. Sorry emergency room not not OK,

And so we had about 11 O clock at night.

She started to get these chest pains and so the doctor looked

at her and says you got to get into Windsor.

And so he called up Windsor and they had somebody waiting for

her. After she had a wonderful ride

with sirens blazing and lights flashing all the way up to

Windsor, they got her there and I put a couple stents into her

and she's doing much better. She'll be here for second

service. So God looks after us.

He allows us to be at the right spot at the right time if we're

willing to listen to His voice. We want to give God all the

glory for all the blessings that we continue to receive from Him

and from His people. There are others that need

healing. In our prayer times between the

Sunday morning services now or Wednesday nights, we pray for

those who need God's healing touch.

Come on and join us. We will pray for people who have

no needs. You know, as we apply this

passage to our lives, God will bring us joy and blessing, and

in turn, many people will be blessed and give God glory.

Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, you are a great

God. We have so much to be thankful

for. As we see from this passage, we

need to give ourselves the little bit that we have and

share it with others and you will multiply it.

We also see that you bring healing to our lives and you

calm our storms. Help us to rely on You.

May you touch our lives, and may we experience your faithfulness.

Thank you. Amen.