Mark 6:30-56 || The Book of Mark || Pastor Sanaz Mesa

I am so I love looking around and seeing so many people continuing to come

on these Wednesday nights. As we go through the Book of Mark, there's

something that's so special when you go in chronological order in the Gospels, because

you truly can understand the character of who Jesus is. And as Christians,

that's what we're striving to have. We're striving to have the character that Jesus

teaches us in the Gospels. And you know, it's really great every once

in a while when we get a sermon specifically on one story or just a

couple of verses, and there's so much meat that we can get from that.

But when you see the pattern and the ebb and the flow of Jesus's

ministry, it teaches us so much more than that. And the Book of

Mark is exceptional because it's very black and white, it's very matter of fact.

He just kind of says exactly what happens, and it leaves us to

just really figure out who Jesus is. Like Pastor Aaron always says, it

really causes us to squeeze the scriptures and try to figure out what it is

that Jesus wants us to learn. Well, tonight we're going to be in

Mark chapter six, and I get the honor of doing the second half of

Mark chapter six. And if you were here last week, Gabe did such

an amazing job at really setting up where the mindset of Jesus and the disciples

were. He talked about the rejection that Jesus experienced and how that affected Jesus

and how it affected the disciples. When Jesus was rejected in his hometown,

then he goes and he sends out his disciples two by two, and he

sends them on their missions trips to go preach the gospel. It says that

he gave them the authority to go and do what Jesus does, so they

were able to do things. They were able to heal people, and so

they had the opportunity to do that. But how many of you know that

you get a hundred, thank yous and a hundred this is amazing what you're

doing. But one person who just doesn't believe in you, that seems a

little bit louder in your ear. Everything could be going right, but the

one thing that goes wrong really makes everything go wrong. Well, of course

they experienced that when they were out there preaching the gospel, because not everybody,

as you know, if you're somebody who is a true Christian and you're

out there trying to save people, I'm currently really really fighting for people that

I love to find Jesus and those sting way more than the great times where

I get to stand up here and sometimes save people and bring people to Jesus.

The ones that reject hurt the most. And then on top of that,

he talked about how John the Baptist was brutally murdered and with Jesus's attention

being at an all time high at this time, that really started to affect

the disciples. Where they're going to be next? Was the attention going to

be on them? How is everything going to go? So this sort of

sets up the mindset of the disciples in particular. But the second half of

Mark chapter six goes through three actions of Jesus. Jesus feeds, Jesus walks,

and Jesus heals. Jesus feeds the five thousand, Jesus walks on water,

and Jesus heals at the sick people in Gannessaret. But what we learn

through these actions is that he shows us three proofs of his character. Through

Jesus feeds, he shows us his provision. When Jesus walks, he shows

us his presence, and when Jesus heals, he shows us his power.

So we're going to go through that tonight. So let's pray and then we

can open up the scripture. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this opportunity

tonight. I thank you that through the actions of Jesus that we can learn

to be like Jesus, that we can learn to have the character of Jesus,

that we can strive to be better every single day. We thank you

that we have an opportunity to read this word together and to walk through this

life of Jesus that he had move me out of the way. God,

talk to your children tonight in Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Well,

if you have your Bible or if you have your journal, go ahead

and open it up to mark chapter six. We're going to start in verse

thirty. We're only going to stand for the first part of this and then

I'll have you sit. But we're going to read the story of Jesus Feeds

the five thousand. So if you don't mind standing to your feet or the

honor of reading God's word. And if you have a pen or a highlighter,

there are a few words that I am going to ask you to circle

or highlight, because those are the words that we are going to focus on

in this story. So, starting in verse thirty, it says the apostles

returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And

he said to them, come away by yourself to a desolate place and rest

a while. Circle the word rest, for many were coming and going,

and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the

boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognize

them. They ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead

of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and

he had compassion on them, circle compassion because they were like sheep without a

shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew

late, his disciples came to him and said, this is a desolate place,

and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the

surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them,

you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall

we go and buy two hundred dinari worth of bread and give it to them

to eat? And he said to them, how many loaves do you have?

Go and see, And when they had found out, they said five

and two fish. Then he commanded them to sit down in groups on the

green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties,

And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven,

said a blessing, and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples

to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all,

and they all ate and were satisfied, circle satisfied, And they took

up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who

ate the loaves were five thousand men. You may be seated. So right

before this, or right at the beginning, the apostles had just returned from

their mission's trip, and so now Jesus wants to debrief with them, and

they're telling them about all that they had done, all that they had seen.

But Jesus knows his disciples, he knows that there is something heavy on

their heart based off of what had just happened. John the Baptist just died.

They had just been rejected at some points in their mission trip, and

then they had seen Jesus be rejected. So even though they're saying, oh,

it was great, and they were giving the account and then the report

and saying this, many people were healed. This, many people accepted Jesus,

and they were going and going and going. The first thing that Jesus

says in verse thirty one is come away by yourself to a desolate place and

rest a while. The first thing that Jesus provides, because remember Jesus feeds

shows us his provision. His first provision is rest. He gives us rest.

Rest is important to God. God rested. In fact, in Exodus

twenty verse eight, it says, remember the Sabbath by keeping it holy.

It is a commandment of God to rest. Jesus understood that even though his

disciples were coming back and giving the reports that they believed that Jesus wanted to

hear, he understood and heard the cries of his disciples that they still had

some issues going on, some burdens going on. And in Matthew eleven twenty

eight, it says, come to me, all who are weary and burden,

and I will give you rest. It's a provision of his you know,

I don't find it to be a coincidence. I don't think anything's a

coincidence in the Bible. I think it's all revelation if you really really dig

deep and find it. But it's it's so interesting to me that they feed

the fifth on bread because if you've ever made bread, there's a very interesting

way that you make but it's very Every bread is made the same way in

this way. But you start off with your dough, and when you have

your dough, there's a lot of molding that takes place. They're stretching that

takes place, there's forming that takes place. But then everyone forgets. The

most important part is that it has to rest because when it rests, then

the territory is expanded. It's much bigger, and not only does it feed

yourself, but it has the opportunity to feed other people. It's only in

the time that we rest that we can rise. So when we sit and

we wonder why we're grinding and grinding and grinding, why things aren't happening,

it's because God has given you an opportunity to say, sit down and rest

a while, and it is important for everyone to accept the provision of rest.

And what he does is he sends the disciples with him on a four

mile boat ride to this desolate place. They rest on the way. Well,

what happens is there's an interruption. People see them leaving and they run.

So imagine they're going four miles on the sea and the people see and

they run around on land. It's four miles. It might be six seven,

eight miles by the time they run to where they are. So when

they get to this desolate place where they're going to rest, surprise me and

five thousand of my friends are here to see Jesus. It was an interruption.

But what is the second thing that Jesus provides for us? He provides

compassion. And he provides compassion in the form of a shepherd. It says

that he had compassion over them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

He showed up to this place and he saw these people who needed a shepherd.

So what did he do. He didn't pull out a big miracle.

The miracle would happen later. He sat and he shepherded these people. He

sat and he talked to them. He sat and he got to know them.

He sat and he listened to their stories. He sat and he taught

them all the good news about who he was and how he was going to

save them. He came with compassion. He provided compassion in the form of

a shepherd. That is so great he provided himself. But see, this

is what happened. Jesus was not in a rush. He wasn't in a

rush at all. He was in a sweet spot. This is what he

loved to do. He loved to sit and talk with people. But what

happened is the disciples were in a little bit of a rush. They were

being a bit selfish, and they said, hey, Jesus, it's getting

a little bit dark. Now, don't you think that you should send everybody

away so that they can go eat. They were trying to kick all these

people out when they were in the moment where they were receiving Jesus because they

were uneasy. So Jesus turns to them and say, you give them something

to eat. And because they were not in the spiritual place that they should

have been, they started thinking mathematically and they started trying to figure it out.

In the natural. All right, Well, if we take two hundred

dinari and then we go over to this town, then what we can do

is we can bring the bed, and we buy the bread and bring the

bread. And Jesus said, no, what do you have? And don't

forget Geesus is that he is the bread of life. So when we talk

about that, he brings himself. He is the shepherd he brings because he

is the bread of life. But when they go and they get the five

loaves and the two fish, he takes the five loaves, he takes the

two fish. He blesses it, and he starts breaking it, and he

gives it to the disciples. He lines everybody up, groups of fifteen hundreds,

and he begins to pass out to the disciples. The disciples are a

part of the miracle. They are watching it with their own eyes. They

have seen other miracles happen, and they're going through the motions. After Jesus

had told them, you help, you give him something to eat. But

when Jesus would touch the bread, when Jesus blessed the bread, and when

he pointed it to heaven, it says that they were all in Verse forty

two, they all ate and were satisfied. The third provision of Jesus is

that he gives us more than enough. There was twelve baskets left over.

And I don't know if this was like a stick it to you to the

disciples to say, listen, each one of you get a basket to go.

Let me show you what a miracle worker I am. You know,

but it's so important to understand that Jesus gave us rest, and he gave

us himself, and through that we have everything we need and more. This

is what Jesus provides in the story of the Feeding of the five thousand.

So what can we learn from it? Accept the provision, accept the rest.

When he tells you to sit down, take a break, you don't

have to keep doing things on your own. Understanding you can rest in me.

I will give you that rest. Accept the Shepherd, allow him to

guide you, Allow him to be your savior. Walk life with him.

These people were there and sitting. They were not in a rush, and

they were not asking for a miracle. They were not asking for the feeding.

They didn't say that they were hungry. They were simply sitting and leaned

into what Jesus was saying. But the disciples were the ones that had the

problem. And lastly, just know that in Jesus you have everything you need.

In more, you have more than enough, because he is a god

that is a provider. Let's keep reading. In Jesus Walks, in verse

forty five, it says immediately he I love. When he says immediately,

anyways, immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him

to the other side to bethseta while he dismissed the crowd, and after he

had taken leave of them, he went up to the mountain to pray.

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea and he was

alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully,

for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night

he came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them,

but when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was

a ghost and cried out. For they all saw him and were terrified,

circle terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, take heart,

it is I do not be afraid, circle afraid. And he got into

the boat with them, and the wind ceased, and they were utterly astounded,

Circle astounded for they did not understand about the loaves. But their hearts

were hardened. Circle hearts were hardened. So when Jesus walks he shows us

his presence. It says that immediately he puts them on a boat to go,

but he stayed back. He stayed back because he doesn't walk out in

the middle of an ultar call. Nobody else here walks out in the middle

of an ultra call either. I know that. But he sent them on

the boat. And he probably sent them on the boat because they needed to

get that rest that they didn't get because they still haven't figured out how to

not be uneasy. So he sent them out. He finished up, and

then he said goodbye to everybody he prayed for whoever needed to be prayed for,

and then he went up to the mountain to pray. And it says

the fourth watch of the night, that's about three to six am, so

it's very very late. It started to get very windy, and the boat

was just not moving because they were going against the wind current, so it

wasn't going where it needed to go. And Jesus decides that he's just gonna

walk. He's going to walk on the water and he's gonna see them later.

And he says he wasn't even walking towards the boat, he was just

walking past the boat like and so. But when he was walking past the

boat, says that the disciples were terrified because they thought that they had seen

a ghost. The disciples had just seen because it says immediately, which means

this literally. Remember the feeding of the five thousand happened after the sun went

down because it was getting dark, and then that's when they said, go

find something to eat. So they had gone on the boat. It was

still that same night. They had just seen probably the most public miracle that

he had performed. They'd just seen it. They were able to perform miracles

by they had the authority to perform miracles themselves. They had seen Jesus do

this over and over again. Yet when he was there walking on the water,

I thought it was a ghost. They were terrified, and he said,

do not be afraid. It is I. And so he got into

the boat and the wind ceased, and then they were exposed. Because it

says that they didn't understand the low about the loaves, and their hearts were

hardened. The disciples after all they had seen and all they had done still

had hardened hearts. If we can be honest tonight, how many of us

have ever been to a place where we have seen Jesus do actual miracles in

our life, save us from things that we should not have been saved from,

protect us from things that we were doing ourselves, over and over and

over again. But then all of a sudden, we are in a circumstance.

We are on a boat in the middle of a windy season, and

we are terrified because we don't see Jesus. It happens. But Deuteronomy thirty

one six says, be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or terrified

because of them. For the Lord your God goes with you. He will

never leave you nor forsake you. Jesus's presence is always with you. Even

if he's on land and you're on ocean, Jesus is still with you.

Jesus is with you when he's on the water and you're in the boat.

It's not only when Jesus is in the boat with you. Jesus is always

with you. Exodus thirty three fourteen says, my presence will go with you,

and I will give you rest. We talked about rest. He will

give you rest, but his presence goes with you everywhere you go. Jesus

is present when you're terrified, afraid, you're astounded, when you don't understand.

When your heart is hardened, Jesus is still present. But the presence

of your hardened heart is in the absence of your belief in Jesus's presence.

I'm gonna say that again because I don't think you heard me. Sorry,

I got along. The presence of your heart and heart is in the absence

that you believe that Jesus is with you. If your heart is hardened today,

I want to encourage you. Jesus is with you. Jesus is in

you. Jesus will never leave you, and he will never forsake you.

I want to tell you about a couple of characters who live in my house.

We have a little baby named Gigi. Now Gigi is the giraffe.

Okay, Lorenzo's the baby, but Gigi, So it's jeff read the giraffe

from toys rs. But Lorenzo has had that giraffe ever since he was a

baby, so he couldn't say Jeffrey. So he called him. Gigi,

well, Gigi, he sleeps with at Lorenzo every single night. When he

was teething, Gigi would give him comfort. When he's upset, he wants

Gigi. Mama is nothing compared to Gigigigi comes on vacation with us. He

sits on the airplane seat right next to Lorenzo. Gigi is his best friend.

Another character in my house is Bruno. Now, Bruno is a cute

thing, but he's a peppy so pray for us. So Friday night,

we come home from Lorenzo's football game and he goes to take a shower,

and then at nighttime he goes to grab Gigi and I just hear him saying,

oh, no, Bruno ate his tail. Yeah, Bruno. Bruno

had Gig in his mouth, and Bruno ate the whole tail off. Tail

was gone. Gigi was different. He was so upset. And if you've

ever this is this was this was This was a very I don't know how.

I didn't know how we would ever come back from Gigi and not having

a tail, But here we are. Well. A few minutes later,

I go to kiss Lorenzo good night, and I look in his bed and

I said, well, where's Gigi? And he said, Gigi's in the

trash can, And I said, excuse me. So I went into the

trash can and I pulled Gig out and I sat with him, and I

said, have you forgotten every time that Gigi has been with you when you

needed him? Have you forgotten every time he has comforted you in your time

of need? Every time you were in pain, Gigi was there for you.

But because he doesn't look like what you think he should look like,

you're willing to throw him in the trash. And some of us might be

in a season, and that we forget what Jesus has done for us,

what pit Jesus has pulled us out of, what situation Jesus has freed us

from? All? Because it doesn't look exactly like we had expected. Maybe

we prayed for something, Jesus didn't give it to this all. There's his

tail all missing. But maybe Jesus gave you something that was better for you.

But because it wasn't the way that you look, wanted it to look

like you're ready to throw Jesus in the trash. And that is not how

it should be. Because Jesus is with you. Jesus is for you.

Jesus knows better than you, just like he knew these disciples. He understood

that there was something going on with the disciples that they didn't even understand was

going on. Because that's how in tune he is, because he is our

savior, and he is present, and he is with you, and he

knows us, and he knows what's good for us. So remember that Jesus's

presence is for us, it's not against us. Let's keep reading. We

learned through Jesus' feeds that he shows us what he shows his provision. We

learned in Jesus' when Jesus walks, he showed us his presence, and when

Jesus heals, he shows us his power. Here's what's so cool about this

story. Oh, let me read it first and then we can talk about

it. Okay. Jesus heals the sick in ganessat verse fifty three. When

they had crossed over, they came to the land at Ginnessaret and moored to

the shore, and when they got out of the boat, the people immediately

recognized him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people

on their beds to wherever they heard he was, and wherever he came in

villages and cities or countrysides, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored

him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment, and as many

as touched it were made well. This is why it's so important to go

through the Book of Mark and chronological order, because the two stories that we

had just heard about were very common stories. You've probably heard those stories before.

It's a very popular story. The Feeding of the five thousand and walking

on Water. People don't know this story. It's only three verses. People

sort of skip by it. But there's something huge happening here. When we

understand the context of where we are, we are still dealing with the hearts

of the disciples, and we cross over and we go to Ganessaret, and

the people had seen Jesus, and they went and got all their sick people,

and they put them on gurneys, and they drug him over to wherever

Jesus was gonna be. And it says, listen. It doesn't say that

Jesus started laying hands on people and healing them. It says that they implored

him that they might they might touch even the fringe of his garment, and

as many as touched it were made well. I love when the Bible says

made well, because he says it a lot. And it takes me back

to the chapter before, in Mark chapter five, when the woman with the

issue of blood, pastor Aaron preached on that last month, the woman of

the issue of blood, she wrestled through the crowd, crawling through the crowd,

just so that she could touch the hem of his garment, the pieces

of string that are falling off of his clothes. And it said that power

left his body. And she said you and he said to her, you

have been made well. And then I think about the man who was healed

at the Pool of Bethesda when Jesus says, do you even want to be

made well? Because he was full of excuses, and he says, then

get up. You see, there's an action to getting made well. There

is an action that happens in order for us to be made well. See,

these sick people would lay on the gurneys, and it was up to

the sick people to reach and grab Jesus. If they didn't reach and grab

Jesus, they were not going to get their healing. It is an act

of faith that they had to do to get their healing. It is an

act of faith to receive the power of Jesus. Jesus's power is activated when

we get the action of reaching out to touch him. If we don't reach

to Jesus, if we're not constantly going towards Jesus, the Bible says,

drawn near to me, and I will draw near to you. If we

are not constantly drawing towards Jesus, if we are not constantly in a posture

that is pointed towards Jesus, if we are not constantly reaching out to the

vision that Jesus has for our life, then we will never receive the power

that He has for us in our life. We have to constantly be in

the posture. It had to be done by the people. We learn that

Jesus could perform miracle after miracle. He could perform the miracle in front of

his closest people. It took a bunch of sick people to show the disciples

what faith looks like. The people that were the closest to Jesus were missing

the mark. And it took people who couldn't even walk simply by reaching out

and grabbing the scraps off of his garment when they receive their power. That

is what was able to teach the disciples what their posture should be like.

So I want to ask you, what is your posture like? Through these

actions that we learned about Jesus and we learned about his presence, and we

learned about his provision, and we learn about his power. Jesus has the

power, but there's an action. So I want to ask tonight the biggest

act of faith, the biggest action of faith is by saying I want Jesus

as my Lord and my savior. That is the biggest one. Jesus gives

it to us. But just like with the provision, we have to accept

it, and just like the power, we have to be the ones to

initiate it. I told you about Gigi. Well, Gig looks kind of

beat down. I think I have a picture of what I mean. You

saw a couple of pictures of GG looks like he's been through some things.

Well, like a good mom. You know, I have a spear,

right, because you can't not have a spear. But I want to tell

you some of us we'll bring Gig back. Some of us feel like that

right now, we feel beat up, We feel like our tail has been

cut off, we feel like we have been battered and bruised. But Jesus

restores us. Jesus restores us brand new, tail and all, because our

God is a god of restoration. Our God is a god who brings us

back and makes us whole. I don't know how broken you are. Your

your heart might look like gig right now. You might sit there and you

might say, I've just been through so much. I want to encourage you.

Jesus can make you brand new, brand new. Every scar that you

carry on the inside, every hurt that you have, everything that's been done

to you. Jesus can make you brand new. But it takes an action.

It takes an action of faith to reach out to Jesus and to say

I want you as my Lord and savior. See, Jesus died on a

cross. He died on a cross so that we can be made new and

that we can spend eternity in heaven with him. None of us, none

of us, are perfect, not a single one of us. And this

is what it takes to get into heaven. Perfection, the own that is

perfect, the only person who's ever been perfect is Jesus. So he takes

our place. And all we have to do is say I want Jesus.

So I'm gonna ask everybody to bow their heads, close their eyes, and

I'm gonna lead us in a prayer. And if you're here and you've never

accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior, but after tonight, maybe after some

moments over the weeks, however you even got here, God's been working something

in you. He's been showing you things, not just tonight, but lately

he's been showing you things of just want I want you. I want to

encourage you. Tonight's the night to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior.

And maybe you're somebody who's walked away. Maybe you're somebody who has You grew

up in church, maybe you were radically saved, but just as quick as

you were in, you kind of went out. Maybe you've been dancing the

line a little bit. There was a time I danced the line too,

So there's no judgment here. But Jesus, in a very vulnerable moment of

mine, very vulnerable moment of mine, said I want you all to myself.

I want you to be with me. And I accepted that call,

and I never looked back. And Jesus has greatly blessed me, greatly blessed

me, And it all came from a moment where I reached out for Jesus.

So we're going to come back to Jesus tonight. If you're somebody who

wants to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior for the first time, or

you want to recommit your life to Jesus, I'm going to ask you.

I'm going to count to three. I'm going to ask you to raise your

hands. No one's looking, but it is a bold act of faith to

raise your hand. It's a reaching. Just like the sick people in Gonnessa

had to reach to get their power. We have to reach up and proclaim

Jesus. So I'm going to ask you, on the count of three to

raise your hand if you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and savior.

One, two, three, raise your hand. Yes, Lord, thank

you so much. There's hands all over the place. You can put your

hands down. I'm going to lead you in a prayer. Everyone's going to

join us, so you're not alone, because we do things as a family.

Here say it, repeat after me. Dear Lord Jesus, I thank

you. I thank you for your provision. I thank you for your presence.

I thank you for your power. I believe that you died on a

cross and rose again for me so that I can spend eternity with you.

I promise to live the rest of my life honoring you and getting closer to

you. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.