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. 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
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
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.