In this series, Move Beyond, we are moving beyond the blockers, the barriers, whatever holds us back in our relationship with God. It's important to identify and let's obliterate those blockers together. And we're going through God's Word, as we always do. Mark chapter 6 today. If you brought a Bible, you can turn there, open it up, find it on your phone, Mark chapter 6. And we're gonna see this ministry of multiplication from Jesus. How many people feel like their sleep was multiplied last night? And it feels good. Thousands of extra seconds just to enjoy time in your bed, relaxing. For those of you who came an hour early today, you're also blessed. You're blessed to spend an extra hour in the house of the Lord. You're blessed if you slept. God multiplied in many ways. As we dive into this passage today, we're really focusing on Jesus. What did he say? What did he do? And how does that relate to us today? And we're going to see his greater plan. And hopefully we get a greater vision of who he is as well. Ultimately, this passage is about growing in our faith. Growing in our faith and relationship with the Lord. That's what this passage is about. That's what we want to dive into today. Let's pray. Father, we thank you as we gather that you are with us. You are close to the brokenhearted. You're a refuge, strength, and ever-present help in trouble. And God, you're the lifter of our heads. And Lord, we know your love includes sacrifice. We're so grateful for every veteran and families, and pray, God, that you'd comfort, strengthen them, protect any in harm's way today that are serving. And Jesus, we pray that we would see you clearer today. Our vision for you and of you would be clearer than it's ever been. Our hearts would be open, our ears would be attentive. God, we would be teachable and we would grow in our faith together. And we commit this to you in Jesus' name, amen. The Bible is filled with logic, solid principles, and also reasoning. You see that throughout Scripture. God is in that. And today we have access to data, best practices, research. Wherever there's truth, God is in the truth. And he's in logic. When you open up the pages of the Bible, you read, you reap what you sow. That is a solid principle, not just agriculturally, but in life. You read in the Bible to measure the cost before you build. That is God's wisdom. That's God's logic. There's relational principles, like be quick to listen, slow to speak. God is in the logic. He's in the principles. I want to firmly establish and affirm that today, because we're going to go into another realm. We're gonna go into a realm beyond logic. God is both in the logic and he moves beyond the logic. It is a both and in scripture. And in our faith, we wanna make sure it's a both and. Now, what I'm not doing is writing a blank check so that any bad idea, illogical idea this week, you can just say, well, pastor said illogical, God's in it. I want it, I'm getting it. No, this is not just across the board, every illogical idea is good, but we wanna be discerning. How is God working through principles and logic and how does he move beyond logic as well? We're going to look at a passage today that's really been oversimplified. People just say, oh it's about bread and fish and multiplication and you know it's all that food and everyone can eat and You might have heard that story several times. Please don't check out. Please don't just check the box. Oh, I know this already. Oh, bad weekend to come. But instead, let's dive into this with a fresh hunger for God to grow deep. And this passage is really about our relationship with Jesus and going deep with Jesus. And the way we're going to tackle this passage is with three questions. I believe questions are powerful, and God meets us in these questions as we open up our souls to Him. And the first question, will you trust God when it just doesn't make sense initially? Have you ever been in a situation that doesn't make sense initially? And now are you in a situation? Do you have multiple situations right now that initially just doesn't make sense? That's where the disciples are in this passage and their interaction with Jesus. We're in Mark chapter 6 beginning in verse 32. So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw such a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. By this time, it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. This is a remote place, they said, and it's already very late. Send the people away so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But Jesus answered, you give them something to eat. They said to him, that would take eight months of a man's wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat? And now here's our context. Jesus has been teaching and serving and ministering and traveling. And they're looking, along with the disciples, they're looking for a place to relax. Can you relate? You ever get worn out and you just want a little space, a little quiet, a little break from the people? I just want the house all to myself. I don't want any calls. I don't want any needs. That's what Jesus and the disciples were in this passage. I just want to take a break, have a vacation, have it be a little slower for a little while. Now, Jesus is teaching well, preaching well, healing well, loving well, leading well. And when you do things well, people are gonna come to you. Because you're using the gifts that God has given to you. And people are grateful, and they see that. So they're gonna come to you. When you spend time with your craft, when you really hone in on what God's calling you to do, and you do that well, people are gonna notice, and there's gonna be opportunities. And Jesus, well, people noticed, and there was interest, and they were coming to him. And as they came to him, more people, more needs, more requests. When people come, more people come, there's more requests, there's more needs, and ultimately there's gonna be more problems because you got more people involved. And they're coming to Jesus and they're not just walking, they're running. Where's Jesus? He's heading that direction. Quick, let's get over there before he arrives. Let's run, let's get to Jesus. And I admire the spiritual hunger that they have. Oh, that we would have a hunger that we would want to run to Jesus. I appreciate the metaphor, walking with God. It's a good metaphor. Because we're not just gathering one place one day one hour to meet with God. We want to walk with Him during the week. We want to walk 24-7, live, work, learn, or play. Those settings, we want to walk with God. It's a great metaphor to walk, because we don't just want to, you know, be with Jesus and live for Him for a short stretch of a couple years, and then a couple more decades, and we're doing our own thing again. No, walking with God 24-7, our entire lives until we're in heaven, like, let's walk with God. It's a great metaphor. It's a solid metaphor. But have you ever felt like walking just doesn't cut it? Do you ever get excited about God in walking is just too mild-mannered and slow and just kind of walk walk Like no, I want to run for the Lord. I want to run in his strength. I want to run in his power I want to run to Jesus. I want to run like let's run sometimes And they're running. They're literally running because their souls are running to Jesus, so their bodies are running. When your soul's on fire, sometimes you want to run for the Lord. Because you're alive, and they're feeling alive, and more life than they've ever felt. But they're coming to Jesus and the disciples and they're kind of worn out. Jesus got tired. Jesus got hungry. And here comes all these extra people and problems and demands and requests. And what do you do at that moment during the week when it happens 10, 20, 30 times? You're tired and here comes the people and the requests. Do you ever get annoyed at the people? I heard a couple giggles, which means four people are being transparent, and the other people in this room are like, no, annoying? I've never heard of that. What would that look like? I have no idea. Annoyed? Do you raise your voice? Do you lose your patience? Like, what do you do? I mean, do you say things that you later wish you wouldn't say? Like, what is annoyed? Jesus wasn't annoyed. He had compassion. And this, in the text, is where we go, what if we saw people like Jesus sees people? He wasn't annoyed, he had compassion. Why do you have compassion? Well, because they're like sheep without a shepherd. He sees them, and he knows sheep, and sheep wander, and sheep get into dangerous places, and sheep are confused, and sheep need direction. He had compassion for them, and then he taught them. So he gave them spiritual food first, the physical food is coming, but first their souls. And he's teaching them, and he's teaching them, and now he's served for a while, and there's another problem. There's a problem to solve in this passage. Let me tell you how it works in life. You serve, serve, serve, and then there's another problem. That's how it works. If you think you serve, serve, serve, whoo, no problems. You're living in dreamland. If you think we just make it through the pandemic, whoo, and then there'll never be another problem. You're living in a lie, you know. You serve, serve, serve, and then sometimes there's even more problems than when you started serving. And here comes a problem. Let me just tell you, every day in our life, there's 99 problems. Every day in our life you could choose from 99 problems. The problems don't go away. I was telling some of my kids this week, there's going to be problems. Like life on earth, not in heaven yet, there's just problems everywhere. So what's the key? What do we do? We solve problems. What's Jesus doing? He's solving problems. The goal isn't that we're going to have some existence on earth where there's no problems. No, the goal is to abide with Jesus and walk in His power and His love and walk through those problems like He walks through those problems. And what He's doing here is teaching the disciples how to solve problems. Now, they have a lot of confidence, so they're going to tell Jesus how to solve a problem. You ever done that one? Oh, here's the problem? Savior, let me save you a little time. Here's the plan. This is what we're gonna need to do. And they've got this plan that sounds so good to them. We come up with so many plans that sound logical, they're well-intentioned, and they just look perfect. This is the perfect solution to the plan. Well, what is it? I'm sure Jesus wants to know, right? What is it? Send them away, they go to the villages, they buy the food, everyone's happy. That's go, send, buy. Okay, okay, so they're gonna go when you send and then they buy. Go, send, buy. Sounds good, doesn't it? Three steps. Why do we always like to have three things to our solutions? Go, send, buy. I just looked online, gosendbuy.com's available. Yes, we can get the website. Jesus we're gonna get some branding on this. We're gonna get the right colors, you know go stand by it's all coming together We got the bro. Here it is laid out. Here it is and Jesus just hears that and This is what he says you it's in the emphatic. I What about going and sending and buying in all the other villages?" And Jesus says, no, we're not going there. I'm not in that. We have a lot of well-intentioned solutions that sound great to the whole committee, but God's not in it. You ever been in that spot? Everyone in the room is going like, oh, sounds great, sounds logical, yep, yep, let's go with that. And God's not in it. And God's not in this. Jesus says, you, emphatic, in other words, you're gonna participate and you're gonna collaborate. Participate and collaborate. We got a lot of people these days saying, there's a problem over here, there's a problem over here, finger point there, finger point there, slander here, gossip here, do that here. And it's like, you, part of the solution. You're gonna be part of the solution. You're gonna collaborate and you're gonna participate. You're not gonna be complaining. You're not gonna be looking down on other people. You give them something to eat. now they're checking their pocketbooks, they're checking their pockets, they're checking their stash, they don't have bread saved up, and they're just thinking, again, logical, how could this ever happen? How could we do that? And some of them are a little bent towards accounting and numbers, and they're like, let me see, a denarius, that's one day's wages, 200 would do it, 200 denarii, that's over eight months wages, eight months wages just to fit this crowd and fill their stomachs. Like, are we going to spend eight months wages on that? And again, they're logical, logical, logical. And God does work in the logical in many instances, but that's not where Jesus is in this passage. So what do you do in your life when God is moving you beyond the logical and His plan and solution are something you haven't thought about? And if we're honest, something that doesn't feel good. What feels good is to send the people. What doesn't feel good is for me to participate to be part of the solution. Jesus said, you, and now their feelings, they've got some feelings they're sorting through. You got any feelings you're sorting through with God? He said some things and you got some feelings. Let me make this clear. Faith doesn't always match feelings. So turn to the person next to you and just say, with a smile, under a mask, whatever you got on, faith doesn't always match feelings. Go ahead and just say that to the person next to you, with love. Faith doesn't always match feelings. What does that mean? Sometimes you're going to want to do something and God's going to say, no, I'm not in that. And other times you don't want to do something and God's saying, that's exactly what I'm guiding you to do. And faith and feelings aren't always going to be aligned. So how do you respond when faith and feelings don't align? You say, I'm going to trust Jesus. I'm going to trust Jesus more than my feelings. I'm going to do the next right thing. I'm going to follow the Word. I'm going to be led by the Spirit. And I'm going to trust God more than I trust even my own feelings. In other words, let's say you don't have the whole picture, and initially it doesn't feel good. God's in it, but initially it doesn't make sense or seem logical. God's in it. What do you do? You suspend your understanding and you think about the God we worship, how He suspends planets, and uses gravity to suspend planets, will you remember the goodness of God that grounds you, and you suspend your understanding that you don't have to know every detail, how it's all going to play out. What He's revealed and made clear, you're going to say yes to that. I'm going to suspend my understanding and trust that God has this. Say, well, it doesn't make sense at first. And that's honest. We're not going to shock God with what we're thinking and feeling. Say, this doesn't make sense at first. You might even say that to God. God, this isn't making sense to me. And then we open up the Bible. And we think about what God's done. Did it make sense at Jericho to walk around one time, one day, and then do it again? And this is how the walls are gonna come down? This does not make sense. No one's ever done this. Did it make sense for Jehoshaphat to put the praise team in front of the army when they're going into battle? Like, no military general does that. That just doesn't make sense. Did it make sense when God said, Naaman, Dip in the Jordan River seven times and you'll be healed of leprosy? Well, there's no medical record of anyone ever doing that. Why would that make sense? Who has that prescription? Did it make sense when Samuel went to Jesse's house and it was which son? The younger one taking care of the sheep? Davy in the back? No one thinks Davy's the choice. Did it make sense initially? And as you look through this, did it make sense that God would send his son? to become sin so that we could receive the righteousness of God. That was no church committee that sat around with a logical plan. That is the wisdom of heaven that we have a Savior that laid down His life so that we could have eternal life, peace with God. And you see that not making sense at first isn't just a little over here, a little over there. This is a pattern of the Bible. This is how God works throughout scripture. To the people, it doesn't make sense initially, yet God is in it. So how does God work? Well, this is a five-word breakdown of how God works. First, there's revelation. God reveals who He is. He's a personal God, and He's revealing to you who He is. Now, from that, there's a recalibration. Because we grow up with a perception about God, maybe from parents, culture, we've read some things, and when He reveals who He is in the Bible and today, then there's a recalibration of our view of God. And then there's a manifestation of what God starts to do. And as he moves and he does things, there isn't a reevaluation of our lives. What do we do? What are our priorities? How do we treat people? And so we want to align with heaven. And then there's this deep transformation that happens during this process. It's not simply a behavioral modification of like, oh, try to do a little better on that. That's not God's big vision. God's big vision is we would know him. Out of that relationship, he changes us in the deepest places so that we become more like Christ. And it's seeing who He is and what He's doing that then changes us, and we realize who we are, how loved we are, and what we're really designed to do on this earth. And this transformation is in the deepest place possible. That's what He's doing in the passage. That's what He's doing in our lives. And if those five words seem like a lot, you could summarize in this one word, He's testing. He's testing. When stuff doesn't make sense initially, he's testing. And this miracle right here, besides the resurrection of Jesus, it's the only miracle in all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A significant miracle. All four Gospel writers include this miracle. So we have the benefit of looking at the other Gospels to get a few more details. And in John chapter 6, what we see is that Jesus is testing, he's testing Philip. Verse five, when Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, Notice this verse. He asked this only to test him. For he already had in mind what he was going to do. The multiplication was going to happen. He's just asking Philip to test him. Philip answered, eight months wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite. So now we know who it was that had that statement. It was Philip as he was being tested by Jesus. Philip was from Bethsaida, which is very close to where they were here. And being of the disciples, the one who lives closest in this neighborhood, Philip, he would know. He would know relatives, he would know the community, he would know the land, he would know where to get bread, he would know the prices, and he's still in that logical mode of eight months wages. He's being tested. And I'll tell you, when God is moving in your life, and it doesn't make sense initially, it's a time of testing. And you will respond in one of two ways, I will respond in one of two ways. I will either say no, God, I'm not going forward because it doesn't make sense to me initially. I will say no, and I will hit the brakes, or I will grow. I will grow and say, God, it doesn't make sense initially, but I'm going to keep moving forward with you. Philip, are you going to say no, or are you going to grow? Philip, it's your day to grow. Grace Community Church, it's a day for us to grow. Because God is moving and wants us to trust Him in new ways. For Philip and for us. This leads to the second question. Will you serve Jesus in ways that were not your plan? When it's not your plan, you didn't originate the idea, will you still serve Jesus? Joyfully, sacrificially serve Jesus. There's a team of people at our church who on Friday nights, and we're gonna have a video coming up to give you a little more of a visual, but on Friday nights from five to seven, it's drive through prayer. And in front of our church and in our parking lot, there are people who are holding up signs, like, do you want prayer? And then people from our community drive into the parking lot, they pour out their hearts, they pour out their lives. There's prayer, there's connection, and people are prayed for here, and there's healing, and wonderful things are happening. In talking to people on that team, so many on that team have said, I just still can't believe this is me out here. Like, they're like, this just isn't what I typically do. This isn't what I would, I wouldn't hold signs. I wouldn't pray with strangers. Like this, I didn't think I would be doing this. I didn't think I'd be out here. I thought someone else would be out here. And it's a reminder, as God's doing wonderful things on Friday night in our parking lot, because we love our neighbors, and as God's doing that, if your name's on it, it might not be your plan originally, But are you listening to God if your name's on it? Well, let's go back to the Gospel of John, because not only Philip, but we get a glimpse into Andrew's heart. And in verse 8, another one of his disciples, Andrew, this is Simon Peter's brother, he spoke up and said, here's a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. How far will they go among so many? Do you hear the skepticism there? Andrew's like, we took a look around for some food and all we've got is five loaves and two fish. How far, ha ha ha, Jesus, this is ridiculous. How far, ha ha ha, is this food gonna go? Do you ever have any skepticism towards God? A little bit of cynicism? Or maybe just deep down you're kind of hurting, and you just wonder, how, God? But how? Those two words, but how? God, but how are we ever going to have a healthy marriage again? But how, God, do we forgive? But how, God, do we raise these kids? But how, God, do we live for Jesus in this culture? But how, God, could we have an abundant life in the middle of a pandemic? But how, God, could we bring the gospel to every man, woman, and child in the sound? But how, God, could we really bless the nations and bring clean water, and there's just no food for so many people? But how, God, could we do that? And sometimes it's a plea, sometimes there's skepticism, sometimes there's cynicism. Andrew, he just says, but how? And in those moments which we all have, the most important thing to do is to listen to Jesus. Listen to Jesus. Jesus says he's the good shepherd and the sheep know his voice. They don't get distracted by a bunch of other noise and voices and strangers. They're tuned in to the good shepherd's voice. And what is Jesus saying in this passage? Jesus has a plan. God always has a plan. And Jesus shares this plan now by saying, take these five, And we're going to take these two, take the five and the two, gather the people, have them sit down in groups of 50 and 100. Life groups were a little bigger back then. We've kind of brought them down, we're a little more off to the 12 people model. But big groups gathered together and then Jesus looks up to heaven. Nowhere in the Bible does it say whenever you pray you have to close your eyes. Nowhere in the Bible does it say every time you pray you have to bow your head. Nowhere in the Bible does it say every time you pray you have to put your fingers together. You can put your fingers together. You can bow your head. But you can also look up to heaven. You can also pray on your knees. You can also get on your face humbly and pray. It's a relationship. It's communication. And Jesus looks up to the Father and gives thanks. And he breaks this bread, gives it to the disciples, they give it to the people. When God moves, he so often starts in the church, and then the culture changes. So, give it to the disciples, give it to the people, and this is God's plan. You say, what's the key in all of this plan? The key is a shift. Instead of focusing on me and my abilities, the disciples are going to need to shift. Focus on Jesus, his guidance, and my availability. In your life this week, instead of thinking, me, my abilities, my own strength, the greatest shift you can make going into this week is let me focus on Jesus, listen to Him, what's His guidance, and I'm available. Your availability will go so much farther than your ability. And so they're learning how to trust Jesus, go deep, beyond logical, make themselves available. And really, this is nothing new. It's going to lead to abundance. But back in Luke chapter 5, when Jesus called the disciples and there was Peter, and these were professional fishermen. I mean, they know the business. They know the industry. They know the water. They know the fish. They know when the fish bite. And they know when to put the nets down. And they've been out all night. And Jesus says, all right, it's time to drop the nets. And they say, well, respectfully, Rabbi, we've been doing this for a long time, you're a carpenter. Respectfully, I'm reading that in the text, respectfully, Rabbi, we've fished all night and there's been nothing. So when Jesus says, and he's claiming to know fish more than we know fish, profession more than we know our profession, and Jesus is saying, drop the nets over there, the nets we've cleaned, the nets we've mended, now drop those nets. And here's the line, because you say so, we will. Is it logical to drop the nets now? No. Has it ever worked? No. But because you say so, we will. And as they dropped the nets, there was a haul of fish that they couldn't even bring in, an abundance. And Peter's so humbled, he says, get away from me, Jesus, I'm a sinful man. Ever felt that in the greatness of God and His presence and His provision? You just say, oh God, thank you for having mercy on me. And then the end of the vision isn't the fish, because it's wonderful to have all these fish, but Jesus says now it's going to be people. Because the goal isn't just to fill your boat with fish. The goal in your life isn't just to fill your bank account, your retirement account. It's not just to fill up your driveway with nice cars and your closet with nice clothes. That's not the end. The goal where this is going is that you, in relationships, you're gonna lead people to Jesus, and you're gonna help them grow in their faith. That's where this is going. But I need to show you that you can trust me with the fish in the lake so that you'll trust me in the relationship risks that you lead people into the kingdom, into a relationship with God, and go deeper with the Lord, and you devote your life to that great vision and that great cause. And that's true for the disciples with the fish. That's true in the multiplication of the food. It's not just about fish and food and some bread and some gluten. This is about trusting God with the most important stuff in life. And that's people, and that's relationships. And if you hear that, maybe that's a stretch. This was not their plan. They were professional fishermen. You know what their plan was? Catch a lot of fish, live a comfortable life, Enjoy each other. That's all we're doing. And there's merit to catching fish. There's merit to enjoying your job, right? There's merit to it. But let me tell you, God will land a vision in your life that might include the nations and the generations, and it's so bigger than what you anticipated. And the whole time you're thinking, but that was not my plan. Not my plan. When you open up the Bible, did Moses plan to step up to Pharaoh and say slavery has to end? Was Moses, was it his plan that he would tell Pharaoh, my people need to go? Let my people go? That was something that God came up with and led Moses to do. What about Abraham and Sarah? Were they just kicking back like, oh, we'll be a great vacation. How do we get out of here? Where do we go? I wonder what adventure. No, God said leave here and he showed them that their descendants are going to be numerous. Nations are going to be blessed. When it was time to go into the promised land, was it Joshua's plan to cross the promised land, Jordan River, during flood season? Are you kidding me? Do you know what it's like during regular season? It's easy to cross. Flood season is massive. No one crosses during flood season. It wasn't his plan. The group was probably like, oh, great leadership here, flood season, you really timed that well, Joshua. Actually, it was God's plan, and he was going to part. He's going to part the Jordan like he parted the Red Sea. Peter was focused on Jews, and God said, no, you need to love Gentiles also. The church was like, love Gentiles? This blows my mind, like, love those people too? It wasn't their plan. It was God's love and God's plan. You think Mary and Joseph thought, hmm, a birth, what's never been done before? How about a virgin birth? Yeah, let's do that one. They didn't come up with that plan, folks. Paul was killing Christians, and then Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, he realized, I'm totally going in the wrong direction. He ended up telling the world about Jesus, writing Bible. Was that his plan? Wasn't his plan. What does that tell us? Again, how does God work? He has things in store for you that are not your plan. And they're good and they're powerful. And lives are gonna change. Not just in Auburn, but in the nations. That's how God moves. And I wanna point out this so clearly. If your vision and your constraints and your false ceiling is that you're only gonna embrace it when God moves in the logical and in your plan, you're gonna miss out on some of the greatest things God wants to do in your life. If you try to constrict God into just logic and just your plan, your plan that you've come up with, you are gonna miss out. Grace Community Church in the year ahead, if our approach into this next year is God, welcome to our plan and our logic, and thank you very much for fitting right in where we have you, we're gonna miss out on the greatest things, maybe the revival that God wants to bring in Auburn. We're gonna miss it. And you say, well, that kind of feels scary. It feels like reliance to step out when it's not my plan and it's not my comfort zone. It kind of feels like reliance exactly. Five bread and two fish? No, he's calling them to reliance. To reliance on God because he will call you there, he will meet you there, he will guide you there, he'll be with you there in that area where it's not planned, it's not logical, but God is working both within the principles and also beyond the logic. In my life, I never planned to become a Christian and a Christ follower. Never had an interest. Didn't believe God existed. Opened up the Bible in college, and it was like, what is this? God's revelation. I wanted to play professional sports as a basketball player. No. Soccer is what it ended up being. I thought I'd have a long career. No. I was fighting for my life for a year. It took many years to fully recover. My athletic career was over. Ended up being a pastor. And, you know, God gave me that call to be a pastor and to spread his gospel. To lead a church and also spread the gospel and do both of those. And you don't do that if you're from my family. That doesn't happen in my family. That doesn't happen. But none of this was my plan. I didn't write it up. I didn't anticipate it. What's important for you in your life is not that if it originates with you. It's not if you anticipate it, because you really won't. It's not what other people think about it. It really isn't. What's important is not that you fully understand it, because this side of heaven you won't. But what's most important in life is that you're faithful to what God has called you to do. And it might be different and greater than you ever anticipate. And sometimes I think we put a lot of pressure on high school students, sometimes middle school, college students. We ask them, well, what's your major? What are you going to do? What are you going to do with your life? It's like, they don't know. because we don't know what's gonna do with our lives a year from now. Like, we're all listening to God, following God. You think we got it all planned? No, we don't. We're walking by faith. And we're trying to trust God in the deep places to say, God, what do you want for us? And you say, well, my plan is, you know, comfy job, retirement, big home, super comfy, more relaxing, great sports games, and chill. Okay, if that's your whole vision, that's probably achievable. It's probably achievable. Yep, you might just get to the end and think, oh, is that all there is? But that's achievable. This is reliance. This is reliance. God is glorified the most in your obedience. Because your obedience says, I trust you. If you have a heart today and you say, I really want to glorify God, and I'm not sure what that even looks like, just start to obey what He's revealed to you, because your obedience will bring Him the most glory. Just be faithful to what He's called you. Run your race. Don't worry about that racer and this racer and that racer. You put your eyes on Jesus and run your race with courage and compassion. Watch what God will do. And it leads to this, we walk humbly with God when His abundance comes. His abundance. Now look at how this ends in verse 42. We have here kind of a wrap-up in Jesus' debriefing. They all ate, they were satisfied. The disciples picked up 12 basketfuls. There's 12 disciples, 12 basketfuls, one basket for each person, not coincidence. Broken pieces of bread and fish, and the number of men who had eaten were 5,000. So many more than 5,000 were fed. We have 5,000 men here, then there's also women, children, and there is an abundance. And you read this and maybe you think, well, of course they're going to follow Jesus now. I mean, look at what he's done. Look at all this food and this fish. Actually, the Bible says in John chapter 6, verse 66, many turned away and no longer followed him. He drove out demons and they said, leave our region. Right? In this passage, miracles. Some say, nope, I've preached with all my heart and just sincerely and laid out the evidence of the resurrection. And some people are just so stubborn that even if you gave them all the evidence of resurrection, like, nope, I'm not believing. I'm not, you can't make anyone believe. And so, God is the one who does the saving, and they're gonna drift. The disciples themselves, because we can read in Mark chapter 8, two chapters later, because you think, wow, how did they take it in? How did they process miracle? You know, what was the next step for them? Well, Jesus, in Mark chapter 8, verse 17, was listening to their discussion, and he asked them the question, why are you talking about having no bread? This is later on, folks. Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see? Ears but fail to hear? Don't you remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5,000? How many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up? They said, 12. 12. And when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, how many basketfuls and pieces did you pick up? They answered, seven. And he said to them, do you still not understand? Stand. Are you still underestimating Jesus? Are you still underappreciating Jesus? Are you still just settling for all the religion and none of the power? And Jesus says, you still not understand. The miracles. You think, oh, we saw the miracle. We're believing. We saw the miracle. We're going next level. We saw the miracle. Yes. No, they see the miracles. They hear the miracles. They read the same passages in the Bible and their lives stay the same. And he says, don't you understand this abundance? This abundance is pretty amazing. I mean, there, hmm. They didn't think there was enough. Is this not humble pie? Like, oh, this plan will never work. It's not a good plan. Five and two, how could that ever happen? And now what are they doing? Picking up the pieces, the leftovers. More bread? Yeah, we got more bread. Pick that up. More fish? Yeah, more fish. Pick that up. What do you got? I got a basketball. What do you got? I got a basketball. This is a lot of picking up we're doing. I didn't think we had enough. Like, do you kind of see what's going on here in terms of their humility? Maybe some repentance? You ever been in that spot before? It's like, oh, oh, oh, Lord. Oh, you're so patient. You're so patient with us. I was at an event where I was speaking at the very first part of the event as dinner was being served. And then I didn't eat because I was speaking. It was about 10 minutes. And then I sat down. I was excited for the meal. I was hungry. And I had the sandwich, and they had little containers of mustard. Now, they were in open containers, plastic containers. And it wasn't the cheap mustard that you can just go like, choomp, and it's on your sandwich. But this is like the, I don't even know what they call it, Grey Poupon, and you know, those fancy mustards that they serve at luncheons. And this mustard was thick, and it was kind of stuck. And so I tried to put it in my sandwich, you know, everyone else had already eaten, and it wasn't moving at all. It was like a Dairy Queen blizzard, you know, it's like it's not moving. And so I squeezed the plastic, because I thought, I'm going to get me some of this mustard. Let's try some mustard. I squeezed the plastic. The mustard rebelled. And instead of just going on to my sandwich, it sinned and just went all over the carpet. All over the carpet. So it went like, squish, and it went like, zzzz. And now it's all over the carpet. And I'm at the front of this large gathering. And it's at a business that has been so gracious to open up the room for us. And now I'm looking at this yellow mustard just soaking in the carpet. And what do you do when there's a room full of people, you're sitting in the front, everyone can see you. And so I just went down and just tried to, with my napkin, swipe up a bunch of mustard and look over at the damage. Yellow all over, smears on the carpet. I'm like, this can't happen on my watch. And so I just started grabbing the water, you know, and trying to, when no one was looking, just a little more water and a little more water and a little more water and a little more. Pretty soon we had like this yellow pond that was forming on the carpet right here. I'd like to say this was like five years ago. It was a couple weeks ago. But anyways, and so I'm grabbing napkins, and whenever there's a distraction, like wipe a little more, wipe a little more. It was about 10 minutes of this, this complete shenanigans. And I'm down there, you know, sometimes down there for like 10, 15 seconds, really scrubbing. And we got the mustard out, but I'm just picking up all these napkins that are wet and yellow. And I'm just thinking, oh Lord, you are just so patient with us. You are just so kind because none of us really have it all together. And we're picking up, they're picking up the pieces of the leftovers of the bread and the fish, just thinking, Lord, forgive us for trying to do life in our plan, in our strength all the time. And Jesus, you're such a God of abundance. And forgive my scarcity mindset. Just forgive me for my self-centeredness and my pride. And just picking up that, abundance is an interesting word because sometimes it's been so twisted and tainted, we think it's a sinful word. It isn't a sinful word, but because there's been expressions of, you know, greed, selfishness, because abundance in many circles means that you just tell God what He has to give you in entitlement, because of that, sometimes people, when they hear the word abundance, like, ooh, I don't know, is that biblical? Let me tell you, it is biblical. It is. Jesus said He came so we'd have abundant life. Here's the type of abundance He gives. He gives eternal life. He gives daily abundant life. He gives abundance in depth with God. He gives abundance in your character. He gives abundance with love and joy and peace. You say, well, how do you get this abundance? You've got to surrender your life be filled with the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the Holy Spirit you can have an abundance of life and joy and peace in every day in every situation an abundance from Jesus because He's a God with much abundance. Sin literally means miss the mark, fall short of the mark. We all sin, but the Bible says God is abounding in grace, in that immeasurable grace. He goes so far beyond the mark that no matter how short we come of the mark, His grace is greater than our sin. He's a God of abundance, over and over again in the scripture, and this is about abundance. It's not primarily about bread and fish. And it's not primarily about the money, the eight months of wages that was saved, or the time that was saved by going into the villages. This abundance right here isn't about a people, a kingdom, an abundance of people that would experience the greatness of Jesus and spread His greatness, spread His greatness for the rest of their lives by what they said and what they did. And is that gonna include, like when Jesus said, now it's about people? Yes, you might be thinking today, well, I'll do bread and I'll do fish, but I'm just not going to do people. That's not my thing. I'll clean up some messes, but I'm not going to speak up. No, this abundance God has for us from the beginning of the disciples and the fish they picked up to this miracle right here, it's about how God wants to change lives. And it's about his kingdom and people coming to know Jesus and live for Jesus and helping Jesus followers help other people go deeper in their faith. It's about discipleship in the kingdom more than just food, bread, fish, so much more. And I want to say this in close. We took communion today. Jesus is the bread of life and his body sacrificed on a cross, brought nourishment with abundance for any person from any background in any nation with any amount of sins. There is an abundance of spiritual nourishment, provision, sacrifice so that you can have peace with God forever. This multiplication of bread, it's just really a metaphorical view of the abundance Jesus and the ability Jesus has to satisfy our souls. and to bring us into an eternal perfection in His presence. And they're nourished. So here's the summary. God provides in many logical ways. These are great. We celebrate this. But He also develops and calls His people to joyfully move with Him into a zone of greater faith. And as I say that, just search your heart as we close. Do you want to move in to a zone of greater faith? Do you want to move in to a zone of greater trust in Jesus? Because this is how God works, inward depth, outward multiplication. Inward depth with Jesus leads to outward multiplication. The deeper you go with Jesus, and the more you receive and abide with Him, there's gonna be a multiplication, an abundance of blessings, from your attitude, to how you talk to people, to how generous you are, to how you love people, to the nations. If we don't go deep with Jesus, we're just not gonna see that abundance. God, we pray today that we would step into new zones of faith, new depth with you, God, forgive us for being so quick to come up with a plan, insist our plan is better than your plan, and stubbornly hold on to how we should date, what marriage should look like, how we should treat people when they wrong us. Sometimes we don't want to forgive. There's just so many things, God, where we're tempted to grab our own plan and harbor it in our hearts. And Jesus, this passage humbles us. that your plan, your wisdom, higher than our ways. And God, we wanna see your abundance, but not just for miracle's sake, we wanna go deep with you in this relationship. And I pray for anyone here today, God, who has a block in that relationship and healing's needed, I pray that you'd move in power, whether that's to trust you for the first time, to get baptized, a certain calling on lives, we look to you. We listen to your voice, Jesus. Move in power during this time as we meet with you. We celebrate your goodness, we listen to your voice, and we give you praise. In Jesus' name, amen.