that you are redeemed by the blood of the lamb. We're not redeemed by corruptible things, the Bible says, and our works are not going to be able to get us to heaven, but only by the blood of Jesus Christ. And you gotta call on him and put your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ and him alone for salvation. Then you too can say, I am redeemed, amen. And I'm glad that we can say that not based on our own merit, not based on our own good works, but based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. What a blessing. If you have your Bibles open up to Mark chapter number six this morning, Mark chapter number six, we're continuing our study through the book of Mark and Mark chapter number six. And we were in obviously chapter five prior to this. So we're just starting chapter six. And we've been going at this a while and I thought, man, I need to speed this up. And I looked at the whole chapter and I thought there is no way I can cover all 56 verses. in one message. And so I don't know that we're going to hurry it up, but I know that we're going to get into what we have this morning and, uh, and hopefully pray that it'll be a blessing and a help to you this morning. Mark chapter six, verse number one, the Bible says, and he went out from thence and came into his own country and his disciples follow him. And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and of Judah and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended. at hand. Let's stop right there and let's pray. Father, I thank you for your goodness to us. I thank you father for your word that we can look into God, that we can study God, that we can learn from and God, that we can draw great lessons for our own life. And God, I pray that you would use me this morning. God, I pray that you would speak through me. I pray that you would encourage and bless each and every believer father in the work that we're doing in the ministry that we have. And father, we'll thank you for that. And, uh, got to ask all of these things in Jesus precious name. We pray. Amen. As we look at the passage, I just read a couple of verses. We're going to go all the way down through 13 through the passage. But understand that the title of the message is disappointment in ministry, disappointment in ministry. Not everything always goes well in ministry. And sometimes we're prone to think, well, I'm serving the Lord or I'm going to church or this and that. So therefore, everything should go well. And the reality is, no, that's not true. And the reality is God never promised us that everything would go well in ministry. And so as we look at this passage, we're going to find a great example for us and maybe You know, as you think about it, maybe you think, well, I'm a Sunday school teacher or bus captain or whatever it is, and I'm working and things are not going and things are not growing. And maybe there's something that we need to do, something different to make people respond. And really, we need to be careful. That's a dangerous place to be because there's a huge temptation to generate people and get away from what the scripture teaches. And we need to understand that that's not always true. We need to adhere to what scripture says and let's leave the results up to the Lord. And so really that's the idea of having this disappointment in ministry. Notice with me Jesus. And you say, boy, Jesus himself had disappointment in ministry. Let me just clarify something. I don't think Jesus was disappointed. All right. I want to say that up front. I think his disciples probably were. And you and I, had we been there, we would be the same as the disciples. We probably would have been disappointed. But I don't think Jesus was disappointed because he is God and he is perfect. And I don't think it's wrong to be disappointed. But I think God had better expectations and knew kind of what to expect, where sometimes we do not have good expectations. And we think, wow, this is really going to do something. And boy, we're going to see great results from this. And it kind of falls flat. And nothing happens. And we tend to come off disappointed because we did not get what we expected. And so I want to look at this disappointing ministry, if I could say it that way, in the life of the Savior. I also want to note this about Jesus. It's interesting to note that Jesus, being the sinless, perfect Son of God and God in the flesh, Listen, he ministered and not always did he have great results. We need to understand that because sometimes we do stuff and expect great results and we don't see it. And and so understand here's a case where Jesus had that very thing. Notice with me in the first couple of verses, I want you to notice first and foremost, his decision. The Bible says there in verse number one, and he went out from thence and came into His own country and His disciples follow Him. Jesus decided, hey, I'm going to go back to my own country. Now this was not the place where Jesus was born. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. We know that. But shortly thereafter, He moved to Nazareth. By the way, when it says country, it's not like another country, like He didn't move to Italy or to to Africa, okay? It's just another area, is what it's talking about, a place of land. And Jesus grew up in this area around Nazareth, if I'm not mistaken. And He had grown up there. You'll notice the questions people ask, is not this the carpenter? We don't, the Bible doesn't give us a lot of details on the early life of Christ. He grew up as a Normal, if I could say it that way, child. Obviously, he was sinless, so that really kind of wasn't normal. But he grew up for all practical reasons, a normal life, studying under his father, learning the skill of carpentry. You'll notice in the question they ask, is not this the carpenter? Without a doubt, he would accompany his dad going on trips to install the cabinetry that he had made to this house or to repair this guy's table or the chairs or whatever the carpentry work that was being done. There's no doubt that Jesus was there and that he would even be given jobs and would have known how to do them. Could you imagine having Jesus as your carpenter? I bet he didn't make any mistakes. He was probably the best pupil in his class. I mean, just imagine that. But here's Jesus and he's known in this place as a carpenter. But Jesus went back to his home country, if I could say it that way, where he grew up because he desired to minister to the people that were there. And listen, sometimes family and friends are some of the hardest people to minister to. And Jesus even found that true in his own place. But he went back there to minister. And listen, there's no doubt that he decided that for that purpose. Isn't that not what Jesus told the man in Mark chapter five that we looked at a couple of weeks ago that had the demons and they were Jesus removed them from him, and he wanted to go with Jesus. And what did Jesus tell him? In Mark 5, 19, he said, Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And listen, the reality is, hey, we ought not be afraid to tell our friends that Jesus Christ has changed our life. Matter of fact, they ought to be the first ones we tell. They ought to be the first ones that note the difference. And Jesus was going back even to His own place where He grew up so that He could minister to them. Now he obviously didn't have a change in his life being the Savior, but he did go back for the purpose of ministering to them. And his disciples went with him. They were faithful. We see his decision to go back. Look at his decision to preach in verse number two. The Bible says, And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue. And many, hearing him, were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? I want you to notice that he went back and he spent time preaching there in his own time. Notice on the Sabbath day in verse number 2 that he began to teach in the synagogue. The Jews met on the Sabbath day in the synagogue and they would take the Word of God and they would teach the Word of God and you say, well why is it that we meet on Sunday? Well, the reason we meet on Sunday is because Jesus set forth that example at the at the end of the New Testament. He had gathered with his disciples on the first day of the week. And then we find in the New Testament, it says on the first day of the week, when you're gathered together, it was an ordinance that Jesus really an ordinance, but a custom that Jesus established for the New Testament local church. We don't have to meet on Saturday. We don't come here on Saturday to have church services because they establish the first day of the week in which Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead. And so we meet on Sunday. And listen, we believe in the teaching and preaching of the scripture. Jesus obviously thought it was very important as well. And when he was in the synagogue, he took the word of God and he taught the word of God. You know what the Bible says just in the gospel of Mark? You can go back with me if you want to page through them. But in Mark chapter one and verse number 14, the Bible says now after John was put into prison, Jesus came into Galilee. preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. In chapter 1, he starts a preaching in verses 38 and 39 of chapter 1. And he saith unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also. For therefore came I forth, and he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. And so we find that Jesus would go around and he would to preach in all the places that He went. And we find that over and over in Jesus' life, that He was busy preaching and ministering wherever He went, that He thought that the Word of God was important that it be taught. And listen, it's still important 2,000 years after Jesus Christ was teaching it. Boy, it's ever more important even today that we teach and preach the Word of God. There's so many people that are getting away from the word of God. Hey, listen, we need to draw more to the word of God in the day and age that we live. We see his decision. to go back to his homeland. We see his decision to preach the word of God and teach the word of God there in the synagogue. I want you to notice the disappointment. And again, I don't think that maybe Jesus was disappointed, but certainly his disciples. Notice with me what took place there in verse number two. The Bible says, And when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue. Notice and many hearing him. were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works were wrought by his hands? Verse 3, Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and of Joseph, and of Judah, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. I want you to notice the crowd there. There were many that were there to hear him. But I want you to notice that this crowd was not like the other crowds. Jesus had many crowds. Matter of fact, if you were to go back in Mark chapter 2, you'll find it in verses 1 and 2. And again, He entered into Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that He was in the house. And straightway, many were gathered together in so much that there was no room to receive them. No, not so much as about the door as he preached the word unto them. Hey, listen, they had gathered in that house. That's where they had to open up the roof and let the man down because there was no room for them in that house. There was such a crowd. In Mark chapter three, there was a crowd gathered in verse seven. It says, But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea and a great multitude from Galilee followed him and from Judea and from Jerusalem and from Idumea and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things He did, came unto Him. In chapter 2, we find a great crowd that gathered around Jesus. In chapter 3, there's a great crowd that had gathered to see the miracles that He was doing. In chapter 4, the Bible says in verses 1 and 2, And He began to teach by the seaside, and there was gathered unto Him multitude so that he entered into a ship and sat in the sea and the whole multitude was by the sea on land and he taught them many things by parables and said to them in his doctrine. Boy, there was such a great crowd gathered around Galilee that he had to get onto a boat and shove off a little bit so that he could teach this great crowd of people. There's a great crowd in chapter 2. There's a great crowd in chapter 3. There's a great crowd in chapter 4. Notice with me in 5 in verse number 21. And the Bible says, And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him, and he was nigh unto the sea. I'm just telling you that Jesus had experienced great amount of crowds when he went places and healed the sick and and and did many miracles and preached the word of God that crowds of people would attract to Jesus. But here he is back in his hometown and you don't see the words great multitude. You just see many people. And so there was a good crowd that day, but it wasn't a great crowd. There was some people there, but it was not the same crowd that had flocked to Jesus earlier. And matter of fact, you find there that they started questioning immediately while he was teaching. How on earth did this guy learn this stuff? Where did he go to school? We remember that he was a carpenter. We remember that, man, math, he was good at that. I mean, he could cut those boards, and he didn't do the old carpenter rule, measure twice, cut once. He was so good, he measured once and cut once, and it was right. I mean, he was just good at it. How did he get learned in the Scriptures? How did he know all this knowledge? How did he have all this wisdom? Where did all this come from? And they're questioning, who is Jesus? And they're astonished at what has become of him. They're like, they're scratching their head. They're saying, we don't understand. The last time we knew him, man, he was great at building things. He was great at putting things together. But we don't understand where all of his Bible knowledge came from. They were astonished that he would stand up and teach. They were astonished that he was educated. They were astonished. Why? Because they knew him. And they asked all those questions in verses two and three, and I'll not reread them for sake of time, but they were questioning, hey, who is this guy? And their questions, I think, were not so much out of sincerity, but I think they were really born out of disbelief. Because if you look at the end of verse number three, the Bible says, and they were offended at him. Now, the word offend can mean obviously offense, as if I say something that somebody would be offended at, all right? That would be an offense. But it also can mean that they were annoyed at him. And I think that's probably the definition of that phrase. They weren't offended because of the teaching and the things that he was saying. They were annoyed because they said, this is, we know him. He has no authority. We know his dad, Joseph, was a carpenter. We know his mom, Mary. We know his brethren. By the way, just so you know, Mary was not a perpetual virgin. The Bible says right there she had other children, all right? She had brothers, she had sisters. What they did not know, maybe they did not understand, that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. Joseph was not his earthly father. But but God miraculously used Mary and put that put him in her womb so that she that he would be born of a virgin as prophesied in the Old Testament. But then they lived like a normal family and everyone just thought and assumed, well, that's Joseph's son. He's the carpenter. And he, man, we've known him. He's been around, I mean, 30 years. He would have grown up in those parts and did the work and spent the time there in that town. And they all knew him and they were annoyed that now he's coming out and he's teaching the Word of God. And miracles are being done by him. And and maybe they're thinking, boy, where was he when I was sick or where was he during this time? And and they're frustrated and they're annoyed because in their presence has grown up the king of kings, the Lord of Lords, the Messiah. But they didn't know that when he comes back and teaches, they're annoyed at him. And they said, man, I I know him as Joseph's son. He'll forever be Simon's brother or Joseph's brother or whatever it is. However, they had that association with him, but their, their intellectual knowledge of who Jesus was clouded their ability to see who he truly was. They did not know. I'm reminded of the verse in second Corinthians chapter four. in verse four that says, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. A lot of people allow intellectualism to cloud their belief in who Jesus is. What am I talking about? I'm talking about those who are educated and say, well, evolution is a proven fact. I'm not going to go down that road this morning. We don't have time. But I'll say this, science has been proven to be wrong many times. Many, you go back and study the history of science. You'll find out that science is wrong. Not all the time, but it's wrong. And it's not always, it's not something that you can completely and wholly put your faith and trust in. You know what I have found? That the word of God, the Bible and God is never wrong. And he can be trusted implicitly. And I'll take what the word of God says over what science says any day, because the word of God is true. And so I'm just saying that these people, their judgment was clouded by their intellectualism. They could not see past what they had already seen. They could not get past the fact that Jesus Christ was a carpenter. Notice what the Bible says there in verse number six, and he marveled because of their unbelief. They didn't believe that he was the Messiah. They didn't believe that he could be that. They thought, boy, there's something else going on. We know who he is. We watched him grow up. He's been in our homes. He's worked in our homes. And disbelief will hinder the work of God. You can mark it down. The Bible says there in verse number six, and he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages teaching in another passage, it says, and he could do. I think it's Matthew chapter 13, if I'm not mistaken. It says that he could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief, the Bible says. And I'm just saying that unbelief will hinder the work of God. Jesus went there to minister to his people. And they threw all kinds of questions in his face. And they did not believe. Notice his reply in verse number four at all those questions. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor, but in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house. Verse five. And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk and healed them. Listen, their unbelief really hindered God's ability to work and move in that place like he would have wanted because they did not believe. And his reply to them was that their knowledge of him prevented them from seeing the truth. And listen, it's not because he had a bad testimony growing up. Understand, Jesus was perfect. He was sinless. Jesus didn't grow up a sinner making stupid decisions as a youth. All right. Many of us have made stupid decisions as youth. Many of us made stupid decisions in our adulthood. But Jesus didn't have that problem. Jesus didn't have a bad testimony where he grew up. He had a good testimony. He was known as a good person, but he was known as a carpenter. And again, because of what they knew of him, they could not get over that hurdle to accept that he was the Messiah and that he is God. And they had disbelief and it hindered the very work of God. And if nothing else, I can tell you this. the disciples made a note of it, they would have said, man, that's, that's really, I was excited because we're going to Jesus' home country. And I thought, man, with all the crowds we've seen in Mark chapter two and Mark chapter three and Mark chapter four and Mark chapter five, boy, I thought we'd have a great swarm of people here in Jesus' hometown that would want to see the prophet. Boy, they get there and boy, are they sorely disappointed as they're confronted with opposition and questions about who Jesus is. And they were sorely disappointed. But I want you to notice the third thing. The first is his decision. The second is the disappointment. The third is his dedication. Look with me in verse number five. And he could there do no mighty work, notice this, save that he laid his hand upon a few sick folk and healed them. Listen, we used to hear the quotes, you know, that if you at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again. We used to we used to have that mindset that if it doesn't work, man, we'll we'll figure out a way to make it work. Or Winston Churchill said this. He said success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts. And listen, the reality is Jesus didn't just give up because he ran into opposition. Well, they don't believe. Well, they're questioning who I am. Well, they can't get over the hurdle that I was the carpenter's son and that I used to do carpentry here and that I used to work among them. Hey, they'll never believe. Jesus didn't stop. just because the disbelief of those. I'm sure those disciples noted the smaller crowd. I'm sure they noted the animosity that was in that crowd, and the annoyance that those people felt in their questions, when they questioned maybe amongst themselves, maybe amongst the disciples, maybe even directly to Jesus himself, and thinking, man, who is this guy? But they were offended, and I'm sure the disciples noticed that, but they noticed that, listen, Jesus didn't stop because there were no results. You know what he did? He kept ministering. And we find in verse number five that there were some. The Bible says there he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And yes, there were not crowds. Yes, there were not swarms of masses of people that were coming and putting their faith in Jesus Christ and their lives being changed. But I tell you what, the one or two that was sick, the one or two that were healed, those that did have the hand of God upon their life. They were grateful that he was there that day. It wasn't about the great crowds. It wasn't about those that would be saved and those that would come. It was about going and ministering and being dedicated to the mission that Jesus Christ had dedicated himself for. And so he came and there were some that were healed and there were some that did receive Jesus and their lives were changed. Notice right after that in verse number seven. After he marveled at their unbelief, the Bible says go back with me in verse number six, and he marveled because of their unbelief and he went round about the villages teaching. He didn't let it stop him. He didn't say, well, that didn't work. That went over like a lead balloon. I guess I'm all done. No, he continued. He healed a few people. He continued to the other towns in that area. And he went around and he preached everywhere that he could get opportunity. After that, in verse number seven, you know what he did? He sent out his disciples. The Bible says, And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits, and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purses, but be shod with sandals, and not to and not put on two coats. And he said to them, In whatsoever place ye enter into and house, there abide till ye depart from that place. And whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when ye depart, then shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. I want you to notice he sent his disciples out and listen in the face of discouragement, in the face of disappointment, when when when you have a bad day in ministry, you know what you do? You just keep serving. You just keep doing what you're supposed to do. You just keep preaching. You just keep witnessing. You just keep staying with the stuff and you do what you're supposed to do. And he took his disciples and he said, that was his lesson to them. You followed me in here. You've seen the crowd. You've seen their animosity towards me. You've seen that they don't believe, but listen, I still want you to go out and I want you to do what you're supposed to do. And he sent them out to preach the word of God. Listen, I'm gonna cover this really quick. He gave them special power. He said, hey, you're gonna cast out demons. And he said, listen, I don't want you to take anything with you. It's interesting there, it's curious. Verse number eight, save a staff only. And one coat, not two. I don't know why. I'm not gonna figure all that out probably this morning. But I'll tell you this. He gave them a special job, but he gave them special powers. Some people want to grab that stuff and say, that's what we should do. God never told us to do that. That was a special calling that he had for his disciples. You go back and you read Matthew chapter 28, verses 18, 19, 20. You know what we're supposed to do? Teach the word of God, preach the word of God, baptize. We're supposed to evangelize. baptize and then educate people. That's what we're supposed to do. He doesn't give us those special responsibilities that he gave to those disciples. Verses 10 and 11. Isn't it fascinating? I don't know that I could give you a great explanation of those verses. But he says, if they don't receive you, you know what he says? Shake off the dust off your feet and leave. And then he goes further and he says, they'll be judged more harshly than Sodom and Gomorrah. Could you imagine that for not believing the gospel? That's what he says. And listen, there's a severity for those who do not heed the preaching of the word of God. And I'm just saying that we, I've heard missionaries say, why should anybody hear the gospel twice when there's people that have never heard the gospel once? There's people all over America. We hit our area here in Perry. We went out this week and we hang the gospel on every door and we try to hit all of Perry. We haven't been very successful in getting all of Perry in one year, but we go back and we're hitting streets that I've hit before and we're hitting places and they're getting the gospel a second time, a third time, a fourth time. And listen, we're not gonna stop doing that. I think we ought to do that. I think we ought to get the gospel. Hey, while they're still living and while they're still breathing, there's opportunity. But I'm just saying that, listen, Jesus told them, he said, hey, listen, if they don't respond, shake the dust off and they'll face a worse punishment than Sodom and Gomorrah, a worse judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah. And I'm just saying that Jesus sent his disciples out in the face of disappointment. And even though the crowds were not there, and even though the excitement in the ministry was not there, he said, you go do what I've told you to do. Notice the results in verse number 12, and they went out. and preach that men should repent verse 13. And they cast out many devils and anointed and anointed with oil, many that were sick and healed them. I'm just saying that you keep doing what God has sent you to do. You keep witnessing. You keep being faithful to church. You keep being faithful in whatever ministry. Well, pastor, I'm not seeing results. I've witnessed all my coworkers. I've witnessed to my neighbors. Hey, you just keep doing what God has called you to do. You may be disappointed with the results, but you just keep doing what God has asked you to do. You be faithful. where God has planted you. I'm sure those disciples were disappointed that day in ministry. It was not the exciting meeting. Hey, listen, I've been to exciting meetings. I have. Man, I tell you what, I love exciting meetings. Man, they're exciting. Man, you get a bunch of people preaching, you see people saved, and I'm just saying I've been to those. But listen, Jesus didn't have those everywhere he went. There are times you just keep doing, you put your hand to the plow, you just keep working. You may be disappointed in ministry, but you just serve the Lord. You be faithful. That was his lesson to his disciples that day. You keep doing what God would have you to do. As we stand to our feet with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, we see a disappointing day in ministry. but they stayed faithful. Father, I pray that you would speak to each and every heart as only you can. And God, there are days that we're disappointed sometimes. God, we don't see the results that we'd like to see. God, we would love to see visitors every Sunday. I'd love to see people saved and baptized every single week and every single day and every single time. God, we all long to have the results that happened in the book of Acts. especially that first part of those chapters. But the reality, God, is we minister and minister and minister. And God, we need to be faithful in doing what you've called us to do. And leave the results, leave the fruit up to you. God, I pray that you'd help us to be faithful about the father's business, faithful in serving, faithful in working in whatever area, God, whether it's working in Sunday school, working in junior church, working in the bus ministry or VBS, or even the nursery, even in cleaning the church or in the sound or doing special music. God, I pray that you'd help us to be faithful, even through the hardship, even through the difficulty, no matter what it is, God, that we would stay faithful to you, serving you. God, I pray that you'd bless. I pray that you'd encourage. I pray that you'd strengthen each and every person that's here this morning. Father, we'll thank you for that. And God will give you the honor and glory for all that's said and done in Jesus precious name. I pray. Amen. As the piano plays.