(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) - Church family, Happy Lord's Day.

We will now begin our service. (soft piano music) - Salvation belongs. ♪ Salvation belongs to our God ♪ ♪ Who sits upon the throne ♪ ♪ And unto the Lamb ♪ ♪ Praise and glory ♪ ♪ Wisdom and thanks ♪ ♪ Honor and power and strength ♪ - Salvation belongs.

♪ Salvation belongs to our God ♪ ♪ Who sits upon the throne ♪ ♪ And unto the Lamb ♪ ♪ Praise and glory ♪ ♪ Wisdom and thanks ♪ ♪ Honor and power and strength ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ We the redeemed shall be strong ♪ ♪ In purpose and unity ♪ ♪ Declaring aloud ♪ ♪ Praise and glory ♪ ♪ Wisdom and thanks ♪ ♪ Honor and power and strength ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ ♪ Be to our God ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Be to our God forever and ever ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ - Welcome to Breen Community Church.

Let me get a few announcements. First of all, this week is our all church praise and prayer. And so we won't be having our regular Bible study, our home groups. But at 7.30, again in this room, we'll have time of corporate prayer. So please try to come a little bit earlier.

And again, the shuttles will be running for parking, but if you want to park nearby, it's probably best if you came a little bit earlier. Next round of our membership class is happening on September 29th, which is on a Sunday at 9.30 in the Youth Chapel. There's an eight-week course.

So if you are applying to become a member, this is a must class that you need to take. It's starting, again, on September 29th. Regional Thanksgiving dinner hosts. Okay, so as you guys know, every year we have a regional Thanksgiving where we break up into, I forget how many, 30 or 40 different groups.

And so this is not a sign-up to participate in that. This is to host. So if you are interested in hosting a home where you'll be assigned anywhere from 20 to 25 people to come and to celebrate Thanksgiving together on that Sunday, there is a sign-up table outside. So if you walk outside, as soon as you'll run into that.

And so please sign up. And you do need to be a member to do this. So if you're willing to do that, please go and sign up. We need maybe about 40 homes, okay? And then, lastly, our Reformation Night on October 31st at 4.30. This is, again, obviously a replacement for Halloween.

And so they need volunteers to help for that, that night, and to set up and, you know, various things that's happening. So if you're willing to help participate, either for decoration or purchasing food or running some of the games, if you can go and volunteer. And I think it's also at the same table.

So if you're walking out and you want to volunteer for that night, please go and sign up for that, okay? All right, let me pray for our offering. I'll give you a minute to give. If you brought a physical offering, again, we have a box in the back. As you're walking out, you'll see it hanging on the wall.

Otherwise, I'll give you a minute to do that and then after our main time of praise, our brother Bradley is going to come up and give his testimony and be baptized. All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. Thank you for the gathering of the saints that we may corporately worship you in one voice.

And I pray that you would continue to strengthen our community, that we would, day by day, week by week, become more and more like Christ, that we would be worshipers who will worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray, Father God, as we've gathered here, help us to fix our eyes upon Christ, that we be strengthened, that we would worship, and even in this giving, that it would be an act of worship and thanksgiving, expression of our love towards you, that it may be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Let us all rise and let's spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us.

(crowd murmuring) (crowd murmuring) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) When we walk with the Lord. When we walk with the Lord In the light of his word What a glory he sheds on our way While we do his good will He abides with us still And with all who will trust and obey Trust and obey For there's no other way To be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Not a shadow Not a shadow can rise Not a cloud in the skies But a smile quickly drives it away Not a doubt or a fear Not a sigh or a tear Can abide while we trust and obey Trust and obey For there's no other way To be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey (soft piano music) (soft piano music) God above can prove The delights of his love Until all on the altar we lay For the favor he shows And the joy he bestows Are for them who will trust and obey Trust and obey For there's no other way To be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey (soft piano music) Then in fellowship Then in fellowship sweet We will sit at his feet Or we'll walk by his side In the way What he says we will do Where he sends we will go Never fear only trust and obey Trust and obey For there's no other way To be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey Trust and obey For there's no other way To be happy in Jesus But to trust and obey (soft piano music) (soft rock music) - Who has held Who has held The oceans in his hands Who has numbered Every grain of sand Kings and nations Tremble at his voice All creation Rises to rejoice Behold our God Seated on his throne Come let us adore him Behold our King Nothing can compare Come let us adore him (soft rock music) - Who has given Who has given Counsel to the Lord Who can question Any of his words Who can teach The one who knows all things Who can fathom All his wondrous deeds Behold our God Seated on his throne Come let us adore him Behold our King Nothing can compare Come let us adore him (soft rock music) - Who has felt Who has felt The nails upon his hands Bearing all the guilt of sinful man God eternal Humble to the grave Jesus Savior Risen now to reign Behold our God Seated on his throne Come let us adore him Behold our King Nothing can compare Come let us adore him (soft rock music) - You will reign You will reign - Let your glory fill the earth - You will reign - Let your glory fill the earth - You will reign - Let your glory fill the earth - You will reign - Let your glory fill - Behold our God Seated on his throne Come let us adore him Behold our King Nothing can compare Come let us adore him Behold our God Seated on his throne Come let us adore him Behold our King Nothing can compare Come let us adore him - Amen, you may be seated.

- Hi, everyone. I grew up in a God-centered household. I went to church every Sunday, read the Bible every day, and did Bible studies every weekend. However, I had a very false understanding of God and what it truly meant to be a Christian. Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord "and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, "you will be saved." From this, I thought that all I had to do was somewhat believe that Christ died for me, and then I would go to heaven.

But everything in that relationship was superficial, and though I'd always heard that Jesus died for my sins, nothing meant anything to me about why he did it and how great his love was to pay that sacrifice. I used to think I was saved simply because I believed there was a God somewhere in the universe that I could call on for help.

But deep down, I doubted whether God even existed. On the outside, I looked like a Christian, but inwardly I struggled with my faith. As I became a teen, I started wanting to skip church on Sundays, and during the week I lived no differently than a nonbeliever. Despite not believing in God, I still convinced myself that I was somehow saved.

However, two years ago, my family changed churches. In the first lesson in youth group, I learned about the parable of the sower and the four types of soil. I realized that the path of a real Christian is narrow and that I was actually among the many on the wide path toward destruction.

After that service, I felt very conflicted in my heart, knowing that I was living with a false identity pretending to be a believer, when in reality I was far from it. I didn't want to come back here. I wanted to go back to our old church, where I could maintain my passive knowledge of God and take comfort that I was saved.

I didn't want to commit because I wanted to keep living my own way. But we continued to come here, and slowly my hardened heart softened. Phrases and songs that I'd heard for years started to make more sense, and I finally understood the weight of Jesus' death on my life.

I felt guilty that I had lived so long for myself, and for the first time I understood my sinfulness. I asked myself, "Why would Jesus want to save someone like me, someone who's only lived for himself and indulges in the world? What did I do to deserve any of this love?" Then I realized that I had misunderstood the gospel my entire life.

I'd always thought that faith had to be justified by works. But faith was never like that, but by grace, and that Jesus died for me while I was still lost and confused, that I might ultimately be saved. A holy God never stopped loving me despite my sin. I finally understood what his grace meant, and I wanted to know more about him.

I started praying every day, and in this I found what it truly means to be a Christian-- someone who desires to seek God, who understands that they're a terrible person deserving of the worst punishment, but is saved by an unyielding and unconditional love they don't deserve. I wanted to get baptized today to unite myself in Christ's death and resurrection as someone with a real relationship with God, not one that's only on the surface.

I now understand Jesus' sacrifice for me and want to fully surrender and glorify God for the rest of my life. Thank you. ...you understand when you go into the water, you're united in Christ's death, come out united in Christ's life. At that time, you can praise the Father, the Son.

All right, thank you, Bradley, for that clear and powerful testimony. If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 9, we'll be reading from verse 12 through 17. Luke chapter 9, verses 12 through 17. Reading out of the NASB. "Now the day was ending, and the twelve came and said to him, 'Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and the countryside and find lodging and get something to eat.

For here we are in a desolate place.' But he said to them, 'You give them something to eat.' And they said, 'We have no more than five loaves and two fish. Unless, perhaps, we go and buy food for all these people, for there are about five thousand men.' And he said to his disciples, 'Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty each.' They did so, and had them all sit down.

Then the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people. And they all ate and were satisfied, and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full." Let's pray.

Father, we pray for understanding. We pray for deeper knowledge of who you are, and that we would hear your voice, that your people may follow. We pray for your Holy Spirit to guide and lead us, convict us, and mold us according to your purpose. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Just to review, again, whenever we study the Bible, we need to understand the context in which this text is written in. And so, we've been looking at the Gospel of Luke, and Jesus' primary thing that he's been doing up to this point is to identify his credential. We were talking about how last week, King Herod was asked a question because of his reputation and the miracles that he was performing and what he was preaching, and he said, "Could this possibly be Elijah?

Could this possibly be one of the prophets? Could this be John the Baptist who was risen from the dead?" And the question that he asked is, "Who is this man?" And that's exactly why Jesus was doing what he was doing, to identify his credential. He was trying to show his disciples and the crowd his power over the storm.

And even they were amazed that after walking with him for so many years, that he had authority to just command the storm to stop, and it stops. We saw that he had authority over demons, a legion of demons, that they couldn't control this man. He was wreaking havoc in that area, and Jesus, all he does is show up and they're terrified.

So the disciples saw that, and they said, "Who is this man that even the demons are terrified?" And as he is going on his journey to heal this young girl, and a woman who's been hemorrhaging for 12 years, all she does is reaches out and touches him, and he says, "Power leads him," and he heals him.

He has power over nature, he has power over demons, he has power over disease, and then finally he has power over death. And in case anybody had any question about his identity, Jesus was making it very clear. This miracle that he performs here, the feeding of the 5,000, is very unique.

Not because of the power that he was demonstrating. He's already demonstrated his power over demons and nature, and even over death. But this is the only miracle that is mentioned in all four Gospels. And it's not by accident. You would think that the young girl that he raised from the dead, the demoniac who had legions of demons in him, that that would be worthy enough that all the disciples would remember.

That's something that needs to be into the Gospels, that we all were able to remember. But of all the miracles, this is the miracle. And you can almost say it's out of the many miracles that he performed, it's one of the kind of mundane ones. Just feeding people. But this is the miracle that is mentioned in all four Gospels.

And there's a reason for that. And when you understand the context, and hopefully at the end of the sermon, that you can understand why this was recorded for everybody. If you look at Jesus' ministry, he's been with his disciples anywhere from a year and a half to two years.

And so after this miracle, he's at the pinnacle of his success, where he has thousands of people following him everywhere he goes. And then after he performs his miracle, he begins to turn his attention toward Jerusalem. And if you read any commentary, they'll tell you that his focus, he performs other miracles, but his focus now begins to be on his disciples.

He spends a lot more time privately with his disciples, instructing them, telling them, and preparing them for the cross. And so you'll see that he begins to turn his attention toward his disciples, and he begins a slow trek down to Jerusalem. So you can kind of say that this was kind of like the end of his public ministry.

Not that the public wasn't with him, not that he wasn't performing any kind of miracles, but official public ministry, he kind of closes after this, and then he begins to give his attention to what is private. Now, why is this so important? Hopefully, we'll sum it up at the end, and why he left this mark, and why the Gospels, all four Gospels, remind us of this miracle.

In any time we study the Bible, we need to understand the context, right? If you just read it on the surface, you may not understand the nuance of little things that are being said and why they did what they did. So what I want to start with is to understand the context, the condition of the people, right?

So that you can kind of get a picture of what this crowd is like. And when they said that they were hungry, what it was actually like. The excitement toward Jesus has hit its peak. In Luke 9, 10-13, 10 and 11 says, "When the apostles returned, "they gave an account to him, Jesus, "of all that they had done.

"Taking them with him, "he withdrew by himself to a city "called Bethsaida." Bethsaida is on the other side of Galilee. "But the crowds were aware of this "and followed him, "and welcoming them, he began speaking to them "about the kingdom of God "and curing those who had need of healing." Now why did Jesus take his disciples to the other side of the lake?

They just came back from a long mission trip. And they came back and reported. And so he was taking them to the other side of Galilee to rest. To take a break. But as soon as the crowds heard that they were gone, they packed up their bags and they chased them down to the other side.

In John chapter six one it says, "After these things, Jesus went away "to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, "otherwise known as Tiberias." This is an area where it was mixed with Jews and Gentiles. But the primary area where Jesus was doing his miracles was the other side.

That's where the crowds were. But they followed Jesus all the way to the other side. Now you have to remember, this is not a small lake. This is quite a trek to get to the other side. Mark chapter 6, 33 it says, "The people saw them going "and many recognized them "and ran there together "on foot from all the cities "and got there ahead of them." They were looking for Jesus and when they couldn't find him, he says, they ran expecting.

Said, "Oh, you know what? "We saw Jesus and his disciples "get on a boat "and they're headed toward the other side." As soon as they hear, they pack up their bags and their children and whatever they had, they go over there. And as soon as Jesus lands, it says, "The mob." Again, so this is not an organized crowd.

This is not a group of people who came to a conference opening and guards coming in with name tags. This is 5,000 men. At least that's what's recorded here. 5,000 men who are running toward Jesus. Now we know that number 5,000 is just the count of men. That we know that there are women and children there.

You know how we know that? Where did he get the fish and the loaves? A child. A child brought it. So we know that there are children there and we know wherever there's children, it's not just the fathers. The mothers are nearby. So a conservative count of the total number of people is somewhere around 20,000.

I've read that some think it was as large as 30,000 people. I don't know if you've ever seen a crowd of people, like a mob. I don't think you've ever seen, maybe even on television, a mob of 20,000 people running. That's a scary scene. And that's what the Bible describes, that they were so excited about Jesus, they just would not leave him alone.

I remember years ago, we were coming in and out of China, and we came out of this market, and there was a few homeless people there asking for money. And 10 kuai would be equivalent to about $1. And 10 kuai, for them, was a decent amount of money. They can get a meal with that.

So I reached into my pocket, and what I thought was 10 kuai came out at 100 kuai. The red bill came out. And as soon as they saw the red bill, and I quickly tried to put it back into my pocket, and I remember seeing somebody grabbing my right hand.

And I forced my 100 kuai back into my pocket, and I saw a man. I felt a man just pulling my hand out of my pocket. And then I was struggling to get it in, and then next thing I know, I feel somebody else on the other side reaching into my pocket, and I'm grabbing that person.

And next thing I know, here's this grandma with this small child in the back searching through my pockets, and I knew I was in trouble. And all of a sudden, I started getting attention of all the people there. Next thing I knew, I had four or five different people grabbing at my limbs, trying to get into my pocket to reach for that money.

So I knew I was in trouble, so I had enough strength to kind of push them aside because that was a grandma that was doing that. So I pushed them aside, and I remember passing Alex, who's in Taiwan right now, who was nearby, and I pushed them aside, and I started to run, and I told Alex, "Hey, Alex, go and catch a taxi." So some of you guys, there's a few people in this room that remember that trip, and I told Alex, "Hey, go to the other side "'cause I'm going to run this way, "and hopefully I could ditch them, "and then I'll come and jump into the taxi, "and we'll get away from this." And as I pushed them, and as I started running, I turned around, they started running after me.

I said, "I thought that guy had a crutch. "He's healed!" (laughter) And so I had to run across the street, and then I could make a sharp left turn, and they were chasing me the whole time, and by the time I got to the taxi, you know, Alex had a taxi ready, and I jumped into the car, shut the door, and even as we were taking off, they were banging on the door because they wanted that 100 kuai.

Now, that was about four or five homeless people, and I remember thinking, "Man, we got out of that." And to this day, I tell that story, right? The Bible says that there were 500 men with their wives and children would not leave them alone. Years ago, we used to have church picnics, church sports day.

Some of you guys who've been here for a while remember that, and we had it until we were about 400 people, so we used to go park nearby in Irvine, and we used to have games. We used to have volleyball, and obviously, we stopped doing that, and part of the reason why we stopped doing that, it was just utter chaos.

I remember having games and having maybe about 10 teams lined up, and we're trying to give instructions of you're going to go down and turn around and come back and just simple instructions, and I remember once we got lined up, different people were going at different times, and we had those megaphones, and we're trying to say, "No, we didn't start yet," but already half of them are gone, and just utter chaos for about an hour and a half because they couldn't hear our voice, so we couldn't get anything done.

So after that, we say, "Okay, that's enough. "We can't do this anymore." That's with 400 people. This is 20,000 people who are packed up with small children coming after Christ. They come after Christ, and they're so enamored with Him, they weren't even thinking. They followed Him out into the desolate place without food.

I don't know about you, but any time we have an event at church, the first thing that we have to ask ourselves is how we're going to feed these people. Yesterday, we had the BAM retreat here, and we had about 240 singles who met over the weekend, and one of the biggest things that needs to happen is we have to figure out the food.

What are they going to eat? How are they going to eat? How much money is it going to take? Again, that's with 200 people. The biggest problem when we go to a retreat with maybe about 1,000 people is the food. Where are they going to eat? Every time we have a retreat, where are these 1,000 people going to get in the cars and go and find food, and we have to distribute and all this?

Imagine 20,000 people are running to Christ without thinking about food with young children, and they come, and Jesus is ministering to them, and then it becomes nighttime, and they realize, "Hey, we don't have food. What are we going to do?" Now, that's the context. So this is not an organized mob, an organized group.

This is not a retreat with 20,000 people. This is not a conference where you have people organized, coming, sitting down. We have a schedule. This is a mob that came after Christ, that Jesus was ministering to. So I want you to understand the context in which this takes place.

So that's the crowd. I want you to understand the condition of the disciples. They must have been tired. The whole reason why they're on the other side is to take a break. They just came back from a long mission trip, and Jesus was taking them aside to get some rest.

And this mob comes, and instead of sending them away, Jesus begins to minister to them. So can you imagine how tired they must have been? And I've shared this before out in India when we do the medical camp. We have several teams. We have the eye care team, we have the medical team, we have the VBS team, and then we have the security team.

We have the security because almost always at the end of the day, we have a larger crowd than when we started. And so we need to have security in there because they're always pushing to try to get through the door because they want to see the doctors and get glasses or get some sort of treatment.

And so at the end of the day, the people who are at the door basically was wrestling with the crowd for four, five, six hours. That's with maybe 100, 150, 200 people. This is 20,000 people with 12 disciples, and they just wouldn't leave them alone, even on the other side of the sea.

Now, again, I say all of this to you because I want you to understand the state of mind that the disciples must have been in when the sun's going down, and they see all these people and children running around, and there's nothing to eat. In Luke chapter 9, 12, it says, "Now the day was ending, and the 12 came and said to him, 'Send the crowd away.'" I want you to stop and think about that.

Now, we can read that superficially and say, "Well, they were so concerned about the people. Hey, they don't have food. What are we going to do about them?" It could be, and I'm not saying it is not, but when I understand the context, when I read this, I could tell there's a tinge of irritation because they're tired.

It's not our fault. You're the one who came after us. You wouldn't let us rest, and you don't have food. Jesus, send them away that they may go into the surrounding villages and courtside." I think knowing all that we know, this is an educated guess, but by this time, they're pretty irritated with the crowd, right?

And that's why when Jesus, that woman who was hemorrhaging, touched Jesus, "Who touched me?" He's like, "Jesus, everybody's touching you." "What do you mean, who touched you?" I can imagine these guys are just tired, and they're not leaving them alone. He said, "Jesus, send them away." Right? "Send them away.

Let them find a village, and maybe after they go, we can get some rest, or maybe we can sneak away and go to the other side." I don't know about you, but I sense that there's some irritation on their part, right? But what's interesting here is that Jesus had something in mind.

This was not just a random event. In Luke 9:13, he said, "But he said to them, 'You give them something to eat.'" Right? He said, "Then he was like, 'Send them away. Take them to the village. Get away.'" He said, "No, you give them something to eat." And they said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people." That's called sarcasm.

Right? Even if they had the money, how's 12 people going to go get food for 20,000 people? So he's like, "You want us to go get it?" Right? Again, I sense some irritation. Right? "You want us to go get food?" John 6, 5-7, it says, "Therefore Jesus, lifting up his eyes, seeing that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?' This he was saying to test him." He had plans already to draw out his disciples because he wanted to show them something.

"For he himself knew that he was intending to do," Philip answered, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them for everyone to receive a little." Two hundred denarii would be equivalent to something around $20,000. That would be $1 per person. Right? So imagine if by today's meal, it would cost at least $10 to $15 just to get a panini.

Right? And you might get a drink, maybe. Right? $1, maybe get us some bread and some onion. Maybe if we have a little bit left over, we can throw some cheese in there. And they're saying, "Well, even $20,000. They would just get a taste. That's not enough." In other words, "Jesus, what are you talking about?

All these people need to eat and you're telling us that we would... How are we going to do that?" In Mark 6:37, "And he answered them, 'You give them some tea.' And they said to him, 'Shall we go and spend 200 denarii on bread and give them something to eat?'" Again, sarcasm.

What's interesting here is that up to this point, they saw Jesus' power. This would be the minor miracle compared to the other stuff that they've seen. He calmed the storm. He tells the storm, he said, "Enough!" And the storm abates. A legion of demons. They shudder in fear. And he commands this legion of demons to get out.

And they get out. Diseased woman, just by touching him, being near him, is healed. This hemorrhaging woman. A dead child is raised simply by his word. They saw this. They had front row seats to all of this. But when Jesus said, "You feed them." He's like, "What? What are you talking about?

How are we going to do this? We don't have enough money. You want us to go get the food? Why was it so hard for them to believe? Are we any different? You know, we get together and we talk about how awesome God is and how he created the universe and where everything's made by him and for him.

But the thing that we wrestle with is not the creation of the universe or that Jesus died for our sins and we're going to go to heaven and eternity and a new heaven and new earth is going to be created. It's like we believe all that. We sing about all that.

We praise God for that. But we wrestle with like, "Is he really going to pay our bills? Is he really going to take care of our needs?" It's the mundane, pedestrian things, common things that we wrestle with. There's a reason why Jesus says in Romans 8.32, "He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, gave his only begotten Son up for us, how will he not along with him give us all these things?" If he gave his only begotten precious Son, why do you have such a hard time believing that all the other things that God would not withhold?

And yet, isn't that who we are? It's the mundane things. We become blinded to the things that are around us so easy that we're able to take care of and those are the areas that we kind of have a difficult time believing in God. We only believe in God that's far away and does mighty, great things that we can't even possibly imagine.

But anything that you and I think that we are capable of doing, we have a hard time believing that he's going to step in. That's our tendency. We are oftentimes blinded to the most mundane things. And the most powerful miracles in life are usually pretty mundane. The fact that you and I breathe is mundane.

That's a miracle of God. The fact that we're not destroyed? Mundane. Miracle of God. Think how often we celebrate people who remember our birthdays and, "Whoa, they're such a good friend. "They're such a good friend. "They do so much for us. "They remember. "They're so kind." And then the mom who wakes up every single morning to cook you breakfast.

"I don't want eggs today." Again? The people who do the most for us, we have a tendency to be blind toward. So as much as we look at this, how can they not have believed this? We all struggle with it. The things that are nearby, things that are close, things that you and I think that we are capable of doing, we have a hard time believing.

The disciples had a difficult time. How are we possibly going to feed them? So it's in that context, right, that we need to understand Jesus' response. If the disciples were tired, imagine the one that they were chasing after. They were trying to get through the disciples just to touch him, just to be near him.

He goes to the other side in Matthew 14, 13 to 14. "Now when Jesus heard about John, he withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by himself. And when the people heard of this, they followed him on foot from the cities. And when he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and felt compassion for them and healed their sick." Now imagine if Jesus was so dead tired that in the middle of the storm, he was sleeping.

And the disciples are like, "Do you not care?" Imagine, just humanly speaking, how tired he must have been that he wasn't waking up, that the professional fishermen were afraid for their life. Can you imagine the water coming into this boat? And Jesus was so knocked out. That's how tired he was.

So he goes to the other side to take a break, and they come running toward him. How would you have reacted if that happened? I don't know about you, but I think most of us, no matter how benevolent and patient and kind you are, it's like, "Really?" After all that, you're not going to give me a minute?

You're not going to give me a minute? I could imagine the disciples were probably thinking the same thing. "Really?" There's a reason why we got on the boat. To get away from you. Just one night. One night. Give us a break. And they see thousands of them running toward him, and Jesus' response when he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion instead of being irritated, it says he began to heal them again.

He kept on doing his ministry. In Mark 6, verse 34, when Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd and felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. He was on his break. I mean, if anybody deserved a little break, it was Jesus.

And when they came to him, instead of being irritated, he says he began to heal them. He began to teach them. And they were like sheep without a shepherd. So we can understand why Jesus was so dead tired in that boat. They just would not leave him alone, but he saw them, and he had compassion.

A sheep without a shepherd is completely helpless. A sheep without a shepherd is hopeless. It's vulnerable. The wolves can come and attack them at any time. They don't know how to eat. They don't know how to live. So in the midst of his fatigue, his disciples being irritated, trying to go and get a break, he sees them coming and says he had compassion.

Did Jesus need to feed them? It wasn't like a conference where they advertise and he drew a crowd to himself. He was trying to get away from the crowd. He was a mob who ran toward him. It's your fault. You came to him. Can you imagine anything that you do where you don't calculate the food?

Everywhere you travel, you have to figure out like how are we going to eat? Do they have breakfast there? How are we going to eat lunch? How are we going to eat dinner? Especially if you have small children. If you don't figure out how your children are going to eat, you can't go.

I don't care. Maybe you love Hawaii, but there's no food there. You can't go. These guys were so enamored with Christ. They didn't think about bringing food. They just ran. Where is he? Picked up their bags, their kids, and from all over, they ran to him and then it was getting late at night and they realized, shoot, we forgot to bring food.

What are we going to do? Instead of being irritated, Jesus begins to heal them and begins to teach them and feeds them. This is who our God is. Not just here. If you read the Old Testament carefully, a lot of people read the Old Testament superficially and say, oh, he destroyed the Canaanites and he brought the judgment, the flood.

Doesn't judgment make sense? If somebody robbed your house, don't you want justice? If you sent a kid to school and a bully beat up your kid, don't you want justice? If somebody came and robbed your car, you're not hoping grace for them. Where are the police? How come we're allowing all this crime to take place?

So doesn't justice make sense? If you anger this holy God and he's going to crush you, who are you? Who am I? Just start over, crush it, start over. His justice makes sense. His anger makes sense. What doesn't make sense is his compassion. In fact, in the Old Testament law, when he told the Israelites, when you harvest, leave the corner of your harvest alone.

For what purpose? Because when the foreigners come into town, this is during a period when they don't have restaurants, they don't have places to go. If a foreigner comes into town and they don't have anything to eat, leave a portion of that so that they can eat. Who cares?

Why are they traveling without food? These foreigners, these pagans, these idol worshipers, they're coming into Israel. Who cares about these foreigners? Let them starve. But he put it into their law. Leave that corner for them so that these foreigners are coming in so that they can eat. Why does he care?

In fact, it says, he took the five loaves, in Luke 9, 16, 17, and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them and broke them and kept giving them to the disciples and set them before the people, and they all ate and were satisfied. Satisfied meaning that they were full.

And the broken pieces, which they had left over, picked up 12 basketfuls. There's two things I want to mention here. One, why does he even use the five loaves and two fish? Right? I mean, five loaves and two fish, it's interesting because when we think of five loaves, it's usually like loaves, right?

And even that's not enough, but when you actually understand what the loaf means at that time, it's biscuits. So basically it was, his mom packed him just enough food for him for a child, right? Why does he even need that to feed 20,000 people? And yet he does. And that's how he works.

That's a pattern in which-- why does he need the 12 disciples to go proclaim the gospel? These guys who betrayed him right before he goes to the cross, you're going to use these guys? He's going to use us? Just think about just this week how distracted you were. Just think about this week how anxious you were.

The people that hurt you, that you kept regurgitating. And he's going to save the world through us? Can you imagine this kid who gave Jesus the five loaves and three fish? He probably went home and said, "You know that food you ate? "That was mine." I said, "What are you talking about?

"We fed 20,000 people." "I know. "I'm the one who gave it to him." And he probably became a celebrity. I bet you for the rest of his life, he said, "Oh, that's the five loaves, "three fish kid. "That's the kid." Probably until the day he died. I bet you on his gravestone he says, "Five loaves, three fish." That's probably what he had.

That's what probably he was known for for the rest of his life. But the reason why he was probably highlighted is simply because God used him. Can you imagine him walking around? He's like, "Yeah, I did it. "Without my five loaves and three fish, "Jesus would have never been able "to feed these 20,000 people." Can you imagine that?

Can you imagine how ridiculous that must have sounded? And yet that's what we struggle with when God uses us. It's like, boom. It's because God recognized my talent. God recognized what I have. I actually had a pastor friend many years ago who told me that he thinks that the reason why Japan is so hardened toward the gospel is because the right people haven't gone.

And obviously he was a young man when he said this. And he said, "I think God can use me in Japan." Because he was a great preacher, bearing a lot of fruit. And he said, "If God sends me to Japan, "I think I can bear fruit there." Can you imagine how ridiculous that must have sounded?

Well, that pastor no longer walks with the Lord. He fell into some sin. He was disqualified. And as foolish as that sounds, the only reason why he allows us to participate is his grace. It's not because he needs us. Don't you think evangelism would be better if we moved out of the way and God just said, "Believe." And he just got his Bible and just gave it to you.

It's like, oh my gosh. Don't you think it would be much more effective than a bunch of people who are wrestling, struggling, and doubting, and infighting, and questioning each other, and that we're the avenue in which God's going to use to bring the gospel to the world? And yet he does.

But that's why his primary instruction to us is to abide. And as soon as they got proud, remember what Paul said? Not many of you are wise. Not many of you were smart. Not many of you were noble. God chose the base thing. He chose you because you are base, because you are nothing, to dumbfound the wise.

Right? Because that's why his primary instruction is to abide. And some of you might not like this, but the reason why he tells us to abide is because he doesn't trust us. Right? I mean, that goes against everything that I hear. God believes in you. He doesn't believe in you.

He doesn't believe in you. I don't believe in you. I don't believe in myself. He didn't give these 12 people who are utter failures and say, "You know what? "I'm going to give you another chance "because now I believe in you." Right? And imagine if that was the case.

Peter was already compromised. Paul had to rebuke him and had to record that in Galatians for eternity. Believe in it. You're going to believe this guy? No. It was his grace that allowed this boy to participate. And his claim to fame was simply that God used what he had.

That's all he's telling us to do. Just all he's telling us to do. Trust me. Trust me. Abide in me. I will do the work. I will multiply what you have. I will do it. But you know what's also interesting is that after he does that, he says there were 12 baskets left over.

If we had an event and we made food and we had 12 baskets left over, we would probably have an immediate meeting and say, "Hey, we didn't calculate this correctly. "That was a waste." Was Jesus not counting? Is that why? Was that a mistake? He over-calculated? Did he multiply too much?

And that's why he had 12 baskets? Well, guess what? Guess who had to carry those 12 baskets? Right? Who would be the candidate that would be the best fit to carry these 12 baskets? I'm guessing that every one of those disciples had to strap that on, and when Jesus said, "Let's go," it's like, "Oh, I'm already tired.

"Now I've got to carry this?" Now, why do you think he did that? He had already told us that Jesus was deliberately doing this to draw them out. I bet you every time they had that strapped on, it's like, "Don't ever question me again." He said, "How are you?" And then they look at the basket and they're like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

"That's right." What was he trying to teach them? Not only about who he is, his credential to his disciples, but why the leftover? Because the purpose of this miracle ultimately was to reveal himself. To reveal himself. Remember the first miracle? He turns water into wine. Remember what the guests say?

They said, "You know, "typically in a wedding, "they will bring the good wine first, "and then after they drink it, "and then they had enough, "you get the bad wine, "so they can't tell the difference. "But why at your wedding "do you have the best wine at the end?" In other words, when he turned water into wine, it was better than anything that they had.

And that's the pattern that we see over and over in Ephesians 3, 20 and 21. "Now to him who is able "to do far more abundantly "beyond all that we ask or think, "according to the power "that works within us, "to him be the glory in the church "and in Christ Jesus "to all the generations "forever and ever.

"Amen." Remember Luke chapter 5, when Jesus is calling his disciples, he says, "After fishing all night, "they didn't catch anything?" He says, "Throw it to the other side." To the other side. These professional fishermen, generational fishermen, and here's this carpenter. It's like, "Oh, maybe you just "didn't throw it onto the other side." Right?

Anything that you and I are good at, we have a hard time trusting God. Right? So if you're good with numbers, you don't trust God with the numbers. I can take care of this. Whatever you're gifted in, you have a problem trusting God in. These fishermen, they're like, "We fished all night." Like, "I know you're the Messiah, "but we're professional fishermen." And he says, "Simply because you said it, "I'm going to do it." And they throw it, and they catch.

How did they catch it? They caught so much, it says the boat was sinking. Well, why did he do that? Why don't you just catch just enough so they can come in and sell it and make some money? He was trying to make a point. He was trying to make a point.

Him, who was able to do far more abundant, beyond your expectation. Philippians 4, 19-20, "And my God will supply all your needs "according to what? "His riches and glory in Christ Jesus." The purpose of this miracle was not simply to feed them. I mean, he had compassion on them, but it was to reveal his glory and what kind of glory that they needed to see.

2 Corinthians 9, 8, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you "so that always, "having all sufficiency in everything, "you may have abundance "in every good deed." There's a reason why Jesus said, "I have come to give life," and to give this life what? Abundantly. He didn't just save us from hell.

He didn't just say, "I'm not going to punish you." He said, "I'm going to give this life, "give this life abundantly, "beyond your expectation, "so that you know who I am." 1 John 3, verse 1, "Behold, what manner of love is this, "that he lavished on us." He didn't just love us.

He says, "He lavished on us, "that we would be called the children of God." God demonstrates his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't come look for us because we were diamond in the rough, that we had some sort of potential.

He's looking for people that is going to add to his kingdom. You know what's interesting about all of this? That after he performs his miracle, the Bible tells us that they wanted to forcefully make him king. They were excited. They may have seen and heard about his miracles. Now every single person, all 20,000 plus people, tasted the miracle.

Every single one of them. They said, "Wow, if he can heal the sick, "he can control the demons, "he can even raise people from the dead, "and he's going to feed us? "He has to be our king." So Jesus takes a break and goes to the other side, and they follow him to the other side.

"Jesus, where did you go?" And then Jesus sees right through them. "You're not coming to me "because you know who I am. "You're coming to me "because you ate and you want more." He says, "I am the bread of life." And he has a discussion back and forth, and he realizes that they don't really believe him.

They just want the gift that he can give. And then he says to them, "If you do not drink of my blood "and eat of my flesh, "we have no relationship." And then in John 6, 66, it says, "From that moment on, "many of them turned away "and no longer followed him." Now here's the kicker.

Jesus knew all this already. Jesus was not surprised by what he saw. Jesus was not shocked. "How can you do this to me?" He knew all of this when he saw them running to him. He knew the very next day the majority of these people are going to turn away from him.

And yet when he saw them, he had compassion. He had compassion. Think about the way you and I respond when we see Phil. You go to a restaurant, and the waitress doesn't treat you correctly, one star. Don't ever come to this store again. People come to our church, and maybe somebody didn't welcome you the way you wanted to be welcomed.

Brilliant. Never coming here again. You know, I came here trying to park the car, and I have nowhere to park the car, and these guys weren't telling me where to go. What kind of a church is this? I don't know how many people say, "I don't want to go to that church "because they're not very welcoming." We buy a house, and we have neighbors who aren't acting a certain way.

I can pack up and leave, go somewhere else. What kind of a neighborhood is this? Because that's a natural way that people respond. If we see filthy, if we see danger, if we're irritated, I'm not going to put up with that. Jesus saw all of it, and yet he had compassion.

He didn't turn away from us. He came toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That's why we come to worship him. That's why we adore him. That's why we await for his second coming because we wait for a savior who knows all our filth better than anybody else, and yet he calls us his children and invites us, invites us to have confidence to enter the throne of grace that in times of need that we will find help, that even if everybody else is irritated by our weaknesses, we have a savior who's compassionate.

Don't you want to worship this God? Don't you want to honor this God? Don't you want to tell the world about this God? May Christ and Christ alone be glorified in us. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for the things that we are aware of that you have done and you're continuing to do.

We thank you for the so many things that you're already coordinating that we do not know. Help us, Lord God, to become true worshipers. As we see the magnitude of your love and your grace and your patience, that all we can do for the rest of our lives is to sing praise of your name.

May Christ receive the reward for his suffering. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's all stand up for the closing praise. ♪ Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father. There is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, but of passions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thou canst have provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. ♪ Summer and winter, springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in the courses above. Joined with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy and peace.

Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thou canst have provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Garden for sinning, the peace that endures. Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide.

Strength for today and the hope for tomorrow. Send these, O mine, with ten thousand desires. Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thou canst have provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

Let's pray. Now the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, eternal and a deep, deep love of God the Father, strengthen us, encourage us, rebuke us, and build us that we truly may be the aroma of Christ wherever you send us this week.

Amen. ♪ God sent his Son. ♪ They called him Jesus. ♪ He came to love. ♪ He lived for them. ♪ He lived and died ♪ to buy my pardon. ♪ An empty grave is there ♪ to put my Savior last. ♪ Because he lives, ♪ I can face tomorrow.

♪ Because he lives, ♪ all fear is gone. ♪ Because I know ♪ he holds the future ♪ and life is worth the living ♪ just because he lives. Amen. ♪ ♪ ♪ What gift of grace is Jesus mine? ♪