Let's Get This Bread | Mark S3E2 — A Different Kingdom

Welcome to the CBC Denver Podcast. The message comes from our series Real Jesus, a front row seat to who Jesus really is through the gospel of Mark. Pastor Casey takes us through one of the greatest miracles of Jesus and what it means if Jesus really is the Bread of Life! The main scripture for this talk is Mark 6:30-44.

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:21

Well, church, let's give God some praise. Man, God is good. He is the one building this church. And I'm sitting over there, I'm like, man, how do I preach after this video? Just like next week will be two years that we've been in Denver, and man, God's just getting started. You might have just jumped in with us. You might have been from pre-launch. You might have jumped in on launch day. But man, I'm grateful that you're part of this church. And man, we believe even for this fall that God has some incredible things in store. So can we just give a shout out to Noah for that video? He put a lot of time into that. Come on, Noah. And I don't want us to miss what God is doing. There's a lot of church plants that I'm I have a lot of friends around the country, and what we're seeing in our church is not the norm. And especially for a city like Denver that wants nothing to do with Jesus. And I just want to say thank you for believing. And I think God has a lot more in store. And so today we are celebrating a belated half birthday. You know, technically we're seven months in, but we wanted to wait for our college students to come back because a lot of them helped get this off the ground. And so this is our belated half birthday. We got some cupcakes to celebrate afterwards. We got some more baptisms, four more people today going to go in public to say they've gone from death to life through faith in Jesus. And so we're celebrating four more females today. The females holding it down. Come on. And that'll happen right after service on our courtyard. A couple things coming up. This is also our fall kickoff. And so I want to highlight a few things coming up because we have some deadlines that are coming up for registrations and stuff. And so I'm going to do that at the top of the message, and then we'll jump in today. The first thing coming up is our wake gathering. So if you are a young adult, 18 to 25, we kick off our first wake gathering September 1st, which is next Tuesday. And so they meet at River Church right down the street, uh 7 p.m., our first wake gathering worship message, discussion groups, all the things, and everything coming for the semester as well. You'll find out at Wake. So don't come alone. Make sure you guys grab some people. Uh young adults pull up on Tuesday, uh September 1st. On the 19th is a Saturday. Uh we did this last year. We were part of this in our pre-launch season. Uh, we do something, we we jump into something that's happening around Lakewood, and it's called Love Lakewood Day. And so there's churches, there's nonprofits, there's businesses that adopt different elementary schools to just show up and serve mostly through like landscaping, some manual labor. We're gonna get in the dirt, we're gonna help make campuses beautiful. And we are adopting last year we were at Rose Stein, so we're showing back up at Rothstein Elementary, and then we got some Rothestein people here, and then we're also gonna be at Patterson, and I know we got some Patterson people here too. So we're showing up at those two schools, and what I want to ask our church to do, please register. You guys can do that on our event page. But I want to see like 50 people each site, and let's just in two hours, 9 to 11 on a Saturday morning, let's just show up, let's show love to these schools and these teachers, and they are a vital part of what God is doing in our city. They impact a lot of families, and so we want to show our support. Also, we have on the 20th our community group launch. And so we believe community matters. This is not just a Sunday event. We just walked through a whole summer series called More Than a Sunday Faith through the book of James. We're not here just to play church and just to show one hour a week, but man, you need community, and we're gonna keep growing. Like we're praying that God blesses this, and this is a growing church, and this will outgrow our ability to know whether you are here on a Sunday, to know whether everyone has like a certain need in their life. And so the way forward in that, and we see it in the book of Acts, is people met in smaller groups. And so we are launching community groups for the first time. These will happen in homes during the week. You'll get a pick your day of the week, which whichever works for you. But you'll have to register for that. Uh, there's a small price that covers half of the book. We're covering half the cost as well. And then on the 13th, the week before that, right after service, we'll do something in here called a community group mixer where we'll introduce all of our leaders, the homes, like here's the locations around the city. You'll get to go talk to them after service and just get more info on the group, and then you'll be able to pick your top two choices. And so we're gonna try our best to get everyone in their top two choices. We have wait groups, which are 18 to 25, we have a sixth through 12th group that's gonna be launching. So we'll have a student group, we'll have an everybody group, we'll have several everybody groups where it's just all stages of life mixed together, and then we'll have everybody groups that are also kid-friendly thinking through some child care specific things. So that's kind of what our community groups look like. Those launch the week of the 20th, and the mixers the week before on the 13th. I think I got everything. And then last but not least, if you're trying to get connected, the the easiest path forward is through crew track, and that also happens right after service on the 20th. We feed you Chipotle, we tell you about the story of our church, we help you find where you can take your next step in our church and go from being just a spectator to being a participant in what God's doing. So that is what's coming up. That's our fall kickoff. Lots in store. If you forgot everything I just said, cbtdenver.com slash events. It's all on there. So today I have one of my good friends here that's spending his birthday all the way from Jacksonville, Florida. So I know Eric's in here from Jacksonville. Anyone else from Jacksonville, Florida? Richard was in my wedding, and man, we got to just hang out this weekend. They got to go see Estes Park, him and his wife Jess, and so honored that you guys are here. But uh as we were talking, I'm like, I'm gonna fit this into my intro this week. We had a lot of time to catch up on like everything family, life, all the things. We got to talk a lot about CBC. I got to brag on you guys as your pastor, and I just want to say, like, I'm blessed to be able to pastor this church. I'm blessed for the ways that you guys have supported us. And man, I will continue to lay down my life for this church. I I love this church. As we're driving around the city, I just remember us having conversations about like why CBC Denver, like, why did God lead us to Denver? Like a little bit about our story. And first, like, we love this city, we love everything about this city. I love the mountains, I love the no humidity, I love the no mosquitoes. Amen. And I love the snow, I love shoveling my driveway. I can't wait for that. I love the ski season, I love the camping season, I love everything about our city, and even like the bumps and bruises in our city and and the things that we can step in and bring good news to. Like, I love that we get to be here as a church to do that. There's also a deep spiritual need, and if you're just visiting or you're just like walking around our city, you can tangibly feel the spiritual need in our city. There are many people here who are spiritually curious, they're searching for answers, and we believe the gospel has the answers. We believe the gospel can meet them where they're at. And before we moved here two years ago, I'm like, man, if people are searching and we know the gospel works, to me that's low-hanging fruits. People's like, why would you plant a church in Denver? It's they call it the church planting graveyard. I'm like, I know the gospel works, and I know people are searching for it, and so let's take the good news to them. And because of that, like this is a city that needs a lot of Bible-believing churches, gospel preaching churches. There's one church for every 32,000 people that actually believes and lives out the Bible and preaches the Bible, one for every 32,000 people. That would be a ton of mega churches, right? And we don't even have that. We need to plant a lot more churches. And so, like you said, like you saw in the video, we are invested in missions and future church plants already. But the thing I love most about this city is the people. There's this rise and grind culture to Denver where people here are just built different, right? Pat yourself on the back, you're just built different. You have something different about you. You want to do hard things, you want to experience adventure, like you don't want the easy road, you want to make the world your playground and you want to live life to the fullest. And that's what I love about Denver. And as we were praying to move here, this is what I told Richard. I was like, Man, if God can take that spirit of rugged grit, that spirit of adventure, of like, man, tell me, like, point to the highest mountain and I'll climb it. Like, if you could take that and then pair that with the gospel, like ignite that with the gospel, can you imagine what God could do in Denver and beyond? I believe we would see revival. There's a motivation behind a Denverite that's just different. And the question I want to start with today is this What is the primary thing that motivates you to get going each day? It gets you out of bed, it wakes you up, feet hit the floor. What is that primary motivation? I think for a lot of us, it can be work, it could be your job. Maybe you love your job. There's like purpose and fulfillment in what you do, and so that that like lights your fire. You go to work and you're passionate about it. Maybe it's success. So like the job is like a way to get to success, but like you're passionate about a successful life, whatever that looks like, climbing the ladder or you know, working your way up to this kind of role and impact. Maybe it's family, you know. You go to work to provide for your family, like it's a necessity, but your family is like ultimate. So you're trying to put food on the table, you're trying to subs support them. Maybe it's approval. You know, there's a there's a Strava culture also in in Denver. I love it. But man, like it could be easy to get up and and go do something just to post it on Strava and get some some likes and some comments, some approval, and we can apply that to a lot of different areas of our life. We live for the approval of people. Instagram. Maybe it's comfort. Like I'm working, I'm grinding right now, so that one day, man, I I'm my own boss, right? I'm a financial freedom at 50 years old. I'm gonna retire early, and so I'm just gonna I'm chasing comfort, but right now I'm gonna grind so I can get the comfort. Or maybe it's stability. You could have gone through something really hard recently where the rug was just taken out from under your feet. Life's not stable. So the motivation right now is just trying to make it survive and get to a stable point. All of these I think are are good motives. But let me ask you this question How many days do you wake up and the motivation is Jesus? How many days do I wake up, my feet hit the floor, and I'm here to live for Jesus? Like, put all those underneath the umbrella of I'm chasing after Jesus. And so by living for Him, yes, I can work, I can have success, I can provide for my family, I can have an approval that's not rooted in people, but in what God says about me, and so on and so on. And so today I want to preach a message called Let's get this bread. Let's get this bread. Now, this phrase is used in a couple different ways, not really anymore, I haven't heard it too much, but basically highlights the rise and grind lifestyle, the the hustle culture, right? It's not used as much today, but you used to hear people say things like, All right, it's Monday morning, let's get this bread. It's Monday, let's go. What are they saying? They're saying, All right, new week, let's go make some money, right? Let's go grind out success, let's go make something out of this week. We might not say that anymore, but we still think it. We still live it in a way. And I'll just hit pause real quick. Is is working hard a bad thing? No. If you're a Christian in the room, you should be the best employee in your work. You should be the hardest worker in your organization. We have a duty to through our work to worship Jesus. We should be the most loving, the most unifying, the most producing, the hardest work ethic. We should be the best employee to the people around us. If you're an employer, that should apply to you. Like you should be the best employer to the people that work under you. But this doesn't come from hustle culture. This actually comes from something called kingdom culture. The motivation for all of life and ultimate satisfaction that we're all grinding for comes from an entirely different source. Today I want to show you what that is. So if you have your Bibles, jump into Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6 is where we'll be today. As you're turning there, let me just recap what we've been doing as a church. We just got out of James. We jumped back into a series in the book of Mark called Real Jesus. And it's it's really through the eyes of Peter. Mark transcribes it. Mark was not a disciple of Jesus, one of the original twelve, but Peter was. He was one of the closest ones, and he gives this eyewitness account, and Mark writes it down. And so through the eyes of Peter, through the pen of Mark, we get a front row seat to who Jesus actually is. That's what this series is all about. And we've been breaking it up into seasons and episodes, and we're in season three now, so you can go back and catch up if you want to on our podcast. But season one was all about this new Messiah announcing good news. Season two, we start to see all these mixed reactions to Jesus. Some people were for him, some were against him, some were trying to be neutral. You can't really be neutral with Jesus. And so there's all these mixed reactions, and then we get to season three, and Jesus starts to get really clear that he's here for a different kingdom. And so we titled season three A Different Kingdom. So that's where we are today. Last week we saw Jesus show up to his hometown Nazareth. You can imagine these his family, his friends, his neighbors. They watched him grow up. And he comes back, he's been doing all these signs and wonders, he announces that he's the Messiah. He he teaches out of Isaiah, and he's like, Yeah, that's talking about me. And they're like, Hold up, like we watched you grow up. They they reject him. They actually tried to throw him off a cliff. His neighbors, his friends, his family. He's rejected in his hometown. And right after that, Jesus sends his disciples out to preach in groups of two. And Mark tells us that they preached about repentance, that cast out demons, that healed many sick people. And then we get to our story today in verse 30. Here's what it says.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

I need my water really quick, by the way. I meant to bring that up.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Still working on this voice from last week, but we're doing better than last week. Mark chapter 6, verse 30. Says the apostles returned to Jesus and they told him all that they had done and taught. Now, I want to pause here. The disciples have been following Jesus now for a good minute, right? As disciples of a rabbi, they would follow Jesus, they would observe him, they would watch him carefully, and then they would try to do the things that he did. They would literally try to have the dust of the rabbi like kick up, they're following so close to him that the dust of the rabbi would kick up on them. They're following Jesus as close as they can, but it's still been mostly like a master teacher format. And so finally, this is the first time that they've been sent out by Jesus to go and do the things that they learned from him. If you're learning to drive a car, it's that moment you go from the permit and the really anxious-inducing like parent in the front seat who probably wants like a brake pedal on their side, you know, kind of thing. It's the moment you go from that to like the full-on driver's license. I remember getting my driver's license. I was like, Mom, do you need milk from the store? Like, I'll I'll do whatever you can. Like, I want to go drive this car. I want this autonomy. And so it's this moment, Jesus is like, all right, you guys know what to do. Go get them. And as you can imagine, they're pretty pumped by all that they saw and they that they did, that God is working these wonders through them, that they're preaching, that they're casting out demons, they're they're healing the sick. But while they're away, something else pretty major happened. And if you just look right above this paragraph in your Bible, you can kind of see what happens. There's a man named Herod who was a ruler, and he had arrested John the Baptist, which was Jesus' cousin, also the forerunner of the Messiah, the one who prepared the way for the Messiah. And he arrested John the Baptist sometime before this, but but Herod just ordered John the Baptist to be beheaded. And Jesus just got this news. And so all of this is going on at the same time. You have the excitement of the apostles, you have this confused and you know, just grieving Jesus over his cousin. And this is what it happens in verse 31. And he says, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. Let's just get away. For many were coming and going, they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in a boat to a desolate place by themselves. Like, imagine that for a second. They're so busy, they can't even eat. Right? Like, fame sounds great. Until you have no time for your hummus. That's what's happening. If you're a parent, like you know, you know these moments, like you and your spouse are trying to have a conversation at the dinner table. Like for us, we have a four, two, and one month old. And like, it's just like random thoughts at dinner, and we can't get a word in it, let alone a paragraph. And we've been in multiple conversations recently where I'm like, we're just gonna have to take this conversation later, like after they go to bed. Like, you can't even get it in. Like, imagine the disciples, there, there's all this ministry happening, they're just trying to catch up on what happened. And so Jesus is like, Hey, let's let's go on a retreat, let's get away. You guys have been working hard. You just got back from a mission trip, let's go debrief what happened. Also, like John just passed away. Like, let's go grieve together. Let's just get away from the noise, the chaos, the busyness for a second. It's like, hey, Siri, directions to a place where we're not gonna see anybody. Like, that's essentially what he says. And so they get in a boat, just the disciples and Jesus, and it says they head to a desolate place. Man, sign me up for that retreat. Me and Jesus in a desolate place, I'm all for it. Just to be with Jesus. By the way, notice that Jesus had rhythms of rest and work. So, yes, like we should be the hardest workers, but there is rhythms of rest. Let's keep going, verse 33. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns, and they got there ahead of them. What's happening? The crowds don't let up. They see the disciples, they see Jesus from the shore, and so they keep running parallel to the boat on the shore, trying to keep up, trying to see where he's going. And as they're running through each town, just imagine this commotion. This this crowd is starting to sound like a mob, right? People poking their heads out their their windows and their houses, they're like, What's happening? They're like, man, it's Jesus! Like, he's out in the he's out on the shore. Like, come on. So there's no time for them to like pick up anything important, like food. People just see the mob, they're passing by, they jump in, and right here we have the first example in the Bible of a run club. So they're they're biblical, and so they're all running to G to Jesus, they're watching him in the water, and when he went ashore, he saw a great crowd. Don't miss this, verse 34. He saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. Now we don't know if Jesus got to his actual destination or if he saw the crowd and he's like, Peter, hold up. Like, we gotta make a pit stop. Like, pull the boat over, we gotta go ashore. Like, look at the crowds. We don't we don't really know what's happening in this moment. But don't miss what happens. Jesus gets out of the boat and he's overwhelmed with compassion. The God of the universe sees the crowds and he's moved. Don't forget that their plans are interrupted. They're they're headed to a retreat. Don't forget that they're exhausted, they've just got back from a mission trip. Don't forget that Jesus just lost his cousin John the Baptist, and still Jesus stops. Still Jesus has compassion. Still, Jesus sees them and not just sees them in a way that just glosses over it, but sees them in a way that responds. When most of us would have compassion fatigue, do you remember that word during COVID? Like I heard that word all the time, compassion fatigue. Nurses can can struggle with like you're if you're always dealing with people who are sick and hurt and who are just needy, like man, it can wear on you. When most of us would have compassion fatigue, unable to feel empathy for someone because we're so exhausted, we're so emotionally drained, we're looking for some me time and some self-care. What does Jesus do? Jesus still puts people first. He came to serve, not to be served. Verse 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, You give them something to eat. I love how the disciples' reaction to the problem was Hey, Jesus, send them away. We got a big problem, it's only going to get bigger. The longer we wait, Jesus. It's time to like let the people go. Are we not just like the disciples? Man, that's not my problem. That's gonna cost too much. That's gonna be too much of an inconvenience. I don't have time. But what was Jesus' reaction? No, you feed them. He said, This is an opportunity to serve. And they said to him, Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? Translation, they're like, Jesus, that's gonna cost 200 days of paychecks? A denari is one day's worth of wages. They're like, We can't feed all these people. How do you expect this to happen? Verse 38, and he says to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they had found out, they said, Five and two fish. And then he commanded them to all sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups by hundreds and by fifties. In John's Gospel, we find out that Andrew goes and finds a boy who had five small barley loaves and two small fish. That's it. Thousands of people, five loaves, two fish. That's all they got. Parents, I know some of you packed lunches for your kids. Just imagine this boy's mom. Like, she had no idea what was about to happen that day when she made that lunch. Parents, you never know. Make that lunch good. The disciples put this tiny lunch, this Hebrew lunchable, into the hands of Jesus. And watch what happens next. Verse 41. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing, and he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all, and they all ate and were satisfied. Verse 43. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish, and those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Now just counting the men, there's five thousand people. Most people believe if you add up the women and the children, there's close to twenty thousand people here on this day. So it's not the feeding of the five thousand, it's the feeding of the twenty thousand. It's the feeding of ballerina. Right? I I looked up the nuggets like max capacity sellout, it's like 19,500 people. So more than it could fit into ballerina at a sellout nuggets game, is how many people are here on this day. And after everyone had eaten and was satisfied, translation, they just had Thanksgiving dinner. Like they're not just nibbling on some, like Jesus fed them. They were stuffed. After all that, they had more left over than what they started with. And they collected 12 baskets full of leftovers, like hint, one for each disciple. Twelve is a pretty common number, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples. And we'll come back to that. Outside of this miracle of the resurrection, outside of the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus, what I want you to see is the feeding of the 5,000, the 20,000, is the only miracle that all four gospel writers talk about outside of the resurrection. They knew how important this was. They knew what this meant. So Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they all tell this story. This was a big deal. And when this miracle happens, the crowds know exactly what Jesus is claiming. So I'm trying to bridge this gap to us in 2026, but like they would know exactly what was happening. They know the stories about Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness, how God supernaturally fed his people by providing bread from heaven that was called manna every single day for a nation that was nearly two to three million people. In the wilderness, after they came out of slavery of Egypt, God fed them in the wilderness. God also sent ravens to feed the prophet Elijah in the desert. How many of you want your meal, your next meal to come from a raven? Elijah was there. And then he had a follower that came after him, another prophet named Elisha, and he would multiply bread to feed his 100 men in the wilderness. So food in the desert was a thread all throughout the history of God's people. And the Jews believed that the messianic age would see the return of bread from heaven, just like the manna in the wilderness. And so the moment this happens, like all the sirens are going off in their mind. They know exactly what Jesus is saying, that he is the Messiah, he has come to usher in the days of salvation, the king is here, and his kingdom is now. This is what Jesus is saying. Here's the main idea for today. Jesus is the bread from heaven. They don't realize that yet, but that's what Jesus is saying. Jesus is the bread from heaven. He is the true manna. Now, how does the crowd respond? We don't get that in we got to piece that together in Mark, but if you look over in John, the crowd in this moment tries to come and take Jesus by force and make him king. They're like, man, he he provided bread like that? Can you imagine if we just make can you imagine what he could do for us as king? They try to make him for like king by force. They knew the claim, but they misunderstood the kingdom. And Jesus doesn't give in to their demands. He's here for a purpose. He's not here to be served, but he's here to serve and to give his life as a ransom. He came so that we might taste and eat of the bread of life. Jesus came so you could taste of eternal life. Jesus is the bread from heaven that leads to eternal life. And so with our remaining time today, I want to pull out four principles and four implications for us today. Four principles and four implications. Number one, the first principle is a real compassion. What we see in the story is a real compassion. Verse 34. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Think about sheep for a moment, they're pretty dumb. They need a shepherd. They're pretty, I mean, they they can't, there's no offensive weapons given to a sheep, right? They'd rely on that shepherd. If they fall on their back, they can't even like flip over. Like that's pretty that's pretty pathetic, right? They rely on a shepherd to lead him to grass, to lead him to water, to protect them from wolves and predators, to heal like wounds and stuff so it doesn't get infected. He sees the crowds like sheep without a shepherd. He has compassion. The word for compassion is only used in the New Testament by Jesus or about Jesus. It's a deep awareness of the suffering of another person, but that's not that's not the full definition. It's that deep awareness, but it's combined with a strong active desire to help ease that pain. So it's empathy that moves to action. There's no room for passivity. It's real compassion. In the Old Testament, God's people, they're often referred to as sheep whom God cares for. Like He is the ultimate shepherd. And the leaders God would raise up were called to be shepherds of his people. Same analogy in the New Testament for pastors in the church. There's a theme here, right? But many times those Old Testament leaders didn't lead people to God, but they actually led people away from God. They were poor shepherds. And so God in that moment would say that his people were like sheep without a shepherd. What they needed was a real shepherd, a good shepherd. And when Jesus looks at the crowd, he can feel all of their distress, all of their spiritual anxiety. I think when he looks at our church, whatever you're walking through, he can feel that. But it doesn't just stay there. He's not a God that's just like, man, sucks for them. He's a God that moves to action. Dietrich Bonhoeffer says this about that state of spiritual anxiety that Jesus sees. He says there were questions, but there were no answers. There was distress, but there was no relief. There was anguish of conscience, but no deliverance. There was tears, but no consolation, sin but no forgiveness. He looks out at the sheep and they are hopeless, just like you and me. Stuck in our sin with no way out. But no one has a compassion like Jesus. Which means, here's the implication Jesus not only sees your need, some of you don't even believe that. But he sees it. He not only sees your need, but he also, in your need, he moves to compassion out of extreme love for you. That's the whole reason he left heaven, by the way, to come to earth, moved by compassion for his people that wanted we said thanks, but no thanks. We wanted nothing to do with God. And out of compassion, he came to earth. I want to say today he sees you. Man, I don't know what you're going through. I have talked with so many people in the last couple weeks. I mean, miscarriages, like doubting faith, like does God see me, financial situations, like loved ones who are really sick, people caring for older parents. And the list goes on. People losing family members, like, does God see me? Yes. He absolutely sees you. And he doesn't stop there. He sees you and he moves toward you. Even if you're doubting your faith, he's still moving towards you. Even if you feel like you're moving away from him, he's running after you. He sees you. These people are not even there for the right reasons, right? They don't fully understand the Messiah, and yet he still moves toward them. And if that's true about Jesus, that should be true about us, for the people in our life, for the church that we have all around us, our community. We should have the same compassion for people. The second one I want to show you is an impossible situation. An impossible situation. I can just picture Jesus. It says he's teaching them about the kingdom. And the disciples are watching his sermon clock. It's getting a little late. They're like, man, like if he goes any longer, we're gonna be in real trouble here. They know people are gonna be hungry. They present the problem to Jesus, and he's like, you guys figure it out. And I can just think, they're like, oh, good one, Jesus. He that's a joke, right? He's like, No, I'm serious. You guys go feed him now. Why would he put them up to such an impossible task? You thought about that? Why? Obviously, they can't feed the people. Why would Jesus even ask such a thing? Because he's testing them. And it's not just a test, it's actually also an invitation. Think about this. He has the disciples go organize all the people. He has the disciples go find out just how much food is in the crowd. He even has the disciples distribute the food once Jesus multiplies it. So Jesus is the one doing the impossible, Jesus is the one doing the supernatural. But what does he do with the disciples? He invites them to be a part of it. Just like you and me. Did Jesus need their help? Clearly not. There's one miracle he does where he just tells the dad, like, hey, go home, like your loved one's gonna be fine. He heals them from a distance. Like he doesn't need their help, but he wants their help. He wants your help. He wants to invite you in, and here's the implication from this impossible situation. And for every impossible situation you find yourself in, here's the implication. God always invites us into the impossible to partner in his work, his kingdom work, and to partner for his glory. God always invites us into the impossible to partner in his kingdom work and for his glory. I just want to apply this to your job for a second. Whether you're a teacher, a counselor, whether you have a staff, whatever it is, a nurse, an engineer, stay-at-home mom, stay-at-home dad, like I don't know what your role is. That's your job has it actually is more than just a paycheck. Like you don't work for the one who signed your paycheck. God's given you that to invite you into this impossible task for his kingdom work and for his glory. The school you go to is not just to like get a piece of paper on the wall that says you learned some things or some extra letters by your name. Like you go to a school, a campus where hundreds of people don't know about Jesus, they don't have the bread of life. And so God is inviting you into this impossible situation on your school campus to do something about it with him and for his glory. What about marriage? Marriage is taking two sinful people with jacked up past. And whether you think you have baggage or not, everyone brings baggage into marriage. Everyone has like childhood wounds that you bring into marriage. Everyone has like imperfect parents, taught you imperfect things, that you're gonna you're gonna be like your parents in your own marriage. Like that's an impossible task. Two selfish sinners put together as one flesh, and Jesus says, Hey, go model the gospel. Outdo one another and how you submit to each other and love each other and serve each other and sacrifice for each other. That seems like an impossible task, but what's God doing through marriage? He's inviting you into this impossible task where he can get all the glory. I remember when I met Hannah, I was like, Man, for the first time I found a girl that I could date and pursue for marriage. That I'm like, man, I can do more for the kingdom with her than I could apart. That's how I knew she was the one. That together our lives would would count more, would have a greater impact for the kingdom than if we just stayed apart. What about parenting? Man, God has given you some little sinners to parents. And contrary to what you believe, the Bible says we're born in sin. So they are you don't have to teach them how to be selfish, you don't have to teach them how to steal, you don't have to teach them how to lie. Like we're just entering that phase now with our four-year-old. But man, what an impossible task. You are powerless to change a child's heart. To anyone's heart. And yet God is inviting you into this impossible task to partner with him in molding and shaping this child, to know God, to love him, to learn and obey him. You know, in your singleness, some of you are in this season. Man, it it feels like an impossible task. Man, I'm I'm lonely, I'm looking, I'm praying. God, what are you trying to do in my singleness? He's He's inviting you into something with His kingdom work and for His glory. It's an impossible situation, but it always comes with an invitation. Number three is an inadequate resource. An inadequate resource. After the disciples survey the whole crowd, they come up with five loaves and two fish. That's all they have. And you know what? Jesus didn't even need that. I mean, if he wanted to, Jesus could rain down sourdough and sushi, and they they would have a banquet, right? But he uses their inadequate resources to incorporate them in the miracle. That's why he invites them. And what happens? With five loaves and two fish, he feeds 20,000 people. Their inadequacy, the things that they brought, the little that they had, didn't even phase Jesus. Sometimes I think we're even scared to bring what we have to Jesus. Or maybe we take, like, maybe we're like just too tight-fisted with what he's entrusted to us. I was trying to think of a comparison for this story. Like, help help bring the cookies to the bottom shelf for us today. Imagine this. Like they're in a wilderness. Imagine this, they're in a wilderness. Jesus takes a dry, desolate, barren wilderness, and he turns it into a bucky's. That's what happens. Endless supply. You guys have been to a Bucky's? Man, you walk in just like, holy cow, I never want to leave this place. Forget the road trip, right? There's no one in the history of ever who's walked into a Bucky's and left disappointed. That's a fact, right? You got the beaver nuggets, the brisket tacos, the drinks, the coffee. And you got pajamas, you got souvenirs. Bucky's is an endless supply. And man, some of you have like, I've never been in a Bucky's. Even if you never walk in a Bucky's, I guarantee you, you didn't have to wait for a gas pump. Because they got like 247 of them outside. Bucky's is amazing. And in a way, that's what happens in the wilderness. God takes barren and dry and brings endless supply. Here's the implication number three. What little you have becomes much in the hands of Jesus. Some of you like, man, I'm just a single parent. I'm trying to make it like what little you have becomes much in the hands of Jesus. Some of you are working two or three jobs. You're like, man, keep going. Mom, dad, whatever, whoever that is, like, keep what little you have becomes much in the hands of Jesus. Those hard, like stay-at-home hours with the kids all day. Man, give those put those in the hands of Jesus. What can he do with it? Are you willing to put what you have in Jesus' hands so he can multiply and use it? Here's the thing many times I think God wants to incorporate us in the miracle he's doing, and we miss out because we simply don't trust him. We won't put it into his hands. We don't trust him enough to like let go of what we have and to put it in his hands. Or we don't trust that he's actually big enough that my little thing can become something even greater in his hands. My inadequate prayers, like my time, talent, and treasure, my finances, my home, my TV. Man, you guys have some a football season starting, right? Some Broncos, some college football. Man, you know how to reach your neighbors? Invite them. Use your TV. Invite them over to your home. Use the resources you have, what little you have in the hands of Jesus, he can use. My mind, some of you are so smart. Like, what could God do if you actually gave him your mind to use for the kingdom? I know somebody who left their profession to start their own business, and they're developing an app and technology to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. And they already know the end date. They're like, it's gonna happen by this date. Through this tech, like putting their mind and all the things God's blessed them with into the hands of Jesus. You can trust God with your inadequate resources. God doesn't work on girl math, by the way. That's for my wife. Y'all know girl math. Girl math makes you think you're winning, makes you think you're getting a deal, but it's still costing you more in the end. Amen. Husbands? God's math is different. It doesn't cost you more in the end, you get an upgrade. Like he takes what little you have and he turns it into much. Put it in the hands of Jesus. Number four, in abundant provision. In abundant provision, Jesus hosts a banquet in the middle of the wilderness. There's some eschatological references, that means like end times. There's some eschatological references here because one day Jesus will host a banquet for the redeemed, for his church, where we'll be with him, the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven, in eternity. And he's just showing us a glimpse of what it's going to be like. But I want you to notice the abundance. The disciples are left with more than they had to start with. Go back to the question that Jesus asked his disciples. Why don't you feed them? They're in the middle of the desert. They got nothing. What was Jesus trying to teach his disciples? That you may be in a desolate place, but if you have Jesus, you lack nothing. So here's the implication. Sometimes following Jesus leads you to a desolate place so you can remember that Jesus is all you have. That he's all you need. If you have Jesus, you have everything. If you have Jesus, you lack nothing. He came that we may have life and life abundantly. I don't think that was a cliche, I think that was a promise that he gave us. Have you tasted and seen that he is that good? In the desolate place, have you looked to Jesus? The bread from heaven, the true manna. Maybe it's been a long time, but he has abundant provision for you. And in your toil and your striving, and you're like chasing, like you can't produce the abundance that he has waiting for you. All you have to do is run to Jesus. All you have to do is look to him, to turn to him. So here's the big takeaway I want to leave us with today. The answer to your hunger isn't more blank. You can fill the blank in with whatever you're chasing. The answer to your hunger, your craving, the thing that you think will satisfy you isn't more of that. The answer is Jesus. Have you tasted and seen that he is good? Have you eaten of the bread of life that leads to eternal life? Has he changed your life in that way? Because when you have Jesus, the bread of life, you live with a different level of compassion for people. One that doesn't just see people as scenery or machinery, but actually moves in compassion to help people, to lay down your life, to not even count the cost, but just to serve people. When you have Jesus, the bread of life, you're invited into being part of the impossible. I love the movie Mission Impossible, right? This is an impossible mission. But man, you feel like you gotta be a part of it. And Jesus is trying to save this world, salvation. And he could have written in the clouds, he could have done whatever he wanted, but what did he do? He invited the church into this mission. We weren't plan B, plan C, plan Z, you know, whatever. We're plan A, or his plan A to reach the world. You're invited into being part of that. You get to partner with him in his kingdom work and for his glory. Your inadequate resources, your weaknesses become much in the hands of Jesus. You become a steward of what he's given you, and then you get to rest in the abundant provision and the faithfulness of Jesus, even in the most desolate places. So, church, I don't know here today, but know this: Jesus is the bread from heaven, Jesus is the manna that never runs out. Turn to him today, and the answer to your hunger isn't more blank, the answer is Jesus. Let's pray. Father, today we come before you, just acknowledging that you are the Messiah, you are the provider, you are the sustainer, God, you are the promise keeper. God, even in desolate places, even in the dry wilderness, God, you show up. And there is abundance, there is answers, there is hope, there is eternal life. So, God, today, would we turn to you in a fresh way? God, would you allow us to have real compassion? God, would you take our inadequate resources and turn them into much when we place them in your hands? And God, help us to rest in the abundant life that you have promised to give us. So when people look at us, God, they would see not us, but something different about us. They would see you living through our life. God, I pray for anyone in this room today that does not know you, that has never tasted of the bread of life. God, would you draw them to yourself today? In Jesus' name.