We're here in John chapter 6, and John chapter 6 is a very famous chapter because it's a chapter where Catholics get the concept of the Eucharist, which we're going to be talking about that next week.
But the name of the sermon is John 6, lessons from two, about two miracles, or lessons from two miracles.
And so some people would say, well, the two miracles are the feeding of 5,000 plus, plus they would say the Eucharist, who's actually, there are two miracles, but it's not the Eucharist, that's not the second one.
There's actually a miracle that takes place here that you have to read very carefully to catch, but I want you to notice right off about what that miracle is.
In John 6, look at verses 18 and 19. John 6, verses 18 and 19.
And it says in verse 18,
And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
So basically there's a storm. They're in the middle of the water, and all of a sudden a storm comes.
And notice verse 19.
So when they had rowed about five and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship, and they were afraid.
So they rowed for about 25 to 30 furlongs.
Now, who in here knows how big a furlong is? Anybody?
Now, a furlong is one eighth of a mile.
Okay, it's 220 yards. It's one eighth of a mile.
Okay, so when it says 25 to 30 furlongs, they're basically rowing three and one eighths to three and six eighths miles.
Okay, that's how far they go.
So they're basically in the middle of the water, and they're not near the land anymore.
Now turn to Mark 6, verse 47. Mark 6, verse 47.
Now, we're actually going to be in Mark 6 as much as we are in John 6 tonight because Mark 6 and John 6 have parallel passages.
So we'll kind of go back and forth.
Obviously, in the Gospels, a lot of these stories are told over and over again.
We're going to be looking at the feeding of the 5,000 men plus women and children.
Obviously, that's a very famous story.
So it appears many times in the Bible.
And this is parallel with Mark chapter 6.
Now, notice verse 47.
Basically, it's in the middle of the sea when this storm is taking place.
It is not near land at all.
Okay, turn back to John 6. Back to John 6.
And so they go out between three to four miles.
They row 25 to 30 furlongs.
They're in the midst of the sea.
The storm is taking place.
Now, picture yourself in that situation.
If you're in the middle of the ocean, if you're in the middle of a ship,
inside of a ship, and a big storm takes place, and you're not near land, guess what?
You're going to be afraid, aren't you?
This is obviously a massive storm that's taking place, but I want you to notice verse 20.
But he saith unto them, It is I, be not afraid.
So Jesus is walking on the sea.
He walks to them, and he says, Be not afraid.
Don't fear.
That's a constant theme you see throughout the entire Bible.
God has not given us the spirit of fear.
He does not want us to be afraid.
Look, when it comes to our personal lives, we talked about it last week in Psalms.
Look, our lives are in the hands of God.
And if you are living a righteous and holy life, you do not have to fear about possibly dying.
God will protect you unless he has a greater purpose for allowing you to pass away.
Now, if you're living a wicked life, if you're going out and doing drugs and getting drunk and you happen to die,
you can't blame God for that.
Those were your choices that you made.
But if you're living a godly and holy life, look, God's going to protect you.
We don't have to be afraid.
Now, it's easy to say that when you're in the middle of a room and you're not inside of an ocean where there's a big storm taking place.
I'm not saying I wouldn't be afraid in that situation, but I'm saying we're not supposed to be afraid.
And the more right we are with God, the less we're going to be afraid.
But I want you to notice verse 21.
Remember, they're in the middle of the ocean.
And then in verse 21,
Notice how it says,
What does immediately mean?
It means like that, right?
It doesn't say, well, the ship went really fast and made some land.
No, the ship was immediately at the land.
See, we take the Bible literally for what it says.
And when the Bible says right when he got into the ship, it was immediately at the land.
Guess what? That's a miracle that's taking place.
Immediately, it's at the land.
It didn't take five minutes.
No, it was immediate.
Immediate is less than one second, right?
It's immediate.
That's what the Bible says.
So right when he gets into the ship, immediately they're at the land.
You see, when we go through trials in life, we really don't have to fear if we're living godly.
Because he'll immediately rescue us out of that situation.
We don't have to fear.
Now, turn back to Mark 6.
Turn back to Mark 6.
So that's an example where we need to read the Bible closely.
Because every word's in there for a reason.
But I'm showing you that miracle right off the bat to kind of set the scene for this.
Because there's an obvious very famous miracle where there's 5,000 men plus women and children who they feed.
Everybody knows that miracle.
We heard that story growing up.
Everybody's heard that.
This miracle, though, you often don't hear preached.
But I want you to see that there are two miracles taking place.
And this is going to set the scene for this whole sermon, especially as we get to the very end, okay?
There's two miracles taking place.
And we need to remember in this sermon that in Mark 6 and in John 6, we're seeing parallel passages, okay?
They're not completely parallel from beginning to end.
But the story of the 5,000 being fed and also being inside the ship and being in danger, those things are parallel, okay?
So in Mark 6, verse 7, the first point we have that I exist, the work of the ministry is exhausting.
The work of the ministry is exhausting or very tiring, okay?
Mark 6, verse 7,
And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.
So what is he sending out these twelve people to do?
He's sending them out to fish for men, right?
He sends them out two by two.
See, Jesus sends them out two by two.
We follow the same pattern here.
What do we do on Sundays when we pair people up for so many?
We pair people up two by two and we send them out.
We don't just make up our own ideas of how we're going to reach the world.
We just do it the way God says, okay?
Now notice he doesn't say, I'm going to stand in the middle of a street corner and preach,
and there'll be millions of people that come to me,
and I'm just going to preach the gospel and have this fancy altar call.
No, he just sends them out two by two.
Right.
He's always reaching people by just preaching the gospel one on one, one to a couple people.
It's not talking to large crowds.
You'll never see Jesus preach the gospel to large crowds.
Why?
It's not an effective way to preach the gospel.
The most effective way is the way we do it.
We go out two by two, that's how he sends them.
So he sends them two by two and gave them power over unclean spirits.
Now notice verse thirty of Mark six, verse thirty.
And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things,
both what they had done and what they had taught.
So basically they get back from soul winning, and they're basically saying what's taking place.
They say the things that they taught, they talk about the great things that have happened.
It's kind of like on Sundays where we go soul winning at three p.m.
And what do we do at five p.m.?
We come back here, we rejoice in the big results, and we talk about the great things that happened.
And we're excited, right?
We're excited at the big results.
That's what's taking place here in Mark six.
Now when we get back on Sundays, we're tired, aren't we?
After soul winning.
It's been a long day.
We've had church, we've been, you know, a lot of you are coming from a long distance.
You know, we clean up here around here, we get everything organized.
We're trying to make everything structured, work really well.
Then we go out soul winning in the sun for a couple hours.
We come back, we're tired.
Guess what?
They came back, they're excited, but they're also very tired as well.
Just like we are, because the work of the ministry is exhausting.
So notice verse thirty-one.
And he said unto them,
Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile.
For there are many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
So what does Jesus say?
He's like, hey, let's go to the desert and take a rest.
Basically, you know what, you've been soul winning, you've been doing the work of the Lord, you've worked hard.
It's time to take a rest, okay?
Look, it's not a sin to take a rest every once in a while.
In fact, it's actually a really smart thing if you want to stay in the fight for the long time.
You know, I mean, obviously we love when people volunteer and help out, but I do not want people to burn themselves out.
And if you want to volunteer, you know, praise the Lord, but don't feel like you have to.
Because I don't want you to reach a point where you're just like, man, I'm done with this, it's too much work, you know, I quit.
That does happen in churches.
And so I try not, I try as much as I can to handle things on my own, because I don't want people to be able to learn.
Myself, I take breaks sometimes.
Why?
Because I've been saved long enough to know that I don't have the energy to just go 24-7 living for God every single day and just eat, sleep, and breathe.
Now, obviously, you know, we should strive to live for God as much as we can, but we all have our breaking points and it's not a sin to take a rest or take a vacation or take a day off or just relax sometimes.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That's what Jesus tells them to do.
Look, here in a couple weeks, we're going to have a nice game of basketball coming up, right?
We talked about that on a Sunday, we're going to, you know, after church, after the soul-winning, we're going to probably end soul-winning early, we're going to have a game of basketball, you know, it's going to be fun.
It's good to just fellowship and rest every once in a while.
We don't always have to just be soul-winning until we drop every single day, okay?
And so he says they had no leisure so much as to eat.
Why?
Because there's always people coming to get saved.
They're preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel.
You know, there's so many people we can get saved out there.
Eventually, you just have to take a break those days.
You just have to come back and relax.
And that's what we see here.
Now, turn to Matthew 9, Matthew 9.
Can you really think of too many things that are more exhausting than preaching the gospel?
I mean, the thing about preaching the gospel is obviously it's in the sun and that's tiring, but it's also mentally exhausting and draining.
I mean, you're literally standing between heaven and hell when you're preaching the gospel.
There's nothing more exciting and more important in this entire world.
More important than somebody, you know, shooting the game-winning shot in NBA Finals or scoring the game-winning goal in the World Cup.
You know, there's nothing more exciting than standing between heaven and hell and doing the Lord's work.
Nothing's more exciting than that.
But, you know, it is exhausting.
It's draining.
It's mentally and emotionally exhausting.
Matthew 9, verses 37 and 38, it says in verse 37,
This is right before they go out and preach the gospel.
And he says the laborers are few.
The sad reality is there aren't a lot of people preaching the gospel and doing the work.
Now, when you think about that word, labor, what does that make you think of?
Does that make you think of somebody who's just kind of sitting at their desk and relaxing all day and hardly doing any work?
No, you think of somebody who wakes up at like 6 in the morning and is doing construction until like 8 at night, right?
Labor is hard work.
It's not just that you're working to make money.
No, laboring is really difficult work.
Really hard work.
And see, when we do the work of the Lord, it's difficult work.
It's not easy.
Now, this is not just something that I take part in.
It's something we all take part in.
Because the labor is spread around for all of us to do.
When it comes to preaching the gospel, that's something we all do.
Because Jesus is sending them out to labor, so this is something we all do.
It's not just one person, it's all of us.
We all do the work.
And you know, praise the Lord at this church that most people in this church do a lot of labor when it comes to preaching the gospel.
We believe in it, we love it, and that's what we do.
Verse 38,
Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into his harvest.
And so what he says is we should pray that there will be more labors.
Honestly, at this church, I hope we have more soul orders in a couple months.
Now, we have a great percentage of people that go out soul-earning.
But I would rather that in the bulletin, it's not 100 people in church, 31 soul-earners.
Where our church, you know, more than doubled in size, but the soul-earners didn't increase.
I'd rather we were at 50 and 37 soul-earners.
That would be better.
Why?
Because there's more soul-earners.
There's more work being done.
That's the main work that we need to be doing.
And it is exhausting work.
Now, turn back to John 6, back to John 6.
And so the first thing we see is simply this, that, you know, the work of the Lord, it's exhausting.
So we're going back to John 6, and this is after they've done the work.
And you don't really notice this in the book of John, but when you parallel it with Mark 6,
remember they went out preaching the Gospel two by two, and then they're supposed to relax in the desert.
Okay?
So in John 6, we're seeing this, and notice what it says in verse 1,
After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is a sea of Tiberias,
and a great multitude followed him because they saw as miracles which he did on them that were diseased.
And so, you know, a lot of people, they'll start to follow when they see great things happening.
Jesus is performing all these miracles, and there are people that followed him that didn't really believe in him.
But they saw the miracles, and they followed it anyway.
Okay, now obviously a lot of them believe, but a lot of them didn't believe.
They just saw miracles, and guess what?
They ended up following it.
In the end times, the devil is going to be performing lying miracles.
And guess what?
A lot of people are going to fall for it, because it's going to be very convincing.
If it were possible, he'd deceive all of us.
He'd deceive the very elective opposite.
It's not possible, that's what it's saying.
But if it were possible, he would.
Why?
Because when you see miracles take place, it's hard to deny them.
And in the end, the devil will perform miracles to deceive people.
He is the great deceiver, and he will use miracles to trick people.
That's why we always must believe in the word of God and know what it says, so we don't get deceived.
We don't get tricked.
Notice verse 3.
And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
In the Passover, a feast of the Jews was nigh.
And the second point we have tonight is found in verse 6.
That God tests our faith.
God tests our faith.
In verse 5 it says,
When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company unto him, come unto him, he saith unto Philip,
Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?
And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do.
See, Jesus already knows what he's going to do to feed these thousands of people.
But, he still tests Philip.
You know, God is going to test our faith in life sometimes.
And it says in verse 7,
Philip answered him,
Two hundred penny worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.
One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him,
There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes, but what are they among so many?
So Philip says, we don't have the money to feed all these people.
Okay?
And then you see that Andrew says, you know, there's a lad here which has five barley loaves and two small fishes, but
that's not enough for all these people.
Now, you have to understand, their response is partly due to the fact that they're not really in a good mood.
Okay?
They are tired.
They came here to rest.
Are they resting?
They're not resting.
Okay?
See, what ended up happening, we're going to see this, is that people saw where they were going, and they ran there to meet them.
Okay?
So they weren't intending to rest.
Jesus is going to have them rest.
And look, they're not resting.
Okay?
Now, think about when you really want to rest.
Okay?
And you don't get to rest for whatever reason.
Oftentimes, you have a bad attitude, don't you?
That's the truth with me.
You know, I want to take a nap, and my son's jumping on me.
I'm just like, not in a good mood.
When you're tired and you're ready to relax, and let's say, for example, you have a day where you plan to relax.
You plan to have a day off, and then all of a sudden, your company calls you just right before you go on your vacation, and you have to come into the office to do something all day.
Are you going to be happy?
No, you're not.
Why?
Because you're tired.
You're looking to relax.
And His disciples were looking to relax, but people come because they saw the miracles, and they followed, and they wanted to be there with Jesus.
And so these, both of these people, Philip and Andrew, they were great men of God, but they have a bad attitude in this situation.
Now, I do want to highlight something in verse 9 where it says, there is a lad here.
Okay?
Now, we don't know what this guy's name is, but it's interesting because you have thousands of people that are without food.
But there is one lad who has five barley wolves and two small fishes.
Now, when you think about that, that guy had pretty great faith to allow them to take his food and distribute it to everyone, didn't he?
Because, in fact, he has food.
Nobody else does.
I'm sure he's hungry, but you know what?
He willingly gives over the food.
Now, I kind of wish I knew what this guy's name was because, honestly, that's a great show of faith that he had to be willing to give up his food for everybody else.
Because, logically, thousands of people but five barley wolves is not going to cut it.
That's just not enough.
Two small fishes, that's not enough.
Now, turn to Genesis 22.
Genesis 22.
I just want to show you one quick example of this point that God tests our faith.
Now, in Genesis 22, we're going to see a really extreme example.
And the reason why you're seeing an extreme example with Abraham is because Abraham was a really great man of God.
And so God shows us examples like this that if Abraham was able to be tested in this way and pass the test, we can pass the smaller test that we have in our lives.
It says in Genesis 22 verses 1 and 2,
So we are all probably familiar with the story.
God tells Abraham you're going to sacrifice your son.
Now, did God ever intend for a son to actually be killed?
No.
He wasn't going to let that happen.
Now, one of the big reasons why this is in the Bible is because Genesis 22 points towards Jesus Christ.
There are so many parallels, and throughout the Old Testament, you can see how one would come and die for us.
And when Jesus came, it all made sense.
Just as God would sacrifice his only begotten son, here's Abraham with his son, Isaac, who he's going to sacrifice.
And so we see an example where Abraham was put through a really strong test.
Now, when it comes to us as individuals, we will have tests in our lives.
But just thinking about our church, our church has gone through some tests these first couple of months.
You know, I think we've done pretty good with passing the test so far.
You know, I think we've done good as a church.
We've come together, and we've had situations, and you know what?
We passed those tests.
But you know, we are going to have more tests because God allows us to be tested in life.
Why does God even allow the devil to exist?
Because he allows us to be tested.
We are going to go through tests in life, and we need to just be ready for it.
Okay?
Now, obviously Genesis 22, this is a major test that I don't think any of us are ever going to go through.
Obviously, you're not going to hear a voice from heaven talking to you.
If you've had that happen, then come to the sermon series on Sunday morning, the Pentecostal Agenda, okay?
And then we'll get that worked out.
But we are going to go through tests in life.
That's just the reality of it.
And you know what?
It's better for us to be ready for it than pretend like it's not going to happen.
I see a lot of churches, they don't prepare you for tests, do they?
They don't preach really about anything.
But you know what?
The truth is, we will have tests in our lives, and we need to be ready for them.
That's not meant to scare us.
But if God has these stories in the Bible, we're meant to learn from those things, okay?
Now, turn to Mark 6.
Mark 6.
So in Mark 6, we're going to look at a third point, and we're going to look at the idea of caring about others.
And we're going to look at two aspects of that.
So in Mark 6, we're going to see a little bit more detail from the story we read in John 6.
And in Mark 6, verse 32,
And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.
Now, remember he says we're going to go to the desert and take a rest, okay?
In verse 32, he says they depart privately, okay?
Now, why is it that they departed privately?
Because they didn't want people to know they were going there, okay?
They didn't make it known where they were headed.
Why?
Because they're going to have some relaxation time, okay?
They don't let everybody know.
Why?
They're intending to get away from all the people in the world for a little while,
and just be able to relax and have a good time.
And get, you know, have your energy revitalized.
Because sometimes you need to take a rest.
So they go privately.
But then it says in verse 33,
And the people saw them departing.
And many knew him, and ran a foot thither out of all cities,
and out went them, and came together unto him.
Now, this is some great deal.
They're going on a ship, and people see it,
they just start running around to get to the other side to beat them there.
That's probably a long run, okay?
It doesn't give us the exact distance.
This is a long distance, though, okay?
These people were probably in pretty good shape.
But they see them going, and they say,
You know what? We want to go where he's going.
And then they just run there to the other side.
They saw the miracles that took place.
They heard the teachings of Jesus.
And I'm sure it was a mixture of people that were saved and unsaved.
But they ran, and went to the other side,
and they beat them there.
They outrun a ship.
Now, that's pretty impressive, okay?
Now, verse 34,
And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people,
and was moved with compassion toward them,
because they were a sheep not having a shepherd,
and he began to teach them many things.
So, in verse 34,
the natural reaction of Jesus is to have compassion, okay?
We see that immediately, Jesus cares about these people.
Now, you ask this question,
Was Jesus tired?
I'm sure he was.
Jesus was fully God, and he was also fully man, okay?
He was the man Christ Jesus became and died for us.
Yes, he was God in the flesh, but he was also man.
And we've seen plenty of chapters, but guess what?
Jesus hungry, okay?
Like a man would hunger, Jesus hungry.
I mean, we saw in John 4, wasn't Jesus resting by the well?
Why? It says he was tired.
Look, he got thirsty, he got hungry.
Look, when he was tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights,
it wasn't just some sort of game where he wasn't getting tired.
No, Jesus was getting tired.
He was getting hungry.
But you know what? He passed that test.
And so I'm sure at this time, Jesus is tired as well.
He wants to take a rest, but you know,
his first reaction when he sees his people is compassion.
Why? Because he cared about others more than he cared about himself.
Okay?
Now, turn to Mark 10, verse 45, Mark 10.
Now, one thing to keep in mind with this story
is that these people,
they put in a great effort to see Jesus.
They ran to the other side, okay?
It's not like it was the modern day
where you can just go on YouTube
and just start listening to the sermon, okay?
No, they actually went a long distance
without knowing where they were gonna eat
or what they were gonna do.
That's quite a bit of faith, okay?
They came without food,
because obviously they're there and they have no food.
That's why Jesus feeds them.
They put in a great amount of faith.
You actually see this in the Bible quite a bit.
That you see people go into the wilderness
to hear John the Baptist preach.
They go a long distance to hear Jesus preach,
and they don't even really know
where their meal's gonna come from.
Now, look at this church.
People do come from a long distance,
and you know, I think that's great
that, you know, you wanna come here,
you wanna be a part of this church.
Yeah, the truth is that when we look at the Bible,
some people put in some major effort,
even more than we do today.
And honestly, you know, I don't say that to discourage you.
I say that to try to encourage you that, you know what?
If they can do it, then, you know, we can do it as well.
And it shows you it's worth it to put in the effort.
Because, you know, in the Bible,
you get the sense that some people
make Sunday their entire day
where they just kinda go early in the morning.
They're just there for all the services,
probably hours and hours of preaching,
probably a lot more than we have.
They do all the soul winning,
and they get back late at night.
That's their day off from work.
The six-day Shout Thou Labor,
they work 12 hours, Monday through Saturday, 72 hours,
and their day off is their most tiring day.
Now, honestly, you know, Sundays are pretty tiring for us.
We put in a lot of work here.
But I get the sense in the Bible
that a lot of times people are putting in even more work here.
And so, you know, we ought to look at that
and realize that it's worth it,
but that, you know, obviously,
when you're going that far of a distance,
that, you know, you are gonna get tired and exhausted.
But people have done it in the past,
and you need to keep doing it today.
Mark 10, verse 45,
For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto,
but to minister,
and to give his life a ransom for many.
You see, when Jesus came here,
He didn't come to be a conquering hero.
He came to humble Himself,
to minister unto others,
and to die for the sins of the world.
Now, He will come back one day as a conquering hero.
He will come back as the King of Kings.
He will come back in no rain.
But that's not what He did the first time.
The first time He came here,
and He ministered,
and He gave His life a ransom for many in the Bible.
It says He humbled Himself,
and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Look, yes, you know, He was God,
but at the same time,
He felt the pain when He tied to the cross.
Okay?
He was a man as well,
and He came here to minister unto others.
Now, turn back to Mark 6.
And so what we see is that Jesus,
He always cared about others more than Himself.
He's exhausted.
He's tired.
His first reaction, though,
is to have compassion on people.
But the reality is that all of us as people,
sometimes we don't care about others more.
Now, we should care about others more,
but sometimes we don't.
Notice what it says in verse 35.
And when the day was now far spent,
His disciples came on to Him and said,
This is a desert place,
and now the time is far past.
Send them away,
that they may go into the country round about
and into the villages and buy themselves bread,
for they have nothing to eat.
Now, I don't know about you,
but in verse 36,
it sounds like they're commanding Jesus.
Hey, Jesus, send them away.
They're giving Jesus orders now.
It's like, well, that's kind of an interesting situation,
that you're giving our Savior orders,
but that's what they're doing in verse 36.
You say, why are they doing it?
Because when you're tired,
that's when you often have a bad attitude
and you commit sins
and you do things wrong.
And look, they're tired, they're exhausted,
and they're trying to get rid of these people.
Do they have any compassion on these people?
No, they don't.
Now, they just spent hours and hours
having compassion and getting people saved.
They were doing the work,
but look, the work of the Lord is exhausting.
And this is why we need this proper balance,
because obviously we ought to do God's work
as much as we can with zeal.
The Bible also says,
Be not righteous over much.
Right.
And if you put yourself in authority
over too much of your life,
you will burn yourself out.
Why?
Because we are just men.
We are just men and women,
and we're going to eventually burn ourselves out.
That's the reality.
And these are some of the greatest people that ever lived,
and guess what?
They're burnt out.
They're tired.
They came to get a rest,
and they didn't get the rest,
and now that there's more work to be done,
they just don't want to do it.
They have a bad attitude,
and they just want to send these thousands away.
Now, that's a really bad attitude,
because when you think about it,
these people put in a great effort to come.
Okay.
It wasn't a small effort.
They put in a great effort to come,
and they have no food.
It'd be pretty bad to just send them away.
It's like, well, I hope you make it.
I hope you don't die along the way.
But that's the kind of attitude that they had.
Why?
They're exhausted, and they're tired.
And in verse 36,
they're basically giving orders to Jesus.
Now, turn to Philippians 2.
The sad reality is that all of us,
whether you're Paul the Apostle,
or whether you're newly-saved,
or whoever you are,
you're going to have moments
where you do care about yourself more than others,
even though the Bible tells us
to always care about others more than ourselves.
In Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4,
these are verses that,
if you don't have these verses
committed to memory
or know where they are,
you should.
These are great, great verses.
These are the verses that,
I always told this to Pastor Menes,
and this is the truth.
He preaches or quotes these verses
more than any verses in the entire Bible.
Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4.
If you've heard him preach a lot of sermons,
you can tell that.
It says in verses 3 and 4,
Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory,
but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem other
better than themselves.
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others.
So what does it mean?
But every man also on the things of others.
So what does it mean
to esteem others better than yourself?
What it means is,
you look at other people
as being more important than yourself.
So basically,
they're here to rest,
they want to rest,
but there's people that need help.
And so what do you do?
You esteem others better than yourself.
You want to rest,
you want to relax,
you want to have a vacation,
maybe go out fishing,
but it's like,
no, there's real fishing for you.
So basically,
you esteem others,
you care about others
more than you care about yourself.
That's what the Bible tells us to do.
It says,
Look not every man on his own things,
but every man also on the things of others.
So instead of worrying about all of our things
and what we want,
we are supposed to worry about others.
That's what the Bible says.
Now, Jesus gave us a great example
because he came to minister unto others.
Not to be ministered unto,
but to minister.
That's one reason
why he didn't come as a conquering hero
because he's giving us an example
that we are to minister unto others
like our Savior did.
Now turn to John 6.
As the points we've had tonight so far,
number one is the work of the ministry is exhausting.
Number two, God tests our faith.
Number three, we looked at caring about others.
But I want you to notice the fourth thing,
and that's
that it is possible to miss the great works of God
that are being done.
Notice in John 6 verse 10,
And Jesus said,
Make the men sit down.
Now there was much grass in the place,
so the men sat down in number about 5,000.
So notice how it says that there was 5,000 men.
It's commonly said that the feeding of the 5,000,
but it's 5,000 men.
Now families were pretty big in those days.
They're a lot bigger than they are today.
Now we don't really know how many women there were,
how many kids,
but it was probably a lot more than 5,000.
But he fed 5,000 men.
The men sat down in number about 5,000.
There's more than 5,000 there.
There's obviously women and children as well.
Verse 11,
And Jesus took the loaves,
and when he had given thanks,
he distributed to the disciples
and the disciples to them that were set down,
and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
You might ask this question,
is it biblical to pray before you eat?
Well, I mean, notice what it says in verse 11,
and when he had given thanks.
And so that's something that we should do before we eat.
You know, we give thanks to God
for the food he's provided
because he promised to provide our food in raving,
and we should be thankful for that.
Verse number 12,
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples,
Gather up the fragments that remain,
that nothing be lost.
Therefore they gathered them together
and filled twelve baskets
with the fragments of the five barley loaves,
which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.
Then those men,
when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did,
said, This is of a truth,
that profit that should come into the world.
And so these men that are fed,
these men and women and children,
they see this miracle that takes place,
and they say, This is of a truth,
that profit that should come into the world.
Why?
Because they're not used to people
being able to just create food out of none.
Okay?
That's pretty miraculous.
It's obvious there's a miracle that's taking place.
Now obviously we have our modern day
where atheists and skeptics and TV shows
like to mock the miracles of the Bible.
Well, you know, there's so many miracles
that you have to try to disprove.
I mean, it's so obvious that
for Jesus to have such a lasting impact on this world,
he was obviously the real deal.
See, I'll explain to the atheists
how they can get rid of everybody loving Jesus Christ.
All that you guys had to do was show his body
that he didn't rise again.
And if you showed his body,
nobody would worship him anymore.
But because of the fact he actually did rise again
and his body was no longer in the grave,
that's undeniable.
Amen.
All they would have done is just shown his body,
and that's the end of Christianity.
Because remember, they were depressed afterwards.
They doubted themselves.
They didn't understand the Old Testament scriptures
themselves in a lot of places.
And so when he rose again, they were shocked.
They were surprised.
And look, if he had never risen again,
that's the end of Christianity.
You say, well, how do you know that?
Because look at how many of his followers
were willing to be crucified.
If they didn't actually see him take place,
that he had risen again,
they wouldn't have been crucified.
If they were lying about it,
why would they have been willing to be crucified to death
like Jesus was?
That doesn't make sense.
They actually did see that he rose again.
That's why they were willing to die for it.
They weren't dying for something that they knew wasn't true.
They knew it was true,
because they saw him rise again.
Now, verse 15,
When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come
and take him by force to make him a king,
he departed again into a mountain himself alone.
So they're so excited by the miracle
that they're going to basically force him to become the king.
And so what does he do?
He departs.
He gets out of there.
Why?
Because Jesus didn't come to be a king.
Look, if he came to be a king,
he would have made himself a king.
You don't have to help him become a king, okay?
If he wanted to become a king,
he just would have become the king.
He would have been the ruler of the world.
But he came here to humble himself and to die.
And it was not his time at that time.
And so he departs himself alone.
Verse 16,
And when Eden was now come,
his disciples went down onto the sea,
and entered into a ship,
and went over the sea toward Capernaum.
And it was now dark,
and Jesus was not come to them.
And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
So we see this storm that's taking place in John 6, verse 18.
Now remember,
they just saw one of the greatest miracles in the history of the world.
Did they not?
The feeding of the 5,000 plus, however many,
of women and children,
they just saw one of the greatest miracles ever take place.
Now wouldn't you think that at that time,
you'd have a really strong faith?
I mean, it just took place.
Right.
I mean, obviously when things happen,
they kind of fade from our memory over time.
But they just saw all those people being fed.
They saw one of the greatest miracles in the history.
They got to participate in one of the greatest miracles in the history of the world.
They didn't want to,
but they were there for it.
One of the greatest miracles in the history of the world.
Now they're in a ship,
they rode for three or four miles,
and the storm is blowing,
and guess what?
They get afraid.
Verse 19,
So when they had rode about five or 20 or 30 furlongs,
they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh unto the ship,
and they were afraid.
But he saith unto them,
It is I, be not afraid.
Then they willingly received them into the ship,
and immediately the ship was at the land,
whither they went.
So once again,
they see a miracle that takes place.
Immediately the ship is in the land.
But I want you to turn to Mark 6 to get a better idea of what's going on.
Mark 6, this is the last place we'll look at.
This is a bit of a shorter sermon tonight.
Next week's sermon is not going to be shorter.
I'll already warn you that
if you want to make an excuse for me and say,
give me a long sermon next week.
But in Mark chapter 6,
remember these are parallel passages,
I want you to get a better idea of what's going on.
And in verse 49,
But when they saw him walking upon the sea,
they supposed it had been his spirit,
and cried out.
For they all saw him,
and were troubled,
and immediately he talked with them,
and saith unto them,
Be of good cheer,
it is I, be not afraid.
And he went up unto them into the ship,
and the wind ceased,
and they were sore amazing themselves,
beyond measure and wonder.
Now they're amazed by what's taking place.
They really shouldn't be that amazed.
You say, why?
Because they just saw one of the greatest miracles ever take place.
Now, obviously a miracle is a miracle,
but in my head,
what would be a more amazing miracle,
would be the fact that you fed,
you know, five thousand, ten thousand,
fifteen thousand, however many people.
That's an even greater miracle
than you made the ship go to the land.
Because, you know,
the truth is that God can protect people
through dangerous situations.
I mean, even in our lives,
we probably have examples
where we had a dangerous situation
where God didn't help protect us.
To me, the feeding of the five thousand,
ten thousand, fifteen thousand,
that's amazing.
That's a miracle.
But, you know,
something happens right afterwards,
and they're amazed.
But I want you to notice verse 52.
Why are they amazed?
For they considered not the miracle of the woes,
for their heart was hardened.
What is it saying in Mark 6 verse 52?
These followers were part of one of the greatest events
in the history of the world,
and they missed it.
Why?
Because their heart was hardened.
That's what Bible says.
They were tired.
They were exhausted.
This miracle takes place,
and look, it's like it completely went over their head.
They don't even realize that you just participated
in one of the greatest miracles
that ever has taken place.
And so all of a sudden,
they're in a ship,
they get afraid,
and they're amazed by that miracle.
It's like,
you should have been amazed by the miracle
that took place earlier.
Why didn't they get it?
Because their heart was hardened.
You know what that teaches us?
That, you know what,
if we don't have the right attitude,
we can miss some of the great works
that are being done in our lives.
And look, you know,
the truth is,
you know,
there's other churches like ours
that are doing great work,
but, you know,
when it comes to our church,
our church is doing great work.
And I think we all raise our hands and say,
you know, that's the truth.
Look at all the salvations we have.
Look at all the great works that are being done.
We've got the mega marathon coming up.
So many great works are being done.
And you feel that way now,
but you have to realize something.
You could be here five months from now,
and your heart could be hardened,
you could be exhausted,
you could be worn out,
you get weary in warfare,
and your heart gets hardened,
and you could be part of a great church
that's doing great works,
and it goes completely over your head.
That's what we see.
Now the truth is that
all of us this happens to from time to time.
There are times I read the Bible,
and I'm mesmerized by how amazing this book is,
and I'm reading,
just paying attention to every word,
and it's exciting to read the Bible,
and I'm learning great truths.
There's other times I open the Bible,
and I'm just trying to get through the pages.
Why?
Because my heart's hardened.
I don't have the right attitude.
I think all of us would be honest with that,
because, honestly,
there's times we read the Bible,
and we're excited about it.
But, you know,
if we were always that excited about it,
you know, we'd read it a couple hours every day.
But there are times where we just open up this book,
and guess what?
We're kind of tired.
We care more about other things.
Our heart's hardened.
And guess what?
You do miss the great things,
because this book does have a lot of great things for us.
And, look, I'm lumping myself in this as well.
I'm not up here saying I never get tired.
I'm not up here saying my heart never gets hardened.
I'm just saying that, you know,
if we see some of the greatest people who ever lived
that miss out on one of the great miracles
that's ever taken place.
I mean, this is a miracle
that it doesn't matter what church you come from.
Everybody's heard the story of feeding thousands, right?
I learned nothing in United Methodist Church growing up.
But I learned that.
You don't learn much, but I heard about that miracle.
Why?
Because everybody talks about it.
It doesn't matter what denomination you're from.
I mean, it doesn't matter
whether you're part of some cult or whatever.
Everybody's heard about it.
Why?
It's one of the greatest miracles
that's ever taken place,
and some of its closest followers
that completely missed it.
Why?
Their heart was hardened.
You know what?
We don't want this to be said of us.
We want to always realize that, you know what?
Great works are being done.
And in our church, they will always be done
because we will always go forward.
Great works will always be done.
And you know what?
We've been through the first several months,
and honestly, it's been pretty exhausting.
We've had a lot of events.
We had the big missions trip.
You know, the church started the missions trip,
and now we're into a new building.
A lot of work's being done.
And you can reach a point.
And look, I've reached that point sometimes
during the week where I'm just like,
man, I'm tired.
And I sort of felt that way today.
But you know, my wife and I went out.
We went out soul-winning.
And you know what?
You go out soul-winning,
and you see great works being done,
and then you realize how foolish was I
to just kind of think about myself
and just wanting to relax and rest.
You know what?
If we choose to do that,
we're going to miss out on the great works being done.
Let's close the door for a minute.
If you're having a father thing
for a lot of people,