Last week we learned that obedience and leadership cost John the Baptist his life. On the other hand, Jesus sent out his disciples with very little. They were material sacrifices that they had to make, and I'm sure that the disciples were ready for a break after travelling to towns and villages around Capernaum doing their ministry. They were physically, emotionally and spiritually depleted.
So Jesus wanted to give them, wanted them to go on a retreat to a quiet, desolate place across the Sea of Galilee. Now, the Sea of Galilee is about 19 kilometers long and at the widest place it's 11 kilometers wide. It would fit into Pigeon Bay. Everybody know where Pigeon Bay is. It's it comes from Colchester to Point Peely. That area in there is Pigeon Bay. And so the Sea of Galilee would fit into that area. Just to kind of give you a local
perspective on that. It's not very big and sometimes it's about it's seen a valley and sometimes the winds come down from the hills and the surface gets pretty rough and very rough and WAVY. Let's take a look from our passage this morning and we'll begin reading in Mark Chapter 6, Mark 6. And we're going to start, we're going to overlap a little bit from last week. We're going to start in verse 31 to get the context a little bit here. And we'll read verse 34
initially here. And as we go through, we will read the little different sections and explain a little bit more about them. So I'm going to be using the new King James here on the screen. So looking at verse 31 of Mark chapter 6. And he said to them, come aside, buy yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while, for there are There were many coming and going, and they didn't even have time to eat. So they departed to a deserted
place in the boat by themselves. But the multitude saw them departing, and many knew him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to him. And Jesus, when he came out, saw the great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep, not having a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things to try to escape the crowd. They had gotten into a boat that would hold the 13 plus people and headed across the lake.
Back in 1986, because of a drought, a fishing boat from the 1st century was discovered on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is believed to be like the fishing boats that Peter and James and John and Andrew had used. The remains of the boat are 27 feet long. They're it's about 7 1/2 feet wide and it could be rowed by 4 rowers and it also had a mast for sale. So it was important for Jesus to get away and to be able to relax and rebuild.
It's also important for us sometimes to take that time to rebuild emotionally and spiritual. However, when the boat landed on the shore, there were thousands of people who had been watching them go in the boat across the lake, and they went along the shore. They raced along the paths along the shore and got to where Jesus was going to land before he even got there. So much for a place of solitude, so much for rest. It's not going to happen. So when you see a crowd, what do
you see? When Jesus saw the crowd, he had compassion. Jesus didn't brush off the crowds. Instead, he capitalized on the opportunity to teach them. On that grassy hillside. Christ saw the crowds as sheep who needed protection and needed feeding. He sensed the hopeless feelings that and he brought hope. He sensed their spiritual needs and showed them how they could be transformed. He taught them long into the afternoon.
I think some of us would get a little bit upset if we had to go more than an hour here this morning, but these people were sitting there listening to Jesus for hours. You know, sometimes just when you think you have time for rest, there's a new challenge in life. I'm sure that some of you experienced a time when things were really rough. The kids have just finished their exams and they're getting ready to go off for summer. And some of the. I'm sure we'd like to work but
don't have any jobs. And it's all that tension that's there. And maybe you're struggling financially and wondering where you are going to get the money for your next purchase or for the rent or something. Maybe you volunteered here to help in DBS or summer Sunday school and you're wondering how are you going to be able to get everything done? Moms are sometimes exhausted. What happens when a child gets sick keeps you up all night and then you have a dozen responsibilities the next day?
Your hubby, you have to get them off to work. You have to get the other kids off to school. You might have to get to work yourself, either at home or in a workplace. There's no rest. Life can be a real challenge sometimes, but Jesus is there with compassion. Moving on to verse 35 when the day was now far spent, Jesus's disciples came to him and said this is a deserted place. Duh. That's where we were going to a deserted place.
Obvious right? Well, and the hours late send them away, that they may go to the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat. But he answered them, You give them something to eat. And they said to him, Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat? But he said to them, How many loaves do you have? Go and see. And when they found out, they said five and two fish.
Then he commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the grass. So they sat down in ranks in hundreds and in 50s. And when he had taken the five loaves and two fish, he looked up to heaven. He blessed and broke the loaves, and he gave them to his disciples to set before them. And the two fish he divided them among all, so they all ate and were filled. And he took up 12 baskets full of fragments and a fish. Now those who had eaten the loaves were about 5000 men.
So after a day of Jesus teaching, disciples were getting tired of the multitudes and they were hungry. As we began our story in verse 31, they had not had a decent meal themselves as there had been so many people around that they did not have time to eat and today had been no better. Their solution for supper was to send all the people away to get
their own food. Even if it was possible for the people to go and buy bread to get their own food at that time of day, it would have taken a pretty good sized bakery to have baked enough bread to feed maybe 10 to 15,000 people. Jesus on the other hand challenged his disciples to feed the crowd. The response was that would take 200 denarii to feed all the people if they could find a place to buy it. One denarius is about one day's
labor. So if we kind of figure out what that would have cost, well, the minimum wage is what, 1750 or somewhere around there and, and you got 8 hours in a day. So do the math. What does that come out to? Well, I I did the math, it comes out to about $27,500. For them, it was an impossibility. But notice that their focus on is on materialism, right? On the materialistic part, and they have no vision of the supernatural that God might bring to them.
So Jesus extends the next challenge to them. How much food is there out there? So the disciples combed through the crowd, trying to find something to eat. All they could find in that that throng of people is 5 rolls and two small dried fish. So Jesus prayed, he blessed the barley buns and then divided them to be distributed, disciples distributed to the groups that were seated on the hillside. And when everybody was stuffed, there was still leftovers.
We're having a potluck after and everybody here is welcome to come back at 12:00-ish and join us in the gym for food. And I'm sure there's going to be a few leftovers as well afterwards, so feel free to come, there's going to be a lot there. So what does Jesus do? He makes sure that nothing gets thrown out, but rather he collects the bread and the fish fragments and there was about 12 baskets full. Jesus does not want to be
wasteful. Just think about this story next time there are leftovers and you're ready to throw them into the garbage. Here we see there was abundance. It wasn't just enough food to feed the crowd of 505,000 men plus women and children, I'm sure. But here's a crowd that's fully satisfied, not only spiritually from Jesus's wonderful teaching, but now from the food, the feast, the food they just had. Jesus had created abundance 12 baskets extra to share at a later meal.
This was a very simple meal. I'm sure our meal is going to be a lot more elaborate than this. And the feast of the Lamb, which we will experience in heaven with him, will be fabulous as well. Here in this passage, we see that there's a reflection of God's provision for the people. Jesus really didn't need the bread and the fish.
Like the children of Israel on the way to the Promised Land, Jesus could have provided food for the multitudes that had followed him without any of the bread and fish. But he did it because it was a small boy, a young lad that was willing to share with the multitude. So what do we have to offer Jesus and His Kingdom that He can use and multiply? Would you part with it and give it to Jesus as we continue on in Matthew chapter or Mark 6?
Sorry, verse 45. It says immediately He made his disciples to get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to the side of where He sent the while. He sent the multitude away, and when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. Now when the evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He, Jesus, was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at the at rowing, for the wind was
against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out, for they all saw him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them, and said to them, Be of good cheer it is, I do not be afraid. Then he went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure, and marvelled.
But they had not understood about the loaves because their hearts were hardened. So here we see Jesus getting the disciples off into the boat. It sounds like it was quite a a sudden movement for that. And I'm wondering if possibly the weatherman recognized that there was going to be a strong windstorm. And Jesus sent his disciples off into the boat before darkness had set in around 6:00 in the evening. Then Jesus dispersed the
multitude to their own homes. Now Jesus had finally had time to spend with his Father, rejuvenating his Spirit and receiving guidance for the ministry ahead. He went to a private place up on the mountain to spend time with his Father. When things get busy, do you set aside time for God or is he the last one on your schedule? Up on the mountainside, Jesus was also able to see his
disciples battling the storm. Mark says that he saw them 9 hours later screening trying to get the boat to their destination. How do we know it was 9 hours later? Well, the night was divided into 3 hour watches and this was the 4th hour. So it was sometime around 3:00 to 3:00 AM to to 6:00 AM in the morning that Jesus was looking out and here with the disciples. They hadn't made it there. They should have made it in maybe 1/2 an hour or most an hour.
So this was very difficult for them. So Jesus headed across the water to do what no natural man could do, to walk on the water. Well, I tried my hand at walking on the water one time, but I had a couple of floats that I could walk on. I couldn't do it supernaturally. I'm sorry. When Jesus got to the boat, they didn't recognize him. He thought Jesus was some kind of a ghost or spirit. He called out to them, do not be afraid, have courage in his eye, do not be afraid.
Then he went up to them and hopped in the boat with them, and the wind stopped and the lake became calm. When you experience the storms of life, do you try to get into trouble by yourself or do you turn to Jesus and call on Him to calm the storm in your life? Continue on in Mark 6 verse 53
when they had crossed over. They came to the land of Geneserat and anchored there, and when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him, ran throughout the whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard that he was.
Wherever he entered into villages, cities, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that he might just touch the hem of his guard, that they might just touch the hem of his garment, and as many as touched him. They were were made were they
were made well. After the storm, disciples and Jesus finished crossing from beside a on the east side of Galilee, Sea of Galilee to Genesaret on the West side just below Capernaum. When the people recognized the miracle worker, they began to bring sick people to wherever Jesus was teaching and working. Jesus travelled around the region and people brought their sick to the marketplaces. Now the marketplaces were not only places of trade and commerce in the 1st century great Roman world.
They were places of discussion and dialogue. They were places of judgement and they were places for idle people and those who were seeking work, places for children to play. If any of you've been down to Mexico, some of those towns in Mexico, you, you have the, the big church in the background in the front. You have the courtyard and people come there and gather and sit around and sometimes there's markets nearby and, and food
stalls. And we, we've been, I've had the opportunity to go to Guadalajara and, and to Mexico City. And, and that's kind of the way the layout is. There's these marketplaces that are there for people to spend time at. So as Jesus passed by the people on their beds around the marketplace, they reached out and touched the hem of his robe and were healed. Just as we had learned about the woman who had that issue, she had touched Jesus and was healed.
So these people also received healing from Jesus. So what are the things we can learn from this passage? Number one, do we have a place of solitude? It might be your bedroom. It might be on the deck or a balcony. It might be in the backyard, at the beach, or in the woods. Sometimes we can't get the solitude when we want it, but Jesus was able to finally spend time with His Father. Where is your place of solitude and rejuvenation? We all need those places.
If you don't have one, try to find a place where you can just relax. Maybe bring your Bible and read through the scriptures and just spend time with God. Second lesson, What do you have to offer? The lad had five buns and they were like when we say loaves in Scripture, it isn't like a big loaf of bread. A little kid wouldn't be bringing 5 loaves of bread to, you know, to a desert place. He was taking little rolls and two small fish, dried, probably salted fish that were famous in
that area. And so this is what Jesus used. It wasn't much, there were 5000 plus people there. Wow. So like the young lad who gave up his meal for Jesus to do a miracle. What little bit can you offer? What does God want to do with the little that we have to offer? God multiplies it. Just this morning I want to share a little bit how God provides in my life, how He's provided so bountifully in my life. Both Lydia and my wife and I were raised in godly homes and
have godly grandparents. We met at a Bible school in British Columbia and both had gone. Both of us had gone to receive a solid Bible training and we discovered each other on a hayride. We both had felt the call of God on our lives and we had already served in the church and and summer ministries. Then after graduating and getting married, we worked in
several years. I worked in the computer industry for a couple years and we were at a youth retreat with our our youth and in Banff, and we were offered an opportunity to serve the Lord in Japan. At the end of that time in Japan, we felt God calling us to serve and so we look forward to serving him more in Japan. But we were asked to go to seminary for three years. Why can't I get back there right
away? Frustrating for me a little bit, but we went to seminary and we were broke and we didn't know how how God would provide for us. But we applied anyways and, and we were accepted and we went well. Three years later, I was able to graduate and we had no debt and $100 in the bank God had provided the whole time and we were ready to go back to Japan. But then they said, well, we want you to get some pastoral
experience. So we just got settled into our new pastoral position in Aurelia and and Lydia experienced a thyroid condition that not if it had not been diagnosed in time would have led to her being going going home to be with the Lord early, leaving me with three boys to raise.
What a miracle to have a Christian Doctor Who had experienced a similar condition could identify exactly what it was and treat Lydia. Since the Japanese doctors probably would not have diagnostic because Japanese don't have these thyroid conditions in their country. So they would not have been able to diagnose the problem and it would have been LED led to some serious issues.
God had us at the right place at the right time, and God provided abundantly as we served him in Irelia and then as well in Japan for five years. And at that point, our oldest was in going into grade 10 and needed to get into a English speaking high school, which didn't exist in Hiroshima. We were where we were church planting.
So we came back home retail resettling took some time and at one point in this journey we were back down to 100 bucks in the bank and we had a mortgage payment due. But God provided. And we have enjoyed the abundant life which He has promised. Since God allowed us to receive ministry experience and seminary training, we felt that we wanted to finish our life serving God full time. So at 60 years old, I went back to full time service in Japan
for two years. And God continues to bless us abundantly, providing more than we can ask or think. So if anyone is ever hesitating to serve God because they fear material poverty, let me say that with careful stewardship, our bank account is almost the same as it was 16 years ago when I retired. In our house, well, you know what housing costs are like. The value is doubled. So our net worth is far more than when we felt it was necessary just to go and serve the Lord.
God continues to pour out his blessings so we can be generous to others. You know, we have a problem in our garden. Yeah, we have too much lettuce, so if someone wants to help us out, there's some extra lettuce in the kitchen after the potluck, you can take it home with you. God is so good to us in so many little ways. We see His hand of of provision for us. It's so exciting. So just give the little bit that you've got and He will provide the rest. The Third Point we want to raise
is what do we fear? What are the storms that you've been battling and how can we here at LEMC help you and bring peace to your heart? The worst fear that many people have is sharing their worst fear. If you don't, Satan can keep you bound. God wants you to be liberated and healed from your past. Bring those storms that you've got to God and to godly counselors. Call on Jesus and He will calm your storm and He will bring healing to your heart.
What healing do you need for your soul and your body? We had a wake up call a little about 5 weeks ago. Again, God put us in the right spot at the right time. We are in the ER and Lydia had chest pains. She had gone just for a checkup. Sorry emergency room not not OK, And so we had about 11 O clock at night. She started to get these chest pains and so the doctor looked at her and says you got to get into Windsor. And so he called up Windsor and they had somebody waiting for
her. After she had a wonderful ride with sirens blazing and lights flashing all the way up to Windsor, they got her there and I put a couple stents into her and she's doing much better. She'll be here for second service. So God looks after us. He allows us to be at the right spot at the right time if we're willing to listen to His voice. We want to give God all the glory for all the blessings that we continue to receive from Him and from His people. There are others that need
healing. In our prayer times between the Sunday morning services now or Wednesday nights, we pray for those who need God's healing touch. Come on and join us. We will pray for people who have no needs. You know, as we apply this passage to our lives, God will bring us joy and blessing, and in turn, many people will be blessed and give God glory. Shall we pray? Heavenly Father, you are a great God. We have so much to be thankful
for. As we see from this passage, we need to give ourselves the little bit that we have and share it with others and you will multiply it. We also see that you bring healing to our lives and you calm our storms. Help us to rely on You. May you touch our lives, and may we experience your faithfulness. Thank you. Amen.