Mark Chapter 6 Verse 30

• So literally in the Greek Mark writes that they reported back…both what they had done and what they had taught. And I think that’s an interesting concept. I wonder how many of the teachers and pastors and Bible study leaders and fellowship facilitators realize that they will report back to Jesus…all they have taught and all they have done? Actually, anyone with responsibility because the Bible says that all authority, all responsibility, comes directly from God. So moms. Dads. Bosses even… 

• Will He be pleased? Or will He be grieved? Oh no doubt He will be pleased. We opened our home or we opened a school and people came. We read the Bible and I taught and we had tea and scrumpets! (I’ve always wondered what those are) So all of that is great but here’s the question that you didn’t answer…was Jesus honored? Was it His name lifted high? Was the Holy Spirit the lead? Was He even allowed to attend?  

• What are you talking about? We read the Bible didn’t we? Um hello, tea and scrumpets! Yes but was there brokenness over sin? Was there reverence for the King of Kings? Was the objective to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to serve others just as immediately and thoroughly as you serve yourself? 

• I spent years barking the Bible in well thought-out…tactical conversation. Reciting verses and memorizing measures of scriptures…and yet when I reported back to Jesus, when the ministry was fruitless and my heart was filled with frustration and rage…my report back was more of a complaint…God have I not learned Your Word? Have I not spoken truth? And yet, where is the victory!?  

• And He said to me, clear as the sound of my voice this morning, "Matt, all that you have ever said…it’s all been right. But at no time was it righteous! Remember, Lucifer used recited the scriptures, but I went to the cross. You have always quoted Me precisely, but you have never represented Me." I was undone. I was willing to teach, to lead, to learn and to surge forward in my knowledge of truth, but I wasn’t willing to go to the cross…I had not yet learned what it is to simply love… 

• Romans 5:8, "But God puts love on display, that we may seek and find, that we may learn, He demonstrates love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…" I had not yet learned that…without the reporting back, how could I have? 

• What would your report be? Of your Bible studies. Your gatherings? Your meetings? Would they smell of the essence of the cross? The giving of self for the salvation of others? Or would they smell of self? Report back to HQ soldier, lest you be fighting the wrong enemy…friendly fire happens often when we do not report back to Jesus to tell Him all things…both what we have done and what we have taught. 

• Speaking of wrong enemy, you know what I saw in the bathroom this week? It was a "Mission World" urinal cake…and I thought to myself, "My how off that is." The mission is not this world man…it’s the world to come…but folks run out after ministries to save the planet and preserve this plot of land and picket this deal to drill here or there…my how off that is…the mission is to love…and that’s it…to go to the cross for your enemies…that is to make His name known… 

• The disciples here, they report to their Commander, to their King…the meetings, the conversations, the healings, even the resistance they themselves had been met with no doubt…maybe the beatings, maybe the slander, maybe the shame…? Certainly the freedoms! Many, as we’ll see in a moment, had received their ministry! Many were illuminated with the power and the glory of the truth of Jesus Christ! And when the report was given…notice, Jesus gives them rest…

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verses 31 – 32

• I love this. Ministry hard? Marriage hard? Mission at work hard? Parenting hard? Report in! You know why we don’t? One thing primarily, ignorance. We simply don’t know to. We preach and we teach and we learn that He has not left us but then we turn our back to Him and run! Run out into ministry and it’s almost like we forget Whose ministry it is! 

• Reporting in takes courage as well though…and many don’t do it out of fear man…fear that everything will have to change…let it change! How you parent…let it change! How you love your husband…let it change! Come on man…change is good! Staying the same is insanity! We should be in a constant state of change…always learning, always growing! Report in! 

• We keep some things forever don’t we!? Not just in direction of ministry or focus of ministry but just in practical life. Like my electric shaver! I will throw away my cell phone case once every month at least but my electric shaver? I’ve had that thing since B.C! HA! Some of y’all have the same tooth brush that you had in high school don’t you? All flat and frayed, nasty! Get a new one! And one thing I don’t understand…toothpaste! My teeth have never stuck together with that stuff…HA!

• You see, we’re bent on "if it ain’t broke…" oh you know the rest right? Well let me let you in on something…It’s broke! No one has it right! No one is perfect! So get with Jesus and let Him teach you a better way! 

• Jesus hears them out and knows they haven’t had a decent meal in days…now they had probably grabbed some bread going from house to house, place to place but eating in these days was a major thing! It was almost ceremonial! Kinda like a Hibachi! You ever go to one of those? The meal is prepared right in front of you and all and it takes much longer than a regular restaurant… 

• There was no Nick at Nite or ESPN in those days…folks would gather after a long day and spend hours sometimes around the dinner table sharing in the lives of each other…Jesus says, "Let’s go do that…let’s go recharge…together!" See that? Report in to HQ man? Like this…"God, are you pleased? Have I honored You? Am I doing and teaching what brings glory to Your name? Here’s everything I’ve done and said…sup?" Man that takes courage but there is nothing better to hear than Jesus saying, "Come away with Me…just you and Me…and rest a while."

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verse 33

• Now most ministry leader types would read something like that and think, "man that’s some good fruit…you know the ministry they had in those cities, Nazareth, Galilee…good stuff…look at this fruit." I want to offer you my perspective. Free of charge. People aren’t fruit. People are people. They are children of God waiting to come alive on the inside man…alive eternally. They are all in need, all sick with sin, weighed down and gapped in their very heart of hearts…and you have the cure…so go and produce disciples. 

• The fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of a ministry…is love man. Galatians 5 is where it’s at. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control…Would you look at the crowd gathered to listen to Miley Virus open for Madonna, would you look at that multitude and think to yourself, "my how fruitful that ministry!"? How about the ministry of the Denver Nuggets or the Broncos? 

• You see we have a warped view of fruit many times in ministry. And we take that warped view and equate it to God’s approval. Look, who have you encouraged this week? Who have you invested in? Think through your texts, your emails, your tweets…who have you told this week that you admire them, that they are good and you are strengthened by them? Many if not most can’t think of anyone. The majority of the few that can…think of their friend…someone they mesh well with…but Jesus said if you love those who love you, you’re no better than the common sinner…The few of the few can think of someone they’ve just met, or someone they’ve only spoken to once… 

• Someone that peeves them, gets a little bit under their skin…and it’s the few of the few bear fruit 100 fold…If I ever get anything right, I want to get that right…because that is worship of the King man…to strengthen the arms that hang down…to love…hard…

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verses 34 – 36

• Notice the heart of Jesus. Compassion…to care for them as a Shepherd. He draws near to them and teaches them. Now notice the heart of the disciples…send them away! I am naturally more like them than I am like Jesus. I am naturally sinful but I am supernaturally saved…so my heart says "send them away" my spirit says "teach them." 

• I saw this real time this week. I passed a hitch hiker, someone in need…and you know what I thought? That guy likes my ride! See, he’s giving me the thumbs up! HA! I naturally am selfish but Jesus, His work in my heart, is care for them…

• But Jesus there’s a need, there’s a gap here, what if I fail. Shepherd them…watch this…

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verse 37 

• This is so cool. They come to Jesus with a real need. There are thousands there and everybody needs dinner. Jesus says, "You see the need, you fill it!" I love that! Don’t worry about the "how." Don’t get fixated on the "how," concentrate on the "what" and focus on the "who" being Jesus. Over the years folks have come and gone with what this church needs. Wonderful ideas for ministry. Frankly…wonderful ideas for cleanliness and practical things like that…what I see, what they most always miss…is if God shows it to you, then He’s also called YOU to it!

 

• You do it! "Hey, how’s that new church you’re going to?" "Well, I like it a lot…smells nice there, the pastor is a bit of a nuisance but overall it’s sweet! The only thing though…I wish it had a prison ministry…you know since mom and dad are locked up…" HA! So you do it! Quit grumbling about it and get to it! Quit judging the cleaning crew for the blotch of icing on the side of the trash can…grab a Swiffer! HA! 

• Jesus says to these disciples, "You give them something to eat." And then we see what we saw when Jesus came to raise Jairus’ daughter. What we saw when He came to His own country. We now see it from His own disciples…unbelief. Which always always always shows up in the form of disobedience to His Word…

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verses 38 – 40

• Jesus shows compassion. "What do you have?" "Lord, I can only minister with what I have….my own faculties, my own abilities…" "Son, if you just move out, I’ll bring the faculties…I’ll bring the abilities…but if not, if you can’t hear Me son, tell me…what do YOU have…" "Show Me, bring it to Me…now, you can’t feed them, by your own statement, can you make them sit down?" In other words, "What CAN you do." 

• I love this. Jesus meets them right where they’re at…

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verses 41 – 44

• Five thousand men…not even counting the women and children…probably 10,000 total. They all ate and were filled. Now contrast that with Herod’s feast…which we saw last week. Which ended in a head being served on a platter, and folks puking in the corner…grossed out. The word in the Greek here for "filled" means satiated, satisfied…even glutted…filled all the way up… 

• Here’s the point…you have a choice. Each Sunday morning, each Wednesday night…eat over at Herod’s place or come to church…get sick with the monstrosity and revelry of the world or be filled by Jesus…how is that even a choice? Jesus is the only One who can fill you, who can satisfy your deep restlessness…the only One who can calm the rage of my soul man…Here they had so much that they took up 12 baskets of fragments…why? 

• A few reasons. 12 disciples, 12 baskets. Each one got one…"Look at what God can do." The message clearly sent all the time…rarely do we clearly receive it…Second reason, the fragments were the aroma of the disciples failure…they had not believed, they had heard Jesus give them a direct command and yet they had reasoned with God…rather than obeying Him…even so…the outcome is glorious and the disciples are humbled and I am impacted…what’s the point? 

• Nothing is lost! All of the fragmented years man…the wasted time, the sinful days and nights…gather it all up Jesus calls out to His disciples…let nothing be left behind…nothing is lost…take those fragments and fill the people. So cool! 

• If you saw this, would this be enough? If you saw Him raise Lazarus, if you saw Him heal Peter’s mom, if you saw Him walk on water, if you saw Him turn water into wine, if you saw Him transfigured, if you saw Him step out of that tomb…if you were one that was fed, would you leave believing? Our hearts are so dark, the answer is no…it’s not that simple man. Belief in God is not like believing it will snow today because you heard it on the radio… 

• You see you and I, to believe as the Bible commands, we must find humility…it’s not simply to believe something as fact…man the devil does that…but to become illuminated with truth…to come alive man…to give your life to Jesus, that’s not an action or a command that is a result…a result of a heart that truly has believed and has been indwelt by God Himself in the Person of the Holy Spirit… 

• One last scene and then we’re through…

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verses 45 – 52

• Notice they are in the middle of the sea, a treacherous storm has kicked up and it’s the fourth watch, or 3 am. So get the scene, they are in the deepest part, where the storm would be the most effective on the elements and it’s the darkest hour…why? First, the personal answer…because faith untested is untrusted. They’ve been here before, now some things have happened…some wonderful things…notice they handle it differently…they are growing…how? Storms…dark hours…deep waters… 

• You see Jesus sent them into this. Just like a coach would send his team into the gym. I used to work out with some strong dudes…plates upon plates upon plates and as they pressed…what if I pulled with all my might to help them? They’d shrink. You see, in a way…as Jesus sees them out there struggling…and growing as they press…He is spotting them man…do you see it? We don’t grow unless we press man and we don’t press unless there’s weight…so why shake our fist so vehemently against God? When where we are now, deep dark stormy…will culminate in huge spiritual biceps!!! 

• But "it’s my money and I want it now!" You know that commercial? That’s our mentality but that only produces spoiled brats man…not disciples…not strength…

• And notice, when does Jesus show up? At the darkest hour. In 2010, in America alone, every 13.7 minutes someone took their own life. 182 children go missing each and every day. 241 people die each day in America from alcohol abuse. That’s one every 6 minutes…2 people are murdered every hour in the US alone…Every hour 100 people call it quits on their marriage…Every hour, 12 Christians are killed for their faith…the hour is quite dark man…

 

 

Mark Chapter 6 Verses 53 – 56

• Time for a tough don’t you think…just between you and Him…if you want to be made well…