Catering for Over 5000

Mark chapter six. We're studying through the book of Mark on Sunday mornings. Our morning services and we are to verse 34 this morning. Mark chapter six and verse 34. And we're going to read down through verse 44.

So, 34 to 44 this morning, okay? Catering for over 5,000. Wouldn't that be quite a job? Catering for over 5,000 people? Well, that would be a hard job for us.

Not so hard for Jesus. So, Mark six verse 34 and Jesus when he came out saw much people and was moved with compassion toward them because they were sheep not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things. When the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto 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. He answered and said unto them, give you them to eat.

And they say unto him, shall we go and buy 200p worth of bread and give them to eat? He say it unto them, how many loaves have you? Go and see. And when they knew, they say, five and two fishes. He commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and fifties and when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven and blessed and break the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before them and the two fishes divided he among them all and they did all eat and were filled and they took up 12 baskets full of fragments and of the fishes and they that did eat of the loaves were about 5,000 men which would not be counting women and children who were there also.

Also. Let's go to the Lord in prayer once more. Lord, thank you for this day and for your word. I pray Lord that as we look into it, that we would be challenged, we would be convicted. Lord, that our faith would be strengthened today as we see that little is much when God is in it.

In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Few things I want us to see. We're just going to look down through the passage and kind of repeat what actually happened here and then just a few thoughts in closing this morning about how this is relevant, how this was relevant to the disciples, what Jesus purpose was, what lesson he was teaching, and how that would apply to us today. The first thing we see in verse 34 is the compassion of Jesus Christ.

As Jesus Christ comes out of the city where he had been staying, flocks of people followed him. This was up in Galilee and they followed him out into the countryside or the desert as it causes here and Jesus had been ministering for many days. He was tired. He was exhausted. He himself was probably hungry.

And on two or three occasions, he tried to get out of the cities in order to get some rest and when he looked around at all the multitudes that followed after him rather than shooing them away or going and hiding himself, he had compassion upon them and so, he stopped and he taught them some more. The compassion of our savior is unlimited. He is a god of love and once again, when Jesus saw people, he didn't see people as irritants. He didn't see people as obstacles in his path. He didn't see people as hindrances to his rest.

He saw people as souls in need. That's how he saw them. So, when he saw them, he stopped and he fed them. He fed them with the word of God. And he fed them with love.

People need God's word. People need the Lord. People need direction. They need the truth and they need love. Jesus Christ provided all and much more.

For he is a god of compassion who sees people as needy souls. We'll look back at that again in just a few minutes but continuing on in our story, his disciples came to him with a question. It was getting late in the day, nearing evening time and the people had been out there all day and with little or nothing to eat and so they came to Jesus and they said, should we send them away into the neighboring villages and towns so that they can find sustenance for themselves. That that was that was a reasonable question, wasn't it? You know, this big big group of people haven't eaten all day.

They're thinking about the people and and they say to Jesus, don't you think we should send them away so they can get something to eat. And what was Jesus's response? He said, you give them to eat. Now, you know, disciples, I don't think we're expecting that answer. They were expecting what we would consider, you know, the reasonable normal response.

Oh, yeah. Send them away. They need something to eat. So, that that sounds like a good idea but no, Jesus instead of saying, yes, send them away. Jesus said to his disciples who came to him, he said, no, you give them to eat.

You give them to eat. You know, one of the things I I noticed in the ministry and and just around people and I'm sure I have been guilty of this many times is people often see the need but they want somebody else to meet it. Pastor, the light bulb's out. This light bulb right here has been out for a month. I don't know if anybody's noticed it but finally, this week, I decided to put a new light bulb in there.

People see things, people see people. Sometimes we might even remark about oh that person has that problem, that person has that need without intending ourselves to help. Jesus looked at his disciples and he said, you help. They have a need? You meet it.

You give them to eat. He kind of threw it back to them. You see the need? You do something about it. Then the disciples looked at him strangely, oddly, and they said, thought in their mind, how?

You know, it's it's easy enough to replace a light bulb. But if we had a thousand light bulbs and you only had two, you might say, pastor, how am I supposed to replace all those light bulbs? Scratch their head. He said, how? Do you want us to go and buy food for all these people?

They estimated it would cost 200p worth of bread to feed that larger multitude. You know how much bread that is? That a penny what they're translated here is a penny or denarius. Currency of the day was one day's wage, okay? So, they said, do you want us to go into town and buy two hundred days wages worth of food?

To feed it. I don't think I I'm not sure if I get from the disciples if this was a serious question or if it was sort of do you want us to go buy food for all these people? That's a lot of food. That's a that's a lot of money. I I think that's sort of the way they're thinking here.

Jesus said, you feed them and they go, wow. You want to go buy all this food? We don't have that kind of money. Response to Jesus to them when they said that is, well, what do you have? What do you have?

So, they they looked around. They took his question seriously though they were still I think quite perplexed and they found someone, a young boy if I remember right from another gospel. He had five loaves and two fishes and he was the only one who evidently brought food. And though they said, well, here we have five loaves. A loaf was not, you know, a loaf.

A loaf was more something like this, a big roll that this boy had. Five rolls basically and and two fishes. They said, well, we have five loaves and two fishes but obviously, we can't feed all these people with these five rolls and these two fishes. By forcing the disciples to say it, to think it through, he drew their attention and that of the people to the lack of supply to meet their need. There simply wasn't enough food.

They did simply didn't have enough money to feed all of those people. They lacked what was needed. What they had was in sufficient. And by drawing their attention to that, he made that which was about to happen even the more astonishing. So everybody realized that what was about to happen as they will see in just a moment was a what?

A miracle. A miracle. The response of Christ to them. He commanded them that they separate everybody into groups of 50s and 100s. He took the bread, he broke it and he blessed it and thanked his father for it and then he handed it to whom?

He handed it to disciples. Remember, he said, you give them to eat. So, he took the bread and he took the fishes. He divided them. He gave them to his 12 disciples.

Now, now, imagine here, twelve, five loaves, 12 disciples. How much is each disciple have? Not much. Couple bites? Couple bites of that?

He said, now, you turn and you take it out there and you feed them. It seems like every time they gave the person what was in their hand, there must have been another portion in their hand and as they began to give out the bread, as they began to give out the fishes, it just kept what? It just kept multiplying. It just kept multiplying. It just kept coming.

Like the widow in the Old Testament who provided the last meal she had for Elijah during a famine. With the promise that God would supply her for the day after and the day after and the day after and every morning she got up, there was just enough oil and there was just enough flour. For that day. You know, we we want God to give us all of it when? Now.

God says, it's all waiting you in heaven. But God says, I want you to learn to what? Trust me. And so he gives us what we need for what? For each, for each day.

Day by day, but if you've known the Lord for a while, you know, that he gives us what we need. For each day and so they handed out the food. They distributed to the crowd. Everyone ate. Everyone was filled and they collected 12 baskets full.

Of the leftovers. Can you imagine? Not only did he feed 5,000 plus people but they had 12 baskets full left over. I I kind of imagine those 12 baskets full were for whom? Who do you think the 12 baskets were for?

That's for the disciples. The workers, the ones who had obeyed the Lord and taken the food to others, they received a reward. Each of them in the end. They each got a basket of leftovers for themselves. God takes care of his servants also.

So, I guess we've sort of hit upon a few lessons already we can learn but there's a few things I want to point out before we close here this morning. Number one, Jesus and his disciples saw needy people. The question that goes with that is what? Do you? See, needy people.

Jesus taught the people because he saw their what? He saw their heart and he saw that they were sheep without a what? A shepherd. They were wandering. They were confused.

They were directionless. They were without a leader, a guide, and so he provided them with spiritual nutrients. He provided them with direction. He divided them. He provided them the word of God.

That they needed. The disciples saw their what? The disciples saw their physical needs. Jesus was teaching them and as the disciples were sitting there and the sun was going down, the disciples recognized, hey, all these people are here. It's getting dark.

They haven't eaten anything. They've gotta be what? They've gotta be hungry. So, as Jesus was meeting their spiritual need, the disciples were thinking about their physical need. Not that they weren't thinking about the spiritual but they recognized the physical also.

Both Jesus and his disciples saw people as souls having need and both wanted to feed them what was necessary. In Romans chapter five, I think that up that I do have that up here. Concerning our our savior, it says in Romans five, for when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. When we were without strength. Now, we're kind of relating this to the physical need as well.

If you don't have any food, then you don't have what? You don't have strength. But even greater than our physical need for strength, there is a spiritual need for strength that we do not have in relation to our ability to serve and please God. We are without strength. We are without the ability to please God, to serve God, to glorify God, in ourselves.

In our human nature. It says, when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. It is our sin that has stripped us. Of that ability. It says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet per adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die but God commended or demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

When Jesus sees people, he sees what? He sees lost sheep. He sees sinners who need a savior. Sinners who without his help, would spend an eternity in a place called the Lake Of Fire. And Jesus seen our need.

Left the throne room of heaven, came to Earth, died on a cross, suffered anguish and pain, and the wrath of his father in heaven on that cross. So that we might be saved. Where we were weak, he is what? He is strong and he is strong bore our punishment for us. He paid our price for us because he is the righteous one.

And in doing so, has redemption and salvation to offer To all who come to him by faith. All lost sinners in need. Much more than being now justified by his blood. Justified before God in heaven, we shall be saved through wrath through him because he took our wrath upon himself. Look if you would in John chapter four.

If you take your Bibles, leave your place in Mark if you want. Turn if you would to John chapter four. John chapter four and we'll begin reading in verse 10. Now, Jesus was traveling from Galilee which is in the South up, I mean, from Judea, sorry, that was in the South to Galilee which was in the North and in between Judea where Jerusalem is and Galilee where the Sea Of Galilee is. There is an area of land called Samaria.

The people that lived in Samaria were largely Jews who had intermarried with Gentiles after Assyria came in and took many of the Jews out and transplanted many Gentiles in that area. The Jews had no concern at all for their Samaritan brethren because to them they were half breeds. They weren't pure Jews. They didn't worship at Jerusalem. They were the scum of the earth and they had nothing to do with them.

They would call them dogs. They would treat them poorly and when they wanted to travel from Judea up to Galilee, they actually crossed the Jordan River, went way out of their way. Excuse me. To go across Jordan, go up the other side, and then cross back over. Just so they didn't have to travel through Samaria and defile themselves with the Samaritans.

But when Jesus wanted to travel from Judea to Galilee, what did Jesus do? He went right smack through the middle of Samaria. Why? Because the people in Samaria weren't anymore sinners than the people were. In Judea.

They were all sinners in need of the savior except there maybe that there were a few more in Samaria that recognized they were sinners. Many of the GDJeans didn't see that. And so Jesus went through Samaria. Not only did he go through Samaria but he had an appointment. Now, some of you brother Steve has an appointment with a doctor this week and he's got to make arrangements.

He's gotta get over there to to see his doctor. He has an appointment. Jesus had an appointment. Now, it's the the lady he's about to talk to didn't know that she had an appointment but Jesus, I believe, knew very well that he did. And so he traveled through Samaria.

By a certain well in a certain city and there he met this woman of Samaria who had came out to get water from the well. And in verse 10 it says, Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that say it to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him and he would have given thee living water. She had asked Jesus, do you want something to drink? Usually Jews for rightly turn that down because they wouldn't take drink from a Samaritan but Jesus said, if you would ask me, I would have given you something better. Something better than the water in this well.

Living water. Living sustenance. Spiritual sustenance. Eternal sustenance. The woman said unto him, sir, thou hast nothing to draw with and the well is deep from whence then hast thou living water.

Art thou greater than our father, Jacob, who gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle. Jesus has answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. While others would have seen this Samaritan woman as an obstacle and inherent and a hindrance wicked, ungodly person which she was God saw a sinner in need of a what? In need of a savior and what she needed, he had to get. Not only was this woman of Samaritan but this woman had been married five times and the man she was living with now was not her husband.

She was a sinner. She needed a savior and Jesus saw her need and Jesus said, I can provide for that need As it turns out, she went back. She found other people in the city. She brought them out and they had a revival right there at the well. Praise the Lord.

For Jesus had more to provide than just for her. But others also. Our God is a god of compassion How about us? Are we more like Jesus? Are we more like the Judeans?

Do we care? Do we notice? Have we become callous? Are we burdened? Jesus came to this Earth with a burden.

A burden. To see salt, lost sinners saved. A burden which he was willing to carry on the cross of Calvary. He was burdened. Are you burdened?

Are are we are we burdened more with with what how we're going to decorate our house? Are are we burdened more with what kind of shoes we're going to get? Are we burdened more with whether we're going to get home to see our favorite television show? Are we burdened more with what our neighbors might think of our of our car? Are we burdened more about and you can go on.

Listen, are we burdened more about not offending one of our friends? Are are are what are we what are we burdened more about than we are burdened about the souls of people that are on a path that will lead them to eternal destruction in hell. I dare say there are a lot of Christians and sometimes us who allow ourselves to get burdened about things that are passing away, that are of no value, that are of no concern to almighty God who lives in heaven. What he's concerned about is what Jesus was concerned about and those were souls. We're concerned about things.

We're concerned about popularity. How about your neighbor across the street? One of the families told me they're going to come to VBS this week as a family that lives across the street from me. Their children need Jesus and I hope they'll come. The neighbor on one side of me has been to church two or three times.

His name lay, his name is Liam. Few of you have met him. He needs Jesus too. Are you burdened about the people across the street? Are you burdened about the beggar?

Are you burdened about the people that surround you day by day as you shop, as you go places, your coworkers, the waiter, the waitress, the person you sit beside in the plane as you fly from place to place? Are you concerned? Are you burdened? Or are you burdened about things that are far less value and importance. Jesus had compassion.

Jesus saw the Samaritan woman. He saw the people that day. As souls in need of a savior. Who he had come to save. I hope that you have a burden that we have a burden for the lost around us.

Second thing I want us to see is this, people have a need and Jesus has the what? He has the answer. Yey, rather Jesus himself is the solution. To their need. The disciples could not meet their need without who?

Without Jesus. They couldn't do it without Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate answer to man's need. Not education. Now, education is a good thing and I think people need to know how to read and write and do arithmetic.

That's valuable. That's necessary but education along is not the answer to man's problems. We see that. The world is more educated than the world has ever been. And yet the world is more mixed up than the world has ever been.

Wars are about to break out all over the world and we're more educated. Education is not the answer. Charity money isn't the answer either. We live in the most lucrative society the world has ever known. Yet, we live in a society full of confused people who don't know which window, which which end is up.

They have problems with drugs and alcohol and teen suicide and and it just goes on and on and on. Money isn't the answer. Charity isn't the answer. The United States pumps billions of dollars all over the world to help other people. That's not a bad thing.

That means some people here see at least a physical need and want to help. But billions of dollars over decades has not stopped world hunger, Has it? And more importantly, it hasn't met a greater and deeper need. The need of salvation. That only Jesus can give.

No, Jesus is the answer and when the disciples saw a need, who did they go to? They went to Jesus. They went to the right place. They went to the right place. They said, What should we do to provide for this need?

They went to the one that they knew would have the answer. In the book of Nehemiah somebody came to Nehemiah at the time he was the cup's the king's cup bearer in the court of the Persian king and he asked them how goes it in Jerusalem. They said, Oh, it's terrible. The walls are broken down. The people in disarray.

Oh, it's a terrible situation. So, the first thing Nehemiah did was to go to the king and say, king, there's a need. Is that the first thing he did? He did go to the king by the way But you know what he did before he went to the king? He went to the king of kings.

In Nehemiah chapter one, the majority of that chapter is a prayer. When Nehemiah became burdened about Jerusalem, he went to the source. He went to the one who could had made promises concerning Israel. He went to the one who is trustworthy and faithful. He went to the one who is omnipotent in power and he went to God in prayer and he prayed that God would overrule in the affairs of men and change the plight of Jerusalem and then after he went to Jesus, then after he went to God, then he went to the king of Persia.

You know what God did? God softened the king of Persia's heart. And made him willing to help who? Nehemiah. You know, something I think if he went to the king first, he probably would've got tossed out on his head.

But God paved his way because he went to God first. When you have a need, do you go to God first or is God your last resort? I'm afraid that's often the case. When everything else fails around us, we we crawl to God and say, God, you know, I've tried everything else God and I I tried it my way and I tried this and I tried these people and I tried that and and God, if you don't help me, I'm just sunk. Well, it's a good thing that you finally go to God but you know, God doesn't want us to go to him last.

I think he'd prefer we go to him what? First and you know, if you went to him first, maybe he could've helped you a lot sooner They went to Jesus. Do we go to Jesus in prayer? Do we go to his word? Secondly, do you take people to Jesus?

Yeah, there's people around you, your coworkers, your friends, your relatives, they have problems. They have emotional problems. They have, they have physical problems, financial problems. Particularly, they have spiritual problems. Do you take them to Jesus?

Do you bring them to church? Do you take them to his word? Do you say, can I pray with you? And do those things not cross our mind? You know, I can give somebody money this week and you know what will happen usually next week?

They'll be back for more. Because their need is ongoing but you know God can change their circumstances altogether beginning with their heart. If I can introduce them to Jesus, He'll help them with their financial problems but more importantly, he'll fix their spiritual and emotional problems which are often the basis for their financial problems. More importantly, their eternity. Do you take people to Jesus?

In Mark chapter two, there was a man who was basically paralyzed. He was so sick. He couldn't walk anymore. He had four friends. When four friends heard that Jesus was in town.

The four friends went and got him and they took him to Jesus. It says and they come unto him, Jesus bringing one sick of palsy which was born of four. The word born there means carried by four people to Jesus and when they could not come nigh or near unto him for the press, the crowd, they uncovered the roof, they tore through it where he was, and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay, and when Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of palsy, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. It doesn't say just when Jesus saw his faith, it says, when Jesus saw what? Their faith.

The man who was sick and the four that took him. When Jesus saw their faith, he looked at him. He said, man, your sins are what? Forgiven thee. Well, wait a second.

Wasn't his problem a physical one? He couldn't walk. Why did Jesus say your sins be forgiven? Because there was a deeper pressure, a diff, a deeper root problem here. The man was a sinner in need of a savior and as desperately as he needed to get better and as desperately he needed to walk, he needed to stand spiritually before God and Jesus is the only one who could do that and when these fellow friends of his saw he had a need, they took him to Jesus and Jesus met his need.

Not only did Jesus forgive his sins but later on in the passage, Jesus healed him. He said, take your bed and walk and he did. Do we take people to Jesus? Do we take the word of God? Do you take tracks?

We have tracks back there. I have track. I have more tracks. I I can keep giving you tracks every day. If you'll take em, and introduce people to who?

Introduce people to Jesus because they need him They need him. They went to Jesus for the solution and then they received the command and what was the command of Jesus to them? He said, you do what? You feed them. You feed them.

And Jesus saying to them, you feed them, he underscored their lack because right away they went, What do you mean? Feed them. I can't what? I can't do that. I am insufficient.

I do not have what they need. And he pointed out their lack. Their lack. The Bible says, without faith, it is impossible to please God. The Bible says, without him, we can do what?

Nothing of eternal merit or value apart from Jesus. You can rescue somebody from prison. You can feed somebody food. You can give them housing. You can help them to stop drinking alcohol.

You can help people in many ways. But if you don't bring em to Jesus, then you're going to have a sober man on his way to hell and in the end, being sober really has not helped him. That much. Wouldn't it be so much better if he had a sober man on his way to heaven than a sober man on his way to hell. And what's the difference?

Jesus. Without Jesus, we do not have the ability and we do not have the message that they need. For the ability, the need, the power, the person they need. Is Jesus and without him, we can do nothing. By pointing that out to them, he underscored their lack by pointing it out to them.

He underscored his power because what he was going to do was use them to provide for those people that which they didn't have but who did? Jesus did. Jesus took the little they had and he made it much. When they trusted him. You know, we think about Paul as this this great man of God, this great order, this this great person who stood and spoke to thousands all over Europe.

They suspect that Paul was actually a rather short man who probably was not all that impressive and though he was very smart and had a lot of intelligence, he wasn't that powerful as a be a powerful of a speaker. When he wrote letters, people would complain. Well, you're awful authoritative and powerful, bold in your letters but when you're with us, you're not quite as bold. But yet Paul reached literally dozens of cities of people with the gospel and planted many churches from which the gospel went to another church, to another church, to another church. He is the greatest of missionaries apart from the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

And Paul said in Philippians four thirteen, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. I can get up and go to the next city when I've been shunned, stoned, prison, beaten. How did he do that? Wasn't his great strength and physical prowess. It was his God that picked him up and helped him up.

He said, but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in Christ Jesus. You say, pastor, I can't do it. You know something? You're right. You can't.

And until you begin to realize you can't, then you won't. It's when we realize that we can't and that what? God can. That God can use us as he used his disciples to bring glory to his name. Moses spent forty years in the palace.

God had to send him to the backside of the desert for forty years to prepare him to lead the people out of Egypt. Second Corinthians 12, Paul said, when I am weak, then I am what? I'm strong. Strong in Jesus Christ. And the same goes for us.

It underscores their lack, God's power, and our responsibility because Jesus didn't say, I'll feed them. Jesus said, what? You feed them and then Jesus empowered them to do the job. And they had to go do it. It isn't enough to believe it, to say it, to cheer it.

You've gotta get up and what? You gotta obey. 100 You've gotta do it. Jesus said, go you into all the world and preach the gospel. He said in Matthew 2,018 through 20, he said, all powers given to me in heaven and earth are all authority.

Go you therefore and teach all nation, baptizing them the name of the father, the son, the holy ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and low I am with you always even until the end of the world. Amen. God said, you go. I will be with you. I'll help you.

Jesus called us to go. We go to our neighbor, to go to our friend, to go to our relative, to go to our coworker, to show them the love of Jesus, to care about them, to teach them, to proclaim the gospel, to help them in other ways too to show our love. Like the disciples and Jesus fed these people. We are his ambassadors. We all have a part.

Jesus has told us, go. He said, as the father has sent me, so what? Sin, I, you. We must be willing to go. It's a team effort.

How many of you got mail in your mailbox yesterday? They get mail in your mailbox yesterday. How did that get there? How did mail get in your mailbox? Did it just appear out of thin air?

No? Did the person who mailed it to you, did they come and put it in your mailbox? No. Was it one person that brought it from that person to you? The answer is no.

There are thousands and thousands and thousands of mail carriers across this country. There are thousands of people that sit in distribution offices. There are thousands who stand at post offices and they all worked together. People who fly the planes and people who drive the trucks and the mail carriers who come to your box to bring you the message. The same is true with the gospel.

It's not just missionaries and pastors and prophets and whatever. It's individual Christians doing their part to get it to the people that are next door to you and get it to the people that are in your life that I will never cross paths with. Jesus says, disciples, here, I'm giving it to you. Now, you go distribute it. In that day, it was just bread but on this day, it was the gospel message and you know what?

They did and you know what? Millions of people have been saved and are on their way to heaven. Because they did their part. But it doesn't end with them. It also comes to who?

That responsibility comes down to us. It is a team effort and God says, if you will go, I will provide through you but you must see that it's me and not you. You must be willing to go. Finally, the disciples obeyed. They did what he asked.

They gave him the food. There were 12 baskets left over. They may have had little but God used it for what? For much and God will use you too. Say but pastor, I'm not a preacher.

You don't have to be but you can hand out a track. You can show the neighbor next door that you love em. You can tell them how God answered your prayer little by little, little as much when God is in it and more will be saved More Christians will be strengthened. More people will be fit. If we will be willing to go.

And trust Jesus. That he might be magnified that it is him and not us. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for your word. Thank you Lord for the demonstration of your love and your power.

Here, a reminder to us that the God who fed thousands that day is the God who can feed people today not only physically but more important spiritually, Lord, if we will be willing to go, if we will be willing to trust, if we will be willing to take the gospel that's been given to us, that Lord as we give and distribute, Lord, it is without end. It will keep going and going and going. Lord, if we'll but trust you, and take it. Live it, proclaim it to a lost and dying world. That's as needy as it has ever been.

Lord, take us and use us, we pray. As servants of the king of kings and Lord of lords, to reach others around us. With the living water that they might receive it never thirst again. In Jesus name, we pray, amen.