Mark – God is On Our Side!
I don’t have to wonder too much how the disciples felt after a “ministry tour” of helping people in all kinds of ways by the power and authority of Jesus. I can hear them tell of all the ways they were able to help people see the need to repent and turn to God. Can you imagine coming back to the One who sent them and telling Him, face to face, in person, excitedly how it went? Can you see the smile of Jesus as He listens? I passionately tell my family and friends about a tour of ministry or mission trip that was beyond our capabilities and out of our comfort zones and their eyes kind of glaze over ready for my exuberance to settle down. Why? Not because they don’t care, it’s because I am very excited as I spray a fire hose of stories at them all at once. (Trying to control that!)
I can imagine Jesus, sitting on the grass, listening to his disciples, all talking at once, as they tell their stories. “AND do you know what happened next?” “Oh Jesus, it was so amazing!” “Jesus, because of what you put in us we could actually help people like you do!” THEN, as they are still telling, (don’t let this slip by you as we read this passage), Jesus, while still listening to their hearts to what God did in and through them, He looks in their tired eyes and says…”LET’S REST AWHILE.” The “people ministry”, (helping lost souls return to God), was overwhelming. Jesus knew that even though the disciples were excited, a tired was soon going to wash over them soon unless they “got away to a quiet place to rest”. However, the people followed them to this place.
What trumped Jesus’ compassion for his workers, was His ongoing, relentless compassion for those who needed what He had to offer…Life.
Is it because the disciples were tired and overwhelmed that they retorted, “Send them away…”? We can imagine this feeling when people want more than we have left to give. But here we have an example of Jesus still providing what is needed in “people ministry” situations that tax our human systems. He teaches those He has invited to HIS work that HE is on our side. HE will provide. HE will find rest for you at the right time. But for now…
“YOU feed them.” says Jesus to his weary disciples. “What?” Can you see the eyes roll? Can you hear the voice inflection when they ask, “With what”? However, I am so impressed with the disciples, even though ready to rest, were obedient to the Master. They were looking forward to a “get away for awhile” with Him, but instead were asked to be obedient in yet another ministry task. The result? They experienced another grand, only God can do, miracle of power, compassion, and love. They experienced, in person, that God is definitely on our side!Mark 6, NLT
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
30 The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. 31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.32 So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. 33 But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. 34 Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
35 Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. 36 Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.”
37 But Jesus said, “You feed them.”“With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!”
38 “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.”
They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.”
39 Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
41 Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. 42 They all ate as much as they wanted, 43 and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. 44 A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.Maybe you are the one in ministry who needs rest. Ask God to guide you. He will provide. He is on your side. Ask for His timing. Until that time of rest, “rest” in Him each morning before you begin your day. Trust and obey.
Maybe you are one of the people who needs what Jesus has to offer and you need help finding Him. Don’t let anyone or any situation or circumstance keep you from asking for help. RUN for help. Ask God to guide you to the one He has prepared to help you. (He has many who are are ready!) No one in the ministry of obedience to God is too tired to help you find and follow Him. No one. Find that person.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,You have provided yet another perspective to Your Story of how You work in our lives as we trust and obey. You are amazing! You are compassionate, loving and kind beyond what this world has to offer. I am so grateful you listen, challenge, discipline, direct and guide me. Help me help others find and follow you, too. Show me your ways. I am your servant. I am listening.
In Jesus Name, Amen
One wonders if the word horrid and all other forms of the word comes from the name of a wicked, manipulating and easily manipulated leader named Herod. Horrid and Herod are not related, I looked it up. But the two terms can be used interchangeably! He was called “Herod the Great”. But this “great” man who let evil of all kinds control him, was extremely afraid of losing his power and leadership to Jesus. He did everything he could think of to stop God in human form from taking the lead in his kingdom. Herod ordered the horrendous act of killing all babies under the age of two in an effort to kill Jesus. When that didn’t work he aided the religious elite in nailing Jesus to a cross.
16 When Herod heard about Jesus, he said, “John, the man I beheaded, has come back from the dead.”
Herod had feared that John’s messages would stir up a revolt among the people, something he wanted to avoid. Also, he wanted to please his wife, even though it meant the murdering of a godly man. 
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,
When God says, “GO” to our minds and hearts and tells us specifically how to go, we must listen. He knows the specific needs of others around us. Being anxious to meet those needs He uses us to provide that specific help to each other. That’s what being “SENT” means to those who believe and answer with an immediate “YES” to God. 
Sent people give God, the One and Only, who gave the order to go, and provided what is needed, all the glory for the results. Sent people love God with all their minds, hearts and souls. Sent people are teachable. Sent people live expectant lives, waiting for their next assignment. Sent people do only what the Father tells them to say and do. Sent people walk humbly with God.
Then Jesus went from village to village, teaching the people. 7 And he called his twelve disciples together and began sending them out two by two, giving them authority to cast out evil spirits. 8 He told them to take nothing for their journey except a walking stick—no food, no traveler’s bag, no money. 9 He allowed them to wear sandals but not to take a change of clothes.
When the Lord originally called the twelve apostles, His purpose was to teach and train them so that they might assist Him and eventually be able to take His place when He returned to the Father (Mark 3:13–15). Before sending them out, He reaffirmed their authority to heal and to cast out demons (Mark 6:7), and He gave them some pointed instructions (see Matt. 10 for a more detailed account of this sermon). 
The word translated “send” in Mark 6:7 is apostello in the Greek and gives us our English word apostle. It means “to send someone with a special commission to represent another and to accomplish his work.” Jesus gave these twelve men both the apostolic authority and the divine ability to do the job He sent them to do. They were not “on their own”; they represented Him in all that they did and said. 
Rejection is a bitter pill to swallow, isn’t it? Every person at some time in their lives has been rejected on this planet. Everyone has experienced the squinty eye look that judges severely when you become known for doing something good that others do not understand. Envy brings on some of this judgement.
6 Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. 2 The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” 3 Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.
One of the central themes in this section of Mark’s gospel is the unbelief of people who came into contact with God’s Servant. All of these people had every reason to trust Jesus Christ, yet all of them failed to do so, including His own disciples! God takes unbelief seriously, and so should we. Rejection takes on a higher plane…that of unbelief in Jesus.
Our Lord’s reputation had once again preceded Him, so He was permitted to teach in the synagogue. Keep in mind that He was ministering to people who knew Him well, because Nazareth was His “hometown.” However, these acquaintances had no spiritual perception at all. In fact, Jesus reminded them of what He had told them at that first dramatic visit, that a prophet is without honor in his own country and among his own people (Mark 6:4; Luke 4:24; John 4:44). Two things astonished these people: His mighty works and His wonderful wisdom. Actually, Jesus did not do any mighty works while He was there, so the people must have been referring to the reports they had heard about His miracles (see Mark 1:28, 45; 3:7–8; 5:20–21). In fact, their unbelief hindered Jesus from having a greater ministry among them. 
Why were they unable to trust Him and experience the wonders of His power and grace as had others? They thought that they really knew Him. After all, He had been their neighbor for nearly thirty years, they had seen Him at work in the carpenter’s shop, and He appeared to be just another Nazarene. He was a “commoner,” and the people saw no reason to commit themselves to Him! 
A carpenter was a respected artisan in that day, but nobody expected a carpenter to do miracles or teach profound truths in the synagogue. Where did He get all this power and wisdom? From God or from Satan (see Mark 3:22)? And why did His brothers and sisters not possess this same power and wisdom? Even more, why did His brothers and sisters not believe in Him? The people who called Him “the son of Mary” were actually insulting Him, because in that day you identified a man by calling him the son of his father, not the son of his mother. 
Rejection breaks the heart of God but for reasons we may not think of first. Jesus looked beyond his own rejection to the cause of the rejection–Cold stone hearts of unbelief. This is what made him sad. That’s why this encounter did not stop Jesus from His divine mission. And we are glad!
“Have faith”, says Jesus to Jarius. Two simple, but powerful words, when you think beyond and higher than what this world has to offer. Have we truly ever considered the extent of our faith? 
24 Jesus went with him, and all the people followed, crowding around him. 25 A woman in the crowd had suffered for twelve years with constant bleeding. 26 She had suffered a great deal from many doctors, and over the years she had spent everything she had to pay them, but she had gotten no better. In fact, she had gotten worse. 27 She had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his robe. 28 For she thought to herself, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately the bleeding stopped, and she could feel in her body that she had been healed of her terrible condition.
40 The crowd laughed at him. But he made them all leave, and he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples into the room where the girl was lying. 41 Holding her hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means “Little girl, get up!” 42 And the girl, who was twelve years old, immediately stood up and walked around! They were overwhelmed and totally amazed. 43 Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone what had happened, and then he told them to give her something to eat.
For one thing, He did it for her own sake. He wanted to be to her something more than a healer: He wanted to be her Savior and Friend as well. He wanted her to look into His face, feel His tenderness, and hear His loving words of assurance. By the time He finished speaking to her, she experienced something more than physical healing. He called her “daughter” and sent her on her way with a benediction of peace (Mark 5:34). To “be made whole” meant much more than receiving mere physical healing. Jesus had given her spiritual healing as well! 
Unbelief laughs at God’s Word, but faith lays hold of it and experiences the power of God!
5 So they arrived at the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones.
We see in this scene three different forces at work: Satan, society, and the Savior. These same three forces are still at work in our world, trying to control the lives of people. 
AND THE PIGS?
Why did Jesus not permit the healed demoniac to follow Him? 
Yes! God is on our side, hallelujah! ALL of us!
For our country, it is a day to celebrate our independence from another country who ruled over us. It’s also a day in the summer time of life to get out the grill, have as many family members and friends gather to eat hamburgers, brats and hot dogs. It’s a day we will watch fireworks being launched by our more generous neighbors. Sometimes, in the celebrations, we miss the point, don’t we? Many gave their lives so we can be free.
I caught something in the New Living Translation this morning as I read this very familiar passage. It was an aside…”(although other boats followed)”. Wait, what!? OTHER boats were on the sea when the storm came up. They were following Jesus to wherever he was going next! They experienced the choppy waters of the storm, too! What were they thinking when the storm came up? What did they tell their friends and family when they got home? “We were in a ton of trouble because of the storm!” “We thought we were going to lose our lives, but just as suddenly as the storm rose up, it calmed down.” “It was amazing!” “The water was like a sea of glass.” “We think it was Jesus!”
God sent part of Himself to earth for ALL who believe in Him! Jesus is for all. His disciples are still trying to wrap their minds around this thought in this passage. “Who is this man?”, they ask. WE know how it all ends. It ends on a cross as the beginning of new life for all of us. Our old self is laid to rest as dead and no more! Christ is risen to new life in all who believe… for eternity!
Mark 4, NLT
How often in the trials of life we are prone to imitate the faithless disciples and cry out, “Lord, don’t You care?” Of course, He cares! He arose and rebuked the storm, and immediately there was a great calm. But Jesus did not stop with the calming of the elements, for the greatest danger was not the wind or the waves: it was the unbelief in the hearts of the disciples. Our greatest problems are within us, not around us. This explains why Jesus gently rebuked them and called
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,
If we can have simple faith in things, why isn’t our faith in God, the Creator of all, greater still? Why isn’t our faith in God consistent, growing, knowing He is on our side continually? When troubles come in this imperfect world, does God leave the building? Absolutely not! He uses what evil or mere circumstance throws at us to teach and grow us…and our faith in Him. 
But the growth of the seed is only one part of the story; we must also account for the birds in the branches. In the parable of the sower and soils, the birds stood for Satan, who snatches the seed (Mark 4:15). If we are to be consistent in our interpretation, we must take this into consideration, for both parables were taught on the same day. 
Through faith in Jesus Christ, we become citizens of the heavenly nation, children in God’s family, and subjects of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What a privilege it is to know the Lord Jesus Christ! 
What is the “fix”? Turn your heart, mind and soul back to God completely. Don’t give him part of your life. Make Jesus your whole life! Repent of false faith that only holds up in the good times. Be redeemed and restored to faith in our God that knows no limits. Plant the seed of faith and let it grow a tree of faith that believes and assumes all is well without even thinking about it. Know God. Know Faith. He will not let you go. He is on our side!
Parable of the Growing Seed
We join God in HIS work. Most times, God’s ways are a mystery to us. Wise planters don’t question His motives when we realize HE is God and we are not. HE knows best and we do not. We plant when and where HE tells us to plant. HE shows us how to plant. But the growth of each individual person (seed) is up to God and that seed. 
We like to hike in the woods, put together a camp site, build a fire, cook over the open fire, eat, talk or just be quiet and listen. What we do not like is getting up in the middle of the night, especially when it is cloudy, to answer nature’s call. It is a bit scary trying to find the path, in your pj’s, to the bathroom with only a small flashlight in your hands. You imagine, if you are like me, all the ways you could be hurt on the way. You watch for animals and creepy people possibly lurking in the shadows. 
21 Then Jesus asked them, “Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine. 22 For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. 23 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
In this parable, our Lord used a common object (a lamp) in a familiar scene (a home). The lamp was a clay dish filled with oil, with a wick put into the oil. In order to give light, the lamp had to “use itself up”; and the oil had to be replenished. If the lamp was not lit, or if it was covered up, it did the home no good. 
Our spiritual hearing determines how much we have to give to others. There is no sense trying to “cover things up” because God will one day reveal all things. I now remember what a great speaker told a crowd of listeners many years ago…”You cannot take a person farther down the road than you have been yourself.” What that means is you cannot speak God’s Word into someone else if you have not first been in God’s Word yourself with understanding for what God is telling us. Does that mean we know it all? Oh, no, of course not. BUT, it does mean that we KNOW where to go for help. We can tell others what has helped us along the way. We KNOW Who has the answers. We have the LIGHT in our hearts and hands to point the way. We point them to Jesus!
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,
