When the Kingdom is our Greatest Passion, God is our Greatest Provision

Bible Passage: Mark 6:7-13

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

I want to start off this morning by asking you two questions…

What is your greatest passion?

Mine: Changes by the week but right now its camping

Luke joke about that becoming my whole personality

What makes you feel secure?

Is it your income? Your job? Your spouse? Your boyfriend/girlfriend? Your friends? Your Family? Your brokerage account? Your home? Your Success? Your social media following? The presence of others?

If I am being honest, this question is hard for me to answer. I would like to stand up here this morning as your pastor and tell you God is my greatest security and comfort.

But I have realized as of late that worldly things make me feel much more safe than the presence and promises of God.

Things like people, approval of others and success.

Those things are not inherently bad but Here is when that becomes a problem… When they make you feel safer than God does.

Those things are great until they are gone.

People will fail you, your approval ratings can change, success is subjective, money can go as fast as it comes in.

But God has told us that for those Who believe in Christ that He alone is our strength. He alone is our protector and provider. He alone is our help.

As we dive back into Mark 6 this morning, we are going to see that when God’s Kingdom is our greatest passion, God is our greatest provision.

Let me show you what I mean…

BODY

Last week we saw Jesus return to His hometown of Nazareth and unable to do much because of the people’s lack of faith.

This week, it is not Jesus doing the ministry directly, but His disciples

Mark 6:7 ESV

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

Jesus has moved through a progression of ministry with his disciples

He does and they watch, He does with them, They do and He watches

This should teach us something about how we disciple those younger than us in the faith. the ultimate goal of discipleship is effectiveness.

The disciples are getting their first taste of ministry without Jesus physically next to them.

This should also be a great reminder or new revelation for us all that God has not intended for us to do life alone.

Jesus knew the journey would be taxing, that ministry is hard, that the world would hate His followers and on a very practical level that additional people brings validity to their claims about Jesus in public.

So he sent them out with brothers.

I have been reminded the last couple weeks of how important it is to have co-laborers.

Every Friday morning Pat, Clayton and myself meet at Ginghams and a large part of the morning is just asking how each of us are doing.

You need people in your life who quite literally can carry you when you cannot carry yourself.

I guarantee the disciples would go on to be extremely grateful for this because Jesus Mark 6:8–11 “He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

imagine for just a second being one of the disciples…

Jesus calls you in and says “Alright guys its time. Peter you’re with James, John you’re with Thomas, Phillip you go with Judas (btw, watch your back)” and so on. “And by the way you can only bring a stick, you can’t get a hotel and lot’s of people won’t care what you have to say.”

“Oh man Jesus, is that all?”

If I am one of the disciples, I am freaking out.

It is no secret that people want Jesus dead and gone so going out in his name is scary enough but now we can’t even bring food?!?!

And we have to stay in strangers houses!

Why would Jesus give these instructions? Because as one commentator put it better than I can “They signify peace, defenselessness, and trust in—and dependence upon—God”

If there was ever a time for the disciples to look at Jesus and say “This just isn’t for me” it was probably now.

But they didn’t…

Mark 6:12–13 ESV

So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.

Mark 6:30 ESV

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

Their greatest passion was doing what Jesus said and because of that, they got to watch Him show up in miraculous ways.

Ya know I think many times in our lives we hear the things that Jesus tells us to do and because Him and His Kingdom are not our greatest passion, we don’t get the opportunity to see how he can show up and show off.

Maybe for you Jesus has been telling you for a while to live in sexual purity.

“Well Jesus, I would but I don’t want to.” “Well Jesus, I would but Our lives are so intertwined now.”

Maybe Jesus is telling you to change your schedule to be more focused upon Kingdom stuff.

“Well Jesus, My personal time is a lot more comfortable and fun then serving the church and building the Kingdom.”

Maybe Jesus is calling you into extreme generosity with your finances.

“Well Jesus, we have been saving for this thing.” Well Jesus, we would but I really enjoy spending $200 per month on Starbucks.”

If there is a “Well Jesus” excuse that comes to your mind when Jesus tells you to do something here’s what that says about you… Jesus and His Kingdom are not your greatest passion.

And when He is not your greatest passion He will not be your greatest provision.

I promise you the greatest experiences that the disciples ever had were on the other side of “Yes.”

Their passion for God’s Kingdom to come down led to their most joy filled and satisfying moments.

Their obedience led to them being able to witness God show up in their lives in ways that they couldn’t even imagine.

Let me ask you something… What if they had said no?!

Their passion and the Lord’s provision are the reasons we are sitting here today.

You have the same opportunity not only to experience God’s greatness for yourself but to change the lives of others.

Just by centering your life upon Jesus and His will and then He works out the rest.

CLOSING

George Mueller Photo

George was born in Germany in the year 1805

He was not raised to love God but was saved while attending a bible study as a university student.

From here George decided to give his entire life to the ministry of God’s Kingdom.

Mueller did many amazing things for God’s Kingdom in his life but the one that he is most known for is starting an orphanage in London.

And unlike the other orphanages in the city, no child would be turned away and the care for these children would be completely free and more importantly “God Centered”

In order to pull this off, he was gonna need quite a bit of money.

He would go on to receive the equivalent of millions in today’s money to fund this ministry from outside donors and here is the craziest part… He never asked for a single penny.

George felt he had been given a very specific call from God to simply pray for every need that they had and there was never a day that went by where they were without.

George lived by the statement he would share every time he was asked about His ministry and needs and it was this… “The Lord will Provide”

George’s greatest passion was the Kingdom and in turn He got to witness daily God be His greatest provision.

What is your greatest passion? Where is your faith?

What if both of those answers in your lifer were “God”?

How different would your life look?

PRAY