Don't forget to remember!

Don’t forget to remember!

Mark 8:14 But the disciples had forgotten to bring any food. They had only one loaf of bread with them in the boat.

Mark 8:15 As they were crossing the lake, Jesus warned them, "Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod."

Mark 8:16 At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn't brought any bread.

Mark 8:17 Jesus knew what they were saying, so He said, "Why are you arguing about having no bread? Don't you know or understand even yet? Are your hearts too hard to take it in?

Mark 8:18 'You have eyes—can't you see? You have ears—can't you hear?' Don't you remember anything at all?

Mark 8:19 When I fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread, how many baskets of leftovers did you pick up afterward?" "Twelve," they said.

Mark 8:20 "And when I fed the 4,000 with seven loaves, how many large baskets of leftovers did you pick up?" "Seven," they said.

Mark 8:21 "Don't you understand yet?" He asked them.

INTRODUCTION

This is good news, and look at what it says. It says, "The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, "except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. "'Be careful,' Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees "'and that of Herod.'

"And they discussed this with one another and said, "'Is it because we have no bread?'

Being aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them, "'Why are you talking about having no bread?'"

How many know when Jesus asks a question, it is not for Him? It's for you. "He says, 'Why are you talking about having no bread? "'Do you still not see or understand? "'Are your hearts hardened? "'Do you have eyes, but fail to see, "'and ears, but fail to hear? "

'And don't you remember when I broke the five loaves "'for the 5,000, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?' "'Twelve,' they replied.

"'And when I broke the seven loaves for the 4,000, "'how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?' "They answered, 'Seven.'

"He said to them, "Do you still not understand?'

Don't forget to remember. Is it just me or does it feel like 2020 was never gone to end.

This has been the year that has changed the world. I mean, come on, every year has its challenges. Every year has its defining moments. Every year has its problems, but not every year has such a shift in the atmosphere, such a shift where you are left with more questions than you have answers, more complexity than you have clarity.

And all of us are having to learn the art of adaptability. And if you're like me now 2020 has passed and 2021 is here I have been having some very intense prayer with God, complaining.

And I said, hold on, God, 2020 was crazy and 2021 not starting out to good!

What I have found out that when we pray to God if we will open our spiritual ears,He will speak to us. I believe when we open up to hear Him then it might be something like this:

Don't forget to remember "you prayed for this. And most of you will say hold up, wait a minute, No, I did not pray for any of this.

God saying, Oh no, you did said, "Don't forget to remember, "You're the one that said 'I want you to change my life. ' "You're the one that said, "'Lord, whatever it takes for me to go deeper this year, "'I will go deeper.'

"You're the one that said, "'Lord, I want more of you.'"

I believe God wants to know if you're desperate enough this year to have change in your life, that you'll seek Him out.

That you'll chase after him. That you'll say, "God, I don't care what it takes, "for me to get more of you this year, "I'm gonna knock 'til the door is open."

"I'm gonna seek until I find, "I'm gonna chase until I get you. "I know you've got something for me. "I know there's clarity for this situation, "and I will keep seeking it you until I get it."

Don't stop. This is your year to say, "God , whatever it takes "for me to get more, I'm gonna do it. "Whatever it takes for me to get a deeper understanding, "I am tired of having a shallow relationship. "This is my year to get more."

Whatever it takes for me to get more, I want more, oh, Lord, but we are saying I didn't want this right here.

But isn't it interesting, hear all of us , the disconnect between what we want God to do in our lives and what it's gonna take for that to happen?

Isn't it funny how we wanna be changed, but we don't want to be challenged? We say, "God, I wanna go deeper, "but I don't want to be disrupted,"

But God will disrupt you. He will do whatever it takes to make you become who He has called and created you to be.

I'm telling you, you serve a God that will disrupt you. He will disturb you. He knows how to do it. He always did it.

And that's what's happening in my text today. Jesus is on a boat with His disciples. He's fed 4,000 people. He's on the boat with His disciples and the disciples come on the boat and say, "Lord, we forgot to bring bread."

And Jesus looks at them and goes, "Be careful." They're like,what? "Be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod."

The disciples are like, Jesus, I'm on the boat, but you and us and the loaf of bread, Pharisees, Herod's not on the boat, "Be careful of the yeast of Pharisees and of Herod."

When they're talking about the loaf of bread, Jesus is like, I am not talking about their bread. Can you not see and understand that you are on the boat with the Bread?

Like you got a loaf of bread, but you're looking at bread. And bread said, "Be careful of

the yeast "of the Pharisees and of Herod."

What is yeast? Yeast is a fungi, and if you put it in the dough, it, just a little bit of yeast, it will affect and contaminate all of the bread.

The yeast is a metaphor for unbelief. It's a metaphor for pride, it's a metaphor for sin. Jesus said just a little bit of that can contaminate the bread.

Jesus is saying, "Be careful of the yeast of the Pharisees," religion, "and Herod," politics.

He said, don't start mixing that fungi in me, the bread, because I am the only one that can transform your soul.

I'm the only one that can change your life. So don't start mixing things in the purity of the bread. Oh, it's crazy how the Bible is for today.

And they still got confused. They were like, wait a minute. Oh, see, you should've brought more bread.

They started saying “That's what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is like, no, I'm not talking about this bread not that loaf of bread, but since you wanna talk about that loaf of bread, okay, let's go deeper and talk about that loaf of bread.

You're worried about one piece of bread, and there 12 of you on the boat?

He said, "When we fed 5,000, how many loaves did you have?" Five. "How many did you take up?" 12 baskets full, okay.

He said, "When we fed the 4,000, "how many loaves did you have?" Seven. "How did you take up?" We took up a lot more after that.

Okay, I think we're good, if we only got one because I'm on the boat with you, it's gonna be all right.

The disciples completely forgotten!

The feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000, it should speak to us today because it lets us know that God did that miraculous work once, and then he turned around a few months later and he did it again.

Oh, that's good news for somebody today, that if God did something miraculous once, how many of you know He has the power to do it again?

That if God healed you once, He can heal you again? That if God opened up a door once, He can open up a door again?

He can do it again. Oh, come on, please understand that God has taken us through pandemic before and He will do it again!

Some of you need to rehearse the history of all the things that God has brought you from and all the things that He's done.

And it is your history with God that should give you strength and faith for what you're facing right now, because if He did it once, He can do it again.

Oh, look at the God that we serve. This miracle of feeding the multitudes, I think it has to be looked at, not only because He did it twice.

But because it is an every single gospel. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all of them talk about the feeding of the multitude.

All of them talk about it. This is the only miracle that is mentioned in four gospel besides the resurrection. That means it's important.

It also means that Jesus is not just concerned with your soul. He's also concerned with your need.

What a wonderful thing to know, that Jesus is not just concerned with the condition of my soul, but He's also concerned about my circumstance, what you're facing, what you're going through, you need to know that Jesus is concerned about it.

I think we need to know this: If it matters to you, it matters more to God!

Because He is concerned about the condition of your soul. But He's also concerned about your circumstance.

Jesus is concerned about the bills you're trying to figure out how I'm gonna pay, He's concerned about your anxiety and your depression, He cares about your soul. And He cares about your need.

Look at Jesus, who has the power to captivate thousands of people. Think about this thousands of people forgot to eat, Jesus was preaching so good.

And you know you're preaching good when people forget to eat. Okay, that's the litmus test for good preaching.

Let me just listen to you. But even while he's preaching, he realized, they need to eat, they're hungry.

That is a message that God cares. Not only is it a message that God cares, it is a mandate to the church that we must reflect the character of Jesus.

I want us to look at these two miraculous moments in the life of Jesus so we can understand what we need to remember.

First thing I noticed that happened in both miracles is that there was a lot of people, so there was a problem. It says, 5,000, 4,000, but that's not counting the women and children.

It's possibly 15 or 20,000 people, a lot of people and a problem. 'Cause how many of you know, if you got people, you gonna have some problems?

Don't forget to remember that we are called people. That means we are called to problems.

There was a lotta people and there were problems, you cannot separate problems from people. They go together.

So could you even think about feeding 20,000 without a notice.

But In the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus was moved with compassion because He saw them

as sheep without a shepherd.

In the feeding of the 4,000, He says to His disciples, "I have compassion on these people." It's one of the only times in the Bible that Jesus verbally says, "I have compassion."

So in one moment, the compassion calls Him to move His life, the next moment, the compassion calls Him to move his lips and say it.

But how many know if you have compassion, you must take action? God is calling you to do something. In fact, compassion is when care and action collide.

That's when you see compassion and in both these miracles, compassion was the push for the miracle.

How many of you know we have gotta be a people that have compassion, that have care, but we also take action?

I find it very interesting that in both miracles, the disciples were asking the wrong questions.

You see, Worry is often the byproduct of asking the wrong questions. They looked out, and they said, "How can we get enough money "to buy bread for all these people?

They looked out and said, "How can we even find bread "in this desolate place?" Wrong questions.

And worry is the byproduct of asking the wrong questions.

Look at this:

Matt 6:31 "So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?'

Matt 6:32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

Matt 6:33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.

Matt 6:34 "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.

I wonder if the reason you are worried is 'cause you're asking the wrong questions.

You know the What if ?

I'm not saying don't have wisdom, but worry is often the byproduct of asking the wrong questions.

And in both feedings, they asked the wrong questions. But Jesus gave a better question.

Here's the question Jesus asked in both of the miracles.

Mark 6:38 "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." (This was the 5000)

Mark 8:5 Jesus asked, "How much bread do you have?" "Seven loaves," they replied. (This was the 4000)

Jesus said, "How many loaves do you have?" That's a good question.

Do you know the power of that question? That means stop worrying and focusing on what you do not have.

I seen this quote on a picture on one of our vacation and I take a picture of it.

It’s not having what you want; It’s wanting what you have.

How about you focus on what you do have at your disposal?

What has God given you? When you say, "How many loaves do you have," that doesn't lead to worry, that leads to work.

That makes me go, where am I gonna find what God has put on the inside of me?

Jesus wouldn't be asking for loaves if the loaves weren't somewhere. How many loaves do you have?

That means you have to do inventory as to what God has given you.

Don't let the enemy make you focus on what you've lost. Look at how many loaves you have left.

You might've lost your job, but you still have your mind. You still have your body, you still have your creativity, and you're still here.

How many loaves do you have?

But this is what I want you to notice that Jesus never asked for the fish only the loaves.

Read it when you get home, he never asked for fish. He never, in both miracles, never asked for fish. He only asked for loaves.

It was in the process of looking for the loaves that they found that they had some fish, too.

It was in the process of taking inventory on what God had given them that they found we've got something extra.

I'm telling you if you'll stop complaining about what you don't have and start giving God thanks and be grateful for what you do have, you're gonna find some fish.

The fish was extra!

Now listen to this: It was too little in their hands. In both of the miracles, in their hands, it wasn't enough. And isn't that what all of us feel like? Or am I the only one?

You ever looked at the demand in front of you and looked at what was in your hands, and just had this feeling of it's not enough.

I'm not enough to be the husband I've been called to be. I'm not enough to be the mom I'm supposed to be. I'm not enough to be the leader or the business person I was supposed to be in.

I found that even successful people have these thoughts going on “it's not enough.” What are you doing that's not enough? Can I tell you, it will never be enough.

You will never be enough as long as it's in your hands, but God is calling you to take what is not enough, and to put it in His hands.

And once you get it out of your hands, then miracles can happen. But as long as it's in your hands, it will never be enough.

It'll never be enough in your hands, because in your hands, you're trying to control it. And if 2020 has not taught you anything, it should have taught us to put it in His hands.

One more thing:

Mark 6:41 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.

Jesus took it and he blessed it and he broke it and then gave it right back to them.

Interesting that the miracle and the multiplication didn't happen in Jesus' hands. It couldn't have, 'cause that didn't take faith.

If it started multiplying in His hands, they'd be like, oh, we're good, we're good. Yeah, give it to me.

No, Jesus just blessed, broke it, said, "There you go. "Now pass it out.

So that means multiplication in both miracles happened through interaction.

Let think about it: This is the most inefficient miracle ever. You got thousands of people, you got 12 guys handing out to thousands of people.

Jesus, you got all the power. You could've just blinked and snapped your fingers, and everybody would've been full. You could've created like a portable McDonald or The Barn and everyone could have been full.

Why in the world are 12 guys passing out bread to possibly 15,000 to 20,000 people? How long is this miracle taking? It doesn't matter how long it takes.

Cause the multiplication happened in the interaction. Can you see them passing, and

nervous because it's not multiplying yet, but they're passing and trying to keep it cool

and have conversations like, "Hey, how you doing? "Yeah, take a piece, no, not that big a piece. "

You got multiplication happen through the interaction. They passed it out, and before you know it, they had leftovers, they had leftovers.

Here's my issue with the disciples. Jesus did this miracle twice. The feeding of the 5,000, I'll give them a pass. But months later, you're in the same setting and you don't notice the need, and then you are worried again.

Why in the world are you stressing? You already forgot? How many know, We're just like them? God has come through for you time and time again.

But sometimes we forget the goodness and the faithfulness of God. We forget.