Ashe Alliance Church
Sunday Service 02.15.26
      • Bible Trivia
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  • Who Is Like the Lord (Psalm 113)
  • O Worship The King
  • In Christ Alone
  • More Like Jesus

  • Main Idea

    The Shepherd who calls us to trust Him is the same Shepherd who abundantly provides for us.
    There are moments in life when the need in front of you feels far greater than what you have in your hands. You have a hurting friend, but have no words to say… a drifting child with no help to give… a strained marriage with no wisdom to dispense. Or maybe you see a world that seems fractured beyond repair. And if you’re honest, your first instinct isn’t confidence—it’s insufficiency. I don’t have enough. I’m not equipped. Someone else should handle this. The need feels massive. Your resources feel microscopic.
    But what if the issue isn’t whether you have enough? What if the real question is what you will do with what you have? In Mark 6, thousands sit hungry in a desolate place. The disciples see impossibility. Jesus sees an opportunity… not because they were sufficient—but because He is. Sometimes God allows the need before us to exceed our resources, forcing us to discover the sufficiency of the Shepherd.

    Passage

    Mark 6:30–44 CSB
    30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. 31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. 32 So they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place, 33 but many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things. 35 When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, “This place is deserted, and it is already late. 36 Send them away so that they can go into the surrounding countryside and villages to buy themselves something to eat.” 37 “You give them something to eat,” he responded. They said to him, “Should we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?” 38 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 Everyone ate and was satisfied. 43 They picked up twelve baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. 44 Now those who had eaten the loaves were five thousand men.

    I - Rest vv.30-31

    Mission report - After a brief pause in the narrative of Jesus and His disciples, Mark now returns to it. The disciples return from their first missionary journey, breathless with excitement. Sent out two by two with nothing but staff and sandals, they now gather around Jesus like children reporting to their father. "Look what God did through us! You should have seen the demons flee! The sick were healed!" This wasn't merely a debriefing—it was a celebration of God's faithfulness.
    Consolidated crowds - However, they were not alone. Evidently, their witness and deeds were so impressive that crowds from all around had followed them back to their huddle. The crowds were amassing so quickly that the poor men didn’t even have time to eat!
    The command to rest - Later, Mark describes Jesus's compassion for the crowds, but right now we see His compassion for His disciples. Seeing the crowd, Jesus took the men to a remote place and commanded them to rest. Jesus, the one who had ordained the Sabbath rhythm at creation, now models pastoral care for His under-shepherds. This was a mercy. The disciples had just finished a regional tour, traveling in complete trust, taking only essentials and relying on the generosity of the townspeople for food and shelter. That had to have been an exhausting experience, and Jesus knows because He has been there Himself.
    Here's the profound truth: The same Christ who commands us to "go and make disciples" also commands us to "come and rest for a while." Both imperatives flow from His sovereign love. He knows that fruitful ministry requires not just passionate hearts, but restored souls. Don’t conflate exhaustion with effectiveness.

    II - The Human Need vv. 32-34

    Remote wilderness - Jesus brought His disciples to a remote place. The word used here describes a desolate wilderness. As we have seen before, Scripture often portrays the wilderness as a testing ground where God reveals both human weakness and divine sufficiency, and this is no exception. The disciples are about to face an exam they never saw coming.
    The crowds flocked – But their retreat was short-lived. Mark tells us that Jesus and the disciples got into a boat to go to a remote place. As Jesus and the Twelve sailed across the water, something remarkable happened: since the growing crowd could not get in boats, the crowds from every surrounding town began running along the shoreline. Matthew tells us there were 5,000 men "besides women and children"… so this could have been upwards of 15,000 people or more, all sprinting to reach Jesus first. Picture it: a massive human stampede following Jesus and the disciples in a desperate pursuit for more.
    Compassion, not anger - During their mission report, the crowd wouldn’t even let them eat, and now they sprinted ahead of them so that the mass of people would be there when the boat landed. I think any of us would be annoyed at best by the relentless pursuit. These men were tired, drained, and hungry. When Jesus stepped ashore and saw this massive crowd, what was His response? Frustration at His interrupted rest? Annoyance at their presumption? No—He had compassion on them. The Greek word here describes a deep, gut-wrenching empathy that moves one to action. This is the heart of our Savior: never too tired to care, never too busy to shepherd. Jesus’ model and numerous scriptural verses encourage us not to grow weary of doing good.
    Shepherd-less sheep – Why such compassion? Because Jesus saw them as "sheep without a shepherd." Sheep are perhaps the most vulnerable creatures in God's creation—defenseless, directionless, and utterly dependent. These Jewish people had religious leaders, yes, but not true shepherds. The Pharisees were hirelings who cared more about their own power than their people's souls. The fact that they were going to such extreme lengths to remain with Jesus and His empowered delegation shows the depths of their need, and Jesus sees that. They may not even know what that need really is… they might come for the show of miracles, but Jesus understands how lost they are, and that is the entire reason He came… was to seek and save the lost.
    The God who provides and the Better Moses – But here stands the One prophesied in Ezekiel 34:11: "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.'" He is the Shepherd of Ps. 23 as He will go on to describe Himself in John 10 as the Good Shepherd. Jesus is showing them that He is Yahweh incarnate, fulfilling His ancient promise to shepherd His people personally.
    In the past, God has done this through intermediaries such as Moses. In fact, this moment will show the people that not only is Jesus God, but He is also the greater Moses… the very one Moses said would come. Think about it. God freed His people from slavery in Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. He shepherded His flock through the leadership of Moses and fed them with Heaven’s bread. In their camp, Moses would organize the people into groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens and shepherd them through delegated leaders. And when Moses died, he passed the leadership torch to Joshua (Yehoshua in Hebrew), later known as Yeshua—the very name of Jesus. The symbolism is clear. Jesus is the new and better Moses who will lead them into a new and better covenant, and as Yahweh, He will guide and provide for them.
    Notice what Jesus does first: "He began to teach them many things." Before addressing their physical hunger, He feeds their souls. This is the priority of the Good Shepherd—spiritual nourishment comes first. As Moses said, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deut. 8:3). Jesus is that Word made flesh and the Bread of Life.

    III - Man’s Plans vv. 35-36

    Time to wrap it up. Jesus had taught all day. It was now getting late, the sun was setting, and everyone was tired and hungry. I’m sure they were as eager to eat as the Baptists are when the sermon goes past 12:01. Time to shut this thing down and get to the Golden Corral buffet before the Methodists or Prebys! Joking aside, though… the disciples approached Jesus with what seemed like perfectly reasonable advice: "This place is deserted, and it's getting late. Send them away so they can buy food in the surrounding villages." Their logic was flawless. Their compassion was genuine. Their solution was practical. There was only one problem: they were thinking like humans, not like disciples of the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. They were telling Jesus what to do, not asking Him what to do.
    Can anyone relate to having God turn your plans upside down? How often do our "reasonable" plans become barriers to experiencing God's supernatural provision? When we rush to solve problems with human wisdom, we may very well miss divine opportunities.

    IV - God’s Plan v. 37

    You give them food— Four words that shattered their practical planning.  See these 5,000 men and their families… You give them something to eat. How crazy is that?! Lest we skim over this request and think about it from our modern-day perspective. How many of you have made Thanksgiving dinner for extended family or planned a church potluck? Even with advanced planning and grocery shopping, you still worry about having enough food, right? And that’s for what… 25 people during the holidays or 100 people at church? Let’s roll with the potluck example. How would you feel if you stepped outside the front door of your church and saw 500 people instead of the 100 you were expecting? Would your stomach drop into your shoes? Then what if you looked down the road and saw it full of people walking toward your church, empty plates in hand? Would you start looking for an exit strategy? Ashe County has roughly 25,000 residents. The crowd that Jesus told 12 people to feed could have easily been over half of our county’s population.
    Hopefully, you can now begin to grasp how impossible this task truly was. They had just returned from a trip where they weren’t even allowed to carry road snacks, for heaven’s sake! They had no means to feed this many people, yet Jesus was showing them that fulfilling an impossible task requires radical trust. But this isn’t anything new, right? This is classic Jesus—giving impossible commands to demonstrate supernatural power. He had done it before:
    •       Trust in the storm.
    •       Acting in faith to heal a 12-year-long medical issue.
    •       Belief that a dead daughter can be raised.
    •       Going to preach without additional supplies or provisions.
    Now He commands His disciples to feed a multitude with empty hands. Where on earth will we get help for these impossible tasks?
    The disciples' response reveals their human limitation: "Should we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread?" Two hundred denarii was roughly eight months' wages (1 denarii = 1 day’s wage) —money they didn't have for a solution that wouldn't work anyway. When we face impossible situations, our first instinct is to calculate human resources. And while Jesus tells us to do so in general (a builder should calculate and ensure he can finish the project), here, Jesus wants the disciples to trust in divine resources.
    Our safety, food, shelter, health, and life are all in God's hands, and Jesus puts His disciples in hopeless situations regarding these necessities to show that He will still provide, because our great God is our Good Shepherd who will lovingly give us all that we need.
    As the Psalmist asks and declares, I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth… The same God who spoke galaxies into existence can certainly multiply bread and fish. The question is: Will we trust Him when He asks us to step beyond our resources and into His sufficiency?

    V - God’s Provision vv. 38-44

    The Shepherd of Psalm 23 is providing for His flock.
    1. Jesus - the Lord and agent of creation- is their Shepherd who sits them down in green pastures. His teaching was living water.
    2. Jesus organized the people in the green grass as the Hebrews were in Moses’ time… in groups of hundreds and fifties and had His delegated leaders tend to their needs.
    3. He prepares a table of feasting in the presence of the enemy. The wilderness is a place of testing because that is where the enemy does his work. Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, and that is where unclean spirits roam when they are cast out. Here, in a desolate place, Jesus feeds the lost sheep of Israel as the Father did for the wandering Hebrews in their wilderness experience.
    4. Goodness and mercy have pursued them. Jesus’ compassion and love had sought them out.
    I want you to see Jesus as this passage of scripture reveals Him to be:
    •  Jesus is Lord and is shown by contrast to Herod, who was a wannabe king who took from the people, held a banquet to please himself, and even sacrificed John’s life so he could be on top. But here, Jesus… the King of kings… holds a precious, intimate banquet for His people, demonstrating that He is willing to give of Himself and make sacrifices for the benefit of the flock.
    •  Jesus is the Greater Moses who cares for His people in the wilderness
    •  Jesus is the Great I AM and Good Shepherd who tends and cares for His own.
    There is so much symbolism here that we can miss if we aren’t careful. Jesus is the source of the ultimate fulfillment of every need we could possibly have. This is the God you serve. Don’t think for a second that this level of care and provision stops at the end of this story. This is a truth for you to embrace today. Jesus loves, cares, and will provide for your every need today, just as He did 2,000 years ago!
    Jesus blessed and miraculously divided. For the banquet meal, Jesus sent the disciples to look for food, and they returned with a child’s 1st-century lunchable. It was 5 small barley loaves (the food of the poor) and two fish (likely salted or pickled). He took this drop in the ocean, looked upward to His heavenly Father, and, as our familial head, He blessed it and broke the bread… a beautiful picture of the Bread of Life, giving physical bread to His flock. God doesn't need anything from us, but He wants what we have. That little lunch became a feast for thousands because it was placed in the Master's hands. What little do you have that you're hesitant to offer Christ because it seems so inadequate?
    The disciples distributed. Notice the division of labor: Jesus multiplied, the disciples distributed. They became channels of His supernatural provision, foreshadowing their future role as apostles carrying the gospel to the world. Christ still works this way—He provides the power, we provide the distribution. He supplies the grace, we share the good news.
    Abundance - And Jesus doesn’t just provide the bare minimum. Before, He sent His disciples with the bare minimum so they could learn radical trust. Now, however, Jesus demonstrates the abundance of His provision. Every person was satisfied, and 12 baskets were left over. There is much speculation about the numbers in this passage. What do the 5 loaves represent, or the 2 fish? What about the 12 baskets? I think we can easily get caught up in seeing things that aren’t there, but I do believe there is significance to the number 12. That number usually signifies completion and wholeness. There were 12 tribes of Israel, and there are 12 disciples, for example… and the details of the temple in Revelation come in 12 or multiples of 12, showing a full completion of God’s plan and people. Jesus may be alluding to the completeness of His provision for His people. That is absolutely possible, but I think there is a more practical answer. There were 12 baskets left over because the crowd was fed, not necessarily the disciples. The symbolism of 12 could be at play, but I also think Jesus supernaturally provided dinner for His disciples, 1 basket for each person who thought they had nothing to give.
    This is how our God provides: not grudgingly, not barely, but abundantly. As Paul would later write, He "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Eph. 3:20). When God meets our needs, He doesn't just meet them—He exceeds them.

    🔥 Application:

    What does this miracle mean for us today? Let’s circle back to three vital truths:
    First, Christ calls us to rhythms of service and rest. You cannot serve effectively from an empty tank. If you're burning out for Jesus, you're not honoring Jesus. Build Sabbath rest into your life—it's not selfish, it's biblical.
    Second, when God gives impossible commands, He provides supernatural power. Maybe you're facing something today that seems utterly beyond your resources. Remember: the same Christ who multiplied loaves can multiply your faithfulness, your strength, your hope. Trust His heart when you can't see His hands.
    Third, God uses our small offerings for His great purposes. You may feel like all you have to offer is a child's lunch—inadequate and insignificant. But placed in the Master's hands, the smallest gift becomes part of His mighty work.
    The question for us today is simple: Will you radically trust the Good Shepherd? Will you rest in His care when you're weary? Will you obey His commands when they seem impossible? Will you offer Him what little you have and watch Him multiply it for His glory?
    He who fed five thousand with five loaves is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is still your Good Shepherd. He still has compassion for His sheep. And He still provides abundantly for all who trust Him.

      • Mark 6:30–44CSB

      • Psalm 23CSB

  • Ancient Of Days
  • Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (Old 100th)
      • Bible Trivia
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Ashe Alliance Church
nroten@ashealliance.org
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http://www.ashealliance.org
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