Jesus miraculously feeds 4,000 people. Why? What does it mean that this story is in the Bible? Listen in as Thomas Terry delivers insights to this passage.
Transcript
Welcome to this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. We hope this message inspires you, roots you down deep into the Lord, into His Word, and may His Spirit be your guide as you enjoy this teaching. Thanks for joining us. Here’s the message. I want to invite you to tap or turn your way to Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 8. In those days when again a great crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away. And his disciples answered him, how can one feed these people with bread here in this
desolate place?
And he asked them, how many loaves do you have? They said seven. And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and having given thanks, he broke them and he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. And they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about 4,000 people. And he sent them away
— Mark 8
(ESV)
. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. Dear Trinity Church, this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Well, our text this morning brings us to the end of this kind of seven to eight month ministry
mission in the Gentile region of the Decapolis. If you remember, it was only shortly after Jesus’ confrontation with the scribes and Pharisees over the issue of religious tradition where Jesus left the Jewish region and made his way into the Gentile region. When he arrived in the Gentile region, he was first approached by the Syrophoenician woman who begged him to exorcise the demon that was possessing his daughter. And Jesus, seeing her great faith, her persistent faith, had compassion and exorcised the demon. Immediately following that encounter, large crowds approached Jesus, bringing their most broken and vulnerable people, throwing people at the feet of Jesus, begging Jesus, would you heal? And last week, Mark actually pulled our focus on one of those specific healing events where Jesus demonstrated positive pity on this mute and deaf man. Jesus pulls him away privately and condescends to this man’s impediments and then finally
The People
restores his healing in speech. All of these things happened in this Gentile region. And this morning, in this particular narrative, we come to the close of that Gentile mission. And again, to help us along, I’ve broken our passage into five scenes. We’ll look at the people, the pity, the problem, the provision, and the plenty. So there’s the alliteration. I’ve been using these alliterative points lately. Let’s begin in verse one with the people. In those days, when again, a great crowd had gathered and they had nothing to eat, well, the first thing we need to understand is that this crowd of people in this morning’s text is the same group of people from last week, only the crowds have become significantly greater. Now, the crowd is about 4,000 people. And we don’t know everything that happened in this encounter with Jesus in the crowd.
We know a few things, that he was healing people. It’s highly likely that he was also teaching people because that was Jesus’ primary ministry focus, to preach and to teach. But what we do know for sure is that the crowd was completely captivated by Jesus. In fact, they’re so captivated that the crowd, we’ll see later on in the text, was there for three whole days. The people of the crowd were interested and intrigued by Jesus, not just because of what he did, in terms of the miraculous healings, but because of what he said. Jesus was, for this Gentile audience, somewhat of an anomaly. Here you have this young Jewish rabbi who is now mixing it up with these unclean Gentiles in this unclean region, but he’s actually engaging with them. He’s taking time to talk with them. He gets alone with them. He expresses pity.
He expresses dignity. He’s touching them. He’s teaching them, and he’s healing them. And you see, the heart of Jesus here would have been confusing to this Gentile audience. Now, you can know definitively that it’s the same crowd of Gentile people in the same Gentile region because Mark, again, in the first verse, helps to frame the context. He frames the context with this phrase, in those days. In this phrase, it’s meant to connect the passage this morning to Jesus’ healing ministry that we talked about last week. If you remember in Matthew’s account of what happened last week, it said that he went up on the mountain and sat down there, and great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them. So this narrative this morning picks up, in those days of healing, all the great crowds
of people that were being thrown at Jesus’ feet. And the crowd, because of the consistent and miraculous healing, blows up. It expands to 4,000 people. But not only does Mark frame the context in this first verse, Mark also gives us some text cues to draw our attention backwards to a previous and similar narrative that will ultimately help us understand this specific narrative. And Mark does that by using the phrase, when again, a great crowd gathered and had nothing to eat. See, this phrase is Mark’s way of pointing us back to a previous event in Mark’s gospel when another great crowd had gathered and had nothing to eat. And if you remember, we actually unpacked that narrative back in Mark chapter 6 with the feeding of 5,000 people. Now Mark does this because in order for you to fully grasp what’s going on in this feeding
miracle, you have to understand what happened in the previous feeding miracle. Because the two, in many ways, are connected. And just to be clear, because some people will look at this feeding of the 4,000 people, and because of its similarities, draw the conclusion that perhaps Mark made a mistake, that he just rewrote what he saw previously. Or they might draw the conclusion that Mark is just simply telling the same story from a different vantage point. But listen, that’s not the case. This is a totally different feeding miracle. Yes, there are a lot of similarities. For example, both narratives have large crowds of people that have gathered around Jesus. Both narratives, Jesus demonstrates compassion on the crowd. Both narratives have to do with food and hunger. Both narratives, Jesus asks how many resources are readily available. In both narratives, Jesus gives directions to the crowd. He blesses the food in both narratives.
And finally, both narratives end with the crowd eating and satisfied. So there is a lot of similarities. And on the surface, it seems like Mark is simply repeating the exact same story. But he’s not. These narratives have unique differences. And those distinctives are accentuated by the subtle differences. One of the most glaring differences is with the people who are present here. And just so it doesn’t become confusing, I’ll be referring to the first feeding miracle as the 5,000 and our miracle this morning as the 4,000. Otherwise, we’re going to get lost. I get lost. So in the miracle of the 5,000 in Mark chapter 6, Jesus was in a Jewish region with Jewish people. He was with God’s chosen people. In that narrative, Jesus had compassion on the Jewish people because they were, in Jesus’ words, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus had pity on this Jewish crowd because their spiritual needs were not being met by
The Pity
the Jewish religious leaders. Well, here in the miracle of the 4,000, Jesus is among Gentiles. This young Jewish rabbi is among a pagan, irreligious, and unclean people. You have to remember, this would be considered totally unheard of. But Jesus, again, has compassion on the crowd. But not because he views these people as sheep without a shepherd. Remember they’re Gentiles. They don’t have religious leaders. And for many of these people, Jesus was their only vantage point of a shepherd. Here Jesus has pity on the crowd for something entirely different. And we see what that looks like in the second half of verse 1 through 3 with the pity. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the crowd. Because they’ve been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on their way.
And some of them have come from far away. Now you have to remember with the miracle of the 5,000, Jesus had been ministering to these people late into the evening. The disciples were exhausted. They were at their bandwidth. And so they go to Jesus in a panic and they say to Jesus, you’ve got to send these people home. We’re done. We’re tired. We’re hungry. They’re hungry. Just send them home or tell them to go someplace else and buy food because we’re done. But Jesus says to these disciples, no, you give them something to eat. And so with that particular feeding miracle, it was initiated largely by the disciples and their exhaustion, not Jesus. But this time, it’s Jesus who initiates. Jesus is the one who summons his disciples to him and says this most profound statement. He says, I have compassion on the crowd. Now this is the only time in the New Testament where Jesus says in the first person, I have
compassion. Everywhere else in scripture, the compassion of Jesus is referenced by the testimony of someone else. It’s always he had compassion or Jesus had compassion. But here, it’s quite clear. Jesus says to his disciples, I have compassion. I care about these people. I’m deeply concerned about this crowd. And the word compassion here is to feel deep emotional pity for people. It’s the kind of emotion that makes you feel something physically, to feel something emotionally so much that you physically feel it. It’s the same kind of experience one would experience with their first heartbreak. You know, in fact, why people call it a heartbreak, because it actually feels like your heart is being ripped in two. There’s something physical going on here. Well Jesus feels this kind of feeling for the crowd. Now why does he feel this emotional and physical way towards the crowd? Well it’s because these people have been with Jesus now for three whole days.
These people were needy and desperate. These people were captivated by Jesus with both his miracles and his words. And so they went without food so as to not miss anything that Jesus had to offer these people. See, what lied underneath them continuing to go without food was their needs and their desires for Jesus were so great. Not just physical healings, but also his teaching. They were willing to go without food because they see Jesus as so much more important than food. And in a culture where food would typically be the life source for people, this crowd sees Jesus and his words as a greater life source. So they’re caught up. The miraculous works, the magnetic words of Jesus. They’re so captivated they can’t even think about food. It’s not even on their radar. See, Jesus sees their deep need. He feels deep pity for them.
And it’s interesting that Jesus has pity on what could eventually happen to these people. Remember they’re not thinking about food, but Jesus has compassion because of what might happen if they leave, that they might faint on their way home. He knows that the moment he sends them away, as they begin this difficult trek back home that the people might pass out, they won’t have enough strength to carry themselves all the way back home because they’re malnourished. They don’t have sufficient food to give them energy. And it’s here where we see two very important realities for the Christian, for the child of God. First, is that Jesus has comprehensive compassion for his people. Yes, Jesus cares deeply about our spiritual needs. He cares so deeply about our spiritual needs that he took on human flesh, that he made his way to the cross and died for our sins to fix what was spiritually broken about us.
He cares deeply about that, but he also cares deeply about our physical needs. And it’s so very important for you to hear that. Because oftentimes we put aside the importance of meeting physical needs. What’s very trendy now among theologically conservative people is to place an emphasis only on the spiritual needs of people, as if our needs are only spiritual. But God has made us physical beings who have physical needs as well. And this spiritual needs only motif that is so pervasive in our Christian culture right now. It’s so bad that if we place an emphasis on meeting the physical needs of people, then we fall into some category of like the social gospel. As if we’re somehow adding to or taking away from the gospel for meeting people’s physical needs. And this is a big problem. Because if you look at the example of our Lord Jesus here, he is deeply persuaded.
He deeply cares for the physical needs of these people. And for that reason, brothers and sisters, we can rejoice. Because this means that God cares for your physical needs. This is why we take our physical needs to Jesus in prayer. Not because, you know, he listens to our prayers. That’s great. And not just because he cares about them, but because he answers them. Jesus himself models for us how to pray. He tells us to ask God to give us our daily bread. That means to provide for our physical needs, our earthly needs. And secondly, what should encourage you this morning is that there is no differing degree when it comes to his care for us. The hunger of this crowd is no small issue for this powerful and personal God. Which means that your personal issues are not too small for our powerful and personal
God. You see, the humanity of Jesus understands your earthly needs, your needs like hunger. He knows what it’s like to feel the effects of hunger, so he can empathize with our needs. This is an amazing picture that we get here of the comprehensive compassion of Jesus. I mean, how would it benefit these people if Jesus simply sent them home after meeting their spiritual needs, only to have them collapse on their way home? Our God is not a stingy God who would say to us, you know, I’ve provided for your spiritual needs, you should be okay with just that. You know, your physical needs are inconsequential, I already gave you what you needed spiritually, why are you bothering me with these insignificant needs? That’s not the kind of God that we serve. He is a compassionate God. Listen, like a good father who cares for children, he deeply cares about our physical needs.
He cares about the physical needs and the physical things that we are wrestling with. Psalm 103, 13 says, as a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. Matthew 6, 25 through 27 says, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body not more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap, nor gather in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more, are you not of more value than they? You see, the point here is that God meets the needs of even the birds. Why would he not meet your needs as a child of God? You need to remember this compassion of God.
He cares about you. He cares about your loneliness. He cares about your fight with depression. He cares about your anxiety. He cares about your struggles with finances. He cares that you don’t have a job, that you’re looking for work. He cares about your physical and mental health. We oftentimes as Christians segment our spiritual lives and our physical lives, but Jesus cares about them both. He holds them in tandem with great compassion, because Jesus has pity on these people who are from far away. And that’s a very interesting statement, because it means more than just geographically far. Though it’s true, they likely do live very far away, it’s also acute to the fact that this crowd is a Gentile crowd. When Jesus uses the words from far away, it’s a reference to Gentile people who would be considered far away from God by Jews. He has compassion on these people who in every way would be far from Jewish privilege, far
from the religious structures of the Jews, far from understanding the Torah. And not only that, but they would be completely ostracized and passed over by the Jewish community, those entrusted with the Torah. We talked about this a few weeks ago, that salvation is for all people, for the Jew first, but also for the Gentile. Jesus has compassion on these Gentiles who are so captivated by Jesus, so in awe of Jesus that they’re willing to forego food to find fullness in Jesus. And what a stark contrast with these Jewish religious leaders who would have been considered the ones close to God. They’re actually far from God. They’re suspicious of Jesus. They’re critical of Jesus, and ultimately they kill Jesus. But Jesus cares for those far away people. In fact, this narrative underscores the reality that the gospel goes beyond Israel and the Jews and is inclusive to the Gentiles, and this is us, we’re Gentiles.
We were once far from God, far away from God, but he drew near to us. He gave us new hearts that enabled for us to draw near to him. He cares for far away people. And Jesus’s desire for his disciples is to share that same sympathy and compassion for people, including the Gentile people, those considered far from God. He wants his disciples to know that teaching is not enough. Praying is not enough. The disciples need to understand that care for people is comprehensive. Yes, we should make the spiritual needs of people the priority. It would be no good for us to provide physically for people and meet their needs, only to send them away and have them break down because they don’t have their spiritual needs met. But that doesn’t mean that we make no priority for meeting physical needs. We should, because Jesus did.
The Problem
So Jesus cares about their physical needs, but the disciples believe that meeting those physical needs is going to be a massive problem, and we see that in verses four through six. And his disciples answered him, how can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place? And he, that is Jesus, asked them, how many loaves do you have? They said seven. And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. See, Jesus has every intention to meet the physical needs of these people, but when he begins to address the issue, when he summons the disciples to him, the disciples see this situation as problematic. It’s impossible. You see where we are, Jesus? We’re in the middle of nowhere. For the disciples, feeding these 4,000 people is going to be a massive problem. So right out of the gate, the disciples have failed to trust in the miracle-working ability
of Jesus. They have failed to understand the power of Jesus to provide for these people, which seems to me so incredibly odd. It seems confusing because these disciples have literally just spent three days watching Jesus work out all these miracles. Blind people, deaf people, mute people, crippled people, lame people, all healed by Jesus. They were sitting front row and center watching all of this stuff happen. And now they’re confused at what Jesus is able to do? They’ve witnessed countless miracles where Jesus has healed people and provided for people. Not to mention the fact that they’ve been in this exact same situation before. The feeding of a massive crowd that seemed impossible, they’ve seen Jesus multiply 12 loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000 men, plus women and children, which makes the crowd closer to 14,000, 15,000 people. They’ve been in this situation before.
God was faithful to feed a hungry crowd before, but these disciples forgot the faithfulness of God just like that. So they bring up the impossibility to provide food for these people because they’re in a desolate place with limited resources. The disciples are essentially saying to Jesus, we can’t do it. Where in the world are we going to find enough food in this empty area to provide for these people? And humanly speaking, this would be a real problem. This would definitely be a real problem if you’re only looking at it through the grid of human resources. But to Jesus, this is no problem at all. How quickly they forgot. How spiritually absent-minded must they have been? How could they forget such powerful provision from God? But listen, the truth is, we’re not that far from the forgetfulness of the disciples. In fact, we do this all the time.
In certain seasons of life, we see God faithfully answer our prayers. We see God faithfully provide for our needs. We experience firsthand the Lord’s deliverance from disaster and sin. And so then when we get to other seasons where we find ourselves in need of help, where we’re drowning in despair, we wonder, will God hear us? Will God help us? Will he provide for us or does he even care? We quickly forget the faithfulness of God in previous acts of help and deliverance and provision. Of course, we can track back the faithfulness of God through scripture. We can look at our own lives and know that he’s capable of meeting our needs. We know that theologically he’s done it before. But more often than not, we forget. We doubt and we disbelieve. You see, brothers and sisters, this is why we must remind each other of the faithful
promise keeping of our God. This is why the church is so important. This is why we gather together and make it a priority to gather together so that we can encourage one another, so that we can remind each other of God’s faithfulness when we forget about it. This is why we sing songs about his faithfulness. This is why we preach sermons about his faithfulness. The repetition burns into our minds the reality of his compassion, his ability and willingness to meet us in our needs, in our deep despair, in our grief, and in our isolation. We have to remind each other of that, brothers and sisters. It’s so important because if we’re not reminded, our faith gets shipwrecked. He cares for our needs, both spiritually and physically. Now let’s look at verses 6 through 8 to see just how Jesus actually provides for these people’s needs.
The Provision
And he directed the crowds to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. And they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. So it seems impossible for the disciples. Jesus, again, controls the crowd. He controls the situation. See, his confident control reveals the effortless nature of his ability to provide for these people with just mere scraps. He’s going to work a miracle with their scraps. And the truth is, he doesn’t even really need the scraps to provide. He simply uses the scraps to accentuate how he makes much from the little that we have. So he takes whatever earthly resources they have, seven loaves and a few fish, small fish
mind you, he takes these resources and he gives thanks. He speaks. Now, we know that the miracle was that he fed 4,000 people with seven loaves and a few fish. But when we just say it like that, kind of passively, yeah, he fed 4,000 people. We really miss the magnitude of this miracle. See, when you look at the how, it actually reveals something so helpful. It reveals and showcases the magnificent power of God. After Jesus seats the crowd and gives thanks, Jesus ends up providing for the people by constantly breaking bread and distributing it. Now think about that miracle for a second. Jesus is literally causing for bread to appear out of nothing. As he breaks the bread, bread appears out of nothing. And he’s literally manifesting dead fish that are prepared and ready for people to eat. Now what the crowd notices with this miracle is the same kind of power that brought creation
into existence. When God spoke creation into existence, he did it out of nothing. His words created from nothing. In fact, that phrase ex nihilo means to create out of nothing. There was nothing and then all of a sudden, something appeared. And that’s what happened here with this miracle. Jesus spoke when he gave thanks and broke the fish and the bread and the fish were just appearing out of nothing. This is a Genesis 1 type of miracle that’s laid before us this morning. God spoke and things came into being. This testifies of the magnificent power of our God. Now we don’t usually think about the power of God to provide for our needs in this same kind of way, in the same kind of way that fashioned the universe together with his words, but that’s the kind of power that God uses to provide for our needs.
J.C. Ryle says this, without the hand of him who first made the world out of nothing, the thing could not be. But in the almighty hands of Jesus, seven loaves and a few fish were made sufficient to satisfy 4,000 men. This is the power of God who speaks and provides out of nothing. Now not only did Jesus supernaturally provide for these people, he’s also used this miracle as a teaching point for his disciples. Remember the whole reason why Jesus was in the Gentile region in the first place was to get away from the Pharisees and the scribes and perhaps King Herod. He wanted to get away from them, to get away from distractions so that he could minister to his disciples, so that he could train and equip his disciples before he sends them out on their ministry mission. And it’s through this miracle that Jesus is teaching his disciples and us that the Gentiles
are equally important to Jesus. That Israel is not the only one that Christ has come for. See this miracle serves as building blocks to train the disciples in their understanding of the full scope of salvation. In fact this will become more clear for the disciples when Jesus will later charge them with the great commission to go therefore into all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. All nations means all types of people, Jews and Gentiles, Democrats and Republicans, all ethnicities, all cultures, it means all people groups. Jesus provided the needs for these 4,000 so-called unclean, irreligious, hungry Gentiles in the same way that he provided for the 5,000 so-called clean, religious and hungry Jews because he cares about the needs of all people, all types of people. This is the heart of God. And listen, these feeding miracles weren’t the first time that God miraculously provided
for hungry people. In the book of Exodus chapter 16 after the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity, they were in the wilderness and they ran out of food and eventually their hunger turned to anger like it would with most of us. And so they began to complain and grumble. They say to Moses, why did you bring us out here? Did you bring us out here to die, to starve to death? At least when we were slaves and in captivity, we had food to eat, but now we’re gonna die. We have nothing. And in Exodus 16, 4, then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I’m about to rain bread from heaven for you. He’s about to rain bread from heaven for these people. And the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day. So every day for 40 days, the Lord was faithful to provide this food from heaven.
This food was called manna. People had never seen anything like this food before. In fact, that’s what the word manna means. It means what is it? The Lord provided exactly what they needed every single day. And in this, you see the consistent character of God who is faithful to provide for us even when we grumble and complain, even when we’re in the middle of nowhere, even when we forget, and even if we doubt, he remains faithful. And what I do find interesting about this Exodus feeding miracle is that God only gave them enough to eat each day, kept these people dependent on God. And that’s a beautiful thing. That’s a teaching point all in itself, but what I find different about this feeding miracle with the 4,000 is that Jesus gives them not just what they need, but he gives them more than what they need.
The Plenty
They eat, they’re satisfied, and not only that, they have leftovers, meaning that God gives them food in abundance. And we see that in verses nine through 10 with the plenty. And they took up the broken pieces leftover, seven baskets full, and there were about 4,000 people. And he sent them away, and immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha. So after Jesus feeds the 4,000 people and satisfies these folks, there’s broken pieces leftover everywhere. So the disciples go around and they pick up all the leftover pieces, seven baskets full. So they started off with seven loaves of bread, and now they have seven baskets of bread. And just to be clear, these are not little small baskets. These are massive serving baskets full of leftover food. So now that these people are satisfied, now that they’re full, satiated, Jesus feels comfortable
enough to send them on their way. Now that they have enough food and enough energy to make their way back home, he’s comfortable sending them home. And then Jesus and his disciples, they get in the boat and they leave. And this here, this whole narrative, speaks to the radical generosity of Jesus, that he’s not only able and willing to meet our needs, but that he satisfies and that he gives more abundantly more than we need. Listen, this is true both physically and spiritually. Do you have physical needs this morning that only Jesus can meet, that only he could provide for? Ask him to meet your needs and God will provide for your needs according to his perfect purposes. Matthew 7, 9 through 11 says, or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks him for a fish, will give him a serpent?
If you then, who are evil, know how to get good gifts to your children, how much more will your father, who is in heaven, give good things to those who ask him? And listen, I want to be clear as we preach about the Lord’s provision. I am in no way promoting a prosperity gospel. I think the prosperity gospel is evil. It’s a complete and distorted view of the gospel. I hate the prosperity gospel. That’s not what we’re talking about here. Jesus does provide for us, but he provides in a way that he sees fit. You might not get what you want when you pray for God to meet your needs. You might not get exactly what you’re asking for, but when you ask God to meet your physical needs, he will answer and he will provide according to the needs that he knows you have.
He provides in a way that is better for you. He knows far better how to provide for your needs than you actually know. He provides for us based on what he knows best is for us. Like a good father that provides for his children, he provides for our needs. Now, are you here this morning and you’re not a Christian? You don’t know what it means to be a Christian. Can I ask you this morning, are you spiritually hungry? And what I mean by that question is, are you satisfied with your life? Are you longing for something that is more meaningful and more satisfying? If you are, hear me, you’re not going to find satisfaction in any other place. You’re not going to find it in success or drugs or money or marriage or in sex or fame. You need to experience the satisfaction that comes from having your sins forgiven.
You need to find the satisfaction that comes from finding freedom in your endless pursuit of empty things. Those empty things will never produce for you what they promise. You need a savior. You need Jesus to satisfy. You were made for that kind of longing. You were made to seek satisfaction. And that satisfaction can only be met in Jesus. Jesus is the bread of life. He is the manna from heaven. The Bible tells us that Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. See, your greatest need is to have peace with God. And Jesus Christ, through his life, death, and resurrection has provided everything to meet that greatest need. If you want Jesus this morning, ask him to forgive you. Ask him to make himself known to you, and he will do it. He will.
Ask and you shall receive. It’s really that simple. Let’s pray. Our Father and our God, your text is so clear to us. I pray, Lord, that your word this morning would penetrate our hearts, that we would be reminded that you care deeply about our physical needs, that you extend compassion to those who have needs, that it doesn’t matter how small or seemingly insignificant those needs are, you care enough to provide for those needs. We pray, God, that your word would teach us this. Father, we also pray that we would learn from your word to value meeting the needs of other people, that we would not be a people who care only about meeting spiritual needs, but that we would care about their physical needs. And, Father, we pray that you would help us to find deep satisfaction, to be full, to be satiated in Jesus, the bread of life.
Help us to approach Jesus in deep dependence, longing to find satisfaction in who he is and what he’s done for us, and may that compel us to worship him. Father, I pray for those this morning who do not know you. I pray, God, that they would come to find fullness and satisfaction in Jesus. I pray that you would open up their eyes and their ears to the beautiful truth of your gospel. May they come to trust you. May they come to find their sins forgiven and become whole because of your miraculous work. Turn hearts of stone to hearts of flesh this morning. We pray. In Jesus’ name. Thanks for joining us for this week’s sermon from Trinity Church in Portland, Oregon. If you’d like to learn more about us, you can visit our website at www.trinityportland.com.