Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

• Where are you running?
• A quick internet search and you can find a video of people chasing after famous people. Elvis, MJ, Beiber, etc. People have a penchant for the famous. They want what the famous have
• Want to touch them, want be like them, want to be around them- maybe their life be changed?
• Where are you running? Are you running to work? School? People? Drugs? Food? Pornography? The internet? Other gods? Personal status?
• Great story today about some people that wanted to follow Jesus wherever he went
• READ Mark 6:45-52
• Here’s the verse that jumped out at me Ran
• ³³ But the multitudes^[d]saw them departing, and many knew Him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to Him.
• are you running to Jesus? Are so concerned with following him that you even forget to eat?
• Cause here’s these guys- seeing Jesus going and they ran there on foot from all the cities!
• Can you see that? Jesus leaves on a boat and the dudes run around to the side where Jesus was going on the boat- lake Washington is 22m long w 2-6 miles. 34sqm Sea of Galilee 13 l by 8 w 64 sq m
• Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
• Here’s why you should run to Jesus

1. Run and be shepherded

• ³⁴ And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.
• We have been created as people who need to be led- left to ourselves, we don’t end up well
• 1 Peter 2:25 For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
• Jesus is the good shepherd
• John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
• When these guys were running to Jesus- it was because they lacked direction in their lives- the so desperately wanted to be led- to find life
• Jesus saw in their actions and in their hearts
• No different than today- People want to be led- they’ll find a God to worship and a cause to follow- Something to believe in
• 1 Sam 8:5b “Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” It in our HEART
• The God of the outdoors- The God of Money- The God of Family – The God of Work- The God of fitness- the God of home improvement- The God of Hobbies- The God of self help
• And there are false shepherds within the church as well- that lead people everywhere except to Jesus- Leading them to themselves, or acts of service, or self fulfillment

• What does it mean to you?
• Run after the shepherd! But make sure it’s the right one!
• John 10:14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
• If you know your Bible you’ll know when you come in contact with a false Christ
• The presence of Jesus is real and tangible and will change your life
• But here’s the deal- YOU HAVE TO LET HIM SHEPHERD YOU
• JR High- Running the Mile- only 3 laps. make it seem like I’m submitted but not really
• Letting Jesus shepherd you is taking control of your WHOLE LIFE and WHOLE MIND
• You cant try to lead Jesus where you want him to Go- People are master maniuplators
• You must allow him to lead you and take you- It’s the ultimate end of faith
• Revelation 7:17for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters.^[a] And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
• If you don’t want Jesus to lead you now, why would you want him to lead you in the end? God is looking for full submission NOW to his ways-
• Jesus is the good shepherd

1. Run and be empowered

• “You give them something to eat”
• Jesus is the bread of life- he brings nourishment for us to share with others
• READ 36-38
• In this part of the story- we see a wonderful picture of the ministry of Jesus and the empowerment of the disciples
• There’s a huge need- 5000 people need to eat- so the disciples come up with a plan- “obviously we need to buy some bread- (14K worth btw) and they look at Jesus like, right?
• Jesus comes back at them 37 “You give them something to eat.”
• Its in that moment that the disciples must have been bewildered- JESUS- 5000! What can we do
• Often the greatest opportunities to see Jesus move are in our times of most dire need
• What does Jesus do? ³⁸“How many loaves do you have? Go and see.
• Jesus doesn’t expect out of them what they don’t have- but what they DO have-
• How many loaves do you have? Lets see what you got and what we can do with it?
• And- are you willing to give it? Are you willing to bring forward what you have? Will you trust me? And they DO
• Now- let me be clear- this is a MIRACLE- the Miracle ISNT that people gave up their food
• Jesus is a God of order- he had them sit in 50s and 100s
• ³⁹ Then He commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass.⁴⁰ So they sat down in ranks, in hundreds and in fifties.
• Notice- The prelude to the miracle was obedience to Jesus and his commands- Sit down 50-100
• We serve a God of ORDER- There is no hodge podge throw it together aspect of our God- He knows what he’s doing and how he’s doing it

• What Does it mean to you?
• Don’t think about what you DON’T have think about what you DO have
• Often times we don’t give what we have to God because we feel as though it isn’t enough
• But God doesn’t ask you to give what you don’t have he asks you to give what you DO have
• We serve a God that uses the little things of people to accomplish BIG things for HIM
• 2 Cor 8² that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. ³ For I bear witness that according totheirability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing,
• Don’t let what you DON’T have keep you from giving what you DO have
• Do you have time? Do you have Gifts? Do you have money? Do you have Ideas?
• Are you willing to give up what little you have to do what God is calling you to do?
• GIVE THEM believe that God can do miraculous things with them! WATCH HIM WORK
• Will you give up your few loaves of bread in hopes that they will be multiplied?
• Here’s the deal- If these guys were hungry themselves, why would they give up what they needed to help others? It breaks common wisdom.
• Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
• You must have faith to believe that God is going to great things with what you give him. He is a God of the miraculous. He is the God of MORE THAN ENOUGH. He is the God of I WILL MAKE A WAY
• Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
• What happens?
• ⁴² So they all ate and were filled.

1. Run and be filled

• These guys ran all the way around the lake and they received more than they expected. They were FILLED
• ⁴² So they all ate and were filled.⁴³ And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish. ⁴⁴ Now those who had eaten the loaves were about^[f] five thousand men.
• The initial run of the people following Jesus was because they wanted what he had- so they ran after him-
• All the way to the other side of the lake- to take in what Jesus was offering-
  They went with a spiritual need and came back with a physical need fulfilled.
• Not only were they FILLED but there was ABUNDANCE left over
• When God meets a need he does it overwhelmingly well. He doesn’t do it half way
• Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
• God will always do mighty and powerful things
• What does it mean to you?
• Run to God and be filled! Run to where he is and be filled with miraculous and wonderful things
• You will always be filled
• Being at the end of the month and waiting for your paycheck- wanting to just have it in the bank- That’s the spiritual principle. The bank is always full- never NSF or Overdrawn
• Eph 3:14-21 READ 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
• We do not serve a God that leaves you wanting or leaves you unfulfilled.
• He will fill those who seek after him and follow him. Those that RUN to him
• What’s holding you back? What is keeping you from experiencing God’s best?
• Run from THAT and run to HIM