Jesus exemplifies a ministry of compassion that transcends rigid schedules and plans. He consistently stops to attend to those in need, whether they be hungry multitudes, blind beggars, or children. As His followers, we are called to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and willing to step out of our comfort zones to minister to others. God equips us with unique gifts to serve in various capacities within the Church. When we prioritise His work and respond with compassion, He blesses our efforts and provides for our needs.

Automatically Generated Transcript

[00:00:00] If you wouldn’t mind opening your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 6. I’ll be reading from verse 30 to 44. The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest awhile. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away into boats to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw, saw them going and recognised them, and they ran there on foot. From all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd…

[00:00:47] and he had compassion on them. Because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when he grew late… His disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place and the hour is now late, send them away to go into their surrounding countryside and villages, and buy themselves something to eat. But he answered them, you give them something to eat. And they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii

[00:01:18] And he said to them, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eight. And he said to them, how many loaves do you have? go and see.” And when they had found out they said five and two fish, then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass, so they sat down in groups by hundreds, and by fifties, and then taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to Heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them and they, all ate and were satisfied and they took up 12 baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish and those who ate the loaves were

[00:02:08] 5,000 men amen let’s bare our heads in prayer father God we come before your Lord this morning and we humble ourselves before you Lord and we thank you that you’re a God of mercy Lord we yield to you and I pray that you may open this word to us Lord Jesus this morning that you may minister to our our hearts I pray that you may sanctify my lips calculating my lips Lord and I pray that you may minister through the me this morning I yield to your Lord Jesus fully now as it is uh unreserved obedience and I pray for the may give us open hearts this morning and minister to our hearts and we ask for these things the precious name of Lord Jesus amen I’m very passionate about this particular particular text and how it all unfolds. In Jesus’ ministry on earth, he’s never failed to stop.

[00:03:13] And the highlight of this message is that Jesus values the ministries that the disciples were doing. And the right thing to do is, when they came back, is the disciples were excited to share with Jesus all the miracles that were done through them, all the things that they’ve seen. They were commissioned, just like us in this current days we’re commissioned to go out and make disciples. And they were so tired and Jesus was caring not only for just their spiritual well-being, their physical well-being and said to them let’s come to a desolate place. And yet what happens is the great multitude, the people that were there they gathered in droves, in thousands of people because there was a greater hunger that they had. And they had a greater need to surpass that need for rest that the Bryce disciples had and Jesus himself but yet the moving the most important the thing that was

[00:04:35] very powerful in this message. In this passage what we’re saying is that when He went ashore, so verse 34, when He went ashore, He saw great crowd and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Doesn’t it occur to us that sometimes in this current age, in this fast-paced world know when we’ve got our routines set we’ve got schedules and sometimes even got out smart devices telling us when to do things that you’ve got an appointment to go to you’ve gotta we’re always on the go and then something happens There’s a person that’s in great need, that comes our way and upsets that schedule, upsets that work flow that we’ve got.

[00:05:37] We get up, we get there by 9 o’clock, we get up and we get there by a certain time. And somebody sort of crosses our paths and is in a dire need for an intervention. and as a call for us to sort of be moved with compassion to respond, and perhaps pushes a little bit out of our comfort zone, pushing our agenda or itinerary out of sync which will upset most people, and it’s sort of challenged me as well over the years. Any healthcare workers in the audience this morning? and also

[00:06:23] put up your hand. There’s any healthcare workers? Couple people, may god bless you Um been working the healthcare industry for most of my adult life, started off as as awardsman and then paramedic and then worked in acute care services, acute healthc services and mental health acute care services as well so pretty much all my life I’ve been on call for the younger generation you might not know where those pages are I needed to respond not for nighttime, but for day time. I’ll give you an example of what’s happened once.

[00:06:57] So I was managing an acute care team in mental health and I was having my lunch in a very fast-paced environment. And one of the staff members comes to me and he knew I was the believer. I was a Christian and I’d often encouraged him and she says, to me, look, I’m really having a really difficult time right now and I need you to pray for me, you know. But the thing was that I was used to, sort of,

[00:07:34] people saying, you know, when somebody comes to us, approaches us, that’s says, you know, I’m going through a bit of a difficult situation, please keep me in your prayers and we may have the tendency to turn around and say yes, will keep you in my prayers and I’ll pray for you when I have my prayer time. But this particular lady, she said to me, no Christian, I need you to pray for me now. She was having a meltdown. And I was looking at the time, I was like, okay, I’ve got,

[00:08:07] I haven’t eaten my lunch. If I don’t eat my lunch now, I go straight into a meeting, in important fact can’t cancel so what do I do so I just put my lunch aside and I pray for this lady she can the kitchen there said I need you to pray for me right now the situation call for it and what I can do what I can tell you that you know God’s blessed me in such a way that I didn’t feel that physical hunger Yeah, that physical hunger was nothing compared to that amazing feeling that I was able to be a blessing for that particular person. I’m not suggesting, and I’m not saying at all, that we are to neglect our physical or emotional needs, or to neglect ourselves, and to not have that self care that we require,

[00:09:08] just to be sensitive to the Spirit of God. To be sensitive to the situations that God brings about us. In our lives to perhaps come out of our comfort zone and minister in that particular moment. There and there, because we just don’t know whether the person that’s seeking for help. That might be their last chance. you might not see him again. I’ve been in situations where I’ve had the opportunity to pray with particular people and then they’ve gone to be with the Lord. So we just never know. We’ve got the example of Jesus in the Gospels and if we follow carefully how he ministered when he was on earth, we learn that he was never too busy in his schedule. And in matter of fact, we can see in the Gospels in Mark chapter 10 verse 46 where it says, and they came to Jericho and as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd,

[00:10:20] Bathimaeus is a blind beggar. The son of Timaeus was sitting by the roadside and when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth. He began to cry out and say, Jesus son of David have mercy on me. And many rebuked him telling him to be silent but he cried out all the more. Son of David have mercy on me. And Jesus stopped and said, call him. You see what’s happening in in this particular example as well. The disciples and the people that were with Jesus had this notion that he was too busy to stop and attend to the people who were crying out. He had to get to places. He had to get somewhere

[00:11:01] and just basically had no time to stop. No time to slow down. Beloved, the Spirit of God tells us this morning, Jesus is not too busy for us, he’s ready and waiting for us to call out to him with a whole heart and he stops and makes time for us because we are cherished, we’re purchased by the most precious blood. Do you believe that? Each one of you that’s sitting here this morning by the grace of God, do you realize how how much God loves you and he longs to stop and have that fellowship? We don’t have to call him out of a place of desperation, he will stop and and have fellowship with us on a regular basis, when we have our quiet time and what we see here, the

[00:12:02] disciples, they were frazzled, there was sort of, well you know, you’re slowing now in Jesus, he’s gotta go the places. But the beggar, the blind beggar didn’t relent and he called out and Jesus stopped. Call him and they call the blind man saying, take him, take heart, get up, he’s calling you and what do you want me to do for you? And the blind man said to him, Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” What is it that you need this morning for Jesus to do in your life, in your family? He’s there waiting for us to seek Him.

[00:12:46] We’ve got another example in Luke chapter 18 verse 15. Same thing, the disciples really focused on getting Jesus, making sure that nobody stops His itinerary. They were very protective of Him and we shouldn’t be a bit too harsh on them. So just think about the Prime Minister of Australia, for that matter, he’s got an agenda that he’s got to get through, he’s got his security detail that he’s got with him, you know, like and he’s got an agenda, but Jesus was one of a kind where basically no matter what the plan was, he stopped. And we’ve got in Luke chapter 18 verse 15 that example where now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them, and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. So he said, stop, go away, don’t bother Jesus, he’s busy,

[00:13:53] he’s gonna get to places, and then he says, let the children come to Me and do not hinder them to such belongs the kingdom of God. Jesus stops again and teaches the disciples a lesson, teaches us a lesson that he’s never too busy when you call out to him. I heard a saying, somebody saying you know God, he’s never early when we call out to him. He’s never late, but he’s always on time. Do you believe that? I’ve personally experience that, you know, calling out to Him, praying out to Him. Nothing stops God to come through. Sometimes it’s a lack of faith or lack of unbelief that we’re not worthy for Him to stop. If you’ve got feelings of poor self-worth? That’s a lie from the pit of hell. You are precious in God’s sight. Everyone, each one of you that’s here this morning, we are precious in his

[00:15:14] sight. And he will stop for us because he longs for us to have community, you know. And Jesus in the Gospel here that I read in verse, going back to verse 34 in Mark 6, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. You know what that means is just like sheep, sometimes people, you know, in the Bible the believers are likened to sheep. And the reason for that is that sheep are more at peace when they have a leader, when they’ve got a shepherd. Some people may take this to say sheep are dumb. Sheep are not dumb, but sheep are at peace when they’ve got a shepherd. Believers are at peace when they’re shepherded by the pastors of the flock that they belong to. And I just wanted to share a personal experience. I just wanted to say how blessed this congregation you’ve got Pastor Jim as a pastor of this church.

[00:16:46] I personally, he’s personally ministered to me as well. And I’ll just give you an example. We were at the Mapleton Camp and everybody’s, they go to the camp to do that very thing that Jesus was trying to get the disciples to do. You can rest, eat, rest, and chill. Pastor Jim took the time to pray with me when I was at the camp. I was sharing some things I was going through and such a tender heart.

[00:17:26] A true servant of God, a man of God with a heart that’s so sensitive to the needs of others. And that meant the world for me. That meant so much for me. I was trying to rest as well, but I needed that prayer just as much as that lady that I prayed for in my team many years ago. Pray, and I say that pray for Pastor Jim and his family. And when you see him, shake his hand and tell him, may God bless you for the ministry that he’s doing and consider yourselves blessed to have him amongst you. And I pray that may God bless him richly in his family and each member of this congregation. Amen. So the challenge for us this morning is just to really be in tune with the things that are happening around us. And I pray that we may be able to be the hands and feet of Jesus. What does that mean? Sometimes people get caught up in understanding that they might think that church and ministry is all about praise and worship, preaching at the pulpit. There’s so much more than that. The fivefold ministries. There’s so much more that the church, the body of Christ is doing. The hospitality team, the audio and visual team, the logistics team, the prayer team, the children’s ministry team.

[00:19:16] There’s so many things. There are so many moving parts to a ministry. God’s not going to call you to do things that he hasn’t gifted you to minister in. But the call up this morning is whatever capacity, whatever gift God has given you as a believer, use those and be attentive to the Spirit of God when you have to minister in that capacity. An example might be, if you’re good with logistics, transportation, somebody might sort of upset your schedule and say hey, they need the next elderly person to be picked up to be brought to church. Don’t complain. Praise God that you’re able to do that. You have a vehicle that you can drive, that you’ve got fuel in the car to put. That’s just a little example that I wanted to share. The body of Christ is composed of so many different ministries, their different roles, but of same significance, of equal importance. Jesus cares for both our spiritual and physical needs. He’ll never shortchange us.

[00:20:51] I’ve been in ministry for many, many years, and I’ve had lots of late nights, and when I was working in the youth ministry, I remember I was starting my master’s, and I was working full time, and I didn’t instill this thing in the young people, make a priority in your relationship with God. Don’t skip church. Don’t skip the youth meeting, and I like it how you guys have got it on your website and on the bulletin. Church is better with you. So if somebody’s missing, it’s not good. And God blesses us, if we focus on doing the things that,

[00:21:38] and God’s blessed me in many ways. I sat exams that I haven’t, I was I had a feeling of well, I’m gonna skip Church today. And I’m gonna study for my exams because I’ve got a difficult exam. And I said, no, I’ve got to be faithful to the ministry. I was supposed to be organized and study before and not leave it to the last minute but that’s another thing but what i’ve experienced is that the blessing the gods in that time that I felt that I was going to sit at home and study

[00:22:17] I’ve been blessed in church ministering to the people that God brought there and And when I got back from Church, what I would have studied in probably two, three hours, I’ve started in half an hour now. God gave me the ability to learn so quickly and so efficiently and to Him be the glory because he gives us the resources, He gives us the wisdom and I believed that God calls us to be the head and not the tail,

[00:22:49] and if we put Him first in our lives, If we are moved with compassion as Jesus was, God will take care of our physical needs as well, our resources as well that we require. Because I believe that God’s equipped us, God will not call us to do something without equipping us, giving us the right tools that we need to be able to minister in the capacities that God has imparted to us. It’s not like you go out on a new job

[00:23:30] and you don’t have the level of training, you don’t have the things that you are required to do your job, to fulfill your job. God has equipped us and is equipping us in an ongoing way, if we are seeking his face And if we draw close to Him and seek to do His will. And I pray that God may move us this morning and move us with compassion and be sensitive to the needs around us and not be too upset if our schedules,

[00:24:05] our itineraries get pushed out of whack because our Lord Jesus is a rewarder. He rewards us. and you’ll never never leave us. Let’s bow our heads in prayer. Father God I thank you for this beautiful word Lord Jesus and I thank you that you set you you set the standard for us Lord Jesus you’re a compassionate God and Father I thank you did you’re always there to hear our cries Lord Jesus and I I thank you that in our time of need we can come to you with confidence, Lord. I pray that you may help us to be sensitive

[00:24:55] to the spirit of God and to be compassionate, Lord Jesus. To be moved with compassion when there’s a need around us, to minister, Lord Jesus, to work, Father, that we may seek out the lost. And Lord, I pray that you may bless this church, Bless each and everyone that’s here this morning and bless the leadership of this church, Lord Jesus, and we thank you, Father, that the good work you began in us you’ll bring to completion until Christ Jesus returns. Amen.