Mark 8:1-10
Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

1 About this time another great crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them,
2 "I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. 
3 And if I send them home without feeding them, they will faint along the road. For some of them have come a long distance." 
4 "How are we supposed to find enough food for them here in the wilderness?" his disciples asked.
5 "How many loaves of bread do you have?" he asked. "Seven," they replied.
6 So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves,
     thanked God for them, broke them into pieces, and gave them to his disciples, who distributed the bread to the crowd.
7 A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to pass them out.
8 They ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up, there were seven large baskets of food left over!
9 There were about four thousand people in the crowd that day, and he sent them home after they had eaten.
10 Immediately after this, he got into a boat with his disciples and crossed over to the region of Dalmanutha.
(NLT)

Here we see Jesus again testing His disciples in faith. They still seem to be a little slow but it may be starting to sink in. This time Jesus tells the disciples "I feel sorry for these people" or "I feel compassion for these people," Jesus shows them His concern first then asks the question  - feed them? They start out with the same excuse of how are we suppose to find enough food for them? In verse 7 it seems someone went looking for some fish and found some. And again Jesus shows His power through this miracle by how much food was left over.
When we miss the test of faith Jesus will again bring us back to the testing of faith. Why? Jesus wants our faith in Him to grow and not to stagnate. He will continue His test of faith until we get it even if it takes 40 years and 40 trips around Mount Sinai in the wilderness. This is not a fun place to be. Jesus loves us, is concerned about us and He wants us to have His best but we must walk in faith in Him. Heb 11:1 says, "What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see." (NLT) Jesus wants to build our faith that we can have confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. Jesus wants us to believe in Him and believe that He will accomplish that which He set out to do in us to the glory of God. Faith in Christ draws us closer to Him. What better place to be.

Sponsored by BMCC Men's Ministry
Our Mission is to Lead People into a Growing Relationship with Jesus Christ