We can celebrate that. I hear you wanting to. At each campus, you guys give our worship team a hand. Listen, that was from Sunday night, and so many of you came.

We're five campuses, but there's moments where we all come under the same roof, and we worship together. And I'm going to tell you, Sunday night was a marker. It was a moment that I will remember watching you worship. But one of the things we said about Sunday night is we wanted to gather together, again, under one roof as one church.

But then we wanted to scatter, and we wanted to go into the communities where we are, and where our campuses are, where our schools are, and we want to be the hands and feet. So, I hope that's been you this week. Let me tell you a little bit about what's going on, because this is a big week just in the life of our church. We kind of run on rhythms and on schedules.

Tonight, we launch Movement. And so if you're a 6th through 12th grader, man, at every campus, you want to come back on Sunday nights for Movement. I started thinking a little bit about Movement, and I tell you, it's been over 30 years since I've been in student ministry. I'm 47 now.

And I still remember my student leaders. One of the guys that led my small group is now one of our elders, Ron Kane. And so I just need to encourage you, if you lead our students, you make a difference. And I know, listen, hunting season's coming, and I love to hunt on Sunday afternoons, too.

But you need to come back and be willing to invest in our students. It's worth it, and it matters. So, thank you for giving up your Sunday nights to lead our students. Wednesday, this Wednesday, we launch House Church.

And I'm going to tell you, I'm ready to see my people. In fact, just last week, I was over here in the kids building in KXP, and when we left House Church, like when we had our last house church together, our family that hosts us has three little girls. And their little baby, Baby Rose, wasn't walking yet when we left. And then I saw her in KXP last week, and she was walking.

And I thought, man, it's just time to be back with our people. So, when you're with your people on Wednesday night, celebrate some things. Man, spend some time just encouraging your people. Now, let's talk about our series, okay?

Let's get right in it. We are in a series basically saying and trying to answer the question: who is Jesus? And maybe you've asked that before. I mean, you've heard people teach on it.

You've heard Sunday school leaders say some things. Maybe you didn't grow up in church, and you've heard haters say some things. And so our heart with this series has been to get back into the Bible and to give you five different things that you can count on, that you can know this is who Jesus is. So, here's where we started.

Week one, we said Jesus is the forgiver of sins. Maybe you were here that week because we made you quote a verse with me, Mark 2:5. It says, "Son or daughter, your sins are forgiven." We want you to know that that's what Jesus can do. That's what he does in our life.

He forgives us. If you were here last week, week two, on our teaching team, man, Pastor Greg, I'm going to tell you, the brother can preach. And he preached on the fact that Jesus is the answer. Now we've made it to week three, okay?

And so today, here's the big idea. We're going to talk about Jesus as the provider. Jesus is the provider. And look, I just already know someone's watching, someone's at a campus.

And man, you need to understand that aspect of who Jesus is. Let me just tell you, you're not alone in that. My prayer, our heart, is that you would begin to experience Jesus in a way that he provides whatever it is that maybe you need. So let me tell you the text we're going to be in, okay?

We're going to be in the Book of Mark, and you want to go ahead and get there if you can. It's going to be Mark, chapter 6. And I'm going to give you just a fun fact for this before I get into it too deep. This is the only miracle besides the resurrection that's in all four of the gospels.

So, that just tells me this is an important story. It's an experience that you want to know. Let me give you a little context because sometimes, I don't know about you, but there's been days where I've just opened up the Bible and just dove in. But sometimes it's good to understand a little bit about what's going on in the moment.

All right? Now, so let me set the moment for you. Jesus has just sent his disciples out on a mission trip. Very first time.

The disciples hit the streets, and they went out and began performing miracles. And now they've come back. They're now seeing Jesus after they've been out on their own. And can you imagine that moment?

I don't know. There's something about me that goes there in my mind because I love coming back and telling about experiences. I love just getting back to share with my wife, "Hey, here's what it's been like," or share with my kids. Can you imagine being knee to knee with Jesus, sharing about your trips, your experiences?

I mean, what do you think the questions he would ask about their time away? I mean, I just love to think about that, but anyway. The other thing that's going on, and because it's kind of like highs and lows, maybe you do that at the dinner table, the high was, man, the disciples have been out. They've been sharing the good news.

The low in this moment, Jesus has just found out that his cousin and his friend John has been beheaded. So, there's this range of emotions in this chapter. And the final piece of the puzzle is these guys need to get away. Now, maybe you're just two weeks into school, and you already need to get away.

But you have felt that, too, like there's so much going on. I just need a minute to breathe. I'd love to get away with my people. I need a little R&R.

All of that is happening in this chapter. Now, here's how I'm going to set it up, because there's something I've been doing that's been a little bit different. I try to spend a little bit of time in God's word every day. Many of you do the same thing.

You've heard it called a quiet time. But what I do is typically I'll pray before I get started kind of reading. For me, I do our Bible reading plan. I'm working through the New Testament.

But I've gotten in the habit where I'll listen just through an app. I'll just play the scripture, and I'll read it at the same time. And so we're going to try that this morning. So not only are you going to read it, so go ahead and get there on the app if you want to.

Go ahead and open up your Bible to Mark 6. But I'm going to pray, and then we're going to listen to this text. So, let's pray together. Here we go.

God, I thank you for Sundays. God, I look forward to this week where we have started so many things. I thank you for nights and moments where we kick stuff off, and we begin things with worship. But God, this week, we're going to scatter, and we're going to go in a lot of different directions, and we want to come to know you as the provider.

So God, open up our eyes to who you are. It's in your Son's name we pray, amen. The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them...

"Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.

By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples came to him. "This is a remote place" They said "... and it's already very late. Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat." But he answered "You give them something to eat." They said to him "That would take more than half a year's wages. Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" "How many loaves do you have?" He asked "Go and see." When they found out, they said "Five, and two fish." Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. Okay, we got a lot to cover today, and so I'm going to just dive right in. Five things that Jesus provides. Here's the very first one.

Jesus provides compassion. And I want you to see it right from the text we just read, okay? It starts in verse 34. It says, "When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

So he began to teach them many things." Now, you remember Jesus is exhausted. And Jesus has been listening. The word channel of the disciples was high, and he'd received all this. He had just gotten word about his cousin and his friend John being killed.

And he finally gets in the lake, and he's walking, and he's in the boat, and he's moving across the lake. But in my mind, it's like he sees the people coming. I mean, he's crossing the lake to get away from them. They're crossing the lake to be with him It's like that moment.

You've had a moment like this, and don't lie because I think you have, where you're walking through Walmart and you see somebody that you really didn't want to see, and you go, "Oh, it's so good to see you. My phone's ringing. Let me get this real quick." Or you've had a Saturday afternoon, and it's been a long week, and you finally get all your kids on the couch, and man, one's falling asleep, and it's just peaceful. You got the game on, and then the doorbell rings, and you look at everybody like, "Freeze.

We are not here." You introverts in the room are evil people because you're exhausted. And I'm just telling you, what I love about this passage is when I watch it and I see it's like the disciples are being squeezed, and you don't like what's coming out. They're frustrated. They want to be alone.

They're selfish. That's probably what it's more like with me when I get squeezed, but not Jesus. In this moment, when Jesus begins to get squeezed, it's compassion that comes out. And compassion is action.

We talked about it a couple weeks ago. It's hands extended, not arms crossed. And that's what he does for these people. He gathers them.

He brings them close to him. He reminds them that, "Hey, I'm here for you." What I want you to hear me say today is, I don't know what is kind of squeezing you. I don't know what's exhausting to you in this season of your life. It could be 100 different things.

But I need you to understand that Jesus is the provider for you. He's going to give you what you need in that moment for those people. I call those people EGRs, Extra Grace Required. And you have them in your life.

I hope they're not under your roof constantly. But what I want you to understand is that he's there for you. Here's a little way you can remember it. God will call you to do what you cannot do.

That's just a fact. He's going to call you as a parent to do things you can't do. He's going to call you in years and years of marriage. One of our volunteers this morning, been married over 40 years, he said, "These are some of the hardest seasons of marriage." It doesn't get any easier.

But God's the provider. He's the one that's going to help you. He will give you everything you need in this season that you're facing. I love the imagery.

He uses the word compassion, but then he also uses the word a shepherd. And that doesn't land with us because when was the last time you saw a shepherd? I saw a shepherd. My wife and I spent a couple of years overseas when we were brand new married.

We were coaching football, believe it or not. But I'm not a great football player. Anyway, I'll tell you about it later. But we were literally at an intersection in Adana, Turkey.

Cars are coming everywhere, just as modern as Hattiesburg and Stone County and all the places. Big old shopping center right here. Sheep running through the intersection. And then there's a shepherd coming right behind them, trying to gather them in, literally directing traffic to get close to his sheep.

And when I see that word about a shepherd, that's the picture that I see. I see somebody gathering people, watching out for them, caring for them, bringing them close. Listen, when you think about an elder at our church, think about a shepherd. We had an event up here this past Wednesday night.

It ran really late. One of our elders was the last one to leave the building because he was cleaning up after everybody. When you think about your house church pastor, think about a shepherd. It's someone who steps into your life with compassion.

When you think about a leader for our students on Sunday nights, don't think about a title as an elder, leader, or a pastor. Think about time, intentional time that is spent. Think about someone who God's going to provide what they need to love on and to care for people. So here's what I want to give you, because if you're like me, you're like, "I need more of that." That just doesn't come natural.

So I'm going to give you a prayer that you can pray this week, okay? This is action, remember? I want you to be able to step into these moments as a shepherd with compassion. That's not natural.

So here's what you're going to pray. God, help me see people the way you see them. Help me choose. You see, it's action.

Help me choose to give compassion. Because God's the provider, he'll do that. Number two, second thing you're going to see, Jesus provides so that you can provide. Let me show you right here in the text.

It's verse 37. "But he answered," this is so crazy, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, these are the disciples, "Well, that would take like eight months of a man's wage." Don't you hear the sarcasm? You got to be kidding, bro. You want me to go spend that much on bread and give it to them so that they can eat?

He's like, "Bro, I'm hungry, too." "'Well, how many loaves do you have?' he said. 'Well, go and see.'" And they found out that they've got five loaves and they've got two fish. Now, many of you, if you know this story, if you grew up in church, you're going, "Wait a minute. Where'd that fish and bread come from?" But when you flip over, remember, this story is in four different gospels. So John gives you some details about where the fish and the bread comes from.

Comes from a little boy. You know the story. Andrew, one of the disciples, comes up on a little boy. He's desperate.

He's got all these people on the hillside. And I don't know what kind of little boy just gives his fish away. That's like the miracle before the miracle. But somehow he gives the two fish and he gives five pieces of bread.

But I want you to see the emphasis that's in this verse, because verse 37 is really clear, and he lays it right back on the disciples. He says, "You give them something to eat." Now, think about that for just a minute. This is Jesus speaking, the Jesus that was there for the creation of the world. He created mountains and oceans.

He created and gave life. This wasn't an issue of capacity. Jesus could have made it rain bread. I mean, Jesus created fish.

There wasn't a problem for there to be more fish, but he chose to let the disciples be a part of the miracle. He chose to use them. He chose to provide through them. He's put things in your hands, he's put things in my hands that we're to put back in his hands, and then we just watch him work.

Kingdom math, it's different. You're thinking in your mind just like the disciples. Whoa, bro, I don't have enough. That's cool for so-and-so because I know he's got...

No, it was a matter of obedience. It was a matter of responding in a moment. It was a matter of being faithful to what God had given them, and then just watch Jesus work. That's the beautiful part of it.

When we put what we have in our hands back in his hands, it's just watch. God, do something with this that's bigger than I could ever do. Feed these 5,000 with these two fish and these five pieces of bread. You're going in your mind, I don't know if I have enough.

And what I'm telling you is it's about obedience. It's about faith. It's about action. It's about kingdom math, not your practical math.

And it's about watching Jesus do more than you could ask or imagine. Now, I want you to know, you guys do a great job of this. You give all the time percentages and part of what God's given you. You did it with, we just got finished with it, not the Christmas Store, but for our teachers, Love a Teacher or something like that, Bless a School.

I can't remember what it was called. But you all gave, and then we were able to go help others. But when I think about giving, there's a moment that comes into my mind because giving's personal. And I remember it was Christmas Eve, and I was standing out here in the atrium, and I was welcoming people in.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and just drinking hot chocolate. And there's a gentleman that came in at our church, and man, he saw me and kind of made a beeline over to me, and he gave me a handshake like this, like an older gentleman would do. It was serious. And he shook my hand, and I looked at him in the eyes, and there was a big old smile on his face, bigger than normal, and then he was gone.

And y'all ever heard of a Pentecostal handshake? I go, and he put a $100 bill in my hands. I tried to shake his hand again real quick. Every time I see him, I shake his hand.

Happy holidays. But can I tell you the joy that I saw in his face? It was Christmas Eve, man. Can I tell you the joy that I experienced firsthand?

I went home and told my kids about it. Now, every time at Christmas Eve, what do they ask? Did you get the handshake? But I've taught them about giving through one of your acts of generosity.

They've seen God provide for our family by the way you've been obedient. It's generosity. It's what I want you to feel. It's something I want you to experience.

It's a story I want you to be able to tell. You are meant to feed people. You got to receive that this morning because I know that's personal, but it's a faith issue. In fact, this one's going to get a little more aggressive.

God hasn't blessed you just to raise your standard of living, but of giving. Now, you got to kind of wrestle with that a little bit because that's harder, but it's in the scripture. I want you to have treasures in heaven waiting on you because God gives. He provides.

Now, let's get to the next one because that one hurts a little bit. Jesus provides the next step. Check out verse 39. You're going to love this, okay?

Breathe a little bit. It's okay. We're just going to pass the plate twice today. No big deal.

Verse 39. "Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties." Let me tell you what I thought about when I read that passage. I thought about maybe a mom that's here today that's overwhelmed.

I thought about a dear friend of mine that's watching today from Asbury. Her mom's in hospice. And the reality is, you're in a season where you're overwhelmed. Can you imagine these 12 guys?

They're looking out at 5,000 men, and the men brought their wives and kids, so the best we can tell, 15 to 20,000 people, and they have one little boy's two fish and five pieces of bread. Feels overwhelming to me, but I love what Jesus does. He said, "You don't have to be able to do a miracle for 20,000 people. Just be obedient and take the next step to feed 50." And that's a word for you today.

And in fact, I read this word and I thought, this is perfect for today. It's called nowism, where instead of thinking millions of miles down the road, and instead of being overwhelmed by all the different details, you're just faithful in the now. I don't know what the now is for you. I would imagine it's pretty overwhelming.

But what I'm challenging you to do today is just say, would you just be faithful in the next decision? Would you do the next right thing? Maybe it's your marriage. You're ready for it to be healed, to be great.

You're ready for that communication to just be easy. No, it may not happen right off, but instead you're going to start today with just a prayer for your husband or for your wife. You're ready for that relationship with your kids to be back to being fluid and being natural. Well, it may not be today, but you're going to do one thing to move towards them.

You're ready to see your school come to Christ, and man, I love that idea, but it may be that you just need to be faithful to a friend that's your classmate. You're ready for your neighborhood to have this revival and everybody plant a brand-new church right there. No, just start a house church. Just one little act of obedience in the now.

Be obedient in the small things and let God take care of the big things. Okay? All right, number four. We got five of them, so hang with me.

Don't give up yet. Verse 41. This is where the story gets incredible. Don't miss this part, okay?

Stay with me, stay with me. Verse 41. "Taking the five loaves and the two fish, looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and he broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people." Now, I've always read this and I've wondered, what was that moment like?

I mean, how did he perform this miracle? Did he just snap and everybody was fed? And then I heard this about the text. This word, he gave, the tense of that is that it is continuous.

So then I started doing the math, and I'm not a very good mathematician, but help me. There's 12 disciples. There's anywhere from 5,000 men, best guess, 15,000 to 20,000 people. They're in groups of 50 to 100.

So the disciples, you ready? They had their bread, but they continued to give it out. Thirty-three different times they had to run back to Jesus to fill it up. Picture that in your mind.

You're on a hillside. You're looking at thousands of people, and you're looking at your little basket of bread, and they're thinking exactly what we think day in and day out, is there enough? Am I going to have enough to care for the people that are looking at me? Is there enough?

Can I make it through another conversation? Can we make it through another day watching her or him suffer? Is there enough? Thirty-three times they ran out and they came back and Jesus filled them up.

And so I'm asking you today, would you get back in that habit of running back to Jesus and letting him fill up your basket and then give it out, give it out, give it out? And know, hey, wait, wait, I can run back. There's going to be enough. God gives generously.

It's limitless. This is from Olive Garden. Do you know about Olive Garden? It's bottomless.

Endless salad bar. Limitless breadsticks. But the picture there is that's God's love and his grace. Did you see that?

It's not like all of a sudden, Jesus fed 4,999 people, but there was one little teenage girl that didn't have any bread. No. That's not how his grace works. It's abounding for you.

It's not rationed out. It's overflowing. Jesus provides. This isn't just about what you're going to give.

This is about you receiving some things. He provides grace for you. He provides mercy for you. All right, come on, last one.

This is right here, verse 42. "They all ate." God, you got to love that part of the passage. "They all ate and were satisfied. And the disciples picked up 12 baskets full of broken pieces of bread and fish.

The number of men who had eaten that day was 5,000." Check out the rollercoaster of that day. Sounds like some of our days in everyday life, doesn't it? I mean, maybe you don't feed 20,000 people, but you're up and down. I mean, these guys, at one moment, thought, "There's not enough to feed these people." The next moment, they're going, "There's bread left over." I love the little part of the passage that says there is a remainder of 12.

They fed all of those people. Everybody got bread and fish, and then here they are, the 12, and they're back to having a basket full. More than they started with. Do you see how his grace doesn't run out for you?

But the part that sticks out to me is the story. And maybe it's just because I love stories. I mean, I love to tell stories of national parks that we've been to on vacation, experiences there firsthand, places we've seen. I love to tell stories of ballgames.

I mean, you got to love ballgames. We're about to start high school football. I'm ready for some new stories. I love to tell stories of generosity.

There's a guy that shook my hand at our church, and he gave me a $100 bill. What about the story that this little boy's getting to tell? Can you imagine what it was like when he ran up to his mom? "I caught two fish, and then I fed 20,000 people, Mom." And what I've got to ask you is, what's going to be your story?

God provided this for me and my family, and then through this gift, what he put in my hands, I put it back in his hands, and now there's five different campuses in five different communities with 3,000 adults coming every single Sunday. Look what he's done through what you have given. There's stories of salvation, and there's stories of healing. There's a movement of the next generation that's happening, and you're investing in it.

So yeah, there's one part of this of you and you putting things back in his hands. That's part of the text. But the other part is the story of the disciples. You're not going to believe what God provided through me today.

I was overwhelmed. I was running on empty. I had no idea how God was going to feed all these people, but he did it. He met me in my lowest moment.

You talk about a story to be able to tell I was in a hospital room. He provided what I needed. I was staring at kids as a single mom. I didn't know what to do.

He provided what I needed. We had made it through 10 years of marriage, and all of a sudden, we were like strangers. He provided what I needed. I want you to know him as the provider.

So here's what I want you to do. I want you to bow your head for just a second, and sometimes you may be tempted to check out on this little part of the story, but I just think there's a part of Jesus that you may not be experiencing yet. And I don't want you to miss this part. This is one of the best parts.

He's alive in your life, and he gives you what you need. He provides for you. And so I'm going to lead you in just a second of just praying something that may be new to you because it's real. It's like action.

I want you to pray and ask God to provide exactly what you need for what you're facing today. I want you to pray, and I want you to ask God to give you courage to give back to him what he's given you. Now, here's what we're going to do at every campus. I want you to go ahead and stand up with me.

Go ahead and stand up. I know you're like, "Are we praying or are we standing?" We're going to do two things at once, and I'm going to pray a prayer over you, and then we're going to sing about Jesus being on time. What a timely song for this moment. But I want this to be something that really begins a thing in your life basically called dependence, where he provides what you need.

So we're going to pray, and then we're going to sing. God, I thank you that this is a faith movement. I mean, we go all the way back to the Book of Mark, and we see one miracle that's recorded in four different books, and we see different details of every single account because, God, this blew us away. This is a story that's about a radical generosity.

It's about a miraculous God providing through normal people. It's about a little boy that gave up something that nobody would've thought he'd been able to give up. It's about you meeting people in their time of need. And so God, there's a real prayer here because I feel like we got five different hillsides, and we got thousands of hungry people, and we're looking for some more little boys that would just be faithful with what you've given.

We're looking for people that could walk out of here with a story about how you met them in a low moment and how you provided. So God, as we sing about you being on time, Father, I pray you would meet us where we are today, that you would give us exactly what we need for exactly what we're facing, and that we would have a story to tell about your provision in our life. It's in your name we pray. Amen.