My first real preaching gig

I guess that this is my first official preaching gig. Last night I was given the opportunity to speak at the local church I attend here in Blacksburg. The pastor is a fun guy and also a brave guy for letting me do this. I think I will get a few more opportunities in the future to speak before I graduate and head out west. Apparently I was received well and I took a different view on the feeding of the four thousand. I'm posting my notes here for your reading pleasure. I will say that it was nice to see a piece of what my future looks like. I'm completely stoked because last night was awesome. Even though I know that I have a long way to go, I'm so excited for all the new experiences that lay ahead.

With that said, here are my notes:


Mark 8:1-10 (New Living Translation)

Focus on verse 7: A few small fish were found, too, so Jesus also blessed these and told the disciples to pass them out.

Here Jesus is telling the disciples to pass out what little food they had. I can just imagine the thoughts running through their heads. It didn’t add up. A few fish were not going to feed four thousand people. It seemed impossible and crazy. But Jesus told them to give out what little food they had and the disciples obeyed.

Simple obedience is what Jesus was asking the disciples in this story. He asked a very small task of them, just to pass out the food. They weren’t required to do anything dangerous or complicated, just a simple task. Sometimes it is the simple tasks that are the hardest for us, because they don’t always make sense. Passing out the food for four thousand people with just a few fish seemed like such a big task because it didn’t make sense. I think the reason why we as Christians have a hard time obeying God in the little tasks in our lives is because we see God as a big God, a God of big events and of more ‘important’ tasks. Surely God wouldn’t see the little things in life as something important enough to pay attention to.

Another reason why we have a hard time doing small menial tasks for Christ is that there is no recognition for it. When no other Christians see what we are doing then it takes out the personal pride and personal glory that we can receive from doing it. We like to feel important, relevant, and of vital importance to the church. Doing small tasks for God doesn’t make us feel important at all.

1 Timothy 5:25 says this:
In the same way, everyone knows how much good some people do, but there are others whose good deeds won’t be known until later.

This means that some good deeds are not to be seen by others and not recognized by others. This can make simple tasks even harder to fulfill because our pride can get in the way.

What we don’t realize is that little tasks that Jesus calls us to do can make all the difference in the world. He can use our simple obedience in the small things in life as a training ground for bigger problems and decisions. If we are not obedient in the smaller issues in life, then how are we going to respond to something bigger and more complex? He is also able to use our simple obedience in small tasks to affect others around us. People watch us more that we will ever know. He can use our simple obedience in bigger ways that we could ever imagine. That’s exactly what happened to Jesus’ disciples.

The result of their simple obedience is revealed in verse 8:

They ate until they were full, and when the scraps were picked up, there were seven large baskets of food left over.

Every person was fed and their hunger satisfied. The disciples and the other people were amazed. This story is not just about how four thousand were fed in the desert just from a few fish, it’s also about how the disciples obeyed Jesus even when it didn’t make any sense to them. The disciples were also training for other bigger things in life, when obedience could mean death. There are big implications in how we respond to the details of our lives. My prayer is that we will see God in the small things in our lives and recognize that God is still the God of small things. Even when we don’t realize all the implications of our actions.