It All Started With A Simple Question
You are always worshiping. The question is who?
It all started with a simple question.
How are you doing?
When people ask me that, especially believers, I try to actually answer it for two reasons.
One, I want prayer.
Two, it really is how I am doing.
Let me pastor you for a moment. Or encourage you. Call it whatever you want.
Tell people how you are actually doing.
Slow down.
Pray together.
Be genuine for a few moments.
I answered that question with excitement because God had just spoken to me through Mark chapter 8. He reminded me of something pivotal.
He has more than enough for me.
And I had forgotten the more than enough.
How Easy It Is to Forget
As we wrap up this series—“You are always worshipping. The question is, Who?”—here is the overall premise of Mark chapter 8.
Jesus feeds thousands of people again. This time, it is four thousand. And it is not the first time. The disciples had already watched Him feed five thousand before.
But right after that miracle, they get on the boat and forget to bring the leftover bread.
They have one loaf.
And they panic.
Then Jesus, quickly and lovingly, rebukes them.
Do you not remember?
Do you not understand?
How many did I feed, and how many baskets were left over?
He is not being harsh. He is being faithful.
He is trying to anchor them to what is true when stress starts getting loud.
Because that is what stress does.
It makes the moment feel bigger than the miracle.
It makes fear feel more reasonable than faith.
And I did the same thing.
A particular situation began to tempt me to take my eyes off Him.
The pressure started rising.
And it got louder than what God has been doing for the past fourteen months.
For fourteen months, I have asked Jesus for daily bread.
And thanks to many of you, and a few Christian brothers, God has not only sustained us.
He has multiplied.
Provision, yes.
And impact too.
Discipleship has grown.
Fruit has grown.
And still, I can get to a moment where my flesh forgets.
That is why Mark 8 hits me so hard.
Another gut check was the Pharisees. They show up after the miracle, asking for a sign.
They look past a miracle and demand another one.
Not because they want Jesus.
Because they want control.
A convenient sign.
Proof on their terms.
And if we are honest, we can do the same thing.
We can look at what God has already done and say, That is not enough.
Then we ask Him for something else to prove He is good.
Never Finished Challenge: ABIDE
The challenge for you and me today is not just to remember.
It is to abide.
We are human beings. Not human doings.
Jesus tells us in John 15 that He is the vine and we are the branches.
As we abide, as we depend on Him, as we bring the real stuff to Him, we bear much fruit.
That includes the stressful moments.
The confusing moments.
The moments that feel so weird and so heavy that you do not even know what to do with them.
Abiding looks like release.
Release control.
Release the need to win.
Release the demand to understand everything right now.
Stay close.
Stay surrendered.
Stay honest.
And fruit will come.
Fruit that is seen by the people around you.
So our job, our mission, our opportunity is simple.
Be His child.
When pride rises, be His vessel.
When control rises, when ownership and selfishness rise, be His servant.
When fear rises, when loneliness rises, be His child.
What Does Today Say About God?
It is almost funny how the revelation of God, and even the supernatural work of God, can still not be enough for my flesh to stay calm in stressful situations.
What does that say?
I want to encourage you and myself.
It means I am human.
It means I have some work to do.
Not work that earns love.
Not work that buys favor.
Jesus already secured that.
Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
This is the kind of work that grows intimacy.
The kind of work that deepens trust.
The kind of work that keeps bringing my heart back to the Vine.
And here is the great hope for you and me today.
One day, sin will be gone.
Our minds will be clear.
Our bodies will be restored.
And we will still be growing with the Lord.
In love.
In wonder.
In revelation.
Forever.
There is a holy tension here.
It is too profound to fully explain that the King of kings, perfect and outside of time, who spoke the universe into existence, would want me close.
Would desire me.
For that long.
Even after all my failures.
And somehow, that mystery does not crush me.
It builds me.
It lays a foundation.
It sends roots deep.
It forms an identity that points outside of myself to Someone who is King.
Someone who is worthy.
Someone who is mercy.
Thank you, Jesus.
What a God.
What a King.
What a Friend.