God Still Cares | Sarah Jakes Roberts

Summary

The Potter’s House Podcast

God Still Cares | Sarah Jakes Roberts

Date: March 15, 2026
Guest Speaker: Sarah Jakes Roberts

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Episode Overview

In this sermon, co-senior pastor Sarah Jakes Roberts delivers a passionate and deeply personal message centered on the theme: “God Still Cares.” Drawing from Mark 8:1-6, she explores the compassionate character of God, the crisis of compassion fatigue in a weary world, and the call for believers to move beyond apathy and into transformative, actionable care — both for themselves and others. Throughout the message, she uses heartfelt anecdotes, scriptural insights, and a prophetic tone to encourage listeners not only to receive God’s care, but also to embody and share it.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Gratitude & Foundations (00:07 – 03:00)

• Opening Remarks: Sarah expresses gratitude to the church, longtime leaders Bishop T.D. Jakes and First Lady Serita Jakes, and acknowledges all who serve behind the scenes, highlighting the collective anointing that makes the church thrive.
• Quote:

  "The best part of being at this church is the person you sit next to... It's so much bigger than one person. It's the collective anointing of all of us coming together." — Sarah (02:00)

2. The Human Capacity to Care (03:00 – 15:00)

• Text Foundation: Mark 8:1-6 — Jesus has compassion for a hungry multitude, noting the human need for both spiritual and practical care.
• Personal Story: Sarah shares humorous anecdotes about recognizing “warning signs” in children and aging parents to illustrate how life stages shift what we care about (07:00).
• Capacity Limits:
  • Not a matter of age, but of "capacity":

    "The more I care, the less I care." — Sarah (09:05)

  • When life crises arise, our focus narrows and we let go of lesser concerns.
• Depression & Survival: Some seasons require focusing all your energy on survival, leaving less room for superficial worries (10:00–11:00).

3. Compassion Collapse & Apathy (15:00 – 20:00)

• Compassion Collapse:
  • The greater the scale of trauma or tragedy, the harder it is to sustain empathy:

    "Compassion collapse is where people begin to feel less empathy, the greater the scale of the trauma." — Sarah (16:27)

  • We’re more likely to help when a need feels personal than when it feels overwhelming and distant.
  • Challenge: Fight becoming numb to headlines; remain sensitive to both personal and global needs (18:00).

4. Learning to Care Without Carrying (19:52 – 26:00)

• Personal & Scriptural Examples:
  • The story of Hannah giving her burdens to God (1 Samuel 1).
  • Hezekiah lays the threatening letter on the altar instead of carrying the problem alone (2 Kings).
  • Practical Application:

    "Show me how to care without carrying it to the point where I'm depressed too... I want to care, but I want to trust You with it." — Sarah (22:06)

  • Discern what’s assigned to you vs. what’s merely placed upon you.

5. The Lord's Harvest: Your Role & Boundaries (29:15 – 35:51)

• From Matthew 9:
  • When Jesus says "the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few," He doesn't say, "Go solve it all yourself," but "Pray to the Lord of the harvest" (30:23).
  • Reminds listeners not to become a “savior” for everyone:

    "It is not my job to be the problem solver. How can I call You the way maker and then try to make a way for somebody else?" — Sarah (24:43)

• Your Anointing is Not for Everything:
  • Focus energy where God has assigned and anointed you; resist the urge to “do it all” (35:18).

6. The Inexhaustible Compassion of God (36:26 – 43:59)

• God's Capacity:
  • Unlike human compassion, God's care never runs out or collapses:

    "His compassion faileth not... He's got enough capacity to hold the universe together in one hand but also recognize when a woman touched the hem of His garment." — Sarah (37:04)

• He Cares for Victims and Villains:
  • God’s care extends even to those who self-sabotage or disobey, referencing Adam & Eve and Jesus forgiving from the cross (41:06-42:59).

7. Correction as Care (43:59 – 55:04)

• Correction ≠ Rejection:
  • God’s correction is an act of care designed to elevate and protect, not reject (46:00).
  • Example of Cain (Genesis 4): “If you do well, will you not be accepted (elevated)?”
  • Personal Application: Don’t misinterpret divine or human correction as a put-down; it's a call up.

8. The Marginalized Multitude & The Power of Community (58:14 – 68:43)

• Those Who are Overlooked:
  • Mark’s and Matthew’s multitudes were “disadvantaged, maimed, lame, blind, and marginalized.”
  • They model persistence — climbing a mountain to get to Jesus even with disabilities, relying on one another:

    "He can't walk and I can't see, but together we can get to Jesus." — Sarah (63:22)

  • Application to the church: We need each other; everyone brings a gift or strength.

9. Don’t Let Your Miracle Starve (68:43 – 71:45)

• Sustaining Miracles:
  • Jesus cares not just about giving a miracle but about you sustaining it.

    "What it took for them to get the miracle required determination. What it takes for them to sustain the miracle is different. It requires nourishment." — Sarah (68:53)

  • Action Step: Nourish what God brings into your life.

10. When Capacity Seems Inadequate—God Multiplies (71:45 – 82:13)

• Feeding the Multitude, Even for Those “Outsiders”:
  • God’s compassion isn’t limited by group identity, setting, or your resources.
  • Key Quote:

    "The Lord is making a demand on capacity that we don’t know we have, making a demand on resources and courage and creativity and forgiveness and love that we don’t know whether or not we have. He’s asking us for bread in the wilderness." — Sarah (73:00)

  • God doesn’t need you to be the miracle, just to offer what you do have so He can multiply it.

11. The Enemy’s Weapon: Apathy (77:01 – 85:21)

• Warning:
  • In this season, the devil is working to seduce the church into apathy:

    "If he can get you to stop caring, there will be no action, no counteraction to what’s taking place." — Sarah (78:30)

  • Call to Arms: Refuse to become numb. Step up as a demonstration that “God still cares.”

12. Compassion in Action: Church as Family (85:22 – End)

• Interactive Ministry:
  • Sarah calls for those doubting God's care to raise their hands and invites others to offer tangible support, reminding the church that “we may be the only way that somebody sees that God still cares.”
• Emotional & Spiritual Warfare:
  • Intense prayers over suicide, loneliness, depression, generational curses, and more — all to remind listeners: “God still cares. The blood still reaches.” (88:33–91:28)
• Final Charge:
  • Carry God’s compassion into daily interactions — grocery stores, headlines, everywhere — not waiting for church productions or perfect settings.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Compassion’s Limits:

  "The human brain literally does not have the capacity to care about everything at the same time. That's why it's so dangerous, the news cycle that we live in, so overwhelming social media... This is a phenomenon that takes place called compassion collapse." (14:14–16:34)

• On Empowered Action:

  "Don't allow the size of the catastrophe to diminish your compassion, because your compassion leads to action." (18:26)

• On Correction:

  "God cared too much to allow you to go down a path that wouldn't allow you to be elevated... correction is an opportunity for elevation." (46:47)

• On Miracles:

  "Don't let your miracle starve. What God does in you and for you, make sure you nourish it... He's not just giving you the miracle, he's trying to help you sustain the miracle." (68:53)

• On Overcoming Apathy:

  "If he (the enemy) can get you to stop caring, there will be no action, no counteraction to what's taking place." (78:30)

• On God’s Multiplied Provision:

  "Jesus is not looking for you to supply the multitude. He's looking for you to just make an offering." (76:25)

• On the Church’s Role:

  "We may be the only way that somebody sees that God still cares." (83:45)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Topic | Time | |---------|-------|------| | Introduction, gratitude | 00:07 – 03:00 | | Mark 8:1-6, Jesus’ compassion | 03:00 – 05:00 | | Human capacity & priorities | 07:00 – 11:00 | | Compassion collapse, news cycles | 14:14 – 18:26 | | Care without carrying | 19:52 – 26:00 | | The Lord’s harvest & boundaries | 29:15 – 35:51 | | God’s infinite compassion | 36:26 – 43:59 | | Correction as care | 43:59 – 55:04 | | Marginalized multitude, power of community | 58:14 – 68:43 | | Don’t let your miracle starve | 68:43 – 71:45 | | Multiplication & sufficient offering | 71:45 – 82:13 | | Warning about apathy | 77:01 – 85:21 | | Hands-on prayer & support | 85:22 – 88:33 | | Final charge, benediction | 92:00 – end |

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Conclusion & Takeaways

Sarah Jakes Roberts closes with a passionate prayer and altar ministry focused on breaking apathy, despair, and self-imposed limits. The repeated theme: God still cares—about the world, about you, and about those you are connected to. Your weaknesses, limits, and wounds don't disqualify you from God’s care or from being used by Him. Rather, your offering, no matter how small, can be multiplied as you keep your heart tender and your perspective open.

Call to Action: Let God’s compassion move from knowledge to practice—within your family, in your prayers, and on behalf of the world around you. Refuse apathy. Pair compassion with courage, and trust God to multiply what you bring.

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If you need connection, support, or prayer, the Potter’s House welcomes you. Remember, there’s always a place for you in the house of God, and God still cares—today and always.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Potter's House podcast. You are home away from home.

[B]

Stay a while.

[A]

As the word of God restores your hope and transforms your life. This text that God gave me, it is in Mark, chapter eight, verse one through six. Can I just say, I love this church? You know, it's been almost a year since we've been blessed with the incredible privilege to serve as co senior pastors. And first of all, I want to thank y' all for still coming. You know what I mean? Because, you know, the great bishop. Can you help me acknowledge again the great bishop. And first lady? They've laid such an incredible, incredible foundation here. And I'll be honest, it was a bit intimidating, the notion of coming in and serving in this capacity. And I'm just grateful that God continues to just fill our heart with love for you all. And I feel the love from you all. And I just want to thank you for your commitment and your sensitivity to what God could do in us and through us. It really means the world to both my husband and I feel like I can say that on our behalf. And we love you all tremendously. Lady Thelma, I'm praying for you. We love you. So many incredible people are part of the backbone of this church. And I'm telling you, if you limit it to just who's preaching on Sunday, you gonna miss the best part of being here. The best part of being at this church is the person you sit next to. It's the parking lot attendants, the greeters, it's the ushers, it's our deacons, our ministers, our elders. It's so much bigger than one person. It's the collective anointing of all of us coming together. So can you just help me thank everyone who brings their anointing into this space to create an atmosphere for God to rest? For those of you who are taking notes, my subject is God still cares. God still cares. And I am in Mark, if you got your physical Bible, say, hold on. Okay, Mark, chapter eight, verses one through six. That's in the New Testament. There's no shade. For those of you who have a digital Bible, no shade at all. But I'm trying to keep practicing flipping through my Bible. And if you feel like that's a part of what you should do, I want to encourage you to get your physical Bible and bring it to church sometimes. But also, if you ain't got time for that, that ain't no okay. God's looking at the heart of things. Chapter 8 in this text begins, Jesus has been with a multitude and he's been healing them and he has been preaching to them and it is time for them to depart. And verse one says, in those days, the multitude being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, I have compassion on the multitude because they have now continued with me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come from afar. Then his disciples answered him, how can one satisfy these people, people with bread here in the wilderness? He asked them, how many loaves do you have? And they said, seven. So he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before them. And they set them before the multitude. Spirit of the living God, we ask that you would breathe in this place, that you would make your presence undeniably clear to us, that you would continue the work that you have already begun in this place. God, I ask that you would look at my heart, my energy, my capacity, and that you would take over that where I fall short, that your grace would be sufficient for me. And God, I thank you for every person who is meant to hear this word. May it be a wake up call, a clarion call to get back in the fight, to be reminded of the heart that you have for them and most importantly, the heart that we must possess for the times that we live in. God, bless this word as only you can do. Breathe in me and through me. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Can you say something nice to the person sitting next to you? Tell them they look good. All that dancing and you're not musty. As a mother, there's this sign, this alert, if you will, that allows me to know when my children are in trouble. There are certain cries I don't pay attention to. As a matter of fact, my daughter the other day, she hit her toe or something in the kitchen and she cried or something or yelled and she was like, mom, I yelled. You didn't even look up. And it's not that I didn't care, but you know, you're fine, you know what I mean? And the older she gets, the more I'm able to tell her, like, there's a certain cry that lets me know when things are actually a problem versus you just like doing things for the vibe, you know what I mean? Like, I think you're just trying to catch the vibe of things. And she's getting a Little bit older, and we have older kids. And so I have to worry less about listening for that sound for when things have actually gone down. And I thought that that stage of my life was coming to an end. But then I realized that there's a different sound that I have to listen out for now too. And this is a sound that also lets me know when things are about to go down. But it doesn't come from my children. This one comes from my parents. There's a warning sign that lets me know when things are about to go down. And if you have parents who are entering into a particular stage of life, You may be familiar with some of these sounds. There are certain statements that let me know things are about to take a shift. When my father starts telling people his age, like, I'm 68 years old, when that starts coming out of his mouth. I know that things are about to take a shift when my mother starts saying things like, at my age. You see, because they have this belief that because they have reached a certain age, that. That there are certain things that no longer apply to them. No, it's not true.

[B]

They are trying to make me believe.

[A]

This is what they're trying to make me believe, that the older they get, the less they care about things. Like it's some kind of biological hormonal imbalance that takes place place when you hit a certain age that keeps you from caring about the things that you used to care about. And now when my parents are out talking to well meaning, well intentioned people and they say something they don't like, they start telling people their age, like that's supposed to in some way make them understand that they are not the

[B]

one or the two.

[A]

I'm 68 years old. I'm.

[B]

When I get to.

[A]

And the thing is this. There is no scientific backing that says the older you get, the less you care. Yeah, I hate to break that to you. I didn't get no amens from that one because some of us have been waiting to use that for ourselves. I can't wait to get to the age where I don't care anymore. So I can just say whatever comes to mind. That's part of the reason why we knew it was time for succession. Because Bishop just started saying little things up here when he was preaching and y' all was clapping and our head was scratching like, y' all just gonna clap while he called people out like this. And here's the thing. I was doing research for this message and I learned something. There is a little bit of validity no to the fact that we do have a limited capacity to care about certain things. It's not necessarily something that happens with age as much as it is literally the way that our mind works. That when you begin to have to channel your energy and your resources to caring about certain things, it diminishes your capacity to care about other things. If I could say this in a country adage kind of way, I would say the more I care, the less I care. That'll hit you later in the car. But when you go through some things, some situations that make a demand on your attention and your capacity, you begin

[B]

to realize that I can't care about

[A]

this and care about what you think at the same time. You understand what I'm saying? When a patient is in the ICU

[B]

ward, they're not worried about whether or

[A]

not they need to get their car washed, because I have to channel all of my energy into caring about this. Right now. I don't have the capacity to care for that. When someone is going through a situation where they're trying to keep a roof over their head, they don't have the capacity to care about whether or not. You've seen the last episode of Paradise Baby, I'm in a fight for my life right now.

[B]

I don't have time to be entertained.

[A]

I'm trying to make sure that there's food on the table.

[B]

The more that I have to channel

[A]

my energy into caring about that, this the less capacity I have to care about that. There have been some seasons where even people in this room have gone through depression so dark and so heavy that

[B]

while people were talking about what they

[A]

had on or whether or not their house was clean, they didn't realize that it was taking everything they had to just open their eyes. I didn't have time to care about whether or not the house was clean. I didn't have time to care about brushing my teeth. It took everything I had to stay alive. There are some moments in our life

[B]

where we have to channel everything we

[A]

have into caring about what is in front of us. There is nothing that prioritizes our compassion like the reality that we are in a fight that is going to make a demand on everything we have and things that we don't even realize that we have. It's going to take everything I got. See, you had to go through some things where you start realizing like, I

[B]

used to care what people thought about me, but then I almost lost my mind. So.

[A]

So I had to take care of my own thoughts.

[B]

I used to care what People said about me. But then I realized that if I didn't get a hold of my own language, I was going to be in a fight. I used to care about what other

[A]

people's kids was doing until it was

[B]

my kids that was in a mess. I used to care about what was going on at so and so's church and so and so's marriage until it was my marriage and my house. See, life makes this demand on us that requires us to start paying attention to what's happening in our world. I got to pay attention to what's happening in my neighborhood. I got to sweep around my own front porch. I'm in a fight right now. I'm in a season of my life where if I don't focus, I'm going to lose this opportunity. If I don't buckle down, my marriage is going to fall apart. If I don't start prophesying and declaring, this depression is going to have the final say. I wish I could talk to somebody who didn't just come to play church. But you know what it's like to be in a situation where you cannot afford to care about what you used to care about any longer. I used to care about looking stupid. I used to care that someone thought that I didn't have what it takes. Now I'm so hungry to get a word from God. I'm so hungry to be everything I can be and God that I don't have time to care about what you think. I used to not lift my hands in church because I didn't want anybody to think that I was the one in trouble. But, baby, I got into some trouble. Trouble that made me stop caring what you thought about it. My life made me hit some roads. That made me stop caring what you thought about my worship. Y' all come to church sometimes and you laugh at the people who run around and laugh at the people who shout around. Baby, you don't know what they've been through. They've been through some things in their life. If you knew from where the Lord brought them, if you knew what the devil was trying to do to them, you wouldn't care either. You wouldn't care if it was loud, you wouldn't care. Care if it was unruly. You wouldn't care if it got on other people's nerves. As for me and my house, we're going to praise the Lord because my house was shaking. My house almost came tumbling down. But God took care of me. When you realize that God took care of you, it changes the way.

[A]

I don't have capacity to care about

[B]

what I used to care about. I don't have the capacity to give attention to what I used to give attention to.

[A]

Let the rumor spread.

[B]

The truth will outlast the rumor any day. I'm going to stay steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. God will take care of the rumors. God will take care of the battles. I don't have time to chase down every lie. I got to stand on the truth. The devil tried to take the truth from.

[A]

From me. The ability to recognize when what you pay attention to and what you care about needs to shift requires intentionality. Sometimes it's gotta shift, and people will be expecting you to care about the things you used to care about, not realizing that the moment has required you to shift your attention. The human brain literally does not have the capacity to care about everything at the same time. That's why it's so dangerous. The news cycle that we live in, so overwhelming social media. I don't know if you're like me, but I've had these moments where I was scrolling or looking at what was happening in the news and I put my phone down and I felt defeated and deflated. Things happening thousands of miles away technically doesn't have anything to do with me, but still so devastating that I don't know what to do about it. Millions of people losing their jobs to AI, war breaking out, murder and death. There are moments where literally I don't have the capacity to care about everything. This is a phenomenon that takes place called compassion collapse. Compassion collapse is where people begin to feel less empathy, the greater the scale of the trauma. Let me say that real good. So it's the difference between hearing that 3 million people have lost access to health care and then seeing that one go fund me page of that one person who's in need of money for surgery.

[B]

When we can put an individual with

[A]

a cause, we are more likely to respond from a place of compassion because we feel empowered enough to respond on that individual level. But the greater the issue, the greater the concern, the more powerless we feel. And when we feel powerless, our compassion collapses. It's called compassion collapse. And so I have been challenging myself to not just read what I see on the headlines as entertainment, but to remember or information, but to remember that it is devastation. Oh, we have to not allow ourselves to become so apathetic that we just read headlines, close our apps, and feel nothing at all. Because when we move into a space of apathy, we also become stagnant. And when we become stagnant, we are no longer able to effect change. Come on, guys. This is how we will lose the battle against wickedness and evil. We will see it on a large scale and convince ourselves that because it's happening on a large scale, we can do nothing about it. And then when we do nothing about it, nothing gets done about it. Oh, God. If the enemy can convince you that

[B]

there's nothing you can do about it, then you will not lay hold of territory that God has assigned to your anointing.

[A]

Oh, this not in my notes, but this is for somebody. Don't allow the size of the catastrophe

[B]

to diminish your compassion, because your compassion leads to action. And if you can't find feel it, then you can't go and get them. And if you just think it's a part of being in this life, then you will not step into the trauma of someone else's situation and deliver the good news. That you serve a God who is a healer. That you serve a God who is a way maker. That you serve a God who takes what the enemy meant for evil and turns it for good. We cannot afford to be apathetic at

[A]

a time when the world is falling apart. This is not a message for people

[B]

who just want to have church.

[A]

This is a message for people who

[B]

want to be the church. When you opened up your eyes this morning, service started. When your eyes woke up and you put your feet on the floor, that is when church began. And if you are waiting for the musicians to get in place and the worship leaders to grab the microphone for church to begin, you have missed the whole moment. Don't let the enemy distract you with production. The real work happens outside of here.

[A]

So this is what you have to do. The Lord has been challenging me to learn how to care without caring. So the answer is I can't just not care at all. I have to find a way to care without carrying. Oh, Jesus. Hannah wanted to have a child and Samuel, she wanted to have a child. She wanted to have a baby so bad. And she was carrying it with her. And everyone knew she wanted to have a child and it was bothering her and she was carrying it and carrying it. But there was something that happened when she was at the Jerusalem and she was at the temple and she said, something's going got a shift in the way that I'm looking at this situation.

[B]

Because the way that I'm looking at

[A]

this situation is causing me to carry it in a way that is detrimental to the way that I'm showing up in life. Oh, God, help me to say this real good. So she went into the temple so that she could have a conversation with the Lord.

[B]

She poured her her heart out to

[A]

the Lord because she needed to, Lord, the Lord, to understand that.

[B]

That what's in my heart that I care about is now becoming too heavy

[A]

for me to carry on my own.

[B]

So, Lord, I need you to show me how to care without carrying it to the point where I'm depressed too. Without carrying it to the point where

[A]

it's the only thing that I see.

[B]

I wish there were some people in this room who knew what it was like to care for someone but not want to have to carry it any longer. I care about what you're going through, but I can't carry you any longer. I wanted to be there for you, but now I think I may have become your savior. I want to care about you, but

[A]

I can't carry you like this anymore. God, show me how to care without carrying it.

[B]

God, show me how to pour my heart out so that you can take

[A]

inventory of what's inside of me.

[B]

So that you can show me what's been happening within me.

[A]

So that I can lay this thing

[B]

down at your feet. I can't afford to have the weight of the world on my shoulders. It's making me ineffective for the moment I'm standing in. I want to care about what's happening, but I don't want to care so much that I'm left stagnant.

[A]

Lord, show me how to care without carrying. That's been my prayer.

[B]

I don't want to have to control my children's outcome. I don't want to have to control what. I don't want to feel like I'm

[A]

the one that's in control of everything.

[B]

I want to care, but I want to trust you with it. Cast your burdens on him. I want to care without carrying it. I'm sorry, but I got to give you back to the Lord. And that don't even require conversation. All you got to do is get in your prayer closet. They don't even have to know that you're not caring any longer. I realized that I was trying to be there for you and lost myself. I got to learn to care without caring. I'm drowning myself trying to save you. It's time for me to care without carrying. The greatest gift you can give someone is the truth that you can't carry

[A]

them through every season.

[B]

They need the Lord. They need the God that you serve, not you. To become their God. And the only way they may ever find God is if you stop carrying them so that they can fall back on the one who was there all along. I need you to know him for yourself. I need you to lean into your own prayers. Your prayers reach heaven just like mine. I may know more verses, I may have more things to say, but your prayers reach heaven just like mine. If you never came to church, if you never heard from a prophet, you got to learn to get in your own prayer closet so that you. You can start taking what's happening in you into the presence of the Lord so that he can show you what's a problem and what's not. So that he can show you how to move, how to function, how to speak. Because what happens to me when I

[A]

take what I'm carrying into the presence of the Lord? He shows me what I'm meant to lay down.

[B]

And he shows me how to be

[A]

strong enough to keep moving with what is assigned to me. Oh, God, help me to say this

[B]

right now, real good. Some of you are carrying things that were not assigned to you. They were just given to you. And that's why you got to lay yourself out before the Lord, to make sure that you're not carrying something that was just given to you by someone else.

[A]

Instead of asking the Lord, this is

[B]

what they gave me. But what do you want me to do about it? It is not my job to be the problem solver. How can I call you the way maker and then try to make a way for somebody else? How can I call you the healer and then try and come up with a formula myself? God, what is it that you want me to say? What is it that you want me to do? Or what is it that you want

[A]

me to leave alone? When the king of Assyria sends letters to Hezekiah, he sends them these letters making fun of Judah, threatening their demise. He's literally a man with the weight of the world on his shoulders. And if he moves into autopilot, he'll begin gathering the military and telling them how they should respond and how they should structure themselves. But Hezekiah had enough wisdom. This so cold, you got to read it in Second Kings. He takes the letters from the king of Assyria into the temple and he lays it out on the temple because he wants everyone to understand that the

[B]

threats may have come from the king of Assyria. But the solution cannot come from me. The solution has to come from a place that's greater than me. And if I respond on autopilot I may respond incorrectly. This is not mine to carry. I gotta take this to the one who knows the end from the beginning. I gotta take my hands. Y' all was singing Take my hands off of it now we gonna preach. Take your hands off of it.

[A]

Because there comes some moments where you gotta lay some things out. I gotta lay it out on the altar because this is too heavy for me to care. Worried about your family, Worried about the world. Worried about the business as if it started with you. Worried that you can mess it up. Worried that in some way you could do something that will undo what God has already declared. And so you carry it like it started with you. And you carry it like no one can do it but you. And then you can't sleep at night and you are crumbling and they still throwing stuff on you because you have allowed them to believe that you can carry things that you were never meant to carry. Oh, I don't know who you are in this room, but I hear prophetically you're dealing with some kind of illness and nobody knows it. This is a word of knowledge. And you have allowed people to continue dumping on you in a way that is not healthy because you don't want them to see you be less than what they've known you to be. And I hear God saying that you may need to readjust their experience of you. You're going to beat this condition. I don't know who you are, but that's a word of knowledge. Just because you can carry it in the past doesn't mean that you're in a position to carry it now. I see you. And sometimes you got to let people know. Yeah, I see you. Sometimes you got to let people know. I can't carry what I used to carry. Don't let your pride get in the way. Sometimes you need some help letting somebody carry you this time. And until you tell us, we won't know that you don't have the capacity that you once had. I don't know who that is, for it is not in my notes. But I believe that is a word from God that it is okay for

[B]

you to not have the same strength

[A]

that you once had. The problem is, if you allow people to continue to believe that you had the strength that you no longer possessed. There are some of you who have carried others for so long that you don't even see the strength that God has placed around you.

[B]

And I hear God saying that I

[A]

have placed people in your world who have the capacity to carry some of the things that once were Your responsibility. I'll tell you. Jesus shows us the reality of us needing to master the ability to care without carrying. When he looks at a different multitude, he looks at the multitudes and he tells the disciples, the harvest is plentiful. This is in Matthew 9, 37, 38. I've grown up hearing this all the time. And whenever I hear this text, I always think to myself, the harvest truly is plentiful, but the labors are few. And I hear this as a clarion call for those of us who consider ourselves disciples to go out into the harvest. But this is not what Jesus tells the disciples. Jesus doesn't say, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. So get out into the field. Jesus says in verse 38. He says, therefore, pray. The Lord of the harvest. Hold on. Pray. Hold on.

[B]

Hold on.

[A]

Hold on. Hold on, hold on. Not every problem means that you need to immediately step in and make yourself the solution. Jesus says, there is a problem here. The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few.

[B]

But don't just make yourself a laborer because you may send yourself in the wrong field. What I want you to do instead is I want you to pray to the Lord of the harvest, verse 38. Put it on the screen for me,

[A]

because I want you to see it.

[B]

It says, therefore, pray the Lord of

[A]

the harvest to send out laborers into your harvest. Oh, does it say your harvest? Whose harvest is it? Whose harvest is it?

[B]

I know you think it's your child, but whose harvest is it? I know you think it's your problem, but whose harvest is it?

[A]

Is it?

[B]

God says before you, just make it your responsibility to carry something. I want you to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would send out laborers into his harvest. This is a word for somebody who has made it your responsibility to be the solution. That is not biblical. The solution is for you to pray to the Lord of the harvest that he would give direction for his harvest.

[A]

This. This is what he tells the disciples. This is his harvest. Oh, that's a word for people who

[B]

are working with other people.

[A]

And you got compassion fatigue because you're

[B]

trying to be everything that you can

[A]

be for somebody else. If you can remember that this is the Lord's harvest. I love you all. I want a pastor here for a very long time.

[B]

But I don't want to lose my life or lose my relationship with God trying to make you my harvest. So it is my responsibility to always remember that this church did not start with me, and it is not going to die because of me. And I'm not going to die because of it. Unless the Lord says that the same. Because this is the Lord's harvest. God, you tell me what you want me to speak. God, you show me how you want me to move. God, you show us who you want to be in position. Because this is your harvest. Jesus recognizes something that we don't recognize.

[A]

Our compassion does not have the ability to scale like his. This is why we have compassion fatigue. This is why we experience compassion collapse,

[B]

is because our compassion doesn't know how to scale.

[A]

That's why we become overloaded when we're

[B]

inundated with devastation, because we literally don't know how to care about everything. And that is what makes us different than God. Because his compassion faileth not.

[A]

Oh, God, help me.

[B]

You see, it's not my job to care about everything. It is my job to pray about everything. But if I care about everything, I will be effective at nothing. I have to care about what God has placed in front of me and pray for the laborers of the other field to rise up. So when I pray, I am not in politics. God hasn't called me to politics. But when I pray, I pray that God will raise up righteous men in politics, that it would shine a light on darkness and wickedness, that every plot and plan of the enemy will be exposed and destroyed. Because I recognize, though it's not my field, it's all connected. So I'm praying for you and your field. I'm praying for you in healthcare. I'm praying for you in education. I'm praying for you in the criminal justice. It may not be my field, but it doesn't mean I can't pray about it. I'm praying for you. I'm praying for you. It may not be my situation, it may not be my testimony, but I recognize that I have the authority to use heaven's agenda as it relates to what's happening in your field, while also

[A]

taking care of what what's in front of me.

[B]

I'm not anointed to do everything. I'm not anointed to take care of every problem. And so what I am anointed to do, I will do. And what I am anointed to do is going to take all of me to do it. So don't allow yourself to become spread thin trying to do everything for everyone.

[A]

You got to be concentrated, potent, powerful.

[B]

You need all of heaven's resources. You got to have the whole gift of God stirred up on the inside of you. And you got to Know what you're anointed to do and what you're not anointed to do and be okay with that. Why do you even want to be a preacher? You not anointed to preach. You anointed to build businesses. Why do you want to build businesses? You're not anointed to build businesses. You anointed to do books. You got to know what you are anointed to do. And you got to throw everything at it. Because you recognize that what I am anointed to do establishes the kingdom of heaven in whatever I do. That's why I do that which I

[A]

am called to do.

[B]

I got to qualify it first.

[A]

We get all kinds of people sending us all kinds of things that we should do.

[B]

But our question is, am I anointed to do it? Because in the end, only what I

[A]

do for Christ is going to stand.

[B]

And I cannot be pressured into being who you need me to be and miss out on who God has called me to be. Which means I may disappoint you to step into my divine appointment, but I'm okay disappointing you. If it means I can step into my divine appointment,

[A]

then it has. So God's compassion scales on a level that ours doesn't. What would make us collapse does not overwhelm God. This is why he says you can cast your burdens on Him. Not just you, but the person beside you. And not just them, but the person beside them. Because he has capacity for that. That's why you can point them to God without guilt. Because he has capacity for that. He's got capacity.

[B]

He's got enough capacity to hold the universe together in one hand but also recognize when a woman touched the hem of his garment. He's got capacity for that. He's got enough capacity to name every star in the sky and count every hair on your head. He's got capacity for that. He's got enough capacity to rejoice with those who are rejoicing. Rejoicing. And enough capacity to mourn with those who mourn. He's got enough capacity for that. He's got enough capacity to prepare a place for me and also make intercession on my behalf. He's got capacity. He's got capacity to be in this house and your house. He's got capacity to be with the widow and the newlywed. He's got capacity to be with the newborn and the cancer ward. He's got capacity to be in hospice and the hospital. He's got capacity to be in your marriage and my marriage. He's got capacity to help me raise the child and then help me let go of the child. He's got capacity to help me grieve what didn't go my way and build what's coming. You better know who your God is. He's never weary. His compassion faileth not. I got enough capacity for that. You angry? I got capacity for that. You scared? I got capacity for that.

[A]

I'm sorry, I just got full thinking

[B]

about how broad and how wide and how deep his love is. I started thinking about the length and the width and the depth of his love. Enough capacity to be in your past and your future while still helping you walk out the present. Enough capacity to know the end from the beginning and let you complain anyway. He's got enough capacity for you to lose your faith for him to never give up on you. He's got enough capacity to let you cry out, God, why you have forsaken me, but also be right there with you.

[A]

So don't ever let anybody tell you that you can't question God because he

[B]

has enough capacity for whatever your questions are.

[A]

You got to know that his compassion really doesn't fail. Unlike humans, when we are overwhelmed with what's happening in the world, compassion wakes him up.

[B]

Tragedy wakes him up.

[A]

Sickness moves him, because that's who he is. His compassion doesn't fail even when we do. See, some of us, our compassion fails when we realize, you got yourself into this mess. It's the difference between like, oh, my gosh, somebody robbed me. And they're like, child, I went and bought me a purse and now I don't have money for rent. It's like, well, girl, you know, our compassion runs out when somebody did something. We have no problem responding when someone's the victim. But what makes God different from us? He responds even when we're the villain. God still cares.

[B]

When Adam and Eve were in the

[A]

garden and they ate from the fruit

[B]

that he told them not to eat

[A]

from, and they found themselves naked and

[B]

tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. If he were like us, he would have said, you got yourself into that and now you got to see yourself out. But God goes and finds an animal and he slaughters the animal and he makes them their own clothes. Because I still care about you. Even when you're wrong. I still care about you even when you're disobedient. I still care about you even when you didn't follow my word.

[A]

God still cares.

[B]

Do you understand?

[A]

God still cares.

[B]

I don't know what you did, and I don't know who stopped caring because of what you did. But just because they stopped caring doesn't

[A]

mean God stopped caring.

[B]

God still cares.

[A]

He still cared.

[B]

He still cared so much that when

[A]

Jesus was on the cross, beaten and abused,

[B]

stripes all on his back, he should have been focused on finishing the work. There was a thief that said Jesus. You would think that he'd have been worried about his own condition. But you see, he never stops caring, even when it's inconvenient to care. Here he is on the cross, and all of a sudden, a thief who belonged on the cross. He's up there with no responsibility to be on the cross at all, except to die for our sins. And then a thief who had every right to be on the cross says, remember me?

[A]

And all of a sudden, pain didn't matter anymore.

[B]

And the stripes didn't matter anymore. And the slashes and the crown of thorns no longer mattered because there was a moment for him to care about something.

[A]

I still care. I'm still Jesus on the cross.

[B]

I may be bleeding out, but my compassion is still here. He's still Jesus on the cross. He looks down at John and Mary and says, mormon, this is your son, son. This is your mother. Because I still got business to do, even when I'm on the cross. His compassion never fails. And I wish I would have known this about God when I was failing, Because I thought

[A]

that when I messed up, that I lost access. And I thought because I had this addiction and made this mistake, that he stopped caring. But God still cares. Oh, God.

[B]

God still cares.

[A]

Victim or villain, God still cares.

[B]

And if we are to really embrace

[A]

this, we must recognize that God's care shows up in different formats. And one of the ways that we experience God's care is. Is in correction. I just want to say this because the enemy will pervert your perspective and make you believe that correction is rejection. Sometimes God's care comes up and what he doesn't allow you to do any longer. I know this isn't. You know, I'm thinking about in Genesis 4, 6, 7, I don't know Genesis and Hebrews, who? We go. Genesis. Okay, here we go. Genesis. Cain, you know, he brings this offering to the Lord. And the Lord doesn't respect his offering. And when it says that the Lord doesn't respect his offering, Cain cops. He cops an attitude. Beefing with God is crazy. Been there, though. You know what I mean? So in Genesis 4, verses 6 through 7, Jesus responds to Cain's countenance falling because he can tell that he did not receive correction properly. And he teaches him, and by proxy, us, a valuable lesson about the human experience and God's response. A part of the human experience is that we struggle with correction. We see correction as rejection.

[B]

And the Lord makes it a point

[A]

to say to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

[B]

I need to understand what just. I need you to examine what just

[A]

took place in you when you are corrected. Why is it an indictment on your character?

[B]

Why do you see it as devaluing your identity? I need you to take the time

[A]

to interrogate what just happened inside of you that you didn't receive that well. He says, here's the thing.

[B]

If you do well, will you not be accepted? That word, accepted in the Hebrew doesn't mean accepted.

[A]

It means elevated.

[B]

That means that the Lord corrected Cain's

[A]

offering because his ultimate goal was to elevate him.

[B]

And he cares too much to let you settle for an offering that will not bring you to elevation. And so he corrected what he brought because the ultimate goal was to get him to apply place of elevation.

[A]

Oh, that's really good.

[B]

Do you understand? That's really. I see you up there with the jean jacket. I feel like you understand what I'm saying. What I'm saying is this. We have a responsibility to make sure that we understand that correction is an opportunity for elevation. That if God didn't care about you, he would have never corrected that relationship. Oh, maybe it's because I'm calling. Calling it correction. Let me call it what it really is. That moment when your plan falls apart. That moment when it is revealed that what you had in mind is not what God had in mind. Instead of being angry at God, you ought to take a minute and thank God because he wouldn't allow you to go down a path that wouldn't lead to elevation. You thought that would lead to elevation, But I had to course correct where you were headed. That's a course correction. That's.

[A]

It's not just correction.

[B]

That's a course correction. I'm trying to get you to a place of elevation. I'm trying to get you to a place of righteousness. That's why you couldn't have that friendship. That's why you couldn't continue in that business. That's why you needed to shift that city. I know it feels like. But God, I gave my best. How come my best wasn't good enough? Your best wasn't positioned properly for the level of elevation aside assigned to your destiny. So I corrected it before it set you back. What you thought was a come up was actually a setback. And if God would not have rejected it, you would have still been pursuing something that would have brought you down instead of elevated you. You see, that's the kind of word for somebody who almost settled in a relationship, relationship that you thought was a come up only to find out that it would have been a setback because they would have never had enough capacity to take care of what God put on the inside of you. I thought you were a come up, but I thank God that he allowed it to fall apart. Because what I know now is that it was actually a setback. I wanted the job, but the job

[A]

wasn't a come up.

[B]

It was more money, it was a bigger office, but it was actually going to be a setback because I was going to lose my mind trying to keep up with the job. You called it a come up. God called it a setback. So he corrected it.

[A]

So. The Lord tells Cain, this is where the enemy gets into the cracks. If you do not do well, will you not be accepted? Then he says, sin lies at the door and it is waiting to rule over you. Put it on the screen for me, verse seven, because I want you to understand the pattern. When I do not receive correction properly and I perceive it as rejection, sin lies at the door. Sin is looking for an opening. And one of the openings that sin uses is my misinterpretation of correction.

[B]

My misinterpretation of correction will make me

[A]

feel like everybody's out to get me.

[B]

It'll make me believe that no one

[A]

really understands what I carry.

[B]

It'll make me believe that I'll never be good enough.

[A]

And the misinterpretation of correction is where sin can find a way way in. So he tells Cain, be careful in moments of correction, when your perspective is being shifted, when your steps are being aligned. You have to know that sin lies at the door in those moments. And how you perceive what's happening determines whether or not it gets to come in the door.

[B]

So we have to find a way

[A]

to not misinterpret it. If you're writing notes, I want you to write this down. Misinterpreting correction as rejection paralyzes growth. Misinterpreting correction as rejection paralyzes growth. God cares too much to allow you to go down a path that won't allow you to be elevated. So when the psalmist writes in Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no Evil, he says, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Our job is to find a way to be comforted by the rod. The rod was not just about protecting the sheep from predators. The rod was also for correcting the sheep. I find comfort when I am with the shepherd because I know the shepherd won't have me out here. Wrong.

[B]

I'm trying to.

[A]

You know, I went back to school. I'm trying to be more eloquent these days. But let me tell you something. I don't fool with nobody who won't

[B]

tell me when I'm out here.

[A]

Wrong.

[B]

Baby. Whether it's a booger in my nose or a lie coming out my mouth. How can you be my friend? How can you be my partner and allow me to be showing up loud and wrong. I need to be close to somebody who is not just a yes man. I find comfort because I recognize that I'm walking with the king of kings and he will not allow me to be out here. Wrong. He will correct me. He will challenge me. Those he loves, he chases. That is the word. He doesn't just chasten for chasing sakes, he chases. Because I have a plan for you. I have a vision for who you can be and I may have to think correct you in order to get you to that place. When he tells Peter, get behind me Satan, it sounds a little harsh, but he's trying to correct the way he thinks. He needs him to understand you can't think the way you think and be who I called you to be. You thinking like my father would say this. You thinking like a fool. You got to think like you know who you are. You cannot think this way and be who I've called you to be. Trying to correct the way you think. Yeah, you got in trouble at the job. Yeah, the relationship is falling apart. Cuz I'm trying to correct the way you communicate. I'm trying to correct the way you think. You see, we come to church sometimes and we want to praise and shout about what other people did. But I want to challenge you for a minute to take a moment of the ways that God is trying to correct you. Don't just just assume they hating on you. They may be trying to help you. You calling them a hater. God sent them to help you understand that you can't keep showing up the way you're showing up. I don't just call everybody hater. I don't call you a hater until

[A]

the Lord tell me you a hater.

[B]

But I take what you say into my prayer Closet. Because if there is any truth about what they're saying about me, God, reveal my heart to me. Search my heart, oh, Lord, if there's anything about what they're saying is true, I don't want to be out here. Wrong. And I can't trust my own eyesight. So if you sent them to awaken me to something that needs to shift, let me see it. Let me see it. I want to be right. I want to be righteous. I don't want to be prideful or ego. I just want to be righteous. I want to be holy. I want to be powerful. I want to be strong in God. And I can't let my weakness dilute his power. So if there's something in me that's toxic, something in me that's poisoned, something in me that's damaging this relationship, something in me that's poisoning my purpose, God, show it to me.

[A]

Yeah, show it to me.

[B]

I want to see it. I'm so good at pointing out what's wrong with everybody else but God. Take a minute and show me what's wrong with me. I'm not Jesus junior out here. I know I'm broken. I know I'm insecure. I know I got pride. I know I got ego. How is it showing up in my life?

[A]

So David. David learns this because the Lord sends the prophet Nathan to him and corrects him. And so blinded was David by his ways that he didn't even realize how wrong he was. And that that happens to us, that we get so caught up in our rhythm, so blinded by our pursuits, that we don't realize how far off base we have become. Man, here David is in the palace with no idea that he no longer looks like the shepherd boy. That's how fast it can happen. Don't ever think that you so holy and so righteous that it can't happen to you. The moment you say, oh, I would never. Don't know. Don't say that. Don't say that. You ought to ask, Lord, could I ever. Is that in me? Because God cares. He still cares. What David learns is that, yeah, he'll be with me in the palace, but also if I make my bed in hell, he'll be with me. He's compassionate enough to be with me when I'm wrong and correct me until I can get back on the right foot. Oh, see, if everybody wasn't dressed up, they would tell you about the moments where God waited on them to get their life together.

[B]

You in this room. And maybe it feels like I'm the

[A]

Only one in this room who ain't never had their life together. Baby, let me tell you something.

[B]

If we had testimony only service in

[A]

this room, I would tell you the story about the moments where he waited on me.

[B]

He cared enough. He cared enough to wait on me. He waited on me to come to my right mind. He waited on me to stop trying every other thing and to finally try Jesus. He waited on me. He cared enough to be patient with me when other people gave up on me. He cared about me.

[A]

So to get to my text. To get to my text, I need you to understand the power of what happens in this moment where the multitudes come to Jesus. You need to know that this is not just any multitude. And I've been contrasting these texts because it's in Mark, which is a synoptic gospel, which means that it is the same story told from different vantage points, and Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So I was looking at Mark and I was looking at Matthew. And Matthew tells us something interesting about the multitude that Mark doesn't tell us. Matthew tells us that this multitude were a multitude of people with disabilities. They were disadvantaged. Matthew specifically says that they were maimed, mute, blind, lame, and much more. Why is this important? Because this is a multitude that is used to not being cared for. Oh, God. These are people who are used to being overlooked. These are people, the marginalized multitude. They live on the outskirts of society and culture. And so when they hear about Jesus, they are crazy enough to believe that Jesus will have a different response to them than other people have had. They are crazy enough to believe that Jesus would care about them in a

[B]

way that other people didn't.

[A]

Oh, God, help me say it real good.

[B]

You see, when you're used to people

[A]

not caring about you, you assume that

[B]

other people won't care about you. So you don't take up space because you predict that they won't care.

[A]

But you could learn a thing or two from marginalized people. They had nothing left to lose.

[B]

And when you have nothing left to lose, you will try anything to get up.

[A]

Oh, I wish I could say that real good.

[B]

They heard about a man named Jesus who cared about things that other people didn't care about. And so they went out of their way to see Jesus because they heard that he would care about them. They didn't wait for the miracle to fall in their lap. They were crazy enough to pursue the miracle themselves. Can I break it down a little bit further?

[A]

My text tells me that Jesus skirted around the Sea of Galilee and then

[B]

went up On a mountain before the

[A]

multitudes came to him.

[B]

Why is that important? Because if you remember that this is a marginalized, disabled group of people, you will understand that for them to go

[A]

and get to Jesus was a feat when he was on a mountain. They're blind, they're lame, they're deaf, they're maimed. But they heard about Jesus, and it doesn't matter that he's on a mountain

[B]

because he is worth climbing the mountain. Even if I'm at a disadvantage. You see, some of us don't fight to get to Jesus anymore. We wait for Jesus to pass by us. And maybe you are like blind Bartimaeus, waiting on Jesus, Jesus to pass you by. But there may be some people in this room who need to hear this, just in case. It doesn't seem like Jesus is in your neighborhood. You have the ability to go to where Jesus is. And it doesn't matter how maimed you are.

[A]

It doesn't matter how blind you are.

[B]

It doesn't matter how broken you are. Jesus can still have a miracle for you. But you have to be willing to pursue the miracle. I wish I could say that real good.

[A]

Good.

[B]

Because I need you to understand that Jesus cares about people. That other people walk over, that other people look beyond. If you have ever been walked over in your life, if you have ever been looked over in your life, if you have ever been forgotten, this is the gospel. This is the good news. That what other people thought was forgettable, Jesus thinks is unforgettable. What other people could look over, God cannot look away from.

[A]

And they go to see Jesus, and it's not convenient and it's not easy, and it requires them to stretch themselves

[B]

and it requires them to listen, lean on one another.

[A]

Are we about to bring this home? So we got a blind person and a deaf person. I can't see, he can't hear.

[B]

But together we can get to Jesus. He can't walk and I can't see, but together we can get to Jesus. That's why you got to be careful who you sit next to. Somebody came in blind, somebody came in deaf. But together we can get to Jesus. Why is this important? Because we living in a world where not everybody has it all. Everybody's got some kind of disadvantage. But if I take what you got and you take what I got, maybe we could set this city on fire. If I take what you got and you take what I got, maybe we could establish the kingdom of heaven.

[A]

It only works if it's enough of us desperate for a miracle.

[B]

So if you're not desperate for a miracle, we gonna ask you to stay at the bottom of the mountain. But if you don't mind using what you got. To pursue Jesus, You gotta be willing to be inconvenienced. I know we got doordash. I know we got Amazon prime, but I'm telling you, there will be some

[A]

moments where in order for you to experience Jesus, you have to be willing to be inconvenienced. Yeah.

[B]

It may not always come easy.

[A]

You may not always feel like lifting your hands in worship.

[B]

You think everybody in this room felt like coming to church today? No. But sometimes you got to put yourself in a position where you show God, I'm willing to be inconvenienced. Because I heard you might care about me. I heard about a man named Jesus who could heal what's happening in my heart. I heard about a man named Jesus who could order my steps.

[A]

And I'm being inconvenienced, stepping out of

[B]

my comfort zone, stepping out of my norm.

[A]

They teach us this disadvantaged multitude, this marginalized multitude.

[B]

They teach us what it takes to pursue Jesus.

[A]

You have to be willing to be inconvenienced. You can't afford to get bored, friend. I know you started off praying, now you in your to do list. What happened? You got to bring your mind back. Oh. You are going to have to have a level of spiritual authority, clarity, and discernment that requires you to be inconvenienced to get it. And what I learned from the multitudes is that being inconvenienced is sometimes the only way we may receive our miracle. I wish I could say this real good, but not enough of us are willing to be inconvenienced anymore, to step out of our comfort zones and to risk vulnerability, to risk failure. For this group of disabled individuals to take on the task of climbing a mountain to get to Jesus is them opening themselves up to the possibility of failure. And you or people you know may allow the fear of failure to keep you from climbing a mountain. You don't think you can learn anything from somebody disadvantaged, but there is a power in disadvantaged communities that teach you how to come together, make something out of nothing, and to build with leftovers and to take your scraps and still

[B]

allow miracles to take place. There is something about a disadvantaged community that makes us rely on one another in a way we would never rely on one another if we had what it took. You may need somebody to help you up this mountain.

[A]

And as much as I learn about them, I also learn about Jesus in this text. Because while they were willing to be disadvantaged to get to Jesus, Jesus teaches us something powerful. They were in pursuit of a miracle. And Jesus fulfills that miracle. But Jesus is not just interested in giving them the miracle when he says that they need to eat because they've been here for three days and I'm getting ready to send them away. And I don't want to send them away hungry. They got the miracle, but if I send them away hungry, they won't be able to sustain the miracle. It's not just important to ask God for a miracle. God cares so much that he doesn't just think about meeting the need.

[B]

He thinks about what is going to be, what's going to be required for

[A]

you to sustain the thing that he gave you. So when I say yes to God,

[B]

I know that that yes has provision in it. Because he doesn't just allow me to

[A]

step into miracles without having the ability to sustain the miracle as a part of it. What it took for them to get the miracle required determination. What it takes for them to sustain the miracle is different. It requires nourishment. If I could give you just a few words to marinate on for the next time God does a miracle in your life, or perhaps you're taking care of a miracle right now. I'm gonna tell you this. Don't let your miracle starve. Don't let your miracle starve What God does in you and for you, make sure you nourish it. Make sure you take care of it. Because he's not just giving you the miracle, he's trying to help you sustain the miracle. He tells the disciples, I don't want that power. I won't let that power be wasted. And they got a long journey ahead of them. Some of them came from afar. What God does in your life has distance connected to it. And because it has distance connected to it, you got to know that he's also going to allow you to have a way to sustain it. What perplexed me about this text, I understood what Jesus did and I understood what the multitudes did. But I was confused about the disciples because this is not the first time that Jesus has fed the multitudes. As a matter of fact, in Mark just a few chapters ago, in 6, he feeds the 5000 with a little boy's lunch. So one would think that as the disciples are standing there with a multitude and they're hungry and Jesus mentions their hunger, that they would just be like, why don't you do the thing that you did? That one time in Galilee. But they forget. They forget. Or did they think that he wouldn't do it again because the variables are different? You see, when he did it earlier in Mark 6, it was a mostly Jewish crowd. And he was initially called to the children of Israel. Where he is at this point in the text, though, is mostly a gentile crowd. A gentile crowd is anything that's not Jewish. Jewish. And so the disciples may be wondering, with the variables changing and the settings changing.

[B]

The same God that did it then may not do it now.

[A]

Because it's a different situation now all of a sudden. I don't think the disciples forgot. I think the disciples wondered if the same God who did it then, even though the variables are different, would do it now.

[B]

It's almost like us wondering, I know

[A]

you cared about my health and I know you healed my body, but will you touch my finances? The variables are different, but I want to know, do you still care?

[B]

The disciples don't know whether or not

[A]

he'll still care about this the same

[B]

way he cared about that. They don't know that Jesus still cares no matter what the situation is. So Jesus is trying to teach them a valuable lesson about his compassion is

[A]

that my compassion is not just reserved for those who understand it or those who are entitled to it.

[B]

My compassion is what this is. A prophetic utterance of what will become of salvation.

[A]

That it is not just for the children of Israel.

[B]

It's not just for the children, Jews,

[A]

but it is also for the Gentiles.

[B]

So in this text we see Jesus

[A]

preparing the disciples for a ministry that is not just for the Jews, but the. But the disciples have to first accept the fact that God still cares even when the variables are different. Oh, God, I wish I could say that real good. Because there have been some moments in my life where I know what God did in the past. But I wasn't sure if he would do it in this setting. I know you provided for me then, but will you provide for me now? I know you took care of me then, but will you take care of me now? God, do you still care? And the thing about this moment is that the disciples. The Lord is making a demand on the disciples. He's asking them to still care even when the demand exceeds their capacity. God still cares. We see that God still cares, but will they still care? Will you still care when what the Lord makes a demand of exceeds your capacity? He's asking them to show up when they don't have what it takes. He's asking them to use their resources that are clearly not enough and to trust him with it. He's asking them for courage to do something that it doesn't feel like they have enough sufficiency to do. He's asking them for bread in the wilderness. When I look at the landscape of this world and what's happening in the news and what's happening in our homes, I feel like what happened in this text is happening to many of us where the Lord is asking us for bread in the wilderness, making a demand on capacity that we don't know that we have, making a demand on resources and courage and creativity and forgiveness and love that we don't know whether or not we have. He's asking us for bread in the wilderness. What the disciples ask is not all that crazy, because they understand that bread just can't come out of nowhere.

[B]

And what I have is not enough for the need.

[A]

See, this only resonates with a certain person who knows what it's like to

[B]

be in a season where things are just going wild and it's just one thing after another. And the Lord has positioned you in

[A]

the middle of a wild place where

[B]

it's one thing after another, and that thing is making demand on you, but you don't know if you have what it takes.

[A]

And Jesus says something so simple. Jesus is not looking for you to supply the multitude. He's looking for you to just make an offering. Oh, God, help me. Okay, I'm saying this. We closing. You have to understand that the disciples are arguing about bread with the bread of life. We closing.

[B]

They're wondering if they have enough bread

[A]

in the wilderness, but they are talking

[B]

to the bread that will never run out.

[A]

You got to remember who you in the wilderness with.

[B]

I'm about to say this, and we gonna close, but I need you to understand that we serve a God who's been making bread in the wilderness as the Hebrew children came out of Egypt, that he had bread coming out of heaven, that we serve a God that's been making bread come out of rare, rare places for generations after generations. So when the bread of life asks you, do you have enough bread for this wilderness? He recognizes that you may not have

[A]

enough, but he is a God of multiplication.

[B]

And if you take what you have and you take what he has, then it'll multiply and be enough to meet the demand of the moment. You're standing in. I want to talk to somebody. I heard God saying that you have

[A]

enough to meet the moment. Oh, this is it. You have enough to meet the Moment, this moment is making a demand on you.

[B]

And if you are not careful, you will believe that it's making a demand

[A]

on what you don't have.

[B]

And so you won't give anything at

[A]

all because you've already counted yourself out. But God says I can multiply whatever you're willing to offer. If you will offer your bread, I will take what you offer and turn it into an offering. God still cares. The disciples. I'm closing. You can play. I'm closing. Let's stand. The disciples don't have but seven loaves of bread and there's 4,000 in the multitude. Jesus says, I still care. It's just seven loaves, but I still care. It's just one dream. It's just one idea. I believe that God gave me this message because too many of us are being seduced into apathy, overwhelmed by what's taking place in the world, our compassion collapsing because the problems seem bigger than us. I came to talk to you not as just a people, but as the called out ones, members of the kingdom of heaven. I came to give you a warning about the times that we live in. That the enemy, the greatest weapon that he may use in this time is apathy, where you no longer have the ability to be moved with compassion when you hear what's happening in the world. I mean this from the bottom of my heart. If he can get you to stop caring, there will be no action, no counteraction to what's taking place. Some of us are quite literally called to be a part of the solutions that we see in the headlines. Some of us are called to respond to what's happening in our homes that have been happening for so long that we've just given up on them all together. We have accepted the enemy's plan because we feel powerless to turn it over. But I hear God saying, you may not have everything you need, but I'm not asking you to be a miracle. He didn't ask the disciples to be a miracle. He asked the disciples to just distribute the miracle, to partner with him, to bring what they have. And in bringing what they have, that he would do the rest. It is no lie that we are all at a disadvantage in some way in this room. Some of our disadvantages are different than the others. Where you have strength, I have a weakness. And where I have strength, you have a weakness. But I hear God saying that we cannot, we cannot establish the kingdom. We can't. I want to say this the right way, God help me, that our effectiveness will come down to Us not making it about ourselves.

[B]

This can't be about what you don't have.

[A]

This can only come down to what you do have. And God is not expecting you to have everything. He's just expecting you to give him something to work with, with. You may not have all the answers. How am I going to get out of this addiction? God? How am I going to save my community? You may not have all the answers, but God says if you're willing to work what you do have, if you would give it to me, I can bless it and multiply it. And guess what? In this room, as a unit, we have an opportunity to help one another. Yeah. In a world that is intent on isolating us and dividing us, together, we can climb a mountain. I am tired of feeling like wickedness is winning. Anybody else tired of that? What are we gonna do about it? Because God still cares about his people. God still cares about what's taking place in this earth.

[B]

And we may be the only way

[A]

that somebody sees that God still cares. We may be the only way they see it. So I'm going to ask you to take your position. Jesus positions the disciples between him, the multitudes. There are some people, they are multitudes, and they are who we get to serve. But when we assume the role as disciples, we stand in between God and the multitudes, and we get to show them how much he cares about them. And it may not be in big rooms like this,

[B]

but what about the

[A]

person beside you, the people in the grocery stores? How can we hear about six down in a helicopter plane crash and just swipe without considering the grief that that meant to somebody's. How can we hear about TSA going another month without pay within six months and not take a moment to let that grieve our hearts? Because if you don't have compassion for what's taking place in this world, you can't affect change the way that Jesus did.

[B]

We got to care about this. We got to care about the this, and we got to care about one another. You're in this room,

[A]

and maybe you are disabled. Maybe it's not a physical ailment, but something in your heart, something in your life is trying to convince you that

[B]

maybe God doesn't care about you

[A]

in this room. I'm gonna ask you to be as courageous as those who climb the mountain and just wave at me if that's you. You wondering if God cares, Just wave at me. Wave at me now.

[B]

Do me a favor.

[A]

Don't just look at me. Look around you to see whose Hand is up.

[B]

What can you do in this moment

[A]

to show them that God still cares? Yeah, if that's you, wave your hand. You don't know if God still cares. You don't know. You don't know. Wherever there's somebody near him, touch, hug, heal. Because this is how suicide backs somebody into a corner.

[B]

But a disciple stands in the way

[A]

of the needs of the people and

[B]

reminds them that God still cares. I don't care what you did or who you did it with. God still cares. God still cares. God still cares. God still cares. He still cares. He cares about what you're up against. He cares about what's happening in your marriage. See, this isn't an altar call where I'm going to ask you to come

[A]

down to the altar. Altar.

[B]

This is an altar call where I'm going to ask you to allow yourself to have someone come around you. That your life can be the altar. You don't know what it means to go through life and feel all alone. To go through life and never have anybody look at you and take care of you. And yet we have a moment. We got five minutes left in this service. Five minutes could make the difference on whether or not somebody decides to end their life. Five minutes could be the difference between depression and joy. Five minutes could be the difference between anxiety. Five difference could be the difference between joy coming back, grief and mourning.

[A]

God still cares. He still cares. I know your mother is gone, but he still cares.

[B]

I know you don't know what's going to happen with the food on your

[A]

table, but I'm telling you, God still cares.

[B]

I've been hungry before and I found out that God still cares. I've been sick before and I found out that God still cares. I've been lonely before and found out that God still cares. I've been lost before and found out that God still cares. I come up against suicide right now in the name of Jesus. I come up against loneliness right now in the name of Jesus. I come up against isolation right now in the name of Jesus. God still cares. God still cares. God still cares. And he'll interrupt the message to make sure you know that God still cares. You better wrap your arms around somebody who the devil's been trying to get a hold of loose here. In the name of Jesus. I plead the blood of Jesus over every fragmented mind. I plead the blood of Jesus over every broken heart. I plead the blood of Jesus over grief. I plead the blood of Jesus over depression. I decree and declare right now that you will come to Know the length and the width and the depth of God's love. God's love is coming towards you. It's coming from the north, the south, the east and the west. God's love is coming for you. It's coming from places you didn't even know existed. I hear God saying that I love you too much to leave you. God bless these children. God bless her mind. I speak, Speak the blood of Jesus. The love of Jesus that got on the cross and brought deliverance. The blood, the blood, the blood, the blood cares. The blood, the blood, the blood. The blood cares. The blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. I'm not ashamed of your steps, God. I still call you my own, says God. I don't care how confused you are. I don't care how broken you are. The blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. The blood over your babies, the blood over your children. The blood over your household, the blood over your health, the blood over your mind, the blood over these children. I don't care what you've been through. The blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. He still cares. Heal her, lord. Bless her, lord. Break every curse, generational curses. In the name of Jesus, loose here. In the name of Jesus, loose that woman and let her go. In the name of Jesus, bless God filler.

[A]

God still cares. And the Bible says that perfect love will cast out fear.

[B]

And if you don't feel love and

[A]

compassion, then fear will run rampant.

[B]

But I plead the blood of Jesus over your mind. God still cares. He cares too much to let you walk out of this place the same way you came in. He cares too much to let hell run loose in your mind and in your house. The blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood, the blood. The blood is still flowing and it still reaches and the blood still cares. I gotta tell depression something. I gotta tell suicide something. I gotta tell addiction something. You thought you had me but the blood still came. You thought you had my mind but the blood still came. Yeah, So I don't know who you

[A]

are, but I hear God saying, wake up, wake up, wherever you are. Wake up, wake up, wherever you are. Are you can't afford to be entertained and you cannot afford to do nothing. Wake up to the times we're living in.

[B]

Not to be afraid, but to exercise the authority that God has given.

[A]

Given you.

[B]

The enemy will make you think you don't have authority so you won't use your authority.

[A]

But he has given us authority to trample

[B]

over serpents and Scorpions. And over all of the power of the enemy.

[A]

Your opponent is not in the headlines. Oh, I feel this. Your opponent is not in an Oval Office. Your opponent is not overseas.

[B]

This thing started with the enemy,

[A]

and it is going to end when divinity steps in. And yes, it's going to require more than you have, but God will multiply what you give. Even in this room, on a small scale, you can see what one hug, what one touch did for one person. And you would withhold what you possess because you're afraid of what other people will think about it. The enemy has seduced you into making this about you. And it's not. This is bigger than us, and greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. So the next time you see a headline, next time you see a person in a car, a person in the

[B]

store,

[A]

don't just walk by. One touch, one look could make the difference for them. Believing that nobody cares. Nobody sees me. You got power in your hands. Use it. Don't wait for it to be platformed. Don't wait for it to be perfected. Use it in a raw state. Use whatever God gave you. Because it's going to take everything we got. And the more we give, the more he multiplies. If you're in this room and you don't know Jesus, I just want you to know. One of the greatest revelations I ever had was coming to a place where, yes, I knew him as my Lord and Savior, but also came to know him as my big brother, the firstborn of many, the model and the example. He can be the kind of model that you never saw in your family, the kind of model that you never saw in your neighborhood. I study Jesus to look at how he showed up in the world, what his character looked like. I marvel at his courage, his ability to forgive, his confidence, his authority, his power. You have an opportunity to do that when you're in relationship with him. And I'm going to say this prayer, and I want to invite you to say it with me. God bless that mom and her babies. Order her steps. I love you. God bless you. And every person in this room. Father, I've said what you asked me to say. I pray that in some way you've been more revealed to these, your sons and daughters. I pray that in some way they feel closer to you and that you feel closer to them. That where they may have felt isolated or alone, that they feel your presence flowing towards them. God, let this just be the beginning. Break the seal that they may drink from a well that never runs dry, that they may be nourished in every dry place. And I ask God, that you would make our hearts sensitive to what's happening around us. We rebuke the spirit of defeat. We rebuke the spirit of defeat, of powerlessness, of torment. We come to up against depression. And we thank you God, for the power that we have access to because we are in Jesus. God, I pray that you would give us an opportunity to utilize that power. The power to make someone feel seen, loved, known, cared for. The power to upset systems of wickedness, to make a difference in at least just one person's life. And I thank you God, that as we do that collectively, that we can push back darkness. Now repeat after me. Heavenly Father, thank you for your love. I feel it. Thank you for this word. I receive it. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for making him who had no sin. All of my weakness, all of my limitations, all of my sins you placed in his body and nailed it to the cross and put it to death. And when he was raised free and victorious, I was raised, raised up too. With victory, with power and with authority. God, allow me to use that power to push back darkness, to establish the kingdom and to establish your presence on earth and all that I do. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Can you celebrate with me, family? Listen, if you're looking for a church home, we would love to be your family. You can scan the QR code, but if you want to get to know us and feel someone, you can come down here to the left. Our pastors would love to love on you and hug on you. Can you do me a favor before you go, take a minute and just randomly hug and love on somebody. They may be going back from this place in an abusive home, in a toxic environment where they wonder if anybody sees them. But if they can remember what it feels like to have your arms wrapped around them, they can remember what it feels like to experience love. Maybe it'll remind them that God still cares, even in the midst of what's waiting on them back home. May the Lord bless and keep you. May he make his face to shine upon you and be gracious towards you. May he lift up his countenance over you and grant you shalom. Shalom in Jesus name. We love you, family. Thank you for joining us on the Potter's House podcast. Remember, there's always a space in the house for you. Subscribe and never miss a word.