Preached by Chris Broom, 3/15/2009

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Donald Zengri (front center) Gets Baptized!

There was an incredible game played this week in the Big East Basketball Tournament! Syracuse (ranked 20th in the nation) beat Connecticut (ranked 4th in the nation) in six overtimes! After the game, many people exclaimed “U Gotta B Kiddin Me!” For Syracuse fans it was an incredible victory that will be in the conversation of “one of the best games ever played in men’s college basketball.” The 64 year old “hall of fame” Syracuse coach  Jim Boeheim said, “I have never been prouder of a team. They would not lose this game!”

When we get to heaven, we want God to be able to look at us and say, “I have never been prouder. These disciples would not lose their faith and they would not lose the souls of my lost children!”

Last week we talked about how Jesus took five small loaves of bread and two fish and fed 5000 men, not to mention the women and children. Many probably exclaimed, “U Gotta B Kiddin Me!”

Mark 6:45-56

• Jesus went up on a mountain to pray. He prays for hours.
• Jesus saw the disciples straining. God knows when we are struggling, will not let us be tempted beyond what we can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13), and knows what we need to be molded and shaped into His image.
• Jesus walks on the lake!
• “U Gotta B Kiddin Me” is a combination of amazement and unbelief!
• The disciples hearts were hardened and because of that, they didn’t understand the miracle/ lesson of the loaves.
• The lesson of the loaves was that Jesus was God in the flesh. He fed 5000 men with five loaves, why be amazed that He could walk on water (Psalm 89:9 / Isaiah 51:10)! God can do anything! If Jesus is on our team, what can we not do? We should not be amazed by anything God does!
• Do you see God as amazing and therefore have confidence in Him or do you see Him as mediocre and therefore lack faith and confidence in His ability?
• Do you trust God or your own plan (Proverbs 14:12)?
• What makes us stop believing and what hardens our hearts?
• Hebrews 3:12-13 The answer is sin! Sin hardens the heart! God calls us to “see to it that none of our brothers and sisters are hardened by sin’s decietfulness” and “encourage one another daily” as long as we are here with each other! Are we? 
• We are so hardened of heart to allow the things we allow in our world!
• Hebrews 10:19-26 We have a great high priest that we can have complete confidence in! Is that the confidence we walk with? That Jesus is on our team! That we are on HIs team! God wants us to walk with that kind of confidence. Because God is great and faithful, we should never give up hope in Him. He is faithful and will do it.
• Hebrews 10:23-25 teaches us how much we need each other! We can’t do this alone without daily encouragement. We are called by God to have the heart to spur one another on. Do you have a soft heart towards your brothers and sisters? Or do you have a better plan than God?
• In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said that we must seek first HIs kingdom and HIs righteousness! If we don’t, we will die spiritually!
• When I was eight years old, I was paralyzed and on a breathing machine for months. I had to learn to walk all over again, and when I did, I needed the assistance of braces for my ankles. I still do to this day. Climbing up stairs has always been a major challenge for me! I would get out of breath after one flight. I made some radical changes in my discipline and the way I take care of my body, God’s temple! Since doing so, I have lost 44 pounds! I have been exercising almost everday and have grown so much in my strenth that I am now climbing 30 flights of stairs in my building everyday as I pray. I never thought I would be able to do that in my lifetime.
• It’s not that I couldn’t climb stairs, it is that I didn’t believe I could! My lack of faith kept me from what I could do all along!
• What is it that you believe you can’t do, but you could if you repented of your faithlessness?
• Hebrews 3:14-19 Make a list, have faith and enjoy the victory that awaits in your life!
• If the last time you cried was about yourself and not the pain of others, you probably have a hard heart. Open your ears and listen to what people talk about… your heart will soften at the sadness of what is important enough for people to talk about in our world.
• Next Saturday we are going to have a day of progressive evangelism for our house churches on Sunday and in that way we will imitate the people who ran throughout the whole region to bring people to Jesus so they could be healed.

Tonight is selection Sunday and 65 teams will be chosen to participate in the NCAA basketball tournament. Some will be chosen and in amazed disbelief will proclaim “U Gotta B KIddin Me!” Others will be left out and cry “U Gotta B Kiddin Me” in sadness or anger at not being chosen. If tonight at 6pm was judgment day … “Selection Eternity” … would you be more eager to tell others about Jesus today? If so, you are hard hearted, and I think we are all hardened by sin’s decietfulness! Let’s strive to have soft hearts that hurt for others and are soft to God’s word. Our God is an Awesome God and He deserves all our praise!

-Chris Broom

Categories: Mark Series, Sermons
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