Day 8 - The Works Of Your Hand by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Jesus Has Compassion — He Cares About Your Physical Life

Mark 8:1-3

The multitude had been with Jesus for three days and had nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples and said: "I have compassion on them."

Some people paint a picture of God as though he is only concerned with your spiritual life — your prayer, your fasting, your eternal destination. But God is concerned with your welfare here on earth. From the beginning, God ensured that food was never going to be a problem for Adam. Jesus Christ repeatedly illustrated how God cares for the sparrow and the lily of the field.

God wants you to eat well, live well, and be dressed well. Welfare is not worldliness — it is part of the covenant.

What Do You Have?

Mark 8:5

When Jesus wanted to feed the multitude, he did not look to heaven and ask for bread to drop. He turned to the disciples and asked: how many loaves do you have?

This is a consistent pattern in scripture. When the widow came to Elisha in crisis, he asked: what do you have in your house? When God wanted to bless Peter with a miraculous catch, he told him to get back in his own boat, cast his own nets. When the disciples needed money for taxes, the coin came from the mouth of a fish — caught on Peter's hook, with Peter's line.

• What is Moses holding? A rod — and God did everything with it.
• What does Peter have? A boat, a net — and God filled it with fish.
• What does the widow have? A little oil — and God multiplied it.

God does not leave you without a seed. No matter how low you are, there is something you can start with right now.

Some of us have gifts, skills, and talents we are not using. God is not sending anything new from heaven — he has already deposited something in you here on earth. Use what you have where you are. Start with it. The multiplication comes after the offering.

Jesus took the seven loaves, gave thanks over them — not over a full supply, but over what was available — broke them, and distributed them. And everyone ate, with leftovers to spare.

Thank God for what you have, even when it does not look like enough.

Obey the Instruction — Even the Strange Ones

Mark 8:22-26

Jesus healed a blind man, but the man's sight was only partially restored at first — he saw men walking as trees. Jesus laid hands on him again and he saw clearly. Then Jesus gave an unusual instruction: do not go back into that place.

There was something about that place that kept this man blind. He had to stay away from it for the healing to hold.

This is a word for some people right now: it may not be that God does not want to heal you, bless your finances, or restore your situation. But you may be in the wrong company, doing the wrong things, in the wrong environment. God is saying — do not go back into that place. Listen to that instruction. Obey it. Your full testimony is waiting on the other side of your obedience.