God Encounters :Pastor Brandon Miller

Canvas Church : San Diego

God Encounters 

Pastor Brandon Miller

"The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. Late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat.” But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed. Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to Bethsaida, while he sent the people home. After telling everyone good-bye, he went up into the hills by himself to pray." (Mark 6:30-46 NLT)

The Desolate Place:

Desolate: deserted of people in a state of bleak and dismal emptiness. 

The number 1 prescription in the country, aside from sickness & disease, is anti-depressants.

The desolate place is where God does a work in the heart. 

1) Find rest in God 

"Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." (1 Peter 5:7 NLT)

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. "(Philippians 4:6 NLT)

"Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 NLT)

2) God will call you to serve others.

We find our purpose in serving others. 

3) It's an opportunity to depend on God. 

It's nice to plan & as a whole we tend to be independent. BUT WHO GETS THE GLORY IF YOUR NOT DEPENDING ON GOD. What are you living for? Instead of, look what I've done, how about look what God has done through me. 

John 6:5 portrays how we attempt to come up with our own solutions. Go back to what we know or run away, and it just might work BUT YOUR MISSING OUT ON THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE GOD COME THROUGH IN MAGNIFICENT WAY. The correct answer is, what do you say we do God (like Philip).

4) It's an opportunity to exercise faith. STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE. Do things, take steps of faith.