Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Father, please give me the right heart to be a humble servant. Remove from me the desire to accomplish great things so my name is known or my actions are praised. I want you to be glorified. In addition, dear Father, please gently humble me when I try to depend upon my own energies rather than spending time resting in your presence and letting you re-kindle my spirit and re-energize my body. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

The apostles {that Jesus sent out} came back to Jesus. They gathered around Jesus and told him about all the things they did and taught. Jesus and his followers were in a very busy place. There were many, many people. Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat. Jesus said to his followers, "Come with me. We will go to a quiet place to be alone. There we will get some rest." So Jesus and his followers went away alone. They went in a boat to a place where there were no people. But many people saw them leave. The people knew it was Jesus. So people from all the towns ran to the place where Jesus was going. The people were there before Jesus arrived. When Jesus arrived there, he saw many people waiting. Jesus felt sorry for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd {to care for them}. So Jesus taught the people many things. It was now late in the day. So Jesus' followers came to him. They said, "No people live in this place. And it is already very late. So send the people away. They need to go to the farms and towns around here to buy some food to eat." But Jesus answered, "You give them some food to eat." The followers said to Jesus, "We can't buy enough bread to feed all these people! We would all have to work a month to earn enough money to buy that much bread!" Jesus asked the followers, "How many loaves of bread do you have now? Go and see." The followers counted their loaves of bread. They came to Jesus and said, "We have five loaves of bread and two fish." Then Jesus said to the followers, "Tell all the people to sit in groups on the green grass." So all the people sat in groups. There were about 50 or 100 people in each group. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish. He looked up to the sky and thanked God for the bread. Then Jesus divided the bread and gave it to his followers. Jesus told his followers to give the bread to the people. Then Jesus divided the two fish and gave the fish to the people. All the people ate and were full. Afterthe people finished eating, the followers filled twelve baskets with the pieces of bread and fish that were not eaten. There were about 5,000 men there that ate.

Related Scripture Readings

But the news about Jesus spread more and more. Many people came to hear Jesus and to be healed of their sicknesses. Jesus often went away to other places to be alone so that he could pray.

Each of you received a spiritual gift {from God}. God has shown you his grace (kindness) in many different ways. And you are like servants who are responsible for using God's gifts. So be good servants and use your gifts to serve each other. The person who speaks should speak words from God. The person who serves should serve with the strength that God gives. You should do these things so that in everything God will be praised through Jesus Christ. Power and glory belong to him forever and ever. Amen.

And from there Paul and Barnabas sailed away to Antioch {in Syria}. This is the city where the believers had put them into God's care and sent them to do this work. Now they had finished the work. When Paul and Barnabas arrived, they gathered the church (group of believers) together. Paul and Barnabas told them about all the things God had done with them. They said, "God opened a door so that the people of other nations (non-Jews) could also believe!" Paul and Barnabas stayed there a long time with the followers {of Christ }.