“Don’t Forget To Remember” with Robert Madu

Don’t Forget to Remember

Scripture References

• Mark 8:14-21
• Matthew 6

Overview

Pastor Robert Madu calls the church to “don’t forget to remember” God’s past faithfulness, especially in a year filled with disruption and uncertainty. Using Mark 8, he revisits the two separate miracles where Jesus fed multitudes to show that what looks insufficient in our hands becomes more than enough in Jesus’ hands. The message presses believers to shift from worry-filled questions to faith-filled action, to see people they normally overlook, and to trust the divine pattern of being taken, blessed, broken, and multiplied for the good of others.

Context

• 2020 feels like “half a century” of upheaval; many are praying honest, frustrated prayers.
• God reminded the preacher that earlier in the year he himself had prayed, “Whatever it takes, take me deeper,” illustrating how divine answers often arrive through disruption.

Main Points

A Year of Divine Disruption

• God often answers our “change me” prayers by disturbing our comfort.
• Jesus consistently “disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.”
• Personal complaint turned revelation: the events we resist may be God’s response to our own prayers.

Two Feedings, One Lesson

• Jesus fed 5,000 (Jewish region) and later 4,000 (Gentile region); the only miracle, besides the Resurrection, recorded in all four Gospels.
• Repetition proves: if God performed a miracle once, He can do it again.
• The second feeding broadens the disciples’ view—bread is for everyone.
  • Illustration: Pastor showed a simple household loaf to stress focusing on what you have rather than what you lack.

“Don’t forget to remember.”

Compassion Is the Catalyst

• In both stories Jesus was “moved with compassion”; care (emotion) and action (provision) collide.
• The Church must mirror this—meeting spiritual and practical needs.
  • Quote (Howard Thurman): “The power of prayer is directly connected to your willingness to be part of the answer.”

The Questions That Create Worry

• Disciples asked, “Where will we buy bread?”—wrong question, producing anxiety.
• Jesus asked,

“How many loaves do you have?”

The right question redirects focus to God-given resources.

• Worry is often the fruit of asking the wrong questions.

Multiplication Happens in Interaction

• Bread multiplied while the disciples handed it out, not while Jesus held it.
• Obedience preceded increase; ministry is relational, sometimes inefficient, but divinely effective.
  • Illustration: Visualizing twelve disciples nervously passing out small pieces until abundance appeared.

Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given

• Jesus’ pattern with the bread mirrors His work in believers’ lives: He takes, blesses, breaks, and gives us to others.
• Breaking seasons (anxiety, loss, 2020 turmoil) position us for greater impact.
  • Story: On Father’s Day, Pastor sat in the tiny East Texas church his grandfather built (never more than 50 people) and remembered the legacy now touching thousands—proof that “prayers never expire.”

Seeing People We Usually Miss

• The second miracle took place in Gentile territory; Jesus forces disciples to serve people outside their normal circle.
• Genuine compassion crosses cultural, racial, and geographical lines because everyone is hungry for the Bread of Life.

Key Truths

• God may disrupt your comfort to develop your character.
• Remembering past victories fuels present faith—if He did it once, He can do it again.
• Worry diminishes when you focus on what God has placed in your hands.
• Compassion requires both feeling and action.
• God multiplies what we surrender, often through relational interaction.

Response

• Recall specific instances of God’s past provision and thank Him.
• Identify “loaves” in your life—skills, resources, time—and place them in Jesus’ hands.
• Actively look for people you tend to overlook and meet a tangible need this week.
• Welcome disruptive seasons as part of God’s “take, bless, break, give” process.
• Replace anxious “what if” questions with the faith question: “How many loaves do I have?”

Closing

Even in seasons of breaking, Jesus—the Bread of Life—cares about both your soul and your circumstance. When we entrust our limited resources to Him, He blesses, breaks, and multiplies them so others can be fed. Remember what He has already done and step forward in faith and compassion.

“God will disrupt you… but if you place what you have in His hands, He’ll use it to feed the world.”

Prayer

The pastor thanked God for caring about every need, asked for grace to trust Him in the breaking, and prayed that believers would become bread for a hungry world, living out Jesus’ compassion in action.

Resources

• Howard Thurman (quoted).