# Sunday Setup – Matthew 14:13-21

Sermon transcript from Cross Church Surprise.
Series: Sunday Setup
Date: May 21, 2026
Watch: https://crosschurchcares.com/surprise/episodes/sunday-setup-matthew-1413-21

## Summary

What does it mean to truly be satisfied? Are we seeking fulfillment in the right places, or are we missing the abundance Jesus offers? Join us as we explore the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 and uncover the deeper hunger that only Christ can satisfy. Let's dive in together!

## Transcript

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 >> Hey Cross Church family and welcome to 
 the Sunday setup. This is our time each 
 week where we digitally gather together 
 Thursdays at 2:00 to pray through our 
 piece of scripture that will be studying 
 this Sunday in order to get our hearts 
 ready for what God's word says, how we 
 are to receive it so we can put it into 
 practice [music] next week. 
 As we continue our series through the 
 miracles, we have two weeks left and 
 we're going to be in Matthew chapter 14 
 starting in verse 13 and this is a 
 miracle that's very well known. 
 Actually, a miracle that's covered in 
 all four Gospels, which is very rare 
 that we see here. But in Matthew chapter 
 14 starting in verse 13, [music] this 
 story, the feeding of the 5,000. 
 Let's read this 13 through 21 and have a 
 couple prayer prompts that come out of 
 this. And it starts this way. 
 When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew 
 from there by boat to a remote place to 
 be alone. 
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 >> When the crowds heard this, they 
 followed him on foot from the towns. 
 When he went ashore, he saw a large 
 crowd. [music] 
 He had compassion on them 
 and he healed their sick. 
 When evening came, the disciples 
 approached him and said, "This place is 
 deserted and it's already late. Send the 
 crowds away so that they can go into the 
 villages and buy food for themselves." 
 "They don't need to go away," Jesus told 
 them. "You give them something to eat." 
 "But we only have five loaves and two 
 fish here," they said to him. "Bring 
 them here to me," he said. Then he 
 commanded the crowds to sit down on the 
 grass. He took the five loaves and the 
 two fish, 
 and looking up to heaven, he blessed 
 them. 
 He broke the loaves, and he gave them to 
 the disciples, and the disciples gave 
 them to the crowds. 
 Everyone ate and was satisfied. They 
 picked up 12 baskets full of leftover 
 pieces. Now, those who ate were about 
 5,000 men, besides women and children. 
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 Here, as we read this story, this 
 miracle that maybe you are very familiar 
 with, where Jesus takes a little boy's 
 lunch and he multiplies it beyond what 
 math and science [music] and physics and 
 everything else can comprehend, truly a 
 miraculous event, 
 and he feeds this large crowd. 
 But in this, I love that the preamble to 
 this, 
 in verse 14, as this whole story set it 
 up, when Jesus looks at the crowd, 
 he had compassion on them. 
 And this is where I want us to start our 
 praying time through this piece of 
 scripture of who Jesus is, is a prayer 
 of thanksgiving, that we have a 
 compassionate God who loves us so much. 
 And this is our prompt is, Jesus, 
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 thank you that you have compassion for. 
 Jesus, thank you that you have 
 compassion [music] 
 for. 
 For my sin, 
 for my family, for my neighbors, for 
 whatever it is, Jesus, thank you that 
 you have compassion for. 
 Pray that to our God. 
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 >> Jesus, thank you that you have 
 compassion 
 for us, 
 for our church, 
 for our families, for our community. 
 Lord, we do not deserve your compassion. 
 We are just like the crowds in this 
 story. 
 Sometimes we follow you because of 
 selfish need. Sometimes we follow you 
 because we want to get closer to you, 
 but in all ways, we still fall short. We 
 sin, we fail, we make mistakes, but you 
 have compassion. You forgive, you heal, 
 and you make us new in you, and that is 
 only because of the love and compassion 
 that you [music] possess. 
 Lord, we thank you that you are 
 compassionate towards us. 
 But, the story does not end there. 
 When Jesus sees the compassion, he feeds 
 them. 
 And he feeds them to give them a 
 temporary need cuz they were hungry. 
 They need to be filled. But, there's 
 this line in here 
 where it says in verse 20 that everyone 
 ate 
 and was satisfied. 
 And what's crazy is they picked up 12 
 baskets full of leftover pieces. They 
 still had more after they were 
 satisfied. There was an abundance there. 
 And here kind of gets into the central 
 life of this story. Not only forecast 
 that they met their physical need, but 
 Jesus was forecasting the greater 
 satisfaction, the greater bread of life 
 that would come, that would not just 
 satisfy our physical hunger, but our 
 spiritual, our emotional, our mental, 
 and our uh 
 every hunger that we have in our life 
 that would be [music] satisfied by Jesus 
 and him alone. 
 So, here's our prayer prompt as we think 
 about how the Jesus has so much 
 compassion on us to love us, to seek us, 
 to come [music] after us, is often we 
 get distracted because we try to find 
 our satisfaction [music] in other 
 things. 
 And this prayer prompt, I just want you 
 to get personal with Christ and you to 
 reflect on Lord, satisfy me despite my 
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 >> Lord, satisfy me despite 
 maybe my work my work that just never 
 seems to fulfill, never seems to end, 
 but just keeps on wanting more and more 
 and more. Lord, satisfy me maybe despite 
 an addiction, 
 despite 
 anxiety, despite stress, is Lord, 
 satisfy me despite 
 Just pray this prompt of focusing our 
 satisfaction, 
 our fulfillment, our filling of our 
 lives on Christ and not the things of 
 our world. Jesus, satisfy me despite 
 Pray those to our God. [music] 
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 >> Lord, hear these prayers. 
 God, satisfy us despite 
 the worldly things that we often fill 
 our lives with that fill us up for a 
 minute 
 and then that emptiness comes. 
 God, satisfy us despite [music] 
 the negative emotions we have, 
 despite the addictions we have, despite 
 the sin that is our life, [music] 
 despite the yearning and the striving 
 that never ends that we have. 
 And Lord, ultimately, satisfy [music] us 
 despite the fact that too often 
 we don't find our true contentment, our 
 true fulfillment in you. 
 And Lord, let us this passage be a 
 reminder that only you are enough, only 
 you can fill us, and only you are the 
 God that we can share with the world 
 around us who is enough for us and for 
 everyone. 
 And God, we just thank you. We thank you 
 for this miracle that you provided 
 sustenance, you provided fish and bread, 
 but Lord, more than that, we thank you 
 that you are the bread of life and you 
 call us to be fishers of men. 
 And Lord, we thank you for this time. 
 Lord, prepare our hearts for this 
 weekend and we just lift all this up in 
 Jesus' name. Amen. 
 Hey, thank you for joining us today. 
 We'll see you this Sunday. 
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 >> Mhm.