What do you reach for when your soul feels empty?

After Jesus feeds the 5,000, the crowd follows Him for more bread. But Jesus invites them to see beyond their next meal and recognize who stands before them: the Bread of Life.

In “Come and See the One Who Satisfies Your Soul,” we explore John 6 and the difference between temporary substitutes and the life Jesus offers. He doesn’t just provide what we need but He is what we need.

Jesus’ invitation also challenges us. Will we believe, trust, and surrender when following Him becomes difficult? When many walk away, Peter’s response brings us back to the One who has the words of eternal life.

Scripture: John 6

For reflection: Where are you turning to satisfy your soul?

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OC Church of Christ

Good morning, brothers and sisters.

2

Good morning.

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Amen.

4

My name is Marcel Hall, and, uh,

honor and privilege to be able to

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speak and preach God's word today.

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Uh, we did wanna mention that, uh,

we do have our Spanish-speaking

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ministry here in our service today.

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All right.

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Bienvenidos hermanos y hermanas.

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There you go.

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And we will stop right there.

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All right.

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Uh, our Korean-speaking

ministry is not here today.

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They're actually on a retreat this

weekend, and so, uh, we're, uh, uh,

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praying that they have a great time there.

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Um, I, I, I need to get this

out the way right away, in

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that, uh, yes, I am struggling.

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I, I am, uh, I, I, I,

I, I, I need your help.

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We know.

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I need your help.

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Some of you looking like, "Why?

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What happened?"

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Uh-

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USC lost yesterday.

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How dare any of you actually cheer.

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I heard some cheering.

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The Bible says to mourn when others

mourn, and I am mourning right now.

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Some of y'all might be, you

know, rejoicing, but we don't

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rejoice over that, okay?

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And so, yes, um, those who don't know me,

that, that, that hits, that hits hard.

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That hits hard, uh, for a brother.

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I don't know why God allows me to preach

when USC loses, you know what I'm saying?

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He must know I need something

to get up, you know?

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'Cause if I don't, then I…

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Who knows, I might not make it on Sunday.

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Might just be at the house

doing nothing, eating Cheerios,

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sulking, you know what I'm saying?

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But we're gonna get through it.

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All right, so, uh, again,

my name is Marcell Hall.

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We are going to continue in a sermon

series that we started a couple weeks ago

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called Come and See, and we're studying

out what, uh, we call the Gospel of John.

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John is a letter written and, uh, uh,

by the Apostle John, and, uh, really

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it's an auto- it's- it's a biography

of Jesus' life, and it really has more

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theological framework in the text.

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And so, at one point in John chapter 1,

as they're recounting Jesus and some of

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his first followers, they, uh, as they

tell their friends about Jesus, they

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say, "Hey, you need to come and see."

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And so there's this invitation.

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You need to come and see for

yourself who this Jesus is.

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And so we're going ourselves, and

we're being refreshed to remind it,

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or maybe some of us for the very

first time, realizing who Jesus is.

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We're, we're accepting this

invitation to come and see.

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And, uh, we, uh, uh, have went through

the first four chapters of the Gospel of

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John, and we saw Jesus is the greatest.

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We come and saw how Jesus is

the divine, the Savior, and

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then last week, the Messiah.

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Now, we're gonna skip John chapter

5 because Kyle, uh, our campus

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minister, he preached on John

chapter 5 earlier this year.

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So we're gonna jump on

over to John chapter 6.

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And so today, we are going to…

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It's a little bit longer of a title.

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We're gonna come and see the

one who satisfies your soul.

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Amen.

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The one who satisfies your soul.

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Let's go to God in prayer.

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Father in heaven, we thank you so

much already for the opportunity to

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be encouraged and to encourage others.

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Father, we thank you already to

hear how you worked in Kiana's life.

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Father, we're grateful to be reminded of

the opportunity to join in your good work

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as we give to you through Derek's sharing.

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Father, we're reminded of, uh, how

good you are and how you wade in the

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water, Father, how we wade in the water.

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We see you trouble the water,

therefore you move in our lives and

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you stir us in our hearts, and you

provide blessings upon blessings.

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Thank you that you are a God

who's worthy of us building

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our trust and our lives upon.

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God, you are good.

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And Father, I pray right now that

your Word may c- be communicated,

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that your Word may be preached, that

your Word may be understood, and

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Father, your Word may not only be

absorbed, but it may be lived out.

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We pray in Jesus' name, amen We

all understand physical hunger.

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When our bodies are hungry, they tell us.

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And what do we do?

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We go and we start looking

for something to eat.

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But we also have a hunger that food

cannot satisfy, that physical food

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cannot quench, uh, an intangible hunger.

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We hunger, if you're a USC fan,

for them to actually win a game,

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but we're not gonna go there, okay?

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All right.

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But we hunger to be loved.

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We hunger to be seen, to feel

secure, to know that we are

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significant and our lives matter.

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And we will go after these

things in the way we believe in

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which they will be satisfied.

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And so we will beli- any way that

we believe those hungers can be

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satisfied, we go after it in that way.

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And so we may go after relationships,

accomplishments, pleasure,

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approval, control, even religion.

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Now, not all of those things are bad,

but some of those things are good,

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but they can also be twisted and

actually end up being destructive.

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But none of those things can satisfy

the human hunger of our souls.

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We can have full schedules, full

stomachs, full bank accounts,

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and still have empty souls.

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Now, John 6 introduces us to a crowd

who's been fed and full by Jesus,

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however, as we'll see, that even

though they've been filled in their

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stomachs, their souls were still hungry.

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And John 6 is going to invite us to come

and see the one who satisfies your soul.

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Let's go on over to John, chapter 6.

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Brothers, sisters, are you with me here?

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Yeah.

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In John, chapter 6, now

we- it's a long chapter.

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We're not gonna be able to go

through it all, and so I encourage

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you to read and study it out.

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And so I wanna summarize

the first part of this.

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We have in John 6, verses 1 through

23, uh, Jesus and his disciples go

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to, uh, uh, uh, uh, the, the eastern

shore of the Sea of Galilee there,

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or Sea of Tiberias, and there's these

thousands of crowds that come to Jesus.

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And Jesus, with just, uh, uh, two fish

and five loaves, he feeds the 5,000.

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And then he feeds them, not only that,

but there's actually, they're full

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and there's 12 basketfuls left over.

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And then they decide to cross

over to the other side of the

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lake there, and this is at night.

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Jesus sends His people off, and,

and, a- a- and, and what happens is

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they start to struggle on the waves

there, and Jesus, He walks on the

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water, and then the waters calm down,

and they cross over into Capernaum.

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I did want to mention also as well that

when Jesus did this five, this miracle

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of feeding 5,000, some of the people

were in awe, thought, "This is maybe the

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prophet that was promised, prophesied

about and promised to us by Moses."

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And so they wanted to make Him king,

and they wanted to do it by force.

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"Let's go get, let's go get the rifles.

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Let's go, let's ante up

and let's go do this."

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Jesus is like, "No, that's

not what we're going to do."

133

And so now we take it up here, and the

crowd the next day, some of them have

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crossed over, and they follow Jesus so

that they can see and look for Him again.

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We're in John 6:24.

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Are you guys all with me here?

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Yeah.

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Okay, we have the context.

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All right, let's go ahead

and let's read John 6:24.

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It says, "Once the crowd realized that

neither Jesus nor His disciples were

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there, they got into the boats and

went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

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When they found Him on the other

side of the lake, they asked Him,

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'Rabbi, when did you get here?'

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Jesus answered, 'Very truly I tell you,

you are looking for me, not because you

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saw the signs I performed but because

you ate the loaves and had your fill.

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Do not work for food that spoils, but

for food that endures to eternal life,

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which the Son of Man will give you.

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For on Him, God the Father has

placed His seal of approval.'"

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We have classic Jesus right here.

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He's asked a question,

and what does He do?

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He actually doesn't even answer the

question, but He gets into this deep

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spiritual conversation, and we see

this throughout the Book of John here,

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where Jesus asked a question, and

He, and He turns it into this deep

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teaching so that He can reveal God's

truth to that person and persons.

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And so they're looking for Jesus to

get more food or, you know, maybe

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see more miracles, but they're

missing what the signs that they just

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saw revealed about God and Jesus.

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And Jesus tells them that there's food

that leads to eternal life, and that

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the Son of God is the source of it.

160

You know, they came looking for

bread from Jesus, but Jesus wanted

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to recognize that the bread was

standing right in front of them.

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Let's continue reading in verse 28.

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It says, "Then they asked him, 'What

must we do to do the works God requires?'

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Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this,

to believe in the one He has sent.'"

165

You know, that's a good question.

166

What, what kind of work

should we do that God wants?

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Good question.

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Could be potentially wrong motives or

maybe wrong theology, thinking that they

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can earn God's favor or thinking that they

can earn eternal life through their works.

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And Jesus tells them what?

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He tells them to believe

in the one He has sent.

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This is the thing.

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Now, we can misinterpret this if we forget

all that's been happening prior to John

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6 or all that happens after this verse.

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And so we wanna make sure we're reminded,

and I shared about this a couple weeks

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ago, that biblical belief includes BTS.

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Do you guys remember this?

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Okay, those, remember BTS.

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I know some of you are already going to

your K-pop moves, you know what I mean?

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But we talked about this, that

biblical belief, it means believe,

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trust, and surrender And so that we

believe in who He is, that Jesus is

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the Son of God, that we trust His word.

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What He says is truth because it's from

heaven, it's divine, and we trust His

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sacrifice on the cross being the only

way that we can have atonement and a

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salvation with God for eternal life.

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But it also includes

surrender to Jesus as Lord.

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He's not just Savior, but He's Lord.

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So every time when we see this word

belief, especially in John, we have

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to remember it's not mental belief,

but it's a belief in who He is, it's

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a trust in what He did, and it's a

surrender to Him and His lordship.

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Are you guys with me here?

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Yes.

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Because that way we can make sure

we capture it and not misinterpret

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and misapply to our lives, therefore

missing out on eternal life.

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And so let's continue

reading here in verse 30.

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"So they went and asked Him,

'What sign then will You give that

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we may see it and believe You?

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What will You do?

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Our ancestors ate the

manna in the wilderness.

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As it is written, "He gave them

bread from heaven to eat."'"

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Now, this is a reference to the Israelites

going out of slavery and into the

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promised land, The Prince of Egypt.

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You remember that movie there?

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Okay, so and so as they went across, they

hit this point, and God provided bread

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from heaven, and they called it manna.

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They…

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In fact, manna means what is it?

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They didn't understand what it was, so

they just said, "Hey, you know what?

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Let's call it what is it."

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And so every day, God would provide

what is its, and they would go ahead

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and have their fill for each day.

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And so some, uh, uh, uh, Jewish, uh,

uh, traditions at this point in time,

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and we know it, it further later on,

especially after Jesus, but during the

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first century, some believed that the

Messiah, the promised prophet, would

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also repeat this bread of heaven, this

manna being delivered, so therefore

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revealing that they are the prophet.

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You guys with me here?

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And so this is why they're asking,

"Wait, so are you gonna do something?

219

Because if you are, that

means this is who you are."

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And so they're asking questions.

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Jesus says in verse 32 here,

He says, "Very truly…"

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Remember, listen up, I'm

giving you some truth.

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I'm about to drop a jewel for you here.

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"Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses

who has given you the bread from heaven."

225

That's interesting.

226

"But it is my Father who gives

you the true bread from heaven."

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Hey, don't get caught up on Moses.

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Moses was a great figure,

but he was a servant of God.

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Remember who the source was And he

tells them, "Hey, there's actually

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bread that comes from heaven.

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It's true bread."

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And in verse 33, "For the bread of

God is the bread that comes down from

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heaven and gives life to the world."

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He's obviously not talking

about physical food.

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We're talking about spiritual food.

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Jesus says there is a food from heaven.

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There is a bread from heaven

that actually meets your soul.

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This is the first example

of true soul food.

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And you know a brother

loves his soul food.

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If you don't like soul food, then

you just don't like food, okay?

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But this is bread from

heaven that gives you life.

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It gives you true life, and

it gives you eternal life.

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Again, John reveals that

eternal life isn't just in the

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life to come, it begins now.

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It's true life, and it's for who?

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For the world.

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It's not just for the

small or the minority.

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It's not just for the Jews, but

this is for all of creation.

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We continue in verse 34.

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Or excuse me, we're gonna, uh, we're

gonna, we're gonna jump on over to

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verse 47 here for the sake of time.

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And so what happens is that

some of them start to grumble.

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They start to get angry, and, you

know, it's similar to even the,

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the, what happened with Moses.

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The people started to grumble.

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But, but we won't go there right now.

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But they started to grumble because

Jesus claims to have come from

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heaven, and they're like, "Hold on.

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Huh?

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What in the world?

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How's this guy gonna say he's from heaven?

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We know his kinfolk.

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We know his cousins, his mama, his auntie.

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He can't be from heaven."

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And so Jesus goes and he

says, "Look, you know what?

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You guys can't come to me unless

the Father draws you to me,"

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and that he alone is the only

one who has seen God the Father.

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And so we take it up in verse 47.

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It reads, "Very truly," listen

up, "I tell you, the one who

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believes has eternal life.

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I am the bread of life.

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Your ancestors ate the

manna in the wilderness…"

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Hold on here one second.

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We skipped verse 35.

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Ooh, I sure did.

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Okay.

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All right.

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Here we go.

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All right.

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Sorry about that.

281

You know what?

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Can we rewind for a second?

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Rewind.

284

Let's rewind for a second

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Verse 34 and 35, let me

recap that for you too, okay?

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All right.

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He tells them that He is the bread

of life, "Whoever comes to me will

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never go hungry, and whoever believes

in me will never be thirsty."

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And so He tells them, "Hey,

I am the bread of life.

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I am this bread of heaven.

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This bread that I'm

referring to, guess what?

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It's me.

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I'm standing right here in front of you."

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And so he's telling them, "Hey, don't

just come to Jesus for bread, come

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to Jesus because he is the bread."

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We go back on over to verse 47 to 51.

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Sorry there, now we're

back, we're all caught up.

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You guys with me here?

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Yeah.

300

All right, here we go.

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"Very truly I tell you, the one

who believes has eternal life.

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I am the bread of the

life, uh, bread of life."

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Second time he says this.

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"Your ancestors ate the manna in

the wilderness, yet they died.

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But here is the bread that comes down from

heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.

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I am the living bread that

came down from heaven.

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Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

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This bread is my flesh, which I will

give for the life of the world."

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Now, he continues again, and now he

says he's this living bread from heaven,

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but also who eats this bread will

live, and then he goes on and says,

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"All right, this bread is my flesh."

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Now, now i- things turn for the crowd.

313

What in the world?

314

Now you're saying that your,

your flesh is the bread?

315

Mm, now we're starting to

get into some cannibalism.

316

And so then the people get upset, and they

sharply argue amongst themselves, "How

317

can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

318

And i- you know, you can understand

that gets a little weird Now, it's

319

interesting, though, because they,

they really should have understood that

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it was a metaphor, but they didn't.

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You know, they took it literally

because they couldn't get it

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or they didn't want to get it.

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You know, we too can also do this,

where we don't get the simple truth, or

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we don't want to get the simple truth.

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Because maybe our hearts are hard,

and we don't really want what the

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implications are from this simple truth.

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We continue in verse 53.

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Jesus said to them, "Very truly I

tell you, unless you eat the flesh

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of the Son of Man and drink his

blood, you have no life in you.

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Whoever eats my flesh and drinks

my blood has eternal life, and I

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will raise them up at the last day.

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For my flesh is real food

and my blood is real drink."

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D- Jesus double downs on this.

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"All right, y'all don't get the metaphor?

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I'm gonna keep going with it.

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You gotta eat me and drink me, okay?

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Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my

blood remains in me and I in them.

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Just as the living Father has sent me and

I live because of the Father, so the one

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who feeds on me will live because of me.

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This is the bread that

came down from heaven.

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Your ancestors ate manna and

died, but whoever feeds on

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this bread will live forever."

343

And so Jesus here, and the main crux

here that we see that he communicates

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at what's real, what, what's revealed,

what we get to come and see, is

345

that Jesus is the bread of life.

346

Jesus is the bread of life, but

he also expands on this by saying

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he's the bread from heaven,

and he's also the living bread.

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And so there's this idea

here that's developed.

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And this bread from

heaven means he's divine.

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He comes from heaven.

351

He's, his, his, his origin isn't

Earth, and he brings life and

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truth from heaven to Earth.

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And like manna in the desert, but

he's even greater than the manna

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in the desert because he leads to

spiritual nourishment and eternal life.

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Jesus did not come just to simply

fill some stomachs with food, but

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to fill our lives with the very

presence, power, and blessing of

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God He says He's the bread of life.

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Jesus didn't just give us what

we need, no, He is what we need.

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Jesus, Jesus satisfies our souls

by giving us the life with God

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that you and I were created for.

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You, we need both, we need food to live,

but we need Jesus to live spiritually.

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And Jesus is the one who gives true

life, and He sustains this true life.

363

You know, if you think about it,

this includes the meaning to life.

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You know, from Jesus, we know the purpose

to life, this eternal purpose to life

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that God has designed and created us for.

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From Jesus, we gain an

eternal mission for our lives.

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Because we consume the bread of

life, that we don't go just from

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surviving from Friday to Friday.

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You guys get what I'm saying?

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Sometimes it's, maybe you're at

this point or you were at this

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point where you're like, "I'm just

trying to make it till Friday."

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'Cause you're like, "Man, this Monday

through Thursday was tough, but I can

373

get to Friday, the weekend is here."

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But Jesus, when we consume the bread

of life, we don't live just to get to

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Friday, because we know we have a mission

and a purpose Monday through Thursday.

376

He says He's the living bread.

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This manna sustained them temporarily.

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It gave them sustenance for the day, but

Jesus gives and sustains eternal life.

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Eating and drinking, you know,

with flesh and blood, again, this

380

is a metaphor, means to consume

Him in our innermost being.

381

Right.

382

We take Him in.

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Leviticus 17, God told the

people that life is in the blood.

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So when we drink the blood of

Jesus, when we consume Jesus'

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life, His life is now in us.

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And it, we need Jesus for our soul's

deepest need, our soul's deepest

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desires, and our soul's satisfaction.

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And only He can satisfy the

deepest hunger of our human soul.

389

Yeah.

390

That's right.

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The problem is, you and I, what do we do?

392

We keep snacking on the false or the

temporary things that, that satisfy

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our soul for a second, but leave

us starving for the bread of life.

394

Oh.

395

So the question now is, what

are we feeding our souls?

396

Yeah.

397

What are we feeding our souls?

398

You know, we wanna make sure we

have the real and not the imitation.

399

You know, sometimes we can settle

for imitation when it comes,

400

you know, you're expecting some

Oreos, but then they give you the

401

generic chocolate sandwich cookies.

402

You're like, "This is cool,

but I like the Oreos."

403

Or you're looking for some Cheetos,

and you get the Cheese Curls.

404

Or you want the Nutella, but you

get the generic hazelnut spread.

405

You know, that's fine.

406

There's no knock on that.

407

Hey, look, if that's what, you know,

your, your, your jam, then go ahead.

408

But we don't want any substitute

or imitation for our souls

409

But there are a number of false imitation,

temporary substitute for our souls.

410

We can pursue and think sin or

pleasure, that's gonna satisfy

411

my human hunger of my soul.

412

Accomplishment and success, perfection

and control, other people's approval,

413

religious activity and hard work, even

the things we hope Jesus will give us.

414

You know, it's not something that

satisfies our soul, it's someone

415

You know, and over time, and many of us,

we know this to be true, but over time

416

we can lose our appreciation, and then we

start to devalue Jesus, who He is and His

417

role in our lives, leading to a distance

from God and an unfulfilling faith.

418

As I was reading this the other day or,

or last week, and I asked myself, "Wow,

419

do I see Jesus as the bread of life?"

420

I've taught this many times.

421

I have a whole, a, a Bible discussion just

on this topic, but I thought recently,

422

"Do I value Him as the bread not only

of life but the bread of my life?"

423

And I was like, "Uh, I

don't think I really do.

424

I don't think I'm, I'm seeing that He's

the only one that fills and fulfills

425

and satisfy my soul's deepest hunger."

426

That's right.

427

And so I know He's great, but as

I'm going into my time with God,

428

there's not this desperation and

understanding that, man, I know I

429

don't just do this because I have to.

430

I do, I do this because

I absolutely need Jesus.

431

Yeah.

432

I need to feed on Him.

433

And maybe some of you can

relate to what I'm sharing.

434

And so this is why it's important that

we realize or that we recall that Jesus,

435

again, is not just the bread of life.

436

Jesus is the bread of my life

437

And so, yes, it applies to the whole,

but we need to internalize and see

438

it applies to me, the individual.

439

And so if Jesus is the bread of life,

then what should our response be?

440

Well, I believe it's this, to consume

the bread of life, to take in the bread

441

of life, to consume the bread of life.

442

And for those of us who are not

disciples of Jesus, this means, yes,

443

to come and to believe in Jesus,

trusting and surrendering to Jesus

444

and accepting the gift of salvation

through repentance and baptism.

445

For those of us who are disciples of

Jesus, this means to continue to live

446

in Jesus by faithfully following Jesus'

word and example, but continuing to live.

447

This isn't just a one-time

meal, but to continue to live.

448

And we see this in the results and the

ramifications here, and the examples

449

for us here still in John chapter 6.

450

Brothers and sisters, are

you still with me here?

451

Yeah.

452

Okay.

453

We continue with the story here in,

in John chapter 6, but actually, let

454

me point this out in verse 56, 57.

455

This points us to this idea of a

continuing relationship, a continual

456

feeding upon and consuming and

taking in and abiding in Christ

457

and having Christ abide in us.

458

And so again, it's continuing

to view and appreciate Jesus

459

as the bread of our lives.

460

We need Jesus and therefore,

we are so thankful for Jesus.

461

And we have to remember that

we follow Jesus continually,

462

but we follow it on His terms

463

Let's go and read John 6:60.

464

Brothers and sisters, I said

are you still with me here?

465

Yeah.

466

All right, it says, "On hearing

it," again, Jesus is teaching, "On

467

hearing it, many of his disciples…"

468

His who?

469

His disciples.

470

These are followers of Je- These are ones

who have claimed to have belief in Jesus.

471

They said, "This is a hard teaching.

472

Who can accept it?"

473

Aware that his disciples were

grumbling about this, Jesus said

474

to them, "Does this offend you?

475

Then what if you see the Son of

Man ascend to where he was before?

476

The spirit gives life, the

flesh counts for nothing.

477

The words I have spoken to you, they

are full of the Spirit and life."

478

Again, pointing, hey, guys, y- you, y- you

know I was talking, this is a metaphor.

479

Again, this is Spirit and life

that I'm speaking here to you.

480

If you receive it, boy, you have the

Spirit and you have eternal life.

481

But they weren't understanding, and

look what happens in verse s- 66:

482

"From this time many of his disciples

turned back and no longer followed him.

483

'You do not want to leave too, do you?'

484

Jesus asked the 12.

485

Simon Peter answered,

'Lord, to whom shall we go?

486

You have the words of eternal life.

487

We have come to believe and to know

that you are the Holy One of God.'"

488

Amen.

489

You see, the people wanted the

Messiah to fit in their image.

490

They didn't want the

Messiah that Jesus offered.

491

And so we can see here that what

there was a difference in what the

492

crowd wanted and what Jesus offered.

493

What the crowd wanted, they

wanted bread from Jesus.

494

What Jesus offered is Jesus is the bread.

495

What the crowd wanted, they

wanted temporary satisfaction.

496

Jesus offered eternal life.

497

What the crowd wanted was

a Messiah on their terms.

498

Jesus offered a Lord

to follow on his terms.

499

Again, remember when I told you early on

when they saw him when he fed the 5,000,

500

they wanted to make him king by force.

501

You see, they had this image

of a political king, so they

502

wanted Jesus to fit their mold

of what the Messiah was like.

503

So we see it then, and we see

it even with his own people.

504

And when they didn't get what

they wanted, they decided to leave

505

We have to make sure we

follow Jesus on His terms.

506

The crowd wanted Je- what Jesus could give

them, but when Jesus didn't meet their

507

expectations, they stopped believing.

508

You know, it's possible to want

Jesus as a healer, as a provider,

509

as a problem-solver, without

surrendering to Him as Savior and Lord.

510

But if He's Lord, then He

must be followed as Lord.

511

Brent says, "Jesus is

the Lord we must trust."

512

You know, the apostles say,

"Lord, to whom shall we go?

513

You're the Holy One."

514

You know, it's funny, they didn't

fully realize and understand who

515

Jesus was and all that was taking

place until after the resurrection.

516

But they truly believed in

Jesus so that they surrendered

517

to His Lordship in their lives.

518

You know, the same for us.

519

Will we believe and follow when

we don't completely understand?

520

Or when, when Jesus' words challenge

us, our opinions, and our worldviews?

521

Or will we follow only the part of Jesus

that is easy and that we agree with?

522

They wanted bread from Jesus.

523

Jesus offered himself as the bread.

524

I'll say it again.

525

Don't come to Jesus for bread.

526

Come to Jesus because he is the bread.

527

And when we consume Jesus, he meets

our soul's needs, and that's where

528

true and eternal life takes place.

529

And so I want to remind

us, you are what you eat

530

You are what you eat.

531

Isn't that true?

532

You are what you eat.

533

I remember being in college and, and

I had some health ch- uh, challenges

534

my s- I think it was my senior year

in college, and I went to the, um,

535

to, like, the school nurse or doctor,

whatever it was on campus, and so she

536

says, "Well, tell me about your diet."

537

I said, "Well, I eat frozen burritos, Top

Ramen, hot dogs, hamburgers, and, uh, and

538

maybe some vegetables every now and then."

539

And she said, "Do you think that

could be part of the problem?

540

You're right.

541

That could be part…

542

Wow, that's deep right there."

543

I was like, man, maybe that's what it is.

544

You are what you eat spiritually.

545

If we feed on the imitation and the

substitutes, we'll be frustrated.

546

We'll be discouraged.

547

We won't like Jesus.

548

Why?

549

Because we're feeding on the substitutes.

550

We'll start disagreeing and making up

our own version of who the Lord should

551

be and how he should fit into our box.

552

We'll believe and follow only when

Jesus meets our expectations, and

553

we may eventually stop following or

we may remain physically present,

554

but stop following in our hearts.

555

And what can happen is a false version, an

imitation of crea- Christianity with cheap

556

grace that doesn't lead to eternal life,

but leaves us being spiritually deceived.

557

But when we feed on Jesus, the

living bread of life, his life grows

558

in us, and that's the perfect life

of heaven that will abide in us.

559

His character forms in us.

560

His words direct us.

561

His mission gives us purpose, and

his life sustains us now and leads

562

to resurrection and to eternal life.

563

Don't just come to Jesus for bread,

come to Jesus because he is the bread,

564

the only one that satisfies your soul.

565

So let's get real practical here.

566

Let's have some action

steps here for the week.

567

And here, we're gonna do this first one…

568

Uh, we're gonna do this

one right here, right now.

569

Okay?

570

All right?

571

So I'm gonna give you a

couple action steps here, and

572

here's what I want you to do.

573

We're gonna take 60 seconds,

and I want you to reflect

574

on what could possibly be…

575

what, what could become possible this

week with Jesus as the bread of your life.

576

So I'm gonna go ahead and

give you 60 seconds right now.

577

I want you to think through and reflect

upon what could become possible this

578

week with Jesus as the bread of my life.

579

You can go ahead and write it down.

580

You can go ahead and just pray about it.

581

But I'm gonna give you guys 60 seconds

to have a little reflection upon that

582

Okay, I want you to take maybe

30, 45 seconds and, um, and I

583

want you to go ahead and share

with the person next to you.

584

All right?

585

If you know them, then go ahead and share.

586

If you don't know them, uh, you go ahead

and introduce yourself real quickly.

587

If you're online, uh, maybe you

could put it in the chat there.

588

All right, share what was something

that you felt like the Spirit, uh,

589

said to you and ministered to you

as you reflected upon this question.

590

I'll give you guys 30 to 45 seconds

to go ahead and share with each other

591

All right.

592

Sorry about that.

593

We're gonna have to cut you off there.

594

I only said 30 seconds here,

okay, so don't be mad at me, okay?

595

All right.

596

So, here's the second thing here.

597

Action step for the week here.

598

Pray.

599

Pray about Jesus being the bread of

life, either to realize it, maybe to

600

return, or maybe to live in this reality.

601

Just go ahead and pray this week

about living in this reality there.

602

And then lastly, pick, pick one way

you will feed on Jesus this week.

603

Pick one way you will

feed on Jesus this week.

604

Maybe it's listen to His words,

respond in prayer, or maybe it's put

605

one thing He teaches into practice.

606

Whatever it is.

607

All right?

608

And if you want to still share

your reflection after service,

609

please feel free to do that.

610

A- a- and over lunch

have a great discussion.

611

Right now, we're gonna go

ahead and take communion.

612

Communion's where we remember Jesus'

sacrifice on the cross for our salvation.

613

We take the bread and the juice that,

that resemb- uh, that, that, that,

614

that, that, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,

represent His blood and His body that

615

was sacrificed for our salvation.

616

And as we can see in John chapter six,

there, there's some language there that's

617

used that helps us think of communion,

uh, as he talked about receiving and

618

eating the flesh and the blood, and again,

the emblems that we take for communion.

619

And in John chapter six in

verse 51, we'll read this verse.

620

It says, "I l- I am the living

bread that came down from heaven.

621

Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

622

This bread is my flesh, which I will

give for the life of the world."

623

Jesus satisfies our souls because

He did more than just give us

624

teachings, more than just blessings,

and more than just physical bread.

625

He gave us Himself.

626

And as we eat the bread and drink the cup,

may we remember that Jesus gave His body

627

and blood so that we can have life in Him.

628

Let's pray.

629

Father in heaven, we thank

You so much for Jesus.

630

We thank You for Him being the

bread that came from heaven, the

631

living bread, the bread of life.

632

And Father, we're so grateful for the

sacrifice that Jesus did, the offering of

633

His life so that we can have salvation.

634

We are humbled and we are grateful.

635

God, we know You didn't

have to, but You chose to.

636

And Lord Jesus, we're grateful because

You fulfilled it, and You could've

637

gotten off the cross, but You chose

to stay, and we say thank you.

638

And thank You that not only can

we believe in You, but we can have

639

eternal life in and through Your

death, burial, and resurrection.

640

Thank You for Your Spirit that

abides in us, and we pray to respond

641

faithfully, truthfully, and holy.

642

It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen