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Good morning everybody. My name is Alex Campbell and I have been part of the

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Shed for almost five years now. So the Shed is our, yeah, I heard a whoop over

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there, is our sixth through twelfth graders. We meet throughout the year, we're on

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break right now for the summer, but we meet throughout the year at ten o'clock

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right before service and that's been been a joy of mine. And so I've been

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doing that for five years now, but today, in what we affectionately call Big

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Church, we are going to read through a passage of John 6 together, okay? So

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we've been walking through John the last couple weeks and by now I think we have

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at least begun to see that the the book of John is a little bit different than

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the other Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And one of the reasons is John seems to

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write with with one purpose in mind, right? He is writing to reveal and

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persuade the readers, us, that Jesus is in fact who he says he is, that he is the

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Son of God, that he is the Son of man, that he is the Holy One of God as Peter

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puts it, and the Savior of all people. Right? So Jesus, as we've been reading, and

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if you read throughout the whole book of John, he does really a great work of

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weaving consistent messages and teachings throughout his interactions

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with people. Right? And honestly, we saw that a little bit today with what we're

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gonna, what we worshiped and what we're gonna talk about today, just the

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consistency that Jesus brings. What we will read today is a continuation of

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just what we've already been learning, what he's already been teaching, and this

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message that Jesus has kind of been incrementally revealing in his ministry.

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John has been preparing, or has prepared our hearts to receive it, right? The way

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that he's written it is a way that we can actually receive it. All right? So

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with that, let's go to start, get your Bibles. They're on your table. We're gonna

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open up to John 6. They're on your table. You can take those home with you if you

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like, or you can download an app from any smart device. And we have a tradition

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here of giving the scriptures our full attention. So if you, however you're

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willing and able to do that, if you'd like, you can join me by standing. We'll

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be reading from John 6, starting in verse 1, and I will be skipping around a

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little bit, but I'll give you a heads up as we move through this chapter.

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Sometime after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is

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the Sea of Tiberias, and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw

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the signs that he had performed by healing the sick. When Jesus went up on a

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mountainside and sat down with his disciples, the Jewish Passover festival

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was near. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to

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Philip, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only

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to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. Verse 11, Jesus

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then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as

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much as they wanted, and he did the same with the fish. When they had all had

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enough to eat, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces that are left over, let

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nothing be wasted. Jump down to verse 25, when they found him on the other side of

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the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, very truly,

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I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw the signs I performed,

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but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that

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spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of

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Man will give you, for on him, God the Father, has placed the seal of approval.

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Then they asked him, what must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus answered,

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the work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. One more passage

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starting at verse 41, at this the Jews there began to grumble about him

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because he said, I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, this is, is

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this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now

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say, I came down from heaven? Stop grumbling among yourselves, Jesus answered,

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no one can come to me unless the Father who has sent me draws them and I will

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raise them up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, they will all be

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taught by God. Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.

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No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God, only he has seen the

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Father. Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the

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bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.

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But here's the bread that comes down from heaven which anyone may eat and not

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die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will

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live forever and this bread, this bread is my flesh, which I will give for the

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life of the world. Then the Jews began to argue sharply amongst themselves, how can

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this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, very truly I tell you,

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unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life

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in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will

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raise them up on the last day for my flesh is real food and my blood is real

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drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.

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Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, no one who

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feeds on me will, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the

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bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died. Whoever

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feeds on this bread will live forever. He said this while teaching in the

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synagogue of Capernaum and on hearing it many of his disciples said this is a

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hard teaching. Who can accept it? And aware of his disciples were grumbling

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about this, Jesus said to them, does this offend you? With that let's let's pray.

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Jesus, this is a hard teaching. May you soften our hearts to receive it.

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May you guide us in and learn leaning into the words of eternal life that you

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have given us, that you've spoken to us. May they overcome our thoughts. May we

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just welcome you into our hearts. Lord may we stand before you with honesty and

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lack of understanding. Lord clear it up for us and draw us into your presence.

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Amen. Thank you. I know that was a long passage but man I've read this book of

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John multiple times in my life but I feel like I have skimmed over this most

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of those times. Like what is he saying here? But particularly because of John's

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purpose of writing we should be drawn to the things that Jesus teaches that not

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only draw the crowd as we see at the beginning of this chapter but also his

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teachings that disperse the crowd right. John is trying to convince us that he

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is who he says he is. So when we read passages like this I question sometimes

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whether we get offended enough right. Do we really understand the gravity of what

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Jesus is saying here and that's not all our fault right. We live in a completely

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different time, different culture. We have the benefit of skipping to the end. The

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end of the book and the story and the chapter. We have resources to help

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explain some of this stuff to us. So with all of that we should still ask why did

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they get so offended. Really there are two topics here that cause grumbling

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amongst the people and his disciples all right.

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Apparent cannibalism and something called predestination right. So welcome

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to church everybody. It's gonna be a long day. No unfortunately or fortunately we

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won't have time to completely solve both of these things right. Both these

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teachings but that's okay. That's not the main goal here. While they are important

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and they are obviously part of the teaching and we'll get on we'll touch on

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them both. Jesus may have a little bit different goal or a purpose in mind than

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just breaking down theological points and talking about God's providence right.

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So that's okay and John's pursuit to persuade us of the truth of Jesus he

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writes first of Jesus is feeding thousands of followers with bread and

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then goes right into Jesus teaching and his claiming to be the bread of life

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right. So that's why we read so much today but while these events in and of

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themselves are grand and miraculous together they really lift each other up

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and is meant to be seen as a tangible metaphor for who Jesus is the bread of

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life who has descended from heaven to us okay. The chapter starts with a very

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basic need of real hunger right real hunger. A test we can say of the material

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type something that we physically experience and this test the material

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was all about the capability of God right and the incapability of man who

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could not solve this problem. Yet Jesus shows us that not Jesus shows us that

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our most important needs can not only be met but be fulfilled with more leftover.

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We can have our full and still have more leftover and the teaching that follows

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could be described as a second test a second spiritual compliment to the first

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the spiritual test shows us that God's care that God cares so much for so much

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for us and so much more than just our physical stomachs. See Jesus ministry

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impact was spreading and drawing people towards him so much so that they came

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not only by the thousands but they came hungry they came hungry meaning they

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came from either a far far distance or simply just without a plan they were

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just they just wanted to go see this guy. That's the big deal how many times have

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you gone on a trip without a plan of food that's how I plan my trips. Jesus

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miraculously feeds these thousands of people with five loaves and two fish and

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these loaves aren't like the big loaves that you well what I would think of I

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will say but these were enough for about one person's lunch. One one boy was

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carrying five loaves and two fish. All right so it is in a way as we have read

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following this story really an invitation to a redemption story of the

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Israelites when they were wandering the desert after God rescued them from

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slavery in Egypt. So thank you Brandon for that lead in this morning.

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The manna the Israelites gathered every day when it last the night.

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You have read the story they they gathered it every single day this manna

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that mysteriously appeared with the dew in the morning. They gathered it and they

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gather every day and twice as much the day before the Sabbath but over time

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something happened something changed in the people and they started gathering

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simply out of self-preservation. They lost sight of the miraculous that was

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happening right in front of them and they were no longer satisfied with what

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they were eating. They grew tired of eating the bread. They grew hungry again

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and they ended up turning away in worshiping other gods. Gods that they

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created with their own hands and this is what the people in Jesus were discussing.

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They had their their feeding of the five thousand with bread and fish and then

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they were discussing about the Israelites and they didn't think that it

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was on par like well you know Moses they he gave us manna from the desert. You

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just gave us some bread and fish and Jesus is saying what I've done is this

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is the redemption the opportunity for redemption here and what we find out the

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next day as as they're discussing this Jesus teaches no one can come to me

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unless the Father who sent me draws them. We find out quite quickly who has the

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spiritual stomach for the teachings of Jesus. Not just the tangible food but

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the spiritual food and the first thing we just teach about is what we call

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predestination. There are many different views on predestination and

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how we define it and how it works but I think there are some some things we can't

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agree on. What we do know is that Jesus does have something to say about it. He

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does just talk about it here and while there are many different views on even

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what he does say what we do know what he does say is that something has to happen

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before we may enter the fullness of God's presence. He is clear on this. He's

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believe in me believe in him as the blameless, willful, and final sacrifice. He

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says very truly I tell you the one who believes has eternal life and this

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belief apparently is eating his flesh and drinking his blood right so this is

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something new. Jesus is teaching something new yet it is also

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steeped in a rich history of meaning. Not only is he pointing ahead to what is to

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come with his death and resurrection what we call communion or the Eucharist

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but is also pointing back and back to something they knew very well and though

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I say back for our sake it was something they were actively practicing at the

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time the law of Moses right so the book of Leviticus alright this takes us back

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book of Leviticus if you've ever read it you've probably just skimmed it you know

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same it was generally thought as the so-called rule book right but it's it

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is much more than that but they it was laws and laws that were given to the

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Israelites while they were in the wilderness right after God delivered

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them from slavery to the Egyptians. One of these laws was how to atone for the

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sins of the Israelites okay. Sinful people how can I be in the presence of

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God again we have to sacrifice so atonement here meaning bringing us into

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right relationship with God again right so we were sinful we want we want to be

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with God again one day a year on this law called the day of atonement the

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priest would be responsible for making sacrifices and offerings before the

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tabernacle and this is where God dwelt with his people the animal sacrifice was

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the blameless representation of the sinful offer and a portion of that

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animal was burned on the altar the unclean parts were taken outside the

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camp and burned somewhere else and a portion was kept for food as for the

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priests and the priests would take some of the blood from the animal into the

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holy of holies it says take its blood behind the curtain into the holy of

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holies which is the innermost room of the tabernacle this holy of holies is

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where God's God's presence dwelt most abundantly okay and this as it rounds

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out some of this stuff of a gus 1711 says for God says for the life of the

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creature is in the blood and I have given it to you to make an atonement for

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yourselves on the altar it is the blood that makes atonement by the life in the

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blood see the holy priest the high priest could only answer the holy of

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holies the fullness of God's presence one time a year and only if he carried

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before him the lifeblood of a blameless creature this was the only way because

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of our sin that separates us from his presence not only were these sacrifices

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many they were temporary so this that was one day a year for the whole

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community but throughout the year there were individual you know sacrifices and

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atonements having to be made right now that that's a that way that's only a

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couple of the laws right and all this for what what are we doing this for

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simple obedience God just says do it my son Milo is over there is really into

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asking the question why right now those that have kids have probably all been

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through hopefully a phase I'm counting on it but man it's so hard not to say

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because I said so it's still ends up saying it quite a bit but it made he

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asked why for a I didn't know I have to explain some of these things in my life

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this isn't because God said so this is something different something a little

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bit more real exodus 25 8 so before for all these God said then have them make a

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sanctuary for me and I will dwell among them so don't miss this God is

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instructing his people to make this tabernacle sanctuary so that he may

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dwell among his people in the midst of our sin the midst of their sin God is

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making a way to be with his people just like we're saying earlier God is

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bringing heaven down to us he is pursuing his people his presence among

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his people so starting to sound a little familiar right because here Jesus comes

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along quite literally God's presence walking among his people quite literally

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God's presence he's making a way to be with his creation again and this is a

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little bit new a new way he comes along saying whoever eats my flesh and drinks

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my blood remains in me this is this is the something new there's this couple

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that this is this something that remaining in me finality just use is no

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longer temporary and repetitive but remaining this is the same teaching same

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teaching but in a brand new way but the people were offended by it all right

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Jesus wasn't trying to offend people right he's not walking up trying to push

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everybody's buttons we get offended when we misunderstand and they were offended

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by it largely because they were misunderstanding they were taking his

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saying quite literally we actually find this quite typical throughout the book

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of John in particular they took Jesus quite literally when he said he'd rebuild

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the temple in three days when in fact he was talking about his body or last week

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we learned about Nicodemus right Greg preached about how Nicodemus thought

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we'd literally have to go back into our mother's womb to be born again they were

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taking him literally they were saying Jesus doesn't want us to carry this

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blood before us but now he wants to drink it okay it says right there one of

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the laws you may not eat bloods that's you know red flag that's about as

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straightforward as you're gonna get right and then the priests just like the

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priest rate portion of the sin offering now you want us to eat body right I

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don't even know if there's a law about that but we don't like we know we're not

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gonna do that what was lost on the people was awesome people that at the

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time the message that Jesus was conveying the same message that Jesus

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that God was conveying to the Israelites and creating the tabernacle and giving

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them the laws was to hunger and thirst for his presence he has given us hunger

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and thirst for his presence they thought Jesus's flesh and blood were

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given to us to eat rather than for us in place of us but this does this message

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is belief and Jesus is all-consuming is all-consuming when God looks at you he

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treats you as if you were his son as if you were Jesus blameless holy he does

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this because Jesus was treated like what we deserve but I deserve what you

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deserve he was put to death so when Jesus says you must drink my blood he is

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saying that it is only by my lifeblood a true sinless not even a representation

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but truly sinless that we may enter the fullness of in the holiness of God's

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presence beautiful part about this I mean if that wasn't beautiful already

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great beautiful part is when the priest would eat a portion of the sacrifice set

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aside for them back in Leviticus it signified the acceptance of that

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sacrifice that's what Jesus is asking us here just like the priest who ate a

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portion of that sin offering we too are to eat of his body drink this blood in

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confirmation saying yes I believe that Jesus is acceptable that he is fully and

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wholly complete this is the word of eternal life this is the way that God's

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presence once again you know what mankind what really we have been seeking

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since the time Adam and Eve were banished from the garden all right true

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communion with God we find out in verse 66 it says from this time many of his

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disciples turned back and no longer followed him they accepted the miracle

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the loaves and the fish because it suited them at the time but they really

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undervalued the true miracle of Jesus the Son of God in the flesh and the

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blood they had the curiosity gratified right by the strangeness of Jesus's

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miracles that he could do these things but did not have their consciousness

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their spirit convinced by the power of them and they walked away it walked away

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from the presence of God you know there I remember when Milo was born I had a

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conversation with one of my friends a couple months he was probably a couple

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months old one of my friends also had a child around the same time I remember

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talking to him and saying that I had some I was having a difficult time with

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being home in the evenings some and some of those times because I am such a

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task-oriented person I'm an engineer if you didn't know about me and so my whole

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work life is based on schedules and deadlines do this go to the next thing

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it's very logical straightforward but spending time with my children there's

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no boxes to check progress is long waiting long waiting for them to sleep

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through the night for the first time say their first word to walk

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forced me to just be in their presence to be in their presence and that be

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sufficient not just sufficient but abundant every part of my cultural

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upbringing wants to tell all of you and all of us to go do something right now

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go do something fill up your schedules volunteer Bible studies devotions check

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those boxes but really we find in these verses that it is simple to ask what

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must I do to do the works of God on the other hand it's quite difficult to ask

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what must I do to be in the presence of God not only is this what we asked today

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but it's exactly what the people asked of the time okay they asked what is what

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must we do to do the works of God and Jesus's response is this the work seems

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singular of God is this to believe in the one he has sent to believe in the

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one he has sent this belief is not a belief of unknowing we're not seeing

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Jesus is the one we look on but when our sight does fail us may our taste buds

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remind us that he is good that we have experienced his goodness believe in

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Jesus believe in his holiness believe he is complete and acceptable sacrifice

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believe in his abundance that is abundance is more than we could ever

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consume this belief is to come to him to have affection for him and to have a

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deep and visceral appetite for him now all of this leads to real movement not

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just our souls but our hands and our feet our bodies because to eat and to

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drink is to participate and to enjoy life with him this belief in effect all

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these things are added up is nourishment and growth it is not stagnant because

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belief is to know God and to be taught by him so in the midst of God's presence

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and being taught by him may we have the response of Peter looking at verse 67

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Jesus says you do not want to leave to do you Jesus has the 12 Simon Peter

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answer him Lord to whom shall we go you have the words of eternal life we have

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come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God and this is a man

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speaking right out for hearing some very difficult things so difficult that many

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followers left not just curious observers but followers disciples left

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him he may not have fully understood what Jesus was teaching but he was still

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convinced that Jesus is the way that Jesus presence is worth every bit of

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our discomfort so I asked earlier you know you get offended be offended get

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uncomfortable and in that seek the true understanding that can only be found in

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his presence so whether we're coming to him full of knowledge full of doubts

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empty stomachs in the wilderness without a plan Jesus sits us down and feeds us

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he feeds us with abundance it is there in his presence that we can remain