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So we continue our sermon series, What's in a Name? What's in a Name where we're

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looking at the name, the distinctives, the titles of Jesus and the gospel of John.

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And now we've jumped a little bit as we were going a little bit. It's not

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chronological. John is not written chronologically. John is written kind of

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for the Jews in more festival rotation. That's kind of nerdy. More on that if you

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ever ask, we can sit down and talk about that. But it's written to kind of remind

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us of the seasons of the believers, of the people of God in the first, in

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Jesus' day of the Israelites. So we're jumping to chapter 6, bread of life,

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really quick. How many of you, you've got to be careful how I ask this, have a

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spouse, I really have to be careful how I ask this, that gets hangry. I am also

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participating in this. Yeah, I see a lot of double, like husband and wife, both

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raising their hands. I will pray for you because that's a lot. That if food is not

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ready to go, both of you, oh man, like the book of Revelation all over again. But

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the thing about getting hangry is it's funny to watch. And I'm going to use

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probably a figurative person because I don't really want to use my wife for this

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example because I feel her staring at me right now. Is this idea of being hangry

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is if you're not the hangry person, you really, you know how to quote unquote

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feed the beast, right? Like it's one of those they need, they feel like they need

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to eat or they do need to eat and there's something going on that's making

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them angry. That it's if they don't have food, watch out. And the thing about that

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is it's really, they're hungry, they need to eat, they need sustenance, that one

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thing we need in life is food. Now I'm not going to get into any of the debates

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about what type of food and all of these things are, you know, whether you're a

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vegetarian or a carnivore or a pescatarian or whatever the other Aryans

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you are, that food is something we all have in common. That we all need to eat

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in life, okay? How many people are breakfast people? They love their

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breakfast. Teddy, raise that hand. You love breakfast. You could have breakfast

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every day. How many people are more lunch people? They love a good lunch, that's me.

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I love a good lunch. The rest of you are wrong. How many of you are dinner people?

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You just need that dinner at the end of the night, okay? So let's just ask Max,

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what is some wonderful foods that Evy makes that you just cannot wait till

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she's shaking her head no? Maybe this is the wrong person to ask. Does she make

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anything that you like to eat? Good, smart answer. Good, smart answer. You just lied

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in church. But understand that, you know, we look forward to certain things. My

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favorite holiday out of all the holidays is Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. I

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love, yeah, getting together with family and all those things, but I just love my

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favorite Thanksgiving food, and I know I'm gonna get judgment from at least a

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third of you, stove top stuff. Mandy, don't you shake your head at me. Stove top

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stuffing. Any other kind of stuffing is a representation of sin. But if I don't

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have stove top stuffing, my Thanksgiving is utterly ruined, okay? There's some

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that we long for certain kinds of foods. Sometimes we wake up and we know exactly

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what we want to eat, and we live in a country where more times than not we can

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get it or we can eat it, and food plays an integral part in our life. I know we

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probably don't think about it because we are in a world that it's pretty readily

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available of all different kinds. I mean, just take one mile stretch of Ridge Road,

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start on the border of Lansing and Munster, and go until you hit, let's say,

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the bridge going into Highland, because really after Calumet there's not a whole

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lot of eateries. But just take Calumet and Ridge to State Line and Ridge. Think

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of all the things you could eat. You can stop and get anywhere from tacos to

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pizza to D, all of the above. You get sushi, everything you ever could want.

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And we've kind of glorified food in this country. We have. My family, I don't

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really like to watch it, but they love to watch all of those cooking contest shows,

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right? Whether British or American, they watch all of it. They love all of those

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things. And food is glorified in our society. It is. Which again, as a church,

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we want to make sure that we are already always at the ready to give people food

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that doesn't have food or give someone drink that doesn't have drink,

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because that is a direct commandment of Jesus. Matthew 25. To the hungry I gave

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food, to the thirsty I gave drink, more on that later. But what we're going to

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dive into today in John 6 is Jesus substituting himself for language that

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everybody, every world religion, every belief system that was in the first

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century and everything in 2025 that incorporates that would understand. And

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it's the understanding of bread. Now, if you're gluten free, I'm sorry if this

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offends you, it shouldn't, grow up. But understand that when he calls himself the

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bread of life, that should send shockwaves into our faith. That should

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send shockwaves into what makes Jesus different than any other Messiah that

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claimed to be that, any other God that claimed to be that, whether in the first

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century or in 2025. That bread of life, that distinction is so powerful and has

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so much depth that a lot of times we just pass by it because of one of the

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greatest miracles that Jesus ever gives. And it's a miracle that actually I'm not

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going to preach about because in John 6 where we're going to start, it's already

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past this miracle. Who wants to guess what that miracle was? It's the only

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miracle recorded in all four Gospels, the feeding of the 5,000. And we know that it

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was more than 5,000 people, that was 5,000 men, right? So it was more than

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that. If you could easily double that, then you'd be fine. That's not heresy. But

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understand that from five loaves, two fish, he feeds a giant multitude of

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people. But then he walks on water, which was a pretty cool thing, and that

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interaction with the disciples. But then we're going to pick up at John 6 starting

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with verse 22 where again we're remembering the feeding of the 5,000.

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We're remembering the crowd that he fed that is still there. So he feeds the

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crowd, then he withdraws to go to the mountain by himself. Then in the evening

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comes, the disciples get into the boat, right, and he says, do not be afraid, and

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then they go to land. So we have a little bit of time in between where we're going

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to start. So we're going to start and we're going to look at the hungry crowd

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in John 6 starting with verse 22. John 6 verse 22 says this, on the next day, so

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this is the day after the feeding and the walking on water, so pretty busy day

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for Jesus, but on the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the

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sea saw that there had been only one boat there and that Jesus had not entered

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the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other

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boats from Tiberius came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the

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Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there nor his

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disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went into Capernaum seeking

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Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi,

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when did you come here? Jesus answered them, truly, truly I say to you, you are

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not, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill

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of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that

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endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on him God the

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Father has set his seal. How many of us, being honest, have probably glossed over

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this section of John? I know I would because all the action is really in the

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feeding of the 5,000 and the walking on water. I mean that's mind-blowing. It's

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incredible that Jesus did all of that, but this is where a lot of the, this is

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actually the teaching because what he did is he separated himself with the

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feeding of the 5,000, five loaves, two fish, 10,000 people eat, and they not only

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ate their fill, as we're reminded, but there was leftovers. Then he walks on

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water and that was a teaching pretty much just for the disciples and for us

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do not be afraid, but now you have these people longing for Jesus for a couple

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different reasons. The main one is they want more food, and I think that's a, that's

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a very human response. So they came to hear a sermon, and so apparently if I

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give a long enough sermon, I'm allowed to as long as I feed you, so we may

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experience that sometime in Munster's future. We'll just go longer and I'll

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feed you, but understand that they ate, they ate their fill, they wanted more. It

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was the next day. They were hungry. It's a human response. They were hungry. They

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wanted food. The day before, Jesus had performed the miraculous feeding, and

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they were hoping for more signs, and they were hoping for physical provision.

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They wanted more food. Jesus fed them once, so Jesus should feed them again. Do

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you see the immature thought that we can have around Jesus? And again, this should

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really strike us right in the soul of when life is going hard or life is going

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right, how often do we cry out for God? That they were hungry, they were fed, now

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they're looking, they're looking more for Jesus the baker than they were Jesus the

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Savior. And the significance of the bread, just so we understand, in first century

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Jewish culture, bread was a symbol of life and sustenance, and the people of

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Israel would understand bread in a way of manna, if you remember from the Old

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Testament when the Israelites were in the wilderness, Exodus 16, manna was given to

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them from God. That bread fed them, and the crowd saw Jesus as a prophet, maybe

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even as the Messiah, that could provide their earthly needs. Now that's a newer

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understanding of Messiah, because you have to understand Messiah or Mashi'iah in

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the first century had more political kind of undertones or overtones than it

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ever did bread giver or food giver. But what Jesus is kind of getting their

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attention, it's a great hook for his message, is by feeding them. We can learn

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from that, that you might have someone in your life that you're trying to walk

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alongside in a discipleship way, maybe in an evangelism way, maybe they don't know

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Jesus and you want them to know Jesus. One way to kind of gain that audience or

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maybe even that trust is feeding them. A great evangelistic tool is food. Inviting

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people to come to a table, taking them out to eat, giving them an opportunity to

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share a meal with you, to break bread is a very biblical concept. That sometimes

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meeting the physical needs of people comes before meeting their spiritual needs

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of people. Jesus, I think, makes that very clear in his ministry. And I think he's

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doing it practically here. He's feeding them. Now he's teaching them. So

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understand that this provision from Jesus is not only messianic, but it points to

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that of salvation. See, Jesus challenges their motives, doesn't he? You are

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seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

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He redirects their focus from the temporary satisfaction to the eternal

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substance that he actually is. Do not labor for the stuff that passes away, but

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strive after me. So that's going to be a very different conversation. But we just

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want Jesus the baker. We just want his bread. It was good. We ate. We were

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satisfied. But friends, we know that that's what we chase in life. That doesn't

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bring what we ultimately really want, which is heaven, when we die. It's

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salvation, his eternal life in the person of Jesus. So my first question today, are

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we like the crowd? In your week, this past week, have you been seeking Jesus

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just for temporary blessings? Or do you come to him looking for true

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fulfillment? What does that look like in your life? Oh, Jesus, I'm really in a bind

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with this relationship. I just need you to fix it so then it's easier for me to

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follow you or easier for me to believe you exist or insert whatever issue you

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might be having here. Are we seeking Jesus for temporary relief or for the

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life-giving nature that is him? Are we seeking him come what may or are we only

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seeking him when we get our way? That's tough. That's convicting. Because when

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life just continues to be strikeout after strikeout after strikeout, if we're

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being honest, Jesus gets the blame. Jesus, you said you'd be with me always to the

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very end of the age. You said that you will always be there. You said, but I

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don't have my needs, I don't have my wants met. Maybe you need to look at your

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needs. Are your needs being met? Jesus, like I've said, is not a genie in a bottle

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that's gonna grant you wishes. He is your sustainer, your deliverer, your Savior. So

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are we seeking Jesus only for temporary blessing or are we coming to him for true

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fulfillment come what may? So then he makes this claim. He makes this claim in

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verse 28.

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Then they said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? Jesus

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answered them, this is the work of God that you believe in him who he has sent.

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So they said to him, then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?

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What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it is

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written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said to them, truly, truly I

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say to you, it is not, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but

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my father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God who is he who

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comes down from heaven and gives you life, then gives life to the world. They

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said to him, sir, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread

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of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall

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never thirst. A lot is said. This is a bold declaration of Jesus. What Jesus is

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doing is Jesus is taking the verbal and putting it into the actual. He's looking

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into the history of the Israelites. They kind of front on Jesus a little bit. They

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kind of push back on him. Even our fathers got bread from, who did they

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attribute the bread to? Moses. Swing and a miss. They attribute the bread to Moses.

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This is tradition eating away at salvation. That the Israelites understanding

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obviously the verbal and then what was written by the prophets and what they

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could read in the historical books, the Torah, what they believed, they got

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actually wrong. Moses is the one that fed us and Jesus is making a very, very bold

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statement. This is the first of Jesus' seven I am statements which we're going

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to get to five of the seven in this sermon series that are in John's gospel.

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This is Jesus echoing God's self-revelation. The I am statements go

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back to the burning bush and Moses. I am that I am. You remember that? That the

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bold declaration Jesus is making is not only was I there but it was the Father

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that gave you the bread. He's also giving you me. That is a bold declaration. That

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is a distinctive that only Jesus can walk in. The crowd references the manna

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given to their ancestors and Jesus clarifies and the true bread of heaven

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is now here and it has nothing to do with however you make bread. I've never

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made it. I don't know. I just you put things in a bowl mix it put in the oven

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but what Jesus is saying is fools you desire this but I'm telling you in the

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end you need to desire me. That Jesus being the bread of life goes way beyond

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just the ingredients to make bread. The eternal satisfaction Jesus contrasts the

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perishable bread of manna with himself. He uses that word eternal life to eat

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this bread means that we are to believe in Christ. That we are to believe in

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Jesus. That we are to believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again. If we

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confess and believe we shall be saved and the feast that we will be entered

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into in glory pales in comparison to the many feasts we get on communion Sundays

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or on Monday Thursday when we all eat together. One of the things Jesus is

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emphasizing here is that this bread is a gift. It is a gift that no one has to

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cook no one has to prepare that God out of his love for us we learned last week

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in John 3 gives you this bread of life. Jesus emphasizes that this bread is a

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gift from the Father. Salvation is not earned but received through faith alone.

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One of our reform doctrines one of the five soul laws and out of 20ish years of

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preaching I've preached John a lot never on a communion Sunday. The connection to

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what we are all going to experience in a couple minutes is great because what

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communion is this sacrament of communion is for us the body and blood of Jesus. It

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represents exactly what Jesus is claiming in this section of John 6. So

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Lord's Day 28 of the Heart of a Catechism question answer 75 helps us

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understand a little more of what Jesus is saying. Question how does the Holy

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Supper remind and assure you that you share in Christ one

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sacrifice on the cross and in all of its benefits. Answer in this way Christ has

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commanded me and all believers to eat this broken bread and to drink this cup

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in remembrance of him. With this command we get two promises okay. First as surely

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as I see with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me and the cup shared

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with me so surely his body was offered and broken for me and his blood poured

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out for me on the cross. Second as surely as I receive from the hand of the one

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who serves and taste with my mouth the bread and the cup of the Lord given me

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as sure signs of Christ's body and blood so surely he nourishes and refreshes my

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soul for eternal life with his crucified body and poured out blood. That the bread

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of life Jesus the Savior when we partake we will never not be satisfied. We will

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never be hungry again. What does that mean? Obviously in the practical

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and the actual we eat we need to re-eat right. That you eat then you don't you

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get hungry again you eat. It's just a cycle that we do every day and if we're

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being honest we probably don't even think about it. But what Jesus is doing

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here what Jesus is giving all of those people that he's teaching in John what

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he's giving to us today in 2025 is what he says in John 6 35. It's a clear

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invitation to come and believe. Jesus said to them I am the bread of life

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whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never

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thirst. Nikki you can leave that up there. My question is do you believe that or in

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the little small parts of our soul that we don't really talk about do we doubt?

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Hmm I don't know if Jesus is gonna be enough. Like I get it I did the you know

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the bread I'm gonna eat it right now never thirst but maybe we still believe

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we are gonna thirst that we are gonna be hungry. What we have to understand

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church is that we are kind of striving after earthly things. That what does it

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look like for you to be satisfied in life? Find a trusted friend today and

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this week ask that question. Maybe if maybe you talk about it with your

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spouse what would it look like to be satisfied in life? Maybe right now you're

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going through a hardship and everything it just it seemed like the cards are

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down you're just down on your luck and this understanding that I will never be

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hungry again I will never thirst again I will never long for anything else this

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world can give but Jesus maybe you just don't believe it. Maybe you're doubting

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maybe you're struggling. Friend let me ask what what are you putting in place

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of the eternal? You're putting in the temporary. You've heard it said this too

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shall pass right there's nothing biblical about that though there is you

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could tie scripture to it but this understanding that as we struggle if we

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have Christ we do have everything even if it seems like we have nothing. Why do

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you think Jesus calls the church to meet the physical needs of people? It's not

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just so we can hopefully gain an audience with them to teach him Jesus

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but as we learned about months ago Maslow's hierarchy of needs if people

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don't feel cared for if people don't feel nourished physically that's a

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slippery slope to a lot of things. So as a church we have the responsibility to

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feed the hungry to clothe the naked to visit those in prison to give drink to

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the thirsty Jesus is demanding pastor can you really say demanding I can

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remember the sheep and the goats one gets what heaven the other gets what

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hell I think he's doubling down on it and if Jesus is saying okay I am also

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the bread of life let's feed the people and bring them to the cross it's an

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invitation to come and believe coming to Jesus means trusting him fully as the

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source of life some of you may struggle with this today belief is not merely an

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intellectual thing but a wholehearted reliance on him so another question for

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you for this week what is your reliance in Jesus look like how are you relying

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on Jesus in your life are you relying on Jesus for everything or just for the

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things that seem outside of your control because I look out and I'm looking in

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the mirror too we have a lot of type-a personalities I'm not gonna ask you to

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raise your hand that's only gonna cause fights we have a lot of activators we

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have a lot of go-getters we have a lot of people that that want to make their

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name want to do their thing and being a good steward of what God's giving you

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that's not a bad thing but if we think then ultimately we can do it all

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ourselves how quickly is Satan gonna turn that and say you don't need this

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you got you you can feed yourself you have enough money in your bank account

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you don't need to have faith in this just believe in you why do you think the

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first commandment you shall have no other gods I've said it before I'll

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continue to say it until we're all in glory he was talking about us we can be

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the golden calves in our lives how many of you have made an actual golden calf

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out of your own jewelry no none of us are that dumb to do that but we can do

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it to ourselves we can become our own golden calves Jesus knows that about us

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it's why he makes it very tangible feeding 10,000 with five loaves two fish

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big deal the disciples doubling down walking on water saying I am always

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going to be with you and then he does the teaching I don't know maybe we need

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to do coffee hour before church Vanderwood's how do we think it no we

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won't do it we won't we won't rock the boat that way but understand meet the

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physical needs of people that is the call of the church come and believe it's

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not just in the mind but it's in the heart why because eternal life begins

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now those who partake in this bread are nourished both now and forever

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experiencing eternal life in the present but also in eternity if I understand

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this if I understand that Jesus is the bread of my life that I will never go

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hungry I will never be in need eternally it gives me a perspective that the

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valleys will end it gives me perspective that the darkness won't win though it

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may feel like it right now that Jesus being the bread of life in a couple

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weeks when we see during its baptism Sunday and we're gonna talk about the

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water of life what Jesus is telling the first century what Jesus is telling

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Munster Church right now I am all that you will ever need and for some of us we

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need that reminder we need that understanding that Jesus is the all-in-all

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period end of sentence end of chapter end of book so what does it mean for us

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today for our head our heart our hands for the head is no this is kind of dr.

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Susie but for the head know the bread right that we are to know the bread that

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we that we understand that Jesus is the bread of life so I'm asking I'm

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challenging us to reflect on Jesus identity as the bread of life meditate on

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the sufficiency of the atoning work that and his ability to satisfy your

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spiritual hunger for the heart trust the bread rest in the assurance that Jesus

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provides eternal nourishment worship him with gratitude knowing that he satisfies

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your deepest longings and for the hands what can we do to take it out share the

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bread so know the bread trust the bread share the bread just as bread is meant

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to be shared we are called to share the bread of life with others look for

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opportunities to point people to Jesus the true source of satisfaction