Summer Mixtape Week 5
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This week is Party with The Pastors
Make a Friend and Join a Team
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Review
We have been in John 6.
5 loaves and 2 fish
Walks on Water
Now the people approach Him wanting more food.
They are obsessed with a replication of the miracle from yesterday
We made the connection that everywhere they asked for bread we could contextualize by LOOKING FOR FULFILLMENT.
Last week we finished our discussion by asking what if Jesus is the fulfillment?
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Jesus reiterates his statement regarding the fact that He is the fulfillment they are looking for.
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
In this reiteration he makes a differentiation between what he is offering and what they are seeking.
If Jesus is our fulfillment he makes the promise that we will never hunger again.
This group has become satisfied to be a sign driven crowd...
The fulfillment from the signs doesn’t even last twenty-four hours
WE HAVE TO STOP LOOKING TO THE SPECTACULAR TO FIND OUR FULFILLMENT! - Living a fulfilled christian life is learning to be nourished in seasons of less that spectacular experience.
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In this text Jesus presents a variation of the way in which He will meet the needs of those who come to Him.
Those who come to him will be fulfilled
Those who believe in him will have their thirst quenched.
This differentiation is not there by happenstance
This is letting us know that this is about more than the level to which we live life…it is about whether we live life or not.
To settle for lesser fulfillments is not only leaving your belly empty…it is leaving your soul thirsty
YOU CAN’T LIVE IN THIRST!
To settle for anything less than Christ is to put your spiritual life at risk.
Jesus goes from reiterating to prognosticating
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But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me.
This group has been given the advantage of having seen the miracles of Jesus…and yet they still do not believe in Him.
In previous verses they have asked for another sign as though the first one was not proof enough.
At some point we just have to admit we are more commited to our cynicism than we are our faith.
Jesus issues a sobering verdict to this crowd..
They are not struggle with faith because of ignorance or a lack of exposure
They are struggling with faith because of the convenience that it offers.
Questioning comes easier than surrender because I still get to control my questioning.
They have seen Jesus do miracles…but they still won’t believe that He is Lord. (FOLLOWING HIM AS A MIRACLE WORKER DOESN’T COST ANYTHING.)
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Jesus stops playing games at this point. He goes on a very detailed and poignant tirade.
However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
I want to contextualize His response.
John has died…The disciples have left early…The people keep harping on the bread...
IT’S AS IF JESUS GET’S A REVELATION REGARDING THE SOVERIGNTY OF GOD!
There are a lot of people who try and wade into a theological meaning in this passage.
Stating that God has chosen some to be saved and not chosen others
ELECTION AND PREDESTINATION {There is a lot os scripture to support each separate ideal}
I believe in the free will of man whole heartedly and that is in large part due to this verse.
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.
THE LORD DOESN’T WANT ANYONE TO BE DESTROYED!
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I believe this statement from Jesus is a moment wherein the Holy Spirit is alllowing Him to experience a reassurance in the midst of his trying season.
The Holy Spirit gives Him a word of reassurance before the largest moment of rejection of his ministry to date.
Thousands of people are about to walk away
AND JESUS IS FULLY HUMAN - (Prone to question himself based on the reaction of people.)
The Holy Spirit reminds him that God has this all under control!
IF YOU ARE IN A SEASON OF UNCERTAINTY…REJECTION…FRUSTRATION…Just understand you serve a sovereign God.
I can take comfort in knowing that if it is NECESSARY FOR MY PURPOSE…It will happen!
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Sometimes you get a word just before seasons of rejection.
In March of 2018 I became the pastor of a church in another state....
THEY NEEDED A LOT OF THINGS TO CHANGE
The first few months of that experience were less than ideal...
In June one of my main trouble makers left {I received a word} Broad places are coming!
I THOUGHT THAT MEANT THAT WE WERE ABOUT TO EXPERIENCE SUPERNATURAL TURNAROUND.
In the proceeding months I grew the church from fifty to twenty-five…had a lot of things said about myself…my wife…we lost a lot of money in our transition out of that little town.
BUT IN SPITE OF ALL OF IT I HAD A WORD THAT BROAD PLACES WERE COMING!
When God gives you a word…keep it for when you’re weary!
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Jesus proclaims the word God gave him…and the people disagree with his assessment of himself.
Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
Be sure that while you are walking in an awareness of your word…there will be a contingency of people who are walking in an awareness of your wrap sheet.
When God starts calling you to be more than you are…people will only be comfortable with that to a certain level.
Human nature causes us to celebrate others success…until it surpasses ours
I’m glad they’re getting their life together but then they start making more money than us...”WELL, They’re greedy.”
Taylor Swift may have a lot of problems…but she got one thing right when she said “haters are going to hate.”
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Take rest in the word that God has over your life…
Jesus declares again if God wants me to have it…I’m going to have it.
But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they asked.
They have trouble coming to grips with what Jesus is saying...
And so once more he gets even more plain with them and ultimately he removes every last bit of sugar coating.
So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person at the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on me will live because of me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as your ancestors did (even though they ate the manna) but will live forever.”
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
If you want to have any part of me…you have to eat my flesh and drink my blood.
This is where the disciples are thinking what in the world have we gotten ourselves into?
HE HAS 100% LOST HIS MIND!
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Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”
Jesus was aware that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But some of you do not believe me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and he knew who would betray him.) Then he said, “That is why I said that people can’t come to me unless the Father gives them to me.”
Jesus was ok with letting truth trim the crowd.
One of the hardest convictions to maintain is the fact that we are more commited to what this word says than we are to what will grow a church!
WE WILL GROW THIS CHURCH…BUT WE WILL GROW IT WITH THOSE WHO ARE LOOKING FOR WHAT’S REAL!
I love you too much and I value your eternity too much to tell you anything except for the unadulterated truth of God’s Word.
OFTEN TIMES THAT IS OFFENSIVE!
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At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
Then Jesus said, “I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil.” He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.
The boy who provided the fish and loves - Left
The people who had gotten the mean - Left
Some of the disciples of John - Left
Thousands of people walk away and Jesus is obviously emotionally effected to some degree because he asks his closest friends...
Will you leave too?
We see why they stay in Peter’s response…Peter had understood the sign - ONLY YOU HAVE THE WORDS OF LIFE!
There are other places to get bread
There are other rabbis we could follow
BUT ONLY JESUS CAN OFFER FULFILLMENT THAT WILL LAST FOR ALL ETERNITY!
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