Bread & Water for Life (John 6 & 7)

John 6:22–40(CSB)

Bread & Water for Life.

We often look for the wrong things.

food can spoil. materialism goes out. bodies age and sag.

crowds went looking for Jesus…but Jesus knew their real motive.

love with pure heart.

the heard the message, but missed the meaning. they saw the sign but missed the significance.

The crowds wanted a sugar daddy, but Jesus came to be the Savior, the sovereign source of satisfaction they needed.

… the water of life

…cheaper to buy a soda than a bottle of water…cheaper to get the bad bread/food, but those substitutes wont satisfy.

Eternal vs Temporary

…John uses eternal life, where gospel writers use Kingdom of Heaven.

John 6:47-58 (CSB)

“what are you going to do, to convince us to believe what you’re saying?”

your appetite for (good music, jesus fix,) _____ isn’t the point.

coming back from missions…i often wonder wonder why the global church is booming while the American church is in decline?

I love Philip Yancey’s theory:

My theory is this: God goes where he’s wanted. That’s a scary thought in a country like the United States, home to so many entertainment and electronic distractions.

Meanwhile, the greatest numerical revival in history has occurred during the past half-century in China, one of the last officially atheistic states and one of the most oppressive. Go figure”

Jesus will meet our needs, but not always grant what we want.

Jesus still satisfies the hungry.

…something we cant do for ourselves.

…in the wilderness, no options.

…perpetual satisfaction in our daily bread

Could it be that they are hungry for God? That they want him to be their everything, while we have filled ourselves with other things?

Hunger and thirst for righteousness

Jesus is the Bread of Life, for Life.

Jesus still mends the broken.

Jesus still forgives the sinful.

the whole idea of passover, i’’s rituals and symbolism, is all a sign pointing to Jesus’ act of redemption on the cross.

Jesus kept talking about bread as flesh and his blood (wine) they at at passover as physical reminder of His coming sacrifice.

John 6:63 “63 The Spirit is the one who gives life. The flesh doesn’t help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Jesus still blesses His people.

Blessed. Broken. Given. (filled) Multiplied.

Jesus said to do this in remembrance, not in replication, of Him.

The spirit is present among us, because there are more than two of us gathering in His name.

We encounter the presence of Jesus at the table, remembering we are carriers of His life. We embody the life of Jesus as the Body of Christ on the earth. We feast on the eternal bread of life and are filled.

This is a sacred act, and it’s blessed. We don’t change forms, we are still the physical substance we are, yet we are declared blessed and sacred to Him.

WE do experience something transcendent…but the substance isn’t transformed to a new substance (transubstantiation).

“Why am I telling you all this? Because I suspect we’re not far off from medieval thinking. We subconsciously believe we must become something other than what we are in our very essence in order to be sacred. We become convinced—deep down in our bones—that our substance is not good enough, not holy enough, not special enough to matter. That’s not true.” — “Blessed Broken Given”, Glenn Packiam

Anyone can still encounter Jesus.

John 6:37 “37 Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.”

John 6:40 “40 For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””

John 7:37–39 “37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.”

You were made for the abiding, ever-satisfying, presence of God.

God delights in giving you life from His presence.

Abiding prayer..

what am i doing or believing that is hindering me from You?

1) HS never contradicts Scripture

2) Ask a godly friend or trusted pastor.

Communion:

Surrender to Him and ask Him to satisfy your soul’s longing.

You are a christian, ask Him is there anything i’m doing or believing that is hindering me from experience your FULL life?

…TELL SOMEONE

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Talk it Over (being honest & open with friends, a spouse, or your Group)

The message was about the Jesus being our soul’s satisfaction. What is one idea from Sunday’s message that impacted you?

Read John 6:23-63. What is the Holy Spirit saying through these verses?

What were the crowds seeking from Jesus? Have you ever sought Jesus for the wrong reason? How so?

In what ways can we cultivate a deeper hunger for God in our daily lives?

How does the idea of 'blessed, broken, given' apply to how we view our own lives in Christ?

How can we remind ourselves of the significance of communion as a way to connect with Jesus?