Our Daily Bread

Start off with thanking everyone who made the 4th of July celebration such a huge success!

You know, as far back as I can remember, (which some days only seems to be a week or so), but all the way back to my early childhood, I have always had a strong love and affinity for a certain food. Now no doubt, there are many “foods” that we could all sit here and discuss and talk about that rank as our favorites, but there is one that I think that could quite easily sit at the top of most of our lists.

This morning, I want to talk to you about..............BREAD!

How many BREAD lovers are in the house this morning?

Now some of you may be thinking that you don’t really like BREAD, and with that the thought of the plain-Jane, white bread comes to mind.

However, I am talking about BREAD in general and the many, many, many variations of it that there are!

There are easily, over a hundred types of bread that are recognized from all over the world!

USE iPad AND READ OFF SOME OF THE TYPES OF BREAD FROM WIKIPEDIA.

ASK THE AUDIENCE FOR A FEW OF THEIR FAVORITE TYPES OF BREAD AND HOW THEY LIKE TO EAT IT.

(Now share a few of my own favorites: Fresh Parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper bread dipped in EVO, fresh biscuits and butter with honey, cornbread with butter, or cornbread put into cold buttermilk, etc.)

My point, large and in part, is that, BREAD, to many of us and our individual preferences of it, can be considered a comfort food, right!

So, BREAD is favorite food and it is a staple for countless millions of people all around the world, right?

Well, this morning I want to talk with you about the subject of BREAD, or in the Greek, what is called, artos. Artos, means, BREAD, or loaf of bread, or it can refer to just food, that is, any kind of nourishment in general. (MORE ON THAT IN A LITTLE WHILE!)

Now, for those who were here last week, or listened in on the message last week, I spoke about the Old Testament usage of the Holy oil of God and the anointing of God.

In doing so, I reiterated the fact that everything that God put into place with the people’s worship of Him and way in which He interacted with the children of Israel throughout their Exodus period and they way that they interacted with Him, it was all a HUGE ARROW pointing to something and someone who was to come and fulfill everything that God had promised in a future time period.

And in mentioning people awaiting something in a future time period, let me say this, anytime anyone might question you and say something to you today like, “Why do you believe in that stuff? It’s been like, 2,000 years since this Jesus was here and nothing has happened! Don’t you feel like you’re wasting your time?”

Look, from the time of the Abrahamic Covenant that God made with man, until it’s ultimate fulfillment (that is, the covenant agreement that all of the world would be blessed through Abraham’s lineage), that time frame was right around 2,000 years.

So, there was that waiting period of around 400 years to see the blessing of God begin to come to fruition with His choosing and calling out of the mighty nation of Israel and the descendants of Abraham, from the time that He first promised it.

That is around the same time period of silence that the peoples waited for God to reveal or say or do something to the nation of Israel, between the closing of the Old Testament and the New Testament. The same time period of waiting!

Now, from the time of the Abrahamic Covenant that God made with man, until it’s ultimate fulfillment (that is, the covenant agreement that all of the world would be blessed through Abraham’s lineage), that time frame was right around 2,000 years.

The world waited some 2,000 years for God to fulfill His covenant with Abraham and bless every man and woman and child, through the birth, the life and death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!

They waited some 2,000 years for that miracle to happen!

Seems like a long time, right?

Well, since the fulfillment of the coming of the Christ and His victory at Calvary on the cross, and then His ascension back to the Father in Heaven, it has been another 2,000 years!

If you follow time periods and seasons in the Bible, you will see recurring patterns within them. So, the waiting period for the initial coming of the Messiah happened within that first 2,000 year period that I just mentioned and here we are, 2018 and within just several years of being exactly another 2,000 years !

Are you following me?!

The waiting is rapidly coming to a close!

Remember what we are told in the epistle of , “Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again?  But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 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. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief.”

We are so very close now, AMEN?!

So, let’s back to the point everything from the Old Testament pointing to Jesus and His coming, shall we!

This morning we are going to look at a couple of passages in the Bible and hopefully as we do so, you will begin to see and understand the necessity of their meanings for each and every one of us and our individual lives as followers of Yeshua!

And like last week, you will again see the representation of Jesus from the Old Testament account looking forward.

In the book of Exodus, the 16 chapter, we read of the account of the children of Israel, just one month after they were led out of bondage and slavery to Egypt, we find them being led through the wilderness to the promised land of blessings and abundance within this account.

The chapter starts off with the whole community of Israel complaining against Moses and Aaron, as we find in verse 3, “If only the LORD had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

Now think about this and put this into perspective. As a Hebrew at that time, you have been under HARSH slavery to the cruel nation of Egypt for hundreds of years and you are now free and on your way to a land of lush provisions while under the loving hand and care of the one true God, who has already demonstrated that He has more than enough muscle to get the job done, right!

And what are the people doing? They are complaining about their food!

Basically they are saying, we would rather be under the tortures and bondage of slavery and have lots of meat and bread, than be free and not have instant comforts!

Now trust me, this theme, this complaint, has not changed from that time and through the time of Jesus coming to this earth and setting the slaves free from the bondage and slavery to sin, until now and our awaiting His return. (This is our time going through the wilderness under the Lord’s care and awaiting our entrance into the “promised land”.

And the people are still doing the same thing to God; complaining about why they don’t have certain comforts or amenities like others, or why they have endure hardships and trials!

So, lets continue reading in this passage with verses 4-8. ()

Exodus 16:4–5 NLT

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

Exodus 16:4–5 NLT

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.”

Exodus 16:4–8 NLT

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I’m going to rain down food from heaven for you. Each day the people can go out and pick up as much food as they need for that day. I will test them in this to see whether or not they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they will gather food, and when they prepare it, there will be twice as much as usual.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “By evening you will realize it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaints, which are against him, not against us. What have we done that you should complain about us?” Then Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for he has heard all your complaints against him. What have we done? Yes, your complaints are against the Lord, not against us.”

Look at verse 11 also, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.”

So, here we see the patience and love of the Father, because if it were me or you listening to over 2 million people complain, EVERY DAY, about the way and the manner in which we had just SET THEM FREE as slaves and our inadequacies in caring for them...........I mean, the flood would have seemed like Disneyland compared to what I probably would have done to them!

Verses 13-15 give us a description of what God sent for food, “That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew. When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground. The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. “What is it?” they asked each other. They had no idea what it was.

Quickly go over the instructions that God gave to the people of Israel for gathering and eating the manna, which lasted the entire 40 years they wandered.

Each household gathered just what each person needed (2 quarts for each person in the tent)

Some gathered a lot, some only a little. But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.

New Living Translation Chapter 16

Some gathered a lot, some only a little. 18 But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.

New Living Translation Chapter 16

17 So the people of Israel did as they were told. Some gathered a lot, some only a little. 18 But when they measured it out, everyone had just enough. Those who gathered a lot had nothing left over, and those who gathered only a little had enough. Each family had just what it needed.

Even though they were instructed by Moses not to try and keep any extra manna until the next morning, some people did and what they found surprised them. The next morning, the left over manna had turned rancid and had maggots all in it!

Look, when God says to trust in His provisions and don’t try to make it happen yourself, HE MEANS EXACTLY THAT! ,

Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT

Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

This is how we know that the whole account of the manna was a miracle. (Many people say that this was a natural growing seed or plant that they harvested to eat). Yet, the Bible records that they didn’t recognize the manna; they had never seen it before, until the very morning that God said that it would come. Even after being out in the wilderness for an entire month!

Also, they were not allowed to keep extra, but only what was needed for that day. Any extra would have maggots and spoil by the very next morning. EXCEPT, on the 6th day and then they were allowed to gather enough for that day and the next, due to a sabbath day of rest.

The manna never spoiled for these days, even though the extra went through the night and the next day into the next night.

God was controlling the whole thing!

Finally, God told Moses to gather 2 quarts and and keep it as a testimony for all the future generations, (it ended up in the Ark of the Covenant), to show the people how the Lord provided and took care of the people in the wilderness!

NOTE: The manna was collected and placed within the Ark to serve as a witness to all future generations of God’s love and provision for His people. This testimony would serve as a reminder that God is faithful and true to His word and this would keep fear and doubt away from future generation’s hearts!

This is why it is so important that we come together and share with each other and especially the younger generations, what God has done for us and of how He has miraculously provided for us and protected us.

We overcome fear (a.k.a. the enemy), but the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony!

Did you notice how much was collected to be placed within the Ark, to serve as a witness for all the generations?

2 quarts, no more, no less! Why is that significant?

Because it was the exact amount that each and every person needed for each and every day that they walked under God’s provision. No more, no less. Everyone had the exact same amount and yet it filled each one of them up!

That point will be revisited in a few minutes!

Now, before I have you turn in your Bibles to the book of John, I want to read to you some of the closing words of Moses to Israel, as found in , “Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Think about it: Just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you for your own good. So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’

10 When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”

6 “So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him.

Why did God allow them to go through adversity? To humble them and make them more dependent upon Him and to force them to pay close attention to every word that He said, so that they would have daily provisions!

There is the whole link between the manna, “the BREAD” of the Old Testament and the BREAD of the New Testament; “EVERY WORD SPOKEN BY GOD”!

“But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”

Now, turn with me in your Bibles to , and to the first of Jesus’ “I AM” statements that we read of within John’s gospel.

This account takes place right after the miracle of the feeding of 5,000 with the 5 loaves and the 2 fish.

Jesus and His disciples have gone back across the sea to the region of Capernaum and the great multitudes come seeking and find Jesus and they approach Him and say, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

To which Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of his approval.”

Jesus doesn’t even answer their question, but rather lets them know that He already knows why they came to find Him and then tries to redirect their thoughts about Jesus and why they should truly be looking for Him.

You see, the people were wanting a king who could provide sustenance for them all of the time like Jesus had done with the 5 loaves and 2 fish, and they were thinking of a “works” minded way to gain favor from Him and get what they are wanting from Him.

In those days, having food provided for you, was like getting a large pay increase. So, to these people, after having witnessed Jesus’ feeding the masses, they were willing to say or do anything to gain this benefit.

In other words, they wanted Jesus’ BREAD for comfort and the temporal. The, “what can you do for me” mentality, was driving them, but they couldn’t see the true BREAD that He offered.

This is just like many people who come to Him today: “what can you do for me Jesus? Can you: heal me, fix my marriage, increase my income, remove my worries of this life, make people like me more, give me more friends and social position at my church, can following you Jesus make me smarter, or in anyway improve my current position in life?

The people did come looking for BREAD and they did come to the right source for it, but they were looking for the wrong kind of BREAD, and with the wrong heart and motive to get it.

Jesus lets us know in this passage that in terms of anything that you or I can bring to the table as far as WORKS go, to receive the TRUE BREAD from God, the only thing that God requires or accepts from us for this BREAD, is our true BELIEF and FAITH in Jesus! Jesus told them in verse 29, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” That’s it, end of story, period!

It is just like a sign at the checkout line of a business that says: “We Do Not Accept Checks, or Debit Cards, or Credit Cards; ONLY CASH!”

God has said through His Son, that the only thing we can bring as payment for the eternal BREAD of Jesus, is our belief and faith in Him and Him alone!

At this point, the people begin to ask Jesus for a sign/proof to validate that He is the one sent from God and proof that He is who He is alluding to be, if they are going to BELIEVE in Him.

They remind Jesus (as if the Son of Yahweh needs to be reminded of anything by men), that God gave their fathers manna to eat in the wilderness. They told Jesus, “The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

Do you see they completely missed it? They are asking Jesus to prove that He is the one sent from God by giving them BREAD, just like God did before in the wilderness. And yet the funny thing is, Jesus just did it the day before!

Jesus quickly tells them, “Moses didn’t give you BREAD from heaven. My Father did. And now He offers you THE TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN!”

The people quickly say, “Sir, give us that bread every day.”

In other words, “Free meals every day, like we just had, uh yeah, sign us up for that BREAD program!”

And it is here in the passage, in verse 35, that Jesus makes the first “I AM” declaration, openly and plainly for all to see and here, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

You see in this passage, an almost exact scenario playing out as what happened earlier in with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus told the woman, “Anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”

And to this the woman responds, “Please, sir,give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again.”

“Please sir, give us this bread every day”, “Please sir, give me this water”!

Do you know the big difference between these two stories? It’s the belief found in one and the disbelief of the other. The woman at the well, never saw Jesus perform a miraculous sign (unlike the multitudes who witnessed the feeding of the 5,000) and yet she believed in Jesus and because of her belief many others in her village heard and believed His message of TRUTH.

And in this passage of , Jesus says something to the disciples about His “spiritual nourishment” that is true for us today. He said that His nourishment came from doing the will of His Father.

He repeats this in , right after He declares He is THE TRUE BREAD OF LIFE! He says, “For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.”

And as the people began to murmur and complain about Jesus’ declaration of being the BREAD that came down from heaven, Jesus tells them, “Stop complaining about what I said. 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. “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.”

And again, Jesus expands this statement in the passage by saying, “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. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 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.”

The Bible tells us that many of Jesus’ disciples and probably a majority of the large crowd, turned away and no longer followed Jesus after that. Jesus turns to His 12 disciples and asks them, “Do you want to go away as well?”

To this, Peter responds, “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.”

Listen to Jesus’ words He had spoke right before this, He said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The WORDS that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Here is the grand finale of this whole message: Jesus said, “ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.” And then He said, “But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Believing in Jesus is the same as eating the eternal BREAD of God!

Eating the BREAD OF LIFE is truly BELIEVING in the BREAD OF LIFE!

And just like when Jesus quoted from the passage of , “people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”, He was saying this: God’s words are truly spiritual sustenance (SPIRITUAL BREAD) for those who truly BELIEVE to feed on!

In the Bible tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

Jesus is called The Word of God and God’s words are the BREAD OF LIFE for those who believe.

God provides our daily BREAD that we need for physical life, (our MANNA if you will), but we must believe and in faith, FEED upon the LIVING BREAD, the LOGOS, JESUS and HIS WORDS for true spiritual daily life!

The Bible says in , “Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven, and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven. Man ate of the bread of the angels.”

What is the BREAD of the angels? What is it that they feed on day and night and worship and exalt? The LOGOS, the word of God!

The angels live and have their being all upon the very words that Yahweh speaks!

One day, we will eternally feed upon the bread of the angels in heaven with them.

We will live and breath and praise and worship and feed upon the LIVING BREAD OF GOD!

And for now, we must be eating of the BREAD of LIFE to sustain us and strengthen us spiritually!

Mention how you can cut out the BREAD from your diet as a quick fix and drop weight. It doesn’t strengthen the body or add cardio endurance, it is just a quick fix. People do the same thing spiritually. We cut out BREAD from our diet as a quick fix to problems in life. (As well as other things: leaving church, stop praying, etc.)

ARE YOU FEEDING DAILY upon the BREAD of LIFE?