My Bread of Life

Introduction

Does anyone here like bread? How about toast? What do you put on your bread and toast? I like toast myself. I put grape jelly or maybe strawberry on my toast most of the time. Although, now that I’m on a diet I just eat it plain with my breakfast in the morning.

Bread is really important to our diets. It’s one of the things you can find all around the world. Everybody makes bread but it only feeds us for so long. Then we are hungry again. But Jesus changed how we think about bread. We’re going to look at John 6 and talk about how Jesus changes bread for us.

Jesus spoke to a crowd about bread for quite a while. The day before Jesus spoke to the crowd He was on the other side of the sea. Five thousand men came to hear Jesus’ teaching. That means probably more than 20,000 people were there! But they stayed so late that everyone was getting hungry.

So Jesus fed all of them. But He did it with only five loaves of bread and two small fish. He did a miracle and the people chased him all the way across the sea so they can find out more about Him.

Bread for the Wilderness

After Jesus crossed over the sea the people from the day before found Him because they wanted Him to feed them again for free.

But more than that they were interested in the fact that He did a miracle. They wanted to know more about Jesus.

John 6:30–34 NIrV

So they asked him, “What miraculous sign will you give us? What will you do so we can see it and believe you? Long ago our people ate the manna in the desert. It is written in Scripture, ‘The Lord gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Jesus said to them, “What I’m about to tell you is true. It is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven. It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven. He gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us this bread from now on.”

Moses is a big person in Jewish religion. He is one of their greatest leaders. But he didn’t give them bread from heaven. God the Father sent the bread.

But what are they talking about? It all started long ago when the first Israelites were freed by God from slavery in Egypt. They traveled in the wilderness for 40 years.

The wilderness did not have any food. They wanted to go back to Egypt because there was food there. But they forgot about slavery.

When they complained to Moses God gave them bread from heaven.

Exodus 16:15 NIrV

The people of Israel saw the flakes. They asked each other, “What’s that?” They didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “It’s the bread the Lord has given you to eat.

You know what’s neat about manna? Manna means, “What is it?” They named their food from God, “I don’t know what it is.”

This bread from heaven God gave to them every day except the Sabbath. But the day before the Sabbath he gave them enough to last two days. So God took care of all their need for food for 40 years!

Application: God still takes care of all of our needs. He takes care of the money we need, the food we need, and every other need we have. All we need to do is pray and ask Him for whatever we need and He will give it to us. He knows our needs before we have them.

Bread for Life

John 6:35 NIrV

Then Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever go hungry. And no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty.

Next, Jesus told the crowd when they said they want this bread He has that He is the bread of life that came down from heaven.

What God gave to the Israelites in the wilderness lasted for 40 years. But after those 40 years they had to make their own food when they got to the Promised Land.

Jesus is different. He is the bread of life that lasts for as long as you live, and beyond into heaven. He provides for you when you are hungry and thirsty.

Now Jesus is not only talking about what you need every day. He’s also talking about your spiritual needs. Just as your body needs food every day, your spirit also needs food.

When you come to Jesus He gives your spirit what it needs to live. You need to know Jesus to get everything you need to live.

Deuteronomy 8:3 NIrV

He took your pride away. He let you go hungry. Then he gave you manna to eat. You and your parents had never even known anything about manna before. He tested you to teach you that man doesn’t live only on bread. He also lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

So we rely on Jesus to give us everything we need. When He speaks to us, when we read the Bible, and when we pray Jesus takes care of us completely.

We need to hear everything Jesus says and do it because that’s how we live every day.

Illustration: If I go a day without reading my Bible I don’t feel right. I don’t talk to people the way God wants me to. I get angry easier. But when I read my Bible every day God helps me to talk to people with His words and what He wants me to say to them. Even better, I feel connected to Jesus more.

Application: We need to read our Bibles every day because that’s how we hear Jesus speaking to us. He also talks to us when we pray. When we don’t hear from Jesus we feel empty inside. Jesus’ words feed our spirits, a part of who we are.

Bread for Heaven

Jesus takes care of our needs while we’re living here on earth. But He also takes care of us when we go to heaven.

John 6:57–58 NIrV

“The living Father sent me, and I live because of him. In the same way, those who feed on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Long ago your people ate manna and died. But those who feed on this bread will live forever.”

As we read our Bibles and pray to Jesus we are feeding on His words and teachings. And as we do what Jesus teaches us to do, we keep strong and healthy as we live for Him.

Jesus said that the manna in the wilderness fed the Israelites but they still died. Only when we are connected to Jesus do we live forever with Him in heaven.

When we stay connected to Jesus we get to go to heaven with Him. He gives us life to live now and forever.

We don’t want food that doesn’t give us eternal life. But if we stop eating it we will starve and eventually we won’t be able to survive. Jesus is the only way we will live forever.

Conclusion

We’ve talked a lot about Jesus and why He is the Bread of Life for us. He feeds every part of us, not just our bodies. When we stay connected to Jesus by reading our Bible and praying He keeps on feeding our spirits.

Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes. If you don’t know Jesus you can start to know him right now. You can have life with Jesus forever. (Ask for kids to raise their hands if they want to accept Jesus. Pray with them and tell them to tell Pastor Ella or one of the leaders that they know Jesus now.)

Now let’s pray and thank Jesus for taking care of all of our needs.