Fear Not - John 6.47-51 Pastor Bryant

[Music] for [Music] h [Music] for [Music] oh [Music] for [Music] e t e [Music] e [Music] look [Music] Wonder I look well good morning church it is good to be in the house of the Lord today amen well as we're getting started here we have a few announcements just some things coming up poinsetta dedications the deadline for that is tomorrow so if you would like to purchase a poinsetta in honor of or in memory of somebody you need to take care of that by tomorrow the office closes at we'll say 4: even though it's 4:30 so that is $20 and yeah you can just you can come into the office and take care of it all at once so it's a pretty simple process also the joy group Christmas party is coming up December 12th you have to register for that in advance and you can do that either on the church Center app or by calling into the office but you do have to register in advance we have Christmas carollyn coming up on December the 17th we'll meet here and kind of decide the specifics depending on how many people we have but

We're going to have a much better plan than I had together last year if the you were a part of that so don't worry we're fixing some things bring some cookies and after we're done carolling we'll come back and have some cookies and some cider and hot chocolate and all that good stuff that's terrible for you also the LM Moon Christmas offering the date for that is December the 17th as well so that's Sunday morning and our goal is $133,000 so that is coming up there's some other stuff coming up you can check your bulletin I guess the other biggest one is the children and family ministry meeting which is December 3rd that's next Sunday isn't it so December 3rdd that is directly after church if you are a part of the children's ministry either as a volunteer or as a parent this is especially for you to kind of chat with our new director of Children and Family Ministries Mr Thomas gson do you mind to just wave around yeah this is a time for you to chat with him and just tell him you know what you think has gone well what you think can improve and how he can best serve our church and Community sound good all right well I'd invite you to stand up and go greet someone possibly someone you haven't met before and greet them in the name of the Lord [Music] all [Music] h [Music] l [Music] it is good to be in the house of the Lord and to greet one another you know whenever we're gathered together and I we see each other just wandering around this Sanctuary smiling and shaking hands it's just a little taste of the unity that we'll

Have in heaven amen that all of these things that separate us as people will pass away they're temporary they're nothing in the grand scheme of things but what unites us is Christ so now is the time of our service where we like to just take a moment and prepare ourselves for worship so I'd invite you to Bow your heads and close your eyes if you're with you know a spouse or a neighbor or a friend or your children I invite you to pray with and over them but just ask the Lord to prepare your heart and your minds for worship and so Lord we come before you together we ask that you would remind us that you are our hope that you would help us to put aside the distractions of this world that you'd help us to lay down our pride Lord that you would help us to worship this morning because you are worthy of our worship you are infinitely worthy of it more so than we could ever hope to comprehend God I pray that you would help us to worship rightly and Lord to remind us that our worship Finds Its perfection in Christ that we can't do it on our own but Lord you have enabled us through the power of the Cross it's in Jesus name we pray amen I'd like to open Us by reading from the book of Isaiah I think oh there it is Isaiah chapter 9 veres 6 and 7 then one of the seraphim flew to me having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from The Altar and he touched my mouth and said behold this has touched your lips and your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for join me as we stand together and sing the Praises of Our [Music]

Lord [Music] Oh Come All Ye Faithful joyful and Triant Oh Come Ye Oh Come Ye to [Music] beem come and Behold Him born the king of angels oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him oh come let us Christ the Lord sing choirs of Angels sing in exal oh sing all bright hosts of heav above glory to God all glory in the highest oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him oh come let us Christ the Lord yay Lord we greet thee BN this happy morning Jesus to thee be all glory give word of our father now in flesh appearing oh come let us adore him oh come let us adore him oh come let us Christ the Lord let's sing that chorus one more time oh come let us adore him come let us adore him oh come let us Christ the Lord he is worthy of our adoration amen today and every day this next song we're going to sing is Joy has dawned it's in the world of Christmas hymns it's a little newer but it takes us through the prophecy of the coming Christ's child and what his birth would mean that he came to die and that his death would make a way for us Joy has dawned upon the world prised from creation God salvation now UNF hope for every nation not with from above God with seams of

Glor but a humble gift of love Jesus born of [Music] Mary sounds of Wonder fill the sky with the songs of angels as the mighty Prince of Life sh is in a stable hands that have each star in place shap the Earth in darkness cling now to a mother's bre vulnerable and heless sheer bow before the lamb gazing at the glory K of men from distant lands prophesy the story gold a king is born to since God is with us his death Will Make A Way by his blood he win us [Music] son of Adam son of heav G as a ransom reconciling God and man Christ Our Mighty Champion what Savior what a friend what a glorious his once a bab in bethleem now the Lord of [Music] hisory you may be seated as our ushers come forward good morning church family let's go to prayer and ask God to thank these gifts Almighty God we thank you for today Lord we thank you for the chance to be obedient to you Lord in this time of tithe and offering we thank you for the faith that you have given us so we can share that with others and let us use this tithe and offer offering our service in this church to be an example of you Lord in Jesus name we pray Amen in the Book of James in chapter one we read we read this do not deceive my beloved Brothers every good gift and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation

Or Shadow due to change every blessing of this life is from God and for God it's for his glory and we don't often think of this next song as a Christmas song but it's Come Thou F of Every Blessing it reminds us that God is The Giver of every good gift and what better gift is there than the gift of Jesus Christ come to Earth for us to be God With [Music] Us Come Thou F of Every Blessing tune my heart to sing thy Grace streams of Mercy never see sing call fors of loudest prise teach me your Su by flaming Tong above praise the M fixed upon it of thy redeeming love here I raise my heaver hi by thy help I'm done and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arve at home Jesus me when a stranger wondering from the fold of God he to Res me from danger interpos his precious [Music] BL oh to Grace how great a daily I'm to be let thy Grace Lord like a my wondering heart to the to wonder Lord I feel it to leave the God I love Here's My Heart Lord take and seal ital it for thy courts [Music] above prone to wonder Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I Love's My Heart Lord take and seal it

Seal it for thy courts [Music] above we started this portion of our service with Oh Come All Ye Faithful so all you who believe come and let's celebrate let's celebrate the coming of the Christ child that's what we do at this time of year every year right we celebrate the coming of the Christ child but this last song we're going to sing is Oh Come All You Unfaithful because the reality of the world that we live in and the life that we lead is that we are just if we believe we are made just yet we are still Sinners even though the price has been paid on this side of Earth we still struggle with the curse and the consequence of sin and that's what this is getting at this time of year is filled with joy and laughter and warmth but it's also filled with hopelessness for some it's filled with reminders of loss it's filled with grief grief and coldness but Christ invites us to come to him because he was born for [Music] us Oh Come All You Unfaithful come we can un stable come no you are not alone oh come baren and waving ones weary of praying come see what your God has done Christ is Bor B Christ is born Christ is for you oh come bitter and broken come with fears unspoken come taste of is perfect love Oh Come guilty and hiding ones there is no need to run see what your God has done Christ is born Christ is for you he's the lamb who was

GI slain for our paron his prise is peace for those to believe he's the lamb who was slain for our pardon his prise is peace for those who believe so come though you have nothing come he is theing come see what your God has done [Music] Christ is born Christ is for you Christ is born Christ is born Christ is born for [Music] you Lord we thank you for the birth of Christ Lord that you would come down to dwell with us that we might dwell with you God I pray as we continue to worship together today that you would help us to grow in our knowledge and our love of you that you would help us to grow closer to one another Lord that the world might see you through us through our Unity Lord I pray that you would help us to continue to worship throughout this service today and even as later we'll go from here it's in Jesus name we pray amen well for the last couple of years when Pastor Cody's been on vacation he's asked me to preach and so this one Sunday near Thanksgiving you get just a whole lot of Austin I'm sorry if you didn't get the memo it's kind of tooo late to leave now so you're just going to have to you know put up with it won't be that long we've officially passed Thanksgiving Day so now it's time for Christmas yeah woo yay and I mean we can see it right our

Decorations team has done an excellent job with this building did it all in like a day so thank you very much those of you who they don't want to be named but it's it's Pat Mitchell and Sarah balato so go tell them thank you they'll get mad at me for that later but it's officially the Christmas season for those of you that started decorating your houses before last Thursday I want you to know that the Lord is gracious and forgiving and your sins have been paid for by the blood of Christ amen but seriously today we begin our celebration as a church of the Christmas season Christmas it's literally this amalgamation of two words it's the Christ Mass being the Roman Catholic Church service and Christmas is a special celebration in that church service where Christians gather together to recognize the coming of the Christ child to Earth in the weeks leading up to Christmas many churches ours included celebrate a time of Advent that's what all these candles are doing at down here we'll get to that next week Advent means coming and it's the time where we prepare ourselves for the birth of Christ of course Christ is already born so what are we preparing for what we're doing is preparing ourselves for the time where we recognize and celebrate celebrate the birth of Christ but Advent like any good church celebration it points us to this present reality and to a future hope you see while we prepare for our celebration of Christ's first coming we are also preparing ourselves for Christ's Second Coming his future Advent where he will return to gather his people unto himself and to judge the world according to the father's will and to fulfill the prophecies that he spoke about himself while he was here on Earth it's the consummation of his Earthly

Ministry that is the season that we're entering into right now for we who believe this isn't a season of great deals which I definitely also took part in this weekend it isn't a season of quiet snow days with hot drinks it isn't a season of Home Alone and white Christmas or even all those Hallmark movies it isn't a season of nostalgia in songs and stories and it isn't even a season of family that's not what it's about the Advent season and the celebration of Christmas day is a season that's designed to point us to Christ his birth his perfect sinless life his death and his resurrection and his ultimate Victorious ious return that's what we're doing here in John chapter 1 verses 1-5 and 14-6 we read well we might read There we go in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God he was in the beginning with God all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life and the life was the light of men the light shines in the darkness and the Darkness has not overcome it and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory is of the only son from the father full of grace and truth John bore witness about him and cried out this was he of whom I said he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me for from his fullness we have all received Grace upon Grace I keep pressing twice and I need to quit it Jesus came to be the bread of life that's the focus that we're going to we're going to talk about today excuse me and so with this in mind as our Focus for not only today but for the season not just the manger but the person of Christ we are going to begin a new series called fear not where we will examine the seven I am statements of Christ in the Book of John the purpose

Of his Advent for us let's read together John 6: 47 through 51 and I invite you to stand as you're able in honor of the reading of God's word well now I lost it truly truly I say to you whoever believes has eternal life I am the bread of life your fathers ate the Mana in the wilderness and they died this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die I am the living bread that came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh let's pray dear Lord we thank you for your word we thank you that we can be confident that it is truthful that it is complete and that it all points to you for your glory God I pray today as I speak your truths Lord that you wouldn't let my opinions sneak in Lord that you wouldn't let my let these be my words but Lord help me to speak only those things that you have said it's in Jesus name we pray amen Jesus came to be the bread of life he said I am the bread of life but what's that mean that's a weird thing to say right if we if we back up from the Christian ease that we're used to telling someone your bread and they should eat your flesh is a very strange thing for us to say to one another okay so I think that we need to examine this a little more closely but I think to truly get a grasp on the passage it's helpful for us to back up to the beginning of this chapter chapter this whole bread of life discourse starts back in verse 22 but there are some things that happened before that I think are very relevant to the passage so if we were to go all the way back to the beginning of chapter 6 in John we see you can see the little

Chapter heading there if your Bible has that one of the most famous stories about Jesus life and it's for good reason Jesus is he feeds the 5,000 Jesus is teaching with a large crowd of 5,000 men besides the women and the children that were there so did you get that it's it's at least 5,000 probably much more I always wonder how Jesus taught these large Crow large crowds without a microphone have you ever thought of that like to they have little page boys running back and forth giving them Snippets I don't know maybe he just had a loud voice Maybe maybe it's a miracle I'm not sure but as Jesus saw the crowd approaching the book the Gospel of John tells us that he asked his disciples how they were going to feed him what a bizarre question Jesus he taught in synagogues and in the temple in Jerusalem often without feeding the crowd this was not a necessary part of teaching but here he was determined to get bread into their bellies to satiate their hunger after they had traveled to see him and they traveled there because they had seen and heard of him Healing The Sick that'll come back later but that's what the Scriptures say they went there to see him because they had heard and seen that he had healed the sick of course the idea of feeding this huge crowd seemed impossible to them Peter even says that 200 daer that is 200 days wages couldn't even buy enough bread to satisfy that crowd let alone the Practical considerations like where are we going to get this bread where's it coming from who's going to bake it who's going to transport it from the ovens to the crowd but all of these problems Jesus knew well and he had a solution one of the disciples Andrew said that there is a boy with Five Loaves and two fish but make sure to

Clearly say that's not nearly enough for a crowd of 5,000 as though anybody had that in question but Jesus he knew that as well he instructed his disciples to gather the people into groups and he gave thanks over this meal and distributed it then he instructed them to collect the leftovers and the Scriptures tell us they collected 12 baskets full 12 baskets over 5,000 people Five Loaves and two fish that's a miracle if ever there was one it doesn't make sense I've always wondered what it looked like have you ever wondered that like now are they just carrying around loaves of bread and they tear a chunk off and it's just still the same amount of bread are they fishing it out of baskets and every time they peek in there the basket is still full I don't know the Scriptures don't tell us that they just tell us that somehow there was enough for all of the people and this isn't it's not just any old run-of-the-mill Miracle as if there were such a thing this is a special kind of Miracle it's a creative Miracle just as the Triune God spoke the universe into existence which we see in John chapter 1 all things were made through him and without him not anything was not anything made that was made the word Jesus being a part of that creation so here does Jesus create bread and fish where there was none he is creating new food for the people this isn't just a sign of his being an ambassador it's a sign of his being God we do see similar miracles in the Old Testament but there's a special part of this that this is not it's not like other Miracles so then we continue down in the Book of John we get to another passage that might be even more famous than the feeding of the 5000 it's when Jesus walks on the water after this the disciples they left and they went to the

Other side of the Sea of Galilee and Jesus had withdrawn from the crowd to be by himself and here we have John's account of this famous Miracle when Jesus walked on the water and calmed the sea and John 6 tells us that the disciples were afraid when they saw Jesus on the water but he said to them it is I do not be afraid and he got into the boat now if you saw somebody walking on the water I suspect you would be pretty scared too let alone that it's a star and stormy night right these disciples are already freaked out that the boat might tip over and they might be lost at sea but on top of that they see some dude walking out on the water now I can tell you if it was my wife walking out on the water if she was as close as she is to me now I still would say who is that because I would not believe it was Deborah for one second I imagine this is where the disciples were mentally though they' been with Jesus day in and day out over and over and over again you see someone walking on the water you're going to take a step back and say who are you the other accounts of this story Mark 6 and Matthew 14 they tell us that Jesus calms the winds and the waves it's miracles on top of Miracles on top of Miracles In this passage The Book of John adds that the boat miraculously skipped through time and space and ended up at the destination how cool is that I mean that's not that's not something we expect to happen even though there there were ways off from Shore when Jesus got there but the wind and the waves were calmed and they ended where where they intended much sooner than they should have these are lifechanging things to witness if you had seen this would shape every aspect of your life I imagine every day you'd wake up and go wow do

You remember that time whenever Jesus walked on the water do you remember seeing that I can't imagine a time where that would leave your memory and I think that was the case for the disciples but like the rest of what we're talking about today these miracles point to a greater reality you see one of the points and purposes of John's Gospel is to reassure the readers that Jesus is God he is God incarnate God in flesh he's not just The Offspring of God he didn't somehow become God or much less become a God no Jesus Is God from eternity past and for all time he is when Jesus responds it is I he's literally saying to this the disciples in Greek those precious and awesome words I am they look at him in Terror and his response is I am if we were to skip back Exodus chapter 3 verse 14 God said to Moses I am who I am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you the words that God spoke to Moses through the burning bush the words that would come to Define for his people the name of the God of the universe and it's how Jesus chooses to identify himself here to his disciples and when it's held in the light of John 8 chap John chter 8:58 we see this same picture more clearly it says Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you before Abraham was am Jesus is rightly claiming to be God and it's emphasized in the next several verses next the storm it stopped at Jesus command this is miraculous in its own right but when taken the light of Psalm 89 it reveals much more Psalm 899 says you rule the Raging of the sea when its waves rise you steal them by calming the wind and the waves and by bringing the ship safely through the waters Jesus demonstrated characteristics that belong solely to the God of creation and we see it again in Psalm

Chapter 29 the Lord sits enthroned over the flood the Lord sits enthroned as king forever Jesus Is God and that's what he's communicating all throughout chapter six by Miracle upon Miracle upon Miracle now finally we get to what we're actually going to talk about today we finally get to the bread of life discussion Jesus and his disciples have crossed over the sea and they're now in Capernaum the crowd from the day before the same crowd that he had just fed the 5,000 seeing that the disciples had left without Jesus they followed in boats to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to seek him so they all end up in Capernaum when they arrived they questioned Jesus and he started to teach them about this whole bread of life business if you read down to the end of the chapter in verse 59 we see that this conversation likely took place it all took place in the synagogue at Capernaum so this is the setting this is really just two days right we've got the day before the night on the sea and we've got the teaching in the synagogue so let's take a breath we're all caught up we understand the context and now it's time to explore what bread of life means and why Jesus is it for us Jesus came to be the bread of life something like that in this discussion Jesus teaches on this one topic over and over again before between verses 22 and 71 that he is our sustenance so I started baking bread about 18 months ago lots of people got really into baking during the covid-19 pandemic and I kept seeing things over and over again on social media about baking bread and sourdough and all of that kind of stuff and I thought I want to do that so I finally broke down and I bought a book the book is called flower water salt

And yeast and it's all about baking bread using just those four ingredients and it turns out these rustic artisan loaves that I think are delicious and it's the only hobby I've ever had that my wife enjoys more than me but something struck me as I was reading this book and it was just how Universal bread has been to humanity like basically since mankind has had to work for his food bread has been an essential part of that food across thousands of years people were baking bread of various kinds and consistencies with just whatever they had available as people migrated the grains they had access to changed and so the bread they baked changed the recipes were altered and perfected and then rep perfected and varied it's it's almost like bread has been essential to civilization ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden I only bring this up because that's not the world that we live in today there's gluten allergies and low or no carb diets are they're they're somewhat normative now because we have access to so many varied types of food but the world and culture in which Jesus was speaking would have understood bread as a basic building block of their lives in one sense in their minds if you have bread and you have water you have life you can get by if you have those things and Jesus said to them I am the bread bread of life so we get to the first point Jesus came to be our sustenance as we said bread was essential in the world where Jesus was exercising his Earthly Ministry in fact during the feeding of the 5000 when Jesus said to his disciples how are we going to feed all of these people what's the first thing that Peter responded to him he said how are we going to get all that bread it their minds didn't go to hunting animals although there were

Animals to be hunted didn't go to slaughtering livestock even though there the people of Israel had historically been herdsmen they didn't go to picking berries or fruits from trees or even to catching fish and many of these disciples were fishermen that was their profession they immediately thought of bread when Jesus said to them I am the bread of life the most apparent meaning here is that he is a type of sustenance if we look at John 6:35 we see Jesus said to them I am the bread of life whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall not thirst now those of us that are in Christ those of us that believe we can testify here today that when we come to Faith we don't leave the physical needs of our bodies behind that's just true while we're on this side of heaven we got to eat we got to drink that's the life we live we still physically hunger and thirst in fact right now I'm thinking about what I'm going to have for lunch once we all and I'm sure many of you are there too just hang with me you know after I'm done preaching in an hour or to we can all go out there and I expected a Chuckles I didn't expect the groaning I don't know where that came from when Jesus broke bread with his disciples or sorry even Jesus he broke bread with his disciples and ate with them as obvious as the idea that Jesus is our sustenance is from this passage it's even more obvious that Jesus isn't just speaking about physical hunger and thirst instead we should understand this statement as a metaphor for Spiritual hunger spiritual longing the desire of our souls for the things of God that desire that is innate

It's part of who we are as image bearers the point is that like bread satisfies our physical hunger so Jesus will satisfy our spiritual hunger that's all well and good you might be saying but what spiritual longing are you talking about here if we look back to John 4 chap verses 13 and 14 Jesus explains this concept to the woman at the well as well John 4: 13 and 14 Jesus said to her everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life the implication is that we long for eternal life and even more for life with God we were created for it but we have chosen self we have chosen sin over and over again in our Darkness we long we yearn for this life with God for which we were created and Jesus offers us that life as a fulfillment of that desire he offers spiritual bread and spiritual water for which every human being hungers and thirsts I think the cause and pattern of many sinful habits and addictions that we face in this life it comes from this longing we want something more but in our sin we're unwilling to turn to God so things like drugs or food even or media that's a big one for us isn't it or Media or things like sex are the things that we look to try to fulfill those that yearning in our lives but none of that truly satisfies but Jesus is the bread of life and he is the Living Water have you ever thought about how we are all the secular world is all Searching For Eternity for themselves they searching for not only a physical long-lasting life but everybody wants a legacy I want to be the best football player ever I want people to

Remember my name I want to build a building with my name plastered across the front I think that is all the same sinful desire that we are seeking to prolong Our Lives to have life Everlasting through the things of this world instead of through the only one who can actually give it Jesus came to be the bread of life the next thing I want to look at is that Jesus came to be our true Mana in verses 49 and 50 of John chapter 6 we read your fathers ate Mana in the wilderness and they died but this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that no so that one may eat of it and not die back in verse 30 and 31 the men were they're talking with Jesus and they asked him to perform a sign so that they might know that he spoke with the authority of God it that's not an unreasonable request in fact if somebody is coming to tell us that there's a new law from God we ought to expect a sign which is why I don't think that we're going to see very many signs because the cannon of Scripture is closed but unfortunately in this instance the request for a sign was flawed on at least two counts first as we pointed out before Jesus had just been performing miracles in front of their faces and for their benefit there was a creative miracle that should have secured his place at least as a messenger of God if not the Messiah that they had been awaiting in addition though these men didn't know all the details they knew that he must have arrived in Capernaum miraculously because there was no earthly explanation from how he might have crossed the sea alone and without a boat it would have taken too long to walk around the road and meet them there at the same time the math didn't add up so there we have at least two Miracles performed right in front of their very

Eyes furthermore back in verse two we see that the crowd of 5,000 remember I said this would come back that crowd of 5,000 they had only gathered together because they had seen Jesus perform miracles in Healing The Sick they had witnessed it with their eyes and here they are asking for a sign secondly as Jesus pointed out to them they had a wrong supposition in their argument that The Giver of the Mana that their fathers ate was Moses Jesus cleared that up in a jiffy he says in verse 32 truly truly I say to you it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven but my father gives you the true bread from heaven so let's talk about Mana first we see that Jesus came to be enough when the Israelites collected the Mana in the wilderness in Exodus they were only allowed to collect enough for their family for that day they had to trust that God would provide for them the next day and because they're human and we're know better they gathered more than more than a day's worth of mana and they found that the next morning it was stinky and had worms God gave them enough for the day by day and for 40 years for the 40 years that they wandered in the wilderness God gave them Mana to eat every single day The Only Exception being the Sabbath and he gave them enough the day before to satisfy their hunger on the Sabbath like we said earlier Jesus doesn't necessarily fulfill our desires for a full belly just because we believe in him although I think he does take care of his people the Scriptures teach that but he is reliable and he does assure us that our needs will be met we see in Matthew 6 verse 25- 26 therefore I tell you do not be anxious about your life what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body

What you will put on is not life more than food and the body more than clothing look at the birds of the air they neither sew nor reap nor gather into Barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not of more value than they and if you read on that passage he says that same thing like three or four times God takes care of his creation and aren't you better aren't you his chosen people better so in this idea that Jesus is enough I think it's appropriate especially after coming out of Esther to talk just briefly about fasting fasting it's been an important part of our faith since forever and it's designed to make us to focus and rely on God that's why people forgo food a most basic element of life it's to say God you're more important than food you alone can truly sustain me a little while back I fasted for a few days from food and media TV video games playing on my phone all that kind of stuff and I made it my goal for every time that I was physically hungry and every time I had a temptation to pull out my phone and scroll social media I would pray you are my sustenance you are all I need and I've got to say just that little amount of time put things into perspective for me it was formative it reminded me of who God is as my provider as the bread of life it got my mind off of the things of the world and onto Christ now there's a thousand reasons why fasting from food might be unwise for you that's fine things like Health complications and whatnot but I think there are all things in our lives in every one of our lives that we tend to put in front of Christ all things that distract us from who he is and so I would encourage you to consider that as we're talking about Christ being our true sustenance and our true Mana I'd encourage you to think about reminding yourself of just how true that

Is so next Jesus came to be our truer Mana in Exodus 16 the Israelites they just been miraculously saved from their captivity in Egypt and the armies of Pharaoh who are already you know he was pretty upset that they left they were wiped out by God in front of their very eyes and the people realized that their bellies were empty so God provided bread from heaven for his people that they might be taken care of through their wandering in the wilderness the bread was literally lifegiving for this nation that had they had been just transitioned from living 400 years in the land of Goan and now they're going to be a nomadic people it was lifegiving God provided Mana for them for 40 years day by day as a sign of his provision for his people it was enough to feed the whole multitude daily and to top it all off it was even sweet the Mana literally prevented death by giving the people something to eat in the middle of nowhere in John Jesus uses the example of Mana to describe himself the people bring up mana and he says that's not the true Mana I'm the true Mana he confirms that Mana is a type and Shadow of himself you see we believe that every single bit of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation ultimately points to Christ every part points to him Jesus confirmed Mana as a type of himself when he called himself the true bread from heaven in verse 32 even as Mana gave physical life to The Wanderers in the desert so Jesus gives spiritual life to we who sojourn here on Earth awaiting our spiritual home that physical promised land that the Israelites were going to is a type and Shadow of the spiritual promised land that we have waiting for us next we see that Jesus came to be Jesus came from the truer Heaven I know I'm saying true or all of you grammar

People can get on to me later so I write me a letter in Exodus we read that God was going to rain bread from heaven for his people now there's no doubt that the Mana for the people of Israel was provided directly by God it was a special provision to his people to sustain them in the wilderness so in that sense the bread was from heaven and we know that because as soon as they crossed the Jordan there was no more Mana for them to eat we know that it is from God directly but to say that it descended from the spiritual realm where God dwells would be a mistake and that's the mistake these men made when they asked Christ about the Mana from Heaven you see in Numbers Chapter 11 we see another description of Mana we read that Mana fell on the camp with the Dew so it makes sense here to understand the reigning of the Mana as being from physically from the lower Heavens or meaning the sky the area above but not the spiritual heaven where God dwells I think the word rain is a strong implication there and just as a side note if you read that passage in numbers you see that what do they do with the Mana they made bread with it that's again the thing that people always do they see something they got to make bread out of it Jesus on the other hand he is really from the true Heaven the highest Heaven the Mana God gave to Moses and Aaron was from the physical Earth to meet the physical needs for his people but the true Mana the bread of life this Jesus John tells us was from the true Heaven being the very incarnation of God Almighty he is from the spiritual Realms and he provides spiritual sustenance he is from The Dwelling Place of God and he offers a true life where we may dwell with God eternally Jesus came to give truer life the fathers who ate the Mana all died in fact in their 40 Years of

Wandering the whole purpose that God gave was so that specific generation might die off before his people entered into the promised land even Moses died before he would set foot in Canaan but those who eat of Jesus bread will have eternal life according to John chap 6 the Mana was temporary and provided temporary sustenance those who ate of it would still die Jesus is Everlasting those who partake of his bread will have eternal life Jesus came to be came to get be our life eternal in John 6:51 we read I am the living bread that came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh whoa wait a minute suddenly we sound like cannibals which is actually what Christians have been accused throughout the centuries of saying if we read on in the next verse that's basically the reaction of the Jews he's talking to as well they say how can this man give us his flesh to eat but if you've been paying attention for the past several minutes which apparently these Jews from verse 52 they hadn't been paying attention you would know that Jesus isn't speaking of physical things he's still not speaking of the physical things of real loaves of bread in front of him or of actually chomping down on his arm like we've been discussing this whole time Jesus is using this Universal idea of satiating hunger and thirst to demonstrate the reality of his mission on Earth Jesus came to make alive those who were dead to save his people from sin and death to reconcile mankind with their creator he G came to give a life more abundant and free that has no end and he came to do it by being offered up as a sacrifice Jesus came to be our

Sacrifice it's no accident or typo that Jesus said of himself verse 51 that he must be eaten the whole purpose of bread is to be consumed if you're using it right it will be there for a little while and as it satisfies it is also devoured the whole purpose of Jesus birth is found in his death I think there's almost no better time than Christmas to think about and talk about Christ's purpose on Earth there's almost no more christmy sign or object for our minds to ponder than the cross the purpose of that little stable in Bethlehem was to lead that baby to his ultimate demise here on Earth just like the sacrificial lamb that the Jewish people would care for and nurture they would even have it inside their homes to sleep with the family almost to be a family pet the whole purpose was to be led to the slaughter on their behalf so Jesus was born to die it was the will of the father from the beginning that he should die as a sacrifice for many the prophet Isaiah wrote in chapter 53 but he was pierced for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his wounds we are healed with his wounds we are healed Christ was born miraculously of the Virgin Mary God incarnate dwelling with men in the form of man and he lived a perfect life that we could never live he died the death that we earned he bore the wrath of God that was reserved for us on our behalf so that we could live this true life eternally and all we have to do is eat a little bit later in John 6 chapter or verse 53 it says so Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you unless you eat the Flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day this idea should sound familiar to you because it's the same metaphor that Jesus uses during the Lord's Supper that night before his crucifixion in Matthew chap 26 we read now as they were eating Jesus Took bread and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body and he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them saying drink of it all of you for this is my blood of the Covenant which is poured out for many for the Forgiveness of sins he's reiterating that point to his followers that he is the only way to Salvation and that his body broken and his blood spill is the only way that we can receive it is the will of the father and it's our Salvation so we get back to this messy eating business if we go back to this first verse of our passage today John chapter 6:47 it says truly truly I say to you whoever believes has eternal life when we marry those verses together whoever believes has eternal life whoever eats has eternal life we see that eating is the sign of belief that it is the metaphor he's using to show us faith those who have faith have life those who have faith partake of this true Mana he is the bread broken Bren and the wine poured out for us that we might be reconciled through him and to him and all we must do is believe finally Jesus came to be our Emmanuel in Matthew 1: 18-2 we read now the birth of Christ Jesus took place in this way while his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit and her husband Joseph being just a man and unwilling to put her to shame resolved to divorce her quietly but as he considered these things behold an angel of the Lord

Appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means God with us when Joseph woke from his sleep he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him he took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to his son and he called his name Jesus as we enter into this Advent season and into the into this season of Christmas we remember that the Christ child that came to he came to be God with us we see this presently as the God of the universe condescended to walk Earth to walk the earth he created for some 33 years but we see it even after that as a present reality over 2,000 years later that he is with us even now he's not just with us by the means of his birth but by the power of his death the price has been paid and the Victory won our hope is secured in his resurrection and all we have to do is eat the bread as we symbolically wait for his birth we are also waiting for him to come again and to consummate the promise once and for all for true and eternal life to all those who will believe head heart hand head I want you to know that Jesus offers eternal life reconciled to the father if you will believe now I know that seems simple you're like Austin we came to church today we kind of we've heard that one before right but it's the all it's the most important thing that you would ever know the most important thing that you could ever learn is to eat of the bread of life to believe in him and to trust on

Him heart I want you to believe that Jesus is enough he is our sustenance and he is sufficient you don't need to rely on the things of this world they will all fade and they will all fail you trust on Christ and hand I want you to tell somebody about the hope that you have in Jesus as the bread of life whether it's a fellow believer or a family member or a cooworker speak of Christ This Christmas speak SE Christ This Christmas tell them that he is your sustenance and tell them that he has made a way for you let's pray dear Lord we praise you this morning Lord we ask that as we continue to worship this morning and as we go from here Lord that you would remind us of who you are that Lord you are our sustenance you are our help you are our provider God help us to rejoice in that and to trust on you amen Austin was wondering a couple things in his sermon I wonder what they ate in the desert for 40 years 313 days a year they got Mana wonder if they made banana bread or in honor of some of the Italians in the future maybe they made manicotti could be okay this week we had a celebration we had a celebration and we it was a chance for us to be thankful for what God has provided for us so two times in one week we get to have this same celebration a time of thankfulness for what God has done for us and Austin mentioned a passage Isaiah chapter 53 and in since we're focusing on communion now and if you haven't had a chance to grab the elements they're right over here I wanted to go through this passage that he referenced in the message Isaiah 53 started in verse three it's talking about Jesus and he says in verse three and I'm going to replace the pronouns with Jesus just for clarity

Here Jesus was despised and rejected of by Men A Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief as one from whom men hide their faces Jesus was despised and we esteemed him not surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken Smitten by God and Afflicted but Jesus was pierced for our transgressions Jesus was crushed for our iniquities Upon Jesus was the chastisement that brought us peace and with his words we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all now as we turn to communion Jesus said for I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus on the same night which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me let's pray father for this bread that represents your body for the bread that represents the Brokenness that you went through on our behalf for the second time this week we have an opportunity of your gratefulness and Thanksgiving to come to you and to celebrate this that you've done for us thank you for your broken body that made communion with you in the father possible once again and we celebrate today as we take this bread in Jesus name amen take [Music] eat in the same manner he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant of my blood this Dee is often as you drink it in remembrance of me let's pray again father thank you for your

Blood from the very beginning you set a pattern that demonstrated without the shedding of blood there was no forgiveness of sins it was Illustrated over and over through the Old Testament all of the blood that flowed from that Tabernacle and Temple picturing one day the blood that would flow from your son and what that blood represents for us is the possibility to be have our sins forgiven and be back in communion with you thank you for what you've done and we celebrate that this morning as we remember that in Jesus name amen take dream [Music] atin I close us in prayer Heavenly Father we thank you for today Lord we thank you for the words that were spoken today the words that we heard we just thank you for all the blessings you've given us in this time and just remind us as we go through this season that we would be thankful for everything that you have given us and provided we ask you to be with us this week and everything we do would bring honor and glory to you in Jesus name we pray and all God's people said amen up