SEVEN Series: Week 10 - Bigger than Bread

It's going to be in John chapter 6, and as I mentioned, we're going to be studying verses 22 through 40, though this text carries all the way through verse 59.

John 6 · chapter mention

And I bring that up a second time because I want to stress the significance and the importance of you individually studying this text on your own this week.

Take what we learned together today and let it carry over into tomorrow and Tuesday and Wednesday and the next day after that and continue to study and learn because there's so much in this that we are going to learn as we pick up where we left off.

I want to start in verse 22 of John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

On the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had only been one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone.

Other boats from Tiberius came near the place where they had eaten the bread the Lord had given thanks.

So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you get here?

And Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, you're seeking me.

Not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

For on him God the Father has set his seal.

Then they said to him, What must we do?

To be doing the works of God.

Jesus answered them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him who had sent him.

So they said to him, Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe?

What work do you perform?

Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Jesus then said to them, 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.

For the bread of God is this it is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

And they said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.

And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.

But raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of the Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

Father, these are your words.

Transformative, authoritative, perfect and complete, entire, and in every single way.

May they shape us and reform us and form us all the more into the likeness of your image, the author and perfecter of our faith.

The promise, the guarantee of your word is that as it goes out, it doesn't return void.

I'm amazed at how time after time you redeem what we're doing, that you take your word and that you will penetrate hearts and transform lives.

And Father, I invite you to do that again.

We invite your presence, Holy Spirit.

A fresh anointing may be evident.

Lord, I pray that as your people sit under your word, that you would do your work so that we would learn to abide in your will in every way.

Use me as a vessel.

And I pray now that the words of my mouth, the meditation of our hearts, may be received as a gift, holy and pleasing to you alone, our rock and our redeemer.

And the whole church said, Amen.

It's hard to believe, but 50 years ago, in 1976, four teenage boys going to a preparatory school in Dublin, Ireland, would form a band that has transcended decades.

Arguably one of the greatest bands of all time.

This UK-based band is known as U2, under the direction and leadership of Bono.

About a decade after U2 came to be, they had risen to substantial popularity.

They put together what is arguably, and maybe for some of you, easily, the greatest rock album of all time.

In 1987, they launched the Joshua Tree Project.

Unbelievable.

$25 million in sales immediately.

Nine weeks at number one, over 30 weeks on the top charts.

Quickly, they gained in popularity and notoriety.

At one album of the year, it landed them a cover on Time magazine.

Not just one, but multiple songs became best songs.

The second single of this album is a song that would be familiar to most of you, even the younger generations.

My son was working out at our house yesterday doing leg day, and I went down into our basin and I was listening to the, he had he had the music on through the speakers, and it was like 80s rock music.

And I said, Hey Pally, what do you what do you what are you working today?

He said, Leg day, Dad.

Can you hear the music?

It's rock.

And I said, Yeah, but how do you know this music?

He said, Because you raised me right.

It's like, my man.

My man.

The number two single from that album was a song, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

The song is a paradox.

The song is a song of tension, of juxtaposition.

It's a song that wrestles with this tension of wanting to live a life that glorifies God, but dealing with the human nature that has this intrinsic self-serving desire for the things of this world.

And how that tension comes to life in us.

Today, we're gonna wrestle with this tension together as a church.

Many of you are here this morning, and if you're honest, you relate to not only the sentiment, but to the lyrics of that song.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

You've been searching the world over to fill this unbelievable void in your life, to quench an emotion, a thought, a need in your life.

And you still, if you're honest, haven't found what you're looking for.

And I pray that today would be a day of revival.

I pray that today would be a day of breakthrough.

I pray that today would be a transformative day in your life.

And I pray that prayer for each and every one of us.

As we're in this series that we've called Seven, we've been in it from the beginning of summer, and we're gonna finish out through the month of August.

It's a triad of sevens that John, the gospel writer of the Gospel of John, presents to help us understand who Jesus is, what Jesus said, how Jesus lived, and how transformative it is in our lives.

We've chosen to do two of the three triads, looking at the seven miracles of Jesus and the seven messages or discourses of Jesus.

And we believe this to be absolutely fundamentally true, that every miracle is intended to substantiate every message of Jesus.

Today, though we are studying the seven miracles of Jesus and the seven messages of Jesus, there's a third part to the triad of sevens, and that is seven concrete I am statements.

I am, Jesus says.

I am the great shepherd.

I am, Jesus says.

I am the bread of life, which is what we're gonna look at together today.

In these I am statements, Jesus introduces his nature, his character, his person, who he is, and it informs who we are and whose we are.

As we look at this today, this is the first of the seven I am statements.

And we're gonna go back through verse by verse.

We're gonna unpack this and we're gonna stop along the way.

Beginning again in verse 22 of chapter 6.

On the next day, the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone.

Let's talk about the next day.

There are 24 hours in a day.

This has been a crazy week for Jesus and his disciples.

It's on the heels of the Passover, so there's a lot of people traveling, they're going to Jerusalem.

There's this massive feast, this massive celebration, a town of 20,000 would swell to as many as a million.

People bring in their sacrifices, their celebrations, their praises.

People are staying everywhere, they're on the streets, they're in the city, you know, they're in people's houses, they're they're all over the place.

Jesus then, with his disciples, they go up to this region, this area called Bithynia.

And while they're there, a crowd gathers.

The Bible says that 5,000 men were there.

And we know, statistically, that it was probable that there was over 20,000 people there because the census, as it was, only recorded the men.

But the men would bring their families, their wives, their children, and even their servants.

So if I'm being honest, 5,000 men to 20,000 people, 20,000 is actually a conservative estimate of the number of people that have gathered and congregated around this mountain, this area where Jesus is teaching.

As Jesus with his disciples is teaching, the crowd who has been traveling for days, they had can they had made concessions to get down to Jerusalem for the Passover, but as they're coming back now, they may have taken a detour, they're stopping off to hear Jesus, to encounter Jesus.

Whatever the reason is, they don't have enough food.

They're inadequate in their preparations, and there's murmuring and grumblings and people beginning to complain.

And Jesus looks to the disciples and he says, Feed the people.

Well, the disciples look in their pockets, they say, Jesus, we only have a few cents.

And the closest market is miles away, and we wouldn't be able to buy enough food or have enough resources to bring it back.

What would you have us do?

And in that moment, a young boy with two fish small and five barley crackers is coming along.

And he offers up his lunch, and Jesus, in this miracle, multiplies the meal, and it becomes much more than a meal.

In this moment, every person there is fed, not just fed, but fed not only until they were content, but until they were full.

And then baskets went through the crowd and leftovers were collected.

It was massive.

This miracle, these people went away fat and happy.

What started off as a hungry man dinner became a buffet like you've never seen before.

Then Jesus, radical in popularity, the people they want to take him by force and make him king, knowing that their motives were wrong and that it wasn't his time, nor was that why God had him here.

He sent his disciples away into the boat so that they too wouldn't be influenced by this crowd.

And Jesus got away on his own to the mountains to pray to be with his father.

About nine o'clock that night, the disciples, still without Jesus having come back to them, they jump in the boat, knowing that it's about a two-hour boat ride from Bithynia over to Capernaum.

They jump in and they began the journey.

And as they're going along, a gale force wind comes over them.

A storm, 30, 40, 50 mile-an-hour winds, rain coming down from every side.

They're rowing and they've dropped the sails and they're doing everything they can to get to Capernaum, but they're stuck.

Six hours later, they're still stuck in the middle.

It's in this moment full of fear and uncertainty and doubt that Jesus walks on the water.

And in walking on the water, Jesus does not only the supernatural in the miracle of walking on the water, but he substantiates himself in what's known as typology.

We see where the Old Testament and the New Testament they converge.

Last week, if you weren't here and you didn't see the message, I urge you to go back and watch it from our YouTube page.

And if you haven't subscribed yet, make sure you do that so you can stay up to date on all of our teachings and uh auxiliary teachings that we have to offer, or go to our website and go to our media page and check it out.

But we talked about the different examples of where the Old Testament and the New Testament converged, of how Jesus in his I am statement was a parallel to Exodus 13, and how multiple times, at least twice, when Moses and Elijah, how he says you're gonna pass by, Jesus wasn't actually intending to stop at the boat, he was gonna pass by, demonstrating that he is God.

And ultimately, we see that in the Old Testament, every time, every time Yahweh, God, Creator, is referenced, it's referenced as Lord over the waters.

And here Jesus is Lord over the waters.

He is substantiating himself as Savior.

He is God.

As he steps into the boat, the waters calm, the storm ceases, and immediately another miracle, the Bible says that the disciples reached the place that they were intending to be.

That's a long day.

All of that in 24 hours.

So when we read the next day, this is what preceded.

And the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had only been one boat.

Jesus had not been in that boat.

Verse 23, other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten and the bread and the Lord had given thanks.

So verse 24, when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Campernum.

If you can and you have the ability, circle, highlight, underline, italicize, whatever you need to do.

Call attention to the last two words of that verse.

Seeking Jesus.

All the people, not only from Bithynia, who had been a part of the miracle of the meal, but people had now heard about Jesus.

And they were coming seeking Jesus.

They wanted to be disciples of Jesus.

Let me show you again on this map of the Sea of Galilee, which is 13 miles long and eight miles wide.

In the bottom, what would be the southwest region, you'll see the community of Tiberias.

In the upper northeast region, you'll see Tiberias.

And on the upper northwest side, you'll see Capernaum.

Capernaum is home base for Jesus and his disciples.

He will teach in the synagogues, he will live in homes.

He will establish himself in the context of community in this Galilean region.

And Bithynia is where this miracle took place.

The people realized that Jesus had not gone with the disciples, and there was only one boat, and the disciples had gotten in there.

Now, people from Tiberias, from about six miles to the south, had heard about Jesus, and seeking Jesus, they too made their way from the bottom part of the Sea of Galilee up into the northern region looking for Jesus.

When they all were together and realized that Jesus and his disciples weren't there, it says that they then got into their boats and they went looking for Jesus.

They went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

And when they found him, verse 25 says, when they found him, Jesus, on the other side of the sea.

For those coming from Tiberias, they've gone six miles north and now about five miles to the west.

That's a lot of travel.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, Rabboni, that word means teacher.

It doesn't mean savior.

It doesn't mean that they have surrendered their lives to Jesus, but they recognize Jesus as a person of authority.

That he is a respected man, that he is a respected teacher, that he has something to say worth listening to, that he does things that others aren't doing.

And they say, Rabbi, when did you get here?

Like, how did you make it happen?

There wasn't another boat.

How long have you been here?

Did you go on a hike up around the northern part of the mountains?

Did you did you hail a taxi?

Did you get an Uber?

Was it like a water plane?

You just hopped on.

Like, well, what happened?

Big old zip line six miles long?

How did you get?

How long have you been here?

Here's what I want us to see.

I want us to see the sacrifice in seeking Jesus.

For many of us, it didn't cost us a lot to come to church today.

Most of us live relatively close to whichever campus we're at today.

We've got multiple campuses.

We've got our Mansfield campus, we've got our Ontario campus, we've got our Classic campus, we've got our Waterford campus, we've got our online campus, and we've got our prison campus.

I would imagine that most of you who are in this room, it's our central campus, didn't have far to drive, though you would be surprised how far people drive to come to church here.

We are so grateful and thankful for those who call Crossroads Church home and put in a tremendous amount of effort to make us a part, our community, a part of your weekend celebration and worship to our King Jesus together.

It's not lost on me that there are other places you could be and other things you could be doing, and what a day we have today.

Beautiful.

Not too hot.

I said, Ohio is the only state I've ever lived in where you have to have an umbrella year-round.

I was at a soccer game yesterday with my daughter, and numerous people had umbrellas.

I'm like, you need that in the fall, you need that in the winter, you need that in the spring and in the summer because it was so hot.

Well, anyway, isn't it amazing we complain about how long and cold our winters are?

But then here we are in August, and you know what I hear?

Complaining about how hot it is.

In love, shut up.

I would take this heat all the time.

I don't, don't, don't wish the cold on us any sooner than it's gonna get here.

Oh, in Jesus' name.

Lord, make us the next Arizona.

Hallelujah.

Can I just address the significance of what these people went through to find Jesus?

They created margin in their calendars.

They budgeted in their finances to go and see Jesus.

They would have had to pay somebody to charter a boat unless they were wealthy enough to own a boat, and then they would have had to charter people to go with them.

They considered the cost and financially set aside means to go see Jesus.

They would have packaged their meals in advance.

They would have prepared before they left to go see Jesus.

They would have had expectations to go and see Jesus.

They, in their efforts to seek Jesus, they recognized that it came at a cost.

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine on the heels of multiple conversations with multiple pastors.

I'm a part of a cohort of large church pastors, and we have these conversations, these topics that we discuss together, and we have some kind of sidebar conversations.

And one of the topics we've been discussing lately is with the advent of artificial intelligence, the impact on the local church.

I think one of the downfalls, and I'm not gonna give you my opinion about artificial intelligence, what I think, whether I think it's good, bad, or indifferent, here's what I believe: it's here and it's here to stay.

I recognize that in many, many cases it makes things more accessible and everything is at the touch of a button, but I am afraid that it is going to bastardize our ability to critically think.

I am afraid that it is going to kill our ability to learn information.

As a pastor, not just as a pastor, but as your pastor, one of the core values that I hold is not only the inerrancy of Scripture, but that we are biblically literate.

The Bible says that we should keep the word of God hidden in our hearts so that when we're tempted or tested, we might not sin against God or others.

The Bible says that we have to take every thought captive and make it wholly surrendered to every word of God.

But how do you surrender a thought to the word of God if you don't know the word of God?

And here is my fear, church, is if we don't become students of the word of God, active and alive and transformative, if we rely on artificial intelligence as over 300 million books, all kind of this conglomerate of all these resources at the touch of a button.

And we take everything at face value, we will become not just ignorant, that's absence of knowledge, but we will become stupid.

As followers of Jesus, may we never be accused of taking the easy route.

Oh, I believe in efficiency, and I'm I would be lying to you if I said I hadn't dabbled with chat GPT.

Or Claude or Gemini or some of those other things.

You know what I was talking to my friend about this week is they're really nice to you.

Gemini, I started using ah see, I'm not gonna tell you what I'm okay.

I'll tell you because that sounds really bad.

I a long time ago, once upon a time, I used to be a personal trainer and a manager of a health club.

I actually went all the way through, got certified as a personal trainer, nutrition, all the things, right?

So I have a working knowledge of these things and used to get paid to train people.

I wanted to just see three weeks ago, I decided to work with Gemini and put in all my goals, like for fitness and food.

It has become the most unbelievable personal trainer I have ever worked with in my life.

Better than me.

Ridiculous, I know.

And it's so polite to me.

I'll take pictures and I'll put it in there and I'll put my food in there and I'll put my workouts in there, everything, and I'll just say, give me a breakdown.

And it starts off with, wow, that is elite strength.

With the volume and the heart rate that you had, and your macros were perfect today.

You're gonna accomplish all your goals, dreams, and desires.

I'm done reading Jem and I'm like, fuck.

He gets me.

Somebody asked recently, who's your personal trainer?

I said, Jim?

And I it makes sense that it's a part of our culture because everything we do, we want it done immediately.

We want it our way right away.

We want everything quick, fast, and in a hurry.

We want it easy.

We don't want to have to put in the work.

And I am so afraid that this is what's happening in the local church today.

We don't count the cost of following Jesus.

The generations before us would sing hymns.

They would make declarations, things like, All to Jesus, I surrender.

All to thee, I free thee give.

And from hands up and hearts open, we're now hands in our pockets and looking at our watch.

When was the last time you budgeted for your faith?

When was the last time you budgeted time in your schedule for your faith?

You budgeted dollars in your schedule.

Listen to me, City Care Counseling Center, the reason that we're able to launch City Care Christian Counseling Center is because some of you, several of you in here, you gave to our next campaign.

You went above and beyond giving to the local church so that we can make an immediate impact in this community.

That counseling, if you gave to the next, listen to me.

Here, when Jesse says things like, we don't do it, we do without you, that's not just lip service.

Your dollars and dedication to the Lord are the only reason City Care Christian Counseling Center exists.

If you gave to the next campaign or if you are a faithful contributor to the work and the word of God here at this church, I say thank you.

Thank you very much for your contributions.

I'm gonna stand here until you clap.

Next week, next week, we are having our back to school bash where we're partnering with Malabar.

We're gonna give every student at Malabar a high-quality backpack with every supply that they need.

We are gonna provide them a carnival day with a dozen inflatables, free food, all kinds of games, incredible activities, and every single child, every single child, because of your generosity, every child at Malabar is going to get a brand new pair of tennis shoes in the box.

Nike, Adidas, Reebok, New Balance.

And what's tragic are the number of those students who, for the first time, they will have a brand new pair of shoes.

Things that we look at that we could go into Tenger Outlet Malls today and buy whatever we want at our at our discretion or our disposal.

These students, many of them have never known what it's like to put on a brand new pair of shoes.

But because of your generosity and commitment to Christ in our community, that's gonna change next week.

Thank you for your generosity.

There are still far too many of us who don't budget for our faith.

We don't budget time, we don't budget finances, we don't budget relationships, we don't budget intellect, we don't budget resources, we don't budget for our faith.

If it costs us something, then the cost may be too much for us to really like we we have a convenient conviction.

Oh, I'm preaching a lot harder than you're hearing.

We have a convenient conviction.

Oh, I'm convicted as long as it's convenient, but you start pushing me to where I have to preemptively and proactively budget for my faith, yes.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and then all these things will be added unto you.

Go all the way back to Chronicles.

If my people who are called by my name would seek my face and turn from their ways and acknowledge me, then will I see them, then will I hear them, then will I heal their land.

Too many people seek a handout and not a right relationship.

If my people who are called by my name would seek my face, friends, when was the last time you were guilty of seeking God?

You didn't know that was in here, just three verses.

Now you know why we're not going all the way to verse 59 today.

Verse 25.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, Rabbi, when did you come here?

Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, truly, truly.

Uh in the Greek, that's Amin, Amin, or we get the word amen.

It means concrete, absolute.

It is uh it's a profound statement.

And the fact that Jesus doubled down on it, he says, Truly, truly, what he's saying is, pay attention, listen, don't miss this.

You've got to catch what I'm about to put out there.

Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me.

He acknowledges their effort.

I love it.

He acknowledges their effort, but he addresses their motivations.

You are seeking me.

Not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

You want to hear something wild?

That terminology Jesus used that you ate your fill of the loaves is the same terminology that farmers with cattle would use for animals that would gorge themselves, where their bellies would bloat because they were distended because of how much they had eaten.

Then they would just go out to the pasture and lay down because they were they were bloated.

That's what he's calling these people, bloated.

He's saying, You're coming to me not because you you seek a savior.

No, no, no, you want the supplier.

Yeah, yeah.

You had the best meal you've ever had, and you want more of that.

You're not here for a right relationship, you want another handout.

That's what Jesus is saying.

He's calling out their motives.

He's not questioning their motives, he's calling it out, saying, You're here seeking me for what's in it for you, not the relationship with me.

You saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.

27.

Don't work for the food that perishes.

Like you're here for a quick meal.

You think this is a Christian drive-thru.

Don't work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

Now he's talking about a perspective shift.

The Son of Man will give you this life, for on him, God the Father has set his seal.

Two things with this quickly.

One, there is two types of seal that Jesus was addressing that these people would have known.

One is the bread.

Every time that there was a baker and there was bread, there was a signet or a seal that that local baker would put into the bread as it baked.

So you knew that it was fresh.

It was like a label on the outside of a container where you could see what it was.

You knew who made it, where it came from, when it was baked.

There was a seal, and that was the stamp of approval from the baker to say, This is a quality product that I give to you.

The second type of seal, now listen, typology, where the Old Testament and the New Testament converge.

There's another type of seal that the Levitical priests would use, the seal of the Passover sacrifice, the lambs.

The lambs were wrapped in retired priestly garments and they were kept unblemished.

And before the sacrifice, the Levitical priests would look over the lambs to make sure that they were spotless or unblemished, and with clay, they would put a seal, a stamp of approval to say, this is adequate for the sacrifice.

Jesus says, the Father sent me, I've got his stamp of approval, his seal, and I have been vetted and I am found ready for the sacrifice.

Oh, church, I don't think you're ready for this.

Jesus is preparing the hearts of the people to say, I am not just here to be your supplier, I am the Savior.

You guys came looking for a quick meal, but listen to this.

That perishes.

I'm here and I give a meal that is eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

Verse 27 in the middle.

For on him God the Father has set his heal.

Verse 28.

Then they said to him, Well, what must we do to be doing the works, plural of God?

Culturally, it makes sense.

They want to know what they can do.

They're established in their rules and their rituals and their religion and their regulations.

They're comfortable with the laws.

They want to know what they can do because they are going to put their trust in themselves.

They want to work out whatever they need to.

This is unique.

This is not just unique to them, but this is unique to us as individuals.

We always want to know what's in it for us and what we can do for it.

Jesus ends up encountering a rich young ruler who comes to Jesus.

This filthy rich kid comes to Jesus.

He says, Hey, teacher, what do I need to do to be saved?

He said, Ah.

And he names six commandments.

Six of the ten out of six hundred and thirteen, just six of them.

And this rich young ruler looks at him and says, Well, yep, did that, done that, didn't do that.

Yep, you're right.

Jesus, I've done all those things.

And there is still a void that he recognizes.

So he says, What else must I do to inherit eternal life?

And Jesus looks at this man, knowing that he gets that he's searching for something, that he still hasn't found what he's looking for.

Jesus says, You want security in your life?

You want to know the fullness of eternal life?

Go sell all that you own, give it away to everybody else, and then come and follow me.

And this young man went away.

Broken emotionally, spiritually, and eternally, drowning in his wealth.

How many of us look at salvation from a works-based perspective?

I work hard for this.

Oh, I want to be able to do this myself.

What do I need to do?

Do I give more?

Do I need to volunteer more?

Do I need to get another bumper sticker that says, you know, Jesus?

Or crossroads?

Or somebody asked me the other day, why don't you have a crossroads sticker on your truck?

You know why.

I love this church.

You're not going to get a sign that says, Follow me to church.

You won't be able to keep up.

We look at it and say, what do we need to do for this?

The works, works-based salvation.

Hey, listen, here's the truth.

We are saved by grace through faith and not by works.

And you know what that does to us?

Instead of freeing us up, it confuses us and it conflicts us.

You're saved by grace, God's redemption at Christ's expense through faith, believing in Jesus, being confident of what you see, which you see, and certain of what you don't see.

And not by works.

Rather than experiencing the freedom that comes from the flesh and the Savior, we get conflicted with what to do.

What works must we do?

And here's Jesus' response.

He says, in this verse 27, uh, let's see, where am I at?

Somebody, anybody following along?

Tell me where I'm at.

29.

I love it.

That's why you bring your Bible.

Jesus answered them, this is the work singular.

And this is what's known as an imperative.

It means it was done, is being done, and will always be done.

This is the work that he's talking about.

This is the work of God, was done, is done, will be done.

The work of God that you believe in him who he has sent.

Paul picks this up in his letter to the church in Rome when he says in Romans 10, 9, and 10, watch this, it's gonna come up on the screens for you to follow along.

Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, and confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.

Too many of us come in here saying, I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

And we want to know how to be filled, we want to know this faith, the fullness of other faith.

The problem is we've come with the wrong motives, or we haven't created margin in our faith.

We haven't allowed ourselves to be disciplined, discipleship.

And here's the truth of it: we walk away discouraged because I just want to know what I need to do, but there's nothing you can do, it's what's already been done, and all you have to do is receive it.

Oh, Jesus says, This is the work that has already been accomplished by God.

Verse 29, Jesus answered them, This is the work of God that you believe in him who has he has sent.

Verse 30.

So they said to him, Then what sign, listen to this, what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?

What work do you perform?

Are you kidding me?

Were you fools not just there 12 hours ago when I took a couple of sardines and some stale saltine crackers and I fed you all like kings?

Two fish, five barley crackers, you guys got fat.

What more do you did?

What more?

What more what more do you want?

And not only that, but listen to this.

They try they try to abuse scripture to get their way.

They take scripture out of context to make it fit their narrative, which is why, church, we have to be students of the word of God, which is why we care about biblical literacy.

Because it happens every Sunday, every Monday, it happens all, and now with the advent of social media, we got everybody thinks that they are a theological expert and they're teaching all their own ideologies.

This is true north, never changes.

I don't know how many times I've told you that, you're gonna hear it a lot more.

And so here's the thing they try to take scripture and bastardize it to make their point.

Here's what they do.

Watch what they do, they throw scripture in Jesus' face.

What are you gonna do?

What kind of cool sign are you gonna have?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness as it's written, as it's written in scripture, Psalm 78, 24.

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Jesus said to them, truly, truly, Amin, Amin.

Listen, I say to you, by the way, this is a rabbinic, unbelievable uh rabbinic teaching technique.

It's not actually X, it's really Y.

You're looking at the equation wrong.

That's what that's how the rabbis would teach, is they would say, You see something one way, but it's really something else.

And in order for you to understand the fullness of it, you've got to change your expectation of X and make sure that you understand what Y is.

That's what Jesus is saying here.

Truly, truly, I say to you.

I say to you, where am I at?

Yeah, here we go.

It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven.

This is what's known, church, as appropriate attribution.

Giving God the glory for what is God's and God's alone.

How many of us are quick to blame God when things are wrong and take all the credit when things are right?

Do you understand that everything you listen to me?

I don't care how hard you work for your money, it's not yours and it didn't come from you.

You used the God-given gifts that he gave you with the breath in your lungs that he provided you, with the opportunity that you had that you stepped into because he gave you his favor in your life, and here he deserves all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise all the time in his appropriate attribution.

James 1:17 says, Every good and perfect gift comes down to us from the Father of heavenly lights.

James 1:17

We are so quick to blame God when things aren't going the way we want them to.

Oh, and by the way, by the way, just as a little caveat side note, do you know that a majority of the time that we're blaming God for the wrong things in our lives?

It's actually our fault.

It's called the three R's responsibility, rewards, and ramifications.

God says, hey, these are the responsibilities.

He spells it out for us, both Old and New Testament.

And when you honor your responsibilities, you will be rewarded both here on earth and in eternity.

There's a reward that is being built up with compound interest, mansions, streets of gold, crystal seas, big, big house, lots and lots of rooms, big, big table, lots and lots of food, big, big yard, they're playing football.

By the way, just want to let you know the AP polls came out this week.

Ohio State is number one in the nation, number two in the country, Oregon Ducks.

A second study, a step.

I will beat the brakes clean off of you.

Listen to me.

A second study equally important came out.

Five of the most overrated teams in 2026, 2027, Michigan is number two.

Don't take my word for it, go study it.

Ask ChatGPT.

Man, truly, truly, I say to you, it wasn't Moses.

It wasn't Moses.

It was God.

It was God who provided for 40 years in the desert.

All that manna.

What is manna?

It means what is it?

It's this wafer, this, this, this wafer, like cake that was on the ground, like tastes like honey, and they could bake with it.

They could build all kinds of things.

Like they had manna cotty, they used mayonnaise, they they preacher jokes.

For 40 years, God did the supernatural, the miraculous, and these people are throwing it in Jesus' face saying, hey, Moses did this for us.

What can you do?

But you know what else is going on?

There's a rabbinic text, it's called an extra-biblical text.

And in rabbinic texts, they don't believe the the Orthodox Jews or the rabbis don't believe that the Messiah has come.

So there's this text that states clearly it's it's actually oral tradition that's been added to over time, where they say that when the Messiah comes, he will be like or greater than Moses and he will supply manna daily from heaven.

So they're actually holding on to a first century tradition, uh an inaccurate truth that they have been taught, and they're throwing this in Jesus' face.

Jesus, Moses did this, and if you want to be the Messiah, like you say you are, the Son of Man, well, what are you gonna do?

Yeah, I mean what what what what are you gonna do right now?

You know what this reminds me of?

Listen, all the ladies in here who are 80s kids, you're welcome for this.

This reminds me of Paula Abdul.

What have you done for me lately?

Uh-uh.

I'll stop.

I'm a whole off on the dance, too.

What have you done for me lately?

Yeah, that's cool that you did that, but what have you done for me lately?

Okay.

For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

They said to him, Sir, give us this bread always.

This is like John 4, 15, the woman at the well.

Where do I find that living water?

Make it never stop.

I don't want it to run out.

I want that.

Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life.

He is now, this is the very first I am statement.

He is making it crystal clear who he is.

The salvation, salvation lies in who he is and what he's done.

I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

But I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.

Now, verse 37 is one of the most theologically rich pieces of scripture when it comes to salvation.

It's also one of the most divisive.

Let me explain.

All that the Father gives me will come to me.

Prevenient grace, predestination, election.

Right there.

All that the Father gives me, God predestines, He preordains, He preselects.

It's there.

Will come to me.

And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

Whoever comes to me, human responsibility, human volition, and free will.

It's also there.

Those that the Father has given me, those that will come to me.

This is not a problem for God.

This is not a problem for most others in the world.

This is actually an evangelical problem, a Western evangelical problem primarily, where we look at this and we have created a tension between two camps, reformed and holiness, between Calvin and Wesley or Armenian theologies.

And we say, okay, it's either you're reformed, you're Calvinist, you believe in unconditional election and limited atonement and irresistible grace.

Okay, it's all there, it's all there, or you are of the uh Wesleyan holiness tradition that says that you have human volition and free will, and that God doesn't force himself on anyone, and we have created these unbelievable divisions.

Church, listen to this.

You're not gonna believe this when I tell you this.

But people have even created their own denominations just on this issue alone, where they care more about being right than they do about honoring Christ.

They don't care about the truth, they just care about being right.

You say, Pastor, what do you believe?

Are you reformed?

Yes, absolutely.

I believe that God's sovereign in all things and his sovereignty is sufficient.

I believe that he predestines and that he pre-elects and that we are secure in our faith.

Oh, so you don't believe in holiness?

No, yes, I do.

I believe in human responsibility, I believe in human volition, I believe in free will, I believe that I had a choice in the matter.

So you're bipolar?

Yes.

I'm in a multiple, I'm in a multiple faith disorder.

I don't know what it is.

It's all here.

This is what they call theologically a truth-held intention.

A truth-held intention.

It's both and.

I've been to Israel, I've been to Europe, I've led Bible tours, I've talked to rabbis, I've talked to Jews, I've talked to uh messianic Jews on this topic.

Do you know that in Jewish circles and Jewish traditions, predestination, sovereignty, and ordination and free will and human volition, they don't have a problem with them coexisting.

Why?

Because they coexist.

We wear our camp like we do our colors.

I'm sitting here saying Ohio State's number one, Oregon's number two, and I got people booing me.

They're both true, and they're all getting paid more than us.

I had somebody just recently offer me tickets to the uh the the Oregon, Ohio State game here at the shoe.

And I typically don't like to take gifts from people.

I did not say no.

It'll be my first game at the shoe, and the question that came up today is what color are you gonna wear?

I don't know who you are, but two separate occasions, someone has gifted me because you care.

Custom jerseys, one sweatshirt, and one t-shirt that is half Ohio State, half Oregon.

So you can count on that.

Yeah.

Alright.

It's a truth-held intention.

Here's what I've been told, and I I like to live in this space.

Trust your salvation like God had everything to do with it, and live your decisions like you have something to do with it.

This is what James says.

You tell me about your faith, but I'll demonstrate mine and how I live my life.

Faith and works.

It's not either or it's both end.

Okay?

Alright, so that's just free.

That's not a part of anything.

I'm just sharing that with you today.

Verse 37, verse 38.

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

And this is the will of him who sent me.

This is it.

That I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.

But raise it up on the last day.

Hold on to that.

Raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him, everybody who looks at Jesus and places their faith in him would have eternal life and be raised up on the last day.

How many of you are living for the moment or are expecting life in the last day?

How many of you would be ready if Jesus came right now?

If Jesus returned right now, how many of you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you would be experiencing eternity in heaven with God?

How many of you are looking forward to it?

Do you even know what's expected?

Did you know that when Jesus comes back, that if you die before Jesus returned, you're with Jesus in spirit.

The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

So for those who have died before us, that have placed their faith in Jesus, they are in eternity, in glory right now with the angels, singing, holy, holy, holy, and living the life God's called them to live.

But there will come a day where Jesus returns in a second coming.

And all of the believers will be caught up and caught up in heaven.

And here's the thing our bodies will be restored in perfect condition.

I don't know about you, but how many of you are looking forward to that day?

I was talking to my 11-year-old daughter yesterday.

I grounded her.

And she said, Dad, here's the grave mistake she made.

She said, Dad, when was the last time you had hair?

And I said, Brianne, do you remember me with hair?

She said, Only in pictures.

And I said, Well, let me tell you something.

I make bald look good.

And there will come a day when Jesus comes back that my body will be completely restored and I will have the nicest head of hair you've ever seen.

Until then, you're grounded.

You know, I think this is one of the tactics of the enemy.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for, is we get so caught up living in the moment that we lose sight of eternity.

Peter says that our bodies?

We're temporary residents and foreign aliens.

These are just holding places.

He calls them tense.

This isn't it.

This isn't it.

Three things I want to leave you with that I found from this.

First, we need to pursue Jesus passionately.

We need to pursue Jesus like our eternity matters.

Pursue Jesus passionately.

Our highest response to the gospel is to run hard after Jesus.

Not to get something from him, but because of everything he has already given us.

He is not our supplier, he is our savior, he is our sanctifier, and he is our coming king.

We need to pursue Jesus passionately, which means create margin in your life for Jesus.

Schedule time to be with Jesus.

Pray on purpose.

Give of your resources on purpose.

Volunteer your time on purpose.

Get involved in the local church on purpose.

Serve the community on purpose.

Those are all ways that we prepare.

Those are all ways that we pursue Jesus passionately.

The second thing I see in this is that we need to anchor your priorities in eternity.

Jesus says, don't get caught up in food that decays, that's here and then gone.

You need to anchor your reality in eternity.

Discipleship, listen, that's called discipleship.

It requires active focus.

We need to refuse to let temporary distractions of this world crowd out our faith, keeping our eyes fixed on what lasts, keeping our eyes fixed on who lasts forever.

We need to anchor our priorities in eternity.

Are you living for the moment or are you living like eternity hangs in the balance?

And then the third and final thing I want to share with you is we need to put our whole trust in Jesus.

All of it.

All of it.

Put our whole trust in Jesus.

Jesus meets you exactly where you are, but he doesn't leave you there.

How many of you know that to be your story?

That Jesus met you in the middle of your mess and madness, but he didn't leave you there.

This is putting our whole trust in him.

Step out in faith and surrender your life completely to him.

What do you need to surrender today?

For some of you, maybe you need to surrender to Jesus for the first time.

You've been seeking Jesus, but you've never surrendered to him as your savior.

You can do that today.

You can walk out of here signed, sealed, and delivered.

Knowing that if you were to die, you are guaranteed your name is gonna be written down in the Lamb's book of life, and you are accounted for, and that you can experience the fullness of heaven, and you do that by believing in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and confessing with your mouth that God raised him from the dead.

But I believe every one of us has a next step.

We're gonna take communion right now as part of our worship.

Communion, the Eucharist, is a celebration of not only what Jesus did, but who Jesus is.

And one of the two elements in communion is the bread.

Jesus, when he was with his disciples during the final Passover meal he would experience with them as they were going through the religious prayers, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

It's for you.

And he passed it around to them.

As you study on your own this week, you're gonna read John 6, 41 through 59.

You're gonna read the significance of this when Jesus said, if anybody wants to have a part in me, you've got to eat my flesh and drink my blood.

It's very symbolic and it's both literal and metaphorical, not literal in the sense that we're cannibalistic and eating flesh, but what it's saying is that you need to devour Jesus, consume Jesus.

So symbolically, here in a moment, you're gonna take the small side of this cup and you're gonna peel back that tab, and there's a piece of wafer in there, and that's the bread.

And then Jesus, along with the psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, took the cup, the common cup filled with wine, and he said, Guys, this represents my blood, which is gonna be poured out for you.

For the forgiveness of sins.

This is a new covenant.

As often as you eat this and drink this, do this in remembrance of me until the Lord's coming, Paul says.

So when we do this as followers of Jesus, this is a declaration that we believe and we receive Jesus as the bread of life.

But it doesn't stop there.

The apostle Paul says, every one of you has the next step.

Before you take communion, Paul says, if you're a follower of Jesus and you've got unconfessed sin in your life, you've sinned against God or you've sinned against someone else, the instruction is that you pause on communion until you confess your sins to God and to one another and are restored.

I've had an overwhelming sense this week that I am supposed to instruct our tell our church this week there are too many of you that are justifying your sinful behaviors.

And it makes sense, like you two.

I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

You're searching the world for solutions that can only be found in a savior, but you're coming to Jesus as a supplier, not as a savior.

And today you need to surrender to Jesus as a savior.

And when you surrender to Jesus as your savior, you're not only confessing your sins, saying, I'm sorry, Lord, but you're repenting.

Today is August 9th, 2026.

Today is a line in the sand kind of a day where you make a declaration on top of a decision that you're sorry for what you've done and you're not gonna do it anymore.

You're turning away from your sin.

If you're here this morning and you're having sex outside of marriage with someone who's not your spouse, stop it in Jesus' name.

Confess that.

Tell your partner you're sorry.

Tell Jesus you're sorry, and be restored.

Somebody needs to hear today that there is no such thing as casual drinking.

You've been using alcohol to suffice what only the Savior can suffice.

And today is the first day of sobriety for you, August 9th, 2026.

God's going to deliver you from alcoholism today, but it comes on the heels of a decision.

There is no such thing as recreational drug use, it's a gateway to the gates of hell.

And today, for you, August 9th, is the first day of your sobriety.

Because today you have an opportunity to tell God you're sorry, confess your sins, and the Bible declares He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins.

Just as if you never did sin.

And then you can walk in freedom because you are a new creation in Christ.

The old is gone, the new has come.

Today, stop living like hell and start living for eternity in Jesus' name.