Jesus Is: Bread of Life | Part 1

Welcome to the Awakening Church podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

Hey, if you're new, my name's Ryan.

We're absolutely thrilled to have you join us today.

And so last week I was thinking about this.

And I first met her at a college hang, not too dissimilar to what we're having tonight at our house.

So, college students, you never know.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It was a Hawaiian luau theme, and it was a potluck style at our church.

And she showed up with pineapple fried rice that was actually she had it in the bowl used as the pineapple.

The pineapple was the bowl hauled out.

I mean creative, right?

And I remember seeing this beautiful blonde by the food table dropping off this pineapple fried rice.

I'm like, I gotta talk to her.

You know, I made a beeline of two things I love, her and food.

And so this right next to each other.

We stayed by that food table the entire time and talked.

I don't remember anything else about the Lubau except for talking to her and pineapple fried rice.

That's it.

And now here's the problem is when we were dating, or at least met, uh, this was in the season where you didn't have really cell phones.

There was no social media, Instagram, Facebook, MySpace, Napster wasn't even around yet, you know.

Um, and and I made a critical error.

I didn't get her phone number.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, and I really wanted to know who this girl is.

You know, I met her, Jenny Eckergren was her last name.

And so I began to ask all these friends, and I'm like, dude, this girl, she's amazing, she's beautiful.

Like, do you know anything about her?

And um I asked guys, which was probably the wrong way to do it, because all of the other guys had crushes on her as well.

They're like, Yeah, she's amazing.

Um, and I had someone else go, like, yeah, she's off limits, she's mine.

I'm like, whoa, possessive.

Come on.

All right.

He lost.

Um, let's move on.

Um, but I wanted to get to know her, and one night it was over the summer.

I was leading worship for the high school ministry at the time.

And again, remember, no cell phones or anything like this.

We had high school students show up on Saturday night, we had Saturday evening services, and they would show up and um we would rehearse for a Sunday morning high school group.

And they showed up, and then Jenny came kind of after church with some friends.

She said, Hey, some of our friends are going bowling tonight.

I was like, Uh-huh.

Would you want to come?

Uh-huh.

And and so I did what every responsible 19-year-old would do.

I turned to that group of high schoolers and said, Practice is canceled.

The spirit will move.

And I look back on that, they didn't have cell phones.

How did they get home?

Like with their like, what a terrible person.

Um, but it was a great night.

It was a great night.

And so we went, we went bowling, and you know, when it's with friends, you don't really get to know the person very well.

And then after that, just her and I went out to Java Junction Coffee in Santa Cruz.

It's still there, you can go there, it's a sacred place.

Um we sat there until it closed, and I just got to know this girl who eventually became my wife.

And it just was this driving question throughout the summer.

It just was like, I want to know you.

Like there's something about you I want to know.

And I kept asking, who is this girl?

Like there's something there.

You know, at the very beginning of 2023, we said for us as a church, like a very simple, in fact, it feels almost silly to say.

Like, this is like what we want to do as a church.

It feels silly because, like, this is what the church is, this is what we as followers of Jesus are, but said this is what we're gonna be about, that we really, really want to know Jesus.

Like, not just know about him, know information about him, but like personally, intimately, transformatively know him.

Like, like fall more in love with him and get to know him in such a way that that we just begin to do the kinds of things that he would do if he were here with us.

You know, I I actually think every single person on the planet should ask, who is Jesus?

Like, who is he really?

I actually think if you have any intellectual integrity, you have to ask that question.

Who is this man that literally divided history that is still intriguing, compelling to us to this day?

Who is the person, this man?

That was this carpenter-turned rabbi who lived in a very obscure part of the Roman Empire, eventually was executed by the empire itself, and yet 2,000 years later, we're talking about him and billions of people gathering around the world because of him.

Like at some point, you have to ask, who is this man?

No.

I think even a better question, maybe even a more important question, is who does Jesus say that he is?

Like, not just who do we think he is, and we all have some ideas, and like, oh my I have this, and but who does Jesus say that he actually is?

You know, in John's gospel, there's four Gospels, by the way, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

They're all telling the life of Jesus from different perspectives.

In fact, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, so really declaring Jesus as Messiah.

Mark is writing to a predominantly Roman uh audience, and so it's really this action-packed Jesus.

Um let's see, Luke, he's the doctor, he's the historian, he's really writing to the skeptic.

And John, well, John's writing to a people in Asia Minor around Ephesus, and when he's describing his interaction and writing about the story and the life of Jesus, he's writing to the philosophical, the Hellenistic, the uh the cultured.

And he's writing fundamentally so that we might not only know him, but believe in him.

And as he writes the account of Jesus' life, there's actually seven different places where Jesus says specifically who he is.

Like you don't have to wrestle with it.

Like if you're sitting down with coffee with Jesus and you're like, Jesus, who are you?

And he would go, I am.

And he does this seven different times.

And in fact, what we're gonna do for the next seven weeks is we're gonna look at the seven I am statements in the Gospel of John, and it's gonna lead us from this day all the way to Easter.

And he says, I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the good shepherd, I am the gate, I am the vine.

And then we're gonna finish on Easter Sunday.

Anyone else excited about Easter Sunday?

I am the resurrection and the life.

Like who is Jesus and who does Jesus say he is?

Well, he says this in beginning with us.

He says, I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never go thirsty, and whoever believes in me uh will never, I read that wrong.

Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.

Did I say that?

Next slide, actually, Alyssa, just help me out.

There we go.

Why don't we read it aloud?

Because then I don't have to mess up.

I am you guys did much better than me.

Good job.

You get an A plus.

Jesus, who are you?

The first thing that He wants to reveal and tell us, I am the bread of life.

Now let me give you a little context.

In fact, we're gonna read just a section of scripture, and so I want you to kind of get ready as you're listening to me.

So if you have your Bibles or open your phones to John chapter 6, uh, we'll begin in verse 25.

John 6 · chapter mention

John chapter 6, verse 25.

John 6:25

The context for this statement, um, just the day before, Jesus was feeding the five thousands.

He's out in the wilderness, people flock to him, they find him, he feeds five thousand people, and then he sends his disciples on to Capernaum, but he stays and prays, and then he literally walks on water, and nobody sees it but the disciples, and so he shows up onto the scene in Capernaum, and everybody has been looking for him, trying to get a piece of this miracle worker, this bread multiplier, this person that's going, like, hey, you know what?

You can make bread.

We want you as our leader.

Because by the way, anyone who can manufacture bread like that will never go hungry.

In fact, we don't even have to work anymore.

This is great.

You're great.

We want you.

And so, even in this context, there's some deeply political undertones as the people are looking for a political leader and one who will provide for them.

And here's where we pick up the story: John chapter 6, verse 25.

John 6:25

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here?

Because they didn't see him walk on water.

Jesus answered, and I love this, he doesn't answer their question.

How often Jesus does this, by the way, read the gospels, it's fascinating.

Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I perform, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

You got fed and you wanted more.

Verse 27 Do not work for food that spoils, that perishes, but food that endures to eternal life.

Don't spend your life striving after things that'll eventually fade away and are of no eternal value.

Strive after that which will last forever.

For on him, uh, which the Son of God and the Son of Man will give you.

For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.

So now they're gonna ask a different question.

Then they asked him, What must we do to do the works God requires?

Their translation or our translation of this is literally, what do you have to be saved?

What are the eternal life kinds of things?

And in our context, in their context, they're asking, there must be something we have to do.

Jesus is answered.

The work of God, notice this, the work of God.

What is the work of God?

Is this to believe.

Not to be better, not to do better, not to earn it, but to believe in the one he has sent me.

Verse 30.

So they asked him because they weren't ready to believe in him.

And this is what we do when we're confronted with Jesus and for confronted in such a way where we're like, you know what, this is making me a little uncomfortable.

I don't really want to believe in the one who sent me.

I don't, because that means I have to change my life.

So let's change the topic.

So they asked him, What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?

What will you do?

Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness as it is written.

He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

I don't think it's a good idea challenging Jesus, but here you they went.

Jesus said to them, Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my father who gives you the true bread from heaven.

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

Sir, they said, always give us this bread.

What you gave us yesterday must have sucked then, because I'm still hungry.

Give us that bread.

Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The first declaration Jesus gives to us in revealing who he is, if you really want to know Jesus, what is he like?

He says, I am the bread of life.

There's so much here, and in the rest of the chapter, in fact, our small groups are diving in deeper into this.

I actually just want to unpack the six words in our time together today.

I am the bread of life.

And who is Jesus and what it means for us today.

When Jesus began, and I said there's seven I am statements.

This spoke so much deeper to the original audience, the original hearers, than it does today.

When Jesus said, I am, here's what he is saying to his audience.

Jesus is the explanation and revelation of God to the world.

He says, I am.

I am.

I am the explanation.

I am explaining what God is like.

No, it's even better than that.

I'm the revelation.

I am revealing exactly what God is like.

When you see Jesus, when I see Jesus, when we look at him, you do not just see a good man, you see God in flesh man.

And so if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

If you want to know how God feels about injustice and the poor and the oppressed, look at Jesus.

If you want to know how God would respond to self-righteous jerks, look at Jesus.

See that phrase I am is actually rooted all the way back into the Exodus story.

Moses, he was wandering in the wilderness, uh, not guess wandering.

He was tending sheep on the far side of the mountain.

And he sees this burning bush, and it doesn't burn up.

He's curious, he goes over to it, and God speaks to him from amidst this burning bush that's not burning up, and he calls them, calls Moses to be the liberator of the people of Israel, and he's like, Who am I?

And God's like, No, you don't get it.

It's all about me, not you.

It doesn't matter.

I called you, so go.

And then eventually Moses gets to the point where he's like, Okay, but what's your name?

Like, who am I to tell sent me?

In the ancient day, a name was so much more than just an indicator of like Joe, Tom, Debbie, I don't know why I picked those names.

Um Gertrude, right, whatever.

A name in the ancient day actually was a revelation of a person's character uh and who they are, their identity.

And so when he's asking, who is what's your name, he's not just saying, I want to be able to have a name, I want to know who you are, what you're like.

And then God reveals himself and he gives Moses his covenant name three times.

He says this: he says, I am who I am, Yahweh, I am who I am, I am has sent you.

And sometimes I think Moses got to be going like, okay, thank you.

I am.

You told me I am.

What does that even mean?

The Lord, the God of your fathers.

This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

This word Yahweh, I am, it's ever-existing one, uncreated, sovereign creator of all.

And God, and Jesus, as he declares, he says, I am.

It's interesting when they translated the Hebrew scripture into the Greek, it's called the Septuagint.

The phrase, the Greek phrase they use is ego and me.

And this is the very phrase Jesus uses seven different times to say, This is me.

I'm God, I am Jesus, the ever-existing one, I am the uncreated creator, I am the sovereign one walking this planet in flesh and person, eternal, immutable, which means changeless and active.

I am, I am actively engaged and involved.

When Jesus says, and if you're gonna sit down with coffee with him, he's gonna begin with, I am.

I'm the explanation and the revelation of God to this world.

And what does that mean?

I'm gonna explain it even more, Jesus says, uh, because I am goes so far, but let me explain it and give you a picture.

I am the bread.

In fact, all seven of the pictures are very visceral, tangible.

One of the beautiful parts about John's gospel, uh, it was written, uh, and so if you don't have any understanding of the Jewish background, you you can actually get the picture.

And then if you do understand some of the Jewish background, it brings so much more depth and meaning to it.

He says, I am the bread, where Jesus is saying, only Jesus, only me, will finally and fully satisfy the desires of your heart.

Oh, I will finally and fully satisfy.

This picture of bread is the picture of the very sustenance of life.

It's like we need food to survive, and without it, we can't.

And Jesus is saying, I am the very sustenance of life.

And when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they show up on Mount Sinai with Moses, they get the law, these commands, and then they wander for 40 years.

God gives them manna, this heavenly bread that came down that provided for them when they were in the wasteland, when they weren't able to provide on their own.

And as they got further away from Mount Sinai and from that wandering moment for the Jewish people, the bread, that manna actually began to become synonymous with the law of God that came down from Mount Sinai.

And so when the Jewish people began to talk about the very bread, they began to have this metaphor that was connected to the very words of God that bring life.

That this manna is really connected to the Torah and his very words of life that are bringing life.

And the Greek thinker who would be reading this in the Hellenistic culture would understand the bread as the symbol of the wisdom and the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the gods that actually is life-giving.

And Jesus is saying, Yeah, I'm all of it.

I'm all of it.

I'm the sustainer of life, I'm the wisdom of life, I'm the very words of God, word of God.

In fact, that's the reason John would begin and say, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

And moving on to John 1, 14, he'd say, uh, and the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

I am the bread of life.

And what our hearts need more than anything else is to recognize that only Jesus can finally and fully satisfy the desires of our heart.

He actually gives us some descriptors of what kind of bread this is.

He says it's true bread, it's heavenly bread, it's living bread.

What kind of bread am I?

Well, it's true.

It's true bread as opposed to fake or substitute bread.

It's genuine.

I'm authentic.

It's heavenly bread as opposed to earthly or temporal.

It's eternal kind of bread.

It's living bread as opposed to dead or lifeless or poison.

You know, we have built inside of us cravings and desires.

And I think there's some of us that kind of think that the Christian life is somehow the oppression of desires.

And that's not Christianity at all.

That's actually Buddhism more than that.

And then there's also this idea of desires that in our culture and day is the exploitation of desires.

And that's hedonism, where you give way to all your desires.

In fact, in Christianity, God says, I created your desires.

And they're actually good in the context upon which I created them.

In fact, they're to point to the deeper longing that you need.

You ever notice that as you eat, you're satisfied, but you're never fully satisfied because eventually you're hungry.

A little bit later, you know, today I'm gonna have some lunch because I'm gonna be hungry.

But I ate breakfast this morning, and yet later I'm hungry.

I'm never fully or finally satisfied.

And Jesus says it points to the longing of our soul and heart that one day that ill that someone might fully and finally satisfy and says, I'm here.

I'm here.

You know, for Lent, and Lent is this time of reflection.

If you're not familiar with it, um, actually, I have this great little primer uh by Esau McCulley just on Lent.

If you want to learn a little bit more about that, I'd encourage you to take it.

Uh but it's it's a lot about repentance and preparing the way our hearts for um Easter.

And a lot of times during Lent, you do a fast.

And so Jenny and Ella and I, I the boys aren't doing it, but um that's a I don't know why.

Um but we're doing we're doing some particular kind of fast.

But you know what else we add?

We actually added some things as well.

We're not just fasting from, but we added to, and one of the things that we added uh was water.

Um, I know that sounds kind of weird, but I I'm not a good water drinker.

I know some of you are, you walk around with your water thing.

That's amazing.

Um, I I walk around with coffee, I literally I have coffee here, right?

No, I was gonna take a drink.

Um right, I'm more of a coffee drinker than a water drinker.

And I think part of the question and intention that we have to wrestle with is if Jesus really only finally and fully satisfies, why aren't all of us craving him?

Did you realize?

I didn't know this until recently.

75% of the population in the US are chronically dehydrated?

Three out of four of you are dehydrated.

I ain't because I've been drinking my water.

Right?

Three out of four of you are dehydrated.

As I was looking at this and researching this, it was really fascinating.

Because it's like, well, why, if we're dehydrated, why don't we drink water?

One article wrote this.

You would think that our bodies would tell us we are thirsty, but the modern world's obsession for coffee, soft drinks, fruit juices, and processed foods and additives, listen to this.

Oh, I just went away from it, has desensitized our thirst mechanism.

We have forgotten what it feels like to be thirsty.

We mistake it for hunger, or we reach for a coffee or sugary drink before reaching for water.

Jesus says, You've been reaching for things that are substitutes, and I'm the true bread.

You've been reaching for things.

Yeah, it kind of quenches temporarily, but I'm heavenly, I'm eternal.

You've been reaching for these things, but honestly, some of the things you're reaching for are just poison that are slowly killing you, and I'm the life-giving living bread.

Only Jesus will finally and fully satisfy.

And here's what we do.

And here's the problem, and what we have to realize.

You cannot fill a spiritual or solve a spiritual problem with a physical solution.

This is what we try to do.

We try to fill our spiritual problem, the ache in our heart, the longing with some physical thing.

You know what?

If I just was prettier, if I just had more followers, if I just was more popular, if I just, you know, drove a better car, if I had a nicer house, if I had a better job, then I'll finally be satisfied.

Now, here's another interesting thing.

Spirituality in the US is not on the decline, but it's on the incline.

It's growing.

In fact, a research from Barna that literally just came out said that 91% of Americans either believe in or are open to the idea of a spiritual or supernatural dimension.

77% of Americans believe in God or a higher power.

An astonishing 74% say they would like to grow spiritually.

And we're, in fact, more spiritual post-COVID than pre-COVID.

There's this crystal shop around the corner from my house in Willow Glen, and I've just noticed through COVID how wildly popular it is.

Because we're craving for something to finally satisfy, to make sense of the world, to help us navigate and figure it out.

In fact, um, there's this Stanford professor, she was interviewed by their own internal news paper, and she's doing her work on crystals and the history of them.

She wrote, in the Middle Ages, people thought that crystals would bring a spiritual presence.

People had this hunger, hunger, this is what hunger to have something physical that embodies faith and spirituality.

People still have that hunger now.

And that's why crystals are so popular.

Philip Yancey in his book.

I just went blank on the book, never mind.

He's a pastor and an author.

He wrote, A society that denies the supernatural usually ends up elevating the natural to a supernatural status.

Sophisticated moderns have renounced transcendence, but rather replaced it with weak substitutes.

They have not renounced transcendence, but we've replaced it with keeping up with the Joneses, the American dream, having just the right person in our life.

I am.

Jesus is the explanation, revelation of God to the world, the bread.

Only Jesus can finally fully satisfy of life.

Jesus is the source of meaning and purpose for your life.

There's a few words in the Greek for life.

The two primary ones is zoe and bio.

Bio has to do with the quantity of life, how much life you have.

Zoe has to do with the quality of life.

Meaning, purpose, wonder, amazement.

That's the Zoe life.

John is using the word Zoe here.

Like Jesus is offering Zoe life, eternal kind of life, life that's filled with meaning and purpose in life.

In fact, he's not just offering it.

We gotta get this.

He's not just offering it, he's saying he is it.

He is meaning, he is purpose.

In fact, a little bit later on, he would go and say this in John chapter 6 very truly I tell you, the one who believes, we get that word again, has present tense, eternal life.

John 6 · chapter mention

Believe, to place your weight upon, to put one's full trust in, has eternal life.

Well, what is eternal life?

John chapter 17, verse 3, Jesus defines eternal life.

John 17:3

Now, this is eternal life that they know, personally know you in relationship with the one true God and with Jesus Christ.

That's eternal life.

Like eternal life isn't later on someday way out there when I die, get my fire insurance, hello, and now I'm good.

Eternal life starts today in personal relationship with Jesus.

And the minute you step into relationship with him, he is meaning, purpose, and satisfaction.

And eternal life starts in the moment you say yes to him and you put your trust on him.

Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.

I am the bread of life.

Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, yet they died.

But here, right now in front of you, is bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Whoever eats this bread will live forever.

What is this bread?

It's my flesh, which I give for the life of the world.

My body, as he would say in another gospel, broken for you.

On the cross, laid out, and my blood poured out for you to welcome you in to life itself.

John Piper, this pastor, he he has this great line about this.

He says that Jesus doesn't want to give bread, but to be bread.

Jesus doesn't want to give bread, and that's what the people were thinking about him.

Could you give us some of this?

I want to get a little something from you and go on my merry way.

I want to get a little something from you and make my life better and then do my own thing.

And that's what we want, and that's why crystals are kind of so popular, is we want to get something from it to be able to do our thing, live our vision, have our way, and pursue what we think will bring meaning and purpose and satisfaction, and we keep after it, keep after it.

Jesus doesn't want to give bread, he wants to be bread.

I say this to Jenny every so often, and if you're married and a guy, a husband, uh, don't do this.

Um, but I do this, it's joking, it's tongue in cheek.

Um, but I just I sometimes I look at Jenny and go, Jenny, you're my favorite wife.

What's wrong with that?

Do you see how odd that feels?

How wrong that seems?

You're my favorite.

No, no, no, you're my only.

See, when we think about Jesus and we think about what he provides and the meaning and purpose, we go, we kind of prioritize in hierarchy and go, you know what, Jesus, you're at the top.

You're my favorite.

He doesn't want to be your favorite, by the way.

He wants to be your only.

He's like, no, he is meaning.

He is purpose.

And everything else, everything else other than Jesus is just simply a fake, a substitute.

It will never fully satisfy.

And you can run after it and you can chase after it, and you can search for it, and you can build a career around it.

You can build your life around your kids and your marriage and whatever else.

And though those are good things, they will not finally fully satisfy.

They will not bring you, meaning only Jesus.

Only him.

He is the bread.

Life.

And uh he has everything that you would think about that would come to your mind that you go, if I had that, then I would be, you know, I'd be so happy.

He's good looking, he's got a good-looking wife, he's got good-looking, smart kids.

He's so wealthy, he can travel whenever he wants, go wherever he wants.

He doesn't have to work anymore, but he still does.

He's got a great house.

I mean, everything you could dream of.

And because I've known him, and because we journeyed, what I know that no one else sees because what we see is the substitute.

We see the exterior that looks good but isn't good on the inside that is all hollow and empty.

We see that and go, you know what?

I'm gonna go after that.

And if you just could peel behind and rip it open a little bit and see that no, it's actually empty and hollow.

What I know is he's chasing after something else and other things because that doesn't satisfy him.

In our hearts, and our souls often are so victimized by the pursuits and the demands of Silicon Valley and the images of what we think will actually satisfy Jesus.

It always has been.

How will we respond?

To who I think there's at least two responses.

Maybe two words I want to give you.

Repentance and renewal.

Repentance and renewal.

These are very lent language and words.

But let me explain them.

Repentance means to change your mind, which results in a change of direction.

Repentance, you know, is this turnabout.

It literally means to change your mind that results then in a change of direction.

And especially for those in this room who've never begun a relationship with Jesus, who have never stepped into this new life that we've been talking about, this eternal kind of life, to know him.

It's to change your mind about what brings satisfaction, to change your mind about what brings meaning and purpose, to change your mind and going, you know what?

That job, that career, that person never will, that bottle, those pills, they never will.

And I'm gonna turn my face towards Jesus, and I'm gonna say yes to you, Jesus.

And today I place my faith, which is my trust in you, the full weight of my life, and I say yes to you.

Would you come into my life and make me new?

And he longs to have a personal relationship with you, and that's repentance.

And we're gonna take communion in just a second.

And if you're in a place where you've yet to begin a relationship with Jesus, I want to invite you as I give you time just to process to pray a simple prayer.

It's looking at God, I'm tired of running after those things, and they've never satisfied me.

Today I'm turning to you, Jesus.

I believe you are the bread of life.

Would you come into my life and make me new?

And when you respond and you call out, every single time he moves and he uh changes and transforms, and the Spirit of God comes and lives and dwells inside of you, bringing life.

That's repentance.

The other word is renewal.

And I think many of us in this room, that's the word for us.

It's renewal.

Renewal is an assistence of reasoning, uh, of resuming an activity or a state after an interruption.

It's an insistence of resuming an activity or a state after an interruption.

And that's actually one of the beautiful parts about Lent is it really gets us into the church calendar that reminds us that for many of us, our hearts are easily adrift from God.

We've gotten out of whack, we understand, we've heard the message before, and yet we we have run after those other things.

In fact, I was talking with another buddy this last week, and he was just sharing.

He's like, you know, Ryan, materialism is my thing.

And right now is the heaviest and the hardest work for me.

And you know what I had to do?

I had to go to a small group out of an act of resistance to materialism in me.

But just that recognition, like, I need renewal.

I need to pick back up what I've left off.

I need to return to my first love.

And this moment, as we take the Lord's Supper, we remember the bread of life.

Would your prayer be one of renewal?

Or you go, God, I I recognize I've been adding things to you.

I want to get a little Jesus, but I want to go do my own thing.

And today I want you to be my everything.

I'm picking it back up.

Picking it back up with you.

In just a moment, we're gonna take the elements and add awakening, we practice what we call an open table.

If you're a follower of Jesus, you're welcome.

If you're not, we encourage you to get to know Jesus, please.

But if you're not a follower of Jesus, you just can watch and it's great.

We're gonna have people standing at the front.

There's two stations in the front, one in the back.

And they're gonna dispense the bread and the cup.

They're gonna say, This is his body broken for you.

And this cup represents the cup of the new covenant, Jesus' blood poured out for you that you might have life.

Do this in remembrance of him.

And what I want you to do is just take the next moments as the band plays and respond.

This is who Jesus is.

What is your response?

And after you take some time, then you can get up during worship and come forward or go to the back.

And by the way, in the back, we also have a gluten-free option.

But what will you do with Jesus?

What is your response?

Don't you take some time?

And then we'll partake in the elements together.

We hope you are blessed by this message.

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