Jesus: Our Eternal Bread of Life

1. "I am the bread of life is one of the seven I am statements of Jesus in John's gospel. It comes after the feeding of the 5,000 where Jesus takes the boy's five loaves of bread and two fishes and performs a miracle. The sheer number of times that Jesus emphatically referred to himself as I am is in itself an echo of God's personal name as he said, I am the bread of life. He disposed it to Moses at a burning bush where he said, go tell the Israelites that I am is the one who sent you. The Israelites, as we know, a bit of Old Testament history, have been enslaved for over 400 years in Egypt. And God uses Moses to rescue them from the hands of Pharaoh and from the Egyptians. And like how God uses Moses, God is able to use you to accomplish his purposes." [00:54:36] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "And you've got your own manna that you're asking God for. And I believe that as you go through your wilderness, that as you keep your eyes fixed on God, as you trust in him, as you depend on him, as you rely on him, whatever the manna is that you are looking for, I believe God is able to meet you there. I believe he's able to meet you, whatever your manna looks like. Whether that's a job. Whether that's a career. Whether that's an opportunity you're looking for. Whether you're breaking through. Whether you're walking through. I just want you to be reassured that God is able to meet you in your wilderness and provide for all your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus." [00:57:23] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "There's a bread that comes down from heaven that we can feed on. Because our design was not just to be fed physically, but we're designed in a way that our soul needs to be fed. And that soul food can only be fed by the bread of life. It's a bread that feeds our soul. It's a bread that sustains us. It's a bread that nourishes us. It's a bread that gives us life. It's a bread that. It's a bread that gives us eternal life, both now and in the life to come. It's a bread that we can feed on. We can feed on the love and the mercy and the grace of God. It's a bread that gives us identity and gives us our value. It's a bread that gives us our self-worth. A bread that enables us to, that we can feed on. But a bread that also gives us enough that we can give it away as well." [00:59:22] (44 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "When you read John, John identifies himself as the disciple that Jesus loved. He captures this. Who's the disciple that's reclining on Jesus in the Last Supper? It's John. John. Who's the disciple that writes, see what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God, and that is who we are? It's John. Because he captures something that if I feed on Jesus, I know that I am loved. If I feed on Jesus, I know that I'm in a good place. Feeding on Jesus is a food that feeds me. John captures this. I wonder how we would identify ourselves today." [01:00:23] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "The second thing I love about this passage is that the bread is for all. And that's really exciting. I get excited about this because the bread of life that comes from heaven is for anyone. If you look at John 6 verse 50, it says, but here, the bread that comes down from heaven which anyone may eat and not die. Anyone may eat and not die. You see the bread that their ancestors ate was for specific people at a specific time in a specific situation. But the bread that comes down from heaven is for anyone. That anyone may eat this bread and not die. I love the inclusivity of the bread of life." [01:05:11] (57 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "And these disciples, given their cultural upbringing, they're wondering, what is going on here? Why are you talking to a woman? One, she's buried five times. One, she's a different race. But I just love how Jesus is intentional about breaking the barriers to recognize people to see that this bread that comes from heaven, this light of the world that comes from heaven is for everyone. And that's so important. And we need to continue to hear that message. We need to continue to hear that message over and over again, because we need to challenge our cultural norms, our upbringing norms, which says that it's for these people, but it's not for those on the other side. And we need to continue to reach those on the other side and says, this bread of life is for you. As much it is for me, it is for you too. This Jesus is for you as much it is for me." [01:06:39] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "The bread of life is for the gays. It's for the straights. It's for those from LGBT communities, those that are married, those that are single, those from a different political party, those who support the other team, those who are single, those who are widows, those who are rich, those who are poor, those from all races, from all nations. The bread of life is for all people, that we can all come and we can all eat of this bread of life." [01:08:24] (27 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "The bread that Jesus wants to feed you, it's available Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It's available all week, that you can eat of this bread of life. You don't have to wait until Sunday to hear the word to be fed, that you can feed of Jesus throughout the week. And that's good news. That we can feed on Jesus as we spend time with him, reading the word. We can spend time reading books and encountering something that enables us to feed on the love of Christ." [01:09:54] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "We can eat on Jesus as we take communion and remember his body that was broken for us and his blood that was poured out for us. We can eat on Jesus in our workplace. We can eat on Jesus on the train. On the train, I often spend some of the time going into London, but just reading. Spend probably half the journey just reading and eating on Jesus. Because that sustains me and that sustains us. We can eat on Jesus as we make him the center of everything that we do. In our marriages, in our homes, in our families, in our workplaces. As we make him the center of it all, we can eat on him. And the promise is life. The promise is life." [01:11:13] (41 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "The only thing about it is that the food can be there, but he won't force you to eat it. And God's way is never to force us to eat it. It's an invitation to eat the bread of life. It's an invitation to nourish. It's an invitation to feed yourself and to feed yourself and to draw on his love and to draw on his goodness, to draw on his grace, to draw on his mercy. It's an invitation to build your life through feeding on him. But God won't force himself on you. He'll invite you to partake in him." [01:12:51] (42 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)