well, good morning Church. I am excited to be here this morning and I hope you are as well. We are in a series entitled I am and we're talking about what did jesus the most talked about figure in all of world history, what did jesus actually say about himself? And so in the gospel of John, he actually gives seven called seven I am statements that he actually describes himself, that we can actually better understand who he is and what he's done and what that means for us today. So if you have your bibles open up to john chapter six, john chapter six and while you're turning there, I just want to ask a question that um just kind of show of hands here, how many of you love going out to eat and I love going out to eat. Okay, that's most of the room. Um well I love going out to eat, I love sitting down and I love getting to the restaurant and then right after you order or even before you order they bring out hot fresh bread, right? Or maybe it's chips and salsa depending on the restaurant. But you, you bring out this bread and it's just and it's great when it's right out of the oven and and it's just there and it's fresh and you start and I don't know about you, but if you're ever at a restaurant where you, once you order it takes a while um I know in my mind and in my heart that I should wait for the meal that I ordered, but I find myself just scarfing down bread and then um I feel bad because the waiter waitress comes back a lot of times my wife and I will just go out the two of us on a date and you normally they bring bread for the table, right? Um but we'll we'll say collectively we eat it together, but I feel like I eat like 90% and she eats like maybe 10% so I'll finish the loaf and then the waiter waitress comes back and she sees that we're out of bread, but she makes me ask for more bread or when I say, hey, can we get some more bread? She gives me that look right, Like really like you want more of that. And so like I admittedly have gone through multiple loaves in one setting to the point where I think the worst case, there was one time the lady and it was also the best case scenario after I finished one, the lady saw how quickly it went through the bread And she brought out two loaves the second time out and said I want to keep coming back and just go, here you go. Um But but here's the problem with that, if you've been in the same situation that I've been, is that you eat it and if it's not bread, maybe it's a different appetizer or whatever it is you eat it. And then by the time your meal comes, what happens, you're full, right? and then you have to take the meal home and you're like ah I should have waited and it happens to me like every single time. And so it's like, I know it's coming, I know the main courses coming, I should wait for the steak, I should wait for the chicken, but I can't help myself. And then we fill up too fast and we fill up on the wrong things in the same way. We're gonna look at a story today where God, jesus christ himself is going to offer the crowd something incredible. But instead of understanding this spiritual eternal meal that jesus offers, they fill up first on the appetizer and on the bread and instead of understanding that he's giving something eternal, they actually focus on the temporary and the physical said no, no, no, give us the first thing, we want more of that and they miss it. So if you have your bibles open up to um if you're not there already on John Chapter six now we're going to read through um quite a few verses today because I want you to understand the context of the story and so the verses actually are gonna be on the screen because we're gonna be kind of flying through it. But I'm gonna read through different passages here in john chapter six and we're going to actually understand what happens. And so first you have the story where jesus feeds the 5000. So he is teaching a large group and at that time in culture, typically when you counted, it was custom to count the men in the crowd And so it was actually 5000 men, so if you um actually include the women and Children that were most likely there in this context, it was closer to between 15 and 20,000 people listening to Jesus preach. So 15-20,000 people gathered here listening to the words of jesus and now it's starting to get late and they're starting to get hungry and so jesus actually in verse chapter verse chapter verse five, jesus says um he says now where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat, imagine attending a son sold out basketball game, emphasis on, imagine because that could happen, I don't think one time this season, but maybe next season when we get the draft pick and we have a sold out suns arena, okay imagine jesus being in the moment with close to 20,000 people turning to you and say hey um so where were you going to get food for these people? Imagine the stress in the, in the disciples eyes and in their minds and so people are saying hey we should send them out, we should send them home Philip actually answers, he says that'll take six months, half a year's salary to feed these people one time and then Andrew has a crazy idea seems completely foolish, but after phillips said, hey, it takes six months wages. Andrews. Hey, I know ah I have a boy with basically a lunchables here, some fruit snacks right equivalent to five loaves of bread and two fish. Okay, it would fit in your hands. It was like, this sounds crazy, but hey, we got this, we got one lunch table, maybe if we break it down small enough, but the eyes of jesus, it's just perfect. So jesus actually tells them, okay, sit them down, get them organized. And then actually in verse 11, he says, jesus took the loaves and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish as much as they wanted. And in verse 12 and when he had eaten, when they had eaten their fill, he told the disciples gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them up and filled the 12 baskets, 12 baskets with fragments. And so you have this incredible picture. Not only was the two fish and five loaves enough to feed close to 20,000 people It was enough for leftovers, Jesus totally knows how the human heart and mind works, right? We love leftovers, that's why I love thanksgiving, but anyway, um and so they had leftovers, but not just any leftovers, 12 baskets of leftovers with 12 disciples. So they went from having no food to a lunch bowl to just keep handing out this food and like me, we're still handing out, hanging out, hanging out to where they're each holding a massive basket of leftovers when it's all said and done now. It says in the story that at that point when they received their food, when they saw this miracle, they were going to try to crown jesus as king but an earthly king and so jesus knew it wasn't his time yet, so he kind of removed himself from the situation, the disciples get on the boat, they're going across the sea of galilee, they see a Tiberius there, same same seed, two different names for it is there and then jesus actually walks on water and another incredible miracle that we can preach in another time and then shows up with the disciples and then actually to go to the other side And so now they've just seen this incredible miracle people ran around the lake, they traveled across or the word spread and so this huge crowd was there again to meet him on the other side of one of the most talked about miracles and all of the Bible feeding the 5000 are really feeding close to 20,000 people and then walking on the water and then jesus is about to give him the main course that was just the appetizer that was the beginning part that was the bread And now he's about to deliver the main course and we pick up the story here in verse 26, and jesus answers the crowd truly, truly, I say to you, you are 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 you for on him, God, the father has set his seal. And then in verse 28, it says, they said, what must we do to be doing the works of God? What must we do to inherit eternal life? This is a summary of honestly, most world religions. What must we do to be good enough to cross the line? What what action must we take to deserve heaven? And Jesus replies in verse 29, he says, this is the work of God that you believe in him, whom he has sent. And if you were with us last week, we talked about the idea of belief, meaning to put the full weight of your life. So this is the work of God. To put the full weight of your life in him to believe To trust to have faith, Verse 30 that you can tell. They're they're still not getting it. He said. Then what sign do you do that? We may see and believe you. What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness? And it is it is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Now if you're a part of this crowd or recently heard about the miracle. Why? What more miracle, what more signs do you need to believe that he is God? But yet they asked for more signs I think because they're like, hey guys, can you bring another loaf? That was pretty good. You know, back in exodus, which is exodus 16, you actually provided bread from heaven, Okay, we can give us a little bit more of that. And Jesus says 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, for the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. So they turned to each other and said, oh well give us this bread. Oh you mean there's better bread, you mean there is better fresher bread. Okay, Jesus, come on, let's have that. But this is where he actually serves the main meal. Here's where it gets intense verse 35 he says I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said 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 of 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. In other words, jesus will not lose any of the power, any of his attributes of being God, but rather lifting up or raising up or giving everything his of himself of his life over so that we can be saved. If you're taking notes, you can write this down. It's not even at the main point yet, but the idea is that jesus not only gives bread, but he is bread. He not only gives bread, but he is bread. He's saying what I gave you is a preview of what I'm about to do on an internal spiritual sense. I'm giving you this physical bread to feed your bellies, but I'm about to give my life to save your soul. So, jesus doesn't simply give bread. He is bred. Let's keep reading verse 40 for this is the will of my father. That everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life and I will raise him up. And he goes on to say in there, that it's not just his will, but God the father that sent him there. So this ties in with the verse John 316 for God, so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And so you have this picture. But we'll pick it back up in verse 47. And jesus says truly, truly I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life, I am the bread of life. And your father's ate the manna in the wilderness and they died. So notice even after receiving the miracle, he said, look, they received that they ate that. But they died even after getting what they supposedly wanted or needed in that moment. That was temporary. That was the beginning. Even experienced that at the end of it. So they lived a little bit longer. What happens though they die? But he says this, he says, but 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 this life of the world is my flesh. That's a weird statement. Let's just be real. Okay, I'm attracting with jesus all until he says eat my flesh like Mhm Look, we're not about to go werewolf and vampire doubt here or anything. That's just weird. Let's just be honest. But what he's speaking of is actually a spiritual metaphor and actually gives us the basis what we're gonna talk about this morning is this idea of communion, that he's actually giving his body as a sacrifice. And the term eating is really tied in with this concept of belief, so that through eating or through believing, through receiving jesus, you can be saved. But if you feel like someone saying you should eat my flesh and drink my blood is weird. So did they actually says that verse 52, then the juice disputed among themselves, saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat? And he goes on and talks about the idea of eternal life, Verse 58, he says this is the bread that came down from Heaven, not like the bread that the fathers ate and died, whoever feeds on this bread will live forever, verse 60 it says, and when many of his disciples heard this, they said this is a hard saying, who can listen to this, but jesus, knowing himself that his disciples were grumbling among them, I said, do you take offense to this, then what if you were to see the son of man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life the flesh is of no help at all? The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but yet some of you do not believe. And then verse 65, it says this is why I told you that no one can come to me unless he is granted by the father. So he has this teaching, he's saying these words that I'm giving you are of spirit and of life the and giving you something deeper than just a physical need. I'm I'm really satisfying your spiritual need. And so if you're taking notes, you want to write this down that jesus satisfies the hunger of our soul. Jesus satisfies the hunger of our soul. Maybe some of you are familiar with the Snickers commercials. It's like you're not you when you're hungry, right? And there's a lot of them out there and it's a lot of funny and usually turns into another character. So here have a Snickers. Okay, in a similar way, jesus is saying that you are not you when you are spiritually hungry. And the miracles that are performed are merely signs pointing to the greatest miracle which is belief in jesus, You might not know this, but ace of base song was really based out of John Chapter six I saw the sign, okay, sorry, that was bad. But No, the point of a sign of this miracle was like I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna feed 5000 men 20,000 people with bread from heaven to show you that I have the power to be the bread from heaven and to offer eternal life and to satisfy the hunger of your soul. These signs point us to where we need to go one time. My wife and I have did a garage sale and we started out early and we had all our stuff out in front and No one was coming by. That's weird and she turned to me and said, so did you put out the garage sale signs? That was one of those moments guys where you know where you thought you did something but then you didn't right we don't do it on purpose ladies, I'm sorry but it wasn't. So did you put out the garage sale signs? Like if by put out, you mean in the front corner, right there in the garage then? Yes and so then I quickly gather them up and went out and put the signs out and lo and behold when I put out the signs, guess what? People followed the arrows and and ended up where we wanted them to go because when people see the signs, they go where you want them to go, the miracles of jesus are proven to be signs that you don't just stop at the sign, no one sees a garage sale sign. It goes, oh look garage sale, we're here like no that's the corner of tatum and joe max and that's just a sign that's neon with an arrow like that's not the sale right? It's pointing you to the sale but some of us understand and do that with jesus. We we look at the miracles of God and like wow and we just stand that's cool and we just stand there when the whole point of a miracle is to point people in a certain direction and if you stay at that sign, if you stay at that need, you're missing the greater miracle which is jesus christ himself. You know, you said you passed these a frames and the signs that pointed turn here turn here on in terms of how to find Mission Grove Church this morning. Hopefully there's nobody standing outside just looking at the sign going, huh? I thought church would be different. Right. The whole point of the A frames is that it points to it the same way these miracles point to the greater miracle, which is the fact that jesus satisfies the hunger of our souls. Now walking back through this, I want to talk about two other things this morning and the first one is that this story, John Chapter six gives us the process of communion, the process of communion. And so it actually This process is repeated throughout scripture. So we see it here in John Chapter six verse 11. Then you actually here, you see the same process and luke Chapter 22: verse 19, when Jesus is in the upper room, then again when jesus rises again and he's on the road to amaze and he's meeting disciples and they don't recognize him until they actually take communion. And then you see it in the church in Acts chapter two and then paul writes about this exact same wording and process in first Corinthians chapter 11. And so here's the process, you can take notes, you can write this down, jesus first step, there's four steps to this process for communion, Jesus takes the first thing he takes And the story of the feeding of the 5000, he actually takes the lunch from the boy he receives that they give that to him right in the upper room, he actually takes the breath. And so in other words, the idea of taking is is God placing in his hands the next is interesting because then he actually blesses it, so he takes and then he blesses before the miracle, jesus blessed the miracle, we try to teach our kids to pray and have you ever been at a dinner table with with kids And they pray and it's usually quick because there's food, I can respect that being hungry person myself. But um our kids would typically just, especially Jackson and carter, they would just pray like dear jesus, thank you for this, thank you this and this is the list and just started thanking God. Well one time um Jackson was thanking God but he was thanking God for what he was going to do later in the week because we're going to take a trip family vacation and says dear jesus, thank you for our family vacation, thank you for doing this, thank you for doing this. And I stopped said Jackson, that that hasn't happened yet. And then I actually realized that's actually good theology though. So Jackson without knowing it was thanking God before the situation thanking God before the trip, thanking God before the day because what I found actually long term and when it comes to the study of God is that if we don't turn our actions to praise, we end up turning them to pride. And so there's actually power in blessing God, blessing the situation in the circumstance even before you know the outcome. So in a practical sense, it's maybe God thank you for being here for blessing this. We walk through this as a launch team. Those that are in this room that were at us are with us in the beginning, last year, at this time it was a bible study. We even met in this room and we didn't have any supplies and it was like a school projector propped on books on a school desk that we accidentally broke, but we put it back together so they didn't charge us. But like and so we were here and we were God, thank you for blessing this church as we get ready to launch. And so you were partially here because of the blessings prayed a year ago. And so there's power when you bless what God is going to do, not simply thank you God for what he's already done, but the next thing jesus does is that he breaks it. Mhm. He breaks it. He breaks the bread, he breaks the fish. And then lastly he gives it. But if you study these scriptures, if you actually walk through this the same wording is found in every case and jesus actually walks through this for himself because he is the bread of life. So word becomes flesh, jesus comes down holiday, we celebrate his christmas emmanuel God with us, so he takes his life, okay, he takes that. Then when he gets baptized by john the baptist, you hear the parting of the sky's the dove comes down, this is my son. And so God blesses jesus. But then he actually gives his life and probably the least favorite that we understand how God works is that usually God break someone in this situation, in this case actually breaks his body. But then he gives us eternal life. And so he gives us abundantly more than anything we could ask. And in the miracle the feeding the 5000 he takes these little loaves and fish and feeds enough for a multitude. And with leftovers. And after he broke the body of jesus and he died on the cross when he rose again on the third day, which is why we celebrate easter, he gives us eternal life. But here's what's interesting about this process. If we could put those four steps back up that I think God takes us through that process too, that he takes us, that we are sons and daughters of God. But then he blesses us with a calling on our life. But typically before he uses us, he breaks us. He breaks the idols that are in our lives that are in our hearts, the things that we hang onto and cling to and breaks that away so that when we're in a broken state, then he gives us more than we could ever ask. Think or dream and eternal life does not begin. The moment you die begins the moment you receive, jesus. That means you can experience bread from heaven. Eternal life power. Right now, you can have victory over sin right now. You can have victory over circumstance right now, you can win the battles, You can win relationships, you can find purpose and love and joy right now by eating and sustaining and receiving the only thing that will satisfy your soul, which is the bread of life, jesus christ himself? If you try to fill yourself up with anything else, you're going to be hungry for more. My personal life vs Philippians 121 when Paul says for me to live is Christ and to die is gain that idea to live is christ. If you try to replace christ with anything else? Health, fame, popularity, money, security, anything else I promise you you will be hungry for more. Have you ever wanted something new? New phone, new car, new house? What happens when you receive that? It's nice, right? You have this euphoric feeling. But after a while, what happens If somebody else gets one newer or better or bigger or man, I really thought this would satisfy but were left hungry. I believe that God created us to eat on a daily basis because we are reminded that we cannot satisfy our souls apart from him because jesus is the only thing that satisfies and he takes our life, He blesses our life, he breaks our life, but ultimately he gives us life through jesus. So then how do we come to jesus? How do we actually come before him as we're about to come before communion? Well before we dive into that, let me just share with you how not to come to jesus because we find this in the story, there's four things that four ways that people come to jesus and just no, that's, that's not gonna work. First of all, people come to jesus looking for work. Okay, jesus, hey, just tell me what I need to do, just tell me what I need, okay, just give me the syllabus, jesus, just tell me when the tests are, I'll study, I'll do this, I'll try really hard, I'll work really hard and I'll earn my way to heaven and she's like it's not about that, the work is to believe in the one whom he sent. Then some people come looking for signs, but see you can find, you can find a sign and miss the savior, think about that moment for just a second, there were people that were face to face with jesus who I saw him walk on water Or feed the 5000 or to make a blind person see or a lame person walked, they saw the very miracles of jesus and yet they missed it and I would hate for someone to come here today and and it'd be so close to jesus and miss it. The signs are arrows that point to the greater miracle which is himself. So don't just come looking for a sign, look for the Savior. 3rd people come grumbling like well how are we supposed to eat his flesh like they took it literally like I mean that seems odd, but I'm in okay, right, But they came grumbling and fortunately they came ready to argue, well wait a second, we know this guy, he said, how could that happen now based on our research on social media today, we've, I'm so glad we're past grumbling and arguing in public, right? You know, social media and google searches and all this has honestly, it has not made us better. Let's be real, right? But it's actually revealed what's already in our heart because now you can post and be anonymous at the same time and so you can't turn anywhere without seeing people what grumble and argue, which is exactly the situation we find ourselves in the story. So people came like, hey what can I do this time, like hey what can you do for me God or it's like, no that's not true, no that's not true? Or they just argue, they come bitter, they come angry, they come at this and it's all kind of the wrong way. If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. Here's the switch, here's the turn that when it comes to being with jesus, it's not about performance, it's about proximity, it's not about performance, it's about proximity. Jesus does not want you to do more, but really he wants you to draw close, he's not saying you have to meet this checklist and do this and do this. He says, no, I know all of your mess ups, I know all of your doubts, I know all of your sin. He's giving this life to the disciples knowing that judas was going to betray him. Yeah, he loved him and made the offer anyway. And so jesus is not requiring performance out of you, but proximity out of you to draw close. And as the band comes back up as we're getting ready to take communion together. You've seen how not to come to jesus. But I want to read one passage that is going to be up on the screen and we're gonna see how Peter responds to the bread of life, let's see this here In verse 66 and after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him and Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well? And Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy one of God. So how did Peter respond to this idea of communion to receiving the bread of life? He did three things. Number one, he came hungry. He understood that his soul needed something deeper. Number two, he came humble. He recognized that it was only jesus that brings eternal life, where else would we go then third he came hopeful. No, because through belief in jesus we are saved. So we're about to take communion today and after I pray, we're gonna pass the elements and I want you to let you know that if you don't believe this. Yet if you don't believe in jesus, it's okay to let this pass by. We want this to be a safe place for you to come and explore what you believe and why you believe it. But if you believe that jesus is savior and Lord to take these elements. Mhm. And that the bread represents his body which died on the cross or sacrifice for us. And then this juice symbolizes the blood that he shed on the cross for you and for me and I want you to take these elements and to hang on to them and reflect on what this means to take this concept of coming hungry and humble and hopeful and to take these and just reflect and find joy and remember what jesus has done for us. And after a little bit we're gonna take these elements together. Let's pray dear heavenly father. We pray that we can receive these elements, the God, you didn't just come to give bread but to be bread and that through you alone you satisfy the hunger of our souls. God. It's not about our performance but our proximity to you. And so this morning, as we remember, may we draw close to who you are? Yeah, in your son's name, we pray amen.