I Am The Bread Of Life Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• We live in one of the most diet-conscious societies that’s’ ever existed. There are some very bizarre diets out there.

• The Fork diet, a diet where you can only eat stuff that you can get on a fork.

• The Candy Diet, eat lots of hard candy to suppress your appetite.

• The cookie diet. http://www.probioticsmart.com/blog/2010/08/14-of-the-most-extreme-diets/

• Then there are a lot of the more conventional diets out there also.

• Then there are some that will probably work like the one that says you can eat as much as you want of any food you don’t like. Or the one I ran across that’s called "The Stress Diet".

o Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, slice whole-wheat toast, 8-oz. skim milk.

o Lunch: 4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast, 1 cup steamed zucchini, 1 Oreo cookie, Herb tea.

o Mid-Afternoon Snack: Rest of the package of Oreo’s, 1 quart of Rocky Road ice cream, 1 jar of hot fudge.

o Supper: 2 loaves garlic bread, large pepperoni and mushroom pizza with double cheese, 2 quarts of Pepsi or Coca Cola, 3 Milky Way Candy Bars, and an entire Sara Lee Pound Cake eaten directly from the refrigerator.

• One thing that ties all of humanity together is the need for food.

• All of us are deeply aware of our need for food and water, when we get hungry, our body tells us.

• All of us are not so aware of the spiritual hunger that we all have also. God created us with a need that He can only fill.

• Today we are not going to spend our time talking about crazy diets, we are going to turn our attention to the first of the “I AM” statements that Jesus makes as He explains Himself to His followers.

• This week we will focus on the statement, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.”

• Bread is one food that you will find in most if not all countries in the world, a food that no one country can claim exclusive rights to? A food that you will find at the table of both the richest and the poorest people on earth.

• Bread is served everywhere; it has many uses and many forms. Bread is eaten daily, it is not seasonal.

• We all have a hunger inside of us.

• We try to fill that hunger within us with all kinds of pursuits. EXPLAIN.

• Jesus knows how we can truly satisfy the hunger we have within us.

• We are going to cover a lot of ground in John 6 so you will want to have your bible open. Our focus will be on verse 35, but we will be covering verses 1-71!

• Let’s begin this morning by first looking at a thought that we see in verses 1-15, famously known as the Feeding of the 5,000.

• SLIDE #2

SERMON

I. The perceived need that is addressed. (1-15)

• In the first 15 verses of chapter six, we have the feeding of the 5,000.

• This is the only event prior to the last week of Jesus’ life that is recorded in all four Gospels. It is the peak of Jesus’ popularity. His rating in the polls will drop from here as he begins to unveil his true identity.

• This was a big event in the ministry of Jesus.

• This Passover, likely April, A.D. 29, marks the transition between Jesus’ second and third year of ministry.

• The Passover is more than a chronological marker. It helps explain the presence of such a large crowd, especially those who would begin their annual migration to Jerusalem.

• It also explains their fervor to proclaim Jesus King. Jewish religious nationalism surged during this feast.

• As this excited band makes its way around the lake, surely they collect an entourage from each of the towns and villages they pass.

• By the time the parade reaches Jesus’ landing sight, it is enormous. As Jesus looks up, he sees this crowd closing in on him.

• The crowds were gathering because of the signs Jesus was performing on the sick according to verse 2.

• Jesus looks out and determines that the growing crowd was hungry. Jesus asks Philip what to do.

• SLIDE #3

• John 6:5-6(ESV) 5Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

• I have to wonder if what Jesus did here was not part of a set up for what will happen the next day.

• Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and blessed them and He was able to provide enough food for the over 5,000 men, that number did not include women and children!