Skip to content Bread of Life - I AM, Part 1 Feb 15 · 51 min ...more
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Support this leader
Liking this video? Support this ministry.
Give
Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
156K followers
Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
156K followers
Comments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
0:00 You're listening to Waters Church podcast, where faith meets real life. Where 1 church, many locations, and 1 mission, to see lives changed by Jesus. No matter where you're listening from, you0:12 are a part of Waters Church family. Now let's dive into today's message from our pastor.0:20 Here's the title. I am finding my identity or our identity in who he is. When you think about0:32 this generation that we are living in, there's great confusion about identity, tremendous amounts of confusion. I think what we are seeing is0:44 the eradication of traditions, norms to such an extent that a lot of times young people, especially children, are left unhinged. Think about a door with a without a hinge. What does it do? It wobbles0:56 all over the place. And a lot of people, young people especially, are unhinged. They are unhinged not because necessarily of their actions, but the actions of those before them. Divorce,1:08 in their family or confusion, being taught to them at the institutional level, even in educational systems. Hollywood and media, pop culture does not help at all. We1:20 we have this obsession with finding our identity. And, the world can offer you, only fake identities, fraudulent identities, false identities,1:31 ultimately empty identities. Nothing will ever be satisfactory. Just let me give you a heads up. That's why we do what we do. We are going to introduce you in this series to the only identity1:43 worth having, identity in Christ. Now this week, tragedy struck. Anybody who is a fan of 19 nineties teen romance dramas,1:55 anybody a fan of Dawson's Creek? Yeah. All the ladies' hands are going up. I didn't watch that show. James Vanderbeak, who is a year younger than me, succumbed to2:07 a battle, a year long battle with cancer. It's so sad. Very young young family, wife left behind. Well, a couple weeks ago, he recorded himself a selfie video of himself talking2:19 about this very topic of identity. And I wanna read his phrasing. I wanna read his quote. This is incredibly important to where we're going today. He said, when I was younger, I2:31 used to define myself as an actor, which wasn't all that fulfilling. And then I became a husband, which was much better. And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate. I could define myself as a loving,2:43 capable, strong, supportive father, provider, and husband. And for a long time, that felt like a good definition of what I am. And then this year, I had to2:55 look at my own mortality in the eye, nose to nose with death, diagnosis. And all those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me. I could no longer3:07 be a husband, a father, a provider. I was too weak to do any of that. So I was faced with a question. If I am just a too skinny, weak guy all alone3:19 in an apartment with cancer, what am I? That is a powerful quote. Now he goes on to answer that question in3:31 a way that is quasi universal, so I'm not gonna quote that part. But that is the eternal question of life. What am I? Who am I? What am I here for? And I want you to know something. There is an identity to3:43 be had in Christ Jesus that would change everything, would change everything in your life. This is why I get up in the morning, that I I know the answer3:54 to James Vanderbijk's question. This is why I love what I do, and what I'm about to share with you could be life changing for people within this audience at every4:06 location right now. After the 1st service today, we had I had a young lady greet me in the lobby. I do do that, by the way.4:18 I'm in the lobby. If you don't see me, it's because there's 1000 of you and there's 1 of me. But she said, I've been a Buddhist a Hindu my whole life, and I find myself coming to4:30 Jesus. And then yeah. And then in this service here in North Attleboro, which we will play at our other locations eventually, the baptism testimony was of a4:41 Chinese lady who's a Buddhist her whole life and has now surrendered her life to Jesus. Friends, this is why we do what we do. There's only 1. There's only4:53 1 who is enough. And to introduce this topic, we're gonna go to John chapter 6 because this is where it starts with the I am statements. If we can understand who he is, we can understand who we are.5:05 And this passage opens up in John chapter 6, so context matters. Jesus has just fed 5000 men with a few loaves and a few fish, the5:17 feeding of the 5000. By the way, there's 2 feedings, the feeding to the 5000, feeding of the 2 of the 4000. And it's just the number of men, so it was possibly the feeding of the 20000 if you include women and children.5:28 And Jesus does this with a sack lunch with a sack lunch that was given to him. And the scripture says that they all had eaten their fill in John chapter 6 verse 12. And then he told them, gather the leftovers that5:39 nothing be lost. They gathered them up, filled 12 baskets with fragments from the 5 barley loaves left by those who had eaten, and the people saw the sign that they had done. By the way, they get how many? They get 125:49 baskets. 12, 1 for each disciple. By the way, this is why we ask you to serve. When you serve at Waters Church, when you park cars, greet people in the door, serve coffee in the cafe,6:01 minister to our young people at Waters kids, you get back way more than you ever put out. You get back the basket full. By the way, Apollo Beach, you've got a serve team6:13 meeting, a a what is a team night, Tuesday night. This week, opportunity for you to learn how to serve. There will be a team night up in our northern locations in March, but Tuesday night in Apollo Beach. When you serve,6:24 you get back. So they had eaten their fill, and when the people saw the sign somebody say sign. When they saw the sign that he had done. What was the feeding of the 5000? It was not just a miracle, it was a sign. Here's6:36 what you need to understand about signs. Signs point you to something else. You know, if you go down, route 95 up here or route 75 down in Florida, or whatever route it6:48 is down in Greenville, there's probably a couple signs on those roads, with an arrow with the name of the city, Greenville or Boston, Providence or Tampa or Sarasota. How many7:00 know that only a moron would stop at the sign and say, I've arrived? The purpose of the sign is to get you to the object of the7:12 sign. The purpose of the feeding was not the feeding. It was to point the people to the true bread of life. So7:24 when they got when they saw the sign, they said, this indeed is the prophet who is the coming of the world. Now what you have to understand about this text is Jesus is at the pinnacle of his popularity. This ministry you7:35 know, it's it's very easy to get a crowd gathered. Just give them free food. And so Jesus is pop more popular than ever. He's doing these miracles, he's feeding the milk multitudes, and everybody loves7:47 them, and they even say it. This is the prophet that we have been looking for. And what's gonna happen is Jesus knows, and this is so important to start off our conversation. Here we go. Just because7:59 you're in the crowd doesn't make you a Christian. Just because you're in the building doesn't mean you're born again. Anybody8:11 can gather a crowd. For heaven's sakes, crowds come to see Carrot Top. Any clown can gather a crowd. Any8:23 church can gather a crowd. In fact, a lot of clowns are now pastoring churches. I don't know if anybody's seeing this, the trend. Literal circus acts on the stage in order to gather8:34 a crowd. Jesus, when he got a big crowd this was his MO. Okay. Time to thin the herd. Are you actually coming8:46 for me or something else? And let me just tell you, it's John chapter 6 starts with, this indeed is the prophet of world. Let me fast forward to how this chapter ends. John chapter 6 verse 66. After8:58 this, after this long back and forth between them and Jesus, the crowd of 20000, after this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the 12, do you wanna go away? Peter said,9:10 where can we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed to come to know that you are the holy 1 of God. And Jesus says, did I not choose you, the 12? Let me just tell you this. Jesus was all into this9:21 to make sure that when you come, you really come to him and not just to the blessings that he can give you. Amen. Oh, that's a good word. Why did you come to church today? Now don't9:33 answer that out loud, but why did you come? Did you come because you wanna check a religious box and say, aren't you proud of me, God? I did that thing that they told me to do, come to church.9:45 Did you come to church today because your marriage has hit a breaking point and you need something to fix it, and you've tried therapy and counseling, and you thought, well, that didn't work, so maybe if I get to church,9:55 God can fix our marriage? Did you come to church because your son or daughter is wayward, and you're thinking, well, I need something now more powerful than me because nothing I'm saying is getting through? Did you come10:06 to church? Maybe you're single and you're thinking, well, I tried the bars and I tried the clubs, and those people are jacked up. So maybe God's house has someone that's suitable for my needs.10:18 Why did you come to church? And can I tell you that if you came to church for anything outside of Jesus, you've missed the point? The crowd of 2000010:30 people came to Jesus. Why? Because he fed them free food, and Jesus said, you missed it. The food was the sign. And you camped out at the sign,10:42 and you missed the aim, the point, the destination that the sign was for. Yeah? Little tent out on the highway sitting under the10:54 sign that says Boston, Massachusetts. I've arrived. No. You haven't. Let's take a look at how this goes down in verse 22. Because in verse 22 is where it kinda starts to break down. Here we go. On the next day so the11:05 next day, there's a nighttime season that event that happens. Jesus walks in the water, brings the disciples to the other side of the sea, and so they've left the place of the feeding. They've gone to the other side of11:16 the sea. The crowd gets back to the other side of the sea, and they say they see they see that there's only 1 boat there and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had gone away11:25 alone. And then suddenly, other boats from Diberias is a major city, still a major city on the Sea of Galilee. I've been to that city. They came near the place where they had eaten the bread. So what happens is they got11:36 word word spread to the region. There's this prophet from Nazareth named Jesus who is multiplying bread and fish, and we got all that we could possibly have. And so more boats show up,11:47 more people want free food. And when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats. They went to Capernaum seeking Jesus because when you offer free food, crowds travel.12:00 Verse 25, when they found him on the other side, they said to him, rabbi, when did you get here? The underlayment passion here is, hey. We're hungry again.12:13 And Jesus and you're gonna see this throughout John chapter 6. He's constantly ahead of them in the conversation. Has anybody ever had a conversation with the Lord,12:25 and he just kinda answers the question before you have it? I've I've had that happen so many times. I was about to enunciate a question, and the spirit of the Lord just put a word in my mind. I was like, oh, 0, thank you12:36 for the answer. I didn't even have to ask the question. The reason why is because God already knows. He knows your thoughts, your inmost being. He's already examined you, and he knows how to speak to you to kinda pull12:48 you along to where you need to go. So in John chapter 6, it's very difficult to read this. This is why pastors exist so we can read this text, and I can explain it to you. But what you're gonna see regularly is that12:58 Jesus is ahead of the game on where they are in the conversation. So they come across the sea. They're like, hey, rabbi. When did you get here? And Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, you are not seeking me because13:10 you saw the signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. You just want more free bread. What did you come to church13:22 today for? What did you what did you come here? Why are you here? If the answer is anything outside of to know Jesus more, you've missed it. Because if if you have the marriage13:33 fixed and you don't have Jesus, can I tell you you've missed the most important aspect of faith? If you come here and your kid gets right, if you come here and you13:45 get the spouse, and and you get the thing you know, sometimes the worst thing that can happen to us is that we come to God for something other than Jesus, and we get it.13:58 Some of us in a church like this need to be challenged about this question. Did you come to church because you love the music? I just love the music. I I love how the music makes me feel.14:10 But who's the point of the music? And some of you and this might hurt a little bit, but some of you I just like the preaching. I come late because I don't like the music, and I just14:21 like the preaching. Well, the preaching, I I pray that you like it, but I hope that you understand that the point of the preaching is Jesus. And some of you this is why I know that's the case for you because you're like,14:31 I only like it when pastor Tim preaches. Don't do that on me. Don't put that on me. I don't I can't live up to those expectations. It's it shouldn't matter who's preaching. It shouldn't matter if he's on14:43 screen or if he's not because you didn't come for the guy on stage. You came for the god who sent the guy on stage to tell you about Jesus. Yeah?14:54 So Jesus calls them out right away. Truly, truly. And the word truly, truly is, amen. Amen. In other words, I'm really serious here now. You're seeking me for the wrong thing. Then he cautions15:06 them, do not work for the food that perishes. Here's the point. Everything outside of Jesus perishes. You eat your fill of food on Monday. On Tuesday, you're15:18 hungry again. But work for the food that endures to eternal life, which the son of man will give to you for on him God has set his seal, God the father. So they're intrigued. And they say in verse15:30 28, oh, that's great. Sounds good. Food that lure leads to eternal life. I'm down. So what must we do to be doing the works of15:42 God? This is the eternal question, isn't it? What do I have to do to get to heaven? What works must I perform? That's the question they ask. What works must I perform to get15:54 to heaven? How will god accept me? Love Jesus' answer. Don't miss it. If it's in your notes, write this down. This is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has16:06 sent. Beautiful. The gospel message is not cross every t dot every I, show up to church, even volunteer, dress the right way, say the right things, be16:17 a good person, 5 good works a week, and you will be saved. No. No. No. No. Jesus says, this is the work. Simply put, faith. By16:29 faith, you are saved. Amen. Amen. Jesus does not accept us because we are good people. We are not good people. We are saved by grace.16:41 Grace means that you get favor you don't deserve. You get something you don't deserve. And the more you understand God's grace, the less you feel worthy of it. And that's how you deepen yourself in the16:53 knowledge that only Jesus and only his grace can save you from your sins. There are 2 things that every Christian needs to know more and more. Number 1, how bad they really are.17:05 Number 2, how much God really loves them. To grow in Christ is to realize that. I'm worse than I think, and I'm more loved17:17 than I can possibly imagine. Because his grace is always greater than our sin. So they ask, okay. Alright. Sounds good, Jesus. We will believe17:29 in you. And they said, what sign do you do that we may see and believe in? Do you understand? They are trying17:41 to co what are they really trying to do? They are trying to coax Jesus out of what? More bread. They've been blinded. What17:51 work do you perform? Hint. Hint. Wink. Wink. And notice the offer that they give him. Our fathers ate the manna. Manna was the heavenly bread that Moses provided through God the18:03 father in the wilderness wanderings. Our fathers ate in the wilderness manna as is written. He gave them bread from heaven to eat. And and does anybody any bible scholars out there know how long that manna was given18:14 every single morning? How many how many years? 40. So so, Jesus, how do you feel about this? We'll believe in you for 40 years18:26 of free bread. Write this down. This is the premise for why we're talking about what we're talking about. We can get obsessed with what we think will satisfy us.18:38 This is the human condition. And everybody who's ever lived and breathed knows this, and I feel bad for the people who don't know this, but things can become18:50 obsessions. People can become obsessions. Opportunities and, you know, positions and possibilities can19:02 become obsessions. We'll take something that God can give us and turn it into a functional god that we think actually makes us significant. This is the game that we play from when we are19:14 young. When we are in elementary school, we just wanna have fun. When we're in high school, we just wanna have friends. When we're in college, we just wanna have even more friends. When we graduate college, we wanna have19:22 a fiance, and then we wanna have, you know, marriage, and then we wanna have, you know, a a home and then children. And then when we get to that point, we're like, okay. We made a few mistakes here. Let's get rid of the19:34 children, and let's downsize the house, and let's move somewhere where we can just kind of relax and play golf all day and be sad. And here's the game that we will get, you know, stuck in if we're not careful is that we19:45 would jump from thing to thing thinking that the thing will satisfy us. This is exactly where the crowd is in in this moment. Jesus, 40 years of free bread, and we believe. They're19:57 blinded by the sign, and they haven't looked to what the sign is pointing to. How about if God never fixes your marriage? Is Jesus enough? How about if God never saves your child?20:09 Is Jesus enough? How about if you never get the higher promotion or the better pay? Is Jesus enough? Every Christian has to ask that question. If you don't get what you think you need, but you have the son of God living20:20 in your life, is Jesus enough? That's the question that Jesus is posing here. Because if he is who he is, he is more than enough. Because20:34 anything else is not enough. Jesus, let's talk about this question that they present 40 years in the wilderness. Let me ask you, how did that go?20:47 Not good. If you have ever read Exodus and Numbers, you know, you're just like, oh, it's these people. They never were satisfied. It started off it started off great. Exodus20:59 chapter 16 verse 31. When they woke up and they saw the manna, the word manna means what is it because they didn't even know what it was, but they could describe it. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it21:08 was like wafers made with honey. That sounds good. That sounds tasty. You know, they're not up in New England anymore, but there used to be a place21:20 called and it's in Florida and it's in South Carolina. It's called Krispy Kreme. I know y'all Dunkin' Donuts people, but let me tell you something. Dunkin' Donuts here, Kreme21:32 here. Last week for our Florida location staff, I stopped off at Krispy Kreme, and I brought them because I was feeling a little bit sinful.21:45 And I brought them a a 12 a dozen Krispy Kreme assortments. I had 2 on the way to the office. They didn't make it they didn't21:57 make it there. Well, they did, but they were digesting at the time. Anyway, and I put them on the table, and I coaxed them all. Come on. Crispy cream. Crispy cream. You know what? A a team22:09 of 8 ate about 10 8 of 8 of those donuts, and there was 2 left over that made it the whole week. I had to throw them out. Well, I ate 1 too, and then I threw the other 1 out. It was a bad week for me to pray.22:20 Amen. Anyway, I realized something that if you've ever tasted a Krispy Kreme, you know how delicious they are. Oh, they are so they are wafers made with honey, manna from heaven. But even they22:33 get sickening after a while. Even they aren't enough. Let me ask you, what's your Krispy Kreme? What have you ever thought, man,22:45 if I have that, I'm set. Well, let's let's see how it actually played out for the Israelites who were so excited to have Krispy Kreme every morning delivered straight from heaven. Just a little while later in Numbers22:57 21, and the people smoke spoke against God and against Moses. They were grumbling. Why have you brought us out into Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we23:08 loathe this worthless food. You have Krispy Kreme 1 day, it's good. You have it for 40 years, you'll say the same thing.23:20 I'm done. Here's the point. Write it down. Nothing other than Jesus is enough. Whatever your ultimate23:32 thing is, why why you may have come even into this crowd at all of our locations, getting it, if23:44 it's outside of Christ, will 1 day prove not to be enough. And and Jesus then said to them, he corrects them,23:55 theologically speaking. He says, hey. Truly, truly, I say, verse 20 32, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my father, and he changes the subject now, who gives you the true bread24:07 from heaven for the bread of God is what? He. Not what? It's a per it's not a thing. It's a person. The bread of God is a24:19 person who comes down from heaven. Preexistent, by the way. Preexistent 1. Jesus was not created. Jesus did not become God. Jesus did not become flesh24:31 and then become no. He was preexistent with the father for all eternity past. Never stopped being God. Hey. Wanna save you from Mormonism and Jehovah's Witness and all that kind of24:43 other cultist nonsense. Every cult denies the preexistent deity of Christ. He is the bread that came down from he was with God the father, and he set aside his perilous as24:55 God, and he made himself a servant, and he obeyed the father all the way to the cross, and then for therefore, God hid thee, exalted him, and gave him a name above every other name. Then at the name of Jesus, every knee25:04 bowed and every tongue confesses Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father. Alright? Comes down from heaven, gives his life for the world, and they said, okay. That sounds good too. Give us this bread25:16 always, but they're still missing it. He says, no. No. No. No. No. You don't understand. I am the bread. I'm the deep satisfaction for which your soul seeks.25:29 If you don't get ahold of this, you will spend your whole life jumping from thing to thing, person to person, object to object, position25:41 to position, house to house, plan to plan, and coming up empty again and again. What you need is the deep satisfaction of25:53 Jesus. Amen. Write this down. We will never be satisfied in the good things God gives if we don't know the father who gives them.26:05 I said it before. I'll say it again. 1 of the worst things that could happen to you is you come to Jesus. You come to Jesus for something other than Jesus, and you actually get it. Because the question then is, well,26:16 will you come back? If you if you get your marriage fixed and it's good now, will you come back? Young people who are here looking for a spouse,26:28 and there's nothing wrong with that. I pray to God you find a good God loving Jesus fearing spouse. But if you get it, will you come back?26:40 I want talent. I want skills. I want abilities. If you get them, will you come back knowing that those are just temporary things anyway? Only he is eternal. So26:52 Jesus knows. And, again, he's ahead of them in the conversation, and he knows that many of them are not gonna believe. So in verse 36, I said to you that you have seen me and yet you do not believe.27:04 So he qualified. He frames this whole crowd with a very important theological construct that today, I am so privileged to introduce to many of you. All27:17 and that means all the people that the father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast27:28 out. What's the theological construct I'm trying to give you? Here it is. If you're saved, it's because the father gave you to Jesus.27:41 If you came to Jesus, it's because the father determined to give you to Jesus.27:53 And if that's you, he'll never lose you. What if I lose him? He found you.28:04 He holds you. He claimed you. He won't lose you. Why do I know if I'm his? Do you believe28:16 that Jesus is the son of God and he died for your sins? If the answer to that question is yes, you're in. What must we do to do the works of God? Believe28:28 in him whom he isn't. So I've come down to do the will of my father, not my own, and this is the will that I lose nothing of all that he has given me. Ephesus, again, repeated. And I will raise him up28:40 in the last day. For this is the will of my father that everyone who looks at the sun and believes in him. Oh, that's it. That's it. Believe in Jesus. Should have eternal life, and I will raise him up in the last day. So28:51 the Jews grumbled just like in ancient Israel, they grumbled. They still aren't satisfied with what God's given. And they said,29:02 is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he say now I've come down from heaven? And Jesus said, don't ask. Don't grumble amongst yourselves. Knowing that there are many who do not29:13 believe, here's what he says. No 1, everybody say no 1 No 1. Can, this speaks of ability, no 1 can29:25 come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. If you came to Jesus at any point in29:37 your life, you came to Jesus because God drew you to Jesus. Oh, I'm so excited to tell you about this. Let's talk about this word29:48 draw. In the Greek, it's helco. Helco. And the definition of the term means to draw someone even29:59 against their own desires. In fact, this word is used in acts chapter 16 19, and it says this, when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they30:11 seized Paul and Silas and dragged them. That's the same word, different English translation. They hellcoat. They dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace before the rules. In other words, Paul didn't30:23 wanna go. Silas didn't wanna go. They drag they drew them to the authorities to per prosecute them, and this is the same word that is used here of the fathers drawing us to Jesus, that30:34 Jesus, if you know him, God brought you to him even against your own will. Now I'm hitting a roadblock with some30:46 of you, aren't I? I can see the wheels turning in your mind right now. Woah. Woah. Woah. Pastor, I came to Jesus. I saw how empty I was. Somebody invited me30:58 to church. And then you, at the end of the service, you know how you do that thing, stand? I did that. I I made those choices. I have decided to31:10 follow Jesus. Fine. Not gonna argue that. Here's what I'm gonna ask. Yeah. But why? Yeah. But why?31:22 And if you do this little exercise, and I encourage every Christian to do this, do you understand how humbling and freeing this is? Why did you come?31:34 Well, somebody asked me. Yeah. But why did they ask? Because they saw that I wasn't living away. Yeah. But why weren't you living away? And if you trace it all the way back, you just do this little, like, reverse little31:45 investigation of how you eventually came to Jesus, you will have only 1 answer. God did that. Scripture says that31:57 he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Do you understand what that means? Before Jesus before God, the father said, let there be light,32:09 he knew he was gonna save you. This should help you be grateful. Oh, it should help you. You you should be humble. You should oh, my word. That's true. If I really think about it.32:21 If I really think about it, I was at this certain place with this certain person who said this certain thing, and I really had nothing to do with it. It was God sending them to me. I didn't even know what the time was32:31 God sending them. And the only reason why I said yes was because there was so much emptiness in my life that God allowed for me to have, that ultimately everything that I know about Jesus is because of the goodness of32:41 God that he chose me in Christ Jesus before the foundations of the world. And it makes you 2 things, humble and grateful. As there's32:53 nothing more insufferable in the world than an entitled Christian who thinks they did33:04 it. Paul says in Ephesians 2, not of works that no man may boast. What I'm33:16 saying is no one's getting to heaven going like this. I did it. How are doing? I'm here because I made decisions.33:31 Romans chapter 3, Paul says, no 1 seeks God. The Greek word for no 1 means no 1. Now,33:42 again, some of you say, well, yeah, but but I came, and I I sought. No. You didn't seek God. I guarantee you if you do enough examination, you will have to admit that what you sought was relief. Amen.33:56 Maybe from alcoholism, maybe from suicide ideation, maybe from loneliness. Well, I don't know. Whatever other34:08 superficial experience you sought relief from, that's what your true intention was, and God in his grace gave you something much34:19 more significant than all that. He gave you his son. 1st Corinthians 2, Paul says, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God.34:31 The natural person, the unsaved person does not accept the spirit of God. They're foolishness to him, and this is why he is not able to34:43 understand them. You understand what Paul's saying here? And, you know, has anybody ever tried to witness to somebody and you just feel like you're just banging your head against a brick34:55 wall? The reason why is because they are a spiritual brick wall. They are not able to understand. They are spiritually discerned. And and and I'm gonna go I'm gonna go to my friend, Screeny, here for35:07 this 1 because this is an important 1. Ephesians chapter 2. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins. Notice that he does not say, and you35:19 were bad. No. You were not bad. You were dead. You were not bad before Christ. You were dead. Here's what I know about dead people. They tend to stay dead.35:32 I can't argue a dead person into coming back alive. I can't debate a dead person into rising from the dead. I can't convince through clever arguments dead people to come alive.35:44 And Paul says that's your spiritual condition before Christ, and you walked following the course of you did what everybody else says. You thought you were so original. You thought you were such a rebel. You were just35:55 doing what everybody else was doing, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in sons of disobedience in whom we all lived, once walked with the passions of our flesh, carrying out the36:04 desires of the body and the mind, and you did all these things and you thought you were such an original, you were just a copycat of 1000000000 other people who don't have Christ. But God36:16 being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. I can't raise the dead, but Jesus can.36:28 The gospel of Jesus is still the power of God unto salvation. All that to say this, only Jesus can save me. Number 2, no 136:40 other than the father can satisfy me. Back to John chapter 6 where we left off, verse 45. It is written in the prophets, they will all be taught by God.36:52 Those of those of whom God draws himself will teach them, and everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me. The father draws. The father drags. The37:04 father brings you face to face with Jesus. And he goes on, not that anyone has seen the father except he was from God. He has seen the father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes of his eternal life,37:16 I am the bread of life. Now, unfortunately, this picture of bread in our generation of health consciousness, bread has somehow become the enemy.37:29 Anybody who's trying to forego carbs for the sake of abs knows exactly what I'm talking about. But in the ancient world, bread was 75 percent of your diet.37:41 If you didn't have bread, you died. You had to eat bread. And Jesus is saying, you have to eat me. You have to have me. I'm the only thing that will satisfy you.37:53 Because your fathers ate physical bread, and they, what? They died. Okay. Write write write this down in your notes. This is such an important point.38:05 Every miracle outside of salvation does not last. What's the best thing that God could give you? What's the best miracle that God could perform for you?38:18 Healing from cancer? That's a big 1. K. Bad news. It's just temporary. I mean, I don't wanna go negative here because we've had38:30 some people healed of cancer, and that's great, and it's wonderful, and God does heal, but it's just temporary. Do you know who I feel the worst for in the New Testament? Do you know who whose story I really38:42 just feel so bad about is Lazarus? Lazarus was in heaven.38:55 He was walking around with the angels and Abraham and Moses. He was having lunch with Elijah, and suddenly he hears down theShow more
Comments
Keep it kind. Comments are public.