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Good morning, good morning, welcome in.

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Great to see you guys here worshiping with us at Harbor West.

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If you have a Bible, you can grab it now and turn to the book of John.

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We're going to be in John chapter 6.

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And so if you're using one of those Bibles under the chairs in front of you, that's around page 946.

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My name is Justin, and I'm one of the pastors here of our church.

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And just want to welcome you again.

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Thank you so much for coming and worshiping Jesus with us today.

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About a year ago, I went with my family to New York City, and it was my first time to be in the city.

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And my kids' first time, my wife had been once before.

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But I was stoked to go.

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I was a 40-year-old, and I still hadn't been to New York City.

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And so it was just kind of a cool experience to see what I had imagined the city to be like.

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And of all the things that I was excited for, right?

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I was excited for the Statue of Liberty.

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I was excited to go to a Yankees game.

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I was excited to see the giant killer rats on the subway.

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all the stuff, of all the things, the thing I was most excited for was the food in New York City.

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Because everybody that comes back from New York, I always hear, man, the food, the food is epic. And

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so I was like, all right, I want to test it all out. See if this is where the best food is. And man,

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it really, it did not disappoint. We had some amazing food. I wasn't quite prepared for how

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many bagels I was going to eat. I didn't know that it was like at least a daily thing. But lots of

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amazing bagels, the pizza, the Italian food. I had, I think, the best cookie of my life randomly in

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New York City. Like, it was just all amazing. But, you know, as we were walking around, it was hot one

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day, and I was like, okay, you know what? Since all the food's been amazing, let's see if we can find

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the most amazing acai bowl. Because I love acai bowls. Those used to be like a dessert for me,

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or maybe a snack, but now in my 40s, that's a full meal for me now. And so I was like, let's for lunch,

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let's get acai bowls. So my wife found the highest rated acai bowl in New York City.

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And so we trekked, brought the whole family through the streets, found the place, went in,

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ordered my acai bowl, super stoked, and this thing came out. And like, I don't know, like I don't want

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to be snooty, but I opened it up and looked at it and I was like, no, that can't be right.

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And so I brought it up to the dude.

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I was like, hey, this isn't right, is it?

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And he just looked at me, looked down, and he looked up to me.

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He goes, you want me to make you another one?

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He was 17 years old.

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He had his earbuds in, had some gauges.

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He didn't want to be talking to me.

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And I was like, yeah, let's give it one more shot.

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Yeah, try again.

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And so I had to take a picture of the second one.

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You just got to trust me or you got to ask my wife to see if I'm exaggerating.

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The second one was worse.

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I promise.

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And I just kind of embarrassed.

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just kind of looked at him like this. I was like, dude. And he's like, I don't know what to tell you.

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And so I was like, well, I guess I'll take my money back. And so at least he gave me my money

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back. But it was just like so disappointing. Everything else was so great. And I don't know

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if you ever had that experience where you've gone into a place, especially into a restaurant,

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and you're like, man, I want to just be satisfied. I want to get this epic, awesome meal and feel the

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satisfaction of this meal. And then you walk away unsatisfied, confused, and maybe a little angry.

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Right? Has that ever happened to you? I feel like that happens to us all the time. But not just with

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food. Not just with food. I feel like this happens with everything. We're constantly hoping that

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things will satisfy us only to be let down. And what we're going to see today is that God knows

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exactly what we are looking for in life. He knows exactly where we can find it. He knows exactly

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what will satisfy us. And so let's pray and get into John chapter six. And so Father,

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we come to you, a bunch of beggars looking for bread, looking for something to satisfy us.

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And so God, I pray that you would show us what you know will satisfy us now and forever.

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We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. So in John chapter six, a big group of people have gathered

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around Jesus and they want to hear him teach. And eventually this crowd gets hungry. And so maybe

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you know the story. He performed this miracle where he took a couple of loaves of bread, a couple of

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fish, and he blessed them. And he just multiplied them miraculously and gave out enough food that

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all 5,000 people were fed. And so, man, if you were in that group, you probably have some questions

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for Jesus, right? Like, how'd you do that? Like, what happened? And so a group of people came up to

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Jesus right after this miracle, and they start asking him questions. But Jesus knows exactly why

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they're there. Look at verse 26. He says, truly I tell you, you are looking for me not because you

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saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Here's what Jesus is saying.

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You're not looking for me because you've seen the signs that God is sending the promised Messiah.

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You're here because you want bread. You're here because I just handed out a bunch of free food,

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a bunch of free bread, and you want some of that bread. See, this group comes up to Jesus,

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and they only want to be around Jesus because of what Jesus is giving them.

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And Jesus here, he's upset that that's their motivation because they've missed the point.

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They want the physical things that Jesus can give, but Jesus wants to give them so much more.

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They want another loaf of bread to fill their bellies, and Jesus wants to give them something

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that will blow their minds and fill them up forever. So here's a great question to ask

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ourselves, what do you want from Jesus? What do you want from Jesus? Like, why are you here?

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Why are you here this morning? What are you hoping to get from Jesus? When you open your Bible to

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read it, when you sit down to pray, what are you looking for from Jesus? Why do you come to Jesus?

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These people have come to Jesus because of what he can physically give them. And I wonder if we do

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that a lot. If we come to Jesus because of what he physically can give us, maybe he'll bless us.

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Maybe we think he'll give us the best life that we can live right now if we just come and are

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faithful and keep ourselves around Jesus. Maybe we just have these dreams of what Jesus could maybe

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one day do for us? The way I like to think about this is by thinking about this movie I really

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loved as a kid. There was the live action adaptation of Peter Pan called Hook. Y'all remember Hook,

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Robin Williams. I remember a little bit about it. I haven't watched it in about 30 years, 35 years,

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because there was something in it. I don't remember what that scared me. I'm still a little nervous

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about it. And so, but I do remember one scene in there where there's a dinner table and he's with

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the Lost Boys out in Neverland, and they're like, come on, man, eat. He's trying to rediscover that

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he's Peter Pan, all that thing. They're like, eat, man, eat. And to him, it's an empty table. There's

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nothing there. Because he doesn't realize in Neverland, you eat based upon your imagination.

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Whatever you dream up, that's the food that exists on the table. So you can just dream up your food

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every day. And man, I loved that thought as a kid, because I was like, I can just dream up anything.

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Like, I wish I had that ability to just dream up whatever I want to eat. So here was their table.

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here's what they dreamed up these lost boys and Robin Williams and so they're just feasting every

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time they come to eat and I was like man you know what I would dream up there's this one thing like

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this one thing kind of at the center of this feast this is the thing that I was like man that's what

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I want I don't know what that is but I just knew like that's the thing like that's what I want

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like that just looks awesome just a bunch of frosting on something you know and so I kind of

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think about that with Jesus sometimes, where I'm like, I come to Jesus and I'm like, man, okay,

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what do I want? What am I asking Jesus for? What am I hoping and dreaming that Jesus will do for me

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and in my life? What are you dreaming up? What are you hoping to get from God? Is it money,

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fame, possessions, success? Whatever we could likely dream up, Jesus wants to give us more.

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That's what he's telling them in verse 27.

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He says, don't work for food that perishes, but for food that lasts for eternal life,

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which the son of man will give you because God the father has set his seal of approval on him.

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Jesus says here, man, there are two kinds of foods that you can be interested in.

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Food that perishes and food that lasts forever.

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Food that perishes is the stuff of this world.

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Money, fame, possessions, success, all that stuff tastes great.

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But Jesus says it perishes.

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It gets old.

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It gets damaged and outdated.

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That's why none of us remain stoked about physical stuff.

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That's why none of y'all are still stoked about what you got when you were six years old for Christmas.

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Right?

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When I was six years old, my parents got me a bat cave, which meant it was the greatest day ever.

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I got a bat cave for Christmas.

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But then that thing started to break, started to wear down.

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And I think they sold that $40 bat cave for $2 at a garage sale in April because I wasn't playing with it anymore.

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Right?

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The stuff of this world, it always perishes, is what Jesus is saying.

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Things get old so quick.

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Our houses, our cars, even our achievements.

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It's like this whole life is just one massive bag of Costco spinach that molds before you can eat it.

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Because Jesus says it all perishes.

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But he says there is something, another kind of bread that will last forever.

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Bread that he himself wants to give us.

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And so here's the first thing Jesus is telling us about this feast that he has for us.

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The first thing that he's telling us, we need this feast.

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The feast that Jesus has, it's something that is needed.

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We desperately need it.

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Because these guys came to Jesus looking for physical bread for one meal.

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And Jesus says, I have what you're really looking for.

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I have what you really desperately need.

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Jesus knows they're looking for something else.

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Jesus knows they need something else.

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You see, guys, we all have a satisfaction problem.

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When we finally get what we're craving in this life,

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when we finally get a meal that we are craving,

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we always get hungry again.

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Even if that meal or even if the things we get

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do give us quick satisfaction in the moment,

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we always get hungry again.

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It's true no matter what we consume in this world.

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It never totally fills us up.

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It never completely satisfies.

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We're always looking for the next fix, the next possession, the next experience, the next vacation,

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the next TV series, the next new restaurant, the next relationship. We keep thinking that we'll find

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something that'll fill us up and truly satisfy us and make us happy, but we keep getting hungry

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again. Blaise Pascal described it this way. He said, what else does this craving,

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this helplessness proclaim, but that there was once in man a true happiness of which all that

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remains is the empty print and trace that we try in vain to fill with everything around us, but

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nothing can help. See guys, it's not for a lack of trying. We're grabbing on to everything that we can

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to try to fill this void that we fill within ourselves. We're trying to grab all of it. The

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problem is none of it lasts. None of it totally satisfies us. But part of the problem might be

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that we've allowed the bread of this world

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to satisfy us when it was never meant to.

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It's almost like we have this meter in us

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that goes all the way to the top.

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This is what we're craving.

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This is what we desperately want.

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And the bread of this world can get us here,

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can get us this high on our satisfaction meter.

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And we're like, okay, I guess that's good enough.

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I guess, I mean, I can't find anything else in this life

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to be excited about or to be stoked about.

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And so I guess I'll just use the stuff of this world

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and get as much as I can out of it

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and call it a day. Here's what C.S. Lewis says about that. He says, we are half-hearted creatures

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fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us. Like ignorant

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children who want to go on making mud pies in the slum because we can't imagine what is meant by

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an offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased. You and I, we are far too easily

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satisfied. We're satisfied with decent marriages and okay behaved children, and we're satisfied with

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jobs and promotions, and we're satisfied with money and slightly bigger houses and additions

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on our houses and new cars. We're satisfied with stuff of this world.

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We've let it satisfy us because we're far too easily pleased, and we don't realize that God

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has something infinitely greater for us. Maybe you've allowed yourself to be satisfied in life

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money or possessions, vacations, clothes, success, comfort, mud pies compared to what Jesus is

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offering. But Jesus here, he's saying, man, I don't want you to settle. I don't want you to come to me

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just for the physical bread I can give you. I want to blow your mind with something else,

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something you desperately need. And so they're like, all right, even better bread,

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bread that'll satisfy our souls forever. We'll take it. So verse 28, they say,

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what can we do to perform the works of God?

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That's their first question.

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Now, you hear what they're asking there?

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They've come to Jesus and Jesus says,

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I have something that will blow your minds

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and I want to give it to you

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and it'll satisfy you completely.

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And you know what their first question is?

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Okay, how can we buy it?

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What can we do?

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How can we earn it?

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They know if you want to eat, you got to work, right?

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If you want bread, you got to buy that bread,

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go make that bread, right?

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And so they're trying to figure out

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What do we need to do to get it?

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Jesus answers, this is the work of God that you believe in the one he has sent.

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Jesus tells them, you want to know how to earn this eternal bread?

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You want to know what you have to do?

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Nothing.

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Nothing at all.

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There is no physical work that you can do.

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You can't earn it.

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And actually, as long as you're trying to earn it and work for it, you'll never have it.

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Here's what Jesus is telling him and us.

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This feast that God offers us, this soul-satisfying feast that we desperately long for, it's open.

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It's open.

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Here's what I mean by that.

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It's free.

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There's nothing you and I can't buy it.

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You and I can't earn it.

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You and I can't do enough works to unlock it.

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There's nothing we can do to qualify for it.

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It is completely open.

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An open invitation for everyone.

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And that includes you and everyone you know.

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Here's how Isaiah 51 talks about it.

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Look at this.

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It says, come everyone who is thirsty.

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Come to the water and you without silver, come buy and eat.

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Come buy wine and milk without silver and without cost.

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Who's invited to the feast?

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People who can't pay for it.

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People who have no means to purchase it.

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Those who are thirsty, they need to be satisfied

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and they're invited to come, come to the feast,

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come to the water.

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But it's an invitation specifically to those

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without silver, without cost.

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If you want your soul deeply satisfied now and forever,

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you can't buy it.

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You can't earn it.

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And that is really good news.

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Here's why that's good news.

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Look how Tim Keller describes it.

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He says, a salvation earned by good works and moral effort.

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In other words, a salvation you and I could purchase and earn

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would favor the more able, competent, and accomplished, and privileged.

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But a salvation by sheer grace favors the failed, the outsiders, the weak,

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because it goes only to those who know salvation must be by sheer grace.

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See what that's saying?

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If you and I could earn or purchase our salvation,

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then there would be some of us that are at more of an advantage than others.

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Some of us who are more able to do what it takes to be saved and rescued by God.

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But Keller's saying, man, it's great news that it can't be earned or bought because we're all the same.

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We're all the same.

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The feast is open to everyone because Jesus says it's about believing.

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The feast is open to everyone because anyone can believe.

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Jesus says the way to get in on this feast is to believe in the one he has sent.

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What's he saying?

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Believe in the one he has sent.

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The one there is Jesus.

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The he is God.

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And so Jesus is saying, the way you get in on the feast is to believe in Jesus, who God has sent.

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That's how you get the bread that will satisfy you forever.

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If you believe in Jesus, you get this bread.

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So what about you?

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What about you?

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What do you believe about Jesus?

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today we're kicking off this sermon series through the gospel of john where we're just going to look

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at the seven i am statements of jesus we're going to look at what jesus has said about himself he

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introduces himself to the world he says i am this i am this and and we're going to see man like what

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what do we believe about jesus do we believe who he says he is because i think one of the problems

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that we can drift into or start out with

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is that we start to believe

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or we begin our faith journey

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by believing in a Jesus that we've created ourselves.

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It's almost like we come to God

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with our own expectations,

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with our own ideas and image of who we want God to be.

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And we say, okay, God,

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as long as you're this, this, and this,

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I'll believe in you.

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And so, yeah, I believe in Jesus,

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but then we actually get confronted

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with how Jesus reveals himself.

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When he says, I'll actually,

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here's who I am. You came looking for me to be this way, but I'm this way.

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And in that moment, we got to decide this. Do I believe in Jesus, in the Jesus who he says he is,

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or in the Jesus that I've created myself? Jesus says, if you want the bread that'll satisfy your

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soul forever, you got to believe in me, in who I say I am. And if you do, then God is going to give

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you something so good that will satisfy you forever. And so these people that are coming to Jesus and

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he's saying this to, man, they could have just believed. They could have just been like, okay,

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we're in Jesus. But look at what they do in verse 30. They try to get out of belief a little bit

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here. They say, what sign then are you going to do so that we may see and believe? You hear the

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condition there? Jesus says, just believe. You can't earn this bread. You can't purchase it.

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Just believe in the one who God has sent.

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And they're like, okay, well, what are you going to do for us?

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What sign are you going to do so that we can believe?

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Look what they say.

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What are you going to perform?

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Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness.

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Just as it's written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat.

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They're saying our ancestors in the wilderness, they came out of Egypt,

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and God rained down physical bread from the sky, and they ate that bread.

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God did that miracle.

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And so, man, we want that.

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What miracle are you going to do for me?

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so I believe. Do you see where their focus still is? It's the physical.

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Our ancestors got a bunch of free bread from heaven. What are you going to do for us?

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See, they still think the physical is going to satisfy them. They still think if God would just

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do a physical work for them, would just do a physical, even miracle, that then they would believe

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and they would take this bread that lasts forever. But Jesus says, truly, I tell you,

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Moses didn't give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you true bread from heaven.

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

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Jesus again takes their focus off of physical bread.

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He says, what you need is not an actual meal to come down from heaven.

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But do you see what he says there?

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What you need is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

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The bread of God is the one, the one who comes down.

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We don't need physical blessings to come down in order to have satisfaction in life.

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We need one to come down.

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And see, Jesus is saying, this is the miracle.

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God has done a miracle.

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God has become flesh.

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God himself has come down.

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The feast has come to us.

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You see, what we're finding out is that we need a better soul satisfying feast.

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And so God opens up this free feast for you and everyone you know.

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And the feast, the bread that will satisfy us forever, it's actually a person.

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The feast is a person.

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And in case they missed it or misunderstood it, Jesus says it again clearly in verse 35.

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Look at it.

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I am the bread of life, Jesus told them.

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No one who comes to me will ever be hungry and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.

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The deep satisfaction that you long for in life, what you're most deeply searching for,

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it's not in a possession or an achievement or a life stage.

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No matter who you end up marrying, how much money you end up having,

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how big you make it, what job you get, or how well your kids behave,

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God says you will never be totally satisfied and content in this life without Jesus.

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Augustine said it this way. He says, God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are

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restless until they find their rest in you. We will continue to scour this earth with restless

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hearts, grabbing onto everything that we could possibly experience. Look for anything to satisfy

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us and our hearts will continue to be restless until we feast on the bread of life, come down

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from heaven to satisfy us forever. It is a person that satisfies our soul. The person we were created

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to find our ultimate satisfaction in. And when we feast on him, we can be totally satisfied and

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content in this life and forever. And so man, in verse 34, they're like, sir, give us this bread

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always. What a response. That's perfect, right? That's what we should be saying. Like if you and

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I truly believed that God had something that he could give us that will bring us complete

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satisfaction for what we're searching for in life, both now and forever, shouldn't this be our

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response? God, give us this bread always. Don't just give it to us one time at that moment of our

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salvation, give it to us every day. Give it to us every moment. Let this be the bread we are

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constantly feasting on. If this is the bread that truly satisfies our souls, is that where you're at?

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Is that the posture of your soul? Are you saying, God, you have bread that will totally satisfy me,

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and that's the bread I want right now and forever. Are you feasting on Jesus?

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Is he the one that you're looking for and finding every day?

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Or are you settling for less?

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What do you turn to every day?

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What are you looking for every day to give you satisfaction?

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For me, some days, it's our snack drawer.

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I wake up and I'm like, you know, I think the best thing that's going to happen to me

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is whatever I can find in that snack drawer.

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What are you turning to?

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What do you roll over first thing in the morning and look for?

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For a lot of us, we grab our phones and we look for what other people are doing.

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And we think that if we can continue to see what other people are doing

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and experiences other people are happening,

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that somehow that's going to satisfy our souls more.

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Maybe you've been looking for a vacation,

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thinking that you'll come back from Italy or Greece totally satisfied and content.

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maybe you've been looking for money and think if you had more of it more stuff the bigger house

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life would be so much better and you just know you know you'd be more satisfied

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maybe you've been looking for a new life situation if you could just catch a break

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at work and get the promotion or figure out how to work from home that then you'd be satisfied or

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or maybe you're like man if i could just get my wife to do this or if i could get my husband to

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stop doing that or if my kids could just give me one day of peace or finally be potty trained

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there's something out there that you truly believe that if it just happened or you got it,

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you would be more satisfied in this life. And the God who created you and designed you has said this,

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it's not going to work. You and I wake up every morning thinking there's something that we're

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looking for, something physical in this world. And God has said, no, it's going to let you down.

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But God has said that there is something out there that he has given to us.

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And it's free and it's for you and for everyone you know.

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And it's Jesus himself.

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Look how Psalm 107 describes our lives.

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It says this, some wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live.

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They were hungry and thirsty.

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Their spirits failed within them.

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Doesn't that sound like life sometimes?

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Doesn't that sound like just a normal day?

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Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

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He rescued them from their distress.

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He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live.

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Let them give thanks to the Lord for his faithful love and his wondrous works for all humanity.

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Look at this.

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For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.

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Listen, God wants you to be satisfied.

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God wants it for you.

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for you and I to find total satisfaction in this world

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that doesn't upset God.

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He's not hiding from us

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in some sort of big elaborate hide and seek game

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where we're searching, looking every day

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for what will truly satisfy us.

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And it's just without of our reach

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because he's keeping it out of our reach.

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No, no, no.

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He wants us to be satisfied.

400
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He wants you for your soul,

401
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for the deepest part of you

402
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to be so joyful and satisfied.

403
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And at peace, he wants that for you.

404
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:05,640
But notice how it happens.

405
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Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

406
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That's where the turning point takes place.

407
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It takes an admission, a confession that we are in trouble.

408
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It takes a confession that we can't find satisfaction for our souls and in this world on our own.

409
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A confession that we are in distress.

410
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and that's when the rescue comes.

411
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So long as you and I are content

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wandering around in this wilderness,

413
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allowing our soul to be satisfied

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with things that are infinitely less amazing

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than what God is offering,

416
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we'll never experience the rescue.

417
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We'll never find a new city to live in.

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So long as we're continually satisfied

419
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in our pursuit of money,

420
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hoping that it will satisfy us.

421
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Man, there are so many stories of people

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who've become extremely wealthy

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but have ended up completely miserable in life.

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Ecclesiastes 5 tells us,

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he who loves money will not be satisfied with money.

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It's right there.

427
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That's the truth.

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As hard as it is to hear,

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if you are turning to money,

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looking to money to satisfy you,

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it is not going to work.

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Jesus is offering something better

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than all the money you could grab onto.

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If we keep turning to relationships,

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hoping that they'll satisfy us,

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Yes, we were created to be in community and to relate with each other.

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But when we start to turn to our relationship with other people to replace our relationship with Jesus,

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those other relationships with each other will let us down.

439
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Our husband or wife could never love us enough.

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Our friends could never come through for us enough.

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Our children will never fulfill us enough.

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So long as we're turning to human relationships to bring us the satisfaction we're looking for,

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we will be unsatisfied and we'll crush the people that we're turning to.

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We will place an unbelievable burden and weight on the people that we love most in this world

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to be for us what only Jesus can be for us,

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and they will crumble and break under the weight of that burden,

447
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and you will likely lose them.

448
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so long as we turn to comfort, hoping that it will satisfy us,

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we're never going to be satisfied. Man, when you look at the early church, a group of people who

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are unbelievably satisfied in Jesus, we don't see a group of people pursuing comfort at all,

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like at all. The early church was a group of people who were selling everything and moving

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thousands of miles away to share the gospel in a different culture. The early church was a group

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of people who loved each other and sacrificed for each other so much that they were selling their

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own physical property to take care of other people in their church who were in need. They were looking

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outward to bless their community at sacrifice and expense to themselves, not trying to make a name

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for themselves and live their best life, but make sure everyone around them was living their best

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lives. They weren't pursuing comfort because they were pursuing Jesus. Luke 17 says, whoever seeks

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to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it. What should the church

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look like? Instead of a group of people who are pursuing comfort in life, it should be a group of

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people who are fostering and adopting, even when we already have a full house. It should be a group

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of people who are turning down jobs that would compromise our integrity or pull us away from a

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life of serving Jesus just because we want to make more money. The church should be a group of people,

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Christians, who are giving ourselves away freely. People who actually believe that the words of the

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Bible are true and we change our lives because of it. The church should be a group of people that

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the world sees feasting on Jesus, not on our own comfort. And guys, listen, once we stop settling

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for less. And once we start feasting on what's greatest, then we're actually freed up to view

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money and relationships and comfort and everything else in this world the way that God designed us to.

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But if our souls are not at rest in Jesus, then we will naturally turn to those things,

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the things of this world, and place infinitely too much weight on them to satisfy us,

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weight that they cannot bear. Are you feasting on Jesus? Are you experiencing the satisfaction

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in life that only comes when you feast on him, the bread of life? Or are you looking for your

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satisfaction in something infinitely weaker? That's what this whole sermon series is going to be about.

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We're going to look at exactly who Jesus himself says he is, and we are going to feast on him.

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And so, man, come hungry.

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Come ready.

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Come expectant.

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Come to the feast that Jesus provides.

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Let's pray together.