1 00:00:05,605 --> 00:00:08,608 John 6:35–40 2 00:00:09,292 --> 00:00:11,845 Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. 3 00:00:11,845 --> 00:00:13,980 Whoever comes to me shall not hunger. 4 00:00:13,980 --> 00:00:16,533 And whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 5 00:00:16,533 --> 00:00:19,669 But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet do not believe 6 00:00:20,186 --> 00:00:22,522 all that the father gives me will come to me. 7 00:00:22,522 --> 00:00:25,225 And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. 8 00:00:25,225 --> 00:00:27,894 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, 9 00:00:27,894 --> 00:00:29,662 but the will of him who sent me. 10 00:00:29,662 --> 00:00:32,432 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose 11 00:00:32,432 --> 00:00:35,719 nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 12 00:00:36,019 --> 00:00:37,854 For this is the will of my father. 13 00:00:37,854 --> 00:00:41,658 That everyone who looks on the son and believes in him should have eternal life. 14 00:00:41,841 --> 00:00:43,676 And I will raise him up on the last day. 15 00:00:46,763 --> 00:00:49,499 Hey, everybody, good morning and welcome to Christ Community Chapel. 16 00:00:49,499 --> 00:00:50,283 My name is Joe. 17 00:00:50,283 --> 00:00:51,618 I'm one of the pastors here. 18 00:00:51,618 --> 00:00:54,437 And, thanks for coming. 19 00:00:54,437 --> 00:01:00,026 Last Sunday, I was able to preach at a church down in southern Florida. 20 00:01:00,527 --> 00:01:03,480 And, it was beautiful. 21 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:06,299 But I want you to know that I would take this weather, 22 00:01:06,299 --> 00:01:09,302 and you guys every week, but that week. 23 00:01:10,737 --> 00:01:11,004 Right? 24 00:01:11,004 --> 00:01:13,640 Because that's really nice. 25 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:15,108 But it's good to be back. 26 00:01:15,108 --> 00:01:16,910 I love this place. Love 27 00:01:16,910 --> 00:01:20,547 being a part of what God is doing right here, right now. 28 00:01:21,448 --> 00:01:26,069 We have a theme for this year, 2026, and our theme is simply More Life. 29 00:01:26,820 --> 00:01:28,037 More life. 30 00:01:28,037 --> 00:01:31,157 And we're taking it from what Jesus says in John chapter ten, 31 00:01:31,641 --> 00:01:32,909 where he tells us why he came. 32 00:01:32,909 --> 00:01:34,611 He says, I came that they might have life 33 00:01:35,578 --> 00:01:37,580 and have it more abundantly. 34 00:01:37,580 --> 00:01:40,583 Jesus is the secret for more life. 35 00:01:40,583 --> 00:01:43,503 That's why we're spending ten weeks looking at Jesus. 36 00:01:43,503 --> 00:01:48,658 We believe that the more we know about Jesus, the closer we get to them to him, 37 00:01:49,259 --> 00:01:53,396 then the more we will experience the life he has promised us. 38 00:01:54,180 --> 00:01:58,852 And we are going to be looking primarily at what Jesus says about himself. 39 00:01:59,486 --> 00:02:02,222 I always find it interesting that, the vast majority 40 00:02:02,222 --> 00:02:06,493 of people in the world have a positive view towards Jesus. 41 00:02:06,509 --> 00:02:08,328 They look on him favorably. 42 00:02:08,328 --> 00:02:11,481 If you're going to go around your neighborhood and just ask people 43 00:02:11,581 --> 00:02:13,233 what they think about Jesus. 44 00:02:13,233 --> 00:02:16,503 Even the people that don't believe, is 45 00:02:16,820 --> 00:02:21,457 are not Christians would say, oh, I believe Jesus was a really good man. 46 00:02:21,474 --> 00:02:24,477 I believe that he was a good teacher, a great example. 47 00:02:24,711 --> 00:02:24,961 Right? 48 00:02:24,961 --> 00:02:28,982 And whenever somebody says that, I always wonder if they have ever really 49 00:02:28,982 --> 00:02:32,852 looked at what Jesus says about himself. 50 00:02:33,386 --> 00:02:36,723 Because what Jesus says about himself is just wild. 51 00:02:36,739 --> 00:02:39,259 It is way over the top. 52 00:02:39,259 --> 00:02:41,327 It's it's it's Trump-esque. 53 00:02:41,327 --> 00:02:42,512 And 54 00:02:43,830 --> 00:02:44,814 that's the most dangerous 55 00:02:44,814 --> 00:02:47,817 thing I'm going to say today. 56 00:02:47,817 --> 00:02:49,068 Jesus says stuff like, 57 00:02:49,068 --> 00:02:52,589 I am the light of the world. 58 00:02:53,573 --> 00:02:54,958 Who says that? 59 00:02:54,958 --> 00:02:57,293 He says, I am the good shepherd. 60 00:02:57,293 --> 00:03:00,864 He says, I am the vine and everyone else you're you're just branches. 61 00:03:01,097 --> 00:03:03,750 And if you're you're not connected to me, you're dead 62 00:03:03,750 --> 00:03:05,602 branch. Jesus said that. 63 00:03:05,602 --> 00:03:08,037 Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. 64 00:03:08,037 --> 00:03:12,025 No one gets to God the Father but through me, 65 00:03:13,076 --> 00:03:14,010 right? 66 00:03:14,010 --> 00:03:17,447 Jesus makes these wild statements about himself. 67 00:03:17,463 --> 00:03:18,414 There's a man named C.S. 68 00:03:18,414 --> 00:03:22,719 Lewis who is an avowed atheist, who then became a Christian. 69 00:03:22,735 --> 00:03:25,255 He wrote a book called Mere Christianity. 70 00:03:25,255 --> 00:03:27,891 We're just points out 71 00:03:27,891 --> 00:03:30,743 that this weird contradiction 72 00:03:30,743 --> 00:03:35,999 that people have about Jesus, and I love the paragraph he writes. 73 00:03:35,999 --> 00:03:38,851 This is from his book Mere Christianity. 74 00:03:38,851 --> 00:03:42,805 He says, I'm trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing 75 00:03:43,323 --> 00:03:45,992 that people often say about him. 76 00:03:45,992 --> 00:03:49,078 I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, 77 00:03:49,679 --> 00:03:51,931 but I don't accept his claim to be God. 78 00:03:52,916 --> 00:03:55,401 That's the one thing we must not say. 79 00:03:55,401 --> 00:03:58,788 A man who is merely a man, and said the sort of things Jesus said 80 00:03:59,305 --> 00:04:01,858 would not be a great moral teacher. 81 00:04:01,858 --> 00:04:04,611 He would either be a lunatic on the level with the man who says 82 00:04:04,611 --> 00:04:07,764 he's a poached egg, or else he would be the devil of hell. 83 00:04:08,581 --> 00:04:10,316 You must make your choice. 84 00:04:10,316 --> 00:04:13,503 Either this man was and is the Son of God, 85 00:04:13,886 --> 00:04:16,773 or else a madman or something worse. 86 00:04:16,773 --> 00:04:18,658 You can shut him up for a fool. 87 00:04:18,658 --> 00:04:21,444 You can spit at him and kill him as a demon, 88 00:04:21,444 --> 00:04:24,747 or he can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. 89 00:04:25,381 --> 00:04:26,432 But let us not come 90 00:04:26,432 --> 00:04:30,803 with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. 91 00:04:31,070 --> 00:04:33,423 He has not left that open to us. 92 00:04:33,423 --> 00:04:34,707 He did not intend to. 93 00:04:35,692 --> 00:04:37,644 I love that last statement. 94 00:04:37,644 --> 00:04:41,481 Jesus never intended to leave that option open. 95 00:04:42,115 --> 00:04:45,018 So that's why we are going to be spending our time looking at 96 00:04:45,018 --> 00:04:47,987 what are called the I am statements. 97 00:04:47,987 --> 00:04:51,541 And this first one that we're going to look at is from John chapter six. 98 00:04:51,541 --> 00:04:53,693 So if you have your Bibles and you want to turn to it, 99 00:04:53,693 --> 00:04:55,228 you can turn to John chapter six. 100 00:04:55,228 --> 00:04:59,732 If you want to use one of our church Bibles on page 849, 101 00:04:59,816 --> 00:05:02,819 or you can just wait for it to come up on the screen. 102 00:05:03,019 --> 00:05:06,889 What he says this week is I am the bread of life. 103 00:05:06,889 --> 00:05:08,508 Let me just read verse 35. 104 00:05:08,508 --> 00:05:12,028 We have the passage read to us, says, Jesus said to them, 105 00:05:12,512 --> 00:05:14,364 I am the bread of life. 106 00:05:14,364 --> 00:05:17,100 Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, 107 00:05:17,100 --> 00:05:20,453 and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 108 00:05:21,321 --> 00:05:26,209 All right, here are the three points that I want to just use for our time together. 109 00:05:26,726 --> 00:05:28,611 First is what you need. 110 00:05:29,696 --> 00:05:30,446 Second, what? 111 00:05:30,446 --> 00:05:33,449 Where you get it? Third, how you keep it. 112 00:05:33,533 --> 00:05:36,302 What you need, where you get it, 113 00:05:36,302 --> 00:05:39,355 how to keep it first, what you need. 114 00:05:40,139 --> 00:05:43,159 Jesus uses the metaphor of bread. 115 00:05:43,526 --> 00:05:45,511 He uses that for a reason. 116 00:05:45,511 --> 00:05:49,382 I you have probably eaten something already today. 117 00:05:49,382 --> 00:05:54,437 If you haven't, then by noon your brain, or even if you have by noon, 118 00:05:54,437 --> 00:05:57,123 your brain is going to be telling you it's time to eat. 119 00:05:57,123 --> 00:06:02,478 The longer you go without food, the stronger your urge will be your brain, 120 00:06:02,478 --> 00:06:06,649 the stronger the message from your brain that your body needs food. 121 00:06:07,433 --> 00:06:09,986 You know, when I was young, I got into cycling. 122 00:06:09,986 --> 00:06:13,823 I still, cycle, but not at the intensity that I used to. 123 00:06:13,823 --> 00:06:17,126 But when I got into cycling, they have a term. 124 00:06:17,126 --> 00:06:20,880 Cyclists have a term for when your body runs out of fuel, 125 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,050 where you've gone for a bike ride that was longer 126 00:06:24,050 --> 00:06:27,203 than the amount of food that you had in you and you. 127 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:28,638 Your body gets depleted. 128 00:06:28,638 --> 00:06:31,407 They call it bonking of all things. 129 00:06:31,407 --> 00:06:34,260 I think if you're a runner, you might call it hitting the wall. 130 00:06:34,260 --> 00:06:37,530 I only bonked a couple of times, and it's a fascinating thing 131 00:06:37,530 --> 00:06:39,399 to have your body completely run out. 132 00:06:39,399 --> 00:06:42,568 The last time I bonked was when I was doing 133 00:06:42,568 --> 00:06:45,655 a ride in the valley called the The Teacup. 134 00:06:46,372 --> 00:06:50,660 Which sounds benign enough, but there are 14 hills out of the valley, 135 00:06:50,993 --> 00:06:53,930 and the teacup is riding all 14 of those hills. 136 00:06:53,930 --> 00:06:56,032 It's a little over 100 miles. 137 00:06:56,032 --> 00:06:59,485 I was on, the 13th Hill, which was right out here on Terex. 138 00:07:00,086 --> 00:07:01,471 When I bumped. 139 00:07:01,471 --> 00:07:02,972 I was about halfway up the hill, 140 00:07:02,972 --> 00:07:05,875 and it just it was like my body went off like a light switch. 141 00:07:05,875 --> 00:07:07,376 And you think that I could muscle 142 00:07:07,376 --> 00:07:11,514 through the 14th hill just to say I accomplished this feat? 143 00:07:11,747 --> 00:07:15,017 But I got to the top of Terex, and I got off my bike 144 00:07:15,017 --> 00:07:18,020 and I laid down on the grass, and I didn't move for an hour. 145 00:07:18,471 --> 00:07:20,756 I was done until somebody gave me 146 00:07:20,756 --> 00:07:23,793 a milky way and a Coke, and that was enough sugar 147 00:07:24,210 --> 00:07:28,381 to get me back on my bike to just limp the three miles home. 148 00:07:28,681 --> 00:07:30,716 But I never finish that ride. 149 00:07:30,716 --> 00:07:34,887 I tell you that because your body needs food, 150 00:07:35,571 --> 00:07:39,108 if you go long enough without food, you won't have to go for a long bike 151 00:07:39,108 --> 00:07:42,061 ride to bonk you. Bonk. Trying to get out of bed, 152 00:07:43,045 --> 00:07:43,946 right? 153 00:07:43,946 --> 00:07:46,949 Because food is life. 154 00:07:47,517 --> 00:07:49,519 Food is life. 155 00:07:49,519 --> 00:07:52,922 You know, the New Testament was written in Greek and in Greek. 156 00:07:52,922 --> 00:07:54,841 There are two words for life. 157 00:07:54,841 --> 00:07:56,792 You know, in English we only have one. 158 00:07:56,792 --> 00:07:59,779 But the two words in Greek are bio, 159 00:07:59,779 --> 00:08:03,349 where we get the word biology, which is physical life. 160 00:08:03,950 --> 00:08:08,905 But the other word is Zoe, which is, a quality of life 161 00:08:09,438 --> 00:08:12,441 or kind of a social life, 162 00:08:12,992 --> 00:08:16,412 a time when you, when things are going in such a way, 163 00:08:16,679 --> 00:08:21,167 like you would say when I was in southern Florida and it's 75 164 00:08:21,167 --> 00:08:24,537 degrees, perfectly sunny, and I'm sitting, looking out in the ocean and I say, 165 00:08:26,422 --> 00:08:29,642 this is living, right? 166 00:08:29,642 --> 00:08:33,062 That's not just bio, that's Zoe. 167 00:08:34,013 --> 00:08:40,136 When Jesus says, I am the bread of life, he's saying, I am the bread of Zoe. 168 00:08:40,136 --> 00:08:43,823 I am the thing that will make your soul come alive. 169 00:08:43,823 --> 00:08:48,294 I am the thing that will make life worth living. 170 00:08:49,128 --> 00:08:52,131 When he uses this metaphor, he is telling something, 171 00:08:52,131 --> 00:08:55,201 telling us something we already know deep down, which is that 172 00:08:55,201 --> 00:08:58,437 we need something more than just our physical needs met 173 00:08:59,238 --> 00:09:03,092 to really have life, to have abundant life. 174 00:09:03,659 --> 00:09:07,947 They actually discovered this in the country of Romania in the 1980s 175 00:09:08,247 --> 00:09:09,415 in a heartbreaking way. 176 00:09:10,499 --> 00:09:11,250 In Romania in the 177 00:09:11,250 --> 00:09:14,237 1980s, there were these huge orphanages, 178 00:09:14,237 --> 00:09:17,123 and they had too many children and not enough workers. 179 00:09:17,123 --> 00:09:20,910 And what they found was that they could provide all the babies 180 00:09:21,110 --> 00:09:23,012 with their physical needs. 181 00:09:23,012 --> 00:09:26,849 They could provide them with enough food and milk, 182 00:09:26,849 --> 00:09:28,551 and they could change their diapers. 183 00:09:28,551 --> 00:09:31,887 But they did not have enough workers to give them physical affection. 184 00:09:31,887 --> 00:09:35,391 What they found was even if the babies had their 185 00:09:35,391 --> 00:09:38,761 all their physical needs met, but didn't have love, 186 00:09:39,712 --> 00:09:41,814 they would die. 187 00:09:41,814 --> 00:09:44,817 What we know deep down 188 00:09:45,201 --> 00:09:48,204 is that bio is not enough. 189 00:09:48,738 --> 00:09:51,691 Not for abundant life. 190 00:09:51,691 --> 00:09:52,642 We need Zoe. 191 00:09:52,642 --> 00:09:55,411 We need something to give us that. 192 00:09:55,411 --> 00:09:58,397 And that brings me to my second point where we get it. 193 00:09:58,431 --> 00:10:02,001 So where do you go to get food for your soul and have you 194 00:10:02,184 --> 00:10:06,172 something that will make your soul come alive in such a way that you can say, 195 00:10:06,722 --> 00:10:08,274 I have abundant life? 196 00:10:08,274 --> 00:10:11,994 Oh, by the way, whenever the Bible talks about eternal life, 197 00:10:12,261 --> 00:10:15,181 it's not talking about longevity, all right? 198 00:10:15,181 --> 00:10:17,366 Like when Jesus says in verse ten, 199 00:10:18,901 --> 00:10:22,254 for this is the will of my father, that everyone who looks on the son 200 00:10:22,254 --> 00:10:26,242 and believes in him should have eternal life. 201 00:10:27,093 --> 00:10:28,978 That's Zoe. 202 00:10:28,978 --> 00:10:30,680 Know when I say it's not longevity. 203 00:10:30,680 --> 00:10:34,083 When I was a kid, I went to church and they talked about everlasting life. 204 00:10:34,083 --> 00:10:35,601 I just thought that was life 205 00:10:35,601 --> 00:10:40,139 that goes on like physical life that goes on forever, right? 206 00:10:40,222 --> 00:10:43,292 And that's not necessarily physical life 207 00:10:43,292 --> 00:10:46,278 that goes on forever is not necessarily a good thing. 208 00:10:46,712 --> 00:10:49,699 Those of us who are getting older kind of know that. 209 00:10:50,182 --> 00:10:52,885 But all you have to do is read a Stephen King novel or watch, 210 00:10:52,885 --> 00:10:53,903 you know, The Walking Dead. 211 00:10:53,903 --> 00:10:56,906 Now, you don't want to be a zombie that can't die. 212 00:10:57,289 --> 00:10:58,858 That's not what the Bible is talking about. 213 00:10:58,858 --> 00:11:00,359 The Bible talks about eternal life 214 00:11:01,344 --> 00:11:03,362 when it when it says eternal 215 00:11:03,362 --> 00:11:07,550 life is eternal life for a Christian doesn't start when you die. 216 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,520 Eternal life starts the moment Jesus becomes your Savior, 217 00:11:12,054 --> 00:11:15,141 because your soul comes alive in the way 218 00:11:15,141 --> 00:11:18,144 it was intended to be alive. 219 00:11:18,411 --> 00:11:21,747 So where does somebody find food for their soul? 220 00:11:22,648 --> 00:11:25,101 The answer is 221 00:11:25,101 --> 00:11:27,803 everywhere and nowhere. 222 00:11:27,803 --> 00:11:29,972 Kind of. Let me explain that. 223 00:11:29,972 --> 00:11:32,158 There's a poem by Samuel Coleridge 224 00:11:32,158 --> 00:11:35,161 called The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, 225 00:11:35,211 --> 00:11:37,847 and it's a poem about sailors who end up 226 00:11:37,847 --> 00:11:41,450 like on a raft, you know, and they're out in the middle of the ocean. 227 00:11:41,717 --> 00:11:47,123 And the most famous line of that poem is this water, water everywhere. 228 00:11:47,690 --> 00:11:50,209 And not a drop to drink 229 00:11:50,209 --> 00:11:53,212 water, water everywhere. 230 00:11:53,479 --> 00:11:55,698 Not a drop to drink. 231 00:11:55,698 --> 00:11:58,734 What he's saying is that these sailors longed for water. 232 00:11:58,734 --> 00:12:00,953 They were thirsting to death, and there was water 233 00:12:00,953 --> 00:12:02,688 as far as their eye could see. 234 00:12:02,688 --> 00:12:06,709 But it was salt water, and salt water would not quench their thirst. 235 00:12:06,709 --> 00:12:10,229 Salt water would make them more thirsty, would eventually kill them. 236 00:12:10,229 --> 00:12:12,081 That's like our world. 237 00:12:12,081 --> 00:12:15,117 Everyone you know, everyone sitting around you, 238 00:12:15,301 --> 00:12:19,038 everyone in your neighborhood wakes up in the morning hungry, 239 00:12:19,038 --> 00:12:22,158 not just for physical food, but for something to make 240 00:12:22,158 --> 00:12:25,161 their souls come alive. 241 00:12:25,428 --> 00:12:28,431 And so everybody tries to find something. 242 00:12:28,964 --> 00:12:33,719 And I started paying attention to commercials, particularly beer commercials. 243 00:12:34,820 --> 00:12:36,622 Yeah. 244 00:12:36,622 --> 00:12:39,141 I don't want to go into it. 245 00:12:39,141 --> 00:12:41,310 But one of the things I noticed with beer commercials 246 00:12:41,310 --> 00:12:44,697 and I just selling beer, there's they're trying to sell Zoe. 247 00:12:45,448 --> 00:12:48,951 They're saying, oh, and they that's why the settings are so amazing. 248 00:12:48,951 --> 00:12:50,719 It's why they're having such a great time. 249 00:12:50,719 --> 00:12:54,089 They're saying, if you will drink this, then you'll experience 250 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,543 what you long for deep down. 251 00:12:57,810 --> 00:13:01,697 And of course, we all know that beer is not the thing that will you 252 00:13:01,981 --> 00:13:06,469 you know, that's why Ephesians chapter five says, do not get drunk with wine, 253 00:13:06,652 --> 00:13:09,238 which leads to debauchery, but be filled with the spirit. 254 00:13:09,238 --> 00:13:13,559 What that saying is, you're your soul wasn't designed to run on alcohol. 255 00:13:14,210 --> 00:13:15,744 Alcohol will be like salt water. 256 00:13:15,744 --> 00:13:18,531 The more you have, the more you will want. But it will make you. 257 00:13:18,531 --> 00:13:20,666 But it's not just alcohol, it's. 258 00:13:20,666 --> 00:13:21,600 It's all good. 259 00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:25,554 I was watching a documentary on, John de Rock and Rockefeller. 260 00:13:26,188 --> 00:13:29,008 At one point, John de Rockefeller was worth 261 00:13:29,008 --> 00:13:32,011 $300 billion, 262 00:13:32,178 --> 00:13:35,247 and he was asked the question, what is enough? 263 00:13:36,265 --> 00:13:36,599 And he 264 00:13:36,599 --> 00:13:39,618 famously answered, just a little bit more. 265 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:43,923 $300 billion. 266 00:13:44,607 --> 00:13:46,375 And what what's he say? 267 00:13:46,375 --> 00:13:48,627 It's not enough. 268 00:13:48,627 --> 00:13:51,197 He was saying it's salt water. 269 00:13:51,197 --> 00:13:53,399 It's so we can take anything. 270 00:13:53,399 --> 00:13:55,918 And we look at the the best things in our lives, 271 00:13:55,918 --> 00:13:59,038 and we try to force them to feed our souls. 272 00:13:59,638 --> 00:14:01,740 And it doesn't work. 273 00:14:01,740 --> 00:14:04,527 The movie Jerry Maguire, where Tom cruise looks 274 00:14:04,527 --> 00:14:08,364 at Renee Zellweger and says, you complete me, right? 275 00:14:08,364 --> 00:14:10,916 And everybody just goes, oh, that's so romantic. 276 00:14:10,916 --> 00:14:12,535 That's like a formula for disaster. 277 00:14:12,535 --> 00:14:15,921 Every time we, you know, we we're channel surfing, we see that scene. 278 00:14:15,921 --> 00:14:19,825 I look at my wife and I say, they're not going to make it those two right. 279 00:14:20,726 --> 00:14:23,963 The reason and listen I love being married. 280 00:14:24,630 --> 00:14:26,248 I love my wife. 281 00:14:26,248 --> 00:14:28,133 But there are a couple problems with that. One is 282 00:14:29,184 --> 00:14:29,902 I it's 283 00:14:29,902 --> 00:14:33,806 too heavy of of weight for me to tell her. 284 00:14:33,806 --> 00:14:39,178 You need to fill the part, the hole in me that goes as deep as my soul. 285 00:14:39,445 --> 00:14:41,513 That's your responsibility. 286 00:14:41,513 --> 00:14:43,649 No one can bear that. 287 00:14:43,649 --> 00:14:45,451 The other thing I want you to know is that, 288 00:14:45,451 --> 00:14:48,120 you know, in church, we talk a lot about marriages. 289 00:14:48,120 --> 00:14:51,123 I'm going to talk a little bit more in a minute, 290 00:14:51,290 --> 00:14:53,158 but we do a disservice 291 00:14:53,158 --> 00:14:56,662 to single people when we elevate marriage to the place. 292 00:14:56,845 --> 00:15:01,550 Jesus didn't say a good marriage is the bread of life. 293 00:15:02,551 --> 00:15:04,920 Jesus said he was the bread of life. 294 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,907 Whether you're single or married, it's him 295 00:15:08,307 --> 00:15:11,310 that will feed your soul. 296 00:15:11,477 --> 00:15:15,981 I talked to an NFL player who won three Super Bowls, he said. 297 00:15:16,098 --> 00:15:19,952 When we won the first Super Bowl, he said before the confetti hit the ground, 298 00:15:20,703 --> 00:15:23,305 I realized it hadn't worked. 299 00:15:24,423 --> 00:15:25,674 It hadn't filled me up. 300 00:15:25,674 --> 00:15:28,677 And that began his trek toward Jesus. 301 00:15:29,128 --> 00:15:32,214 This is the most dangerous place to be. 302 00:15:32,214 --> 00:15:33,565 Let me just tell you this. 303 00:15:33,565 --> 00:15:37,019 This is important, the most dangerous place for people to be. 304 00:15:37,019 --> 00:15:40,255 And most people are in this place they think is what I call the 305 00:15:40,255 --> 00:15:42,057 if only place. 306 00:15:42,057 --> 00:15:45,477 They think, if only I had a good marriage. 307 00:15:45,477 --> 00:15:49,248 If only my kids were doing well, if only I was healthy, 308 00:15:49,248 --> 00:15:52,251 if only I had enough money, then 309 00:15:52,284 --> 00:15:54,870 I would have real life. 310 00:15:54,870 --> 00:15:57,873 And you never get what you think 311 00:15:58,407 --> 00:16:00,659 will make you happy. 312 00:16:00,659 --> 00:16:03,078 And so you never know. 313 00:16:03,078 --> 00:16:06,448 I always think that in a couple of months they're going to be commencement 314 00:16:06,448 --> 00:16:09,918 speakers, speaking to graduates all over this nation, 315 00:16:10,319 --> 00:16:11,520 and they're all going to be saying, 316 00:16:11,520 --> 00:16:15,808 listen, you guys go out and find what gives you life. 317 00:16:16,859 --> 00:16:18,811 And Jesus says, what everyone 318 00:16:18,811 --> 00:16:22,047 is looking for is not a what you're looking for. Who. 319 00:16:22,982 --> 00:16:25,017 And it's Jesus. 320 00:16:25,017 --> 00:16:27,319 Jesus says, I am the only one that can 321 00:16:27,319 --> 00:16:31,190 bring life to your soul that can give you Zoe. 322 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:34,259 You wake up every morning 323 00:16:34,259 --> 00:16:36,812 and you realize you are hungry for physical food. 324 00:16:36,812 --> 00:16:42,901 You wake up every morning knowing your soul longs to come alive. 325 00:16:43,435 --> 00:16:46,438 And Jesus says, I'm the one. 326 00:16:46,672 --> 00:16:49,108 So the first is what you need. 327 00:16:49,108 --> 00:16:51,176 The second is where you get it. 328 00:16:51,176 --> 00:16:54,863 The third is how you keep it, how you keep it. 329 00:16:55,647 --> 00:17:01,587 So when Jesus says, I am the bread of life, I am the one who can give you. Zoe. 330 00:17:01,587 --> 00:17:07,493 If you come to me, he is inviting you into relationship and relationship. 331 00:17:07,493 --> 00:17:09,294 Every relationship has like a beginning. 332 00:17:09,294 --> 00:17:11,730 But if you're going to maintain a relationship 333 00:17:11,730 --> 00:17:17,002 and it's going to really be strong, then you have to feed that relationship. 334 00:17:17,002 --> 00:17:19,788 You have to maintain that relationship. 335 00:17:19,788 --> 00:17:23,759 Now, I know I use marriage is one of those things that we can use to substitute 336 00:17:24,443 --> 00:17:29,148 and to try to make force into making it the thing that is our bread of life. 337 00:17:29,598 --> 00:17:31,650 And it's not meant for that. 338 00:17:31,650 --> 00:17:35,938 But there is something about marriage that gives us a taste, 339 00:17:35,938 --> 00:17:40,409 which is why a movie like Jerry Maguire makes sense to a lot of people. 340 00:17:41,393 --> 00:17:42,661 That and even in 341 00:17:42,661 --> 00:17:46,799 Ephesians five, where the Bible gives us instructions on how to be a husband, 342 00:17:46,999 --> 00:17:51,086 how to be a wife, what it says is that marriage is supposed to be a reflection 343 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:56,642 of that relationship between us and Jesus, where he is the bridegroom, 344 00:17:56,642 --> 00:18:01,113 we are the bride, and that's what really makes our soul come alive. 345 00:18:01,980 --> 00:18:05,968 And what I find with a lot of people when they where if you're married, 346 00:18:05,968 --> 00:18:08,971 you realize that your wedding was just the beginning. 347 00:18:09,354 --> 00:18:12,357 Like if you thought that your wedding was what you needed 348 00:18:12,357 --> 00:18:17,613 for a really good marriage and you just thought you stopped right there and didn't 349 00:18:17,613 --> 00:18:22,284 invest in the relationship any more, then you are probably no longer married. 350 00:18:23,335 --> 00:18:25,637 Hey, I have this coffee cup up here 351 00:18:25,637 --> 00:18:29,691 because I filled it with hot coffee before the service. 352 00:18:29,691 --> 00:18:31,860 And now of course, it's cooled off. 353 00:18:31,860 --> 00:18:34,263 That's the way every relationship is, 354 00:18:34,263 --> 00:18:37,232 no matter how hot it is, when it starts, 355 00:18:37,232 --> 00:18:41,820 over time it will cool off unless you add energy back into the system. 356 00:18:42,588 --> 00:18:46,258 So my wife and I, whenever we counsel people who are about to get married, 357 00:18:46,758 --> 00:18:49,711 we always try to tell them, don't focus so much on the wedding. 358 00:18:49,711 --> 00:18:52,047 Focus on what happens after the wedding. 359 00:18:52,047 --> 00:18:54,183 If you want to have a good marriage and you have to figure out 360 00:18:54,183 --> 00:18:58,137 how to add energy back into the system, and we give him three things to do, 361 00:18:58,921 --> 00:19:02,841 we'll say you need to debrief daily date weekly, depart quarterly. 362 00:19:03,509 --> 00:19:05,544 When we say debrief daily, what we're saying is 363 00:19:05,544 --> 00:19:07,412 you need to spend a little bit of time. 364 00:19:07,412 --> 00:19:10,399 Drift happens quickly in relationships. 365 00:19:10,833 --> 00:19:14,303 So every day just connect for even ten minutes. 366 00:19:14,903 --> 00:19:17,906 Now when my wife and I, when our kids were small, 367 00:19:18,106 --> 00:19:22,127 but they were toddlers, I would tell them, listen, you guys go in the other room. 368 00:19:22,127 --> 00:19:23,095 I don't care what you do. 369 00:19:23,095 --> 00:19:25,430 Mom and I need to talk that parenting. 370 00:19:25,430 --> 00:19:26,648 But it kept our marriage together. 371 00:19:28,367 --> 00:19:30,419 Then we said, then date weekly. 372 00:19:30,419 --> 00:19:34,022 That's a time where you have to spend time just face to face, 373 00:19:34,823 --> 00:19:39,378 and connect in that way and then finally depart quarterly. 374 00:19:39,378 --> 00:19:43,232 That's a time when you could really refresh the relationship. 375 00:19:44,633 --> 00:19:47,636 Listen, your relationship with Jesus is the same. 376 00:19:48,420 --> 00:19:49,922 It has a beginning. 377 00:19:49,922 --> 00:19:52,457 The moment you go all in with Jesus 378 00:19:52,457 --> 00:19:55,611 and you say, Jesus, you are my Savior. 379 00:19:55,611 --> 00:19:59,064 You are my Lord, and you get baptized. 380 00:19:59,731 --> 00:20:01,700 That's like the beginning. 381 00:20:01,700 --> 00:20:03,869 That's like the wedding. 382 00:20:03,869 --> 00:20:06,955 But if you're going to really experience life, 383 00:20:07,973 --> 00:20:10,943 then you have to invest in that relationship. 384 00:20:10,943 --> 00:20:13,762 And I would say the same three things. 385 00:20:13,762 --> 00:20:17,883 Learn to debrief daily with Jesus, even if it's just ten minutes in the morning. 386 00:20:19,201 --> 00:20:21,470 One of the things that I figured out 387 00:20:21,470 --> 00:20:25,557 is that it takes me nine minutes to drive to church and back. 388 00:20:25,557 --> 00:20:30,562 When I come to work, that's 18 minutes round trip every day. 389 00:20:30,862 --> 00:20:31,847 I have a chance. 390 00:20:31,847 --> 00:20:33,031 I have a decision to make. 391 00:20:33,031 --> 00:20:36,018 I can listen to sports radio, I can listen to podcasts, 392 00:20:36,118 --> 00:20:39,871 or I can debrief with Jesus and spend 18 minutes with him every day. 393 00:20:40,872 --> 00:20:42,257 Right? 394 00:20:42,257 --> 00:20:46,378 I choose Jesus debrief daily, date weekly. 395 00:20:46,378 --> 00:20:47,512 That's like the worship service. 396 00:20:47,512 --> 00:20:51,416 I don't know if you realize this when you just pay attention to the worship songs. 397 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,437 What you're doing when you come in is that when you sing a worship 398 00:20:55,437 --> 00:20:58,340 song, a lot of times you're telling Jesus, this is what I see in you. 399 00:20:58,340 --> 00:21:01,159 This is why you're you're beautiful to me. 400 00:21:01,159 --> 00:21:02,961 This is why I love being with you. 401 00:21:02,961 --> 00:21:06,415 And then you hear Jesus speaking back to you, like even this morning, 402 00:21:06,632 --> 00:21:11,069 Jesus saying, I am your bread, I love you, I care for you, 403 00:21:11,069 --> 00:21:16,675 your precious to me every week and then depart quarterly. 404 00:21:16,675 --> 00:21:20,479 If you pay attention to our church calendar, you'll see that we're always 405 00:21:20,479 --> 00:21:25,017 doing things like the Men's Summit or Women's Refreshers student section. 406 00:21:25,017 --> 00:21:28,287 We're going to redo shirt redoing mission trips, 407 00:21:28,287 --> 00:21:33,408 and all those things are designed to spend to refresh your relationship 408 00:21:33,709 --> 00:21:38,480 with Jesus in such a way that you can have life. 409 00:21:39,448 --> 00:21:42,451 So you were created 410 00:21:42,451 --> 00:21:45,437 for abundant life. 411 00:21:45,620 --> 00:21:48,623 Jesus is the only one who can give it. 412 00:21:49,558 --> 00:21:54,346 Jesus says, I am the bread of Zoe. 413 00:21:54,363 --> 00:21:55,797 You want life to be abundant. 414 00:21:55,797 --> 00:21:57,983 You have to come to me. 415 00:21:57,983 --> 00:22:02,721 But in order to really do that, you have to maintain that relationship. 416 00:22:03,422 --> 00:22:06,174 So I wanted to give you something practical 417 00:22:06,174 --> 00:22:09,444 this morning, your relationship with Jesus. 418 00:22:09,444 --> 00:22:12,647 One week from now, we'll either be 419 00:22:12,647 --> 00:22:15,650 stronger or weaker. 420 00:22:15,867 --> 00:22:18,653 It'll be determined by how much time you will spend 421 00:22:18,653 --> 00:22:22,107 with him between now and then. 422 00:22:22,140 --> 00:22:26,161 You want 2026 to be a light, a year of abundant life. 423 00:22:27,029 --> 00:22:29,998 It starts and ends with Jesus. 424 00:22:29,998 --> 00:22:31,950 The first I am statement. 425 00:22:31,950 --> 00:22:34,953 Jesus, I am the bread of life. 426 00:22:35,537 --> 00:22:37,923 He comes to me will never hunger. 427 00:22:37,923 --> 00:22:40,909 He who believes in me will never thirst. 428 00:22:41,693 --> 00:22:42,477 Did you pray with me? 429 00:22:45,247 --> 00:22:48,250 Oh Lord Jesus, I'm so grateful. 430 00:22:48,467 --> 00:22:51,153 I'm grateful that when you came, 431 00:22:51,153 --> 00:22:54,573 you came because you wanted to give us life. 432 00:22:55,490 --> 00:23:00,862 And you say so plainly here, I know that, by in just a few hours, 433 00:23:00,862 --> 00:23:04,232 my brain will be telling my body 434 00:23:04,232 --> 00:23:07,219 that I need food to continue to live. 435 00:23:08,103 --> 00:23:08,787 Every day. 436 00:23:08,787 --> 00:23:11,790 My soul tells me 437 00:23:12,174 --> 00:23:15,143 that I need something for life. 438 00:23:15,143 --> 00:23:17,329 And it's you that I long for. 439 00:23:17,329 --> 00:23:19,247 I pray for every one of us here. 440 00:23:19,247 --> 00:23:20,699 I pray that, those 441 00:23:20,699 --> 00:23:24,503 who have never started a relationship with you will start one even today. 442 00:23:25,036 --> 00:23:28,039 But for those of us who have a relationship with you, then I pray that, 443 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,193 this week will be a week where we will 444 00:23:31,193 --> 00:23:34,196 invest in the relationship in such a way 445 00:23:34,529 --> 00:23:38,366 that we will feed on you, and you will be our true Bretton. 446 00:23:39,201 --> 00:23:40,368 Thank you. 447 00:23:40,368 --> 00:23:42,888 We pray this in your name. Amen.