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Andy Stanley - Bystander Part 4 Lunch and Learn · Andy Stanley Sermons

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When I was growing up. My dad is a pastor, and so every
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once in a while he would leave town when I was a kid and go
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preach out another church. And whenever he would come home, my sister and
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I she's three years younger than me, we would run to the door daddy's
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home, you know, and the next thing out of our mouth, what
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did you bring us? What did you bring us? You know, what
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did you bring us? And he would set his suitcase down, his briefcase
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down, and he would say I brought you me and we would say what,
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oh, yeah, right then he pick up a suitcase, go in
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his bedroom, open the suitcase, and start unpacking. We would sit there
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in the corner thinking is there anything in there for us? You know?
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And sure enough, well I did just happen, you know, some of
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you went through that. Then I grew up and I have my own kids,
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three kids, and every once in a while I would leave town and
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go speak somewhere and I'd get home and they'd meet me at the door daddy's
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home, daddy's home. What did you bring us? And I would say
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me and they would say, and you are all we need. And we'd
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have circle up and have prayer time right there. You know, it's just
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anyway. So here's the thing all of you can relate to that, maybe
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on one end or the other as a parent or remember growing up however it
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was. But here's the thing. Early in our faith journey, especially if
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you're a brand new Christian or you've just come back to faith, or maybe
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this is the reason you left faith to begin with. Early in our faith
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journey, it's a little bit like that. It's like, do your Heavenly
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Father, thank you for this day. Let's get that out of the way.
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What do I get? And how do I get it? What do
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I get? And how do I get it? What do I get?
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And if you don't know what I get? I've got some things I'd like
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for you to get for me. How do I get them? If you
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want to make a lot of money, write a book on how to get
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God to give you what you want. You know't have to call it that,
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but you can call it some cool title. But if it's a book
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about how to get God to do your bidding, how to get answered prayer,
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all that stuff, people love those books because early on in our immaturity,
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there's just something in us. It's like God is God and I'm not,
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and you know, how what do I get? And how do I
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get it? And the problem with that is this, And you all know
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this at some level. In fact, some of you, this describes what's
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going on in your marriage or maybe with one of your kids or with your
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parents. It is impossible to have an authentic relationship with someone from whom you're
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always trying to get something. You can't do it because there's an agenda.
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And since there's an agenda, you're measuring your words. You don't go for
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the you don't go it for directly. It's like, how's it going,
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chit chat, little chit chat, little hey. By the way, it
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just occurred to me, have you ever thought about and you're kind of doing
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this dance? And as long as you want something from someone, or if
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you consistently want something from someone, or you feel like you just got to
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keep getting something from someone, you cannot have an intimate, authentic relationship with
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them. It's it's just impossible. And the cool thing and the amazing thing
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is John, who followed Jesus in the first century, said that God gave
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us everything we needed and everything he wanted to give us all at once,
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because he gave us himself, He showed up. And if that's not still
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overwhelming to you, then today's message is for you. And if that's not
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still overwhelming to me, this message is for me. Because when the idea
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that God showed up on planet Earth because he cared so much about you and
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because he cares so much for about us, when that goes from a theological
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category in our heads to our heart, it changes everything. It changes your
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entire perspective on everything is we're gonna see. You will experience what Paul called
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the peace that surpasses all human comprehension in one translation, or transcends all understanding.
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When this goes from your head to your heart, you will be okay
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when things are not okay. When this goes from your head to your heart,
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that God actually showed up and he gave you something, He gave you
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himself, you will know that there is a purpose even in the random,
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seemingly meaningless pains and sorrows and disappointments in life. We're in part four of
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this series Bystander Jesus, John and the Rabbi from Nazareth, and we're following
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John as he journeys with Jesus, and early on in the series we talked
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to about something John said at the end of his book, and he said,
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basically that he has an agenda, and one of his parts, one
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part of his agenda is he does not want us to be confused. He
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wants us to know that he John, the follower of Jesus, did not
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follow Jesus because of faith. John followed Jesus because of what he saw and
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because of what he heard. In fact, what he saw and what he
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heard actually convinced him that Jesus was the Messiah. And once he was convinced
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Jesus was Messiah, he actually placed his faith in him as his messiah.
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He believed based on what he saw and what he heard. And he wants
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his audience to in their mind's eyes see what he saw and through their mind's
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ears to hear what he heard, so that we would arrive at the same
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conclusion about Jesus that he did. And then as an old man, as
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an old man, somebody convinced him, Hey, John, you're not going
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to live forever. And you were right there with the part of the action.
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I mean, you walked and talked with Jesus, we need your account.
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And so John I believe, dictates his account as an old man,
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and he organizes his account, which we call Gospel of John, around these
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events that he said weren't just random acts of kindness. They were actually signs
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that pointed to something, and the signs were evidence evidence of what they were,
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evidence that Jesus was who Jesus claimed to be. That the reasons Jesus
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did miracles wasn't simply because he cared about people. He was making a point
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about his own identity. And he wants future generations. John wanted future generations
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to know what he knew and to see again what he could see. But
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not and this is so important, but not simply so we would know what
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Jesus did. He wants his audience. He wants us. He wants you
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to know who Jesus is, because recognizing who Jesus is reframes an entire life.
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And so he tells us. At the very end, he says,
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let me tell you why I wrote what I wrote. Let me tell you
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why the story came out of me, the way the story came out of
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me. These particular things are written that you may believe I have an agenda
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that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing
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you may have what And that's the question the people in the first century were
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asking. And that's the question perhaps you're asking. In fact, perhaps because
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you didn't get the answer you wanted, you quit asking, and maybe you're
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not a church person anymore, maybe you don't consider yourself a Christian anymore.
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And the question is what do I get out of this? What do I
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get out of this? What do I get out of this? And that's
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the tension we're confronted with today as we continue our journey, because today we
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bump into the fourth sign in this series of signs that John builds his entire
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account around, and it's one of the most popular, or one of the
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most famous, or one of the most well known stories in all of the
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Bible. It's the sign of the Feeding of the five thousand plus. And
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we'll talk about the plus in just a minute. Now. If you haven't
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been with this, let me kind of catch you up. The nation of
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Israel is like a big oblong nation that runs north and south. And last
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week left off with Jesus. He was in the south of the city of
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Jerusalem, and he and the disciples begin to journey north about about five or
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six or maybe even seven days to the Sea of Galilee. They get on
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a boat, they go to the northernmost shore of the Sea of Galilee.
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They're about one hundred miles away now from Jerusalem. And one of the reasons
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they went, we discover is that John the Baptist had recently been beheaded.
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Jesus needs a break. Maybe he's grieving, but he needs some time away,
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and so he goes to this very very remote part of the country.
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But in spite of that, word spreads about where Jesus is located. And
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here's where the story picks up. And a great crowd of people followed him
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because no matter where he went, no matter where he went, there was
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a crowd, and people kind of always knew where Jesus was. And a
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great crowd of people followed him because because of faith. No nobody in the
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first century followed Jesus because of faith. They followed him because they saw the
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signs that he was performing by healing the sick. What they saw, what
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they heard is why they followed. What John saw, and what John heard
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is why he ultimately believed So imagine this Jesus and the disciples. They've gone
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way out of their way to get way out of their way so they can
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be out of the way of people. And in spite of that, here
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come thousands of people. Many of them have never seen him or heard him
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before, but now he's in their region. And while he's close, they
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want to be close to this, want to be maybe be Messiah that has
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come from God, or prophet or miracle worker, or if nothing else,
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maybe they'll see one of his tricks and if they're lucky, maybe a friend
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of theirs would actually be healed. So Jesus turns around. Here comes this
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crowd. They're in the distance, and the text says that Jesus went up
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on a mountain side and he sat down. Do you ever just want to
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sit down? It's like I'm tired. And Jesus sits down with his disciples
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and then John. Before he continues the story, gives us a little detail
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that's important for what happens later in the story. He says, and oh,
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by the way, you need to know the Jewish Passover festival was near.
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This is given to explain the crowd's response later in the story. You
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probably know. Passover was the Jewish celebration of celebrating God delivering the nation of
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Israel, the ancient Israelites, from the nation of Egypt. This was when
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God sent Moses a prophet, and Moses the prophet led the people out of
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Egypt and destroy Egypt in the process. And in the first century. In
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the first century, Passover was an annual reminder to the Israelites, to the
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nation of Israel, that they needed another Moses. They needed another Joshua,
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they needed another Judah Maccabee. They needed somebody to come along that could single
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handedly galvanize the nation and throw the Romans off their land. After all,
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God had promised them this land. This was their land, and as long
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as they were an occupied nation, it was the sign of God's judgment,
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and they were ready to be done with that. The story continues, So
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when Jesus looked up and saw a great out coming toward him, so you
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got a picture. He's sitting down, he's tired, they're in the middle
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of nowhere. He's thinking really, and the disciples are thinking really really,
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And here come these thousands of people and they're coming toward him. And Jesus
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knew why they were coming. They were kind of like us. They wanted
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something. They were more enamored with the signs that Jesus was performing than they
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were with the person to whom the signs were pointing. They were all enamored
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with the signs. They wanted another sign. They wanted another trick, they
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wanted another they wanted another event they could to go home and talk about.
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And they lost sight of the factor many of them never knew in the first
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place. Wait, there's a point to all this. All of these signs
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point to who Jesus is claiming to me. They wanted something. They then
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he turns and he surprises one of his disciples, and he turns to Philip.
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He says, Philip, and he's sitting there watching these crowd. They're
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all just watching them coming. They're thinking, you know, what are we
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gonna do this? Pelt, Hey, where shall we buy bread for these
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people to eat? Now you've heard this story many times if you grew up
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in church, and so I don't want you to raise ahead, but you
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need to understand nobody at this point the story's planning to feed anybody. This
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wasn't a hey, we're gonna feed these people. This has never been part
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of the conversation. This is just another crowd of people who want to get
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a piece of Jesus and want to be healed. And he's gonna teach another,
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you know, mind bending sermon that they'll understand about fifteen percent of and
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he'll have to explain it to his disciples later. I mean, they've been
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through this so many times, but they thought they were getting a break.
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So they're all staring at these thousands of people converging on this this field,
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and they're a little bit up, you know, as they've gone up on
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this mountain side. And Jesus just turns to Phillip says, hey, Philip,
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where are we gonna get enough food to feed these people? Philip's like,
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feed these people. We don't feed people. We heal people. What
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do you feed the people? And later Jesus would kind of give them a
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little background and he said this, John discovers later he said this. Jesus
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said this to test Philip, for he already had in mind what he was
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gonna do. He wasn't really looking for a good answer. And Philip says,
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well, it would take more than a half year's wages to buy enough
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bread for each one of these people to have a bite. Translated, the
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answer to your question, Jesus is nowhere. There is nowhere we can go.
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In fact, phil the reason he asked Philip this Phillip was actually from
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this region. So he's like, hey, you know where all the restaurants
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are around here? Where can we go buy enough food to feed all these
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people? Phillips like, the answer is no where, there is nowhere.
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And then again, if you grew up in church like me, this this
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is you know, I've seen the flannel graph version. I've seen the cartoon
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version. I've seen the storybook version. I've heard a thousand you know,
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so this becomes so romanticized and scrubbed, and all the rough edges are you
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know, kind of shaved off. But this was I think there was some
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humor. I think there was some drama. And so Andrew, you know,
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some kids got their first, because kids always get first everywhere. They're
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down there. And Andrew sees this kid and he's got lunch. He says,
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hey, kid, come here a second, and he turned one of
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his other disciples, Andrew On Simon Peters brothers fayst Well, here's a kid
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with five small barley loaves. This is the food. This is the bread
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of poor people. Barley loaves and two small fish, probably pickled fish.
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But you know, how far are they going to go among so many?
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I mean, this had to have been kind of a joke. It's like,
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kid, give me your lunch. She's like, no, come step
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he meet Jesus. Okay, we don't know this is I think it's just
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like seriously, and Jesus said to their shock, and they're all Jesus said,
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well, I'll tell you what. Since we have some food, have
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everybody sit down. Do what usually they line up? He says, no,
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just have everybody sit down. And there was plenty of grass in that
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place, and so they sat down. And then again John gives us another
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detail because of what's about to happen. And there were about five thousand men
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in that place. About five thousand men had gathered. Now why does he
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just mention the men? Does he not count the women? Because women don't
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count. I don't think that's what's going on here. Five thousand men was
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the equivalent of a fully formed Roman legion. Five thousand men. John is
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giving us a little foreshadowing as to what's about to happen. So perhaps there
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were some people, estimate twenty thousand people sitting down on this field with no
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idea about the conversation that's going on down front. And then Jesus, I
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guess, smiles at the little boy and reaches down and takes his food,
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and he stops. And this is the part. Let's not rush by this.
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Okay, Only twelve guys know what's going on, maybe a few people
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down front, this little boy, and Jesus says, okay, guys,
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let's let's bow our head and close their eyes and let's give thanks for lunch.
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And they're not bound. Their heads are closing their eyes, they're looking
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over their shoulder, like, are you kidding? Do you know how many
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people are coming? I was trying to think of an equivalent. I couldn't
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think of one. It would sort of be like me coming in here today
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with a bagel, like ah bagel and say, hey, I got everybody
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some bagel, And you're thinking, well, I know how you do it.
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You know people are gonna come in, some cool people with cool shirts
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on, are gonna go through the aisles and we're gonna hand out bagels like
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we do food. Sometimes I'm like no, I got a bagel. Ah
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bagel, We're all gonna have some of a bagel. Let's stop real quick
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and thank God for the bagel. You wouldn't close your eyes. You'd be
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like, this is what And so Jesus as sincere as he can, he
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gives thanks. Like there, you know, the food trucks are about to
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roll out. In the bread trucks. It's like, not a big deal.
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I think this just looks ridiculous. It's kind of embarrassing. Maybe he's
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smiling and one of the other The gospel writer says that he took this bread
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and this fish, and he handed it out to the disciples before he prayed.
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And he distributed this little bitty bit of food to those who were seated
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as much as they wanted. And he did the same with the fish.
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And when they had all you've heard this, when they had all had enough
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to eat, he said to his decide. This took hours. He said
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to his disciples, go ahead and gather up the pieces that are left over.
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Let nothing be wasted. Now, they're all kind of stories about people
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try to figure out how this wasn't really a miracle. I mean, there's
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this, you know, everybody had lunch and they weren't sharing. But once
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the little boys share, they all share and they all ate. Maybe,
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but that's just not what anybody who was there said happened. So I think
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we should go with the people who were there. John said no, this
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was a sign, and everybody there they didn't know initially, but eventually it
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dawned on. Wait a minute, they are distributing food and there is not
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a wagon or a cart to be seen. We look, we came from
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a distance. It was twelve guys and a few other people, but no
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wagons and no carts. And suddenly, out of nowhere, we're eating bread
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and fish. And so they gathered them all the leftovers and filled twelve baskets
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with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
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Now those are Jewish people. They get this under Moses, their ancestors
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had just enough bread each day when they were wandering in the wilderness. This
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guy creates so much extra food. They have extra food for who knows how
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many days. And the question they're asking, and the question they should ask,
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in fact, the most important question you could ever ask in your life
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is who is this guy? The story continues, and after the people saw
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the signs Jesus performed. I mean, this way of acknowledgment and recognition of
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what has happened, you know, goes over the crowd. They begin to
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murmur and to whisper, and to say, surely it's true what we've heard.
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This is the prophet who is to come into the world. And for
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a moment, for just a moment, they shift their focus. And the
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reason this only lasted for a moment is because they would get hungry again.
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But now they're full, and for just a moment they are able to take
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their minds off their own appetites. They're able to take their minds off themselves,
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and they're able to shift their focus from the sign to the person the
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sign was pointing toward, and they recognize, oh, my goodness, this
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may actually be the one we've been told about all our lives that would come,
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the one that Moses spoke of long long ago, that said another prophet
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will come, the one that Daniel spoke of, the Son of Man will
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come. And for just a moment they got it. But Jesus knew their
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recognition and their acknowledgment was temporary. And besides, the time wasn't right.
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So Jesus, knowing in his heart that they intended to come and make him
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king by force, and this was what all the foreshadowing was about. Suddenly
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there are twenty thousand people. There are five thousand men. There's the equivalent
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of a single Roman legion. And if the first prophet, Moses was able
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to deliver them from Egypt, certainly this second prophet, this Rabbi from Nazareth,
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would be able to deliver them from bondage to Rome. And imagine the
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scene. Five thousand men marching from the northernmost part of the city around the
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side of the Sea of Galilee, picking up momentum as they go. By
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the time they leave Galilee, they've doubled in number. By the time they're
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halfway to Jerusalem from the edge and the border of Galilee, they've tripled in
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number. By the time they get to the gates of Jerusalem, they're the
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equivalent of four Roman legions. Led by Jesus, the whole country would come
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alive, and finally Messiah would have come, and finally the land would be
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theirs again, and finally their prayers would be answered. And Jesus knew all
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of this and as it turns out, he would in fact lead his disciples
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through the gates of Jerusalem during Passover, but a different passover, and not
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to be coronated, but of course to be crucified. And Jesus knew their
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heart, and Jesus knew their intent, and Jesus knew their motive, and
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their motive had very little to do with who he was, and had everything
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to do with what he could do and would do for them. And so
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he withdrew. He withdrew to a mountain by himself. But before he leaves
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the crowd, and before he dismisses the crowd, he gets the twelve together,
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and he puts them on a boat. In fact that the imagery is
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kind of interesting. It's like he kind of man handles him. He says,
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look, don't get any ideas. And of course they're thinking, this
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is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made. We
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have been looking forward to this moment. What a perfect scene. We are
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going to march on Jerusalem. Jesus says, get those ideas out of your
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head, get on a boat and row across the sea, and I will
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see you on the other side. He gets them going. He dismisses the
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crowd. He goes to a lonely place and he prays because he feared that
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perhaps even they would be caught up in the excitement. Again. As the
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story continues, Jesus would eventually join them on the other side of the lake.
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And when he joins them on the other side of the lake once again,
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he thinks, finally, perhaps he thought, finally we have some space,
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finally we have some time. But once again the crowd finds out where
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he is and they head his way. And perhaps now the crowd is even
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larger. But little do they know, he's about to thin the crowd.
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In fact, he's about to call them out. In fact, not his
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only only is he about to call them out. He's about to call some
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of us out. He's about to call me out. Here's what I mean
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by that. Have you ever had this thought, or perhaps you've heard this,
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or you've heard a friend say this, or perhaps you've said this in
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the past. Have you ever heard anything like this or said something along the
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lines of, you know what, I gave up on faith, and I
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gave up on church because I wasn't getting anything out of it. You know,
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I used to do that but I wasn't getting anything out of it.
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I used to go, but I wasn't giving getting anything out of it.
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I used to serve, but I wasn't getting anything out of it. I
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even used to give, but I wasn't getting anything out of it. I
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used to go sit in the front, but I'm not. I wasn't getting
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anything out of it. And the point that Jesus is about to make is
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that as long as it's about getting something out of an it, you still
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don't understand it. As long as this is about us getting something out of
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it, we are still children racing to the door. What did you bring
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me? What did you get at me? And how do I get it?
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And so Jesus is on another part, on the other side of the
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sea of Galley with his disciples. The crowd finds him, they show up,
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and the text says when they found him, John tells us this,
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When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said,
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because remember, when you're trying to navigate a relationship with somebody that you want
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something from, you're never direct, right, there's an agenda, there's a
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dance, And so the dance begins when they find Jesus on the other side
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of the lake, and they all finally gather. A spokesman for the crowd
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or someone in the crowd says, Rabbi, when did you get here,
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which is not their question, and Jesus just sort of shakes his head and
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goes right to the point. He goes right to their point, and he
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says, you're not interested in when I got here, and you're only mildly
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curious as to how I got here. You are looking for me, not
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because you saw the signs I performed, because you saw the signs I performed
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and made the connection and stayed connection to what the sign connected to what the
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signs were pointing towards. You came looking for me because you ate the loaves
23:08
and you had your fill. You're here for the food. You missed the
23:15
point of the sign. You thought the sign the miracle was the point.
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And then he leans into that crowd, and he leans into me for sure,
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and hopefully you're gonna feel like he leans into you. And he says
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to these men and women, who, again, we can't even begin to
23:30
imagine this moment because of all that we know that takes place after this.
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He says to these men and women, look, come on, do not
23:41
work for? In other words, do not live for, do not work
23:47
for, do not live for. Don't give your entire life to. Don't
23:52
waste the hours of the day and the years of your life. Don't think
23:56
only about. Don't simply work, he says. Do not work for food
24:03
that spoils, but work for food that endures to eternal life, which the
24:07
son of Man will give it. He's saying, come on, come on,
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do you not realize what I'm offering? Do you not realize what the
24:18
sign is pointing to? Do you not recognize who I am? Do you
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not recognize that God has certified me? He says in the next verse,
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God has certified me, He's authorized me to work on his behalf. Do
24:30
you not recognize that I am speaking to you the words of God? Do
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you not recognize that I'm doing the deeds of God? Do you not understand
24:37
what's happening in this moment? And he could have said to them, do
24:41
you not understand? Two thousand years from now people will be telling this story.
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You're part of the story. You're part of a revolution. You're part
24:48
of something way bigger than retaking land in a city from Rome do you not
24:53
understand the gravity of what's happening here? All you can think about is lunch?
25:02
And so they said to him, what sign then will you give us
25:07
that we may see it and believe you. I mean, it's not we're
25:10
starting to believe. We're kind of getting there. But you know, I
25:11
think one more sign will do. If I tell you, what, if
25:15
you'll just do one more sign, we won't believe in you. So what
25:18
will you do? Now? We're gonna talk a lot about this next week.
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You really don't want to miss next week. But this is where a
25:23
lot of you, perhaps or some of you are living. It's like,
25:26
you know, I would believe in God if only he would I would you
25:30
know, I wo may come back and get involved in the church, if
25:33
only God would you know, I've got this little idea of come up with
25:36
and if God would do my idea, then perhaps I would believe. So
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here's a group of people who have already experienced something beyond belief, and they're
25:44
like, you know, what if you'll just kind of do one more trick
25:47
for us, let's see, Oh this just pop into our heads. You
25:49
know, our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and Jesus is thinking, good
25:56
grief, we're back to lunch. All you can think about is foo.
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I mean, do you speaking of lunch? So about two years ago,
26:06
Sandra and I had lunch with a woman named Angela Errence and her husband Greg,
26:11
and the four of us had lunes. Now Angela Errance at the time,
26:14
in fact, this has just changed. She was the senior vice president
26:17
of retail for all of Apple Computer. She was over all the stores.
26:25
I don't mean she's the manager of your local Apple store. I mean she's
26:27
over all the stores and the online store. And we had lunch and it
26:33
was amazing. And as we got to the end of lunch, she finally
26:38
popped the question. Andy, she said, is there anything I can do
26:47
for you? I'm like, seriously, I am sitting two and a half
26:52
feet away from the woman who has access to every single Apple store in America
26:57
and beyond and the online store, and she he has just said to me,
27:00
what can I do for you? Who? What do you say in
27:06
a moment like that? Right, here's exactly what I said. I said,
27:11
Angela, could you hook me up with a case for my foster daughter's
27:15
iPhone six? And she laughed, and I laughed because obviously I was kidding.
27:23
Right. The answer to that question is no, I don't need anything
27:30
from you. I'm just so honored to meet you. Hug Tim for me
27:38
when you see him, please and thank you. You have already done so
27:45
much for the world. To ask anything would just be well, it would
27:48
have just been weird. Just a little tip. Do you know what you
27:53
ask important people? You ask questions. You don't ask for anything when you're
28:03
with someone of significance, the fact that they are who they are. This
28:07
is your opportunity to learn in a way you may never have an opportunity to
28:11
learn. You don't ask for stuff. You just think about what a moment.
28:18
This is, what a moment, This is what an honor this is
28:22
to be with this person. I want you to think about this, and
28:23
we're done. This is so important. These men and women are standing,
28:30
They're standing on the edge of the Sea of Galilee, in the presence of
28:33
the light of the world God in a body, and all they can think
28:44
about is their appetite. They can't see past their stomachs. In fact,
28:48
when you read the rest of John six, some of you know the story.
28:52
On that particular day, many John tells us he was there. Many
28:57
decided to unfollow Oh Jesus. Once they realized the magic show is over,
29:03
they lost all interest in the magician. Once they realized there was nothing more
29:08
in it for them, they walked away. They'd gotten everything they'd come for,
29:17
and maybe maybe because of those circumstances they had an excuse. But you
29:23
don't and I don't, because we are on the other side of the resurrection,
29:33
where the man who claimed to be the light of the world proved it.
29:37
Where the man is we're going to talk about in a couple of weeks,
29:40
who looked into the eyes of these friends of his and says, I
29:44
am look at me, I am the Resurrection and the life. I'm not
29:48
gonna tell you about it. I'm telling you I am Resurrection in life and
29:52
life personified. And of course it would be difficult to believe that. But
29:57
on the other side of the resid direction, we have every reason in the
30:00
world to believe that. So what about you? What about me? Are
30:11
we just in this for the food? Are you just in this Christian thing
30:18
for what you can get out of it, for what you can get out
30:22
of him? If so, you have not come to grips with whom you
30:32
are dealing with. You have not yet recognized with whom you are dealing You
30:40
and I are standing there in the presence of the light of the world,
30:44
trying to figure out how to get some silly, temporary thing. And Jesus
30:48
say, no, no, no, no, no no, come on,
30:49
don't spend your whole life working for that. Don't spend your whole life
30:53
just thinking about that. We have been invited to follow. And I tell
31:03
you this all the time. I'll tell you as long as you'll listen.
31:06
His followers, by the way, his first century followers, by the way,
31:08
ultimately shaped Western civilization. They shaped the world. Listen. It wasn't
31:15
the consumers that changed anything. It wasn't the wow did you see that people
31:19
who changed anything. It was the people who finally got it. In other
31:25
words, for us in the twenty first century, this is this is no
31:29
small thing to which we have been invited. I mean, think about it.
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If every Christian in the United States of America for just two weeks,
31:37
if every Christian in the United States of America for just two weeks, would
31:41
not ask God for anything, but would simply love the people around them the
31:45
way we've been called to love, would simply forgive everyone that they've been holding
31:49
anything against, would simply load up on others, firsting others firsting others firsting.
31:56
If every Christian America would quit asking and be as generous as God has
32:00
called us to be generous, and it's compassionate, as God has called us
32:02
to be compassionate. And if every father would go home and be the father
32:07
God's called him to be, and every mother would go home and be the
32:08
mother God's called her to be, and every son and every daughter would submit
32:13
to the authority of their parents as they submit to Christ. If we would
32:15
all submit to each other in the way that God, through Christ has submitted
32:20
to us. If we would just do some basic things as Christians in the
32:22
United States of America, the difference would be felt. We're walking around with
32:29
the ruby red slippers. We don't need anything new. We've been given everything
32:34
we need. And a handful, a handful of disenfranchised Jewish people impacted the
32:40
world, and they survived the Temple, and they survived the Roman Empire,
32:45
and ultimately it was the love of Jesus expressed through them that captured the attention
32:49
of the empire. Because they realized a handful of them realized we already have
32:53
everything we need. The question is not what do I get out of it?
33:00
The question of first importance, the question that will change everything for you,
33:02
no matter how long ago you prayed, the prayer to become a Christian
33:06
so you wouldn't go to hell, no matter how long ago you've put a
33:08
stick in the fire when you were a teenager and then you kind of drifted
33:10
away. The question that changes everything, no matter how old you are,
33:14
and no matter how many prayers you've prayed. The question that changes everything is
33:19
the question that Jesus was trying to get his audience to focus on. The
33:23
question is this, who do you believe I am? And for some he
33:32
was nothing more than a magic rabbi, and they lost interest after the show,
33:37
But a few of them would ultimately recognize him as God in disguise,
33:47
and they responded the way you respond when you realize it's God in disguise.
33:53
They quit asking and they just surrendered, and they followed, and in the
34:02
end He gave them more than they could have ever imagined. He gave them
34:09
him self. So Christians, Christians, I hope you're not just in this
34:20
for lunch in a phone case. If so, you will miss the adventure.
34:27
You will miss your savior. And here's why I know that to be
34:31
true. You see, it's impossible to have an authentic, intimate relationship with
34:39
someone from whom you're always trying to get something. So stop negotiating. Just
34:50
say yes every morning. Embrace the words of the Psalmist. I pray this
34:55
every day. Instruct me and teach me in the way that I'm to go.
35:00
Counsel me with your eye upon me, Heavenly Father, instruct me and
35:04
teach me in the way that I'm to go. Counsel me with your eye
35:07
upon me. I just want to know that I'm following you. Embrace the
35:10
words of the Apostle Paul when he said, just surrender the members of your
35:15
body as a living sacrifice. Just get up every morning and say, Heavenly
35:17
Father, here are my hands, and here are my feet, and here's
35:21
my mind, and here are my eyes, and here are my resources,
35:23
and here's my pain, and here's my story. Here's everything about me.
35:27
I am making myself wholly available to you. I don't need anything. The
35:31
only thing I would ask is to make sure that I'm in the center of
35:35
your will, as generous as you want me to be, as available as
35:38
you want me to be, as committed as you want me to be,
35:40
as authentic as you want me to be, as forgiving as you want me
35:44
to be, as loving as you want me to be. I just want
35:46
to know that I'm following with everything that I have in me. Or you
35:53
can use the short version, you can use Jesus words. You can just
35:58
say, Heavenly Father, not my will, by will be done, Heavenly
36:06
Father, my will comes with a grocery list. Let's forget that, not
36:09
my will, thy will be done. In other words, let's just follow.
36:19
And in light of Calvary and light of the Resurrection, we have every
36:22
reason to, and we have no excuse not to. God has already given
36:27
you. Let's think about it. God has already given you what's most important.
36:31
You get to address him as your heavenly father. John says it this
36:37
way. He said, Look, the reason I'm telling you all this,
36:43
the reason I've finally decided to get my story out there, the reason these
36:46
things are written is I want you to believe. I don't want you to
36:50
believe something and get something. I want you to I just want you to
36:52
recognize who we're dealing with. I want you to recognize that Jesus is the
36:55
Messiah, he is the Son of God, and that by believing they have
37:00
and here it is bigger than lunch. You may have life in his name.
37:08
Well, life in his name, you know what that means. That
37:10
means there's more to this life than what you see. That means you forgive
37:15
because you've been forgiven. That means you love because you've been loved. That
37:17
means if you never get another yes to a prayer that you pray, you
37:22
have the opportunity of addressing God as your heavenly father. It means that life
37:24
is much bigger than you ever imagine. There aren't the bookends that everybody else
37:30
lives with. This is a brand new kind of life. This is a
37:32
different perspective on everything. And when that's enough, new life begins, the
37:39
adventure begins. But until it's enough, you may have reduced your savior to
37:50
the significance of a food truck with a menu that never fully satisfies your appetite.
38:01
Until this goes from your head to your heart, you will find yourself
38:08
and I love this lyric. You will find yourself in negotiation with the god
38:15
of all creation. How silly is that. So let's not be consumers,
38:25
Let's be followers. Let's not be consumers. Let's leave a mark. Let's
38:35
not simply be consumers. Let's leave his mark, because again, this is
38:39
no small thing to which you have been invited. His followers, not the
38:49
consumers, His followers, not the people there for the show. His followers
38:54
changed the world once, and perhaps this generation of followers will change the world
39:02
again, And by all means, do not miss part five of Bystander