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Jesus, the Bread of Life
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2
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[John 6:51]
I am the
living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
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3
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Jesus
performed a miracle by feeding millions of people with 5 barley loaves and 2
fish.
As Jesus prayed and shared it, bread and fish were constantly produced.
Of those who ate the bread and fish that Jesus gave to them that day, about
5,000 men were adults alone.
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4
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Those who experienced it said,
¡°This must be the prophet who is to come into the world.¡±
They began to want Jesus to be their king. Knowing that they were trying to
force Jesus to be their king, Jesus left there and went up the mountain
alone.
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5
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The disciples left a boat and set off
first for Capernaum across the street.
That night Jesus did not use the boat. Jesus walked on the water to the boat
where his disciples were riding, and he and his disciples crossed over to Capernaum.
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6
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The next morning, many people came
to Jesus in the Capernaum synagogue. Jesus knew what the people there were
looking for and what they were looking for.
They were the people who ate the bread to their full stomach by the miracle
Jesus performed yesterday. Today, they came to Jesus expecting him to feed
them.
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7
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Jesus knew their hearts and gave
them the true reason to seek Him.
¡°You are looking for me because you ate the bread. Do not work for food that
perishes,
but work for food that lasts forever and gives you eternal life, and I will
give you such food.
Jesus told them to work for the food that gave them eternal life.
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8
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The people who heard Jesus asked
questions.
¡°What must we do to do what God wants us to do?¡±
Jesus answered their question. ¡°The work of God is to believe in the man whom
God has sent.¡± Jesus told them that it is God's work to believe in Jesus, the
Messiah sent by God.
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9
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The people again asked Jesus a
question. ¡°What do we see and believe in you?
Moses sent manna down from heaven so that our ancestors could eat it.¡±
They asked Jesus if he could perform a miracle like Moses.
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10
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Jesus said that there is the true
bread that God has already given.
¡°My Father has given you the true bread from heaven.
The bread that God has given is the bread that gives life to the world.¡±
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11
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The
people who heard that God had already given the bread of life to the world
asked Jesus to give it to them.
¡°Teacher, give us the bread.¡± Jesus heard them and declared to them, ¡°I am
the bread of life.¡±
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12
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People
who heard that Jesus, who had the same body as themselves, called Himself,
was the Bread of Life that came down from heaven, began to murmur.
¡°This man must be Jesus, the son of
Joseph, how can he say that he himself came down from heaven?¡± The Jews did
not want to believe that Jesus was sent down by God.
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13
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Jesus
continued to speak to them. ¡°Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but
they all died. But whoever eats me, the bread that came down from heaven,
will never die.
The bread I give you is my body.¡±
When the Jews heard that Jesus said that those who eat His body will have
eternal life,
the Jews were greatly astonished and
quarreled over the words.
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14
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The words of Jesus did not end
there, but continued with more wonderful and mysterious words. ¡°Unless you
eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
resurrect him on the last day.¡±
Jesus told the people that whoever eats the flesh and blood of Jesus will
have eternal life and the blessing of being resurrected on the last day.
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15
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What Jesus said is about what Jesus
will do on the cross. Jesus bore all the sins of mankind and died on the
cross with his flesh torn and bloodshed. And Jesus overcame his death on the
third day and opened the way to complete salvation by his resurrection.
He opened the way for anyone who would just believe in Jesus to receive
eternal life and to be resurrected.
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To eat Jesus' flesh and drink his blood
means that people have faith in what Jesus did on the cross.
When people have this faith, they have eternal life. And on the last day he
will receive the grace of the Lord allowing him to be resurrected.
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Jesus
is the bread of life that came down from heaven. Those who accept Jesus, the
Bread of Life, receive eternal life.
The Jews did not believe when they saw Jesus from heaven with their own eyes.
God has allowed us to believe in Him, the Bread of Life, without seeing
Jesus.
We who believe in Jesus have eternal life and will be resurrected on the last
day.
We must always remember that we have received this great blessing and, no
matter what we do, we must become people who do what pleases Jesus.
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(This
is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the
conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)
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