1 00:00:06,530 --> 00:00:07,980 Awesome. Hey, let's, let's pray. 2 00:00:09,170 --> 00:00:13,060 Well, we thank you for the power of your word to change lives and 3 00:00:13,070 --> 00:00:15,060 eternities. And Louie, thank you for the 4 00:00:15,270 --> 00:00:16,670 patellas. Thank you for what they're 5 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:20,250 doing, you know, living in such a difficult place and, and 6 00:00:20,260 --> 00:00:23,480 trying to get your word out to people there. 7 00:00:23,490 --> 00:00:26,460 And we thank you for that. We just pray you'll bless that 8 00:00:26,470 --> 00:00:28,980 ministry and continue to bless it as you you have been. 9 00:00:29,190 --> 00:00:34,250 Thank you in Jesus name, Amen. Hey, so today we are wrapping up 10 00:00:34,260 --> 00:00:36,670 our series. We've been slowly getting a 11 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:41,450 sense of who Jesus is, and we've been looking at these these I am 12 00:00:41,460 --> 00:00:44,960 statements that Jesus made. And we saw back in the 13 00:00:44,970 --> 00:00:50,500 introduction that I am was a title of God right from way back 14 00:00:50,510 --> 00:00:55,090 when Jesus used this title for himself, showing that he was 15 00:00:55,100 --> 00:00:58,370 God. In John's account of Jesus life, 16 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,650 as he's telling about these times where Jesus said things 17 00:01:00,660 --> 00:01:03,070 like, you know, before Abraham was I am. 18 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:08,910 John also details 7 times where Jesus said I am and then expands 19 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,640 on that, gives some more information to expand on on what 20 00:01:12,650 --> 00:01:14,310 that means. And we've been looking at that 21 00:01:14,320 --> 00:01:16,850 and we've looked at I am the light of the world. 22 00:01:17,020 --> 00:01:19,170 I am the resurrection and the life. 23 00:01:19,300 --> 00:01:22,190 I am the Good Shepherd. I am the door. 24 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:23,930 Some translations have I am the gate, right? 25 00:01:23,940 --> 00:01:26,390 I'm the door, I'm the gate, I'm the vine. 26 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,050 I am the way the truth and the life amazing. 27 00:01:30,060 --> 00:01:33,700 We're building this picture up of what Jesus is and what that 28 00:01:33,710 --> 00:01:38,440 means right today is is the last one and it is actually pretty 29 00:01:38,450 --> 00:01:40,940 shocking. It's a little bit shocking, 30 00:01:40,950 --> 00:01:44,000 right? But actually a lot of things 31 00:01:44,010 --> 00:01:48,020 that Jesus said were shocking, especially at the time that he 32 00:01:48,030 --> 00:01:50,840 said him. And, and you probably know this 33 00:01:50,850 --> 00:01:53,600 if you are a, a Christian, if you're a follower of Jesus, it 34 00:01:53,610 --> 00:01:57,450 makes it very difficult to follow Jesus sometimes because 35 00:01:57,460 --> 00:02:00,130 some of the things he said were so extreme, right? 36 00:02:00,140 --> 00:02:02,880 And it's hard to get your head around them, right. 37 00:02:02,890 --> 00:02:07,390 He said things like love your enemies, pray for your enemies, 38 00:02:08,449 --> 00:02:10,340 right? Most of the time we don't even 39 00:02:10,350 --> 00:02:13,010 pray for our friends, right? Pray for your enemies. 40 00:02:13,020 --> 00:02:14,220 Who? Who, who does that? 41 00:02:14,530 --> 00:02:18,340 He said if somebody wants your coat, give me a shirt, right? 42 00:02:18,350 --> 00:02:21,240 Somebody needs something, give it to them. 43 00:02:21,290 --> 00:02:23,460 You know they are. How many times should I forgive 44 00:02:23,470 --> 00:02:24,550 someone? He said. 45 00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:25,910 Doesn't matter. Forgive them every time. 46 00:02:26,700 --> 00:02:27,930 Why? We thought, what do you mean 47 00:02:27,940 --> 00:02:29,810 like 100 times? Yeah, every time. 48 00:02:29,820 --> 00:02:32,710 Forgive them, he said. Pay your taxes. 49 00:02:34,050 --> 00:02:37,520 They hated the Romans. They hated paying taxes. 50 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,570 You said pay your taxing taxes. His teaching on marriage and 51 00:02:42,580 --> 00:02:46,280 divorce was so shocking and so radical that that when he 52 00:02:46,290 --> 00:02:50,060 finished speaking, his disciples said, you know, it would almost 53 00:02:50,070 --> 00:02:52,760 be better if men didn't get married, right? 54 00:02:52,970 --> 00:02:55,460 You expect Jesus to go? No, no, no, no, you know, that's 55 00:02:55,470 --> 00:02:57,560 not what I meant. He just kind of shrugs and walks 56 00:02:57,570 --> 00:03:00,020 off, right. And so it was it was kind of 57 00:03:00,030 --> 00:03:02,940 shocking, right? His teachings were, were so 58 00:03:02,950 --> 00:03:07,660 extreme that often people go, well, what he really meant was 59 00:03:07,730 --> 00:03:10,540 right and, and, and go somewhere else with it, right? 60 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,590 And, and you know this yourself, you know, you go and you read 61 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,730 something and he says something and go, wow, did he really say 62 00:03:15,740 --> 00:03:17,190 that? He kind of, there must be a 63 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:21,180 footnote here somewhere, right? And you go through looking for 64 00:03:21,190 --> 00:03:23,410 something. The fact that they are so 65 00:03:23,420 --> 00:03:28,390 shocking and the fact that they are so extreme is one of the 66 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,270 reasons, though, that we can believe that he really said 67 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,560 these things, right? Because if you were just trying 68 00:03:34,570 --> 00:03:36,900 to make them up, you were trying to make it make somebody up. 69 00:03:37,910 --> 00:03:41,240 If he was just a figment of our imagination or, or he was, you 70 00:03:41,250 --> 00:03:43,660 know, some kind of historical figure, but you were trying to 71 00:03:43,890 --> 00:03:46,060 attribute things to him to make him sound good. 72 00:03:46,210 --> 00:03:48,520 These are not the sort of things that you would make up. 73 00:03:48,530 --> 00:03:50,150 These are not the sort of statements you'd make up. 74 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,620 Are you trying to start a new religion or a new movement? 75 00:03:53,690 --> 00:03:55,680 You don't say this kind of thing, right? 76 00:03:55,810 --> 00:03:58,880 If you, if you're trying to get a group of people to follow you, 77 00:03:59,580 --> 00:04:03,590 you don't say love your enemies. You said, hey, let's defeat our 78 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:05,810 enemies, right? And you repeat that over and 79 00:04:05,820 --> 00:04:09,690 over and over and until people start following you, you don't 80 00:04:09,700 --> 00:04:13,190 get a group of people to follow you by saying, pay your taxes. 81 00:04:13,870 --> 00:04:17,740 You say, don't pay your taxes. These are unjust taxes. 82 00:04:17,750 --> 00:04:20,880 They're spending our money on stuff that that is wrong. 83 00:04:20,950 --> 00:04:23,820 Don't fund the regime. Don't pay, pay your taxes, 84 00:04:23,830 --> 00:04:25,940 right? You know, Caesar is not the king 85 00:04:25,950 --> 00:04:28,340 here. You know he's not, he's not the 86 00:04:28,350 --> 00:04:30,420 rifle king. Don't fund his regime, right? 87 00:04:30,550 --> 00:04:34,440 If you if you want followers, you don't say the kind of things 88 00:04:34,770 --> 00:04:37,280 that Jesus said, these kind of extreme things. 89 00:04:38,150 --> 00:04:40,660 And so, you know, his statements were so kind of out there and so 90 00:04:40,670 --> 00:04:44,600 shocking and so radical that we could be sure that he must have 91 00:04:44,610 --> 00:04:47,780 said them because no one in the world would make this stuff up. 92 00:04:47,890 --> 00:04:51,440 But in these statements that he makes are these incredible 93 00:04:51,510 --> 00:04:55,650 Nuggets of truth, really cool stuff that has practical 94 00:04:55,660 --> 00:04:57,770 application. And through the years, even as 95 00:04:57,780 --> 00:05:01,780 his followers started to realise and begin to understand that he 96 00:05:01,790 --> 00:05:05,460 was trying to get them to see the world in a completely 97 00:05:05,470 --> 00:05:10,340 different way from a perspective that none of us have unless we 98 00:05:10,350 --> 00:05:14,040 kind of pride away from our normal way of seeing things or 99 00:05:14,050 --> 00:05:17,240 the normal way that everybody around us sees the world. 100 00:05:18,150 --> 00:05:21,780 And the reason that this was so shocking is is because it is 101 00:05:21,790 --> 00:05:25,340 kind of otherworldly, right? He's bringing something into the 102 00:05:25,350 --> 00:05:30,640 world that was brand new and and so abnormal because for 103 00:05:30,650 --> 00:05:33,710 intensive purposes, he's saying, look, I, I don't want you to 104 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:37,030 think normally. I don't want you to think about 105 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,570 things the way everybody around you thinks about them. 106 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,610 I want you to see the world in a completely different way, which 107 00:05:43,620 --> 00:05:46,080 is why over and over again he says the Kingdom of heaven is 108 00:05:46,090 --> 00:05:49,850 like this in God's economy and God's way of thinking, this is 109 00:05:49,860 --> 00:05:52,690 how things are. This is how how we should see 110 00:05:52,700 --> 00:05:55,500 things, right. So let's have a look at one of 111 00:05:55,510 --> 00:05:58,990 these shocking statements as we wrap wrap up our I M series 112 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:00,930 today. We'll be in the book of John, 113 00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:03,010 right, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. 114 00:06:03,180 --> 00:06:07,470 And if you have your Bible turned to John chapter 6, and 115 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,190 we're going to start off in verse 47. 116 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:12,990 But I just need to give us a bit of background about what's gone 117 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:15,500 on here. So we are just gonna be hitting 118 00:06:15,510 --> 00:06:18,060 the highlights today. So I do suggest that you read 119 00:06:18,070 --> 00:06:21,750 this chapter later, read through the whole chapter in your own 120 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:23,940 time and get the whole, the feel for the whole thing. 121 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:30,970 So the context here is that Jesus has just fed the 5000. 122 00:06:31,060 --> 00:06:35,750 And again, you know, if you read that account, it's 5000 men plus 123 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:37,830 the woman, plus the children. They had a lot of kids in those 124 00:06:37,840 --> 00:06:40,030 days. So this is a, this is a massive, 125 00:06:40,140 --> 00:06:44,810 a massive crowd and much bigger miracle than than we imagine it 126 00:06:44,820 --> 00:06:47,350 to be. Because for us, we can move 127 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:49,010 food. We have big trucks and 128 00:06:49,020 --> 00:06:51,150 refrigerated trucks and refrigeration systems. 129 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:53,620 You can go to, you know, field days of festival one or 130 00:06:53,630 --> 00:06:55,390 something like that. It's not a big deal for us to 131 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:58,320 move huge amounts of food to another place and feed people. 132 00:06:58,330 --> 00:07:00,010 But in those days they couldn't do that, right? 133 00:07:00,020 --> 00:07:03,510 So this is this massive miracle has just taken place. 134 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:08,250 And then he sends the disciples across the lake. 135 00:07:08,300 --> 00:07:11,230 And so they would sort of on the western shore towards the bottom 136 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:14,880 on on the western side there. And he sends them across the 137 00:07:14,890 --> 00:07:18,290 lake up towards Capernaum. Calpurnia put a little Red Star 138 00:07:18,300 --> 00:07:20,590 on it, you can see. So they hitting on the boats and 139 00:07:20,600 --> 00:07:23,660 Jesus is there by himself. And I'm thinking he's going to 140 00:07:23,670 --> 00:07:26,690 walk around the top right. It's quite a long walk. 141 00:07:26,780 --> 00:07:29,500 So they head off and then of course, he walks out to meet 142 00:07:29,510 --> 00:07:33,450 them on the on the lake, walking on the water. 143 00:07:33,460 --> 00:07:36,790 So, you know, proving again that he was God. 144 00:07:36,940 --> 00:07:42,920 And so from there they go to, to Capernaum at the top, and John 145 00:07:42,930 --> 00:07:46,860 says a bunch of these people who who had got fed by Jesus the day 146 00:07:46,870 --> 00:07:49,250 before, right? They, they turn up, they see the 147 00:07:49,260 --> 00:07:50,780 boats are gone, that Jesus isn't there. 148 00:07:50,790 --> 00:07:52,220 And they hear that he's round imperium. 149 00:07:52,230 --> 00:07:55,600 And so they go free food. Let's, let's go find him, right? 150 00:07:55,770 --> 00:07:58,810 And so they start wandering around the, the top of the lake. 151 00:07:58,890 --> 00:08:01,760 And when they find him, he's in the synagogue. 152 00:08:02,490 --> 00:08:06,460 So they kind of taunt him and they try to get him to do 153 00:08:06,470 --> 00:08:09,810 another miracle, you know, you know, kind of what dinner was 154 00:08:09,820 --> 00:08:11,290 good, anything for dessert, you know? 155 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:13,470 And so they kind of go to him, right? 156 00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:14,880 Do another sign. Do another sign. 157 00:08:14,890 --> 00:08:16,610 Hey, remember that thing you did yesterday? 158 00:08:16,660 --> 00:08:20,630 You know, how about some more of that, you know, You know, Moses, 159 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:23,150 remember that time everybody was in the desert and Moses gave 160 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,250 them some deed, you know, like, you know, maybe, maybe could do 161 00:08:26,260 --> 00:08:28,990 something like that. And they're sort of trying to 162 00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:31,730 trick him into giving them some food. 163 00:08:32,429 --> 00:08:37,120 And Jesus sees this and he turns it into a teaching opportunity. 164 00:08:37,289 --> 00:08:40,320 And he says, if you, if you go through it, he says, now I gave 165 00:08:40,330 --> 00:08:43,440 you bread to eat, but now you're hungry again already, right? 166 00:08:43,490 --> 00:08:46,600 I'd like to give you something better than physical bread. 167 00:08:47,030 --> 00:08:50,620 I'd like to give you bread from which you'll never get over, 168 00:08:50,670 --> 00:08:52,800 You'll never be hungry again, right? 169 00:08:52,810 --> 00:08:58,330 And he's trying to make this, this leap from desires that 170 00:08:58,340 --> 00:09:02,200 never go away and are never fully and finally satisfied. 171 00:09:02,210 --> 00:09:05,530 There's something better, something bigger, something 172 00:09:05,540 --> 00:09:07,870 nourishing that gives people hope and life. 173 00:09:07,940 --> 00:09:10,310 So he's trying to get this this idea across. 174 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:14,710 And he makes this statement and he says I am the bread of life. 175 00:09:15,820 --> 00:09:17,320 Alright, that sounds good, right? 176 00:09:18,170 --> 00:09:20,380 I gave you bread that went away. I'm bitter bread. 177 00:09:20,390 --> 00:09:22,520 I'm. I'm the bread of life that comes 178 00:09:22,530 --> 00:09:25,570 down from heaven. And they look and they start 179 00:09:25,580 --> 00:09:28,320 muttering to each other and they go, no, he's not. 180 00:09:29,270 --> 00:09:32,170 We know his parents. He didn't come from heaven. 181 00:09:32,180 --> 00:09:37,830 We, we know his parents and and Jesus tells him to stop 182 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:42,070 murmuring amongst themselves and he's trying to take the to teach 183 00:09:42,080 --> 00:09:44,370 them. And he takes it another step. 184 00:09:44,500 --> 00:09:48,820 And as we're gonna see, for most people, this was a step too far. 185 00:09:49,940 --> 00:09:52,290 Because there's this kind of Edward Cullen moment in here, 186 00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:54,230 right? And so let's, let's pick it up. 187 00:09:54,240 --> 00:10:00,300 The verse #47 John 647. He says most assuredly. 188 00:10:01,580 --> 00:10:05,970 I say to you, He who believes in me has everlasting life. 189 00:10:06,020 --> 00:10:11,020 I am the bread of life, your Father's ate manner in the 190 00:10:11,030 --> 00:10:15,100 wildness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes 191 00:10:15,110 --> 00:10:18,870 down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. 192 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,830 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. 193 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:26,810 If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. 194 00:10:27,220 --> 00:10:30,610 And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give 195 00:10:30,620 --> 00:10:34,280 for the life of the world. The Jews therefore quarrelled 196 00:10:34,290 --> 00:10:36,920 amongst themselves, saying, How can this man give us his? 197 00:10:37,010 --> 00:10:41,290 Give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them, Most 198 00:10:41,300 --> 00:10:45,970 assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of 199 00:10:45,980 --> 00:10:49,310 Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 200 00:10:51,050 --> 00:10:54,820 And you're thinking, ohh, that's kind of gross, right? 201 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:57,590 You're thinking that. But they were there expecting 202 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,000 them to give them something to eat, not having to see this this 203 00:11:01,010 --> 00:11:03,780 miracle. They have no concept of what 204 00:11:03,790 --> 00:11:08,000 he's talking about later. This is gonna make perfect sense 205 00:11:08,950 --> 00:11:11,160 later. His disciples gonna go ohh, They 206 00:11:11,170 --> 00:11:13,420 think you were talking about that vampire deal. 207 00:11:13,430 --> 00:11:15,930 Yeah, no, I now I get it right. I understand what you were 208 00:11:15,940 --> 00:11:17,600 talking about. I understand what you what you 209 00:11:17,610 --> 00:11:20,180 meant. But right now they don't really 210 00:11:20,190 --> 00:11:22,360 have have a lot of context for this. 211 00:11:22,450 --> 00:11:25,910 And so this is like, eat your flesh and drink your blood, 212 00:11:26,650 --> 00:11:29,680 right? And we'll get a turnal life, one 213 00:11:29,690 --> 00:11:31,350 in the world, are you talking about right? 214 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:36,020 And the whole crowd is cringing, that cringing. 215 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:37,560 Try this out on your friends, Right. 216 00:11:37,570 --> 00:11:39,910 You know, if they say, well, how do I know that I'm going to 217 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:41,690 heaven? Well, have you eaten his flesh 218 00:11:41,700 --> 00:11:44,980 and drink his blood? Yeah, do what now? 219 00:11:45,050 --> 00:11:47,380 You're right. It this was shocking, right? 220 00:11:47,390 --> 00:11:50,140 He's in the middle of assuming he's he's teaching them 221 00:11:50,150 --> 00:11:52,440 something. He's saying I, I gave you 222 00:11:52,450 --> 00:11:54,740 physical bread, but there wasn't enough. 223 00:11:54,810 --> 00:11:57,820 I want you to have quality of life here and perspective of 224 00:11:57,830 --> 00:12:00,240 life later. And the way you get that. 225 00:12:00,330 --> 00:12:03,060 And here's his point. The way you get that is through 226 00:12:03,070 --> 00:12:06,120 me, right? Goes back to last week's round, 227 00:12:06,130 --> 00:12:07,650 right? I am the way, the truth and the 228 00:12:07,660 --> 00:12:09,480 life, right? I am the bread of life. 229 00:12:09,490 --> 00:12:13,740 I'm, I'm, I'm what you need. But it uses a strange language, 230 00:12:13,750 --> 00:12:15,450 right? Have a look at verse 54. 231 00:12:16,100 --> 00:12:21,010 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and 232 00:12:21,020 --> 00:12:24,150 I'll raise them up at the last day, right? 233 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:25,730 That's kind of weird language too, right? 234 00:12:25,790 --> 00:12:30,110 And he goes on, There's 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my 235 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:32,430 blood is drink indeed. Right, Right. 236 00:12:32,440 --> 00:12:34,520 My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 237 00:12:35,700 --> 00:12:39,110 We think, OK, like I said, I'm just giving you a snapshot. 238 00:12:39,120 --> 00:12:40,870 You need to read through this later. 239 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:44,110 But he carries on talking in this kind of language, right? 240 00:12:44,850 --> 00:12:47,490 And the more he talks about this stuff, I'm the bread of life 241 00:12:47,500 --> 00:12:49,840 that came down from heaven. You need to eat my flesh and 242 00:12:49,850 --> 00:12:51,330 drink my blood. And I'll raise you up on the 243 00:12:51,340 --> 00:12:54,370 last day. The more the crowd gets edgy, 244 00:12:55,790 --> 00:12:59,960 they start to, yeah, get very nervous and you can feel it. 245 00:13:00,690 --> 00:13:03,630 In fact, after he'd finished, look at what it says, verse 60 246 00:13:05,160 --> 00:13:06,930 says. Therefore, many of us disciples, 247 00:13:06,940 --> 00:13:10,250 when they heard this, they said this is a hard saying. 248 00:13:10,300 --> 00:13:14,330 Who can understand it? The the Greek word there 249 00:13:14,340 --> 00:13:18,840 translated understand can mean who can embrace this, right? 250 00:13:18,850 --> 00:13:20,950 Who, who? Who can get on board with this? 251 00:13:21,090 --> 00:13:24,750 Who can go with this? Who can work with this because 252 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:26,300 it's difficult. It's so difficult, right? 253 00:13:26,310 --> 00:13:28,700 This is a hard sign. This is a difficult saying. 254 00:13:28,970 --> 00:13:32,020 Who can, who can get on board with this is Jesus wraps up, 255 00:13:32,030 --> 00:13:35,180 you've got his, his. The 12 disciples, the closest 256 00:13:35,190 --> 00:13:38,070 followers of Jesus, are kind of looking at this and they're 257 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,260 watching the crowd. And the crowd is starting to 258 00:13:41,270 --> 00:13:44,060 disperse, right? They just start leaving. 259 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:46,020 Now here's what we need to understand. 260 00:13:46,030 --> 00:13:49,760 To those 12 guys, the crowd was everything. 261 00:13:49,770 --> 00:13:53,960 And, and here's why, right to, to those guys following Jesus, 262 00:13:53,970 --> 00:13:56,980 right, Matthew, Mark and, and, and John Bartholomew and James 263 00:13:56,990 --> 00:13:59,920 and, you know, and, and, and the rest of them, the crowd was 264 00:13:59,930 --> 00:14:03,560 important because the crowd was the buffer between them and the 265 00:14:03,570 --> 00:14:06,260 Pharisees and other, you know, religious leaders. 266 00:14:07,190 --> 00:14:11,800 As long as they had the crowd, they had protection from the 267 00:14:11,810 --> 00:14:14,910 Jewish authorities and by extension, protection from Rome 268 00:14:15,070 --> 00:14:18,360 to a certain extent. About two days before Jesus was 269 00:14:18,370 --> 00:14:23,600 arrested, there was a secret meeting at the home of the high 270 00:14:23,610 --> 00:14:26,090 priest. And this meeting was about 271 00:14:26,100 --> 00:14:27,790 trying to apprehend Jesus, right? 272 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,220 We want to arrest him. How do we, how do we get hold of 273 00:14:30,230 --> 00:14:32,290 him? And the problem was that they 274 00:14:32,300 --> 00:14:36,550 needed to do it when there was no crowds around, right? 275 00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:39,410 Because if they just came in and arrested Jesus while there was a 276 00:14:39,420 --> 00:14:41,910 big crowd, right, the crowd might riot. 277 00:14:42,630 --> 00:14:44,740 Why? And if the crowd's riot, the 278 00:14:44,750 --> 00:14:46,940 Romans are gonna come down hard, right? 279 00:14:46,950 --> 00:14:50,500 They'd already been a riot previously and Governor Pilot 280 00:14:50,510 --> 00:14:52,960 was in no, no mood to be trifled with. 281 00:14:53,170 --> 00:14:56,240 And they kind of knew this, right, that the crowds, crowds 282 00:14:56,250 --> 00:14:58,780 would revolt if they came and arrested Jesus. 283 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,550 So they needed to get Jesus when he was away from the crowds, 284 00:15:01,560 --> 00:15:03,750 which is why they came at night, which was actually against the 285 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:05,660 law, right? They broke about 17 different 286 00:15:05,670 --> 00:15:08,320 laws and in in coming to to arrest them. 287 00:15:08,390 --> 00:15:10,640 So they're having this meeting in Judas turned up to that 288 00:15:10,650 --> 00:15:13,660 meeting and says how much will you give me if I can organise 289 00:15:13,670 --> 00:15:16,090 that? Back to John 6. 290 00:15:16,140 --> 00:15:19,900 The disciples are watching, the crowd is dispersing, and that's 291 00:15:19,910 --> 00:15:22,990 not a good thing. The day before, they were 292 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,670 heroes, right? In fact, it says that after 293 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:29,630 Jesus fed the multitudes, a whole bunch of people wanted to 294 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:32,570 get him and forcibly make him king, right? 295 00:15:32,990 --> 00:15:36,170 Seriously, right. And so these were the guys that 296 00:15:36,180 --> 00:15:40,370 were the closest, right? They were the inner circle of of 297 00:15:40,440 --> 00:15:42,420 the guy that everybody wanted to make king. 298 00:15:44,210 --> 00:15:48,170 And now the the followers of a crazy man and the crowd are 299 00:15:48,180 --> 00:15:51,690 starting to leave. You know, I think they didn't do 300 00:15:51,700 --> 00:15:54,230 this, but it must have been very tempting for them to kind of 301 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:56,520 sort of say to the crowd, hey, just just talk amongst 302 00:15:56,530 --> 00:15:57,970 yourselves for a minute, alright? 303 00:15:57,980 --> 00:16:01,940 And then take Jesus aside and say, hey, how about you preach 304 00:16:01,950 --> 00:16:04,510 something about prayer, right? That'd be nice. 305 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:07,750 Or maybe feed them again, right? That that would illustrate your 306 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:09,910 point really well. You don't want them to think 307 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,350 you're crazy, right? Your family already thinks 308 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:14,840 you're crazy. They didn't do any of that. 309 00:16:14,850 --> 00:16:17,920 They just watched the crowd leave. 310 00:16:18,010 --> 00:16:20,640 But Jesus sort of picks up on this vibe that's coming from the 311 00:16:20,650 --> 00:16:22,650 disciples. Look what it says. 312 00:16:22,660 --> 00:16:26,230 Very 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples 313 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:30,430 complained about this, he said to them, Does this offend you? 314 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:37,210 This make you stumble? This causes you to doubt. 315 00:16:39,030 --> 00:16:42,510 This does make you begin to reconsider whether you've made 316 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:48,650 the right decision being so closely associated with me now. 317 00:16:48,660 --> 00:16:52,180 John looked back on this event and and he wrote about it. 318 00:16:52,190 --> 00:16:56,000 He makes the point of noting that this was a defining moment 319 00:16:56,010 --> 00:16:59,240 in Jesus ministry. Things changed at this point, 320 00:16:59,250 --> 00:17:00,630 right? Look at verse 66. 321 00:17:01,590 --> 00:17:05,460 She says from that time many of his disciples went back and 322 00:17:05,470 --> 00:17:08,470 walked with them. No more disciples isn't talking 323 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:09,920 about the 12. This is talking about the 324 00:17:09,930 --> 00:17:12,220 hundreds of people that were following him and listening to 325 00:17:12,230 --> 00:17:15,700 his teaching in in, you know, following from place to place. 326 00:17:15,970 --> 00:17:20,579 This was the end of the crowd. This was the end of his 327 00:17:20,589 --> 00:17:22,050 popularity in the Gospel of John. 328 00:17:23,010 --> 00:17:28,319 And suddenly those 12 disciples, those 12 close followers knew, 329 00:17:28,490 --> 00:17:31,470 hey, we're moving into a different stage and a different 330 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:35,170 season of followership now, right? 331 00:17:36,570 --> 00:17:39,530 Things have changed. And as they watched the crowd 332 00:17:39,540 --> 00:17:44,110 thin out and thin out and thin out, I'm sure it would have been 333 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,390 really tempting just to go and just gonna step behind a pillar, 334 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,370 you know, and just kind of wander out with the crowd. 335 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:53,990 Yeah, out of the synagogue and just kind of disappear. 336 00:17:55,060 --> 00:17:58,590 The message is over. This is long pause and then 337 00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:03,940 Jesus says that's where 67 and Jesus said to the 12 you also 338 00:18:03,950 --> 00:18:07,940 want to go away, you don't want to leave too, do you? 339 00:18:09,950 --> 00:18:14,840 Who so busted, he knew what they were thinking. 340 00:18:14,910 --> 00:18:16,200 He knew what they were thinking, right. 341 00:18:16,210 --> 00:18:18,500 And suddenly, you know, you ever seen those? 342 00:18:18,930 --> 00:18:21,190 It's an optical illusion picture, you know, and, and the 343 00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:22,940 picture looks at you and it doesn't matter where you go in 344 00:18:22,950 --> 00:18:24,220 the room. The picture is always, always 345 00:18:24,230 --> 00:18:26,690 looking at you. I can just imagine Jesus kind of 346 00:18:26,700 --> 00:18:28,680 becomes like that. No matter where you go, like he, 347 00:18:28,770 --> 00:18:31,660 he, he's looking at you. And they knew that from this 348 00:18:31,670 --> 00:18:34,900 point on, following Jesus was going to be difficult. 349 00:18:35,290 --> 00:18:37,350 Following Jesus was going to cost them something. 350 00:18:39,010 --> 00:18:42,880 From this time forward, they understood there was going to be 351 00:18:42,890 --> 00:18:45,540 some tough times. It wasn't always going to be to 352 00:18:45,550 --> 00:18:48,750 their advantage serving him. It wasn't always gonna serve 353 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,660 them well, right? At times, amazing how the 354 00:18:52,770 --> 00:18:56,520 everything went this morning was Gavin speaking and then and then 355 00:18:56,530 --> 00:18:58,720 Matt talking about the difference between joy and 356 00:18:58,730 --> 00:19:01,420 happiness, right? Happiness is about events, 357 00:19:01,430 --> 00:19:02,660 right? It's it's related to the word 358 00:19:02,670 --> 00:19:05,200 happen. So happiness comes and goes, but 359 00:19:05,210 --> 00:19:06,940 joy is this sort of underlying thing. 360 00:19:06,950 --> 00:19:09,080 And there are going to be times where it wasn't going to be very 361 00:19:09,090 --> 00:19:10,960 happy, right? The joy is going to be there. 362 00:19:10,970 --> 00:19:12,620 But it was it was going to cost, right. 363 00:19:12,770 --> 00:19:16,860 I remember having this moment this the same kind of thought, I 364 00:19:16,870 --> 00:19:19,720 guess where they were when I go to tech. 365 00:19:20,310 --> 00:19:23,860 So when, when I was going through high school and my dad 366 00:19:23,870 --> 00:19:26,980 was a soldier and we used to move about every two years, we 367 00:19:26,990 --> 00:19:30,300 moved when we would move to a new place, my mum and my 368 00:19:30,310 --> 00:19:32,750 brothers and I would go to a church. 369 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:35,760 The first thing we would do is find a church and, and I would 370 00:19:35,770 --> 00:19:39,400 plug into a youth group, right? And so I can very quickly make 371 00:19:39,410 --> 00:19:42,180 new friends in a new place a lot quicker than I could have if I 372 00:19:42,190 --> 00:19:45,300 just, you know, gone to school and, and whatever, I would plug 373 00:19:45,310 --> 00:19:47,140 into youth group. And so I had fun things to do 374 00:19:47,150 --> 00:19:49,980 and I was learning and, you know, having these fun things to 375 00:19:49,990 --> 00:19:51,590 do kept me out of trouble mostly. 376 00:19:51,690 --> 00:19:56,500 And so my Christianity was of quite a big advantage to me 377 00:19:56,570 --> 00:19:58,940 through particularly my later years in high school. 378 00:19:59,010 --> 00:20:01,540 But I remember when I got to, to tech, right? 379 00:20:01,550 --> 00:20:05,160 And so now I'm I'm, I'm living. Away from my parents and you 380 00:20:05,170 --> 00:20:07,640 know, you, you, you got all this autonomy and making your own 381 00:20:07,650 --> 00:20:10,010 decisions. And I remember just sort of 382 00:20:10,020 --> 00:20:13,490 hitting this moment and thinking, if I'm serious about 383 00:20:13,500 --> 00:20:17,080 being a follower of Jesus Christ, it's gonna be tough. 384 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,960 It's gonna be tough because I'm not going to be making the same 385 00:20:19,970 --> 00:20:22,070 decisions as most of my friends around me. 386 00:20:22,140 --> 00:20:23,570 I'm not gonna be living the same way. 387 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:26,480 I'm not gonna be viewing life the way they're viewing it. 388 00:20:26,540 --> 00:20:31,860 And I remember having, you know, that that realisation one night. 389 00:20:31,870 --> 00:20:34,780 And if you've been a, a follower of Christ for any length of 390 00:20:34,790 --> 00:20:37,140 time, you've probably hit that at some point. 391 00:20:37,150 --> 00:20:40,760 In fact, you probably had multiple moments like that kind 392 00:20:40,770 --> 00:20:44,060 of these not really a crisis of faith, but you know, a junction 393 00:20:44,070 --> 00:20:46,040 where you, you, you're thinking about your face. 394 00:20:46,390 --> 00:20:49,620 Suddenly it's going to cost you to serve God, right? 395 00:20:49,630 --> 00:20:51,600 It's not gonna be serving you right now, right? 396 00:20:51,670 --> 00:20:54,210 It's it's gonna be hard if you, if you're talking about being a 397 00:20:54,220 --> 00:20:57,520 genuine, all in, you know, heartfelt follower of Jesus 398 00:20:57,530 --> 00:21:02,150 Christ, it's gonna cost in all of our Christian journeys. 399 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,350 There are times, there are going to be times where it seems like 400 00:21:06,360 --> 00:21:08,090 it costs us more than we're getting. 401 00:21:08,820 --> 00:21:13,730 It seems like we're giving more than than than we're taking. 402 00:21:13,740 --> 00:21:17,790 And it seems like it's more of a hassle to be a follower of Jesus 403 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,350 Christ than a help, right? You'll, you'll get into these, 404 00:21:20,420 --> 00:21:22,890 these times like the disciples did then. 405 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:24,570 And what happens when you get into those moments? 406 00:21:24,580 --> 00:21:27,750 You know, sometimes that story from way back when, when, when 407 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,610 you finally surrendered to Christ or that story with that 408 00:21:30,620 --> 00:21:33,490 great thing happened where, where God really just came 409 00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:37,070 through for you and, and, and rescued you from something that 410 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,690 just sort of seems so long ago, right. 411 00:21:39,700 --> 00:21:43,140 And the emotion of that has long since worn off And and it's just 412 00:21:43,780 --> 00:21:45,800 putting 1 foot in front of the other and saying I'm doing this 413 00:21:45,810 --> 00:21:48,930 because God told me to. I'm doing this because Jesus 414 00:21:48,940 --> 00:21:50,470 said to. I'm doing this because I'm a 415 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,790 Christian and I'm not really enjoying it much right now, 416 00:21:53,800 --> 00:21:56,320 right? You have times where where that 417 00:21:56,330 --> 00:21:58,470 happens, right? This is our moment. 418 00:21:58,480 --> 00:22:01,510 This is where we live, right? It's one of those mini moments 419 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:03,090 which Jesus is, you know, thinking of leaving too. 420 00:22:03,100 --> 00:22:08,070 Are you? This is why I love the Bible. 421 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,590 Alright? Can you imagine the awkwardness 422 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,770 of that moment? It's just the 12 guys and a few 423 00:22:15,780 --> 00:22:17,690 women who are who are always there following too. 424 00:22:17,700 --> 00:22:20,770 And and they're all left there in the synagogue and nobody's 425 00:22:20,780 --> 00:22:24,160 making eye contact with Jesus. And it's too late to sneak out 426 00:22:24,170 --> 00:22:26,270 because they'll hear your footsteps clip clopping on the 427 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:30,680 marble floor of the synagogue. And everyone, including Jesus, 428 00:22:30,690 --> 00:22:33,040 is going to be looking at you if you do that. 429 00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:38,940 And then Peter of all people, has this flash of insight that 430 00:22:38,950 --> 00:22:42,750 is absolutely brilliant and one of the most extraordinarily 431 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,610 helpful statements in all of Scripture. 432 00:22:47,890 --> 00:22:50,800 Because in this moment, Peter realises something that I think 433 00:22:50,850 --> 00:22:54,700 most of us miss in amongst these moments of trial and temptation 434 00:22:54,710 --> 00:22:59,740 and hard slog, In this moment he sees things in a way that I 435 00:22:59,750 --> 00:23:03,290 don't think any of the other. Because they saw it, and Peter 436 00:23:03,300 --> 00:23:05,130 asked the question that we all need to learn to ask. 437 00:23:05,140 --> 00:23:09,070 Because we're all gonna be in a position at some point where it 438 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,140 needs to be said, and this is it. 439 00:23:11,830 --> 00:23:16,130 Simon Peter answered him. Lord, to whom shall we go? 440 00:23:17,850 --> 00:23:22,660 Whom should we go? You know, he's again, yes. 441 00:23:22,730 --> 00:23:24,220 I mean, yes, we're tempted to leave. 442 00:23:24,230 --> 00:23:27,380 Yes, it occurred to me that now would be a good time to blend in 443 00:23:27,390 --> 00:23:30,230 with the crowd and disappear. But Jesus had also occurred to 444 00:23:30,240 --> 00:23:34,540 me that to walk away from you would be to walk towards someone 445 00:23:34,550 --> 00:23:38,820 else or something else. It's focused as, as as I am on 446 00:23:38,830 --> 00:23:41,900 my questions when I consider my options. 447 00:23:42,610 --> 00:23:49,040 To whom shall we go? To follow you means to opt to 448 00:23:49,050 --> 00:23:51,160 refuse. To follow you means to to opt to 449 00:23:51,170 --> 00:23:52,840 follow someone or something else. 450 00:23:52,850 --> 00:23:58,190 And we've been around long enough to know well, to whom 451 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:03,900 shall we go, right? Say it with me, right. 321 To 452 00:24:03,910 --> 00:24:07,980 whom shall we go? Because that's the question. 453 00:24:08,050 --> 00:24:13,100 The question in that moment of trial and temptation when it's 454 00:24:13,110 --> 00:24:16,250 not serving you and and it it just be easier to walk away. 455 00:24:16,260 --> 00:24:19,600 That's the question. The question isn't all of the 456 00:24:19,610 --> 00:24:22,700 other questions, right? Cause you get in these things 457 00:24:22,710 --> 00:24:26,000 and you say, well, Jesus, if you just sort this out or you just 458 00:24:26,010 --> 00:24:29,450 sit this, sit me down and explain this to me and you just 459 00:24:29,460 --> 00:24:32,130 show me, tell me how this is gonna work out or what this is 460 00:24:32,140 --> 00:24:34,370 going to lead to. You just show me where this is 461 00:24:34,380 --> 00:24:36,330 going to lead. If you describe to me what the 462 00:24:36,340 --> 00:24:39,500 whole point of this is, you know, let me find. 463 00:24:40,980 --> 00:24:42,790 But no, that's not the question, right? 464 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:46,110 The question is, if not Jesus, who? 465 00:24:47,690 --> 00:24:52,580 If not Jesus, what? Because I'm crazy to think that 466 00:24:52,590 --> 00:24:56,160 I can back away from Jesus without backing into another who 467 00:24:56,170 --> 00:25:00,490 or another what. Because at the end of the day, 468 00:25:00,900 --> 00:25:05,200 to whom shall we go? And Peter fills us in it, feels 469 00:25:05,490 --> 00:25:08,840 the rest of us thought in here. He says this, but somebody 470 00:25:08,850 --> 00:25:10,960 answered him. Lord, to whom shall we go? 471 00:25:11,150 --> 00:25:13,790 You have the words of eternal life. 472 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,680 Yeah, this is tough. Yeah, this is confusing. 473 00:25:19,660 --> 00:25:21,680 You know, I really wish you hadn't preached that message. 474 00:25:21,690 --> 00:25:23,250 I don't understand it. I don't get it. 475 00:25:23,260 --> 00:25:25,010 I'm. I'm struggling to comprehend it. 476 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:28,040 But at the end of the day, to whom shall we go? 477 00:25:28,050 --> 00:25:30,500 You're the only person who's promised eternal life. 478 00:25:31,680 --> 00:25:34,930 You're the only person who who bought a his bought a sense of 479 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:38,570 purpose and meaning through this life. 480 00:25:39,750 --> 00:25:42,830 You're the only one who can talk about what's afterlife, because 481 00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:44,720 you're the one who's come from heaven and can talk about it 482 00:25:44,730 --> 00:25:48,910 with any authority you know, and can talk about what's beyond 483 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,990 what what we can see. You've convinced us there's more 484 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:59,280 to this life than this life. Anyone else we go to, you know, 485 00:25:59,290 --> 00:26:03,360 it might be easier, they might appear smarter, they might seem 486 00:26:03,370 --> 00:26:06,060 to offer more, they may even feed us everyday of our lives, 487 00:26:06,190 --> 00:26:09,470 right? But nobody else can talk about 488 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,610 eternal life. Who in the world could we turn 489 00:26:12,620 --> 00:26:14,770 to? You're the only person on the 490 00:26:14,780 --> 00:26:16,950 planet who has the words of eternal life. 491 00:26:18,530 --> 00:26:22,470 Yeah, this is hard, but come on, to whom should we go? 492 00:26:25,350 --> 00:26:27,850 Then Peter finishes it out like this in verse 69. 493 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,300 Also, we have come to believe and know, right, and that there 494 00:26:33,310 --> 00:26:37,670 would know is if you can just go to to know through experience, 495 00:26:37,860 --> 00:26:39,970 right? We've experienced this right? 496 00:26:40,220 --> 00:26:44,730 We've come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son 497 00:26:44,740 --> 00:26:48,800 of the living God, right? He's kind of saying, look, 498 00:26:48,810 --> 00:26:52,030 Jesus, you've ruined us, really. Because we've seen too much. 499 00:26:52,850 --> 00:26:55,910 We know too much. If we were to leave today with 500 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:59,080 the crowd, we would eventually be back because we've believed 501 00:26:59,090 --> 00:27:02,680 that we've come to know that you are from God and you are God. 502 00:27:04,330 --> 00:27:06,880 You are the great I am. It's not what we predicted. 503 00:27:06,890 --> 00:27:09,950 It's not what we expected. It doesn't really feel like it's 504 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,050 working out for us right now. But Jesus, to whom are we gonna 505 00:27:13,060 --> 00:27:17,580 go? Let's convince this just a just 506 00:27:17,590 --> 00:27:20,370 a couple of statements, right? First one is don't focus 507 00:27:20,380 --> 00:27:22,410 exclusively on your questions, right? 508 00:27:22,420 --> 00:27:23,920 And I'm not saying don't ask questions. 509 00:27:23,930 --> 00:27:25,380 It's it's great to ask questions. 510 00:27:26,110 --> 00:27:28,030 I was all about that. But you know, I've, I've, I 511 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:31,480 never met someone who said I became a follower of Jesus 512 00:27:31,490 --> 00:27:35,330 Christ once I got all my questions answered, right? 513 00:27:35,340 --> 00:27:37,590 That that just doesn't happen. And in the same way, I've never 514 00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:41,390 met a Christian who said once I became a follower of Jesus 515 00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,770 Christ I got all my questions answered. 516 00:27:44,550 --> 00:27:47,790 Ohh. I think in times of trial and in 517 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:53,250 times of transition and in times of temptation, the questions get 518 00:27:53,260 --> 00:27:56,170 so big that we can kind of question ourselves out of a 519 00:27:56,180 --> 00:28:00,380 closer relationship with Christ. At the end of the day, if 520 00:28:00,390 --> 00:28:02,820 Christianity is too hard, if it's too demanding, if it's too 521 00:28:02,830 --> 00:28:05,950 restricting, if it's too confining, then before you opt 522 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,290 out, before you bail out, who are you going to follow? 523 00:28:11,440 --> 00:28:14,410 What are you going to follow? What worldview are you going to 524 00:28:14,420 --> 00:28:20,910 embrace? Don't allow your questions about 525 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,640 following Jesus to blind you to the fact that when you walk away 526 00:28:23,650 --> 00:28:27,420 from Jesus, you embrace someone else or something else. 527 00:28:30,730 --> 00:28:33,160 When you consider your options, I think most of us come to 528 00:28:33,170 --> 00:28:34,560 Peterson conclusion, OK, it's hard. 529 00:28:34,570 --> 00:28:36,560 I don't. I don't always like it, I don't 530 00:28:36,570 --> 00:28:39,780 always understand it. But to whom shall we go? 531 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,620 Because you're the ones with. You're the one with the words of 532 00:28:44,630 --> 00:28:47,420 eternal life. Besides that, we believe and 533 00:28:47,430 --> 00:28:49,690 we've come to know that you are the son of the living God, 534 00:28:50,100 --> 00:28:52,910 right? This is especially true in times 535 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,790 of transition, right? Going from high school to uni 536 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,950 and moving to a new city, starting a new job, times of 537 00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:03,410 transition, right? Also during times of trial, 538 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:04,830 right? Marriage is going through a 539 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:06,890 tough season. Parenting is going through a 540 00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:09,510 rough time. Right in the middle of it all, 541 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:11,790 you thinking, man, it doesn't feel like it's working. 542 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,660 And, and God's not answering my prayers and he's not coming 543 00:29:14,670 --> 00:29:16,550 through for me. And, and my non Christian 544 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:18,450 friends seem to be able to deal with this much better. 545 00:29:18,460 --> 00:29:20,930 They just kind of mitigate themselves through this and, and 546 00:29:20,940 --> 00:29:22,350 don't feel guilty about any of that. 547 00:29:22,490 --> 00:29:24,800 And maybe I, you know, I could just abandon this stuff and I 548 00:29:24,810 --> 00:29:27,400 could go through all kinds of things and all kinds of people 549 00:29:27,410 --> 00:29:29,340 and, and not feel guilty about that. 550 00:29:29,430 --> 00:29:33,120 It's always there, right? But here's the thing. 551 00:29:33,190 --> 00:29:36,410 To whom will you go? To what will you go? 552 00:29:37,810 --> 00:29:41,450 And all those things that you think about chasing, Do any of 553 00:29:41,460 --> 00:29:43,080 them know anything about eternal life? 554 00:29:46,530 --> 00:29:48,470 And if you're not going through some stuff and you, you're 555 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:53,040 thinking, yeah, I'm not so sure about this, you know, Ohh, no, 556 00:29:53,050 --> 00:29:54,680 sorry if you are going through this stuff, right? 557 00:29:54,690 --> 00:29:56,630 So you're going through things and you going, yeah, I'm not 558 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:57,720 sure about this Christianity thing. 559 00:29:57,730 --> 00:29:59,860 It's really tough, right? Guess what? 560 00:30:00,230 --> 00:30:03,060 You're not the first one. You're not the first one. 561 00:30:03,110 --> 00:30:06,590 The guys who followed the actual Jesus, right, were tempted to 562 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:09,740 walk away from him. So you're not the first one. 563 00:30:09,810 --> 00:30:13,160 But the question that made them stick was to who shall we go? 564 00:30:13,170 --> 00:30:17,160 Because in the end, he is the bread of life, right? 565 00:30:17,630 --> 00:30:21,140 No one and nothing else can bring the fulfilment that he 566 00:30:21,150 --> 00:30:25,050 brings over the long term, right? 567 00:30:25,060 --> 00:30:27,080 The difference again, between joy and happiness. 568 00:30:27,790 --> 00:30:30,520 Next week, we're gonna start a new series looking in the book 569 00:30:30,530 --> 00:30:34,240 of Luke, and we're gonna look through Luke's gospel at the 570 00:30:34,250 --> 00:30:37,410 life of Jesus and what happened. And we're gonna see that we're 571 00:30:37,420 --> 00:30:40,300 gonna say, man, is it worth it? Yeah, it's worth it. 572 00:30:41,390 --> 00:30:44,690 It's amazing. But it's not unusual. 573 00:30:44,700 --> 00:30:47,200 And in fact, it's normal to have these times where you go, man, 574 00:30:47,210 --> 00:30:49,850 this is really tough. I don't understand this. 575 00:30:50,640 --> 00:30:53,350 I don't understand this, Jesus said. 576 00:30:53,420 --> 00:30:57,010 I am the bread of life. There's nothing that satisfies 577 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:06,520 like Jesus does. Let's pray, Father, we are so 578 00:31:06,530 --> 00:31:13,050 thankful for these these stories that these true events that that 579 00:31:13,060 --> 00:31:16,010 really reflects things that happen to us all the time. 580 00:31:16,020 --> 00:31:18,750 And we thank you for the fact that the Bible doesn't pull 581 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:21,650 punches. The fact that your word is here 582 00:31:21,660 --> 00:31:24,850 covers all the hard stuff. We thank you for that, Louie. 583 00:31:24,860 --> 00:31:27,660 Thank you that you are the great I am. 584 00:31:27,910 --> 00:31:34,800 We thank you that Jesus was and his that I am and is the bread 585 00:31:34,810 --> 00:31:37,050 of life and that nothing satisfies like Him. 586 00:31:37,060 --> 00:31:41,340 Will we thank you for your love and your grace to us when we 587 00:31:41,410 --> 00:31:44,780 when we struggle, when we we don't get it, when we can't 588 00:31:44,790 --> 00:31:48,090 grasp what's going on. But we know that you are an 589 00:31:48,100 --> 00:31:51,400 infinite God and infinitely more powerful and more knowledgeable 590 00:31:51,410 --> 00:31:54,080 than than us. And we thank you that you are. 591 00:31:54,090 --> 00:31:57,720 We thank you that you're a God who's faithful that we can trust 592 00:31:57,770 --> 00:32:00,040 you again. Lord, thank you for being the 593 00:32:00,050 --> 00:32:02,180 great I am. Thank you in Jesus name.