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SCRIPTURE:
"They discussed this with
one another and said, "It is because we have no BREAD.
Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them:
"Why are you talking about having no BREAD? Do you still not see or
understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see,
and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five
loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick
up?" "Twelve," they replied. "And when I broke the seven loaves for the
four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They
answered, "Seven."
He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
(Mark 8:16-21, NIV)
OBSERVATION:
I had asked myself what was Jesus' reaction to the
disciples discussion?
Aware of their
discussion, Jesus asked them:
1. "Why are
you talking about having no BREAD?
2. "Do you still not see or
understand?"
3. "Are your hearts hardened?"
4. "Do you have eyes but fail to see,
and ears but fail to hear?"
5. "And don't you remember?"
6. "When I broke the five loaves for
the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
7. "And when I broke the seven loaves for
the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
I decided to look at questions
6 & 7 today regarding BREAD! To understand that I looked at a
passage dealing with Jesus feeding the 5000.
“They all ate and were
satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken
pieces of BREAD and fish. The number of the men who
had eaten was five thousand.” (Mark 6:42-44, NIV)
INTERPRETATION:
I asked myself why is it significant that we know
they all ate and were satisfied?
It is significant because Jesus is the BREAD of Life and not only did He
provide for their spiritual needs but their physical needs too. But most
importantly, Jesus cared for their soul because He is the BREAD of Life
to save humanity.
Jesus said, “I am the BREAD of life. Your
fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the BREAD
which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am
the living BREAD which
came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this BREAD, he will live
forever; and the BREAD that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give
for the life of the world.” (John 6:48-51)
Observations:
I looked for words/phrases that
are repeated over and over because repetition usually implies
importance! What stuck out in these verses is BREAD. It is mentioned 7
times in these verses alone:
-
I am the BREAD of life.
-
Your fathers ate the
manna in the wilderness and died.
-
This is the BREAD which
comes down from heaven.
-
This BREAD can be eaten
and one who eats it will never die.
-
I am the living BREAD
which came down from heaven.
-
If anyone eats of this
BREAD, he will live forever.
-
The BREAD that I shall
give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.
Within these 7 listings alone, I
saw lots of precious nuggets of Truth which have been spoken by Jesus
and confirmed with repetition. Seven is a number of completion too!
1 & 5 can be paired together.
3 & 5 can be paired together.
4 & 6 can be paired together.
All these pairings are brought
together and summarized in a nutshell with #7!!!
I found these 7 points very
fascinating and exciting to look deeply into!
Observations/Interpretations:
I
asked myself what types of BREAD are represented here?
1. Dying BREAD!
2. Living BREAD!
I
asked myself what ‘dying BREAD’ means?
What came to my mind when I thought about dying BREAD is the
manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness. It was a type of BREAD
that was going to rot if it was not used in the specified time and
amount that the Lord had allotted for them to eat it. Also, this BREAD
was not going to help them live forever. Those that ate of it eventually
died. This BREAD could not
sustain life forever.
I
asked myself what ‘Living BREAD’ means?
What came to my mind is Jesus
Christ for He claimed to be the ‘Living BREAD’.
Not only that but He is the ‘I AM’ that
introduced Himself to Moses at the Burning Bush. It is Jesus that gave
them manna to eat. Now Jesus does not just introduce Himself as
‘I AM’ but as ‘I AM
the BREAD OF LIFE’. It is this BREAD that gives life but there is
a condition.
Those who want to continue to
live forever need to eat this BREAD. Just as the Israelites had to eat
the BREAD that fell from heaven to stay alive physically, following the
rules set by God, Jesus is letting his listeners know that they need to
eat a new kind of BREAD that came from Heaven to stay alive eternally,
following Him.
All the manna eaten would not
give people Eternal life but Jesus said He could give it to them.
The statement Jesus makes is so
profound that Jesus introduces His credentials first before making the
statement, “If anyone eats of this BREAD, he
will live forever; and the BREAD that I shall give is My flesh, which I
shall give for the life of the world.”
I
asked myself what are the credentials that Jesus introduces for Himself?
I am the living BREAD
which came down from heaven.
The people of that day would
have been familiar with ‘I AM’ especially
since that is how God introduced Himself to Moses. The people knew that
God spoke from Heaven. Jesus uses those same words with a description:
‘I AM the BREAD of Life’. Jesus does not
stop there but lets them know He is the I Am from Heaven!
People needed to believe in His
credentials if they were going to accept what He was going to tell them.
Right after speaking about His credentials, Jesus talks about eating.
Jesus wants them to eat the
BREAD of Life to live forever and makes it clear to them He is the key
to make that happen. This is evidenced by “and
the BREAD that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life
of the world.”
What cannibalism?
No, No, No!!!
Jesus is foreshadowing His death
to come when His body would be broken, symbolized by BREAD, and given
for the life of the world.
Jesus starts of with
‘I Am the BREAD of Life' and concludes here
with ‘Given for the life of the world.'
If these two are put together
for a nutshell summary it comes of as “I Am the BREAD of Life given for
the life of the world.”
I
asked myself what is the ‘life of the world’ mean?
What came to my mind is that
physical BREAD such as manna was not enough to keep the world from
dying. People were eating and living but their souls were still dying
because they were separated from God
because of their sin. No one of the world has been able to be perfect in
the sight of the Lord and the people of
the world have not lived forever. Their eternity has been
hampered because of their separation from God because God in His
Holiness and perfect righteousness cannot allow sin into His presence.
This means even if we think or other people think what good persons we
are, our 99.9% good deeds and 0.1% bad deed will still make us bad. It
is like 99.9% of water being polluted by 0.1% drop of cyanide. It is
still polluted no matter how we try to explain it away.
All our good deeds are like filthy rags to the Lord. That shows how
high God's standards are and that we cannot reach God on our own because
of our sin. But the Good News, God decided to
intervene as the Son of Man and became a new kind of BREAD with living
qualities called the Living BREAD so those who partake of Him will never
die.
God made Eternal life available
to the life of the world so people of the world would not continue to
die eternally. But it had a price!
Jesus was going to give His life
for the life of the world for only life could give life. Jesus was
foreshadowing His sacrifice for the world but wanted those there to
follow Him right there. He was going to sacrifice His life so the people
of the world could have life. There is a condition though.
Jesus is letting them know that
as they follow Him, their life will continue forever eternally because
it will be interwoven with His Life.
Implications:
I saw important implications for
my own life. Life starts with Jesus, for He
is the BREAD of Life. Just because I am living does not mean that I have
Eternal Life and will live forever. It begins with Jesus. This means no
one else can give Eternal Life. Jesus is making the Absolute claim that
He is the ‘I AM’, He is from Heaven, and He
is the BREAD of Life given for the life of the world.
HOW GOSPEL GIVES ME TESTIMONY REGARDING B.R.E.A.D!
One day, I realized no one else claimed what Jesus
claimed, not Buddha, not Krishna, not Mohammad, not Confucius, not anyone else. If I
wanted a religion to follow, I could have stuck with Hinduism but I
saw the reality of the BREAD OF LIFE in my own life. For me it
is not about religion for religion can save no one. In fact, people
following a religion have caused more havoc in the world and have made
people see that religion can become the death of the world, not the life
of the world. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ providing the way for my
redemption by His precious Blood. Jesus, the 'I AM' came into His
creation to save people like me. Jesus came to provide for me more than
physical BREAD, in Himself, as the BREAD of Life!
It is God who saves, who
revealed Himself as ‘I AM’ to Moses and has
revealed Himself to us in Jesus Christ as 'I AM'. Jesus wants us to partake of Him
to receive Eternal Life.
I am so glad that I do not follow a religion
but I can have a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe
who accepts me just they way I come with all my rugged edges and so on.
I am so thankful Jesus wants me to partake
of Him. For He has become my BREAD of Life! He wants you also to
eat of Him.
I
ask you now dear friend what kind of BREAD do you eat?
Dear friend, all the earthly BREAD we eat regardless of who it is
blessed by will not save us to live forever eternally! But the Good News is that there is
BREAD that you can eat and live
eternally. Jesus Christ is the BREAD of Life offering Himself to you. He
gave His flesh for you on the Cross of Calvary. His body was broken for
you. He wants you to eat of Him in a symbolic sense.
Partake of Him in your life by
allowing Him to come live in you. Then to remember what Jesus did for
you, take Holy Communion. But do remember only Holy Communion is to be
taken by those who have already given their lives to Christ
understanding their own sinfulness and realizing Christ alone can
justify them and sanctify them as they are willing to be covered by the
sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God.
We take Holy Communion in remembrance of what Jesus did for us when
He walked the earth. The first is the BREAD that represents Christ’s body broken
for you and me. When we eat the BREAD, we are saying that we do remember
what Jesus did for us on the Cross of Calvary and He did it to give life
to the world of which we are part of.
The second part of Holy Communion is the wine/juice symbolic of Christ’s
cleansing BLOOD when His blood
was shed for you and me.
To eat the
BREAD, symbolizing
the broken body of Jesus to give you life, is telling those around you
that you do follow Jesus Christ and have a relationship with Jesus
Christ because of what He did for you.
To drink the wine/juice,
symbolizing the cleansing blood of Jesus to give you Eternal Life, is also
telling those around you that you do follow Jesus Christ and have a
relationship with Jesus Christ. Both BREAD and juice must be taken.
There cannot be one without the other!
Eating of the
BREAD or drinking
of the juice at Holy Communion without acknowledging Jesus as Lord and
Personal Savior, just becomes a religious ritual of religion which
cannot save for only a relationship with Jesus Christ can save you and
me!
Friend, Jesus has offered
Himself for you too. Yes, He has! The world is full of sin and since the
world is full of sin those who inhabit it are infected and become
sinners. But the Good News is, Jesus came as the BREAD of Life to give
His life to give you Eternal Life.
While we
were yet sinners Jesus died for us.
Friend, this means you do not
need to be perfect or have everything right in your life before you come
to Jesus. If you wait for that to happen, you maybe waiting until it is
too late.
Come as you are and allow the
Lord Jesus to work in you. No matter how stained your sins are and you
cannot forgive yourself, Jesus lends a Helping Hand and wants to forgive
you. Jesus reminds us
though our sins are
scarlet red, He can make us white as freshly fallen snow and
though they are crimson red, Jesus can make us
white as wool.
If I allowed my sins to control
my life, then I have given control over to Satan and he has won but I
have come to accept Christ’s grace and merciful forgiveness to move on
and remain His child. For He reminds us friend that
To all who received Him, He gave them right to
become children of God, children born not of natural descent but by the
will of God. All they needed to do is trust in Him to save
them. (John 1:12)
Won’t you do that friend?
You could be reading this and
already have a personal relationship with the Lord. That’s great!
If you feel this would be helpful to
someone who does not have a relationship with the Lord, won’t you share
it with them?
If you do not have a relationship with the Lord as
you desire, now is the time of Salvation. Don’t wait, for Jesus is the
BREAD of Life and wants to be part of your life. Yes, He does! May you
make Jesus part of your life today! Amen!
BREAD
of Life
by Ramesh C. Reddy
You came as the BREAD of Life
Offering deliverance from eternal strife
You ask me to eat
Offering me a seat
From the place you came
Heaven is its name
So I come with my heart
Asking you for a new start
Now I will eternally live
For Eternal Life you give
Jesus, my BREAD of Life!
Jesus, my BREAD of Life!
Amen!
“Beautiful Redeemer Emancipates Always Delivering!” (B.R.E.A.D)/”What
kind of BREAD do you eat?”
Make this your prayer. Don’t let
the enemy deceive you into thinking you need all the answers before
coming to Christ. Let me just assure you though you may not have all the
answers right now before coming to Jesus, He will answer them slowly.
Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer will! Amen!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the BREAD of Life. You are the Living BREAD
of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for
the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you
Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life,
digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living
Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life.
I want that Father God. I want that Lord Jesus! I want that Holy Spirit!
I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the BREAD
represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your
blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord
Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and
acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that
you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me
life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my
sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to
forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me
and I will be clean from this infection of sin. Come Lord Jesus and
please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you.
I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your
home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve
you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in
me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will
be to you. Whatever your will is for me, please give me the strength and
willingness to bear it and rejoice in you. Thank you so much Jesus. I
thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Savior. I thank you
Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I
am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal
Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
May you experience the POWER OF
CHRIST'S RESURRECTION this day, and give Him the LOCKED areas of your
life too so you can experience His PEACE as you become an ACTOR in the
film called LIFE being directed by your DIRECTOR, JESUS CHRIST who comes
to give JOY and PEACE.
You
don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and
give you peace to live out your actions.
How do you look at GODISNOWHERE?
One
of my pastors, Pastor Hugo shared this example this past Sunday at the
RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh
Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:
If
you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin
and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no
peace.
But
as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to
tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.
Yes,
friend God is alive and wants to bring a transformation in your life
through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on
the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and live
with us.
Yes,
friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE
& LIVING GRACE.
When
we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive
us and restore us to Him and we will find peace in Him.
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he
has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (Colossians 5:17-21, NIV)
"For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)
Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our
sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge
so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the
finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.
"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
