How Jesus Provides & Preserves (John 6)

In John 6 the large crowd of people who spent the day seeing and hearing Jesus become hungry. Jesus asked his disciples how they could feed such a large crowd, and while it seemed overwhelming to them, the text says Jesus already knew what he was going to do. Then we read how Jesus miraculously provided lunch for thousands. Further in the passage Jesus explains how He is the Bread of Life. "Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35. Come to Rockwell Church this Sunday to be encouraged to see How Jesus is the provider of all you truly need in this life and for eternity.

John 6

1. Priorities (Jn 6:1-4)
2. Participation (Jn 6:5-9; Luke 6:38)
3. Process (Jn 6:10-11; Isa 55:10-11; 2 Cor 9:10)
4. Provision (Jn 6:12-15)
5. Preservation (Jn 6:26-29, 35-40, 47-48)

Helping you apply God's Word and follow Jesus in everyday life. Learn more at ChrisTeien.com and Rockwell.church  Find episode transcripts at Well.faith 

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Chris T 0:16

I want to do a new series starting today, Following Jesus, the ultimate adventure, from now until uh the middle of July. So we'll get some of the different ways that we can follow Jesus and to live that adventure. And so we've been going through the book of John. I've been skimming through the book of John, and we're in John chapter six. And that's where Jesus says, I am the bread of life. So Jesus has quite a few. He actually has seven I ams in the book of John. So the first one is, I am the bread of life. And then he feeds 5,000 people in the wilderness and points out that he's more than just physical bread. He's more than just free lunch. He's more than just the guy you want around to feed you when you're hungry. But he is the eternal sustenance, eternal life, eternal bread. On the next one, he says in John 8, I am the light of the world. In John 10, he says, I am the door or the gate. In John, also in John 10, he says, I am the good shepherd. In John 11, he says, I'm the resurrection and the life. In John 14, he says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. And in John 15, he says, I am the true vine. And we're going to cover some of those in this following Jesus. The ultimate adventure, the first thing we're going to look at is bread. So Jesus being the bread of life. So the Bible actually talks a lot about bread because that is basically synonymous with what we need to live on. So you'll probably remember in the old days, uh, you know, if you went to prison, they'd give you bread and water. So, and that was enough to sustain you. So now some people are like, well, I'm on a special diet. I don't need bread right now. Other people are like, well, I'm gluten-free. Um, so just think of it not as bread, but as the sustenance that you need to live. So back then, bread was a big deal. And even today, bread is still a big deal, and that Jesus is the bread of life. So if you remember in Exodus, uh, it says Exodus 16, for the Lord said to Moses, I will rain down bread from heaven for you, and the people are to go out each day and gather enough, it's manna, for that day. And this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. So they were told to gather twice as much on Friday and not to gather any on the Sabbath. So do you remember what happened if they gathered and then they kept it when they shouldn't be keeping it? It turned to maggots. And yeah, so, but when it came down, uh, supposedly, uh I'd always think of it like honey nut cheerios or something, you know, had a honey taste to it. And they liked it at first. Um, but as time went on, they're like, oh, it's the same thing over and over again. I'm so tired of it. But it sustained them, it kept them alive in the wilderness, and it was a test to see if they would truly follow God's instructions, and God provided for them in that way. So in Deuteronomy 8, it talks about bread being a symbol of God's word. Uh Deuteronomy 8.3, he humbled you, causing you to hunger, and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. So there's more than just a physical sustenance, but a spiritual sustenance, and God, our creator, is the one that truly uh sustains us. So you remember Jesus prayed in the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, 11, give us today our daily bread. And so we pray and we ask God to provide the resources that we need to live this life in prayer, acknowledges that God is the uh resource, is the provider of our daily needs. And then in Luke 22, 19, in the Last Supper, Jesus took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. So in communion time, bread represents the body of Christ, and the wine represents the blood of Christ. All right. So the Bible says a lot about bread. And you'll also remember that when Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness after he had been, Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and he was hungry, that Satan said, Hey, Jesus, I know you're hungry. Why don't you command these stones to become bread? So somehow Satan knew that Jesus could do it, and Jesus is like, hey, that's not my father's will, not gonna do that. Um so Jesus could provide bread, Jesus did provide bread. So let's look at that. Um, the priority, the priority that Jesus had. So if you look more into this context or the context of John chapter 6, you can find out more by using a simple book tool, or you can use a computer also. But for years they've had these books called The Harmony of the Gospels. And so what they do is they try to figure out in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, um, how everything, you know, in a chronological order, how everything laid out, how everything was happening. So I'm about to read you this passage here in uh John chapter 6, verse 1. But I also know that it says a bunch of other things about what was going on before this happened. So um Matthew says, um, when Jesus went ashore, he saw a great multitude and felt compassion on them for they and healed their sick. Mark says he went ashore, he saw a great multitude and felt compassion on them, because they were sheep, like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things. Luke says there were multitudes, uh, but the multitudes were aware of Jesus and followed him, welcoming them. He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing. So Jesus has passed the argument with the Pharisees, and he's got compassion and care for the people that are interested to know what he's doing, are following him around, are um seeing that Jesus is healing people, and they are wondering if he's the Messiah. Is he the one that's supposed to come, the one from God who's gonna set them free from Roman oppression, the one that they've been looking for? And their idea is temporal, their idea is physical needs and uh conquering the Roman oppressors. So, anyway, um also in this context, the disciples are basically like, hey, Jesus, you know, these guys, these people have been with us for the day, they're hungry, you should send them away to get food. You should send them to get dinner. And Jesus didn't want to send them away. He said, you know, let's keep them close. So, all right, let's get to the verse here, passage. Sometime after this, Jesus crossed over to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee, that is the Sea of Tiberias. All right, so the Sea of Tiberias wasn't actually a sea, it was like a lake. So I read that it is 13 by seven miles long. So that I think that means that's 91 square miles. My math teacher, is that correct? Did I get that right? Is that okay, is that good? All right, it's been a long time since I had math. Okay. Now, I also read that Lake Vermilion is 61 square miles, so therefore, um this water that they're on is bigger than Lake Vermilion. So I think that puts that in context there. But it says a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. So they were tuned into what Jesus was doing. I mean, something was happening here and they wanted to be part of it. They wanted to see what was going on. It was amazing. And some people who are intrigued and want to know what's going on with spiritual things are quick to follow, quick to pursue, are questioning and they're investigating, they're following. They want to know, and I bet that you might come across some people that somehow have gotten tuned in to Jesus. Uh, maybe they've heard of what Jesus has done in someone else's life. Maybe they watched one of those I Am Second videos, or the people sit in the white chair and they talk about what their life was like before Christ and what Christ did for them and how they've been changed and how Jesus is first and they're second now. And so these people are pursuing Jesus, looking uh to see what's going on. And you might be the one that gets to explain to them um how they can know Jesus too. But these people are following after Jesus. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. It says the Jewish Passover festival was near. So these people were important to Jesus. Um Jesus could have gone up to the mountain to hide, but he could have gone up to the mountain to get a better way to speak to all of them, to care for all of them, to teach them. Um Jesus was compassionate about people, Jesus cared about the people. And when we pray and we seek after the things of God, we should know first off that Jesus cares about us, that Jesus loves us and has compassion on us, and that we should pray as we seek the Lord, and that he wants us to be close. All right, so the particip y'all know this story anyway, the feeding of the 5,000, right? It's similar to the feeding of the 4,000, but it's the feeding of the 5,000. Okay. All right, the participation. The participation. The part I love about this passage right here is that Jesus asks a question that he knows the answer to. He um gives a simple test. Verse 5. Jesus soon saw a huge crowd of people coming to look for him. Turning to Philip, he asks, Where can we buy bread to feed all these people? So Jesus is like, hey, um any idea where we can we can find these people lunch, Philip? You got you got any plans? You got any connections? I know that you're kind of from this area. Um, any delivery services that could bring things in real quick. And he's like, Yeah, no. Um, and it says he Jesus asked us only to test him. He already had in mind what he was going to do. So Philip answered him. It would take more than half a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite. So um I think it says 200 denarii, which would be 200 days of wages. So um that is a lot of money to pay to feed those people for one meal. So he he kind of added up the cost really quick. He didn't have a solution, but he just kind of guessed at how much it would cost if there was a place that they could get this. And another one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up and he said, Here's a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish. But how far will this go among so many? So we're not talking about big, monstrous pieces of French bread. We're not talking about the subway party platter where they roll in with a, you know, a 10-foot hoagie or whatever. Um, it's like the size of a pancake. These barley loaves, people that were poor ate barley. And so this kid, you know, had um five small little pancake-sized pieces of bread and two dried um or pickled little fish. And so that's all that he had. But the kid, he was probably hearing what was going on, and with childlike faith, he's like, I can share my lunch with you. And anyway, so Andrew's like, hey, we got this. And then when we look at giving and we look at participating, and we look at sharing. Um this kid said, I have something to give, I have something to contribute. It's not much, but I will give it and contribute it. So that little boy might have been without lunch, then he might have gone hungry for the rest of the day. Um, I don't know what he expected. You know, maybe you know, Jesus and a couple disciples would take a bite, and maybe the boy would feel good about that. I mean, I would. I mean, if Jesus, the great teacher, miracle worker, and everything was right there, I would be like, Yeah, I want to give you something. So I want to show care for you. What do I have? I don't have much. Um, I'll give you this. So um years ago when I was a youth pastor down in Iowa, uh, the Waldorf College would bring in these uh really popular Christian music artists for concerts, and hardly anybody would show up. So it would be like a few college students, my youth group, and a few other people. So uh there was this guy, John Schlipp from Petra, who um rolled in for a concert that night. And that was back in the day when we had phone cards and I had some extra. So I'm like, hey, I'm you know, close and personal with these famous Christian artists. I'm like, hey, it's great to hear you tonight. It's so great that you came and everything. Um, here, let me give you some phone cards so you could call your wife. So he never said he didn't have any, but I just wanted to give him something, you know, and that's what I had. And so maybe he called his wife and was blessed. But we have an opportunity to participate in the process, to give towards the things of God. When we think about participating in the process, just think about some of the things that we learned in the Old Testament, some of the things that we saw in the past. So you remember in 2 Kings chapter 4, uh, there was this widow who was gonna lose her sons because she couldn't pay her debts, so her sons were gonna be taken as slaves. So a widow of a man from the company of prophets cried out to Elisha, saying to her, Her husband had died and left a debt, and the creditor was coming to take her two sons as slaves to pay off the debt. So Elisha, he asked the widow what she had in her house, and she replied that she had nothing there at all except a small jar of olive oil. So Elisha said, Go around and ask all of your neighbors for empty jars. And he instructed her to collect as many as she could, and then go inside her house with her sons, shut the door, and pour oil into all the jars, setting each one aside when it was filled. And so as she did, as Elisha instructed, she poured into all the empty jars, and it just kept coming out. Of her little jar of olive oil, it just kept coming out and coming out, and she filled one jar, and she filled another jar, and when they ran out of jars, and they're like, We don't have any more jars, um, then the oil stopped flowing. And then so she had all these jars of oil, and Elisha said, Go and sell all those extra jars of oil, pay off your debts, and live off the rest. And God did a miracle by extending the provision of that oil. And the people around her were able to show their care by contributing towards that. So God had compassion on her by providing for her in this way. The community had compassion on her by giving their jars. I'm pretty sure unless they bought the jars of oil from her, they didn't get their jars back. So people gave, people contributed, and that helped great things to happen in that woman's life and for us to see a faith miracle. And you're like, oh no, oh no, is he gonna start talking about giving again? That pastor, he's always talking about giving. And so I want you to know that most committed pastors uh give like a higher percentage than many people in the church. So pastors are invested in the congregation, pastors are invested in the church. It's not about um, you know, giving because we just want to add money. Pastors that are invested know that giving is one of the ways that God blesses you, that God provides for you, and God helps you. So when we give, it is a spiritual discipline. When we learn about tithing and generosity, um, that can be a spiritual discipline that can help you to live a better life. It's not that you give God something and then he gives you back ten times as more uh as a guarantee. You know, it's not like some stock tip where I guarantee you you're gonna get rich. When you give a little, you're gonna get a lot. You know, God might wait to provide or reward you in heaven or whatever, but that giving is an act of worship. So the God who paid for you, Jesus who purchased you on the cross, um, you know, expects if you truly worship him that you're going to give something back, something back. And part of the participation is when you give. And so this boy gave his little fish. So the process, the process. So Jesus said, Jesus said, have the people sit down. There's plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down, about 5,000 men were there. Um, another in the harmony of the gospels, another pastor passage says they had them sit down in groups of 50. And it's also just men. So some say that if you, okay, he had just men, so you assume women and children. So they're talking between 10,000 and 15,000 people are gonna have bread here, are gonna have some lunch. And so Jesus is having them, having them sit down. And then um hello. Jesus took the loaves and he gave thanks, and he distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. So again, harmony of the gospels lets you know some other things from the other gospels about this. Okay? So Jesus didn't actually do the distribution, but the disciples did. So um, and so as the things were distributed, it wasn't like Jesus turned the rocks into bread, like Satan tempted him to do in the temptation um in the wilderness. But instead, it appears that as they took each basket or container out um and distributed it, that more just kept coming. It was like it was just the the fish and bread were just kind of they just kept flowing out. And so Jesus um didn't have it right then in the beginning, but he knew and trusted that God was going to provide, and so he gave thanks for what there was, and then it was distributed to the disciples who distributed it all out, and so um this is how this worked, and it was a great miracle that it just kept coming. So I think that God can sometimes extend our finances and our resources in that way, too. So uh when they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, gather the pieces that are left and let nothing be wasted. So let nothing be wasted. So the disciples then they had gathered um up enough so that they would have um something to eat for the future. So God uh rewarded the servants for serving, and I think that happens too. So um when we think about the process about how God provides and the things that God does, we see the process of this uh food distribution. We see in Isaiah 55.10 the process of how God's word works. So it says in Isaiah 55.10, as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so my word that goes out from my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I send it. So God's word is effective. God's word goes out in that process. The process of generosity, according to 2 Corinthians 9 10, uh says, He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed, and you will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. So here in this generosity, God can extend your finances, God can help things go further when you're faithful to give. God could help you to earn more money, um, God could help you to find a job where you earn more money, or God could extend your finances. John Wesley, in a sermon called The Use of Money, said, Give all you can, um, earn all you can, and keep all you can. So I think Dave Ramsey and other Christian financial people say that you should give 10%, save 10%, and spend 80%. Or if God blesses you, you know, you can you can give way more than that, but everybody should give something. So in this process, God can help you to have more, God can extend things, God can do wonderful things. So my wife said something encouraging me to the the other day, and I've been thinking about it a lot. And you know, sometimes I'm like, oh, was that luck? Um, you know, maybe I don't really think the God of the universe, you know, looked down upon me to, you know, do this one thing. Um, but my wife's like, how do you how do you know that? How do you know that God doesn't care for you so much that He did that one thing? There's been many things in my life that have been really interesting. Um, one simple thing was I used to ride my bicycle a lot, and I was trying to do a couple thousand miles over a summer, and I was about 19 miles away from my house, and I got an alert on my phone that there was a severe thunderstorm and hail warning. And I thought, well, should I go for it? Should I try to get home? Should I stay here and wait it out? Should I have someone come and get me? So I went for it and I was pedaling as fast as I could. Um and I was getting on the road that goes in the direction of my house, and I could hear the heavy rains coming down. We lived in between Minneapolis and Mankato in the among the farm fields. I could hear the rain pouring down off to the west. Uh, you know, I could hear it, but it wasn't touching me. And so I was pedaling along and I had my garage door open, and I reached down and got it to open the garage door, and as soon as I as soon as I got into the garage, I mean, the second I got into the garage, there was this torrential downpour of rain. And I'm like, thank you, Lord. And so was it God who, you know, held off the rain just so Chris could stay dry? Um, there's been other times I've been caught in the rain. I don't know. And I I stood here and I told you that I had a need, that my truck had died, and I posted on our little private Facebook thing that I didn't know what I was gonna do. Um, but I didn't want to, you know, make a bad choice. I didn't want to go into debt. I know that Psalm 23 1 says, Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need. So I prayed about it. I watched a couple YouTube videos to make sure. I was doing it right and uh tore everything apart that needed to be torn apart. I put it all back together. I didn't have any pieces left, and so I had read that some professional mechanics replaced this hydraulic lifter stuff and it fails right away. And so I sat there. I had put everything back together. I had double-checked my work. I bought a digital torque wrench to make sure everything was perfect. I did everything the way it was supposed to be done. And so I was sat there and I was alone and I prayed. I'm like, Lord, I do not have another source of transportation. I do not want to take money out of my savings account to buy another vehicle. I don't know what I'm gonna do if this doesn't work. Please help me. And then I turned the key and it started up. It ticked for a second, then it stopped ticking, and I had all sorts of white stuff coming out of the exhaust pipe. And I'm like, oh, I hope that's not permanent. And so it wasn't. About 15 minutes later, it went away. And I think my truck still needs other repairs, but I fixed what I set out to fix, and I've been driving it for a bit now. Um and so God blessed me in that, and also God blessed me because someone in the church heard I didn't have transportation and they dropped a vehicle off in my driveway for me to use during that time. So, did the God of the universe reach down from heaven to help Chris fix the vehicle so that he would have something to drive? Maybe. Maybe he gave me the skill to make it happen. Um, maybe over time. Uh, nonetheless, God provided in that way. And I think so many times you miss out on God's blessing because you're not faithful in giving, because you're not quick to pray, and you're not trusting God for results. So trust God for results. Pray about things, be slow to charge things on your credit card, be slow to go into debt, be slow to take things into your own hands. God, give God some time to work, to help, to provide. And maybe if you've been blessed financially, if you've been blessed with a lot of resources, if you've got lots of loaves and fishes sitting around, maybe God will use you to bless other people. You can be God's avenue of blessing into people's lives with the resources that He's given you. And I'm pretty sure when you're faithful to do that, that God will bless you with even more resources so that you can keep blessing others. But that that is the process that God uses. Why didn't Jesus just say, oh, I foresee there's going to be a lot of people, and you know, we should, we should bring in some, we should bring in some subs and we should, you know, make sure we got lunch for all these people. Um instead, he used something in the feeding of the 5,000 and also in the feeding of the 4,000. He took existing stuff and then he multiplied that. And that's how I think he works is he uses our resources and multiplies them so that it can be a blessing to others. So again, um the provision. After they had enough to eat, he said to the disciples, gather the pieces that are left over, let nothing be wasted. And they gathered and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. So there was a not there was a basket full of food for each one of the disciples. After the people saw the signs Jesus performed, they began to say, Surely this is the prophet who has come into the world. And Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. So Jesus provided, Jesus helped them to have more than they had before. And so what did the boy give? He didn't like give more than he had, he just gave what he had. And we can't give more than we have, we can only give what we have. Matthew 16, Matthew 6, 21, Jesus says, Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So um Jesus can provide. So Jesus received the offering of the resources, meager as they were. Jesus trusted God to multiply the resources. Jesus then gave the supply to the disciples, not to consume, but for the purpose of distributing and sharing. And the disciples distributed the food and fed the people, and that was the way that God worked. In Philippians 4.19, it says, My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. If you look at that in context, Paul is saying to the Philippians, you were faithful to provide my needs. You sacrificed and gave. And because you were faithful to do that, you provided by faith, you you did that. My God will supply your needs. So that's a conditional promise for those people that were faithful to give. That God is gonna, God's gonna, God's got you, God's gonna care for you, God's gonna care for you. So um I believe in tithing. So I don't think tithing saves you, but I think that tithing is a good idea. And it's Malachi 3.10 is the only place that says you can test God. And he says, you know, bring all the tithes into the storehouse and test me in this if I won't um throw open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing so much that you won't have enough room for it. So I think tithing is a good idea. I don't necessarily think, you know, you legalistically have to be set on 10%. Um, sometimes more, sometimes less, but everybody should give, and it's a good thing, and it helps provide for other people. And so that testing and that um act of faith can really make a difference. And some people, they're like, well, you know, I've got debt, and the Bible says in Romans 13 8 that you shouldn't owe any old man anything except to love him. So therefore, um I'm not gonna give anything until I get out of debt. So, you know, God by grace, he loves me, I'm saved, I know it. So I'm just not gonna give anything until I'm out of debt. Um, and then Luke 6.38 says that um when we give to God first and trust God to bless our resources to get out of debt, that give and it will be given to you um abundantly. So uh Dave Ramsay and Christian financial concepts and stuff like that, they would say, even if you're in debt, you should give something and expect God to bless your finances so that you can give, uh so you can pay off your debts and give even more. Uh in our day, it's gonna be next to impossible to ever, you know, avoid all sorts of debt and have enough. Um, but when we trust God and we make wise choices, so that means that we might have to give up certain things. So we might have to um give up, go into the movie theater or going out to eat or all those things that are super expensive. My wife and I, we went out for, we had some guests, and we went out to a restaurant, two hamburgers, fries, pop, uh, $50, $50 to eat there. And also whenever I wear the church, I'm not wearing now. Where when I wear the church shirt, I always give a good tip. So even in that stand-up restaurant that's over there, that it's like you spent two minutes making my sandwich and you want me to give you a tip. So when I'm just me, sometimes I'm like, dude, you're just doing your job. But I'm wearing the church shirt. It's like, yeah, I gotta give you a tip because Rockwell Church loves you, man, and I want you to know that. So does Jesus. All right. So if you look in the Bible, there's a difference between the feeding of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000. They are two different events. Jesus did this twice. All right. The people were with Matthew 14. The people were with Jesus for one day, he feeds 5,000 plus uh the men and women. So um he healed their sick. Um, it was five loaves of bread and two fish. So when you get to Matthew chapter 15, Jesus does it again. These people are with him for three days, and it's the disciples who have uh the seven um seven loaves and a few small fish. So um Jesus did this twice, and he showed that he can provide. So, and then he moves on to the preservation. So I'm gonna skip forward. So there's this really cool story about like this storm and this ship and this walking on water and all that. We're gonna talk about that for Father's Day, but jump forward to Jesus talking about the importance of this eternal bread. So the people are confused. They're like, dude, you're obviously the Messiah. We want you to be our leader. We love free lunch. You can heal people, that's awesome too. So, yeah, we want you. And so Jesus is like, you are missing the point. So you just want this temporary fix. You just want to be comfortable, you want free lunch, you want free medical care. But I'm here for the eternal, for something even more than just satisfying you for right now. I mean, tomorrow you're gonna be hungry for more bread, but I have something in me that will give you eternal life and eternal satisfaction, which is an awesome thing. So um Jesus answered, Truly I tell you, you're looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. Then they asked him, What must we do to do the good works God requires? And Jesus says, The work of God is this, to believe in the one he has sent. And Jesus replied, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. This is a spiritual hunger and a spiritual thirst, and Jesus satisfies that. And as we grow in Christ and we live in Christ, and we experience what Christ is doing as we step out in faith and we try to uh do the works that he planned for us to do in advance as we're caring for people, as we're sharing resources and stuff, we start to experience the eternal God of heaven working in our lives. It is an awesome thing. Jesus says, But you haven't believed in me, even though you have seen me. However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is the Father's will that all who see the Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day. I tell you the truth. Anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life. So we're gonna jump right back into um John chapter 6 next week. It's Father's Day, and the message is when life is challenging, when life is challenging, when the storms of life are around you, what error will you do? So I'm gonna pray, and the worship team is gonna come up and we'll sing wherever he leads. I'll go. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much that not only are you our Savior, our eternal life insurance policy, but you are our Lord, a provider, Lord. Your word says we often have not because we ask not. James writes that. Uh we're told to seek first your kingdom and your righteousness, then you'll provide all that you need. You said that. In Psalms it says, delight yourself in the Lord, and you'll give us the desires of our heart. Lord, help us to trust you, to be our provider. Lord, give us that bread, those resources, that rent, uh, the transportation, the health, the things that we need to live this life, but help us not to hoard it. Help us not to keep it for ourselves, but help us to be the fuel we need to do an effective ministry with the people that you put in our life and our severe influence, so that together we can build the kingdom of God and that people's lives will be eternally changed. And we'll keep looking up saying, you know, I don't think it was luck. I think the God of the universe uh has reached down from heaven to provide, to guide, to protect, and to help. So we ask Saul in Jesus.