Daily Bread
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· 1 viewTheme: Daily Bread leads to Many People fed. Purpose: To prioritize relying on Jesus daily for physical and spiritual needs. Gospel: Abiding in Jesus produces fruit. Mission: Building Disciples that feed on the Bread of Life.
Notes
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Give us today our daily bread.
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
Introduction: What are your favorite foods?
4 - We are a Fast Food Culture.
4 - We are a Fast Food Culture.
- Jesus uses food in a lot of his teaching. He tells us to pray for food, and uses it as an analogy.
- I will eat anything and like it. Food is an important part of our lives, and is a part of God’s good creation.
- However, Story of not having energy, because I just consumed food any food that tasted good. I learned a little about how to eat better so that I had better health and more energy to do what God has called me. - There is something about eating the best foods for our health.
- During the time Ben was in the hospital - Fast Food and Cafeteria Food.
- The Parable of the Leaven is anything but fast food.
- It involves taking a small piece of already yeast dough
- mixing it into a new batch of dough. Spreads over time
Uncle who used plugs of grass to re-grow his lawn.
- Jesus is saying that the Kingdom takes time.
- It takes time, it starts small (In Jesus) and (In us) and over time grows.
- Researchers have proven that a nutritional diet improves academic success in children. “As to why diet may be linked with academic achievement, the observed associations are in line with the knowledge that various dietary components, including micronutrients such as folate, iron, and omega 3, have essential roles in brain development and functioning. Furthermore, the brain requires significant and regular amounts of energy to function optimally. … In addition, the associations of consuming breakfast and regular meals with higher academic achievement could be that more frequent and regular eating occasions provide a vehicle for the delivery of these nutrients, as well as adequate energy to fuel cognitive function” (Tracy L. Burrows, Megan C. Whatnall, Amanda J. Patterson, and Melinda Hutchesson, “Associations between Dietary Intake and Academic Achievement in College Students: A Systematic Review,” September 25, 2017, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5746694/).
In other words, not only do students need nutritious meals for academic success, but they also need Their Daily Bread.
Similarly, in the parable Small but consistent time with Jesus strengthens our relationship with him.
That is because...
5 - God wants to give us Daily Bread.
5 - God wants to give us Daily Bread.
Food shows up in the very first pages of Scripture and the very last. It impacts every aspect of our lives, and it plays a large part in the overall arc of God’s story. The human body and the food to nourish that body were created by God and declared good (Genesis 1:29–31). After the fall of humankind and the great flood, God repeats his mandate, this time adding meat in Genesis 9:3. From the feasts (Leviticus 23) to Jesus’s tendency to dine with sinners, the table has been a place that reveals the heart of God. All of this culminates with the grandest feast of all, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6–9), when all is made right and the kingdom of God is experienced in its totality.
Communion takes the ordinary food that God created, for an extraordinary celebration of the Gospel.
6 - 1. What do we remember when we celebrate Communion?
A. That God created all things, and that God provides for our lives.
- Do you say grace before a meal. Why do Christians do that - Grace means to give thanks. Another name for Communion is Eucharist which is a greek word meaning to give thanks. So when we say grace we are thanking God for providing for our lives good food. ONe thing we are doing in communion is remembering and giving Thanks that God has provided goodness for our life.
- Using the metaphor of daily food and nourishment, Jesus modeled prayer for the disciples and included a statement of thanksgiving for daily bread. Not only was Jesus thankful for the food sitting before him, but he also thanked God for sustaining him in every way. “We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow (ch. 6:34), but constantly to depend upon divine Providence, as those that live from hand to mouth. … We pray that God would give us this day; which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed; as duly as the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we could as well go a day without meat, as without prayer” (Matthew Henry, commentary on Matthew 6, https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Mat/Mat_006.cfm?a=935011).
So we give thanks because God gives us...
7 - Physical Bread
7 - Physical Bread
Food is not just about fueling our bodies, It has other special purposes. Food is ordinary, but sometimes when we eat a meal takes on special meaning.
What do you enjoy about having a big dinner with friends and family?
Pictures of wedding feasts, friends having coffee together, eating at a restaurant.
Meals can mark anniversary, special events, birthdays, funerals - care. There is a social, relational component to it that makes the ordinary eating of food something extraordinary.
Birthday Breakfasts with the kids.
- Life Skills experience - Mentoring someone, they don’t know how the bills will get paid, but over and over again God has provided.
We also give thanks to God for...
8 - Spiritual Bread
8 - Spiritual Bread
- We Remember, We Commune, We expect.
10 - 2. What do we mean that Jesus has Communion with us?
A. Just as bread and juice strengthen our bodies, so Jesus through the Holy Spirit strengthens our faith.
Jesus is alive and so he is Spiritually Present with us.
Professor Barry Jones writes, “The table is the place where broken sinners find connection and belonging. Despite our best intentions, we all, like Peter, stumble after Jesus. We desperately need people who will journey with us in our stumbling. We need to recover table fellowship as a spiritual discipline in order to strengthen the bonds of spiritual friendship among believers who are walking together on the road” (Barry D. Jones, “The Dinner Table as a Place of Connection, Brokenness, and Blessing,” DTS Magazine, October 26, 2015, https://voice.dts.edu/article/a-place-at-the-table-jones-barry/). Jesus restored Peter, but as brothers and sisters in the faith, we are to confess, encourage, and help bring restoration to one another by God’s grace. This should be a hallmark of building true community with one another around the table.
In Communion Jesus does these things as well - He provides a meal, He reminds us of his presence, He heals us, and He provides for our renewed purpose.
Meaning of Communion:
11 - 1. H. Just as bread and juice give us life, we remember that Jesus was Risen, and therefore gives us Eternal Life - It starts small but grows into eternal life.
12 - So....in Communion we recognize that Jesus is Present with us.
13 - Daily Bread leads to Many Fed.
13 - Daily Bread leads to Many Fed.
Jesus ate his way through the Gospels.
Communion points to what we expect will happen when Jesus comes again.
14 - 3. What future do we expect as we celebrate Communion?
A. Jesus tells us to celebrate communion until he comes again, and then he will share the meal with us.
B. Jesus uses the idea of a great banquet to describe our eternal life with him.
Jesus used the familiar understanding of food as imagery for teaching lessons. In Matthew 13:33, he uses yeast to communicate how a little thing—faith or yeast—can move about and affect the entire measure of flour. It is estimated that the amounts in this illustration would feed 100 - 150 people.
- The Prayer and the parable teach us that. doing these small ordinary things will grow his kingdom.
- Acknowledging that God gives us everything we need.
- Spending time with Jesus - reading his word, praying, taking communion, and worshipping him -
- will overflow in growing in us, but also an abundance to share with others.
Conclusion:
- How are you acknowledging God as your provider?
- How are you feeding on God’s Spiritual Bread?