Transcript for 8-30-2009 Captioned Sermon, Zion, Torrance, CA

Text taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL

VERSION by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

Let us rise for the reading of this morning's sermon text

recorded for us in John's Gospel where we read

from Chapter 6, beginning with verse 51:

I AM THE LIVING BREAD THAT CAME DOWN

FROM HEAVEN. IF ANYONE EATS OF THIS BREAD, HE WILL LIVE

FOREVER. THIS BREAD IS MY FLESH,

WHICH I GIVE FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD.

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves,

"How can this man give us his flesh to eat."

Jesus said to them, I TELL YOU THE TRUTH,

UNLESS YOU EAT THE FLESH OF THE SON OF MAN AND

DRINK HIS BLOOD, YOU HAVE NO LIFE IN YOU.

WHOEVER EATS MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD

HAS ETERNAL LIFE, AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP AT THE LAST DAY.

FOR MY FLESH IS REAL FOOD AND

MY BLOOD IS REAL DRINK.

WHOEVER EATS MY FLESH AND DRINKS MY BLOOD

REMAINS IN ME, AND I IN HIM.

JUST AS THE LIVING FATHER SENT ME AND I LIVE BECAUSE OF

THE FATHER, SO THE ONE WHO FEEDS ON ME WILL LIVE

BECAUSE OF ME. THIS IS THE BREAD THAT CAME DOWN FROM

HEAVEN. YOUR FOREFATHERS ATE MANNA, AND DIED,

BUT HE WHO FEEDS ON THIS BREAD

WILL LIVE FOREVER.

This is the Word of our Lord. Let us pray:

Glorious and Gracious God, may the words of my mouth and

the meditation of each of our hearts be

acceptable in Your sight our only source of

Hope and Comfort. Amen.

After praying, Pastor Dave

motions for the congregation

to be seated. Dear Followers of our Lord and

Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is still dealing

with that group of people who have witnessed

the feeding of at least 5,000 people. Remember that

group of people that had come out

to witness Jesus working.

To see Him perform the miracles that He had

done previously. They wanted to know

more about Him. They wanted to hear His message.

They came out because they were interested in what He

had to say. It was those people

who witnessed that miraculous feeding

of the 5,000.

It touched them so much in their lives that

they had to scramble after Jesus. They wanted to be

where He was. They tracked Him down. They got in boats.

They walked on the shore. They came out because they

were so enthralled by what He had said, but more so by

what He had done.

They wanted to make Him an earthly king.

They wanted to get from Him all of the things that they

would need for their physical existence.

For their life in this world. And we see how hard it was

for Jesus to take their

attention off of

that bread and fish that they ate.

And to put their thoughts and minds to

their eternal life.

They wanted a miracle from Him.

They wanted to know by whose authority He had spoken.

Hadn't they seen that miracle? Hadn't they witnessed

and ate that miracle themselves?

But yet as Jesus tries to get their focus,

off of that bread and fish, and onto eternal life ...

... all of a sudden ...

they seem to lose interest.

All of a sudden they really begin to challenge Him.

All of a sudden they want to know certain things.

They point back to their forefathers who

had that great and special bread in the wilderness,

of manna that came down from heaven.

But Jesus tries to get them

back on point even in our Lesson for today

because what

does He say to them about that manna?

Your forefathers ate that manna

in the desert and ...

they ... died.

... Even we,

need to

have that reminder in our life

that some day

death is not going to come near to us.

Death is going to COME for EACH

and EVERY ONE

of us.

It's a reminder that we have to sometimes

take our focus off of all of the things

that we can see and hold in our life

and direct it toward heaven.

The fact that our goal in this life is

to REMAIN in Christ.

I don't think that's a lot of people's

top ten list of things

to accomplish as they go through life.

To remain in Christ, to be nourished on Him,

to remain in Christ for all eternity was what

Jesus was trying to get those

people to understand who had come to Him.

They wanted Him to be their king.

He WANTED to be their king, but not an EARTHLY king.

He wanted to be their

SPIRITUAL king, their SPIRITUAL ruler ...

not someone who sat on a fancy throne in Jerusalem

in a great palace, but

He wanted to sit on the thrones of their hearts,

to be the One who was the Lord of their life

and govern over each and every aspect of their life.

He said if that's what you WANT me to be,

the king of your life, you have to REMAIN in Me.

You have to go off on your own doing the things that

you want to do and doing the things that this life

are more important than your eternal life.

Do we even think of that when we go through our life and

the sins and opportunities of the sins

that are put in front of us? If I choose this,

I choose death. If I choose this,

I choose remaining in Christ.

How often we just ignore that and happily go

down the road of sin and life be damned.

Because sometimes I think we don't even realize

that WE'LL be damned.

We think: Oh, I can come to church on Sunday.

I can talk about Jesus as my Lord and Savior

I can go home and do whatever I want.

I don't have to live that life of faith.

I can just ignore God,

I can misuse His name, I can mistreat my parents,

I can covet other people, I can steal what I want,

I can hate other people. We can do the whole thing!

Doesn't really matter ...

I'll go to church next Sunday and God'll be happy with me.

But have we REMAINED in Christ?

Have we NOURISHED and FED ourselves

on His Word?

On what It says to us.

Or do we just hear It and It passes through

and It has no effect. Think of that with the

nourishment that we put into our mouths,

if it just passed through and had no effect.

We'd be dead. We'd be

walking skeletons to say the least, with organs

that didn't function properly.

God says: Remain in Me.

Be nourished and fed on Me. Have your faith

and trust in Me.

So that we have HEALTHY spiritual lives.

So that we're ACTIVE in our faith.

So that the Word that comes in, we hear and we understand

... and we're not always challenging God and screaming

at Him and saying: This isn't right or we want outta here or

we wanna do this. Instead we come to Him

and say: What do You want from me?

What do You want from us?

And that we willingly let Him rule in our hearts.

Not just today,

but for all eternity.

Do we want to spend eternity

in the presence of God ... What does that mean to us?

I think that's something we really need to ask ourselves.

Because it really isn't any different

than the life that we have in this world.

Yes, it's gonna be perfect.

There isn't going to be any sin and woe.

But it's gonna be time spent with God.

Praising God.

Doing the work of God. Being WITH God, worshiping God,

spending time with God.

So shouldn't our temporal lives

reflect that?

Shouldn't our temporal lives be a foretaste of

what's to come!

Or do we let the things of this world distract us and

detract us so much from

our eternal glory.

But then all of a sudden when we get hit

with the death of someone, we can't cope.

How could God do this to us?

How could God bring this into our life?

He's going to do that to you and to me some day.

Are we ready for that if it's today?

What if it's God's great plan

in the universe that today is the day

that we all leave this world

for our eternal glory?

Are we ready to stand up and rejoice?

Are we ready to greet our heavenly Father and

our Savior in the love that

He has showered upon us. Or are we so fixated on what's

here that that is too far down the road

for us to comprehend.

Those people came

to Jesus because they wanted to hear Him.

And when He spoke, they didn't really like

the message.

They were missing the fact that HE ... was ...

the central part of their faith.

He said: I'm the Living Bread that came down from heaven.

Not the bread like the manna that came down

that your forefathers ate and died.

If you trust and you believe in Me; you WILL live.

You will live for all of eternity and

that is the simple Truth of the Gospel of our Lord

and Savior. God gave us His Son,

sacrificed Him on the cross of Calvary, so that

you and I could live forever.

Live eternally in the presence of our God ... and each

and every day we remind ourselves of that fact,

we get centered back on what is important.

Remaining in Christ.

And anything that's not in Christ, then leaves our life.

Anything that is unhealthy for us,

any poison of sin, we're not gonna take

into our lives. Anything that is

going to detract from the

nourishment of God, should not be a part of our lives.

And we all know how difficult that is to do

even with our own food.

How much more difficult it is for us who sometimes

who have difficult, who have difficulty understanding the

importance of the spiritual.

To rethink how our life goes ...

to live differently.

To put into practice the things of Christ

that we remain in Him and worship Him

is our goal.

And the only place we're gonna find strength for that

is in Jesus Christ Himself.

We have opened our hearts to Him.

We have received Him as our Lord and Savior.

He sits on the throne of our hearts. He is there to

rule and to guide our life.

Today we come back to Him and say: You are my Lord.

You are my God. You are my Savior.

Today I remain in You.

And tomorrow morning when I get up, I say

the same thing. And I pray that the Holy Spirit

will be with me to keep me in the faith. To keep me

fighting the good fight, to keep me running the race.

Because I know that the day that my Lord and Savior

calls me out of this world,

that I will be with Him forever in heaven.

And I look for that day and I long for that day.

And I hope

that it will be soon.

Amen.

Let us rise.

Now may the peace of God which goes beyond

all of our understanding keep your hearts

and your minds and especially your lives

in the one true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.