Living Bread & Leftover Turkey 01

When You Want Knowledge As Much as Air
1. The Teacher & the Eager Student & the Water
  1. Asking Socrates for wisdom
  2. When you desire wisdom as much as you desired air …
2. The Pilgrims & the Lore of Starving Before Feasting
  1. Trying to survive in a new world
  2. When you have been starving, you appreciate being fed …
3. Getting to Where You Are REALLY Hungry (Passionate)
  1. In both stories, the reward comes after a shocking struggle
  2. Comfort numbs us to the need & robs us of the desire …
People are Hungry
1. The people in our reading needed to be fed, by the thousands
  1. Jesus feeds the five thousand & teaches through a great sign
  2. Jesus feeds those who follow & have an even greater need …
2. The people in our community need to be fed, unprecedented numbers
  1. This year we have felt like the disciples seeing the hungry crowd
  2. The need is even greater than food & shelter & stability …
3. We, all of us, need to be fed; not just food, but peace, hope, joy, & love
  1. Seem to be living through a famine of love & an abundance of fear
  2. It leaves us hungry for & desiring of hope & joy & peace & love
We Try to Feed that Hunger
1. The hungry people in our story followed after Jesus to be fed
  1. The crowd gathered at signs of healing & followed at hunger fed
  2. Recognizing power & compassion, they sought after more; hope?
2. The hungry people in our community seek out where they can get fed
  1. We see it in the behavior of the hungry & needy around us and sometimes we call it taking advantage or gaming the system
  2. Instead of desperation born of need we see greed & manipulation
3. We, all of us, seek out ways to feed our own emptiness & need
  1. Maybe it connects to our own fears of loss & famines of all sorts
  2. Maybe it connects to our own efforts to satisfy our own needs
Jesus Feeds Their Hunger & Offers Living Bread
1. Jesus didn’t send the hungry away. He fed them & then He led them
  1. Jesus fed the hungry crowd & met their base physical need
  2. Jesus pointed them to hope & life that met an eternal need
2. Jesus recognizes their need & meets it, the offers something better
  1. Jesus knows our selfish habits; He knows how deep our need is
  2. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you …
    I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,
    and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
3. Jesus invites us to the table where he himself is the bread of life
  1. Jesus’ words here are a precursor to The Lord’s Supper
  2. Jesus gave us bread & wine as a remembrance of Hope & Life
Thanksgiving is Our Only Appropriate Response
1. The Lore of Pilgrims Giving Thanks & Showing Gratitude in Unity
  1. The core of that First Thanksgiving legend is Gratitude
  2. The celebration of that First Thanksgiving was in Unity
2. Taking a Day … Even a Month … to Feast on Gratitude is Good! Gratitude is a discipline we should develop & practice every day.
3. So, as we gather in Thanks-giving, let us remember the feast giver
  1. As we over-eat on Thursday & over-buy on Friday; remember
  2. A challenge to us all; Intentionally Place Jesus at The Center
Jesus At The Center of Our Thanksgiving
1. An Opportunity & A Gift – Simple Bread & Simple Juice
2. Gather in our Families & Remember Jesus, the Bread of Heaven
3. As we Gather with Jesus at the Center, Remember Our Eternal Hope “O taste and see that the Lord is good;
  happy are those who take refuge in him.” – Psalm 34:8

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Living Bread & Leftover Turkey 01

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