More Than Bread

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So we come to see the first of seven signs in John's Gospel, and what a great first sign! He turned water into wine, to keep the party going. You know I love to laugh . I even love to laugh at church. Ask people to describe church and you will often hear the word boring. When's the last time you heard someone say, "Hey I'm going to have a great party at my house this weekend, and I'm inviting a group of pastors and their closest friends."  

 But Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a party, a celebration, a factory of joy. And Christ calls us to live a life that invites people to the party. Perhaps our most urgent message should simply be... "Don't Miss the Party!" AND "Don't miss the joy!

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When it comes to faith, many of us are looking for a sign, but we need to understand that while a sign gives directions, it's not the destination. In fact, once you reach the destination, signs are no longer needed. In John 1-11, John records seven signs. Those seven signs were given so that we might believe. They are written so that we will take that first step of faith in Christ and they are written so that after that 1st step, our faith in Christ will grow. The sign, the miracle is not
our destination and in fact faith is not even our destination.

We are listening to, learning from, and leaning into God’s Words and God’s words keep bringing us to Jesus. Jesus is our destination. When we ask for a sign, what we are really saying is, "I just want to see Jesus!"

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There is a unique relationship between sight and faith. We sometimes say, "Seeing is believing." But there is a gospel sense of "believing is seeing." In any case, that desired connection between faith and sight sometimes leaves us looking for a sign that God is real, that God cares, that God is able. And make no mistake there are times that the quest to believe is a hard and difficult road. It's difficult because every child who dies or is abused or goes hungry is a monument to doubt on the battlefield of faith. It's difficult because we are so conditioned to trust our five senses as the determiners of reality. It's difficult sometimes we ping-pong back and forth between wondering if there is a God and being disappointed by the God we wonder about.

For the next handful of episodes we are going to talk about faith and sight and signs. If you are looking for a sign, I encourage you to come and see!

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Jesus is truly amazing. Throughout his life, people used that word, AMAZING when talking about Jesus. But it didn't mean, "wow that's interesting, or odd; or even worth a second glance." No the words used about him meant heart-trembling, knee-quaking awe, almost fear-filled amazement, and mind-bending wonder. So in this episode we will take a quick tour through the gospels to answer the question,  "What's So Amazing About Jesus?"

And we'll close with the challenge to pray every day, "Jesus would you please amaze me?"

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Of all the acheivements and accolades in his life, Paul considered knowing Jesus, his greatest treasure. He placed his confidence for all good things in Jesus. He was counting on Jesus. So I want to invite you to come and see this Jesus who is worthy of your life and who thought that your life was worth his death. Come and see this man who knows you intimately and loves you insanely; the man who wrestled death to the mat and sent his Spirit to give us joy and life in the midst of the darkness. Come and see this man who shaped history and invites you into his story. Come and see. That's how it starts with those who follow Christ. 

And when you follow Him, you will stop counting on anything or anyone else. What are you counting on?

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For this episode I simply want to give you the words of the prayer I close with. It's a prayer from A. W. Tozer and is the response of a heart with a deep longing for God. I hope you will listen to this episode and make this prayer your own today.

O God, I have tasted Your goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want you. I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Your glory, I pray that I may know You indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me.  Say to my soul ‘Rise up my love and come away.’ Then give me the grace to rise and follow You, up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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Christ is the treasure of God, the gift of God too often unrecognized and reject. A lot of people missed God's treasure because it came wrapped in such a plain package.  If we were to journey back in time to Bethelhem, ready to chronicle that starry, special night of his birth. I'm not sure that the video would go viral. We'd have a youtube video of two low-income, homeless people, unmarried, spending the night in a lean-to shed attached to the back of an adobe house; the agony and mess of childbirth. Later we might catch a visit to this lowly scene by a group of crude, and common sheep herders.  Think about it. It's so common. God in dirty diapers.  

A lot of people did not come to see Jesus, because they missed the treasure in such a plain package. And still today, so many miss the treasure. Look back over your week, have you missed the treasure?

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If you’ve been hanging out with me for long, you know that More Than Bread is passionate about the Word of God. The title comes from something Jesus once said, basically, “we cannot live bread alone, we need every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Thriving requires more than comfort stuff and family stuff and vocation stuff, we need God’s words. We need to listen to, learn from and lean into God’s Word.  

BUT...when we dive into the Word, we find that there is this amazing, unique connection between Jesus and the Word. In fact when John describes Jesus, he starts with this statement, "And the Word become flesh." So can I say this? We can't value Christ, if we don't value the Word. And it's also true that we've missed the value of the Word if it doesn't draw us to Christ.

 So, are we a people of the Book?

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  John 14-16 is filled with some amazing prayer-promises. A lot of "whatever" promises, like "whatever you ask for I'll do." So why don't we pray like prayer is essential? I think most of us think prayer is important, but do we pray like prayer is essential? Listen, no matter how ruined you are...or how broken your city is...there is always a place to start.  Sometimes we hesitate to start because we want to know where we will end. I can't tell you how your broken story is going to end, but I can tell you where we have to start. 

We have to start with prayer. We have to P.U.S.H. in prayer!

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There r moments in time --the Bible calls them kairos moments-- moments in time  that are spiritually historic. In the moment, it doesn't always seem historic, but the  moments gather, and build, and something happens. I believe globally and locally we are in one of those moments. I believe that history will record these days as a kairos moment for the Kingdom of God; a season when a new chapter was  birthed. If. If. Only if we will travail. The time for casual and common prayer is past.
It's time for extraordinary prayer, a desperation woven through with expectancy that lays hold of God for our good and his glory.

Will you be one of the people who pray like that?