I Ams (1): Bread, episode 83

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here

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at When You Love a Prodigal.

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And also help and hope for your own life journey.

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In a recent podcast, I told you about discovering our son's roommate after he had taken his life at their house.

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After that, all of us, but especially our prodigal, did a lot of grieving and a lot of soul searching.

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What was missing that made him think he couldn't go on?

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What are we missing that causes an emptiness in us?

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In all the uncertainties of life, especially when you love a prodigal,

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we're seeking something or someone solid and dependable as your foundation.

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And we have all of that in Jesus, whose name is I Am.

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Over the next few weeks, we will discover seven ways that Jesus is all we need.

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The seven I Ams he called himself.

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So right now, what is your greatest need?

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Health? Maybe just something to eat?

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Freedom? Oh, peace. Peace is always a big one.

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Closure on something that just keeps going forever.

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Some people in your life and certainly your loved one to turn and or return.

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Our God answers those desires, those needs in our lives.

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In Exodus 3, Moses, in response to God sending him back to the Israelite people and to Pharaoh,

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which he didn't want to do, he says, OK, OK, I'll go.

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But who shall I say has sent me?

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And God says, Tell them that I Am sent you.

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What? I Am? What an amazing name.

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Now, the English language grammarian in me, I love grammar, sees that as the great present tense.

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God says he is I Am. He's not I was or I will be.

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He's now. He's always here.

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No beginning, no ending, always now.

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And that's what Jesus is saying.

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It's kind of hard for us to comprehend, but God is implying not only that he is ever present,

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but also he is everything that we need.

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John in his gospel reveals how Jesus brings understanding and application of this I Am concept to us.

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In the book of John, we discover these seven statements of Jesus that tell us specific ways he is present with us,

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meets our every needs, fulfills our deepest desires.

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So over these next few episodes, we will briefly consider what each of the I Ams of Jesus meant in Jesus' time

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and what he provides for us and what he offers our loved prodigals.

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The purpose is to prepare our hearts to come to God with our own needs

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and to help us understand the needs of those we pray for.

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This will also equip us to do battle with the enemy of our souls.

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Again, he's the enemy of our loved ones and he's the enemy of ourselves.

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And these I Ams will help us be equipped to withstand his attacks,

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to be part of God's search and rescue efforts on their behalf, on our prodigal's behalf.

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As we begin each week, ask God to speak to you, to reveal how he is the one we're looking at,

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the I Am we look at each week, who will provide for every need you have.

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We're going to begin with, I am the bread of life.

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So what food have you been yearning for more than ever in these stressful days?

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Now for me, because I'm on a temporary restricted diet and I'm not eating anything with gluten,

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yeah, well, probably cookies, cake, pie, anything like that.

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Maybe you like chocolate, coffee, ice cream, or you like a big hearty breakfast,

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or you just want a good hamburger, a hot bowl of soup in the places where it's finally getting cold.

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Not here in Florida.

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Or maybe it's bread.

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I like bread.

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In many parts of the world, bread is the primary staple.

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And even if you have little else, you will have bread to eat.

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In John 6, we read the story of Jesus multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish

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into an abundance that fed 5,000 men and also all the women and children who were with them.

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And guess what? There were 12 baskets of leftovers.

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One for each of the disciples to be reminded of what Jesus could do.

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Next day, the people thronged around him, and he said to them,

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You're looking for me not because you saw the miracle, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.

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You don't work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life,

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which the Son of Man will give you.

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And then he said the strangest thing.

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He says, I am the bread of life.

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Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.

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What does that mean?

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First of all, the bread that he's talking about is for those who love a prodigal.

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We're hungry.

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We're hungry for something that satisfies, that gives us hope, that strengthens us, that provides what we need.

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Hunger is a real thing in much of the world.

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People are starving all over the world right now, and they're hungry.

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But for us, it may not be physical hunger.

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It may be this heart hunger.

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Jesus, though, is talking primarily about a spiritual hunger.

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He created us with desire and a need for purpose and meaning, for deep relationships.

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And he offers a relationship with himself and abundant and eternal life.

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He knows about our desire for purpose in life, for love and acceptance, for being valued,

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for people to love and be loved by.

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He understands all of those needs.

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And he tells us if we will receive and eat the bread of life, we will begin to find those things.

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We will discover many more things that we receive from Jesus as we study the other I Ams.

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But to recognize what he says, I am the bread of life, and I'm offering it to you

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for whatever the need of your life.

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I will satisfy the hunger, the desire that's there.

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But he's also bread for our prodigals.

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Our loved wanderers are hungry, too.

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Some of them are literally hungry for food.

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Their choices have left them destitute.

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But most of them are spiritually hungry for what Jesus can give them,

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even though they don't or won't recognize it.

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Perhaps they have had a real relationship with the Savior, but have turned from him.

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Or many may think that they do belong to Christ, they're just not very interested,

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and they've never really repented and received the forgiveness that he has purchased for them.

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And some have never even considered Jesus.

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They've rejected him.

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Most of them, I believe this is true, have some kind of pain or loss or trauma in their lives

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that causes them to seek to satisfy their deep hunger with the things of the world.

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How do we help them begin to look for bread in the right places?

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First, we let them see us, letting Jesus be the one who fills us and satisfies them.

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We'll have conversations with them about it, but we can't preach or pressure them.

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Rather, we need to live it out.

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And so it's not so much telling them this is what they need,

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but letting them see Jesus meet our needs.

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And we can talk about what he's done for us without saying, and you should do it too,

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because then they will decide for themselves and it will make all the difference.

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We also learn to let Christ guide us so we reflect him in our words, in our tone of voice, in our actions.

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Sometimes I've had to stop and think in this situation, in this conversation,

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what would Jesus say or do? And let him live through me.

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You might want to read The Voice of Grace from my book.

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We'll put a link to it in the show notes for you.

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And of course, we pray.

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We can ask God to reveal to our loved ones the emptiness, the danger of the food they are choosing.

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No, it's not real food, but it's what they think will satisfy them.

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But it's empty and even many times dangerous that he would be instead wooing them back to himself,

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to us who love them, to protect them from the world, the flesh and the devil.

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I can't tell you how many times when I have seen someone I care about,

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either my own or someone else, that I find myself warped.

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Protect them from the world, the flesh and the devil.

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And that kind of covers most of the things that entice and draw them away.

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But also to open their eyes and hearts and minds to the wholesome, satisfying bread of life that he offers.

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Reminds me of bread without gluten.

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When you're used to bread that has gluten, it's hearty and it tastes great and it satisfies.

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But when you are first trying to eat without gluten, you go, OK, this doesn't work at all.

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And you just feel it's totally unsatisfying.

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And that's what can happen for them when they've chosen something besides the bread of life in Jesus.

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It's not going to satisfy, but as they see us living full lives,

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deeply satisfied because of our relationship with him,

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there's a chance if we haven't pushed it hard on them and pushed them away, therefore,

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they'll say, yeah, I think I do want that.

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And they will come back.

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The wholesome, satisfying bread of life that Jesus offers.

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So what are you hungry for and your prodigal?

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How might the bread of life, Jesus himself, satisfy that hunger for you?

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Meet the needs that you have, fill the emptiness, take care of a hurt.

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That's what Jesus came to do.

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So here's my prayer that I'm going to be praying every week, something like this.

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Father, thank you for sending your son to be our bread of life,

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to give us a relationship with you, eternal life,

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and the meaning and purpose for which you created us.

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May I and my prodigal choose you more each day.

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I'd love to hear from you.

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You can write to me.

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I'll send you a place on their show notes to do that, and you can comment.

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That would be a real blessing to me.

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Thank you.