Big Idea: Apart from God, our stomach shrivels up and we die; apart from God our soul shrivels up and dies. We have two stomachs (voids). One stomach hungers for physical bread; the other for the bread of heaven. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life”.

 

What are you hungry for this afternoon? A good steak? Maybe Johnsonville Brats on the grill and a cold beer? Or maybe it’s dessert – it doesn’t matter what kind, just as long as it’s got chocolate in it? What are you hungry for?

 

Several months back I received a vision from God. I’ve had only a few visions in my lifetime, this being the second one and they always startle and stun me, because they come out of left field, when you least expect them.

 

This vision was one of those that started me and it certainly came out of left field. The vision was much of what you just saw. The vision was of a husband and wife that were hungry for one another. They were passionate for one another. They were in a hurry to get rid of anything that was between them. They wanted to get close, very, very close and in a hurry.

 

At this time, God said to me, “I want you to be hungry for me like that husband and wife is hungry for one another. I want you to be passionate for me like that couple is passionate for one another. I want you to get rid of everything that would separate you and I, so that we can get really close. That was the vision. It shook my world.

 

About four months ago, I shared this vision with the Leadership Community. I told them that it was very clear this vision was not just for me, but for us as a community. God is calling each of us to be hungry for him, like that (point at the screen) couple was hungry for one another. God is calling us you and I to be passionate for him like that couple was passionate for one another. God is calling you and I to get rid of everything that would keep you and I from getting really close to God. That’s the vision. That’s God’s call for us.

 

All right, let’s go back a little further. About 5 months, just a month or two before the vision. I sensed that we, as a church were hitting a brick wall and I didn’t know what it was. People’s lives were being changed left and right, but we weren’t growing an larger than a hundred.  We kept bumping up against that 100 barrier. A healthy church is identified as one that is growing in quantity and quality. They are growing in the number of people that are coming to Christ, and whether or not we are growing personally and corporately as a community of believers. We had the quality part right, because people were regularly growing in the spiritual maturity, but the quantity part of the church was stuck.

 

At that time, the Management Community did a review of or our church. This review was much the same as a job review would be for a person. We reviewed our health in 8 key areas.

 

Characteristics Of A Healthy Church -Project to screen

 

1. Empowering Leadership
2. Gift-oriented Ministry
3. Passionate Spirituality
4. Functional Structures
5. Inspiring Worship Gatherings
6. Holistic Small Groups – dealing with the whole person
7. Need Oriented Outreach
8. Loving Relationships

 

We identified #3, “Passionate Spirituality, as the lowest area. On a scale of 1-5, we gave ourselves only a 2 when it comes to passionate spirituality.  So, as a Management Community we set out to grow that.

 

Passionate spirituality is understood as a congregations hunger for God as it’s expressed in community prayer. How hungry are we as a congregation for the things of God. How passionate are we as a community for the things of God. What kind of excitement is there when we pray? And maybe the greater question is how many are praying?

 

Before we began having worship here on Sunday mornings, the launch team – the people who began New Community – about 25 adults – began to pray. We gathered in Todd and Stacy Handley’s home for an hour every Wednesday evening to pray. It was one of the most lively and passionate groups I have ever prayed with. God was present. Great things happened. People were healed, others where set free from long-term bondage. The people that gathered in that home were hungry. . . they were hungry for God. They were hungry for the things of God.

 

Somewhere along the line we lost that. As more people came in, we got so busy that we forgot one of the most important things a human being can do. We forgot how to be hungry for God. We lost some of our passion for God. If I’m honest with myself, the reason that I don’t pray is because I don’t feel a deep need for God. I can do it on my own. I really don’t need your help today, God; I can handle things from here, thank you very much!

 

And if I’m honest with myself the reason that I’m not passionate with God is because I don’t feel strongly about anything that I’m praying about. Passion and intensity comes when I want something badly. The vision that I had, the husband and wife wanted each other badly, and as a result, they had passion for one another. Most of the time, my prayers are pathetic. They are monotone. There is no energy, no passion, and no intensity. I pray because I’m supposed to pray, but not because I really, really want to know God, and not because I really want to see up there come down here in my life and in the lives of others. I might believe that God can answer my prayers, but I don’t really expect him to answer my prayers.

 

In the Bible, God had brought the Israelites up out of Egypt where they had been slaves for more than 400 years. God miraculously freed more than 1 million Israelite slaves from the powerful hand of Pharaoh. God, single-handedly, took on Pharaoh and his great army and routed them

 

Then God led Moses and all the Israelites through the Red Sea, and then to Mount Sinai where they received the Ten Commandments, and then finally toward the Promised Land. But on their way to the Promised Land, they traveled through a large desert, and they ran out of food and the people grumbled to Moses. When they grumbled to Moses, God got angry. God got angry because the Israelites focused their attention on the food, instead of the one who created the food in the first place.

Now food is not a bad thing, but when it becomes our focus, it becomes an idol. When I focus on food, rather than on the God who provides my food, then my food becomes an idol to me.

Now Moses didn’t focus on the food, he went straight to God, the creator of the food and when he did that, God sent the Israelites manna- bread-like flakes – that floated down like rain from heaven. Looking back on that experience, Moses says these words in book of Deuteronomy:

He says, (God) humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that, listen to this, man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV)

What are you hungry for?

One time Jesus was teaching and there was a crowd of around 5000 men plus women and children, and because the hour was late and because they were in a remote place, he took 2 fish and five loaves and he miraculously multiplied them, so that they fed all the people, and not just that, but there was even 12 basketful leftover.

Then Jesus and his disciples got into a boat and went to the other side of the lake. When they got to the other side, they found that many of those same people from where they had just come from standing there waiting for them. It seems that they figured out where Jesus was going and had hurried over to see him, but Jesus wasn’t real happy.

And he said to them, I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. He’s saying, you’re just looking for a handout, your not looking for God. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him, God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Then they say this, Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” John 6:26-33 (NIV)

So God sent manna down from heaven to fill the Israelites bellies and give them life – so they didn’t starve. But Jesus is saying, that he is the true bread that has come down from heaven and that he is the one who gives life to the world.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35 (NIV)

The Israelites had already seen Jesus feed the 5000 people with a few loaves and a couple of fish, and the reason they had come was so that Jesus would give them more food to satisfy their hunger, but Jesus sees through this and he’s upset because they are hungry for physical food where he wants to fill another void with in them – he wants to satisfy another hunger that they have.

What does Jesus mean that he is the “True bread from heaven”? What is bread? Bread is the most basic staple of life. Bread and water are what prisons have given prisoners for millennia. It has always been understood that bread and water are necessary for us to live. They are the basic staples of life.

Jesus is saying, I am essential for you to live. I am one of the staples you need to live. I am the bread that has come down from heaven. Like bread is essential for the body to live, so it is that I am essential for your spirit to live.

Jesus is saying something like this. Bread nourishes the body, but I am the bread of heaven and I have come down from heaven to nourish your soul.

Apart from food your stomach will shrivel up. Apart from me, Jesus says, your soul will shrivel up.

So let’s look at that for a moment. “What is your soul?” Your soul is the essence of who you are. It is easier to identify what your soul was created to look like, then to actually define it.

But the fruit of the Spirit, the essence of your soul, is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

These are the characteristics of God. You and I were created in the image of God. The outer part of us is physical, but the inner part of us is spiritual and without God being at the core of who we are, there is an emptiness – a void. Jesus is saying, “Hunger for me, because I am the bread of heaven. I am the food that will fill up that void in your soul.

You might think the fruits of the spirit are emotions, but that is not true. Where do these things come from? From the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is the Third part of the Trinity – one of the three ways that God reveals himself and the Spirit God is the part that is mean to fill your void – the part that is meant to make you complete.

Maybe you’re thinking like I am, I’m not there yet. My life is not full of love, joy, peace, patience, etc.  – I want you to know that I’m not there yet, but I am growing in these areas. You want to know how?

Jesus says this: “Bread satisfies the physical body. Bread is a basic element for giving life to the physical body, and just as bread is a basic element for the physical body, so it is that I am the basic element for the soul – for the spiritual body. If you want those things, then you need me. Jesus is saying, I want you to hunger for me for I am the manna that comes down from heaven and I will satisfy, not your stomach, but your soul – that deep inner space inside of us.

Jesus is saying, “You were created a certain way. The inner part of you – your soul, your heart, your emotions – that was created for my love to be in the middle of you, and you can try and satisfy that hunger or that thirst inside your soul with other things – food, drugs, alcohol, smokes, porn, sex, work, money, big boys toys, cloths, shoes, bass boats, etc. but in the end you will find that you will still be empty. Those things will not satisfy the hunger of your soul.

So I ask the question again, “What are you hungry for?” Do you hunger for God? David said it this way.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Psalm 42:1-2 (NIV)

Man in Chipas, eating rice and chicken in the park.

Now, when I see that video of Jamie and Andy, and when I saw that vision that God placed before me, he was saying, “You’re not really hungry for me. If I was food, you’re just kind of picking at it. I want you to come to me like that man in Chiapas came to that food. He was hungry. I want you to come to me knowing that “I am everything that you need.”

Jesus was praying one day and his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray. He said pray this way – don’t pray this prayer specifically, but pray in this way:

Our Father, who is in heaven, holy is your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. We’ve talked heavily about that part, but then we haven’t talked much about the next line of this prayer, because I always thought it was a no brainer. Give us this day our daily bread . . .What does that mean, I always thought I knew what that meant, but I’m not so sure anymore.

I always thought that it meant the obvious, “Father, give us food, the basics of the food groups in order that we might live, so that our stomachs might be full. But then Jesus says, “I am the bread of life”. He’s saying that he is the food for our soul. I’ve never considered this angle before. I believe that Jesus is just as concerned with nourishment for our soul, as he is with the nourishment of our body. What are you hungry for? Food? Or Something else?

Are you hungry when you pray? Do you want to get close to God? Do you ever get passionate with God? If your prayers put you to sleep, maybe it’s because of a lack of hunger – a lack of appetite?

In my own life, I can admit that most of my prayer life, has been boring and mundane. My talks with God were like some of my college professors who droned on and on monotonously. They were just collecting a paycheck. They were doing the job, but they didn’t have any passion. Their heart wasn’t in it. They were basically going through the motions.

Is there any emotions tied to your prayer life. Are you angry about the injustices occurring around the world? Are you concerned with the way your marriage is falling apart? Is your prayer life just a head game and is your heart really tied to it. Are you upset that hell is spreading on the earth and maybe in your life. Do you want heaven to invade your home and your community? What are the stakes? I believe that God can change all those things, but the question is do I believe God will. Do I believe that God wants to?

Do you realize that when you sit down to pray, you have the attention of the Creator of the entire cosmos?  Do you realize that when you pray, you are connected to more love and more power than you can humanly ever conceive of?  Why is it that when I sit down to pray there seems to be no power at all? Most of us have no emotion, no passion, no boldness, no hunger at all when we sit down to pray. We are not expectant. We don’t believe the stakes are high. We don’t really anticipate anything big. Do . . . we?

What are you hungry for?

Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:26-28 (NIV)

Communion

 

Life Link:

• What are you hungry for? Or if you’re not hungry, what is your favorite food?
• The question – was there anything in Sunday’s message that struck you, confused you, or that you disagreed with?
• We are naturally hungry for food on regular intervals, but do you find that you are naturally hungry for God on regular intervals? If yes, has it always been this way? If no, why do you think that your appetite is lacking?
• How does being hungry for God correspond to loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength?
• Jesus tells us to pray for “Our daily bread”, but then he gets angry at the Israelites when they want more bread right after he had just fed them (feeding of the 5000). Why did Jesus get made at them? Do you think Jesus ever gets made at you for being hungry for things and praying for things, but not hungry for the One who created the things?
• Is there anything that you do that makes you hungry for God?
• What are you going to do this week to increase your appetite for God?