Archive for January 8th, 2012

Posted on January 8, 2012 - by techteam

SERMON, JANUARY 8, 2012, GENE SHEPHERD

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Posted on January 8, 2012 - by genes

John 6:53-58

Good grief!  

To the casual reader, John 6:53ff sounds almost like it could be a scenario for a gory book or TV series.  Those who heard Jesus say these things, as well as many people since, find the whole reference rather odd, if not downright unsettling.  Of course, they seldom bother to do a background check on the historical events that would cause Jesus to make such a bold statement.  The Jews listening to him (vs. 52) should have quickly connected those historical dots.  After all, one of the greatest examples of continued care for the people of God manifested itself during the wilderness wanderings of their own Hebrew nation.  For 40 years, manna (bread) miraculously fell from heaven every day to sustain God’s people.  That bread provided not just for their daily needs but also, because they were alive and strong, for their spiritual needs, as they were now physically able to follow God’s leadership and exit the wilderness for the promised land.  It was a vivid picture of God’s care for His people and a shadow of what would come year’s later when the Messiah (Christ) would sustain His people with his broken body and shed blood.  Eating His flesh and blood alludes to communion, the covenant meal that Christians partake of every week as they gather together to memorialize the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ.  The broken bread represents Christ’s broken body – the wine represents his spilled blood.  That weekly time of repentance, remembrance and renewal provides spiritual sustenance and spiritual union with both the Father and the Son.  It is a way to keep us all – the church, Christ and the Father – connected in a life giving union.  Consequently, it always surprises me to run into people who think this covenant meal is optional.  Jesus Himself said in vs. 53:  Unless you eat the flesh (bread) and the blood (wine) you have no life in you.  (It is reminiscent of another verse:  Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.)  Jesus’ statement provides a rather compelling reason to faithfully present ourselves together each week, as the body of Christ, to feed on Christ.  It is we can live  … forever.  

Posted on January 8, 2012 - by susanm

January 8, 2012

Today’s special message from Jesus Christ is:

John 6:53-58
New International Version (NIV)

53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 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. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

Optional reading page 23 from the book The Greatest Words Ever Spoken by Steven K. Scott.