Jehovah Jireh (John 6:1-14 Jeff Kliewer)

Cornerstone Church

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Allow us to see our depravity, but the hope that we have in you, Lord Jesus. Teach us how to obey you, how to stand in true humility.

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Test our thoughts and our attitudes, and we may be holy. Speak, O Lord, as we come to you to receive the food of your holy word.

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Take your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and fashion us in your likeness.

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That the light of Christ might be seen today in your acts of love and our deeds of faith.

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Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your glory.

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Teach us,

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Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.

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Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity.

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Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority.

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Words of power that can never fail, let the truth prevail over everything.

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Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds.

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Help us grasp the heights of your plans for us.

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Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity.

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And by grace we'll stand on your promises, and by faith we'll walk as you walk with us.

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Speak, O Lord, till your church is built and the earth is filled with your glory.

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You may be seated. Father, your word says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

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God, we pray that you would create in us a hunger for your word, that we would have a deep desire to receive from you.

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And Lord, we pray that your word now would come and speak to the needs of every heart gathered in this place and watching online.

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Lord, that every person with their particular needs would hear a word from you.

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We need to hear from you, God, and we pray that you would speak to each of us through your word.

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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. That song,

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Christ the Story, is profound. It traces how

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Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament story, and how it all culminates in him.

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It mentions how Isaac, that son of sacrifice, would climb the fearful mountain to offer up his life.

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That story refers to Genesis chapter 22, and you'll remember last week we talked about it a little bit, but there's something

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I'd like to add this week. We talked about it in the context of how all of the scriptures point to Christ.

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You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life, but these are they that testify of me, said the

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Lord Jesus. The scripture points to Christ and he fulfills the prophecies.

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Well, in Genesis 22, it's absolutely amazing how Jesus fulfills the prophecy.

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It was never God's plan that Isaac would be the sacrifice for sin.

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So why would it be that God would ask Abraham to go to the mountain to offer up his son?

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There is in that a test of Abraham's faith, and today we're going to talk about tests. Tests of our faith.

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But more than that, there is a foreshadowing of what God would do in Christ Jesus. So think about the story again with me, because it's amazing.

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Isaac rides to the sacrifice on a donkey. In the same way, when

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Jesus comes to be the Lamb of God's sacrifice, he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.

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Isaac climbs that mountain to be sacrificed on the mountain.

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Jesus climbs the mountain called Golgotha. In that climb, Isaac had to carry the wood of the sacrifice, and even remarks to his father, here's the wood and you have the knife and the fire, but where's the sacrifice?

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In the same way, Jesus had to carry the wood of the cross to the mountain, and then falling under it, helped along the way to the top of that fateful mountain, carrying the wood of sacrifice.

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He's the only son, the monogamist, the unique one of the Father, beloved of the

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Father in a special way. Jesus is the one and only son of the Father, the unique son.

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And ultimately, Isaac could have fought back, because at this time he was a lad, he was a young man, and Abraham was old.

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And yet, Isaac willingly laid down on the wood of that sacrifice.

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In the same way, Jesus willingly lays down. He is the

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Lamb of God, as promised in Genesis 22, God himself will provide the Lamb.

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This refers to Jesus, the Lamb of God, as John the Baptist announced, behold the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is that Lamb.

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Of course, Isaac was not to be the sacrifice, because a ram caught in the thicket was provided by God to stand in for Isaac.

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Isaac himself was not an innocent substitute. He was not the Lamb. And so animal sacrifices continued all the way until Jesus would come.

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All of these things point to Christ. In fact, did you notice in Genesis 22 that it said, on the third day they arrived?

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What we learn from that is that the sacrifice for Abraham was in his heart when he made the decision to sacrifice his son.

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On that day, he died on the inside. Something in him was crushed and broken, because he would have to go offer his own son.

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And for three days he carried that weight. And then, on the third day, he received his son

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Isaac back from the dead. Figuratively speaking, according to the book of Hebrews.

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He reasoned that God was even able to raise the dead. And that's why he took Isaac, the son of promise.

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How could the seed blessing go through Isaac if Isaac is dead? Abraham reasoned that Isaac would be raised from the dead.

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And in fact, when God figuratively stopped him from killing him and gave him his son back, he received his son back from the dead on the third day.

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We mentioned a lot about that last week, but there's one more thing. As if that's not enough.

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The parallels are just incredible. It all points to Christ. There's another thing. For on that mountain, when this all transpired,

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Abraham was told, name the place Jehovah -Jireh.

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For on the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. And this is the culmination of the story.

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On the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. Therefore, name it Jehovah -Jireh. God is the provider.

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When you hear that term Jehovah -Jireh, many of you have heard that as a name for God over the years. Isn't there even a song playing in your head right now?

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I know whenever I hear Jehovah -Jireh, I think of these songs I've heard over the years. But it means

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God, Jehovah, is the provider. And on the cross,

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God provided for us our most needed thing, and that is salvation.

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I want you to think with me for a minute, theologically, about what happened at Calvary, and the provision that God made, and how it could be no other way.

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It was necessary for Jehovah himself to come and dwell in the flesh.

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Only God in flesh could atone for sins. Now, this is very important.

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Think about it. The blood that would be offered for sin had to be divine blood.

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If God had merely created some creature that has flesh and blood, and then sacrificed that created thing, it's not that God has sacrificed anything for us.

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Rather, he's only made a sacrifice. And so, Jehovah's Witness theology and anyone who believes that Jesus is created are stumbling in darkness.

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The sacrifice had to be of God himself. Divine blood.

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Think about that. What is valuable enough to atone for the sin of every man, woman, and child who ever sinned against God and who would turn to God in faith?

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What's valuable enough? It cannot be the invaluable blood of bulls and goats and animals, right?

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That can't take away sin. Only the blood of the divine one himself.

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So, Jesus had to be fully God. He also had to be fully man. For who could stand as my representative but a man with a full human nature?

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And in Christ, you have a representative who can stand for men like us, men, women, children, a human, fully human, and fully

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God. And so, the sacrifice that is made, the blood that is spilled is valuable.

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Infinitely valuable to atone for sins against an infinitely valuable God. And the blood of Jesus is human, standing in for humans who have wandered and strayed away.

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This death of Jesus on the cross, as prophesied in Genesis 22, fulfilled in Christ.

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This was the satisfaction of our greatest need, the fulfillment of our greatest need.

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We needed to be forgiven. We needed our sin to be taken away.

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And Jehovah Jireh came in the person of Jesus Christ to die the death that we deserve.

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He is Jehovah Jireh. If you're willing to accept it, Jesus is Jehovah in flesh who came to provide for our salvation.

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He's Jehovah Jireh. And this God in flesh, who died for our sins, will likewise provide everything that we need.

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This morning, let's turn now to John chapter 6. I want you to see

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Jesus in a fresh way through this passage. I want you to see him as Jehovah Jireh.

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The one who will lay down his life as the Lamb of God. But here, providing for our every need.

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He will multiply the fish and the loaves to provide for 5 ,000 men.

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Plus all the women and children who were present. Let's read it. John 6. After this,

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Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

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And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

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Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the

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Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him,

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Jesus said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?

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He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

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Philip answered him, Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.

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One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?

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Jesus said, Have the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down about 5 ,000 in number.

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Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.

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And when they had all eaten their fill, he told his disciples, Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.

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So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

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When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, This is indeed the prophet who is to come into...

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You guys ever heard that story before? I would imagine you had. In fact, if you've read

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, you've read that story before. This is the one miracle of Jesus that is recorded in all four

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Gospels. Then the resurrection as well. But as far as the miracles that he performed as a sign, in his life and ministry, this is the only one recorded.

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And I think there's a reason for that. I think that this particular miracle demonstrates the deity of Christ.

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It displays him as Jehovah -Jireh in a unique and powerful way.

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Creating and supplying and providing for the needs of his people. The first thing I'd like for us to see in the first four verses is that although this just looks like circumstances unfolding, there is a providence of these events and especially in their occurrence at Passover.

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Did you catch this? Look at verses one to four. You see, Jesus goes to the other side of the sea.

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He's just moving about. Why do you think that he needs to move so much? Well, so many people are attracted to him because he's healing all their diseases.

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We learn from Matthew, Mark, and Luke that this stage of his ministry, his miracle power is unleashed everywhere.

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He's touching and healing everyone who's sick. And so the natural result is, hey, if you have a sick mother -in -law, get her to Jesus.

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You have somebody with a broken bone, get that guy to Jesus. Everybody is swarming to him because they want to see a miracle and they want their sick to be healed.

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It says in verse two, large crowds were following because they saw the signs he was doing on the sick.

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So Jesus now creating a little space and getting a little distance, he goes up a mountain. Verse three, and there he sat down with his disciples.

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But notice the providence of God in every little thing that's happening. It says in verse four, the timing of this.

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Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews was at hand. Church, when we read the scriptures, remember this, there's never a throwaway verse.

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Everything is meaningful. This is God's very word, his very breath inscripturated, given to us, the mind of Christ.

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There's a reason why we're told that it was the Passover, the feast of the

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Jews. John will highlight, not just the Passover, as in we think the

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Passover of the angel, so that the death of the firstborn of Egypt took place, but those houses that were marked by the blood were passed over, remember?

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And that's how Israel was able to come out of captivity, by the blood of the lamb. But in that Passover, there is a commemoration of that event for the rest of time.

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And that commemoration is called the Passover feast. What was a one -time historical event is then remembered every year in the spring at the

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Passover. Notice what John says, the feast of the Jews. The feast of the

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Jews. In commemoration of the Passover, they were to have a

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Passover Seder, a meal. And in the day of the Passover, we were told in the book of Exodus chapter 12, you don't have to turn there,

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I'll just read this one to you. Verse 39, they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

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This is an important part of the story of the Passover. And the feast is also called what?

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The feast of unleavened bread. Why? They had no provision.

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They were fleeing from their homes, they were leaving everything behind and they're going off, they're gonna cross the

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Red Sea and live in the wilderness. How are they going to live? Where will their food come from?

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So the issue of the Passover in that there are no provisions for themselves is that they must fully rely on God to provide food.

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And of course in Exodus 16, we know he begins to provide that bread from heaven. And they looked at it and they said, what is it?

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It was odd. And so the word manna actually means, what is it?

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This bread that lays on the ground every morning except on the Sabbath. And so what is it?

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It's manna from heaven, it's bread from heaven. And the feast of unleavened bread pictures Christ because leaven, the yeast that works its way through dough, is a picture of sin.

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Sin, once you have even the smallest amount of sin, you become a sinner. And it works its way through the lump and you become infested with sin.

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In a similar way, yeast works through dough and that's why it rises when baked.

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But this is a festival of unleavened bread because it's looking for a provision from God that's sinless, that's pure.

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Church, I'm telling you, all of this points to Christ. We will learn that he is the bread from heaven and the miracle that's going to unfold is flowing from his identity as the sinless one, the bread of God, Jehovah Jireh, the one who can provide.

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It's no coincidence that this happens at the Passover, the feast, because we are dealing with the bread of life.

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We'll get to that in coming weeks. We're going to have to break this up in shorter versions instead of going all the way through John 6, but this becomes the point of John chapter 6.

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It's more than the provision of their earthly needs. It's pointing to Christ as the true

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Passover lamb. So notice, first of all, in verses 1 to 4, that God had providentially arranged everything, that it just so happened to be at the

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Passover, the feast, that this miracle will take place. Notice, secondly, that although Jesus is ready to provide everything needed and he will provide,

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Philip must go through a test. Now, if God would put

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Philip to the test, do you think he might also put you to the test? The word test here in the

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Greek is the same word we have for trial. It is a test from God that is often quite painful.

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When I was in seminary, I had a professor that used to call a test a celebration of learning, which was kind of annoying, especially if you hadn't studied very well and he's all bright and cheery and you come in, it's time for your celebration of learning where you get to show how much you've learned.

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Well, let me tell you something about biblical tests. They don't often feel like a celebration of learning.

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They often feel rigorous and painful. The person who's lost a loved one or has some debilitating disease or going through a divorce or has some very painful thing come into their life doesn't look at it as a celebration of learning.

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It seems very painful at the time and you wonder if God even has a purpose in it.

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Every test, every trial that comes into your life has a purpose. Here, let's look in the text. Philip will be tested.

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Verse five. Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him,

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Jesus said to Philip, now he didn't need to talk to Philip at this point, he could have just done the miracle, but he says, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?

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Why did he say that? Don't make up an answer when you're studying the Bible, by the way.

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The Bible will tell you the answer. You're supposed to draw that out from the text, not what you feel the text is saying to you, right?

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Unfortunately, in Bible study groups, too often there's a tradition to go around the room and say, what does this text mean to you?

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And whereas there's some application that we can all draw and have different applications, the text itself means what it means and we're to draw out from the text.

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So here's why he said it. Verse six. He said this to test him. There's your answer. Philip is put to the test for he himself knew what he would do.

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It was already settled that Jesus would do this amazing miracle, but Philip had to be tested.

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And how did Philip fare in the testing of his faith? Right away he answers, 200 denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.

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He right away goes into the natural thinking and he begins to do some calculations in his brain.

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Looks like 5 ,000 men. When you add all the women and children, there's more than 10 ,000, maybe 15 ,000 people here.

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Picture the Philadelphia 76ers at a home game and the number of people in that stadium or in that arena watching, that's how many people are around.

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And so he does some quick math and he comes up with 200 denarii if you wanted to give everybody a little scrap.

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His approach to the test is to look to his own resources and to do his own math in his own head and he fails miserable.

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Now why would God allow him to fail? Tests have a purpose and that purpose is to reveal to us the level of trust that we have in Jehovah Jireh.

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This is important. We go through trials in this life and God has many purposes in trials, not only this one.

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Job's friends thought they knew every purpose of God and that was error. But very often we go through tests.

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God will test our faith to show us where our hope is, to show us how much trust we really have in Jehovah Jireh.

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And very often that test is revealing a lack of trust. Now, what conversely does he desire from his children?

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Faith. To look not at your circumstances but to look at Jesus and know that Jehovah Jireh is able.

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With even a mustard seed of faith you can say to this mountain, be moved.

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Even a mustard seed. Now, let's look at a picture of mustard seed faith.

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Surprisingly, it comes in verse 8. One of his disciples,

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Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, speaks up and listen to what he says to him.

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Hey, there's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. That church is mustard seed faith.

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He notices that this little boy has this little bit and something in him tells him, mention that to Jesus, bring that to Jesus.

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This little bit, but it's almost like he catches himself in the middle of his sentence. Maybe as he said it, he looked around at the crowd and just saw how big it is.

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Or one of the other disciples, like Philip, looked at him and scoffed a little bit. Like, what are you saying?

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Dude, a couple of little pieces of bread and some little sardines and you're going to feed 5 ,000?

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What is this? And so he catches himself in the middle of his sentence and he says, but what are they for so many?

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He had enough faith to bring it up, but there was also some doubt, a little bit of,

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I believe, Lord, help my unbelief. Notice, though, the beauty of the rest of the story.

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And this comes to the third point. The second one is we're going to be tested, and that testing is for the building of the faith, but notice,

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Jehovah Jireh provides what we need, including signs of who he is.

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Look at verse 10. Jesus said, have the people sit down.

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Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5 ,000 in number. Jesus then took the loaves.

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He took what that Andrew had brought, that little bit, and think of the boy behind those loaves.

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His mom had sent him off with a little lunch. He had gone out to see the prophet. He had gone out to see the miracle worker, and his mom said, take this with you, and this boy is willing to offer that little bit that he had, and Andrew was willing to take that little bit and say,

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Messiah, take this. Jesus takes that, and he multiplies and distributes to all who are seated, as the story goes.

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That's beautiful, and that's encouraging. You see, Andrew passed the test, not because he had the greatest faith of anyone ever in the history of the world, the faith of Abraham in the offering of Isaac.

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No, he passed the test because he had mustard seed faith. He had faith.

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He took it to the right person, and the lesson in this is that when you take it to Jehovah Jireh, you've gone to the right person.

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He will provide everything that you need for life and godliness.

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Turn with me to Psalm 145, verses 15 and 16.

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Psalm 145, verses 15 and 16. It's a beautiful sound, the rustling of the pages of God's word.

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Jehovah Jireh has been providing for you every day of your life in ways that we take for granted.

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It says in Psalm 145, verses 15 and 16, the eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.

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You open your hand. You satisfy the desire of every living thing.

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Isn't that beautiful? You satisfy the desire of every living thing.

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The psalmist is blessing God. He has a God -centered worldview. He's thinking about God. He's looking to Jehovah Jireh, and he's realizing every time

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I've come downstairs in the morning and made myself a little breakfast, that food came from Jehovah Jireh.

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He provided for me. And every little thing, every little chinchilla running around or that squirrel in your backyard as he's eating the nuts off the tree,

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God is feeding that little creature, every bird in the sky that somehow finds seed in your yard and then flies off.

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Every creature on this planet is being fed day in and day out, and you are a creature on this planet.

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You've been eating meals from the hands of Jehovah Jireh every day that you've been alive.

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He's provided for you every meal. He satisfies the desires of every living thing.

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He gives food in due season. And so the point of the story of John 6 is that Jesus has been providing.

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It was Jesus all along. Through his divine nature, being God, he has been upholding the universe by the word of his power since he called it into existence.

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Go back with me to John 6. I want you to notice this little phrase in verse 11.

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You might have missed it as we read. Jesus then took the loaves, and notice this, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated.

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So also the fish, as much as they wanted. That little phrase, when he had given thanks, is one of the deepest, most important lessons of the

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Christian life. It is to cultivate this heart of gratitude before God.

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That's aware of the gifts of God. Do you realize how much you have been given?

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Every day, every breath that you're taking as we sit in his presence this morning.

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It's all a gift from God. And Jesus gives thanks to the

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Father, modeling that for us. And that church is one of the keys to the fulfilled, satisfied

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Christian life. It is to be thankful in all things. To truly learn to give thanks.

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How many of you have a habit of praying before you eat? Before every meal?

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It's a beautiful habit. Remember what Jesus taught in the Lord's Prayer? Give us this day our daily bread.

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So every time you eat, it is a reminder that you are a dependent being. This food comes from outside of you.

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How does it get to you? By amazing processes of the free market, right?

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Somehow it all comes to you and you're eating this delicious food. All of it comes to you.

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But you're dependent on something outside of yourself. You're dependent ultimately on God.

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Your food, when you eat, reminds you and it needs to remind you every single day of Jehovah Jireh.

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And that's why we pray before we eat. It is a reminder. That God is your provider.

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God is your provider. Look at the word grass in the text.

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Verse 10. The people sat down. Now there was much grass in that place.

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You see that? Be easy to skip right past it. How appreciative are you of the lawn in your yard?

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I know the older I get, the more obsessed I get with my lawn. I am totally becoming my dad.

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He used to be outdoors watering his flowers. I'm totally becoming like my dad. When I was younger,

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I didn't notice grass. Who cares about grass? It's just there. But when the people went to sit down, how much more likely would it have been in the deserts surrounding

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Galilee and in this particular region that you would have thorns and rocks to sit on?

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But it just so happened that Jesus went to a place on the mountain and in that place was a beautiful field of grass.

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Just to sit and have a beautiful picnic. It all was part of God's provision. Do you know, do you notice the provision of God in your life?

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How soft your mattress is when you lay down at night. How the lights come on when you flip the switch.

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Are you aware of God everywhere? Providing these things for you. How does he provide so much?

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Just think about this. This is Milton Friedman, by the way. He's a great economist. Now has passed away.

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But this great economist made this point about a pencil. The lesson of the pencil.

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He says nobody knows how to make a pencil. The idea is that if you set your whole life to do it, you couldn't make a pencil.

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Without the free working of the economy. Without the free market. Think about this. I'll make a point about the invisible hand.

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How would you get the wood? That kind of wood made in the pencil is harvested in the Pacific Northwest.

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How would you get the graphite to fill the pencil? Because that comes from something like Malaysia.

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Or somewhere in South America. How would you get the rubber from the rubber tree that's harvested and created to become the eraser?

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Or the little piece of copper that surrounds that? How would you put this all together and even fashion something that is just a 15 cent pencil?

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Nobody here could do it. Except by the invisible hand, as Adam Smith calls it.

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Every person is working for their own interest. Tree harvesters in Washington are cutting down trees.

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And somebody's doing their job in a mine to pull out the graphite from the earth.

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And all the free workings of the economy. As people do this to their own interest, and you work here, you pay a few cents to buy a pencil.

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That's amazing. The fact that you can have a device like that. And it's only by a free economy.

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Capitalism. Adam Smith called it the invisible hand. But I want to tell you that behind the invisible hand that provides these chairs and this incredible microphone that can capture my sound and take it through the internet to somebody's ears who's listening online.

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Think about that. Behind all of that is the invisible hand of God.

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God is the invisible hand. The providence of God that we take everything for granted all the time.

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Because it's just there. But when you actually stop to think about how just startling.

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I was talking to an atheist up at Princeton on Thursday. And he mocked the idea of this world.

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And we were talking about the distance of the sun to the earth. And how everything is just precisely tuned.

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And he thinks that just evolved. But has no answer for where that sun came from in the first place.

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Or this ball spinning in the universe called earth. How could we be so blind to imagine ourselves to be the center of anything?

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It all points to God. He is everywhere. And He is the one that sustains everything. The point of this story is that Jesus is that Jehovah Jireh.

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He's giving us everything all the time. Let's see the conclusion here. They come to this conclusion in verse 14.

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Then Jesus took the loaves. He gives thanks. He distributes. He does the miracle. Verse 14.

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When the people saw the what? The sign that He had done.

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They said this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.

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You see the multiplying of that little boy's fish and loaves to feed 10 ,000 plus people.

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That's a sign. Now a sign isn't the end in itself. The sign points to something.

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What does this miracle say? That this one with whom they're dealing that can do this in their presence.

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This one is Jehovah Jireh. Now at this point in the story they recognize this much.

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He is the prophet. Who's the prophet? Remember this from previous weeks?

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Deuteronomy 18 verses 15 to 20. There's coming a prophet like Moses.

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The prophet. Mark this well. The last two verses that Moses wrote.

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The last part of Deuteronomy. Chapter 34. Mention that there has not arisen a prophet like Moses who is able to do signs and wonders.

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But the promise of Deuteronomy 18 verse 15 is that there's coming a prophet like Moses. And you better listen to everything he has to say.

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So if Moses through the power of God it was actually God providing manna in the wilderness providing bread from heaven for 40 years.

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If Moses did this, right? Who is this one who now provides bread to the masses?

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He is this promised greater prophet. The one like Moses. Jesus is the prophet.

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And they recognized it because of what looked like manna from heaven. And we'll see this in coming weeks how all of it points to Christ.

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So in conclusion what is this sermon all about? It's really about thanksgiving.

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It's really about being thankful. Your eyes being open to see that every time you sit on soft grass and every time you get a meal provided to you that came from outside of yourself yes the man that doesn't work shall not eat.

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We have an instrumentation in this we're functioning in this economy but when you actually step back and think about it you are being provided for by Jehovah Jireh and Jesus is

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Jehovah Jireh. Your provider. He will provide everything that you need for life and godliness.

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So why are you afraid? You're in pain because you're in tests in this life like Philip.

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You go through these tests and you fall short. But in that he's showing you where your hope is, where your trust is.

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And he's teaching you by this to turn your eyes away from the circumstances and look to Jehovah Jireh.

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He's always provided. He's doing it all the time. He's with you all the time.

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He is your provider. If you've never trusted him as your savior are you seeing the truth of this today?

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Do you see that there's no possibility that these are mere coincidences? The story of Isaac being offered as a sacrifice that points to Christ.

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Do you believe it? Maybe you came here this morning and you've been skeptical. Maybe Christianity is just a tradition passed on.

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Impossible. God spoke through the prophets and it testifies to Christ. Today you need to put your hope in Jehovah Jireh.

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Jesus could feed the multitudes with a few loaves. Who else is like him?

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Where else would you go? Who else can offer you eternal life? He is the bread of life.

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And maybe you've known this. You're a Christian and you've come here. But you haven't been giving thanks.

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You've been living with a deficit mentality and entitlement mentality of what you're owed.

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And you need to hear what Jesus says to Philip. See, Philip looked through that deficit mentality.

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Can't be done. I don't have enough. But he was blind to how much God is providing all the time, every day.

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Maybe you need to begin to give thanks in all things. To just stop and pray more before you eat.

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And just notice how he's providing food for every creature and satisfying the desires of every living thing.

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He is Jehovah Jireh. Let's pray. So God, I do pray for those who this morning have not yet trusted in Jesus Christ to be their provider, to provide them salvation, the forgiveness of sin, eternal life through faith in him.

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I pray, Lord, that you would open their eyes to see the cross, the meaning of Jesus's death, the sacrifice for sins, payment made in full in the precious blood of the lamb.

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Open their hearts to believe this. And Lord, I pray for myself, that I would be more thankful, more thankful for all of your provision,

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Jehovah Jireh. I pray for each person in this room. They would not be discouraged when they fail the test.

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Because like Philip, we all fail the test. But that you would build them up now, that they could turn their eyes away from their failure and to Jehovah Jireh.

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Help us to trust you more, Lord. Help this church to have faith, to get our eyes off of the trial, turn our eyes to Jehovah Jireh, our provider.

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We do trust you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done for us.

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Lord, we want to offer ourselves back to you entirely this morning. In Jesus's name we pray.

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Amen. Let's stand. Take my life and let it be consecrated,

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Lord. To thee. Take my moments and my days.

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Let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love.

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Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee.

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Take my voice and let me sing always only for my

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King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for me.

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Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would

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I withhold. Take my intellect and use every power as you choose.

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Here am I, all of me.

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Take my life. It's all for thee.

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Take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine.

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Take my heart. It is thine own. ♪ It shall be thy royal throne ♪

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Take my love, my Lord, I pour ♪ At your feet its treasure store ♪

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Take myself and I will be ♪ Ever only all for thee ♪

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Here am I, all of me ♪

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Take my life, it's all for thee ♪

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Here am I, all of me ♪

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Take my life, it's all for thee ♪

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Take my life and let it be ♪ Consecrated, Lord, to thee

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So the closing benediction today comes from Colossians 3 verses 15 to 17.

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Make note of that if you struggle with thankfulness, if you struggle to trust

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Jehovah -Jireh, memorize those three verses, Colossians 3, 15 to 17.

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And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful.

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Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

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And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the