Feeding the 5,000: Exploring Spiritual Sustenance in John 6

Music. This is Chaplain Terry Warner. I'm going to stop the music for a few moments so you can grab a pen and some paper for your foundation scriptures. If you can't get onto a computer because you are driving or at work, when you can get online, you will find my podcast and articles at The Chaplains Corner. net. Starting at the beginning of the podcast, I will give you the season number and the episode number. Thank you so much for listening. My podcast comes out every Monday morning. And now let's get going. Hello, friend, Chaplain Terry Warner here. This will be Podcast S4E11. Series 4 E, episode 11. Spiritual versus Physical. It will air on March 11, 2024. You will need to pay close attention to this one. There's a lot of meditation and scripture that the Lord has given me that I'm going to share with you. Your foundation scripture will be John 6, verses 25 through 69. If you want to take some time and read that and come back to the podcast, that's fine. In my quiet time the other morning I was thinking about what I could do to be more Christ-like in my daily walk in life and asking myself why my prayers sometimes go seemingly unanswered and other times are answered rather quickly. Now I'm going to give you a little background on this, John 6. Jesus had just fed over 5,000 men, not counting the women and children. He had his disciples cross over to the lake, to the other side, while he saw the crowds away and prayed for them and everything. He then went up on a mountain to pray because he had given them food and they liked the free food and they were going to make him king. So he withdrew from the crowd, got up by himself and got before the Lord. And you know, so much of our Christian walk and Christian insight is discovered in our quiet times with the Lord. You don't get this by reading the Bible verse a day. You just don't get the anointing that you get. It's not enough Word in it to bring about in your life. Well, brother Terry, I can't devote myself 100% to God. Do you realize what would happen if you did that? God expects you to use common sense as well as anything, but not trying to do things in this world without the knowledge of God is foolish. It's terribly foolish. The spiritual world is what controls the physical world. Jesus says his words were spirit and they are life If you don't have very good relationship with your spirit and you don't have very good relationships going on in your life. Things aren't quite right the way it should be. You need to draw closer to Jesus and learn to control the physical by controlling the spiritual. When you control the spiritual, the physical will be controlled for you. Alright, that's one rabbit hole went down. Jesus had the people sit down in groups of 50. The serving and eating of bread was important to the Jews. You have to remember they have a tradition of God feeding them bread from heaven for 40 years in the wilderness. Consequently, you get the idea that God would just rain bread down on you every day. You don't have to do anything else Sit there and eat and get fat. That's like thinking you can sit there in front of a TV and eat a Snickers bar and be spiritually improved. It doesn't quite work that way. This also served to demonstrate the magnitude of this miracle that he did when he fed the 5,000. The people wanted to make him king immediately. When Jesus went to a secluded place on a nearby mountain after the feeding, the disciples get in the boat and head for Bethsaida on the other side of the lake. They picked up the scraps because they were important to the people. It was given to them by God. It all happened by God. It was handled seriously and with thanksgiving in their hearts for the bread. After the disciples get in the boat and head for Bethsaida, on the other side of the lake a strong wind was against them and blew them off course. That's Mark 6:45. And they landed at Geneseret. That's Matthew 14:34. Mark 6:53. John 16, verses 17 to 21. Probably was a strong east wind coming from the Golan Heights. When Jesus appeared to them they were approximately 3 or 4 miles out or about halfway across. This is after 3 in the morning. It's the 4th watch of the night. It's late or early. Have you a look at it? When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, he wanted to try it. Try it. You don't try faith, you use your faith to succeed. Matthew 14:28. Jesus didn't jump on him, he just said oh you little faith. Peter's faith had not been cultivated and disciplined enough and made strong enough to sustain him walking on the water for any length of time. He made it, maybe one or two steps, maybe Started to sink and Jesus was there to pull him up and save him. Now you look at Peter after he's born again and on the day of Pentecost, where his preaching is powerful and his healings are powerful and his deeds are powerful, that faith is being cultivated, and look at how much it's grown. While Jesus spent much time ministering to the people's physical needs, the real purpose of his coming was to save souls. When he told them that they started to lose interest, they wanted the food. They did not want to be preached to or Churched, so to speak. They wanted the free food. You have to be careful, excuse me. Okay, I'm back. I put my phone on Do not disturb, and then the air raid sirens go off at 11 o'clock on a Wednesday, I think. So who knows? Now we'll see if we can get on without being interrupted. I apologize for that. John 6:22-71 Jesus' disclosure of setting up the situation on the bread of life. While Jesus has spent much time ministering to people's physical needs, the real purpose of His coming was to save souls. When he told them that they started to lose interest, as long as he fed their bodies, they thought he was great. They wanted to make Him King, they get free food and get rid of the Roman government. It would have been wonderful, in their way of thinking, if they had a King who miraculously fed them every day, as he did the day before and as Moses had done in the wilderness for forty years. Instead, we are made aware that true bread was actually the Word of God. Well, who is the Word of God, or what is the Word of God? The Word of God is Jesus Christ. He's the Word made flesh. That's what he meant when he said You're going to eat my flesh. Instead, we are made aware that the true bread was actually the Word of God. Jesus said in John 4.34 that His bread is to do the will of God, and man shall not live on physical, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Matthew 4.4. If you're in the body of Christ, the words that you are speaking should be proceeding from the mouth of God. The head should be telling you what to say. The spirit should be telling you what to say, leading you into all truth and godliness, convicting the world of sin. Since Jesus is God made in the flesh, we can see that eating His flesh means we can be spiritually fed and that will produce bread for our physical nourishment using the Word. The more you get into the Word, the more blessings and good things are going to be added to you Well, brother Terry. What about all these people in prison? Paul was in prison when he wrote most of the New Testament, or wrote a lot of the New Testament. Not only wrote most of it, he wrote a lot of the New Testament, quite a bit of it, and he wrote a lot of it from prison and he didn't consider the problem. He considered it in the best self to be in chains for Christ, to get the Word to the government officials Think about that. He got the preach to the higher-ups, the presidents, the prime ministers, the guards, the people that the ordinary person wouldn't reach. In John 6, 25 through 29, we have a verse that a lot of people are still stumbling over. That is actually quite simple to understand. Jesus had just fed over 5,000 people with five small loaves of bread and two small fish. Part of the crowd figured out that he had crossed the sea some time earlier that night. But why did they cross? Looking for Jesus? Mainly for free food, not for a personal relationship with Jesus. So in verse 28, then they asked him what must we do to do the works that God requires? Because they're expecting that they can do something and they're going to get free food. Jesus answered the works of God is this to believe in the one God has sent, that would be Jesus Christ. He gives him a spiritual answer to a physical problem. John 6, 63 through 70 says my words are spirit and they are life, but these words that Jesus speaks, that he also speaks to us, are also spirit, and it is the spirit that controls the physical. It's the spirit that brought everything into existence. All this was done back when God said everything up in the beginning. Adam had the ability to think and speak for on his own. That's what got him into trouble. Was he listened to the devil instead of listening to the spirit of God? However, look at their response verse 30. Then they asked him what miraculous sign will then you give that? We may see it and believe you. He just fed 5,000 people and here they are asking for miraculous signs so they can do what God does. That tells you right there. They didn't believe him to be the son of God. They were rejecting him and by rejecting him they were cut off from believing. Cut off is not a good word. They were blocked from believing in Jesus Christ. It's come by faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, the Word of God was there, producing and telling them and doing miracles, and they missed it. They asked for a sign. What will you do? Remember how God delivered, fed, clothed and took care of the Israelites when they were delivered out of Egypt and headed for the promised land. Jesus said in verse 35, I am the bread of life. Doing the work of God will allow you to use his words, in other words God's words, to save souls, heal the sick, cleanse lepers, diseases and transfer their newly God-given powers to others to grow the kingdom of God. That's the bread you are eating. That's the bread that will take care of everything Jesus says. His words were spirit and they are alive John 6.63. And the power of life and death are in the tongue. Proverbs 18.21. So what do we do? The first thing we try and do is to control our tongue, when, if we just read a few more verses there in James, you'll learn that man can't control the tongue. Only God can, only the Holy Spirit can. And so what do we try to do? Though we try to say the right words and do this or do that, we're no better off than the people down there trying to eat the food to get. I mean trying to get a spiritual, I'm sorry. We're no worse off than trying to say words to get something to eat, when, in the spiritual, words will produce things to eat on its own. Not us working the system, the system works us. Spiritual things dominate physical things. So we see that the physical needs are problems and concerns that happen to us while we are on the earth. To cure, stop or prevent these physical needs, a spiritual law must be applied and even sought after in order to remedy the physical need problem. That is why a person must be changed in his heart and be born again. That's why you need to build treasure up in your heart, because out of the heart flow the issues of life. Why not have the issues of life coming from a heart full of treasure, not a heart full of unbelief and words? Contrary to what God says, behavior, words, the issues of life all originate in the heart of a person. We can dress up, wear clerical collars, robes, burn candles and incense and grow beards and just plain dress and act weird. We can work harder, longer hours and deceive ourselves by saying God told me to do this so I can justify my action and behavior and not have to look it up in the word and get what I want Before others, when I should have been teaching my family how to live and walk using the God given principles of faith. Faith filled words dominate Through the bread of life. Instead of worldly achievements and money, they bring about spiritual bonuses. Deuteronomy 8 18. It is God who gives you the power to get wealth. For what? For nothing. How does God do it? Words. Words are spiritual containers and they carry messages. God speaks to you and His Word carries blessings and prosperity, health, divine wealth. Solomon had piles of money, had silver piled up, lost count of it in his back yard at his place. Life, abundance, health, prosperity and especially eternal life all come from God's Word Deuteronomy 8.18. So today, put on Christ. Not only that, wear is armor? Also, the evil in this world is a spiritual problem and must be handled from and through the Holy Spirit of God. The second thing is to learn to walk, act and live in love. Read 1 Corinthians 13 and do what it says. You have a blessed day In Jesus' name, amen. This has been Chaplain Terry Warner. My podcasts come out every Monday morning. When you go to my podcast website, there will be a drop-down menu for my website. It signs up for my newsletter. You will be able to privately email me with your questions and comments. You will be lifted up in prayer every day. Your information will never be sold or given out. Please like, share and follow me on social media. Thank you so much for listening to my podcast. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace in Jesus' name. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace in Jesus' name.