Lord Teach Us to Pray: Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
/Exodus 16, bread from heaven, John 6, Jesus explains that He is the actual bread that God gave from heaven
Emphasis: Praying for, believing in and receiving God’s life everyday His way
God’s baking bread- will we follow the recipe
Exodus 16:4-5
4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Exodus 16:20-24 they tested God and did it their way
20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.
His instructions had purpose…would they trust His Word daily and specifically? Or would they do it their way, and move outside of His will?
I firmly believe when Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” that He was talking about both physical and spiritual bread.
2 reasons
1. Exodus, God promised to provide, but would His people be willing to trust Him daily and not work extra on Saturday? Test—obedience to His word—both in action and timing.
Do it your way and it decays and turns to worms. Do it His way, and it will last.
2. Matthew 4:4 But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”—So powerful—
Side note: Sabbath is an important test of faith because Jesus fulfills the Sabbath through His work on the cross—
II. I don’t like this kind-give me the other one?
John 6:25
When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
John 6:26
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.
What does this mean? You seek me not because you saw. They saw, they touched, they ate. They were filled physically, but couldn’t see spiritually. It’s like this…
Romans 5:3 KJV And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Romans 5:3 ESV
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance—knowledge, wisdom, understanding
John 6:27-29
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
John 6:32
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
John 6:33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
John 6:34
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.
John 6:36–piece of bread
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
John 6:50-56
50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”—give us our daily bread—serve Him 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
Once He saw they grumbled He hit it even harder— most of them left on this day, and He didn’t stop there. He turned to His disciples and asked if they were going to leave Him too. Their response was?, where would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.
Their response wasn’t you have the best vocals, or you can really strum the harp Lord
It wasn’t, you have the best ideas about children’s programs
It wasn’t you have the best miracles, as a matter of fact, the miracles were all the crowd wanted and they left but it was the word of truth that Peter desired and made him stay
But how does a person know that they are being fed words of truth if they’ve never eaten words of truth?
He certainly seems to be making a connection between food and life, but it’s obvious that He is talking about spiritual life, not physical life, so how do we allow His flesh to be our spiritual food?
The answer is the connection between the Spirit’s moving through the word of His [cross]—it comes from the Spirit of the word. :
John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
He is the word
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Revelation 19:13
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.
Just like food is physical and you can see it, touch it, eat it, and it becomes nutritional life to the physical body, Jesus became flesh, and when He, through His word and faith in His word becomes our spiritual diet, we gain spiritual life.
In the Exodus passage they didn’t want to do it God’s way and at one point they didn’t even want God’s bread. In the John passage, they didn’t want the bread of life either. It seems the scriptures keep describing people that are always divided on what they want from God.
Vision: a rolling hill pasture land with green grass filled with a multitude of modern day believers. I knew in the spirit they were believers, and they were running in all different directions, not running away into the horizon. But never really getting anywhere or going anywhere. As they would run in different directions it wouldn’t be long and they would now be running around each other in circles. They were all around each other but disconnected. Different opinions, different directions, chaos and confusion. There was no peace or order. Nothing was being accomplished.
Sheep scattered
Matthew 9:36-38
36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He *said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”
They need the Shepherd of their souls— His name is Jesus.
1 Peter 2:25 for ye were as sheep going astray, but ye turned back now to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.
Somebody asked me one time… Matt are you a shepherd? Technically, I’m an under shepherd. My job is to lead others to the shepherd of their soul.
People are divided and seperated by their opinions Put us back together Lord— word of prophecy
Yes Lord these bones can live
Put sinew on these bones and put them back together Lord
O Lord Put flesh on these bones
Give them a mouth Lord and let your word go forth
Let your word be declared in the earth