[0:00] This is the morning service at Holy Trinity on the 29th of February 2004.
[0:11] The preacher is Paul Dudley. His sermon is entitled, I Am the Bread of Life, and is based on John chapter 6, verses 1 to 15, and verses 35 to 40.
[0:30] Scruffy don't sound so, what's the matter? I don't know, Paul, I just don't feel right. Is there something wrong? Yep. Oh dear, is there a doctor in the house? Do we have a doctor in the house?
[0:44] Oh good! Oh thank goodness for that. He comes to the doctor, step aside, we've got a doctor, good.
[0:57] Dr. Chris, Dr. Chris, thank you Dr. Chris, I'm sorry. No, they're waiting for you on surgery. Right, okay. Let's just check out these, so what's your name?
[1:10] Scruff. And how old are you Scruff? Three. Three. Three. Three. All right. Now, first of all, let's just see how much fracture it's around, see how well you feel, and where's it all for you?
[1:20] You're a good one here, you can poke them there. Okay, now let's have a look at these teeth, anything wrong with your teeth, open your mouth please, say, ah! Oh! Oh! Oh, disgusting. Do you brush your teeth?
[1:32] Yeah, no! That's very important. All right, let's have a listen to the teeth, if there's anything coming. All right, let's have a listen to see if there's anything coming. Let's have a listen here.
[1:43] Let's have a listen here. Come on. I can hear a last night's hearing. There's a power. It's a machine. There's a noise there.
[1:54] Mmm. I think all that's got me is that there's nothing physically wrong with him. There's nothing wrong with him. Absolutely not. Oh. Why do I feel so bad, Paul?
[2:06] Well, thank you, Dr. Chris. Thank you very much. My word is done. Yes. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Chris. Big clap for Dr. Chris. Thank you, Dr. Chris.
[2:17] Well, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Chris. Well, it doesn't seem that there's anything wrong with you. You simply don't feel like you've got a temperature or anything. I wonder what else could be the problem. Oh, hang on.
[2:29] You did say something about your teeth. Perhaps, perhaps a dentist. A dentist? Oh, we've got a dentist! Oh, we've got a dentist in the house! A dentist! Oh, good! Oh, hello.
[2:40] How are you? Good, thank you. Good. Could you just check out my dog for me? He's not feeling so well. Dr. Chris, he's still studying to be a dentist. He's not quite there yet.
[2:52] So, um... Yeah, could you just do a quick check? Yeah, let's count how many teeth he's got. Yeah, well here we go. I hope this isn't going to hurt, Paul. Oh, it's okay. Do you want me to hold your hand? Yes, please. Okay.
[3:03] Who likes going to the dentist? Is what? Oh, he doesn't either. That didn't take very long at all. Your work has done us too! Bye, Paul. Well, it doesn't seem that he's got problems with being sick or teeth problems. It's not, you know, it's not. It's okay. It's okay.
[3:14] Do you want me to hold your hand? Yes, please. Okay. Who likes going to the dentist? Is what? Oh, he doesn't either. That didn't take very long at all. Your work has done us too! There's no... Bye, Paul.
[3:25] It's not. Your puppets don't have teeth. Your puppet doesn't have teeth. Oh, okay. Well, it doesn't seem that he's got problems with being sick or teeth problems.
[3:37] It seems like some problem. Oh, a mother's touch. Mother always knows best.
[3:49] What's the problem? Hungry. Oh, some bread. Paul, let's give it a shot. Let's give it a shot. Okay, hang on. Let me just...
[4:00] Let me just... Here we go. Try that. Excuse me, Paul. Excuse me, Paul. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry.
[4:11] Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. How's that fit? Excuse me, Paul, but that feels so much better. You're feeling better? Oh, that feels so much better, Paul. Oh, thank you. It was the mother's touch after all.
[4:21] Thank you. That's great. Yeah, you know what he needs. Paul, I need somebody to give me that sort of bread every day. It'd be good to have bread every... Someone to provide... You know, that reminds me of a story in the Old Testament. There's this story where... I've actually got some pictures up here. If you just flick the screen here.
[4:32] Let's have a look on the screen. The next... Just if you go... And the next one. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry.
[4:43] Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, I'm sorry. The next... Just if you go... And the next one. Ah, there it is.
[4:54] Do you know? God's people, they were sort of back then, and God looked after them for 40 years by giving them bread. It was a special type of bread called nana.
[5:06] And each day, God would feed them this bread. Enough for them... Well, certainly during the week they got the bread, and then on the day off, they actually got enough bread on the day before they got enough food.
[5:18] God looked after them for 40 years by giving them bread every single day, Scruff. That's fantastic, Paul. Yeah. So they never went hungry. They never went hungry. In fact, we've got another picture there.
[5:30] Sometimes they grumbled a little bit, but God provided them with bread all the time. Isn't that great? That's amazing, Paul. And we just heard a story, I just told the kids a story about Jesus who fed lots and lots of people.
[5:46] He had only five little loaves, two fish, and he fed them all. And he kept on just giving it, and so that everyone had enough to eat. Imagine that, Scruff. Paul, that's sensational. You know what we need to do?
[5:58] What? We need to make Jesus king. You know why, Paul? Why? No work. We don't need work to go to get some food, Paul. He'd just rock around to the kennel, drop off a couple of loaves of bread, and I'd be laughing.
[6:11] Paul, you want to make Jesus king now and make him so we don't all have to work and he can just keep on feeding us and looking after us all now, here and now. And that's it, Paul. That's it. You know, in the Bible story, all the people said the same thing.
[6:26] They actually wanted Jesus to be king there and then, and they wanted to have their tummies filled up all the time. But you know what? Jesus was actually talking about something else. What was he talking about, Paul?
[6:37] It was like a sign that he had that was pointing to something else. Hey, Paul, I've got some signs. Hang on a minute. He's got some signs. Have you seen signs before?
[6:48] Oh, these sort of signs, Paul. Let's have a look here. Oh, yes. These are great signs. We've got this little one here. Now, who might be able to tell me?
[6:59] Jack, what do you think? What do you think this sign might be telling us? A wiggly road. Yes, that's right. It's a wiggly road sign.
[7:10] Now, is this the wiggly road? This bit of cardboard? It's not a wiggly road. What is it telling us? It's telling us that there is a wiggly road, isn't it?
[7:26] It's not the wiggly road itself. It's sort of saying there's another. You have to go and find a wiggly road. Well, look, here's another one. This here. Now, we might have to get something a bit older.
[7:39] What about you, Zan? What's this? It means stop. So, is this just the stop itself? No. What is it telling us?
[7:50] What is it pointing to? It's pointing to a place where you need to stop. Oh, well, who's clever enough to tell you what this one is?
[8:01] I think you are. Okay. It means you can only go on one way. It's a sign telling us you can only go one way and that's street. It's not the one-way street itself.
[8:13] It's just a bit of cardboard. You know, when Jesus fed the 5,000, he did an amazing thing, but he was actually pointing to something even better. He was talking about the bread, the food that will give us life forever.
[8:30] Forever, Paul. Forever. I don't get it, Paul. What do you mean you don't get it? Well, I don't get it. How can Jesus give us life forever with bread? With bread?
[8:41] Well, let me explain it a little bit like this. I've got here a permanent marker.
[8:52] I've got myself here a whiteboard. Now, what happens when you write with a permanent marker on a whiteboard? Yes. Yes. It won't rub out?
[9:04] It won't rub out. So, let's write on some things here and see if it rubs out. Let me just put a little dot here. There we go. There's a dot. I've got my little duster here.
[9:17] Here we go. Let's see if it comes off. Uh-oh. Lucky this is mine.
[9:29] It doesn't come off. What are some of the things that we do that God doesn't like? Because they're things that sometimes just don't rub off.
[9:41] Naughtiness. Here's naughtiness. What are some of the naughty things that God doesn't like? What do you think? Shh. Yeah, don't say, Dad.
[9:52] What are some of the naughty things that God doesn't like? What about hitting? Yeah? Let me just put that up here. Hitting.
[10:03] I'll just write it small. Hitting. What about this? Yeah? Bullying. Oh, yes. That's a good one, Paul. Yes, a good one. Bullying's not very nice.
[10:16] Pushing. You. Pushing. What about some of the good things that we don't do? Because God's not very happy about that as well.
[10:29] We should be doing good things, but sometimes we don't do them. What might be something that we forget to do? Be nice. Yeah?
[10:40] What other things do you think that we might forget to do? Brushing your teeth. Yes. Well, if you scrub, you don't have to worry about that.
[10:52] But that would help make your teeth nice and clean, isn't it? But if you forget your teeth, well, you know, God might not be very happy that you're not looking after your body very well. Well, we need you about that body, don't we? What do you think? Say again, sorry?
[11:05] Being friendly. No, we're not being friendly. They're not friendly. Okay, now, the problem is, as I said before, when God looks at us, he looks at these things and they don't come off.
[11:19] They just get stuck there. And no matter how hard we try and get rid of them, they just won't go.
[11:32] But, Jesus came. And he came so that we could be God's strength forever. See, while these things are stuck there, they can't be God's strength. We need to get rid of these things somehow.
[11:45] Now I've got a red whiteboard mark. And if I start scribbling on her...
[11:57] Oh, that's super. Oh, what about the bullying? Let's get rid of that.
[12:08] Oh, let's get rid of the not being nice. I mean, forgetting to be nice. Oh, that's gone too. And what about them not being friendly?
[12:25] God! Red! Do you think that's red? That might get rid of the things that we don't like. Can you think of the picture?
[12:40] What red that perhaps Jesus did for us so that we can be God's strength forever?
[12:51] Yeah. He died on a cross. He gave his life so that way all these things we can get rid of. You see, when Jesus said he came to bring us food for eternal life, what he was actually pointing to us and helping us to understand is that Jesus came and died on a cross.
[13:09] He's dying and shedding his blood for us so that we can be God's friend forever. This is the food that will last forever. Hey, Paul, I want it! I want it! I want it! Well, that's what they said. They wanted that as well.
[13:21] They wanted this food. But it's Jesus himself. You see, in the passage we had, it said, I am the bread of life. Whoever believes in me will have eternal life.
[13:35] That's what Jesus said. Hang on a minute, Paul. Yeah. I was taught as a little puppy. Yeah. Not to eat people.
[13:46] What do you mean Jesus is the bread of life? What do you mean? I have to eat Jesus? I can't do that, Paul! That's right. You sort of can't really eat Jesus, I guess. But what Jesus is saying, again, it's a sign saying, if you want to have eternal life, you need to believe and trust in the things that he's done for you.
[14:05] You need to listen to his words. You know, where do we listen to what Jesus has done for us? It's one of the best books to read, you know? What is it?
[14:17] The Bible. Do you know, boys and girls, and Scruff, I'm going to say a few things just to finish up that would be good for us to remember. So, Scruff? Hang on a minute, Paul. I want to get my clipboard.
[14:28] Hang on. Paul's going to write these things down. I'm going to say three things. Oh, here we go. You got your clipboard? Nope. You got a pen? Nope.
[14:39] Here we go. There's a text on it. Don't get it on your clip. Thanks, Paul. Right. The first thing to remember from this story is that the best thing is that when we're thinking about God, if we want to have eternal life and be with God forever, we need to remember, Scruff, Jesus died for us so that we can be his friends forever.
[15:05] That's the food that will help us forever. That's the first thing. That's the first thing. That's the first thing. The second thing is, how often do you have food, Emma? All the time. Jack, what did you have for breakfast this morning?
[15:18] Jack, what did you have for breakfast this morning? You had Weet-Bix. What did you have this morning? Nutri-Grain. And what? And two slices of toast. Sue Colley, what did you have for breakfast this morning?
[15:32] It was a long time ago. Toast. Sue had toast. Right. And John, what did you have? You had toast.
[15:44] And we're going to have some lunch a little bit later on. You keep on having food all the time. If we're going to keep on trusting in Jesus, what do you think we need to keep on feeding ourselves with?
[15:55] What do you think we need to feed ourselves with? Food, yeah. The food that Jesus talked about. We need to be reading the Bible every day.
[16:07] We need to be trusting him. Scruff, we can read the Bible together, you and me. Can we both? Can we both? Yeah. Fantastic. We can get together and read. And you can ask your mums and dads if you can read with them.
[16:20] It's an important thing to be reading every day. So that we can trust in him. And the last thing is, those who do trust in him, there's his great promise that we will be with God forever.
[16:35] And that's the thing that will last and last and ever. Be God's name forever. What do you think about that, Scruff? Sensational, Paul. Yep.
[16:46] It's very good, isn't it? Well, thank you, Scruff. Thanks, Paul. I think I'll just go and read my Bible. Well, good on you, Scruff. You go and do that. And while you do that, I'm going to pray with the boys and girls.
[16:58] See you later, Scruff. Bye. We're going to pray and thank God that we do have the words of eternal life, that we can be God's friends forever. So, if you close your eyes, I'm going to pray for both the kids and the mums and dads, that we may trust in the words that give us eternal life forever.
[17:18] So, let me pray. Dear God, we do thank you that Jesus came into this world so that we can be friends with you forever. We thank you that he died on a cross to take the punishment for us so that the things that upset you can be washed away.
[17:34] We thank you so much for this. We pray that you will help us to be reading the Bible every day, to be trusting in Jesus every day and learning more and more about him. We pray these things in Jesus' name.
[17:47] Amen. Thank you.
[18:07] Metallic.
[18:18] Amen. Amen.