Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 10

My Annual Report for Lanse Free Church: 2023 in Review

Lanse Evangelical Free Church exists to glorify Godby bringing people into a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christthrough worship, instruction, fellowship, evangelism, and service.

The Annual Pastoral ReportPastor Matt MitchellYear in Review: 2023
Dear Church Family,
This past year was exceptional. 2023 wasn’t as difficult or tumultuous as 2020 and 2021 or as pivotal as 2022, but it also wasn’t very routine either. In our 131 year history as a congregation, there hasn’t been another year like 2023. 
Not only did LEFC reach the milestone of being shepherded by the same pastor for twenty-five consecutive years (exceptional for us!), but you also granted me a three month sabbatical to celebrate that ministry anniversary and recharge my batteries. For an entire quarter of the year, I was graciously relieved of my pastoral responsibilities and freed to travel, reflect, and rest.
But the church family did not rest! Our faithful team of Elders and other wonderful church leaders stepped up to cover all of the pastoral functions during my sabbatical and led our congregation forward in our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ. Read the other reports in these pages to get a sense of all that was accomplished. When I returned refreshed from my sabbatical, I felt so encouraged that the church family missed me but didn’t need me. That spoke volumes about how exceptionally healthy our church family currently is. 
You can read about our adventures in Great Britain and some of the ways that the Lord gave rest to my soul in my sabbatical reflections which are included elsewhere in this annual report (along with some of the 3,000+ pictures I took!). Thank you for granting me the sabbatical, praying for Heather and me as we were away, and so graciously receiving us when we came back. It is a exceptional joy to be your pastor.
And on top of all of that, the congregation unanimously decided to approve a part-time ministry staff position and begin a prayerful search for our very first Director of Family Ministry. There has never been a year like 2023 for Lanse Free Church!
An Exceptionally Prosperous Year
In my last annual report, I wrote, “I am praying for the Lord to ‘shalom’ us in 2023....I long for Him to prosper us more.” We had been learning the wonderful promise of Jeremiah 29:11 and the LORD’s plans to “shalom” His people with a hope and future. I was praying that God would bestow on us “the fullness of blessing and comprehensive peacefulness where everything is as it should be.” Shalom does not always mean financial or physical blessing, at least not in the short run, but it does mean that God provides an overriding and underlying peace in the midst of any situation and gives us firm assurance that no harm will ultimately befall us. Shalom is a foretaste of all of the blessings to come.
I’m pleased to report that in so many ways the Lord gave us an exceptionally prosperous year in 2023. He provided for us at every turn. He gave Heather and me “shalom” on our “shabbath” (peace on our sabbatical), and provided all of the resources for our church to prosper while we were off and away. Over the course of the year, all of our needs were met, all of our bills were paid, all of our missionaries were supported, and we were also able to remodel the men’s restroom and give over and above to various ministry initiatives like the FBW Missions Project.
In 2023, the Lord prospered us with more people! Our average attendance at worship grew 11.8% to 142 people per Sunday. The lowest attended Sundays had 106 people present (January 1st and July 2nd), and the highest attended Sunday was Resurrection Sunday (April 9th) with 200 people counted.
We have a lot more than 142 people who call our church “home.” Our attendance team tracked 293 distinct people who came onto our campus on Sunday mornings in 2023. A few of those were guests from out of town, but 235 different people showed up with some regularity.
The Lord also prospered us with many more members. Including the ones we are presenting at this annual reports meeting, we have added 19 new members since this time last year. That is a 24.3% increase in church membership in the last twelve months! I’m excited to see how we are blessed by and can be a blessing to Bonnie, Sue, Les and June, Scott and Karen, Rob and Bev, Frank and Joan, Art and Shelly, Will, Joe, Denise, Darren and Judy, and Chip and Kim as they assume the privileges and responsibilities of membership. In 2023, the Lord prospered us with several baptisms. We celebrated the joy of salvation with Ron, Natalie, Carter, Darren, and Simon.
The Lord prospered us with newborn lives. Miles and Jen were blessed with Lila, and Josh and Katie were given Claire. Our church family got to pray for both of them as their parents dedicated themselves to raising these precious girls in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
The Lord prospered us with new ministries. I love how the Ladies Fellowship Hour has become such a vital part of life for many of the women in our church each week and how the Skacel’s Community Group fills a similar void for some of our families. My favorite new ministry of 2023 is “Snack and Yack,” our sermon-talk-back time for kids who join one of the Elders and their wives in my office to interact about what they have just learned in church. Not only is it lots of fun, but I think it may yield a long-term spiritual harvest in their lives.
The Lord prospered us with new missionaries in 2023. I look forward to seeing how our deeper partnership with Peter and Deb Bors of ReachGlobal will bring more help and hope for people around our nation going through a major crisis such as a flood, fire, or other disaster.
In 2023, the Lord prospered us with great leaders and staff. Our LEFC Elders–Keith (chairman), Joel  (vice-chairman), Cody, and Abe were all-stars this year shouldering all the burdens of pastoral ministry. The stalwart Cindy  kept everything tidy. The unflappable Misty “held down the fort” in the church office while I was away and kept us all pointed in the right direction. And when Misty was led to transition out of the office, we were blessed by the Lord’s provision of Jenni to take her place. Jenni has a heart to serve, a desire to learn, new ideas for the future, and a fresh can-do attitude. Holly volunteered to carry the weight of leading our burgeoning new Family Ministry initiatives. Because of these and other leaders, we didn’t lose momentum even when I was taken out of the ministry equation.
Praise God! The Lord exceptionally prospered our church family in 2023.
Pastoral Ministry
For more than a quarter of a century now, I have had the high privilege of serving as your pastor which I have always envisioned as a blend of three major responsibilities: preaching, equipping, and shepherding.
Preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:2)
In 2023, I completed one major preaching project and began another. In the winter and spring, we finished “Uprooted,” our study of the Prophecy of Jeremiah. Fifty-two chapters in thirty-six messages! I loved getting to know Jeremiah the man and author and sharing his broken-record message about a broken covenant and the promise of a New Covenant that was on the way. 
When I returned from sabbatical, we launched into a study of The Gospel of John that we’re calling, It’s great to return to John’s Gospel which I preached before twenty five years ago and to see, feel, and proclaim once again how astonishingly wonderful our Savior is. His truth is mind-blowing and life-giving. 
Because of my sabbatical, I only got to preach 70% of the Sundays of 2023. I was out of the pulpit for more Sundays than I have ever been since I arrived at LEFC in 1998 (16 of the 53 Sundays). Our church family, however, did not miss even one nourishing spiritual meal! Our own LEFC Elders did almost all of the other preaching this year with Joel, Abe, and Cody taking on multiple weeks! You also heard from Kerry Doyal, Donnie Rosie, and a musical message for Mother’s Day with Jim Knepp. Special thanks goes to Keith Folmar for coordinating all of the pulpit ministry in 2023.
Equip the Saints (Ephesians 4:12) I have often gauged my effectiveness in equipping others for ministry by noting how many ministry things happen without my presence being required. If I’m doing my job right, then very many good things are going on without my even knowing it!
By that standard, 2023 was an exceptional year for equipping the saints for ministry at LEFC. In the first four months, I focused on making sure all of the bases were covered for my departure, and in the last five months I worked hard at not taking back any of the ministry roles that someone else should be doing.
Of course, I still spend a lot of my time coming alongside our ministry leaders to encourage and resource them in their efforts and get involved in what they’re working on. But I’m also increasingly trying to stay out of their way.
One key development this year was seeing our Elders growing more into the pastoral side of their ministry. Joel led the baptisms for Carter and Natalie in April. Abe led the baptism for Darren and even taught his baptism class. Keith Folmar led the Child Dedication time for Lila. Cody is leading our search for the Director of Family Ministry. These may seem like small things, but I know that they are significant signs of ministry health, and I look forward to sharing ministry even more in the years to come.
As in previous years, I continued to be involved in equipping ministry beyond our local church. I chaired our Allegheny District Constitutions and Credentials Board overseeing two ordinations of district pastors, coordinating the Stay Sharp Theology Conference, and helping our team transition the credentialing process onto an online portal. I served on the EFCA Spiritual Heritage Committee and coordinated the book review for the EFCA Blog. My book, Resisting Gossip turned 10 years old in September and is still helping new readers win the war of the wagging tongue.
Shepherd the Flock (1 Peter 5:2)
I loved spending meaningful time with our church families in 2023. When I wasn’t gallivanting across Great Britain, I got to visit in your homes and businesses, cheer on your talented kids at sporting events and concerts, and walk alongside you through hard things such as illnesses and deaths in your families. 
In 2023, I led funerals and memorial services for John Kendrick, Marie Krasinski, Carol Almgren, Albert Green, Janice Mitchell (my dad’s cousin), Rosella (Araway) DeyArmin, and Steve Lutz. I also got to spend precious time with Ron Bean and Betty Sankey in their final days.
I also got to listen and provide spiritual counsel to you as you made big decisions for your life and family. It is a great privilege to shepherd people at all ages and stages of life.
Thank you for allowing me into your lives and for praying and providing for me and my family, especially this year as you continued to pay me while giving me all of that much-needed time off and away. Thank you, also, for supporting the Allegheny District and my pastor, Kerry Doyal. I can’t overstate how helpful his shepherding is for me. Pastors needs pastors too, and I have an exceptional one.
2024 Vision - “You Must Love One Another”
As we travel through 2024, I am praying that we have yet another exceptionally prosperous year. I hope that this is the year that we find our first Director of Family Ministry. I am pleased that, after a couple of years of anticipation, we are finally getting to send a missions team to Malawi. I think we’re going to get another group of students together to return to the EFCA Challenge Conference for an awesome life-shaping experience. I expect us to make major progress on the Ark Park Pavilion project. I’m praying for more new members, new ministries, new leaders, and especially new disciples. I’m excited about our special outreaches like the Wild Game Dinner, Family Bible Week, and Good News Cruise and even more excited about our everyday witness to the gospel in our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and extended families.
I believe the Lord will prosper us in these ways and many more as we stay faithful to our mission–“the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace” (Acts 20:24). Our message is the gospel, our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, and there is true life in His name.
One crucial thing I think we need to focus on in 2024 is actively loving one another as our Lord commanded us. Shortly before He was betrayed and went to the Cross for us, our Lord Jesus gave us these marching orders:
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)
As we contemplate the busy year ahead, we need to make sure that we are focused on  obeying this command, caring for one another and building each other up, pursuing each other’s best interests, and growing LEFC into an even more truly loving community.
Our church family has recently grown by leaps and bounds, and that is wonderful. But it also means that a lot of us don’t know each other very well. Loving one another will start with fixing that problem. We will all need to make a special effort to greet each other (especially those we don’t know very well), linger together after worship, use the church directory and mailboxes to make connections, check on each other, invite each other out or over for meals together, and pray for one another. We need to knit ourselves together into a loving community.
We’ll also need to bear with one another. Our church has changed a good bit over the last few years due to several factors including covid, culture, and the transfer of leadership from one generation to the next. New people also have new ideas about how to do things! While we are wrestling with that change and developing our plans for ministry into the future, we need to be patient with one another and bear with one another in our differences.
We must love one another for the sake of the gospel. Jesus said that the world will know we are His disciples if we love one another. The flipside of that is also true. We will wreck our witness in the world if we don’t. 2024 is another national election year which threatens to be as divisive or more in our country than the last one. Our society is beset with a massive epidemic of loneliness. Our globe is rife with strife and conflict. The world desperately needs to see followers of Jesus who exhibit counter-cultural love for one another (and even for our enemies). We won’t do it perfectly in 2024, of course, but we must make it our overriding goal to obey our Lord’s command.
Thankfully, our Lord Jesus has perfectly shown us how it’s done.
In His Loving Grip,
-Pastor Matt

“I Am the Bread of Life” [Matt's Messages]

“I Am the Bread of Life”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchJanuary 21, 2024 :: John 6:35-71  
Jesus is either bonkers or bread.
The things Jesus says! Who talks like this?! The things He says about Himself. We’re used to it. Some of us have been Christians for a very long time. Some of us haven’t known anything else. We’ve heard these things about Jesus all of our lives. So we’re used to Jesus talking like this about Himself.
But anybody else who talks like this either doesn’t really mean it (they are being silly or selling something) or if they do mean it, then they are crazy megalomaniacs. 
In this passage, Jesus keeps insisting over and over again that He is the bread of life.
He says it in verse 35, then again in verse 48, and then something very similar in verse 51. And He says a whole lot of other incredible things to go along with it!
And the people listening to Jesus don’t know what do with what they are hearing. But Jesus doesn’t back down. Instead He says it more strongly and shockingly than ever and forces His listeners to make a decision.
Is Jesus bonkers or bread?
What do you think?
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
Let me remind you how we got to this point in the story. We’ve been studying chapter 6 of the Gospel of John every Sunday so far this year (in ‘24). And bread has been the big theme. Bread, bread, bread, bread, bread, bread, bread. Bread everywhere.
Except at the beginning of the chapter when there was almost no bread at all. Remember this? There was this huge crowd, at least 5,000 people. And they were hungry, and Jesus wanted to feed them, so He did. He took 5 little barley biscuits and 2 little fish, and He multiplied them and fed the entire crowd. Bread, bread, bread, bread, bread, bread, bread. Bread everywhere! There were 12 basketfuls of bread being lugged around by the disciples afterwards.
That was the day before what Keagan read to us just now. Overnight [we read last week], Jesus sent His disciples in a boat across the lake, and then when a storm whipped up around the boat, Jesus walked across the lake Himself to join His disciples, walking on the water[!] and then seeing the boat safe to shore. 
Now, if Jesus did those two miracles, then maybe [just maybe!] when He says big crazy things, they might be true?! But He does say some big crazy things!
On this day, Jesus is teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. The crowd from the day before has found Him, and they want to be fed again. Jesus has gotten feisty and combative with them. He told them that all they really cared about was their bellies. They were missing the point of the bread.
The bread was supposed to be a sign, pointing them to a bread that lasts forever. And they keep missing the point. They’re like, “Great. A bread that lasts? Give us that from now on. We’re hungry. We just love your bread.”
And that’s when Jesus said (verse 35), “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.”
That’s a big claim and a big promise, and it’s a wonderful invitation.
“I am the bread of life.”
We said last week that there are seven great “I am” statements in the Gospel of John, and that this is the first of them. Jesus says, “I am” (Greek: “ego eimi”) and then fills in the blank with an awesome metaphor to truly understand His true identity.
Now, it is a metaphor. There’s a lot of metaphorical language in this chapter. Jesus is not saying that He is literally made out of wheat or barley or some other flour, maybe gluten free. He has not been baked into a loaf or cut into slices for toasting and making a sandwich.
It is a metaphor. But the metaphor is true. Jesus is the bread of life. He is what bread truly is. 
What is bread? What does bread do?
Well, fundamentally, it keeps us alive. Bread is food, and we need food to live. Bread stands for the simplest of food that sustains life. It is the fuel that keeps humans going. And if we run out of food, we run out of life.
And Jesus says that He is, in some ultimate way, the true source of life. He is the bread of life. Listen to verse 35 again. “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”
I’ve got four points of application this morning, and here’s the first one.
Feed on the bread of life and:
#1. BE TRULY SATISFIED FOREVER.
Now notice how He says that He is the bread of life and that what we need to do about that is to “come to” Him and to “believe in” Him.
In this verse, our “feeding on” Him is not literal or physical. That’s important, I think, to keep in mind when we get a little further into the passage, and his language becomes even more shocking.
Here Jesus is inviting us to come to Him (He’s going to say that again and again) and to believe in Him–which is the theme of this whole Gospel, isn’t it? It’s written so that we might believe in Him so that we might have life in His name. 
Faith (believing) leads to life (living). He is inviting us to believe that He is the bread that gives life. And it’s a life that is truly satisfying. It’s not here today and gone tomorrow. “He who comes to me [Jesus] will never go hungry, and he who believes in me [Jesus] will nver be thirsty.”
We talked about this last week. Jesus is truly satisfying forever. He is not just some kind of food for our bodies but food for our souls.
Some of these people Jesus is talking to still have His miraculous bread in their tummies digesting as He teaches. [If it’s miraculous bread, does that make it Wonder Bread?] But they are going to be hungry again. In fact, most of them are. Jesus knows that they are looking for another meal. 
And Jesus knows that we chase after all kinds of things that do not satisfy. But He does satisfy. And He does satisfy forever.
What are you tempted to chase as your cheap substitute for the bread of life? 
There’s a bunch of usual suspects: Money, Possessions, Fame, Status, Sex, Pleasure, Happiness. Those are all good things but we can easily treat them as the most important thing that we believe will give us true life and satisfaction. But when we do, we always end up empty.
Last week, I told you that Heather asked me what I’ve been chasing and that I didn’t want to think about it. I’d rather avoid that. But I did think about it this week, and one of my big ones recently has been the approval of others. I chase that around like it’s going to keep me alive and make feel good forever. I like to be liked and love to be loved. But all it takes is for someone to change their opinion of me, and I’m back to square one or in the negative zone. There’s no life there. It’s fake bread. Bread that will not last.
But if I come to Jesus and believe in Jesus, I will never go hungry and never be thirsty–forever. He will be my food. He will be my meal. Forever.
It doesn’t mean that I won’t feel longings on this side of eternity, but that there will be no longing that He will not fill both now and ultimately forever. Does that make sense?
You might think it’s bonkers. But Christians have believed it be true now for 2,000 years, and I’m one of them.
Here’s number two.
Feed on the Bread of Life and:
#2. BE TRULY SAFE FOREVER.
Listen to the amazing promises that Jesus makes in verse 37: 
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’”
What precious words!!
Notice all of the repetition there. What did you hear get repeated?
There’s “come to me” language that is what it means to “feed on the Bread of Life.” “Come to me.” That’s faith. He says that again and again. “Come to me.”
And also “come down from heaven.” He’s going to repeat that like six times in this passage. He has “come down from heaven.” 
And there’s God’s will. “To do the will of him who sent me,” “And this is the will of him who sent me.” That’s the Father sending the Son. He talks about that a lot in this book!
And the other phrase that gets repeated is “I will raise him up at the last day.” “I will raise him up at the last day.”
And He’s talking there about everyone who comes to Him in faith.
If you and I come to the Son in faith, then the Son will raise us up at the last day.
That’s the resurrection. [Like we learned about in chapter 5.] Even if we die, one day Jesus will raise us from the dead. 
That’s how safe we are! Even if we die, we are safe, because Jesus will raise us up at the last day. And He will not fail. Did you hear that? Did you hear how safe you are if you believe in Jesus? Listen again. Verse 37.
“All that the Father gives me will come to me [what percentage is that? 100%], and whoever comes to me I will never drive away [what percentage is that? 100%]. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me [what’s the percentage there?], but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.'"
What’s the percentage there? How many of Jesus true disciples will be raised up at the last day? 100% of them!
“All the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (v.37).
So come to Him, right? Feed on the Bread of Life and be truly safe forever.
Some people are afraid that they are not a part of the chosen. That they are not elect. And so they are afraid to come to Jesus and put their faith in Him in case it turns out that He doesn’t want them.
But that’s not what the bibical doctrine of election teaches. The biblical doctrine of election teaches that we should come to Jesus and put our faith in Him. And trust in Him and feed on Him (so to speak).
And if we come to Him, He will receive us. He will never drive us away.
And if we truly come to Him, then we’ll find out that it was the Father that drew us to Him in the first place. That, in fact, we were given to the Son by the Father. Given!
And that biblical doctrine of election teaches that none of those who have been given will be lost. 
No, we will be raised up at the last day. Look at verse 40 again. “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
And what a day that will be! Safe forever and ever and ever.
So, come. Come feed on Bread of Life.
Does that sound bonkers to you? That is the gospel.
Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life. That’s John 3:16. That’s John 5:24. Right? “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” 
What does the next verse say? “I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live” (5:25). 
“I will raise him up at the last day.” Do you believe that? This is an invitation to believe and be saved and be truly safe forever. ....
The Jews in that synagogue in Capernaum did not believe.
They listened to what Jesus had to say, these wonderful words, and their response was to grumble. Look at verse 41.
“At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I came down from heaven'?’”
“He hasn’t ‘come down from heaven.’ He’s come over from Nazareth. Isn’t Joseph his daddy? We know this guy.”
Isn’t it ironic that the children of Israel are grumbling about bread from heaven? They did that with the manna, too. They are hostile. They are rejecting Jesus’ claims. They are saying that what He’s saying is bonkers.  They don’t know about the Virgin Conception and Virgin Birth. They don’t believe that He has come down from heaven. They don’t see how He could be the Bread of Life.
But He is. And Jesus knows it. That’s why He says (v.43):
“‘Stop grumbling among yourselves,’ Jesus answered. ‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.” (vv.43-48).
Notice how Jesus repeats Himself. He reiterates that salvation is, in the first place, the work of God. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”
But that isn’t to keep us from coming to Him but to let us know why we do. And if we do, then the promise is that we will be raised up at the last day.
That’s what the Bible means in Isaiah 54, verse 13, “They will all be taught by God” that is that “Everyone who listens to the [God] Father and learns from him comes to” God the Son, Jesus. And how do we listen to the Father? We look to the Son because He’s actually seen the Father and shows us what He is like.
That’s John 1:18 all over again, isn’t it? “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known” (Jn. 1:18 NIVO). We just studied that together on Christmas Eve.
The Son shows us the Father who draws us to come to the Son. And when we do, we get everlasting life. Because the Jesus is the Bread of Life.
Point Number Three.
Feed on the Bread of Life and:
#3. BE TRULY ALIVE FOREVER.
Listen as Jesus says it all again. Verse 49.
“I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world’” (Vv.48-51).
Bread, manna, bread, bread, bread, bread, bread!
The Jews’ ate the original bread from heaven which was a wonderful gift from God, but then they died in the wilderness. But God has now sent a new bread down from heaven that is like manna but even better. This is bread that if you ingest it, you will not die!
It’s living bread! It’s not just bread that gives life, it’s bread that is alive. And if you feed on this living bread, you will live forever. And this bread is Jesus. And this bread is His flesh...which He will give for the life of the world. Because God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son.
What’s He talking about? He’s talking about the Cross. He’s talking about giving His life so that we might live. And live forever.
Do you believe in that?
The Jews did not. They couldn’t accept what He was laying down. They thought he was talking bonkers. Maybe talking cannibalism? Look at verse 52.
“Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’”
That’s the biggest misunderstanding yet in the Gospel of John. It’s not just how can a man go back into His mommy’s tummy to be born again. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
But Jesus doesn’t say, “Oh, I don’t really mean that.” He goes all in. Verse 53.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.  For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”
The things Jesus says!!! 
So, what does He mean? Whenever I read this, my mind always goes to the Lord’s Supper, but I don’t think that’s what He’s really talking about. He isn’t talking about communion here. This is long before that last supper in the Upper Room. 
He’s just using strikingly strong language to talk about true faith, isn’t He? He’s just saying the same thing He said in verse 35. There He said we need to come to Him and believe in Him, that’s what it means to feed on the bread of life.
Look at these verses 53 and compare it to verse 40. Verse 40 said, “For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Verses 53 says, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
They’re saying the same thing. Jesus is just using extreme language to press home the point.
He’s not saying that you need to physically eat His body or drink His blood. Christianity is not cannibalism. [No, ewww!]
He is saying that true faith fully internalizes Jesus.
True faith treats Jesus like He’s the bread we need to live.
True faith looks to the blood of Jesus, His sacrificial death on the Cross, as our only hope. Without it we will die in our sins of spiritual thirst. But with it, we will be raised up on the last day.
It’s a metaphor, but what a powerful metaphor!!!
That’s why He says in verse 55, “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”
He doesn’t mean that His flesh is real food in the sense that you eat it physically. He means that His flesh is real true food in the sense that this is one of the reasons why the thing of food exists in the first place.
Food is a metaphor for Jesus!Drink is a metaphor for Jesus!
We take those things in to remind us that we need to truly take in Jesus.
Does that make sense?  Understood that way, it does help us when we think about the Lord’s Supper. Taking in the bread and drinking from the cup reminds us that we need to fully internalize Jesus. That true faith fully internalizes Jesus.
But He’s not saying that we need to take communion to be saved.
That’s about the opposite of what He’s saying!
He’s saying that we need to receive Jesus by faith and find our life in Jesus now and forever. V.56
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. [Mutual indwelling.] 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever.’”
We could spend an hour just marinating in those words.
There are words of relationship there. An eternal life-changing relationship. We “remain” or “abide” or “live” in Jesus, and He lives in us.
And there is so much life in there. The Father (who sent the Son) is the “living Father.” He’s alive with life-in-Himself (remember that from chapter 5), and He gives life to the Son eternally (remember that from chapter 5, we call it eternal generation) and so anyone who “feeds on Jesus” (or comes to Him, or looks to Him, or believes in Him–all the same thing) will live because of Him.
And live forever! Forever. Forever.
Do you believe that? Or do you think it’s bonkers? Those are the only two choices.
The Jews thought it was bonkers. And so did even some of Jesus’s followers. Look at verse 59.
“He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?’”
This is hard. It’s hard to understand, at least at first. The language is so extreme. It almost sounds like cannibalism. But even after you understand it, it’s hard to accept.
Because it means you have to believe that Jesus and Jesus alone is the Bread of Life.
That He is the source of true satisfaction forever.That He is the source of true salvation forever.That He is the source of true life forever.
And that if you don’t receive Him, if you don’t take Him, if you don’t come to, believe in, look to...if you don’t feed on Him, taking Him into you fully, then you will be lost and not raised up on the last day. Those are the only two options.
It is a hard teaching. And some who had been following Jesus around decided that they were out. “I’m out.”
Many are doing that today. My friend Nick Boonstra who is the pastor at Blue Course Community Church, the EFCA Church in State College, told me and a bunch of other district pastors this week about a book called  The Great Dechurching  describes a phenomenon that is taking place across our country.
Nick reported that the book says, “More people have left the church in the last twenty-five years than all the new people who became Christians from the First Great Awakening, Second Great Awakening, and Billy Graham crusades combined.”
And the book tells some of the sociological reasons for that and some of the spiritual ones and gives some advice about how the church should try to reach out in the days ahead.
Some of those folks will return. Some of them have decided that following Jesus is not worth it. That following Jesus is bonkers. “He is not the Bread of Life.”
This did not and does not take Jesus by surprise. V.61
“Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, ‘Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! [I came down from heaven. At some point, I’ll go back up. Would that change things for you?] The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.He went on to say, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.’” (vv.61-65).
Jesus is not surprised. Disappointed, yes. Surprised, no. He had known it was going to be like this and even who was going to be like this. But it still made Him sad. V.66
“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. ‘You do not want to leave too, do you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. 
Simon Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’  Then Jesus replied, ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!’  (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)”
And that’s the first we’ve learned about that defection which is still to come. These disciples turned out to only be in it for the loaves and not for the Bread of Life. They abandoned Him. They turned back. They decided that the whole thing was bonkers.
But Peter did not. He said, “We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” “You have the words of eternal life.”
You are the Bread of Life!
What do you think? Jesus is either bonkers or bread. And we all have to decide which one we think is true.
Here’s point number four which is what gets my vote and what I want for all of us here.
Feed on the Bread of Life and:
#4. DON’T TURN BACK.
I think Jesus is bread.

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again
16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15
17. "You Are Looking for Me" - John 6:16-36

“You Are Looking For Me” [Matt's Messages]

“You Are Looking For Me”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchJanuary 14, 2024 :: John 6:16-36
So often, you and I can be experts at missing the point. Have you ever missed the point of something? I sure have.
I can be quite good at it, really. If you need any points missed, I’m your man.
I just recently learned what the point is of that little loop on the collar of most jackets? You know which one I mean? You can stick your finger through it? It’s really small and right back there? Do you know what that’s for? Did you know it has a purpose?
It turns out that loop is for hanging up your jacket. Did you know that?! I just always hang mine up by the hood or on the collar. But, it turns out, if you hang your jacket up on that little loop, then it doesn’t take up as much room on the rack, and it doesn’t fall off of the hook like my coats are always falling off their hooks! Who knew?! I was only 50 years old before I found that out. My Mom probably tried to teach it to me, but I can be an expert in missing the point.
In this story, Jesus tells some people that they are missing the point of something much more important than coat loops. In this story, there is a big search for Jesus. They are looking for Him. But when they find Jesus, He tells them that they have been looking for Him for all the wrong reasons. They have been missing the point.
And Jesus is quite feisty on this point. He confronts these people and points out their error. He’s really quite strong with them, because He does not want them to miss the point any longer, and He doesn’t want us to miss the point either. So let’s try not to.
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
Before we get to the part where they are looking for Jesus, we have to start with a time when they were NOT looking for Jesus, and they found Him anyway. That’s the story starting in verse 16.
This story follows right on the heels of the story we studied last week, the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 men with just the 5 small barley loaves and the 2 small fish. Because of Jesus there was enough bread.
What was the point of that miracle? We don’t want to miss it. We said last week that when you factor Jesus into your calculations, the impossible can be done. That God provides all that He requires. That was the point last week, but there much more to that story to not miss, as we shall soon see.
After Jesus fed the crowd, He slipped away so that they couldn’t force Him to be a king. This wasn’t His time, and it wasn’t His way. He slipped off on His own.
And, apparently, He sent His disciples off on their own across the Sea of Galilee. Look with me at verse 16. “When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.” Twelve disciples in a boat. They had been on the east side of the lake, and they are headed for the west side. The lake is about 7 miles across at its widest, and it is night time. It is dark. And Jesus was, by His own design, left behind. ... And then the storm began. V.18
“A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.”
Can you imagine? I’ve never been at sea when it was rough. Heather has been. She told me about a time when she was on a ship and it was rocking and the waves were really high, coming up over onto the deck. These are twelve guys in a little boat at night. And these storms can come out of nowhere on the Sea of Galilee. It might have been really scary.
And then it did become really scary, because they weren’t looking for Jesus, but He came looking for them! V.19 “When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified.”
Walking on the water?! They were three and half miles from shore, and they saw Jesus coming towards them on the water. That’s like from here to Kylertown. Imagine if it was just a lake between here and Ruth’s house, and you’re in a boat that is in a storm, and you see a man walking across the lake on the sea from there to here.
How are you going to feel?
We tend to joke about this. There are all kinds of “walking on the water” jokes and memes on social media. It’s like a cartoon kind of thing. Something Bugs Bunny would do. 
But you can’t imagine it happening in real life. They were terrified! And rightly so. This is not normal. This does not happen.  You can’t just walk on the water! That breaks all of the rules.
Who is this Person?!
This is a Person Who rules the seas. This is a Person that all creation is under His feet.
This is a Person Who makes the rules, so He can break them if He wants.
So the disciples are scared. More scared by this Person than they are by the storm. And then He speaks to them. V.20 
“But he said to them, ‘It is I; don't be afraid.’”
And that makes all the difference. V.21
“Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.”
That sounds like another miracle to me. They just hydroplaned across the rest of the lake. I don’t know. When they took Jesus into the boat, everything changed. They were safe. In fact, that’s the point I want to make this morning about this part of the story. If we find Jesus, then we find true safety.
#1. WE FIND TRUE SAFETY.
It’s because they received Him into the boat that they were safe.
I’m not saying that Jesus is safe. I was working on this message yesterday, and I wrote that down as point number, “Jesus is safe.” And then I’m like, “No, I don’t think so.” Jesus is scary. He is so powerful. He is so in control. His disciples are terrified when they see Him come.
The waves are terrified when they see Him coming!
Jesus is scarier than the storm.
So if you are with Him, then you are safe.
The water lets Jesus walk on it. So if He’s in your boat, it will go where it’s supposed to go.
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that the Apostle Peter walked on the water, too, for a short moment before He took His eyes off of Jesus. And Matthew also tells us that the men in the boat worshipped Jesus and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
But John leaves out all of those details to focus on this one thing that Jesus says, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”
There is no reason to fear if we find Jesus.
What are you afraid of?Is it scarier than Jesus?Is it more powerful?
Do you know Jesus? Then you have nothing to fear.
The words (in verse 20) translated, “It is I” are in the Greek “ego eimi.” And they can be translated “It is I.” That is correct, and it is what Jesus was saying. 
But they can also be translated, “I am.” I am. And those words “ego eimi” are going show up up again and again in the Gospel of John, especially the seven times that Jesus says, “I am” and then fills in the blank with some amazing metaphor to describe His true identity. The first one is coming up in verse 35.
And I think that we’re supposed to hear the echoes of Exodus 3:14 when Jesus talks like this. When He says, “I am,” a bell is supposed to go off in our brains that reminds us that God says that He is the “I am.” And if Jesus shows up walking on the water and says, “I am; don’t be afraid,” we should not miss the point that He is also claiming to be God Himself.
And that makes all the difference. If we find Jesus, and Who He truly is, then we find true safety.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Now, the next morning, you and I know where Jesus is and the disciples know where Jesus is, but the crowd doesn’t know where He is. And they are confused. V.22
“The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus” (vv.22-24).
I almost titled this message, “The Search for Jesus.” Where did He go? They are confused. And I’m not exactly sure how they figured out where He was. Perhaps those coming in the boats from Tiberias in verse 23 had seen Him and let everybody else know where to find Him. Either way, the crowd is still in hot pursuit. They found Him yesterday and got fed by Him. They are after Him again today. In search of Jesus. 
Is it good to look for Jesus? It sounds good. But it really matters why you are looking for Him. King Herod was searching for Jesus when He was a baby. He wanted to kill Him. 
Why did these people want to find Jesus? That’s the beef that Jesus has with them. Look at verse 25.
“When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’”
Almost like, He's doing something wrong. "We've been looking for you!"
By the way, here’s Jesus’ chance to say, “I got here last night by walking across the lake all by myself. Check me out!” But He doesn’t do that. He doesn’t try to impress them. And He’s not impressed by them. He’s not impressed by the crowd showing up the next day. So often, we’re impressed by the crowd. Jesus doesn’t care about being popular, if He’s popular for the wrong reasons.
And Jesus says, “I know why you are here. You’re here for all the wrong reasons. You’re here because you’ve missed the point.”
Look at verse 26. This is the verse that we get our title from. V.26
“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.” 
You see what I mean about Him being feisty and confrontational? Yes, they were looking for Jesus, but not for Jesus. They were looking for Jesus to get more bread. Jesus knows their hearts. He knows that they saw the miracle yesterday. They saw His power. They saw 5 loaves became 15 loaves become 50,000 loaves. And all they are thinking about is...loaves.
They were looking for Jesus, but they were not looking for Jesus. They were missing the point.
Remember, all of these miraculous signs are signs. They are not just miracles but they are pointing towards something. They are pointing towards Jesus’s identity, towards Who Jesus really is. And these folks were seeing the miracles but missing the signs. We’ve seen that again and again in this Gospel, and we’re tempted to do it ourselves, aren’t we? To look for what Jesus can do for us instead of Who Jesus really is?
And the irony of that is that when we do that, we are actually setting our sights too low. We are thinking too small. That’s what Jesus says in verse 27.
“Do not work for food that spoils [disappears], but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’”
In other words, “You guys are focused on your bellies. You are focused on the here and now. You’re focused on this earthly food. But I am offering something much greater than that. This perishable food is pointing towards something imperishable and eternal.”
“And you will get it from Me.” “The Son of Man will give [it to] you. On Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”
And here we are back to, “This is my Son, whom I love. With Him I am well-pleased. Listen to Him.”
We all are tempted to make this mistake, are we not?
We look for Jesus to make our lives better in the here and now.
We look for Jesus to heal our bodies and fill up our bank accounts.We look for Jesus to fix our relationships and make our businesses flourish.We look for Jesus to give us great sex lives and heal our nation and to make us happy. 
And to fill our tummies.
We do that, don’t we?
And, of course, Jesus cares about our bodies, our back accounts, our relationships, our business, our sex lives, our nation, and even our happiness and our tummies. That’s why we pray about them. But those things are all very small and temporary in the grand scheme of things. And Jesus does not exist to give them to us. They exist to point us to Jesus. Don’t miss the point.
Now, what do you think these folks heard Jesus say to them? What did they focus on. Jesus just said, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
What key word do you think the Jews focused on in all of that? It was the word, “work.” He said all of that, but they just focused in on that little word. One of their favorite words, “Work.” look at verse 28.
“Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’”
“Now we’re talking. Is the answer going to be some kind of command from the Law?” They are always assuming that salvation is spelled, D-O. “What must we do?”
Do you think that “work” was the key word that Jesus would have had them focus on? 
Here’s a trick question for you: “When is work not work?”
Answer: When the “work” is faith. Because that’s not something we can boast about. It’s just trusting in the work of another. Verse 29. 
“Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’”
The key word that Jesus would have had them focus on in verse 27 is “give.” The food that endures to eternal life is given by the Son who has the seal of the Father’s approval. Given. And our job, is simply to believe in Him and what He has done. God spells salvation D-O-N-E. Done.
All these miraculous signs were pointing us all along to who Jesus is and what He has done, and if we believe in Him, then we will be saved!
Or as John says at the end of this gospel, “These [miraculous signs] are written [here] that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (Jn. 20:31-21:1 NIVO).
Believe in the One that the Father has sent. That’s true safety! That’s salvation. Because God the Father sent God the Son to save us on the Cross and at the Empty Tomb.
Do you believe? If you have never put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I implore you to do so now. Because that’s why He came. Not just to give us happy lives in the short run but holy lives forever and ever with Him.
And happy lives forever and ever with Him. Because when we truly find Jesus, we find true satisfaction.
#2. WE FIND TRUE SATISFACTION.
We don’t just find true salvation, we find true satisfaction. Just not the temporary kind that is here today and gone tomorrow. Those loaves that Jesus was multiplying were pointing towards something must greater and more lasting.
In verse 30, the crowd asks Jesus for another miracle. Verse 30. 
“So they asked him, ‘What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat'” (vv.30-31).
Again, they are experts in missing the point. And Jesus doesn’t let them get away with it. Verse 32.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘from now on give us this bread.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe” (vv.32-36).
Now, we’re going to get into this more deeply next week, Lord-willing. Jesus is going to hit this again and again from different angles the rest of this chapter. And He’s going to say it even more striking ways. But you see the main thrust of it, right?
There’s another misunderstanding going on. Like the woman at the well and her water. And Nicodemus and the second birth. Here it’s the bread. They are focused on bread like the manna from heaven that God gave during the Moses years in Exodus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. They think that maybe the feeding of the 5,000 means that the New Moses is here and going to feed them all with some more bread and more bread and more bread as the kingdom is arriving. 
And they are not all wrong but they are still missing the greater point.
The loaves were not just about loaves.The bread was not just about bread.The bread was pointing, pointing, pointing, pointing to the True Bread from Heaven.
And that wasn’t just manna bread. It was Jesus Himself.
He said, “Ego eimi.” “I AM the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believe sin me will never be thirsty.” When we truly find Jesus, we find true and lasting satisfaction for our souls.
Earlier in this message, I asked you what you are afraid of and if it is scarier and more powerful than Jesus. Now, I want to ask you what are you chasing after and is it more satisfying than Jesus?
What are the loaves to you? (Like in verse 26.)
What are you tempted to find your satisfaction in?
Heather Joy asked me that question yesterday, and I deflected. I don’t think I want to think about what I tend to chase after to have my “fill” (v.26). But I need to. Because I am often aiming too low, thinking too small, thinking too much about the short-run and not about the long one, not about forever.
But those loaves are here and then gone. But when we come to Jesus (v.35), we never go hungry and we never are thirsty for all eternity.
That’s true satisfaction. Jesus was frustrated with these people because they have seen Him and even seen Him do these miracles and still do not believe. They missed the point. Let’s not miss the point with them.
Because Jesus is Who we are looking for. For safety, salvation, and satisfaction forever.

***

Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-30
15. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47
Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 Again
Christmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again 16. "Enough Bread" - John 6:1-15

“Enough Bread” [Matt's Messages]

“Enough Bread”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchJanuary 7, 2024 :: John 6:1-15 
Jesus often asks trick questions.
One of the reasons why I like to ask trick questions [about things like baptism and prophets] is that Jesus likes to ask trick questions. I get it from Him.
His are better, of course. Sometimes my trick questions aren’t very good at all, and sometimes they backfire.
Jesus’ trick questions never backfire. They always work. They always reveal what Jesus wants them to. They always get people thinking while confounding those who need confounded and helping those who need helped. 
Jesus asks one of His tricky questions in this story. John says that Jesus asked it on purpose to test His disciple Philip. And I think we can learn from that tricky question for our lives today.
Let’s see where it came from.
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
We’ve reached John chapter 6, and we’re going to be here in John 6 for a few weeks. There’s quite a lot here in this chapter. Two astonishing miracles and then an important explanation of what those miracles mean and then a key a moment of decision.
Today, we’re just going to make through the first big miracle. And it’s one of the biggest miracles Jesus ever did. It shows up in all four of the gospels. It’s the only miracle, except for the resurrection, that shows up in all four gospels. And it was probably the most public of all of Jesus’ miracles. It was seen by the most people all at once, though they might not have all realized that it was happening.
Keagan has already read it to us, and we’ve probably all heard it before many times, but we should still try to put ourselves into the story as it unfolds and not as we know it’s going to turn out. 
We especially should try to put ourselves in the shoes of Jesus’ disciples named Philip and Andrew and John (who would later write it all down).
The location of this story is the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. Look with me at John chapter 6, verse 1. “Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near” (vv.1-4).
Do you get the picture in your mind’s eye?
John says that this took place some time later than the events of chapter 5. Chapter 5 was all about the healing at the pool of Bethesda and the mind-blowing things that Jesus taught there about His Father and Himself. 
The leaders of the Jews in Jerusalem want to see Jesus killed because of what He was saying about Himself! So Jesus has gone north again and has been teaching and healing sick people. And He’s been growing in popularity up there.
The crowds are forming and following. He can’t seem to go anywhere without the crowds following Him around. He’s more popular than Taylor Swift.
But John says that the crowds aren’t following Him for the right reasons. It’s not because of Who He is but because of His power. Did you catch that in verse 2? “...a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick.”
We’ve seen this kind of dangerous faith before, back in chapter 2 and in chapter 4 where they were focused on the Power of Jesus instead of Person of Jesus.  And now there’s a lot of them. His popularity is mushrooming. And the crowd is getting hungry.
Now, John doesn’t tell us very much about this particular day, but Matthew, Mark, and Luke do. This has been a very long and hard day for Jesus and His disciples. The other gospels tell us that Jesus has just found out that His cousin and forerunner John the Baptist has been killed. And Jesus and His disciples have been on the go so much that they haven’t had a moment to eat. And they have been followed everywhere they go. Like the Beatles in “A Hard’s Days Night.”
Jesus has just pulled His team together on a hillside for a break, probably near the Golan Heights, and it’s the time near the Jewish Passover Feast in Jerusalem, so everybody is excited about the holidays and many are going to head down to Jerusalem to take part in the national festivities.
But the big crowd finds Jesus and heads towards Him. And they are hungry.
And it’s at that moment that Jesus asks His trick question. A question to test, a question to teach, a question to get His disciples thinking and to reveal their hearts. Look at verse 5.
“When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.”
So it’s a trick question. He’s not actually asking Philip to take charge. He’s just seeing what’s in Philip’s mind and heart.
Philip is from Bethsaida which is not very far away. So he probably knows what’s available.
“Phil, where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”
“I don’t know. It’s really far to the nearest Wal-Mart. They’re putting in Dollar General soon, but there’s not enough food in the DG for all of these people!”
There’s a LOT of people. And that’s all that Philip can think of. All he can see is how many hungry people there are coming this way. Look at verse 7.
“Philip answered him, ‘Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!’”
He’s got his calculator out. He’s punching in the numbers. “If we had 200 days wages (that’s two hundred denarii), more than half a year’s salary, we still wouldn’t have enough money for every mouth out here to get a bite!”
That’s Philip’s answer to the trick question. How did he do? 
The sermon title for today, by the way, is taken from verse 7, it’s just two words, “Enough Bread.”
And for Philip, that’s a question–“Enough Bread?”
“I don’t see how it’s possible! We can’t do it. We’re going to have to send them all home. They are on their own.”
Now, Andrew (another one of Jesus’ disciples), has been networking. He’s a people-person. Andy’s a connector. And he’s found a little bit of food. Look at verse 8. “Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, ‘Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?’”
Not far enough. That’s Andrew’s answer to Jesus’ trick question. 
"There isn’t enough bread. There won’t be enough bread. We can’t do what you are asking.”
Now, we all know what’s going to happen, but they did not. So it’s easy for us to judge their answers harshly. But we all do the same thing, don’t we? Jesus asks us to do something, and we say, “That sounds impossible. Can’t be done.”
What should they have said? How should they have answered when Jesus asked His trick question?
“Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”
It might have been good to say, “I don’t know, Jesus, but I’ll bet you do. I can’t get that much bread, but I know you can.”
It’s obvious that they haven’t really learned Who Jesus is yet, right? They are missing an asset as they take stock. Philip didn’t put Jesus into His calculator. 
The One Who turned the water into wine? The wedding guests didn’t know it, but the disciples did.
The One Who has been healing all of these people? Maybe He can do something about the food shortage. You think?
The One Who has said that God is His Father and that “whatever the Father does the Son also does (5:19)” because “Father loves the Son and show heim all He does” (5:20). That might include creating food for and feeding His creatures?
Let me phrase the question a different way and make it an application question for us today. 
When Jesus asks us to do something, where will we find the resources to do it?
When Jesus asks you to do something, where will you find the resources to do it? 
Well, we try to come up with them from all kinds of places, don’t we? We look into our own bank account. We lean on the government. We turn to our family. We roll up our sleeves and trust in our muscles. And, eventually, we get to saying, “I think it’s impossible.” “Can’t be done.” Because we have our eyes fixed on ourselves. And we aren’t counting on Jesus. 
Let me give you some examples. 
What is something that Jesus is asking you to do as we head into the year ‘24? (You don’t have to say “twenty” any more. We don’t think you mean 1924.) What is something that Jesus is asking you to do as we head into this new year?
I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably have to say it again. Jesus is saying to me, “Don’t worry in ‘24. You don’t have to.” He said it at the Sermon on the Mount. And He said, Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (Matt. 6:27 NIVO). It doesn’t do any good. 
And I’m like, “But there’s so many things that can go wrong this year. For our family. For our health. For our finances. For our church family. For our nation. This is another probably tumultuous national election year. Are we going to have another 2020?” 
And Jesus says, “Hey Matt, where are you going to get the resources to obey my command to not worry this year?”
And I say, “I don’t know! I don’t think it can be done. I don’t think there will be enough bread.”
But that’s me. You folks don’t have that problem. Let’s do another one.
Jesus is asking us to talk about Him with our unbelieving family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. We are called to be bold and do evangelism. Donnie said last week, “I will tell of all your deeds.”
Are you going to do that this year? Are you going to tell people about Jesus and His good news? Where are you going to find the resources to do that?
“I don’t know. I don’t think it can be done. It’s impossible. I don’t think there will be enough bread.”
And Jesus is saying, “Don’t forget about me.”
We have a small missions team that we believe has been called to go visit our missionaries in Malawi on our behalf. It’s going to cost approximately $7500, and we have almost exactly one third of that with 209 days to go. And I hear Jesus asking, “Keith, Steph, Mary Beth, where are you going to get the funds to follow me to Africa in August?”
“He asked this only to test [them], for He already had in mind what He was going to do.”
Here’s the principle: If the Lord requires something, the Lord will provide it Himself.
Now, He uses lots of things to do it, including His people, but He doesn’t just send us out there on our own with nothing but our wits and our works  and our own resources.
He doesn’t just tell us, “Don’t worry.” He says, “I am with you.” Or as Donnie said it last week, “The nearness of God is my good.”
He doesn’t just tell us, “Make disciples of all nations.” He says, “And surely I will be with you to the very end of the age as you accomplish My mission.”
I mentioned the election season. Here’s another command that Jesus has laid on us. “Love your enemies.” “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Lk. 6:27-28 NIVO). And that includes on social media.
I think a lot of professing Christians come up to that one and they say, “Can’t be done. Impossible. There will definitely not be enough bread for that tall order.”
And Jesus is like, “Have you forgotten about Somebody?”
What is Jesus asking you to do and where will you find the resources to do it?
The answer to this trick question is to trust the One asking the question. Because the resources are in Him. He is the resources. He is the bread! {But that’s later in the chapter.}
Right now, at this point in the story, they have just tiny little bit of bread and a tiny little bit of protein, of fish. Probably salted or pickled as a bit of relish to go with the dry bread.
Barley bread was the poorest of poor meals. And there’s only enough here for a little boy. Philip and Andrew think it can’t be done. There won’t be enough bread.
And Jesus says, “It’s time to eat! Call everybody together and tell them it’s dinner time.” Verse 10.
“Jesus said, ‘Have the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them.”
5,000! 
Over the holiday, our family got to gather at my parents house in Ohio for one last hurrah before they sell it. My brother’s family came in and all of us were there, and we sat down for one last meal together in “the old homestead.” I’m so glad it worked out for us all to be there.
But imagine if my Mom and Dad didn’t go shopping and didn’t make dinner for us. The fridge was bare. The oven was empty.  And Mom came out with a little Happy Meal. And there’s 15 of us there staring at this little Happy Meal.
There were 5,000 men at this. And that doesn’t count women or children. There could have been 10,000 people? 15,000 people? 20,000 people?
The Bryce Jordan Center has 15,261 seats. Anybody been in there? Imagine the BJC was full, and someone said, “Everybody sit down, we’re going to eat now. We have 5 barley loaves and two small fish. Hope you’re hungry!” That’s this situation.
Look at verse 11. 
“Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.’ So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten” (vv.11-13)!
Enough Bread! It’s not a question. It’s a exclamation!
Verse 12 says that they all had enough to eat. In fact, it’s stronger than that, the Greek indicates that they were all full, all satisfied, and then they had leftovers. They had more than enough bread!
A lot of people have wondered if there is symbolism in the twelve baskets, and maybe there is. Maybe it has to do with the twelve tribes of Israel or something.
But I think it’s more simple than that. I think that Jesus made sure there that all twelve of the disciples had to carry around a basket afterwards so that they got the point of the trick question.
“Oh yeah, there’s enough bread here.”
We need to factor Jesus into our calculations.
It’s also the like collecting the manna in the wilderness, and Jesus will have more to say about that as we go further into chapter 6.
But the picture here is abundance. It’s blessing. It’s overflowing bounty. It’s the Kingdom! It’s life in Jesus’ name. Because of Jesus they had more than enough bread. Because Jesus is more than enough.
Like Donnie read last week in Psalm 73, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:26 NIVO). And if He’s our portion, then we will always have more than enough, amen?!
Why did Jesus do this miracle?
I think it’s obvious that He did it out of compassion. The other gospels tell us that.  And I think it’s really neat that He did it out of compassion for people who didn’t deserve it, and weren’t even necessarily coming in faith. Remember, this crowd is there for the wrong reason. But that doesn’t stop Jesus from blessing them with dinner. Jesus is so compassionate. He is so gracious and generous.
Some of you may struggle to believe in this miracle. You doubt that miracles ever occur. And this is a big miracle. It is impossible unless all the other stuff about Jesus is true, as well.
But I believe it. I believe this happened. I believe there were eyewitnesses. And that’s why we have it recorded for us in this history book. And I believe that this is Who Jesus is. He’s this compassionate. He’s this gracious. He’s this generous.
And He’s this powerful. He can do this and so much more. This is incredible power. It’s quiet. He still doesn’t wave His arms and say, “Abracadabra.”  He just acts like the Creator He is and makes bread where there was no bread.
And He provides what He requires. I think He did this, not just to be compassionate to His dinner guests, but to show His disciples that He will do for them what He asks them to do. They just have to trust Him. He will provide and provide and provide. Much more than enough. And, therefore, we can do whatever He asks us to do because He will provide whatever we need to do it.
Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”  “I can do everything [He asks me to do, including die a faithful death!] through Him who gives me strength.”
Now, next week, Lord-willing, we’re going to see how the crowds reacted to all of this. It’s really quite humorous and quite sad. But we can see in verse 14 what direction they are headed. 
“After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.’ Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.”
It’s not His time, and it’s not His way. He’s going to wait for His time and do it in His way.
Notice who they think He is. “The Prophet.” Remember what we learned about that just a couple weeks ago. They are right! Jesus is the Prophet. He is more than a prophet but He is a prophet, and He is the Prophet that Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18.
But they mistakenly thought that meant that they could, in the heat of a Passover Feast moment, forcee Jesus to become the Messiah King that rescues them from the Romans.
But Jesus is the Messiah, and He is going to rescue His people, but He’s going to start by rescuing them from something much worse than Rome.
He’s going to rescue them from sin.

***
Messages in this Series

01. "That You May Believe" - John 20:30-31
02. "In The Beginning Was the Word" - John 1:1-18
03. "John's Testimony" - John 1:19-34
04. "Come and See" - John 1:35-51
05. "The First of His Miraculous Signs" - John 2:1-11
06. "This Temple" - John 2:12-25
07. "You Must Be Born Again" - John 3:1-15
08. "God So Loved The World" - John 3:16-21
09. "Above All" - John 3:22-36
10. "Living Water" - John 4:1-26
11. "Ripe for the Harvest" - John 4:27-42
12. "Your Son Will Live" - John 4:43-54
13. "Pick Up Your Mat and Walk" - John 5:1-18
14. "To Your Amazement" - John 5:19-3015. "Testimony About Me" - John 5:31-47Christmas Eve Bonus: "The Astonishing Gift" - John 3:16 AgainChristmas Eve Bonus: "We Have Seen His Glory" - John 1:1-18 Again 

My Top Books of 2023

For me, 2023 was a strange year for reading books.
I did read more books than I did last year (nearly back to the level of 2021 but nothing like what I used to accomplish in years gone by) but mostly lighter stuff for relaxation and entertainment, especially classic detective fiction. I obviously needed the mental break of my sabbatical, and, thankfully, I got the rest I desperately needed! I continued to start books and read at books and buy books and listen to podcast interviews about books, but I didn't finish reading very many non-fiction books as I used to. I didn't write any full length books reviews, though I did get to coordinate a few reviews for the EFCA Blog.
The literary highlight for me in 2023 was motoring up and down the United Kingdom following in the footsteps of some of Heather and my favourite authors: C.S. Lewis (The Kilns!), J.R.R. Tolkien (Addison's Walk, The Eagle and Child!), Beatrix Potter (Hilltop!), Agatha Christie (Greenway!), Ellis Peters (Shrewsbury!), and especially Dorothy L. Sayers. 
The Ship Inn, Formerly "The Anwoth Hotel" of DLS FameSayers' famous fictional sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, turned 100 this year, as he first appeared in her novel Whose Body in 1923. Heather and I first discovered her and him in 2000 and have read through the entire Wimsey canon numerous times. This summer we not only visited DLS-connected locales in Oxford and London but traveled out to Gatehouse of Fleet and Kircudbright to stay in the very same hotel Sayers actually wrote The Five Red Herrings and to explore the artists' community featured in the story. At the very same time, I started reading my way through Barbara Reynolds' collections of Dorothy L. Sayers' letters (two down now, three to go). What a delightful privilege to have those experiences!
We also stopped at nearly every bookshop we encountered and brought home some beautiful editions. We even visited Hay-on-Wye, a town in Wales that is the world's largest secondhand and antiquarian book center, with more bookshops per person than anywhere else. It was hard to pull ourselves away!
And for the first quarter of the year, my reading was focused on finishing the reading of several excellent commentaries to be able complete a yearlong study of the Prophecy of Jeremiah for Lanse Free Church.
All that to say, for a good part of the year, I wasn't accomplishing that much discretionary reading of Christian non-fiction that developed my mind and soul.
And yet, I did actually read some really good books in that vein* in 2023, and these are the ones that rose to the top of the pile:
On Getting Out of Bed by Alan Noble
This short book is hard to describe, which is one of the things I love about it. It's basically an extended elegiac essay on how hard just living life can be and how it's still worth doing (and how that helps to do it). Noble is clearly working out his own mental health issues within a Christian framework and sharing his work with others who might benefit from it.
The review we published by Kate Loomis at EFCA Blog captures well my experience of reading On Getting Out of Bed:

"I love On Getting Out of Bed because it reads like a letter of encouragement to the church. He talks about the importance of our witness, our modeling to others that life is good. The way he thinks and talks about this difficult topic is a picture of the modeling that he describes. His writing, simultaneously complex and simple, wraps around itself, weaving the experience of mental suffering through the simplicity of the gospel and returning always to the question at hand, “Why live?”
He is not having the last word, but rather inviting us to participate in the conversation and to draw on authors and artists who speak to us, just as he cites T.S. Eliot and others. He describes the narrow way that all Christians are trying to walk, and he includes those who might have seen themselves as disqualified because of their mental suffering. His message is a reminder that mental suffering is common to everyone, that getting out of bed in the morning is a way of praising God for the goodness of His creation.  He urges us to keep on doing it. Through the pages of this book shines a brother who cares about our souls, an encourager of the brethren, a fellow traveler on our way home."

It's not for everyone (Noble's style will put some off just as it pulls others in), but for those it's for, it will really help them.
Trinitarian Dogmatics by D. Glenn Butner, Jr.
My quest to grasp and enjoy the Christian doctrine of the Trinity continues. A book about the Trinity has made the last seven of these top book lists.
This year, the best book I read on the Trinity is by Glenn Butner which won the Christianity Today 2023 Award of Merit for Academic Theology. Trinitarian Dogmatics is different from other books because it explores the "grammar" of the constituent sub-doctrines that add up to a fully-orbed teaching on the Trinity, and it does it thematically/conceptually instead of historically/chronologically. So it's more of an "introduction" but on a high level. At times it soared above my level of comprehension, but even then I could tell that the author was being judicious and even-handed with his scholarship. I will be grabbing it off of my shelf to review as I need a deep refresher on what various terms mean. 
Another thing I enjoyed about this book was how Butner wove in theological contributions from different world cultures than our white Western ones. We need more of that kind of cross-cultural  conversation in our systematic theology, and I appreciated Butner's approach to it as a model.
I hadn't set out to read this book. It had been recommended to me by a trusted friend, but I hadn't ordered a copy. But then it was just sitting there on a bookshelf at this sweet little Christian bookshop in Edinburgh, and I took it as a sign. I'm glad I did, and I'm looking forward to Butner's next book which promises to do the same thing with Christology.
Losing Our Religion by Russell Moore
Evangelicalism as a theological and social movement is on bumpy ride in America. As a prominent and sometimes prophetic voice Russell Moore, the editor-in-chief of Christianity, has taken quite a few of the bumps and lumps himself. I read everything he writes, including his weekly newsletter, "Moore to the Point." 
I find most of Moore's writing to be beautiful and life-giving, often giving words to what I inarticulately feel. It's also surprisingly playful and replete with seemingly paradoxical language. I love how Moore juxtaposes.
Losing Our Religion is sober and somber yet still hopeful. Moore laments where American evangelicalism has been and maps a way forward, mainly by returning to our roots and truly living out our stated values. It's far from the last word on the subject, but Moore always has an important word to offer.
Pastoring Small Towns by Ronnie Martin & Donnie Griggs
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. It was written on a subject dear to my heart by one of my friends with one of his friends. Pastoring in a small town is my life's work. I've been serving in Lanse (population ~400) for over a quarter of a century. What might these guys say that would be helpful to me?
My friend Ronnie Martin is a transplant to small town living. Until about ten years ago he had spent most of his life in urban southern California and touring the America with his electropop band. His friend Donnie is more of a small town native. 
I really appreciated what both of them had to say about pastoral ministry in a small context (dovetailing with the insights from my all time favourite book on small-place ministry, A Big Gospel for Small Places).
Ronnie brought a "outsider-moving-inside" perspective. As a newcomer, he didn't pretend to have all of the answers which was refreshing. He also captured a lot of "what it's like" in ways I couldn't have because I've been embedded in it so long. Both authors brought a lot of Scripture into application for small-town ministry context in ways I appreciated. A group of pastors met on online all Fall to talk through what we got out of it. It wasn't dynamic or dramatic, but neither is this kind of ministry most of the time. As a review from a UK reader, "Pastoring Small Towns does what it says on the tin."
["Honorable mentions" for books I read in 2023 in the category of pastoral ministry include The Flourishing Pastor by Tom Nelson and Bully Pulpit by Michael Kruger. Both are highly recommended.]
Embracing Complementarianism by Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher
Complementarianism is the Christian teaching that men and women are significantly the same (in essence, worth, and salvation) and significantly different (in specific responsibilities and roles) and significantly need each other to become what God intended us to be. Women and men complement each other. This is true in both marriage and in ministry. This book focuses on the ministry of the church. 
Most books on complementarianism spend a good bit of time arguing for the position and exploring the biblical basis for it (a good and much needed thing). Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher lay those things out briefly in a couple of the chapters but mostly assume that they are talking to those already-convinced who are looking for help in turning the concepts into reality. So it's not an argument but a guide. At the same time, they also don't turn it into a nuts-and-bolts manual. The authors don't tell you exactly what to do and what not to do. They help church leaders think through their approach and put their convictions into practice. Tooher and Beynon are from the UK and Australia and from different denominational structures. They recognize that complementarianism is going to look different in different contexts.
I really appreciated how the authors modeled a healthy complementarianism as they wrote together. The book is generous, careful, and thoughtful. There are no caricatures nor pretending or assuming that embracing complementarianism will be simple or easy to do in our current cultural context. But it's positive, as well. This work is worth doing and worth doing well. I can see Bible-believing churches using this book to good effect, maybe as a game-changer for some. It's also very well written and easy to read. 
Extra: This morning right before finishing this post, I listened to an excellent podcast on the topic of complementarianism from the FIEC leaders conference in the UK: Different, Yet the Same: Is Complementarianism Unjust? by Linda Allcock. She also highly recommended Embracing Complementarianism as a key resource.

***
* As I’ve said before [2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022], this list is not necessarily the best books that were published that particular year or the most enjoyable either. I intend it to be a list of the fairly new Christian nonfiction books I read:

- that had the most personal impact on me, my thinking, my heart.
- that I was the most consistently enthusiastic about.
- that I kept coming back to again and again.
- that I couldn't help recommending to others (and recommend without reservations and significant caveats).

Books I Read in 2023

Matt’s Books Completed* in 2023:
1. Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers [Lord Peter turned 100 this year!]2. Running with the Horses by Eugene Peterson3. Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz4. The Sea Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts5. Golden Ashes by Freeman Wills Crofts6. Bully Pulpit by Michael J. Kruger [See the EFCA Blog review I coordinated.]7. The Pit-Prop Syndicate by Freeman Wills Crofts8. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers [Lord Peter turned 100 this year!]9. The Message of Jeremiah (The Bible Speaks Today) by Christopher J.H. Wright10. Jeremiah (Kidner Classic Commentaries) by Derek Kidner11. Jeremiah (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) by R.K. Harrison12. Jeremiah (Understanding the Bible Commentary Series) by Tremper Longman III 13. Jeremiah: From Sorrow to Hope (Preaching the Word) by Philip Graham Ryken14. Jeremiah (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: 21) by Hetty Lalleman15. Jeremiah (Focus on the Bible) by Michael Wilcock16. The Book of Jeremiah (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) by J.A. Thompson17. The Book of Jeremiah (New International Commentary on the Old Testament) by John Goldingay18. The Leavenworth Case by Anna K. Green19. On Getting Out of Bed by Alan Noble [See the EFCA Blog review I coordinated. One of my 2023 Top Books!]20. The Flourishing Pastor by Tom Nelson21. The Winners by Fredrik Backman
During my sabbatical :
22. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman23. The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman24. The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman25. The Loss of the Jane Vosper by Freeman Wills Crofts26. How It Went by Wendell Berry27. Crime at Guildford by Freeman Wills Crofts28. The Last Call by Ann Cleeves29. The Seat of the Scornful by John Dickson Carr30. Jumping Jenny by Anthony Berkeley31. Trinitarian Dogmatics by D. Glenn Butner, Jr. [One of my 2023 Top Books!]32. The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers: 1899-1936 edited by Barbara Reynolds [While visiting Oxford!!]33. Death of a Train by Freeman Wills Crofts34. The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude35. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers [While visiting Oxford!!] [Lord Peter turned 100 this year!]36. Murder by the Seaside edited by Cecily Gayford37. Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy by Freeman Wills Crofts38. The Black Spectacles by John Dickson Carr39. The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers (1937-1943) edited by Barbara Reynolds [While in London!]40. Till Death Do Us Part by John Dickson Carr41. Communion with God by John Owen, abridged by RJK Law42. Called Back by Hugh Conway43. Here Lies My Wife by Edmund McGirr
After my sabbatical ended:
44. Is Hell Real? by Dane Ortlund45. The 39 Steps by John Buchan46. You Have Arrived At Your Destination by Amor Towles47. The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri48. Mr. Bowling Buys a Newspaper by Donald Henderson49. Losing Our Religion by Russell Moore [One of my 2023 Top Books!]50. The Rasp by Philip Macdonald51. Busman’s Honeymoon by Dorothy L. Sayers [Lord Peter turned 100 this year!]52. Barder’s Murder by Edmund McGirr53. A Murderous Journey: Piron’s Last Case by Edmund McGirr54. The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman55. Sir John Magill’s Last Journey by Freeman Wills Crofts56. The Prophets and the Apostolic Witness: Reading Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel as Christian Scripture edited by Andrew T. Abernethy, William R. Osborne, and Paul D. Wegner57. Your Brain’s Not Broken by Tamara Rosier58. Pastoring Small Towns by Ronnie Martin & Donnie Griggs [One of my 2023 Top Books!]59. Inspector French and the Box Office Murders by Freeman Wills Crofts60. Final Acts: Theatrical Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards61. Embracing Complementarianism by Graham Beynon and Jane Tooher [One of my 2023 Top Books!]62. The Floating Admiral by the Members of the Detection Club63. Intentional Interruptions by Jonathan Thomas [This one is out of order as I read it before my sabbatical in pre-pub form but didn't get my own physical copy until I returned. See my endorsement at Christian Focus!]64. The Christian Standard Bible, M’Cheyne Reading Plan 
---

* As I say every year--these are books I finished reading this year, not the ones I started or the ones I didn't get done. That list would be a lot longer (and kind of depressing)! I read a bunch of them for escapist fun, a few for/with my family, and a lot of them just to learn and grow. They aren't listed (perfectly) in the order I read them. Some of them I am reading for a second or third time (or more!).

And as I also say each and every year--I'm not endorsing these books just because they are listed here. Some of them are really good and some are really bad. Most are somewhere in between. Read with discernment.

Here's the article where I explain why I post these.

Lists from previous years:

2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008 (first half, second half)
2007 (first half, second half)
2006 (first half, second half)
2005 (first half, second half)

“We Have Seen His Glory” Christ Candle Lighting 2023 [Matt's Messages]

“We Have Seen His Glory”Christ Candle Lighting :: Christmas EveLanse Evangelical Free ChurchDecember 24, 2023 :: John 1:1-18
Everybody, listen closely.
Listen closely because tonight I’m going to tell you some of the deepest truths in the whole world, some of the most profound truth in the whole universe.
This is the stuff that makes sense of everything including all of the stuff you’ve heard read and sung and played tonight. 
It’s the story behind the story.
It’s what was going on with Mary and Joseph and the Angels and the Shepherds in that “crazy” story that Keith read in the Gospel of Luke. 
It’s the deep truth of the Gospel of John chapter 1. The ancient Prologue of the Gospel of John in the holy Scriptures.
If you are our guest tonight, welcome. We’re glad you have joined us here. As a church family, we have been studying the Gospel of John together ever since the beginning of August when I got home from my sabbatical. You can actually .
We’ve actually reached chapter 6 as a church family, and we will return to it at the first of the year.  We’d love to have you join us on Sunday mornings at 10:00am as we learn Who Jesus really is and how we can life in His name.
So we have studied this passage once already this year, and we said then that every phrase is full of fireworks.
I wish these candles were fireworks instead so that every time we lit up one on these profound statements, it just fired off in all directions. 
That would be a Christmas Eve to remember!
But these bright candles will have to do. We’ve been lighting them now for four weeks.
On the first Sunday of Advent, Scott and Karen lit this first candle and then read John chapter 1, verses 1 through 3 which says these breathtaking things:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
John begins before the beginning. He rewinds the tape to the beginning. All the way to the very beginning and before that. Before there was anything. When all there was was God.
Before the beginning, there was this Person called, “The Word.” The expression, the communication, the message. The Word.
And this Someone called “The Word,” the Bible says, was with God. He existed in perfect intimate fellowship with God the Father for all eternity. They had what we called “with-ness” “togetherness.” The Word and God were with one another.
But it’s more than that. It goes on to say, “and the Word was God.” The Person called “The Word” was, is, and always will be God Himself. He is fully God in every way. And at the same time (forever), He is also with God.
And He’s called The Word because He Himself is God’s message to us. He is God’s self-expression. God’s communication. He is God speaking to us.
And when God speaks, we should always listen.
Are you listening?
And that’s just candle number one! Do you see what I mean by “every phrase is full of fireworks?!”
On the second Sunday of Advent, Frank and Joan and Jim and Eli and Kailyn lit our second candle which gave a second name for this amazing Person called “the Word.”
They read John 1:4-5 which names Him as “The Light.” Listen:
“In him [the Word] was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.” And verse 9, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”
This says that this “Light” Person was coming into the world. 
What does the word “advent” mean? We haven’t said it yet, and some of you have been waiting:
“Advent” means “coming.” Christmas is coming tomorrow! Jesus has come and is coming again.
“The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”
That’s what was going on that first Christmas! There is a battle raging between light and darkness, and when Jesus came, the darkness lost.
Jesus said, “I am light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).
Are you following Him? 
Because you have to choose. On the third Sunday of Advent, D.J., Desiree, Jacob, Eli, and Eden–lit our third candle and told us that we have to choose.
They read chapter 1, verses 10 through 13 which says that when the Word arrived, the world rejected Him. 
It says, “He [the Word] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. [Did not know Him. Did not want to know Him.] He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
They rejected Him. He was their Messiah. He was their Christ. He was everything that had been promised, but they said, “No thanks. We don’t want you.” In fact, they went so far as to kill Him.
But the darkness does not ultimately win. The Word comes back to life, and then He gives life to those who will believe. Verse 12.
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”
Supernatural, eternal life for those who receive Him instead of rejecting Him. Which are you?
Have you received Him?
If you have not, we invite you to. You will never regret it.
If you have received Him, then you can legitimately say that God is your Father! You have become one of the “children of God.” And there is no greater privilege than that!
And here is how He did it.  The fireworks just get more brilliant.
Just this morning, Roper and Lita lit our fourth candle and read John 1:14 which tell us the astonishing thing that the Word did.
The Word Who was in the beginning.The Word Who was WITH God.The Word Who WAS God.
Listen to this. This was what was happening near that manger.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The Word of God who was fully God became fully human and came to live among us as Jesus Christ. That’s what we call the miracle of the incarnation, and we have gathered here tonight to worship God because of it.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
“Glory hallelujah to the newborn king!”
If this doesn’t blow your mind, what will? The Word of God, who was fully God, became fully human and came to live among us as Jesus Christ. And John says, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
We have seen the glory of God the Son who came (advent) from the Father (because He was WITH the Father) and He came full of  grace and truth.
The Bible calls him the “the One and Only,” which emphasizes how unique He was.
There is no one else like Jesus.There is no one else like Jesus.There is no one else like Jesus.
He is in a class by Himself. He is in a “genus” by Himself.
He is Ultra-Unique.He is Unparalleled.
He is God’s Son in a completely singular way.
You and I can become God’s sons and daughters by adoption and by new birth. We just said that with candle number three. But Jesus is God’s Son by His eternal nature. He is not just the Son of God, but He is God the Son. The Only Begotten Son. God the One and Only!
Do you see how this is the deepest truth in all the universe?
This is Who God is!
Are you worshiping Him?
There’s just one more candle to light to radiate the truth of Who Jesus is and what He has done. And it corresponds to the last verse of the Prologue of the Gospel of John. Chapter 1, verse 18.
“No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.”
I don’t know if my brain can take on any more wonderful news! This says that God can be known because of Jesus.
Known. You can know God.
It says that “no one has ever seen God” (meaning God the Father), so that all of those times that God showed up in some way in the Bible were just partial, just shadowy, just glimpses of His glory.
Nobody has ever seen God except God. But[!] God the One and Only, the God Only Begotten, God the Unique Son Who is at the Father’s side (with God and now from God), has made Him known.
God the One and Only Son has taken on humanity and made God the Father known.
That’s why He’s called “The Word” because He is the Message of God come in the flesh so that we can know God Himself.
Isn’t that wonderful?!Isn’t that astonishing?!Isn’t that glorious?!
We have seen His glory.
The glory of the One and Only.
O come let us adore Him!

“The Astonishing Gift” [Matt's Messages]

“The Astonishing Gift”Life in Jesus’ Name - The Gospel of JohnLanse Evangelical Free ChurchDecember 24, 2023 :: John 3:16 
You can open your Bibles if you want to, but everybody here should already have today’s passage memorized. 
We’ve been working on it for months and months as a church family, and many many of us had it memorized long before that.
It’s John chapter 3, verse 16. Let’s all say it together:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
That’s the meaning of Christmas, isn’t it?
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
What is the most astonishing gift you’ve ever been given or have given to someone else for Christmas?
Just about everybody here is slated to give and/or receive at least one gift tomorrow. Big or small. It’s a wonderful time of the year for giving gifts. Heather’s brother David and his family are visiting this week from western Canada, and Heather has been so looking forward to doing a gift exchange with them tomorrow. She loves to give gifts to those she loves. It’s wonderful to have you guys with us. And I can’t wait to see what you got me this year.
We all love it when our gift really hits the spot, right?  You give someone a gift, and they open it, and it’s exactly what they always wanted?
I remember when I was a little kid, I got a “Millennium Falcon” spaceship from “Star Wars” as my Christmas gift, and it just lit up my life! It even had the little secret hiding place from the movie for my action figures.
What have been some of your favorite gifts to receive over the years at Christmas time? Have any of them been astonishing? 
“Oh, you shouldn’t have.”
What have been some of your favorite gifts to give?
The reason why the giving of gifts is so appropriate at Christmas is because Christmas marks the giving of the greatest gift ever given.
Last Sunday, a group of us visited a dozen homes of our church family and sang Christmas carols in their front yards. At the end of every song time, we would pray for the folks in that home or ask them to pray for us, and we were always praying John 3:16 for them. “Thank you, Lord, for giving us the greatest gift ever. Because you so loved the world that you gave your One and Only Son.”
Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that that’s what Christmas is all about. Because there are a lot of distractions out there. Even the giving of gifts to one another can add to that distraction. Especially the endless shopping for gifts for one another, am I right?
By the way, I’m not saying that we all need to spend an astonishing amount of money for Christmas every year! It might be much wiser for us to keep the gift giving simple in our families and focus our generosity elsewhere, especially when our funds are limited. We should think about those who do not have much at all and give in that direction. 
It’s easy to get distracted, even by the gifts, from the greatest gift ever given. So let’s think about it together once again.
We actually studied John 3:16 just a couple of months ago as we have been working our way through the Gospel of John, so we won’t go over the context and all of the fine details like we did back then. Check the YouTube of that message this afternoon to go back over all of that.
Today, I just want us to focus on how astonishing this gift really was. Because this is, quite frankly, mind-blowing. And if it’s isn’t mind-blowing, then we don’t really understand it.
We’ve been learning some pretty astonishing things together the last few months. For example, God is Son and God is Father. (And He is also Spirit.)
God the Father has eternally begotten His own Son. God has a Son, and He is also God! 
As the Nicene Creed says, the Son is:
“God from God, Light from Lighttrue God from true God,begotten, not made,of one Being with the Father.”
Or as the Bible says, “In the beginning was the Word (that’s the Son), and the Word was with God (and, as the Son, from God) and the Word WAS God.” That is God the Son. And there is only One of Him.
Those are some pretty astonishing things! We’re going to go over them again tonight as we light all 5 of these candles.
God has a Son, and He’s His...what’s the Greek word here? “Monogenays.”
Only BegottenUltra UniqueOne and Only Son
We’ve seen this over and over again in the Gospel of John. God has a Son, and He is in a class by Himself. There is no one else like Him. And the Father loves Him.
We’ve seen that again and again, haven’t we?
John chapter 5. “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.” (Jn. 5:20).
Or two weeks ago at His baptism. The Father saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17 NIVO).
Or last week when we talked about Jesus as The Ultimate Prophet when He was transfigured, and the Father says, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matt. 17:5 NIVO).
The Father loves the Son. He loves Him so much!
And so that makes it so astonishing, so breath-taking, when we read John 3:16, and it tells us that God “so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son...”!
And it wasn’t a giving like giving Him away in marriage or something like that. Like we might say, “I give my son to the world,” and all we mean is that he is leaving the nest and making his way in the big bad world.
But this was actually an exchange. God gave His Son as a sacrifice for the world. That’s what it’s talking about. John is talking about the death of His One and Only Son. That’s the gift.
The Apostle John never got over what He was led to write here. John thought about this all the time.
When he wrote his letters, John said this. 1 John chapter 4, verses 9 and 10, “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
You see how astonished John was? And he was the one who wrote John 3:16!
We didn’t love God, and He gave His Son for us?! “This is love!”
You see, that’s all bound up in the word, “world.” We think, “God so loved the world,” and that’s amazing because the world is so big. But it’s actually amazing because the world is so bad. Just about every time that John uses the word, “world,” he’s talking about humanity united together in rebellion against God. The “world-system” we might say. Because the world is so sinful, this is such an astonishing gift.
I don’t know how many times I have preached John 3:16 at somebody’s funeral, and I always say something like this, “I have 3 sons and a daughter(!), and I know that I'm supposed to love people, and I want to be a loving man, but it would be really hard for me to give one of my sons or my daughter for anyone. Much less one of my enemies!
But God gave His one and only Son to save those who will believe.”
Isn’t that astonishing?! What an amazing Giver this God is!
I have a friend who says, “Our treason is the reason for the season.”
God didn’t just send His One and Only Son to show us the way to Him. He GAVE His One and Only Son to be the Way that we come to Him. He gave His One and Only Son to die on the Cross for our sins and come back to life to give us life. And that’s just shocking. It should leave us breathless. We do not deserve this. This is all grace. It is all GIFT.
The Apostle Paul never got over this either. Misty put up a bold gold bulletin board out there that we’ve all been looking at  the last few months. It has 2 Corinthians 9:15 on it, and it very simply says, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
One time I looked up that word for “indescribable” in the dictionary, and it means, “You can't describe it.” Which does not mean that we shouldn't try. There are words to describe God's gift, but there aren't enough words to do it justice. Does that make sense?
The King James Version has "unspeakable gift" in 2 Corinthians 9:15 which might give you the idea that it's forbidden to talk about this gift. “Speak not of this gift!”
And that's clearly not what Paul meant. But the King James also might give you the idea that there just aren't words to use. It's unspeakably good.
The ESV, the English Standard Version says, "inexpressible" gift. You almost get the idea from the ESV that you not only run out of words to describe this gift, but you run out of words altogether. It’s just so astonishing!
Just slow down and think about it. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
How do we apply this astonishing truth to our lives in 2023 and soon to be 2024?
Let me suggest five quick things. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
#1. BELIEVE.
That’s what John 3:16 says we need to do. That’s our “part.” God has astonishingly given His One and Only Son, THAT whoever BELIEVES in him shall not perish but have eternal life. That’s whoever. That’s you and me and anyone else.  But only those who believe.
If you don’t believe, then Jesus’ death is not a gift for you. You have to receive it for yourself.
All gifts are like that, right? If someone hands you a gift tomorrow morning, and you refuse it, if you leave it unopened, it was “given,” but it wasn’t received. Believe. 
I know it’s hard to believe. I almost called this message, “The Incredible Gift.” Because it’s almost too astonishing to believe. But this is the gospel. This is the greatest news in the all of the world, and it’s true. Believe it! Put your trust in God’s Gift of His One and Only Son.
#2. BE AMAZED!
Rejoice! Marvel! Wonder! Allow yourself to be astonished. This is amazing stuff. Don’t let it become “old hat.” I struggle every year with that. It’s my job to rehearse these truths every Christmastime, and it’s kind of easy to get king of bored with Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, Wisemen. Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, Wisemen. Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Angels, Wisemen. Twenty six years now.
But not if we stop and think about what John 3:16 says here!
Not if it’s real. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Be amazed!
#3. BE LOVING.
That’s where the Apostle John goes with it next in verse 11 of chapter 4 of his first letter.
Again he says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. [Then he writes...] Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
We’re going to see that again and again as we go further up and further into the Gospel of John. We have been loved with an astonishing love, so we need to learn to love one another in a way that makes the world gasp. And to love even our enemies in a way that makes the world shake their heads in astonishment. Be like Jesus and be full of love.
And be like Jesus and be full of peace.
#4. BE PEACEFUL.
What I mean here is that if you and I are loved like this, then what do we have to worry about? What trouble should trouble us if we are loved like this?
Romans 8:32 says it this way, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32 NIVO). He will! If He did the hardest thing ever in giving up His One and Only Son, then nothing can or will stop Him from taking care of all of the easier things. So you and I can live lives of peace and confidence.
And loud joy!
#5. BURST OUT WITH THE NEWS!
John 3:16 is too good to keep to ourselves. Let’s tell go up on a mountainside and tell the world!
The astonishing news that God so loved them that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Advent Candle #4: "The Word Became Flesh"

LEFC Family Advent Readings: “We Have Seen His Glory”John 1:1-18 :: December 24, 2023Week #4: “The Word Became Flesh”
“Advent” means “coming.” Christmas is coming. Jesus has come and is coming again.
During our Advent Readings this season, we have been meditating upon the glory of the One and Only Son of God Who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. There is no one else like Him. 
[LIGHT FIRST CANDLE AGAIN.]
Our first candle taught us the amazing truth that Jesus is the eternal Word of God. When God wanted to tell us about Himself, He sent His Son as the Message.
[LIGHT SECOND CANDLE AGAIN.]
Our second candle reminded us that Jesus is the true light of humanity. When Jesus came, the darkness lost.
[LIGHT THIRD CANDLE AGAIN.]
Our third candle radiated the truth that Jesus must be welcomed. When we receive Him by faith, we become the beloved children of God by new birth.
[LIGHT FOURTH CANDLE.]
Our fourth candle proclaims to us the astonishing truth that the eternal Son of God became a human being just as we are.
[READ JOHN 1:14.]
The Word of God, who was fully God, became fully human and came to live among us as Jesus Christ. This is the miracle of the Incarnation.
As the carol sings:
“Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see;Hail the in’incarnate Deity,Pleased as man with men to dwell,Jesus, our Emmanuel.”
Let us worship Him forever in wonder and glorious joy.

“The Promise of a Prophet” [Matt's Messages]

“The Promise of a Prophet”Lanse Evangelical Free ChurchDecember 17, 2023 :: Deuteronomy 18:9-22
I want start this morning with another trick question.
Everybody seemed to enjoy last week’s trick questions about baptism so much, I thought we might start this week with another question that might seem a bit tricky to begin with. Here we go.
Is Jesus a prophet?
How does that question strike you?
My initial gut reaction is to say, “No.”  Because saying that Jesus is a prophet feels like a kind of downgrade from everything we’ve been reading about Jesus in the Gospel of John, especially, mostly recently, in chapter 5. No, Jesus isn’t a prophet. He’s the Son of God and God the Son! Is that your gut reaction, too?
But notice that the question is not, “Is Jesus ONLY a prophet?” That would be an easier one for Christians like you and me. No, Jesus is not JUST a prophet.
But He is a true prophet of God, is He not?
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
What is a prophet? A prophet is an divinely authorized spokesman for God. A prophet is a person supernaturally given actual words from God to speak to other people. Sometimes, not always, the prophet even tells the future. A prophet is an divinely authorized (from God) spokesman for God. A from-God supernatural-spokesman for God.
Now, given that definition. Is Jesus a prophet?
Let me ask this question. Is Jesus THE Prophet?
If you remember in John chapter 1, the Jewish religious authorities were investigating John the Baptist and asked John who he thought he was.
And John said that he was not the Christ, not the Messiah. And so they said, “Ok. Who are you then? Are you Elijah? “I am not.” And then they asked him, “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” (Jn. 1:21 NIVO).
What were they talking about? “The Prophet?” Well, that’s what our passage today is all about. 
Deuteronomy 18 is a promise of a prophet. I almost titled this message, “The Prophet’s Prophecy of a Prophet to Prophesy,” but I thought that might be a bit much. But that’s what it is. What you have before you is an ancient passage of holy scripture that promises that God will raise up a prophet to speak for Him to His people.
And here’s how ancient it is. It was written over 3,000 years ago! Today, we’re going back more than 3,000 years. More like 3,500 years to book of Deuteronomy. 
Most of Deuteronomy was written in Hebrew by Moses to give instruction to the second generation of Israelites who were actually going to get to enter into the Promised Land. Moses is getting the people ready for what they were going to experience in Canaan and telling them how God expected them to live as His people there.
By the way, you can thank Heather Joy for this sermon being so short and focused today. I’ve been thinking so much about what Jesus said at end of chapter 5 when He told them, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me” (Jn. 5:46 NIVO).
And I was going to do a whole sermon this week called “What did Moses write about Jesus?” And I was going to do everything Moses said about Jesus in Genesis and everything Moses said about Jesus in Exodus, and everything Moses said about Jesus in Leviticus.
And Heather was like, “You’re going try to preach the entire Torah in one message? Don’t you think that’s a bit much?”
And I’m like, “Oh yeah, I should probably just focus on one thing.”
And this is the one I landed on. I’ve never gotten to preach through Deuteronomy in the last twenty-five years, so here’s a chance to study it some together.
Before he gives the promise of the prophet, Moses warns the people to not become like the pagan nations current living in the Promised Land– especially in how they tried to predict and control the future. Let’s start in verse 9. Deuteronomy 18:9.
“When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God. The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so” (vv.9-14).
Moses says that the people of Israel were going to be tempted to act like the people of Canaan especially in adopting these occult practices that Yahweh hated. He calls them “detestable” or “abominable.” He hates them.
He hates them for many reasons but a big one is that they all encourage relying on powers other than Him. And Moses gives a long list of them. In fact, the longest list of occult practices in the whole Bible.
Moses says that the Israelites are to reject them all. And sadly, all of these are still present in the world today. And, sadly, it must be said that the should be roundly rejected today by followers of Christ. These are not the ways to know the future or shape the future or to make decisions.
And those that practice them are playing with infernal fire. This is serious stuff. Don’t play with it. I know it’s popular. And it might seem harmless and fun. And it might even “work” sometimes because of demonic power behind it.
But it’s rebellion against the true God. Moses says it’s one of the reasons why the Canaanites are going to be judged and dispossessed and driven out of the Promised Land. Israel should not then do the same things they did!
And they don’t need to do any of that cruel and crazy stuff because God is going to give them a prophet. Look at verse 15.
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”
There’s the promise of a prophet. God has promised a divine spokesman for God from God to God’s people. 
And that’s good news in so many ways. For one, just that God loves to communicate. He’s a talking God, a speaking God. He doesn’t leave His people in the dark. And we know that Moses is going to die. He’s really getting up there. I think he was around 120 years old when he died. But the words from God were not going to stop with Moses. God was promised to send a prophet.
Let’s look and see what this promised prophet is going to be like.
For starters, he’ll be a gift. Look at verse 15 again. “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me.” 
That “for you” means that God will give this prophet to His people as a gift. He’ll be aimed at God’s people. He’ll be “for them.” They will not be left alone. They will not have to wonder what God is like or what God wants. He will raise up a prophet for them.
And from them. That is to say, this prophet will be an Israelite. Moses says, “from your own brothers.” He won’t be a foreigner. He won’t even be an angel. He will be a human. An Israelite human “brother.”
For His people, from His people and LIKE Moses. Did you catch that? Verse 15, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me...”
Moses is the model. Moses is the prototype. He’s being doing the prophet thing already, so they will be able to recognize the fulfillment of this promise, because they’ve already seen something like it.
Now, in what way will this prophet to come be like Moses?
Maybe a lot of different ways. Moses lived a pretty amazing life. Just read the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. I won’t preach them all this morning to you though I’m sorely tempted!
Here’s one thing Moses did. He mediated a covenant between God and his people. He interceded. That’s where Moses goes in verse 16.
“For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’”
Do you remember that (Deut. 5:23-27)? When they encountered God at Mt. Horeb (which is Mt. Sinai), the mountain on fire, and they were scared almost to death at His glorious holiness, and they asked for a mediator. And God gave them Moses. He allowed Moses to be a go-between.
Moses now says that this prophet will be a kind of go-between like that for them. They will hear from God through the prophet. 
But it will be God’s own words that they hear. Look at verse 17.
“The LORD said to me: ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.”
God has promised to give to His people a prophet who has His very own true divine words placed directly in the prophet’s mouth.
Which could be a painful thing. Remember a year ago how the Prophet Jeremiah talked about it being like a fire in his mouth? It burns. 
And the people were supposed to listen because these word the very words of God. And God was going to back them up. Moses warns in verses 20 through 22 that some false prophets were going to pretend to be true prophets and pretend to speak in His name. And they were not only to be rejected, but under the old covenant, they were to be executed. That’s how serious this was. Look at verse 20.
“But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.’
You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ 
[Well, here’s one way. V.22] If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”
Last year around this time, we met a prophet named Hananiah in the book of Jeremiah. Anybody remember him? Hananiah took that wooden yoke off of Jeremiah that he had had to wear and broke it all up. Remember that? And Hananiah said that in just 2 years, God was going to restore Judah and bring the exiles back and put the king back on the throne and break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Remember that? That was exciting and encouraging and exactly what everybody wanted to hear. 
And it was false. As false as 2+2 = -2. And within the year Hananiah was dead.
Beware of listening to people who only tell you what you want to hear.
The true prophet from God tells you what God says, whether you want to hear it or not, with God’s own true words in His mouth. And what he says comes to pass. It’s not just wishful thinking. 
It is God’s Word.
So, who is this prophet who was promised?
I think it was Joshua. And I think it was Samuel.And I think it was Nathan.And I think it was Isaiah.And I think it was Jeremiah. [See Jeremiah 1:9!]And I think it was Daniel.And I think it was Ezekiel.And I think it was Zechariah (that’s a crazy book. I read it this week.)And I think it was Micah.And I think it was Malachi. [Remind me to preach on Malachi next Advent season!]
I think that Deuteronomy 18 applies to a long line of faithful prophets whom God graciously gave to His people, from His people, mediatorially speaking God’s own true Words that God Himself placed in their mouths.
But I also think that this is a passage for Advent.
I think that not one of those prophets ever could fully fill up the promise of this prophet.
I mean, a prophet “like Moses?”  The Book of Deuteronomy ends by saying that no “prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10 NIVO).
Nobody had reached his stature as a prophet, a divine from-God spokesman for God. Whom the LORD knew face-to-face. Somebody whom could mediate a whole new covenant. 
And the Jews thought that nobody have ever reached that level either. Year after year, the Jews kept reading Deuteronomy 18 again and again and again, and they believed that God was going to one day send a prophet who would fill that bill like nobody ever had.
That’s why they asked John the Baptist, “Are you THE prophet? Are you the Promised Prophet of Deuteronomy 18?" And John said he was not.
So, who do you think it is?
Was there a prophet who was spared from death in infancy like Moses was?Was there a prophet who taught on a mountainside and gave a new law there like Moses did?Was there a prophet who brought a whole new covenant, mediated for God’s people like Moses did?Was there a prophet Who was faithful in all of God’s house and even over God’s house? (To use the language of Hebrews chapter 4.)
Was there ever a prophet like Moses (or even greater?) whom the LORD knew face to face.?
Who fits this bill?
For His people.  From His people. What does that sound like? It sounds like John 1 to me. It sounds like what the Clarks read to us this morning.
Like Moses. As a mediator. With God’s own true words in His mouth.
What He says comes true. If He said that He was going to die and then take His life back up again, then that’s exactly what would happen.
Who does that sound like to you?
I think it sounds like Jesus. He is not just a prophet. He is THE Prophet. And everything He says is true.
John says, He is full of grace and truth (1:14).Jesus Himself says He is the truth (14:6).
His mouth is full of the very words of God because He is the very Word of God!
I only have one point of application for today, but it’s a big one. How should we live if Jesus is The Prophet par Excellence? What did verse 15 say?
“You must listen to Him.”
In verse 19, God says, “If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.” There will be consequences if God’s prophet is ignored, and they will be dire.
Verse 22 says that if a prophet is false, then “Do not be afraid of him.” And so I think the opposite is also implied. If the prophet is true, then you should have a holy fear of him and what He says. “You must listen to Him.”
Listen to Jesus. 
That’s what God said at the Mount of Transfiguration, isn’t it?  Where Jesus “face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light: (Matt. 17:2 NIVO). And who appeared there with him?
Moses and Elijah! Two of the world’s greatest prophets.
And then there’s that voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, whom I love [like at His baptism]; with him I am well pleased...Listen to him!" (Matt. 17:5 NIVO)
Listen to Jesus. Are you doing that? Are you listening to Jesus? In all of your life? 
Are you listening to what Jesus says about Himself? That’s what we’re doing as we study the Gospel of John. We’re going hear seven major things that Jesus says about Himself. The “I Am’s.”
He’s said some mindblowing things about Himself already.
Are you listening?
Are you listening to what Jesus says about His Father? John says that “No one has ever seen God [the Father] but God the One and Only [Son], who is at the Father's side [known face-to-face1], has made him known” (Jn. 1:18 NIVO). If that’s not true prophecy, then I don’t know what is!
Do you want to know what God is like? God wants you to know what God is like!! That why He sent His Son.
“You must listen to Him.”
Listen to what He says about Himself. Listen what He says about God the Father. Listen to what He says about God the Spirit. Don’t wait until we get to chapter fourteen. Jump over there and read it for yourself.
He says, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever–the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (Jn. 14:16-17 NIVO).
How’s that for a prophecy?
Listen to the Prophet Jesus. Listen to what Jesus says about you.
Same chapter. Chapter 14. Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (Jn. 14:1-3 NIVO).
How’s that for a prophecy? Listen to the Prophet Jesus.  Are you listening to Jesus?
I must confess that I’ve let my heart be troubled recently. I’ve listened to the world, the flesh, and the devil and they all want to tear me down. I’ve listened to my fears. I’ve listened to my own internal prophecies of how my life is going to work out. That’s what worrying is, isn’t it? Believing in your own bad prophecies? I’m a terrible prophet, but for some reason I keep coming back to listen to myself.  I need to listen to Jesus. 
This is the Prophet Jesus. My favorite passage of scripture. John 16:33. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33 NIVO).
Listen to the Prophet Jesus. 
The second Moses has come, and He is much greater than the first one!
Listen to what the Prophet Jesus says about salvation.
Back to John 5. Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word [my prophecy] and believes him who sent me [who put the words in my mouth] has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live” (Jn. 5:24-25 NIVO).
Listen to Jesus.
“You must listen to Him.”
And have life in His name.
Are you listening?

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Here's an extra chorus to "What Child Is This?" to correspond to today's message:
"This this is Jesus the ProphetWhom Moses Promised That God Would SendHaste, haste to listen to HimThe Babe, the Word of God”