Jesus… and an Impossible Situation

John 6:1-15 October 3, 2021 preached by Pastor Doug Cooper Download Time of Reflection Quotations “He [Jesus] must increase but I must decrease.” ~ John 3:30 (ESV) “A great man is always willing to be little.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer “Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, […]

John 6:1-15

October 3, 2021

preached by Pastor Doug Cooper

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“He [Jesus] must increase but I must decrease.”

~ John 3:30 (ESV)

“A great man is always willing to be little.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American writer

“Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that, unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.”

~ Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, writer and theologian

“Man cannot be freed by the same injustice that enslaved it.”

~ Pierce Brown (1988-present), an excerpt Red Rising

“Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’”

~ John 14:5-7 (ESV)

“Christ is the humility of God, embodied in human nature. The eternal love humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness to win, and serve, and save us.”

~ Andrew Murray (1828-1917),  South African Pastor and Writer

“Faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God.”

~ A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), an excerpt from The Pursuit of God

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

~ Romans 5:6-8 (ESV)

John 6:1-15 (NIV)

1 Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had performed by healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4 The Jewish Passover Festival was near. 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?” 6 He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered him, “It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” 8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up, 9 “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and they sat down (about five thousand men were there). 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. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. 14 After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

15 Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.