Christ our Living Bread

Date Sunday, 9th August 2009 Reference 1Kings 19:4-8 Ephesians 4:25 - 5: 2 John 6:41-51 Preacher Rev'd Dr Cyril Fayose Summary of Message In the first Reading, the Prophet Elijah was fleeing from Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab. The woman had vowed to kill the man of God and he was afraid and run away a day's journey and hid in a cave. The Bible tells us that on 2 occasions, an Angel of the Lord brought The Prophet Elijah freshly baked bread and a jar of water and urged him to eat because the journey was too great for the Prophet. That food strengthened him for forty days! In Ephesians, St Paul tells us, among many things, to put away falsehood, be angry and not sin, the thief should no longer steal but do honest work; we should let no corruption talk come out of our mouth and should forgive one another as God in Christ forgave us, and that we should be imitators of God and walk in love. In the Gospel reading, Jesus had early on fed five thousand men... and the people were looking for him, but he knew it wasn't for the Good news that he was preaching but for physical food. Then he told them " I am the bread that came down from Heaven"; and the people grumbled and said 'is this not Jesus the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know? In the Sermon, Rev'd Fayose said..we all have giants in our lives...they could be people or situations, but the strength and energy we need to fight these giants come from the Bread of Life. The prophet Elijah was afraid of a 'giant'- Jezebel. He lost hope, was fearful and run to hide in a cave; but God sustained him. Rev'd Fayose went on to say that we need both physical and spiritual bread for our faith journey. Then he posed a question...we could not answer.. that do we as Christians believe that Jesus is the Bread of Life, the all-sufficient Bread? Then there was a discourse..as he does always into some Philosophy.. that JC in his writings said if Jesus was not the Christ, then there were three things he was 1) mad 2)fanatic or 3) ..... Then JC himself continued that Jesus was (is) the Christ because, most importantly, there is evidence that he fed 4,000 and then 5,000 people. So Jesus's assertion that He was the Bread of Life was true. In conclusion, Rev'd Fayose said 'then as Christians we must be like Christ and feed people, help people and be there for one another.'