Burning hearts that go — Nathanael Ballew

Bread is a big part of our Bible passage today, those three verses.

And actually, when you really take a moment to look at the Bible, bread is such a key element throughout the whole of the Bible, throughout the entire kind of narrative.

You might be thinking, well, why bread? I don't like bread.

Why bread and not some other carb like rice or potatoes? Well, In Jesus's time, I mean, first of all, can you imagine Jesus saying, I'm the potato of life? It doesn't sound quite the same.

But in Jesus's time, wheat was a very common crop and bread was one of the main staples of food, the main staple foods in first century Judea and Galilee.

It wasn't just like a starter that you could be like, oh yeah, I'll have a bit of bread.

It was the main part of each meal.

And having bread or not was a matter of survival.

In many ways, bread represented food, sustenance, and the ability to continue living, which is interesting about what John was saying, how the word for bread was synonymous with the word for life, like in both of these things.

Bread equals life.

With that in mind, can anyone think of, just off the top of your head, any standout occasions that come to mind that you may have read of before in the Bible that mention bread? And if you are someone who has never opened the Bible before, or maybe you're new to faith, you're just exploring what a faith in Jesus looks like, maybe you've heard stories or phrases that come from the Bible in popular culture that include bread.

Just where you are, just shout out any bread moments from the Bible.

Go for it.

Nice, so a bit from Deuteronomy, I think, and then Jesus quotes it when the devil tempts him in the wilderness, when the devil's like, turn these stones into bread.

And he goes, no, and he quotes something.

He quotes something from the word of God, yeah? Any other moment about bread? Feeding the 5,000, that's good, Helen.

Yes, Karamath?

Oh, that sounds good.

Yeah, brilliant.

So in the Lord's Prayer, it says, you know, give us today our daily bread.

Something that Jesus asked his disciples to say each time they pray.

Something that includes bread as well.

Any more? Any other moments that just pop into your mind? Yes, yes.

When God's people are wandering the wilderness and they were hungry, God provided manna from heaven, this type of bread that they were able to eat, that they were able to live off of for 40 years, for a long time.

Yeah? Any other moments? He did.