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BREAKING BREAD BETWEEN BROTHERS & SISTERS

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The Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of John is the longest chapter in this Gospel, totaling seventy-one verses in all. The events this chapter covers probably happened in less than a twenty-four hour period. During this twenty four hour period, Jesus miraculously fed over five thousand people. He also spent time alone with God in prayer, and also walked on the waters of the Sea of Galilee. He also taught a lesson in the synagogue and his topic was "The Bread of Life."
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Within this twenty four hour period, the great crowds of people who came to hear , see and touch Jesus first determined that he was their new ‘king’ and were about to take him by force and crown him. Following his lesson on ‘The Bread of Life, many of these same people, who only minutes were willing to hail Jesus as King, would just as quickly reject him, for he was claiming to be the Bread of Heaven - which was a ludicrous claim and made him guilty of blasphemy.
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The Gospel according to John is a book about signs, wonders and miracles. There are seven miraculous signs which point to Jesus as the Messiah, (1) turning water into wine - ch.2:1-11, (2) healing of a nobleman’s son - ch. 4:46-54, (3) healing of a lame man- ch. 5:1-9, (4) feeding of five thousand - ch. 6:1-14, (5) Jesus walking on water - ch. 6:15-21, (6) healing of a blind man - ch. 9:1-11, and (7) raising Lazarus from the dead - ch.11:1-14. There is an 8th miraculous sign where Jesus produces a miraculous catch of fish, however this miracle occurs after his resurrection, and encompasses all of the 7 previous miracles, which in themselves make for an interesting Bible Study.
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Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel also begins what are known as the "Great I Am’s" where Jesus proclaimed Himself : (1) I am the Bread of Life - ch. 6:35, (2) I am the Light of the world - ch. 8:12, (3) I am the door (to eternity -ch. 10:9, (4) I am the Good Shepherd - ch.10:11, (5) I am resurrection and the life - ch. 11:25, (6) I am the way, the truth and the life - ch. 14:6, and (7) I am the true vine -ch.15:5.
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This week we are going to look at chapter six of John’s Gospel because it teaches us about how the people embraced Jesus because of his miracles, especially the feeding of the five thousand, where Jesus them began making cliams for himself as being the bread of heaven. That caused people to fall away. Just as soon as Jesus began making this absurd statement, the people began to grumble among themselves and ask themselves "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can he say "I came down from heaven? The ‘Jews’ is John’s Gospel is commonly used to describe the religious leaders who opposed Jesus at every opportunity. Many people are often uncomfortable with John’s use of the term ‘Jews, however John himself was Jewish, so he cannot be accused of being an anti-semite
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M. JOHN 6:1-15 -------------JESUS FEED FIVE THOUSAND PLUS PEOPLE
T. JOHN 6:16-24 -----------JESUS WALKS ON THE SEA OF GALILEE
W. JOHN 6:25-51 -----------JESUS CLAIMS THAT HE IS THE BREAD OF LIFE
T. JOHN 6: 52-59 ----------JESUS FACES OPPOSITION IN THE SYNAGOGUE
F. JOHN 6:60-71 -----------JESUS DISCIPLES EVEN BEGIN TO DESERT HIM.
S. JOHN 6:1-71 --------------A DAY IN THE LIFE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.