The Prophet

We are diving deep into the threefold offices of Christ, Prophet, Priest, and King. These Old Testament roles find their ultimate unity in Jesus our Savior. Like Moses and Isaiah, Jesus spoke God's truth into the darkness, revealing his wonders, will, and wisdom. Just as the Father commanded, listen to Him, we too must open our hearts to the life-giving words of Jesus our prophet. Stay with us.

From Chicago, this is The Moody Church Hour, a weekly broadcast of worship and teaching with Pastor Philip Miller. Today, join us for another in a long series of messages from the Gospel of John we're calling Loved by Jesus. Our focus, the prophet. Here now is Pastor Philip, along with worship leader Tim Stafford and Executive Pastor Bill Burchie.

Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to The Moody Church. We're so glad you're here with us this morning. We're working our way through the Gospel of John, and today we come to two famous miracles that Jesus did: His feeding of the 5,000 and His walking on water. And it's in these two stories that Jesus starts to lift the veil and disclose just who He is to us. We want to see Jesus more, and that's why we're here.

So let's pray and begin this service and ask Him to come and show Himself to us. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending us Jesus to lift the veil. To show us your divine heart, to reveal the nature. of God himself to us.

And we want to see Jesus in all of His glory, all of His fullness. And so, Father, would you show us your Son today? for his glory. And in his name we pray. Amen.

Good morning, everybody. Let's celebrate the promises of God today. Standing on the promises of Christ, my King. Through eternal ages, let his praise be glory in the highest I will shine and see. Standing on the promises of God, standing on the promises of God, my Savior, standing standing, I'm standing on the promises of God standing on the promises that Cannot fail when the hallic storms about and fear by the living word of God I shall prevail standing on the promises of God my Savior Sandy Sandy I'm standing on the promises of God standing on the promises I cannot fall listening every moment to the spirit resting in my savior as my home in all standing On the promises of Goding on the promises of God, my Savior, standing standing, I'm standing on the promises of God, my Savior, standing standing, I'm standing on the promises of God Amen, amen, bless the Lord.

Father of kindness, you have poured out grace. Brought me out of darkness, you have filled me with peace. Giver of mercy, O my love, in time of need, Lord, I can never see faithful you are, faithful, wherever you will be. Faithful you are. All your promises are yes and amen.

All your promises are yes amen. You, dearest Savior, you have not believed. You pull me from the ashes, you have broken every head. Bless every dealer, you have set his sky to free for single day more. Oh, forever you will be faithful on your promises, I yes and amen.

All your promises, I yes and amen. You are Yeshua, forever you will be afraid. You are Yeshua all your promises, yes and amen we can rest in Him, trust His Word. I will rest in your promises, my confidence is your faithfulness. I will rest in your promises, my confidence is your faithfulness.

I will rest in your promises, my confidence is your faithfulness, I will rest in your promises, my confidence is your faithfulness. You are sure faithful. Forever, you will be good name. You are your promises are yes, and amen. You are your strength.

Forever you will be good. You are strong. All your promises are yes, and amen. All your promises are yes and amen. All your promises are yes, amen.

Amen, amen. We are here to adore. Him and he is so worthy. Let's pray. Our Father, the words.

To that song. They draw our minds and our eyes upward to see you seated on your throne. Completely worthy. Gracious patient, loving, kind. Majestic, holy, just, May we grow in our adoration of you because you are worthy.

of all of our hearts. given wholeheartedly, passionately, joyfully to you. Because of And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen.

Please be seated. Oh God, our help in ages past our hope for years to come our shall From the stormy blast and the eternal home, Lord, you have been our dwelling place. in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth. and the world from everlasting to everlasting.

You are God. Under The shadow thy throne still may we dwell secure. Sufficient is thine arm and our events is shown before the hills in order soon or earth received perfect from everlasting thou art God to endless years the same. turn man to dust. and say, Return, O children of man.

For a thousand years in your sight are as but yesterday. when it is past. Or is it watch in the night? Nice. A thousand ages in thy sight are thine own short as the watch that ends the night we flour the rising sun time like an ever rolling stream bears lowly sun away for God and as a dream dies and the For we are brought to an end by your anger, by your wrath, we are.

dismay. You have said our iniquities before you our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your Wrath. We bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength.

80. Yet their span is but toil The trouble. They are soon gone. and we fly away.

So teach us to number our days. that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love. that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Let your work be shown to your servants.

and your glorious power. to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us. and establish the work of our hands upon us. Yes.

Establish the work of our hands. God will answer that prayer if you trust Him today. Let's trust in Him completely. Oh God, our health in ages past our hope for years to God be the our God while life shall last and are eternal Amen, amen. Let's pray.

Our Father, the truth of that song is so important for every one of us. You are faithful. And you are true to your promises. And that's all we need, your presence and your promises. in our lives.

And so, Father, I pray that you would give us ears to hear this morning, that we would participate fully in this worship service. From the depths of our hearts. May we be faithful as you are in Jesus' name. Amen. May the mind of Christ my Savior in me from day to day by his love and heart unto all I do and say may the word of God will be skipped in my heart from our top so that only see I shine only through his God may the peace of love That I may be all to the Lord, sick and sorrow.

May the love of Jesus fill me as the waters fill the sea in exposing self-obracing in its victory. May I run the race before me, strong and praise you. This the world could be only unto Jesus as I honored Lords upon him as I sing the lost to live and they they forgot the channel singing Amen, amen.

Well, welcome to our Series Loved by Jesus. In this study of the New Testament Gospel of John, We're paying particular attention to what it means to be loved. by Jesus. Because we realize that our greatest value, our truest dignity, our deepest identity. Lies not in what we accomplish or what other people say we are or even who we promote ourselves as.

but in simply being loved by Jesus. There is, in fact, no more grounding, more transforming, more enlivening, or defining reality than the love of our Jesus. And so in this series, we have a chance now to get to know this Jesus. Better, and in getting to know Jesus, we begin to know ourselves.

Now, like all interesting people, Jesus has layers. He's like an onion or like a parfait, perhaps. It takes some effort to get to know Jesus, to peel back the layers and go back deeper, to get beyond the surface and to really know him. And this is particularly true of the passage that we're going to look at today in John chapter 6. We're going to see recorded side by side two miraculous events, the feeding of the 5,000, at least that's what we typically call this, although there were far more than 5,000 people there, and the story of Jesus walking on water.

Two very famous miracles, and they're not so much about what Jesus did as they are about who Jesus is. Is. And there's multiple layers going on here. Jesus is disclosing himself here at three different levels. The first one is pretty obvious and easy to get.

The second one, you have to do a little bit of work and digging to get to. The third one, I think, frankly, most people. miss both in Jesus' day And in hours. But if we're to truly know Jesus, we have to see all of who He is here. And that's how we'll know ourselves.

As well.

So, what we're going to do this morning, we're going to work our way through the text, and then I want to show you these three different levels of self-disclosure. That Jesus has for us.

So grab your Bibles. We'll be in John chapter 6, verses 1 to 21 this morning. And as we open God's Word, let's pray together. Heavenly Father, come teach us, show us Jesus. Show us ourselves and change us, we pray.

Amen. Amen. John chapter 6, verse 1. After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. which is the Sea of Tiberias.

And a large crowd was following him because of the signs that he was doing on the sick. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.

So at this moment, Jesus is back up in northern Israel, back in his home region of Galilee. These events are going to take place by the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. This lake was named Galilee for the region and Tiberias for the main city built on the shoreline on the western shore that Herod Antipas had built there in AD 20.

Now the other side of the lake here that they are on would be the eastern shore across from the settlements that are there on the western side in a region we now know today as the Golan Heights. A big crowd is following Jesus because of the miraculous healings that he's been doing. Jesus is quite the show, and they want more. Even without the internet, the news seems to travel fast.

Now, it's a large crowd. We learn down in verse 10 that it consists of 5,000 men, not including women and children.

So scholars estimate that this crowd in total would have been upwards of 10,000, maybe 15,000, potentially even 20,000 people. There's a lot of people here.

So we can just imagine the scene, can't we? Jesus is seated on the mountain, teaching his disciples much like a rabbi would do, seated giving instruction. Verse 16 tells us they had a boat with them.

So the picture is that they went across the lake from Capernaum, where Jesus is headquartered, into the Golan Heights to get alone. And there they are up in the hillside by themselves. And then all of a sudden, the crowd starts showing up, first in maybe in boats, and then other people walking around the perimeter. of this sea. And here they come.

Verse 4, John says, Now the Passover of the feast of the Jews was at hand. And this is a fascinating detail the Passover it's just around the corner And of course, Passover is the festival commemorating how God had rescued the people of Israel out of bondage in Egypt, how he had covered their lives with the blood of the Lamb and protected them from the plague. And then Moses led them to freedom out of Egypt through the Red Sea into the wilderness to Mount Sinai, where God spoke with power from the mountainside. And as they went through the wilderness, God provided manna and quail and water in the wilderness to sustain them on their journey to the promised land.

Now, this detail here serves first as a time marker. Passover falls on the night of the first full moon after the spring equinox. And so this is late March or early April. But what if it's more than just a time marker here? Maybe John's bringing up Passover.

on purpose. Let's hold that thought.

Now, verse 5. Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, this is not me, this is the disciple by the way there, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

Now I love this. Jesus is just sort of setting up the moment, building suspense here for what he will do next. Verse 7, Philip answered him, 200 denarii worth of bread wouldn't be enough for each of them to get a little bit. And now a denarius was a day's wage for a blue-collar worker.

So roughly, he's saying, Look, if I had 20 grand, I couldn't even buy enough bread for people to have a little bit here. In verse 8, one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but What are they for so many?

Now barley was a peasant's grain. These were probably small loaves, much like pita bread, flat bread. And the fish that he has are likely tilapia from the lake that have been dry cured in the sun. A little more than a side dish. This is a meager peasant's meal for a small child's appetite.

That's all Jesus has to work with. And so it begins. Verse 10. And Jesus said, have the people sit down.

Now there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about five thousand in number. I love John's colorful eyewitness detail here. He remembers the lots of the green grass that was there. Mark in his gospel notes that Jesus had them sit down in groups of 50 and 100 so that that way they were able to easily count the number of people here. 5,000 men plus women.

and children. Verse 11. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. and also the fish. as much as they wanted.

He Don't you just love the economy of the words here? No fanfare, no embellishment, just so understated. When he had given thanks, he distributed the loaves and so also the fish, as much as they wanted.

Now, some have pointed out that the miracle here is not so much a contravention of the natural processes as much as it is a compression. Of the natural processes. For example, God multiplies barley every year, doesn't He? A single seed of barley goes into the ground and it becomes 25 or 30 heads of grain, seeds here. Every year God multiplies fish.

Tilapia can lay up to 1600 eggs a year. And so, what Jesus is doing here is, He's doing what God does all the time, He's just doing it all at once. In an instant. And of course, he adds all the finishing touches here: the mixing, and kneading, and baking, and the catching, and seasoning, and the curing. And so Jesus here feeds the multitudes.

Verse 12. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.

So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

So the twelve disciples each grab a basket and fill them up with fragments from the five initial loaves, and the leftovers here are in excess of the original quantities. This is abundant. overflowing provision.

Now verse 14. When the people had seen the sign that he had done, they said, This is indeed the prophet. Who is to come? into the world. When they saw the sign, this is John's favorite word for miracle, a sign pointing to something beyond itself.

They said This is indeed the prophet, not a prophet, the prophet who is to come into the world.

Now those of you who have been with us for a while will remember back in John chapter 1, this same comment was made. The Pharisees asked John if he was the prophet. And if you'll remember this, John the Baptizer. Because Israel was waiting for the prophet, not just a prophet, but the prophet, the prophet like Moses, the prophet Moses prophesied would come, a new and greater Moses, and the people were to listen to him. And so something in this miraculous feeding Signals to the people, to the crowd.

The prophet is come. He's finally here. The times of fulfillment. are at hand.

Now look what happens in verse 15. perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

So there's 5,000 men here. That's enough for a guerrilla force, and they are ready to make Jesus king of Israel. But Jesus will have none of it. And off he goes into the wilderness, into the mountainside by himself.

Now, verse 16: When evening came. His disciples went down to the sea. Got in a boat. and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark and Jesus had yet to come to them.

Matthew and Mark in their Gospels note that Jesus made the disciples get in the boat. He sent them away. He said, go sail across seven to eight miles to Capernaum. Go on your own. I'm staying behind.

the assumption was that Jesus would make his way home on foot. Verse 18. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. The Sea of Galilee sits about 600 feet below sea level. And cool air from the southeast tablelands can rush in and displace the warm, moist air over the lake and churn up a squall.

That's probably what happens here. Verse 19: when they had rowed three to four miles, about halfway, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were. Frightened. This is an amazing moment. Here they are halfway across the sea.

They're in the deepest part of the water. They're straining at their oars. The wind is buffeting. The rain is lashing. The sea is surging.

Their pulses are racing. And here's some guy out for a casual evening stroll across the surface of the sea. And he's not passing off in the distance in the clouds and the rain. No, he's making a beeline right for them. And it says they were Well, of course they were.

It's the understatement of the century. Verse 20. But he said to them, It is I Do not be Afraid.

Now, this is obscured for us in English, but there's kind of a double entendre, a pun here. When Jesus says, it is I, at one level, he may just be saying, hey, it's me. But the phrases ego, ami. I am. I am, do not be Afraid.

And those of you who know your Bibles will know that this is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word for the name of God that God gave Moses at the burning bush in the wilderness. I am that I am. This is, I think, Jesus. telling them exactly who he is. It is me I am.

The Lord of all creation. who rides upon the storm. who is enthroned above the waters. who stills the sea with his word. The great I am.

Now, in verse 21, they realize it's Jesus. Then they were glad to take him into the boat. and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were Going.

So no sooner have they taken Jesus into the boat, you know, watch your step Jesus over the side of the boat here, you know. and they find themselves bumping into the far shore. Immediately the boat is at the land to which they were Going just like that. They're safely Home.

Now, this is quite a day in the life of Jesus, isn't it? I mean, he gets up in the morning, he has a full day of teaching, he multiplies food for the masses, he walks upon the stormy waters, and he brings his friends safely home. And while that's impressive enough, we've got to remember that these accounts are written not so much to impress us at what Jesus did as they are to show us who Jesus is. And I told you in the beginning that Jesus is disclosing himself here at three different levels, and I want to show them to you.

Now, the first level. The first level of Jesus' self-disclosure here is that he is the miracle worker. He's the miracle worker. These are amazing displays of God's authority and power through Jesus Christ, aren't they? That not only does Jesus turn water into wine and heal fevers at a distance and solve decades of infirmity.

Jesus has authority over all creation. He can multiply bread and fish. He can walk upon the seas. Even time and space seem to shift at his direction. Jesus is the miracle worker from God.

He has authority in all of life. And it is this understanding that is beginning to dawn on the people. It's what drew the crowds in the very beginning in verse 2, where the large crowd was following him because of the signs he was doing on the sick. He's an impressive figure. He's an amazing man.

And everyone is coming for the show, bringing their problems to Jesus that he might fix them. And so Jesus is a miracle worker. That's the first level. But he's so much more than that. Don't you see this?

There were a whole lot of people that were following Jesus because he could fix their problems. Because he could fill their stomachs, because he amazed their eyes. He was impressive. But they can't stop there, you see, because they would miss out on who Jesus. really is.

He is a miracle worker, but he's more than that. The second level of understanding here is that Jesus is the coming. He's the coming prophet. See, many of these people realize that Jesus is more than just a miracle worker here. In verse 14, they say, this is indeed the prophet.

Who is to come into the world? Moses' prophecy is being fulfilled. That prophecy is found in Deuteronomy 18. In verses 15, 17, and 18, this is what it reads. The Lord your God, Moses is speaking, will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers, from among you, from among your brothers.

It is to him you shall listen. And then later the Lord speaks, and the Lord said to me, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. and I will put my words in his mouth. and he shall speak to them all that I Command him.

So, here, friends, don't you see, is a prophet like Moses. The people realize it. Remember, John said: the Passover is at hand, that's intentional. And here you have another prophet, supernaturally empowered by God to do the miraculous, who is speaking words from the mountain, hello, and providing bread in the wilderness for the people of God. And the disciples see with even more clarity the Moses imagery here.

Because Jesus then crosses the sea and leads his followers safely to the other side.

Now, what's interesting is that given the richness of the Moses motif here, I don't think it's a stretch to see this in verse 21. It says, immediately they were at the land to which they were going. I think this word is interesting. Why would you say they were at the land to which they were going? They are going, this is an inland sea, there's land everywhere.

He doesn't say shore that they were going to, or dock that they were going to, or harbor that they were going to, or town that they were going to. He says land, and it's evocative of the purpose. Promised land, the land to which the people of God were going. And so all of this is packaged to show us that Jesus is the true and greater Moses. That he is the prophet that was foretold he will finish the work that Moses never got to complete.

He will bring the people into the promised. Land. And John has set this all up for us. If you think back to the end of chapter 5, this is how it ends. The very last verse before chapter 6.

Remember, chapters are added later, the chapter divisions. This is the last verse of chapter 5. John chapter 5, verses 46 and 47 say this, For if you believed Moses, you would believe me. For he wrote of me, But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my Words. And so John sets this whole chapter up saying, Moses is all about Jesus, and Jesus is the one who is coming.

He's the prophet. Jesus is the prophet just like. Like Moses. He's more than a miracle worker. He's the great and coming.

Profit. A new Moses. for a new day. redemption, fulfillment, hope. is on the horizon.

And some of the people begin to realize what this means. We've got to listen to this guy. We've got to obey him. He deserves authority. He deserves the throne.

And that's why in verse 15 they want to make him king. We've found our hero, they say. The days of fulfillment are at hand. Let's get this party started. Let's kick out those Romans.

Let's set up the kingdom. Let's bring back the glory days. But Jesus walks Away. Jesus walks Away. They just had this huge breakthrough in understanding of who Jesus is.

And Jesus walks off. Why? Because there's a whole Another level. to him that they were missing. The third level is that Jesus is the throneless king.

Jesus is the throneless. King. Friends. Why did Jesus refuse the throne? Hmm?

He's the rightful king, isn't he? He's the rightful king. He's the prophet. He's the redeemer. He's the healer.

He's the one who has authority over all of creation. Why doesn't he take the throne? Why not?

Well The answer lies in Jesus' deepest identity. and purpose. In Mark chapter 10, verse 45, Jesus said, the Son of Man came. Not to be served, but to serve. and to give his life.

as a ransom. for many. Friends, Jesus here refuses the throne. because it would have short-circuited The cross. And the cross was the reason he came.

See, Jesus knows that if he takes the throne, without first going to the cross. He could never redeem us. And he could never solve our deepest spiritual problem. Because on the cross, friends, Jesus redeemed us. From bondage, not from Egypt or Rome, but from the oppression of sin and Satan and death.

On the cross, Jesus became our Passover Lamb. His body broken, his blood poured out that we might be forgiven and protected. It was on the cross that Jesus comes to mediate a new covenant with God. on a new mountain, a mountain called Calvary. And give us a new heart and a new spirit so that we could actually obey what God wanted.

It was on the cross that Jesus gave his body for us, the bread of life. Provision for our famished souls in the spiritual wilderness of our lives. It was on the cross that the Lord of all creation died. And the earth quaked and the sun hid its face as the Lord laid down his life to save his people. from their sins.

It was on the cross, friends, that Jesus faced the stormy sea of God's wrath. To deliver us safely to the shores of everlasting. Promise. See friends, we need more than a miracle worker. We need more than just a coming prophet, we need a throneless king.

We need a God who will love us and give Himself up for us, who will trade the crown for a cross. that we might be forever. Because we need a Savior. We need a Lord. We need Our everything.

in him. And don't you see, friends, There are layers to Jesus, different levels at which we can understand and embrace Him. And so, my question to you. is at what level are you embracing Jesus? At which level are you embracing Jesus.

See, some people basically embrace Jesus. as a miracle worker. They say, well, listen, I have problems in my life, and I'm hoping that Jesus can fix them. I'm sick, maybe he can heal me. I'm broken, maybe he can mend me.

I'm empty, maybe he can fill me. I'm hungry, maybe he can satisfy me. And for many of us, I think this is where our relationship with Jesus normally starts: with just a simple help. I need you, Jesus. Save me.

This is the language of salvation. And of course, Jesus is a miracle worker. This is what he does. We desperately need a miracle, and he's a miracle worker. This is a match made in heaven.

This is a good thing. He's here to rescue us. He's here to heal us. He's here to save us. And he has many good gifts that he wants to give us, and so we are right to ask him for them.

And there's a great deal of life we discover in realizing we don't have to do life on our own, that Jesus is here to be our Savior and rescuer. But don't you realize that's just the beginning? of who Jesus is. That's just the beginning. Another group of people embrace Jesus as the coming prophet.

That he has the authority to speak For God, that He is full of wisdom and life, and when He speaks, we really ought to listen to Him. That we ought to obey his every word. That he deserves to be king, to sit on the throne of our lives. And so After following Jesus for a while, some people begin to realize. I think Jesus is calling me to actually obey him.

to submit my life To him, to welcome him as Lord over my life, to obey him in every area of who I am. In other words, I can't just sit on the fence and embrace Jesus as my Savior, but just live the way that I want. No, no, no. If He's my Savior, He has to be my Lord, and I need to obey Him. And friends, this is the language.

of submission. And there's a whole nother level of life. To be found in realizing we're always better off when we do things Jesus' way. instead of our way. But don't you realize There's more to Jesus than even that.

A few people begin to realize That they need to embrace Jesus as the throneless king. For some people. The precious reality that Jesus loves them. that he died for them and gave himself up for them. becomes simply overwhelming.

That the matchless and self-sacrificing love of Christ sweeps them off their feet. And there's a kind of reckless abandon that comes with this. You hear it in the great hymns, phrases like, love so amazing.

So divine. demands my soul, my life, my all. Take my life and let it be. Consecrated Lord, to thee. Friends, this is the language of Surrender.

For some people, the love of Christ becomes so compelling. that they realize their life is not their own anymore. They've been bought with a price. And that anyone who loved them this much, so as to give themselves up for. for them.

That person can ask them anything they want. Not just on Sunday, but Every day. Not just over 10%, but over A hundred percent. Not just in the days of eternity, but in all their days Here on earth. For some folks they begin to learn.

to relinquish, like Jesus, the throne of their lives. to take up their cross and follow him. And in losing their life, friends. These folks actually find it. And if you've ever met one of these kinds of people, You'll realize they really know Jesus.

They'd really know him. deeply, truly Profoundly. Their lives are not always easy. In fact, they're very difficult. But they're alive.

Jesus is not just their Savior, He's their Lord, He's their everything. And so they're alive. deeply, truly, abundantly, because they are loved. By Jesus, friends. They imbibe the love of Jesus.

They abide in the love of Jesus. They live and soak and Live in it.

So how about you? At what level are you embracing Jesus. Is He for you a miracle worker? You bring your problems and He fixes them. He saves you from the messes in your life.

Is that the level? Or have you come to the point where he is the coming prophet? He's the one who has all the authority and the right to speak into your life. You're submitting. to him and saying, I'll do it your way.

Or has it come to the point where you see him? as the throneless king. The king who deserves the crown, but traded it for a cross for you. for your life, his life in exchange. For yours to the point where you say listen, I can't hold on to my life anymore.

I surrender, I let go. I'm yours. To know Jesus as he truly is, Franz, is to know. ourselves to see him. It's the sea.

ourselves, to be loved by Him. is to come into ourselves. Loved into. Loveliness. Would you bow your heads and pray with me?

Father. Help us be honest with ourselves. About where we really are with Jesus. Maybe our first step. is to embrace him as Savior.

Maybe right now he's calling us. to submit. Or perhaps he's calling. A steeper still. to a life of surrender.

Help us to trust Jesus. That when he says, I'm here, that they may have life. and life abundant. That as we let go of these things, we are actually stepping into greater. Life.

in Christ. That the way to fullness is through emptiness. The way up is actually down. And the way to glory. and life.

is through the cross. May we follow. Jesus. We pray this. in his beautiful name.

Amen. On today's Moody Church hour, we heard Pastor Philip Miller with another message in a series he's calling Loved by Jesus, the book of John. We heard about the prophet, one of the major offices of Christ.

Next time, don't miss the bread. Jesus as the one who said, I am the bread of life. The Moody Church Hour is a listener-supported ministry. We count on the ongoing financial support of listeners like you. Together, we share solid biblical teaching.

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