Source: Lee Venden: 2006-08-12: "The Bread of Life"

Based on Bible texts: John 6:1-59 (NIV)

[edit] Sermon outline

Ideas about reading the Bible:

It doesn't take as long to read as some people think: You can easily read it in a year
Nobody can eat your food for you
- "Don't believe anything I say. Check it out yourself." — Morris Venden
- "The majority of Christians are content to let someone else do their thinking for them."
- If people would check out and read the Bible for themselves, they would discover that nowhere in there does it mention a Sunday Sabbath
Your manna must be fresh daily or it will become moldy
- "No one is to keep any of it until morning.... However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell" Exodus 16:19-20 (NIV)
- Yesterday's experience with the is not sufficient for today
"Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away." Exodus 16:21 (NIV)
- "But I'm not a morning person!"
  - God will help you wake up
  - "The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught."{{Bible|Isaiah|50:4}
Once your food/meal is in your body, you lose control over it.

Practical suggestions for reading the Bible:

Have your study time in the morning
Begin with prayer
Read the passage slowly. "Don't eat too fast"
- Takes small bites, carefully meditating on each bit
Re-read the passage several times if necessary
Imagined the setting; imagine what it would've been like to be there at that time
Apply the passage to your own life: "What can I learn from this for my life?"
Summarize as you go. Write it down in your own words.
- You learn better when he explain something to another person, because it forces you to say it in your own words.
- Pastor Venden tried this method of summarizing as you go with the entire book of Revelation and found it very helpful
Don't have an appetite? Going without food isn't the only way to increase your appetite; exercising also increases your appetite!
- Share the gospel with someone. Do some service work. The more you share with others about the Bible, the greater your need will be to spend time in the Word.