[Darris McNeely] One of our Beyond Today viewers asked us recently, how is it that we come to Jesus and become a follower of Jesus? And shouldn't that be a very important part of the message of the church? Well, it is an important message of the church. It's an important message of the Bible. And we've been going through a series to discuss that.

Today, I wanna go into John 6, where we find Jesus had a miracle of the feeding of thousands of people with bread and fish. And He left that scene and went into Capernaum. And what we find it in chapter 6 in verse 22 of John, that the people followed, and were continuing the next day looking for Jesus, coming to Him. And they found Him in Capernaum in verse 24. They found him there in Capernaum, and they came there to Capernaum on the shores of Galilee, it says, seeking Jesus. They came seeking Jesus. These were the multitudes who've been fed. They wanted what? More food? Or did they want more of a message that Jesus was giving? Were they turned on and excited about that?

Well, Jesus used that desire of theirs as they came seeking, the group of people who were drawn to Him, to make a very important point. He went on and He said, "You know, I say to you, you seek me, but not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves, and you were filled. Don't labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life." In other words, He's saying, the physical food perishes, you have to eat again the next day. You have to continually replenish yourself. He said, "Seek the food of everlasting life that endures." And He goes on to make that point in His whole message and His life to them, as He really uses this matter of food and even their desire to seek Him to make a very important point about that. In fact, He goes on to say that, He, Christ, was the bread of God from heaven, sent to heaven, that we must eat of that bread if we are to have eternal life. In other words, eat of His flesh.

It was very direct, deep, and for some, a very hard message. But as He goes on over in verse 38, He said, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." Verse 39, "This is the will of the Father who sent me that all He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise them up at the last day." And so He's talking about all that the Father had given Him, all that," verse 37, "who had come to me..." He said, "The one who comes to me, I will by no means cast out."

These people had come seeking Jesus, some no doubt seeking more of the spiritual message. Others likely, they're just for a free meal. And expecting that once again, and Jesus was kind of sorting them out, sifting them out through His words, through His message. And He was showing the importance of certainly seeking, but He was pointing them to a higher spiritual truth, that for some later in this message, they couldn't endure, and they finally stopped following or seeking Jesus because they couldn't really accept the teaching that He was giving them.

This story of loaves and fishes, and of Christ teaching them about being the bread of life out of John 6 is a profound part of the message that Christ gave to help us to understand how it is that we come to Him and become one of His followers.

Now, I know some of you are already ahead of me as you're watching this and you're thinking, "Read on down a few more verses, Darris." Down to verse 44, and what it says there about the necessary ingredient of coming to Jesus. Well, I will read that in the next volume of this installment of coming to Christ and what it all means. We'll read John 6:44, and we'll put that verse in the context of not only John 6, but all the other Scriptures that we have seen here, where Christ Himself talked about what it takes to come to Him and to be His disciple.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.