Jesus teaches a needed lesson to those disciples who, continually thing in physical, temporal terms. He wants them to understand there are two types of food, physical and spiritual. One will leave you hungering and thirsting, the other will fill you so that you will never hunger or thirst again. To this point Jesus taught, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him” (John 6:27).

Our focus for this year is from Ephesians 2 and verse 5 which says God, “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”. Nothing could be more important to us who are alive together with Christ than to know more about Jesus.  When we think on the words “alive together with Christ”, we know that spiritually “together” means there is a union between us and Christ that we have been added to the body of Christ—and no longer walk the course of this world (Eph. 2:1-7).  Together is a power theme found all throughout God’s word, “faith was working together” with Abraham’s works, and “and by works faith was made perfect” (James 2:22). In a lawful marriage a man and woman are “joined together” by God (Mark 10:9) and in the resurrection the dead in Christ will be joined together with those who are alive in Christ and “shall be caught up together” to meet the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4:17). But the real togetherness does not come by osmosis, or by accident, but by consuming the Bread of Life, “the words of eternal life” (John 6:63, 68)– this is the only possible way to think spiritually…

From The feeding of the 5,000 we learn never to Underestimate Jesus. I would suggest that we learn to compare our problems to the loaves and fish and not the multitudes. When you feel like the problem is overwhelming you—like it is consuming you, when you feel as though there’s just no answers—no way out—if you are heavy laden, think about what Jesus did with the 5 loaves and 2 small fish. Remember His power never diminishes and yes, cast all your cares upon Jesus (1 Pet. 5:7), and let Him give you rest (Matt. 11:28). Let Jesus handle the big things. What the Lord did with 5 barely loaves and two small fish demonstrated His power and divinity…

Recorded In John chapter 5 is a miracle that Jesus did on the Sabbath day when He healed a man, “who had an infirmity thirty-eight years” (v.2), and afterword the man told the Jews that, “it was Jesus who had made him well.” Truly remarkable is the reaction by some Jews. Instead of being amazed, they were enraged, and at verse 18 we read “the Jews sought all the more to kill Him”. In this lesson we’ll relate this to current day people who, just like those Jews, regardless of facts, truth and compelling evidence refuse to to say Jesus – I believe…

Now we see Jesus the Great Physician from a different perspective. Not from the physical sense but from the spiritual. Luke records of Jesus, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me [a]to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are [b]oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19). Now we see Jesus standing at the door of penitent sinners, knocking. But what Jesus sees on the other side of that door may surprise you…

This whole year we have been teaching from the book of John, learning things that Increase our Faith. We’ve seen Jesus as the Word of God, Who is God (1:1), Jesus as our Creator (1:3, 10), Jesus as the Emanuel “God with us” (1:14), Jesus as the Lamb of God (1:29), Jesus as a miracle worker (2:9), Jesus our Master a teacher come from God (3:2), Jesus as the Messiah (4:25-26), and now in this 2 part lesson we’ll see Jesus as the “Great Physician” powerful, and able to heal in an amazing way. We will look at three things in the account of the healing of the Nobleman’s Son (John 4:46-54). 1) Jesus Has Power Over Distance, 2) That the Nobleman “heard” and 3) The man Believed and Went…

As someone put it: “Fear is simply unbelief parading in disguise.” FAITH IN THE POWER OF JESUS OVERCOMES FEAR: When His disciples were fearful of the storm at sea – (Matt. 8:23-27), When Peter faltered as he went to Jesus walking on the water – (Matt. 14:25-33), As Jesus taught them not to have fearful anxiety concerning the necessities of life – (Luke 12:27-32). Placing our trust in the Master eliminates our worst fears: The fear of facing this life alone?  Jesus promised, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – (Matt. 28:20). “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'” – (Heb. 13:5-6). What is the worst that can happen? Is it death? Jesus addressed that too. His own victory over death frees us from the fear of death – (Heb. 2:14-15).

Much of our focus today is on the Coronavirus and how quickly it spreads. Men want to stop the virus–wash your hands–keep a distance from others–and isolate or self-quarantine. In the same way the Devil wants us to–wash our hands of our responsibilities to go and preach–keep a safe distance from people who might ask you questions and isolate yourself from gatherings where opportunities may present themselves. But, we must be like the woman and the well who after hearing Jesus, right away went into the town and told others about the Lord (John 4:27-41). And also like Peter and John who were told “stop” and they didn’t because they had standing orders from the angel of the Lord “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20). Jesus said, “Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” (John 4:35). We don’t yet have a cure for the Coronavirus–but how awful and sinful would it be if we did have it, but kept it to ourselves–seeing the sick and dying–all the while having the cure in our pockets. In the same way–how awful are we–who have the cure for sin and death in our hearts–see the needy sinner–and just wash our hands–keep a safe distance–and isolate ourselves?

We need to be constantly drawing near to God. One important method is gauging ourselves, that is by testing our daily lives against scriptural examples of the saints behaviors and practices. Everyone who is therefore in Christ—will be transformed by the renewing of their minds (Rom. 12:2)—will have “their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). Remember it was Solomon who asked God, “Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:9). Therefore, I conclude that when one partakes of the living water—one will begin to be changed in such a way that self, and others will be able to “know them by their Fruits”. 

What is truly amazing water is the very element which we all need, and use so much—And God has blessed us exceedingly with abundance in the form of dew, rain, ponds, lakes, creeks, streams, rivers, seas and oceans. Where every life is—there is water. Our Bibles both old and new testaments offer an important sense of the spiritual imagery of water. It is important to get into the minds of the ancient Israelites—seeing the important role water played to their very existence. This helps us understand how and why Jesus uses these images to tell about himself—and how the woman at the well understood its significance…