Category Archives: God
In Context
John 7:37-38 “On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”
Let me give you some background to today’s anchor scripture. The festival here is the festival of Tabernacles also knows as the festival of Shelters, or the festival of Booths [Succoth]. There are two dimensions to the festival of Tabernacles; there is a Historical Dimension and there is the Agricultural Dimension to the festival. Read the rest of this entry
The People, I
John 7:17-18 “Anyone who wants to do the will of God will know whether my teaching is from God or is merely my own. Those who speak for themselves want glory only for themselves, but a person who seeks to honour the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies.”
Over the next few days, we will be studying John 7:25-53 [please read]. Studying the Book of John has been amazing. I want you to read the following passages on your own: John 6:16-21, John 6:22-59, John 6:60-70, and John 7:1-25. Devote a day to each section or more and really get into God’s Word. Read the rest of this entry
Supernatural Provision
Matt.17:27 “However, we don’t want to offend them, so go down to the lake and throw in a line. Open the mouth of the first fish you catch, and you will find a large silver coin. Take it and pay the tax for both of us.”
Have you ever experienced supernatural provision? Yes, God wants us to work, to invest, and God wants us to save. We have done several teachings on God’s heart for work and for our finances – earn some, save some, invest some, spend less, no loss, give more, and faith it. Yes, God wants us to be responsible, to generate an income, to sustain our life income, and to multiply our streams of income. However, there comes a time in every life where you need divine intervention, when you need a miracle. God has made it clear that this is going to happen, and He will come through for us. Please read John 6:1-15.
John 6:1 “After this, Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias.” This is so important because John was writing to the people in Ephesus and they knew this sea as the Sea of Tiberias, not the Sea of Galilee. It is so important that as people, we speak the language that our community understands. Otherwise, they will see Christians as strange. Jesus had just finished healing the man that was lame for thirty-eight years and He crossed the Sea of Galilee to have some time away with His disciples. But the Bible said that the people followed Him. When Jesus was crossing the Sea of Galilee, thousands of people were going across Jordan following Jesus. Jesus obviously got to Galilee first and sat down with His disciples, but as He lifted His eyes, He saw five thousand people approaching and the story kicks off from there.
This miracle is recorded as the feeding of five thousand men, not counting women and children. If there are five thousand men, we can expect that there will be between seven and ten thousand women, and between two and three thousand children. There were about fifteen to twenty thousand people coming to Jesus. There are many different miracles distributed across the four gospels but the feeding of the five thousand men was the only one recorded by all four gospels and that is so significant. This miracle is recorded in Matt.14:13-21, Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, and John 6:1-15. Please read all the different accounts, you will be amazed at the peculiarities of the writers and what they focused on.
For instance, John did not talk about Jesus distributing the bread to the twelve and the twelve distributing it to the people. John skipped that because of what he was focusing on. Matthew detailed how Jesus broke the bread and distributed to the twelve, but Matthew did not state that Jesus did this for the bread and then the fish. Matthew reported it as though Jesus did both together. But John said He distributed the bread first, then the fish. The purpose of Bible study is for you to get into the Word of God yourself.
Prayer: Father, I ask that according to Your Word, please supply all my needs according to Your riches in glory, in Jesus Name. Amen!
His Not Yours, III
John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.” (emphasis added).
John 21:15-17 “After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.” God measures our love for Him by our service for His people. Read the rest of this entry
His Not Yours, II
John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son, and tells him everything he is doing; and the Son will do far more awesome miracles than this man’s healing.” (TLB]
John 19:26 “When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” (NRSV, emphasis added). God commits His most precious things to people that are convinced about His love for them. Read the rest of this entry
His Not Yours, I
John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.” (emphasis added).
In today’s anchor scripture, we see Jesus boast in His Father’s love for Him and that is big. “The Father loves the Son…”, just like a boy on the playground says, ‘my daddy loves me’. God’s love for you is more important than your love for God. Read the rest of this entry
The Son!
John 5:24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life” (emphasis added).
Jesus says, “those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins…” It is not that these people do not have sins, but Jesus says they will never be condemned for their sins. Read the rest of this entry
Yes And No
Gen.37:10 “This time he told the dream to his father as well as to his brothers, but his father scolded him. “What kind of dream is that?” he asked. “Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow to the ground before you?”
Over the past few days, we have learned that Mary was an executionist and she had power with God. Mary used her power with God to change and influence things for others. We have seen from the example of Mary that when you have power with God, you can change things. Read the rest of this entry
