Old Jerry

The people were wanting Jesus to be king over them and that is what the Devil wanted Jesus to also be. But in both cases He did not relent. God’s plan we for Jesus to save the world not to conquer it. So if the people would have been successful in getting Jesus to be their king then He would have had to conquer the world. We must also follow God’s plan for our lives and not let somebody else dictate to us what they think we should be doing.

I think that Jesus had the disciples pick up the left-over pieces because He wanted them to know that there was plenty and that we can count on God for everything. He also wanted then to know that they should not waste what God has given them.

Jesus distributed the multiplied loaves and fishes to the multitudes by breaking the bread and having the disciples distribute it to those that were there. The disciples were the ones that had to use their baskets to distribute the food and to collect the left overs. They were probably wondering where was all this coming from and that they were probably tired from there distribution of the food.

Jesus has the crowd sit down before feeding them so that they can be organized. If they hadn’t sat down then there probably would have been a lot of pushing and shoving to get the food. The disciples’ role in this is to get them organized. I don’t think I would have done it but because I am being directed to do so I would have done it. I would want to see what would happen next because I would have been skeptical. I know we are always looking for a miracle but I think that one happened we wouldn’t recognize it.

I think that Jesus is trying to teach them a lesson in trusting God. So he involves the disciples in the feeding of the people. The significance to the story of the boy’s five loves and two little fish is that no matter how small our contribution is, if we give it to God he can make a lasting contribution.

The role of the Scriptures in our lives should be to guide us through our daily circumstances. We are to follow what the Scriptures say and obey them. It is possible to be a great student of the Bible and be licking in spiritual discernment. Just look at some of the atheists, they know the scriptures cold but still don’t believe in God.

According to John’s Gospel miracles are a testimony that we have the one and only God. If all we believe in is miracles then we are missing the bigger picture. We need to accept Jesus as our savior and study the things that He did. Maybe the reason that we don’t have more miracles in our day is because we don’t believe in them.

Jesus is dependent on the Father for everything. He was put here to do the will of the Father and he is following the Fathers wisdom. But as for me I have a tough time going to the Father for that same wisdom that Jesus always did. I seem to make the decision and then ask the Father to confirm what I had done. But I do go to Him for wisdom.

I don’t know how people come to eternal life if they never “hear my word”. I am going to have to leave that up to God. But our neighbors and friends hear the word of Jesus by us or by attending church or by radio. In our country the word is everywhere. Now whether they want to believe it, it is always up to them.

Knowing the Bible should not be a modern-day substitute for not listening to the Father. We should be emulating Jesus. The churches are not interested in teaching more about hearing the voice of God they seem to want to teach that they are the ultimate authority. I think that if this generation would learn to dynamically hear God and obey what he is saying to us that we would be able to turn everything around and we would have a wonderful place to live.

It is possible to be blessed outwardly, but lost inwardly. Look at some of the people that are very rich, they are blessed outwardly, but most of them are lost inwardly. Jesus confronted the healed man in the temple with his sin because Jesus is always trying to bring the lost to him. It is necessary to repent of our sins in order to be healed inwardly and have Jesus’ salvation. It isn’t apparent that the healed man had responded with faith to Jesus’ rebuke. He ratted on him to the leaders of the church.

I don’t think that the Pharisees was so upset that the man was healed on the Sabbath it is just that they saw the somebody else was starting to take the power that they thought they had away from them. I think that we all or most us have been so intent on rules that we really do miss what God is doing. I know I have caught myself do that especially when I was following a legalist religion. I have seen that sometimes there are people more intent on “how we do things here” that they miss the message from God. I think the sin of the Pharisees here is that they had no compassion.

I think that Jesus asked the invalid if he wanted to get well because He didn’t know if he was making his living by being sick. If Jesus would have healed him then he might have lost his lively hood. That is why it is important for to ask the person what they want and not just assume that they want what you might think they want.

The invalid’s character was a grumpy old man. He had faith that if he could get into the pool before anybody else after it was stirred up he would be healed. The way that Jesus demonstrated the grace of God is that he didn’t ask the invalid to do anything to be healed. All he did is ask him if he wanted to be healed. The reason that we don’t accept grace when it is offered to us is that we think that we have to work for everything. And sometimes we think that is a trick in order to have us do something that we don’t want to do. The reason that we resist the concept of God’s gifts ae entirely by grace is that we think we have to work for everything. Nothing is free.

I think that miracles play the same role today as they did during Jesus time. The miracle helps the unbeliever to see Jesus better and want to study him. Maybe the reason that some denominations are trying to deemphasize miracles is to be able to draw attention to themselves rather than to Jesus. Maybe the reason that some denominations emphasize miracles is to draw more people into their church. Those that are drawn to a church because of the miracles they saw or that they were part of will need to disciple to see the real reason for the miracle.

The factors that caused the royal official’s household to believe is the fact that the boy was healed on the hour that Jesus told the official that the lives. To start with his faith was pretty shadow. But since the boy was healed all at once at the time that Jesus spoke that he will live then the royal official’s faith grew.

The royal official had faith that Jesus had done something to make is son to get better. We can always count on Jesus because he is only doing things that help us and not hurt us. The royal official traveled 20 miles from Capernaum to Cana so that he could talk to Jesus about his son and to heal him. He had faith that Jesus would do this because he had either heard about his healings or had seen it.

Seeing a miracle would make a person believe in the person performing the miracle. They know that he can do it and have faith that it is going to be done. This doesn’t build faith because they only believe in the man and not in God who is actually performing the miracle. Jesus rebuked the Galileans because they only believed in the man and not in God.

Jesus stayed two days in Samaria because he saw the harvest is ripe. Even though he instructed the disciples not to witness to them, he saw that this crop was ripe and that he had a lot of work to do for the rest of the world. The meaning that Jesus is Savior of the whole world means that he sacrificed his blood for everyone. All we have to do is accept this sacrifice. It means that we should support mission trips to the whole world.

When Christ comes we will be able to celebrate with all the other Christians to the come of the end of the age. We will be able to see our friends and family and never have to worry about wars or evil. Jesus will be the king of the world.

I think the reason that the harvest ripened so rapidly in Sychar is because the encounter of the woman at the well. She went and told the people of the city what Jesus had done. It isn’t likely that the testimony of a discredited woman could have such a big impact except that God can do anything for those who believe. God could do marvelous things with my testimony when I share it and sometimes I get to see it. We need to see how sick this nation and world is so our eyes need to be opened.

I think that Jesus means by “food” is there are people out there that need to have God in their lives and that they are ready for this type of evangelism. Jesus passion was to do the work that God had given him. This should be my passion but sometimes I don’t think that am working toward that goal. In my life that would look like going out and doing more mission work.

The meaning is of “God is spirit” means that He doesn’t have an actual body but that He has a spiritual body. To worship in spirit and in truth is to make sure that our whole mind is on worshiping God. Sometimes I have just gone through the motions without really worshiping. My mind was on something else. I can worship with my whole mind and block out the world and focus on God.

The woman brought up a religious controversy to Jesus because she saw that He was a prophet and wanted to justify what she believed. Maybe some people will generate religious controversies with us because they are really interested in our salvation. Then maybe again it is just to start an argument. But either way it could bring a better understand of the scriptures especially if you have to articulate you point of view.

It surprised the woman that Jesus knew that she had five husbands to the degree that she thought that He was a prophet. Such gifts today would also bring the person to faith. To have their life brought into the light would surprise anybody and hopefully bring them into believing in Jesus Christ.