In this passage, Jesus addresses the nature of true discipleship. Whereas a fan of Jesus will abandon Jesus when they are confronted with something about Him they don't like, a disciple of Jesus will stay with Jesus because there is no one else who can offer the hope and peace that Christ provides. Do you want to go away as well, or do you want to come to Jesus who alone has the words of eternal life?
In this passage, Jesus is willing to be misunderstood. His discourse on eating His flesh and drinking His blood is actually an invitation into an abiding relationship with Him. Just as we wouldn't normally go one day without earthly food, so also we must not go one day without Christ. If we're spiritually hungry, and we know that we're spiritually hungry, then we should come to Christ and feast on Him by faith, for He alone can satisfy.
In this passage, Jesus confronts the crowd's misunderstanding of Him. They had asked for a daily dose of bread from heaven, but what Jesus came to give them was eternal life and the promise of resurrection from the dead. Is Jesus your bread of life? Is He your sustenance? Is He your eternal security? Only in Jesus will we find our fulfillment and satisfaction.
In this passage, we see two familiar miracles of Jesus - the feeding of the five thousand, and Jesus walking on water. We are being invited in these verses to trust in Jesus' sufficiency and sovereignty - how the One who fed the multitude and who calmed the storm is able to meet our needs and guide us through our storms. This is the kind of Saviour Jesus is – One who is more than enough. But do we believe Jesus is more than enough for us?
In this passage, Jesus calls a series of witnesses to testify to His claims of equality with God. Will we embrace these testimonies about Jesus and declare that Jesus is who He says He is, or will we refuse to listen to their testimonies and reject our only hope in life and death?
In this passage, Jesus makes three audacious claims that prove His equality with God. These are claims that we cannot simply ignore. If this is who Jesus is, then our response to Jesus matters, not just for this life only, but for all of eternity. What will you do with Jesus?
In this passage, Jesus heals a lame man on the Sabbath. There is much in this passage of Scripture that should shock us about Jesus. But Jesus continues to shock us today by rescuing us out of our sinful and hopeless state. Just like the lame man here in John 5, we too can take up our bed and walk in newness of life as we put our trust solely in Jesus Christ.
On Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the mystery of God's Being as three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In Psalm 8, David is encouraging us to praise the Lord for His majesty displayed in the heavens and the earth. Whether we look at the heavens or the earth, we see the glory of the Lord.
On Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. God's Spirit is not only involved in creating us and sustaining us and re-creating us as children of God and citizens of God's eternal kingdom, but God's Spirit is also involved in the restoration of all things that is to come. Therefore, "bless the Lord, O my soul!"
On Ascension Sunday, we celebrate that Jesus is King of the universe. All those who have acknowledged Jesus Christ as their sovereign King can rejoice that Christ has ascended to His heavenly throne and has empowered all who have put their trust in Him to be His witnesses to the end of the earth. With Jesus Christ as our King, the church cannot lose.