The Sign of His Provision

Hymn:  God will. Take Care of You

For many people, Jesus is relegated only to the realm of mythology, the religious realm, or the spiritual world.  It is as if the spiritual life of Jesus is separate from all of the other areas of life.  We often forget that Jesus WAS a human man, with human desires and needs.  By submitting himself WHOLLY to the guidance of his Spiritual nature, Jesus is the Christ that we venerate today. The point is that many people only perceive a part of Jesus, his spiritual part, and fail to perceive how ALL of the parts of Jesus fit together to provide the perfect exemplar for our physical and spiritual lives.

The salvation offered by Christ is for the WHOLE PERSON and not just our physical selves or spiritual selves.  He seeks to help and sustain us in every area of life, and we can trust him to do so.  Just as Jesus meets our every need, we can be a conduit of His care in the lives of others and that is the point of this study:  Jesus meets the needs in our lives.

We look at John 6:1 -15.  The last study looked at Jesus' healing of a disabled main at the pool of Bethesda and the religious leaders overlooking the miracle to instead focus on the violation of the law of which they saw themselves the enforcers.  They believed that Jesus' act of mercy at the pool of the House of Mercy (Bethesda) was a violation of the law, illegal to do on the Sabbath.  But they overlooked their act of vengeance against him on the Sabbath.  So we see Jesus chiding the leaders for their unbelief and he foretells of the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age.

Since Mike brought it up in the newsletter, let’s open with the question: What might motivate you to pull something out of the trash?  Someone tell us the story of what happened when a garbage truck driver pulled a soft drink cup out of a garbage container. [Page 49].

So sometime after the healing at Bethesda Jesus was returning to the region of the Galilee.  Let's see what he begins to do as he teaches and ministers.

The Sign of Authority

Some reasons that employees have given for missing work:

I ate cat food instead of tuna and am deathly ill. 

 
Someone glued my doors and windows shut so I can’t leave the house to come to work. 

My false teeth flew out the window while I was driving down the highway. 

I am experiencing traumatic stress from a large spider found in my home, and I have to stay home to deal with it. 

I have a headache after going to too many garage sales. 

I have to mow the lawn to avoid a lawsuit from the Homeowners’ Association. 

I woke up in a good mood and don’t want to ruin it. 

 

What are some reasons that you have heard of that people give for not choosing to get physically, emotionally, or spiritually well? 

When people assume Jesus’s compassion and power is limited the same as humanity’s, they give excuses for their conditions rather than trust His authority to accomplish the supernatural. Consequently, they might miss what Jesus is ready to do in their lives. We look at a sign of Jesus' authority that shows that Jesus works in a way that goes beyond our expectations.

We look at Jesus' visit to the pool of Bethesda and see an example that challenges us to evaluate whether we have legitimate reasons or excuses for our conditions. We all make assumptions every day...we assume that people will drive carefully; we assume that the food we are served was healthfully prepared. We also make assumptions about how God works. We assume we know how, but Jesus paints a far better and more accurate picture of how God works.

The Sign of his Glory

When you see a sign do you tend to believe it or to ignore it?  For example, "slippery when wet" or "caution wet floor" sign. 

What happens when you DON'T heed signs?

What was the first miracle that Jesus performed in the Bible?  

This study looks at this first miracle from John 2:1-11.  We will see that Jesus works in our lives for HIS glory.  Our lives serve to bring glory to to God through Jesus.  

The glory that WE bring to our lives is a flawed glory.  When we "shine the spotlight" on ourselves it fades quickly.  But when we bring glory to Jesus, we bring glory to to God.  This glory points people to God and pointing people to God brings glory for eternity.

This eight session study looks at signs that the Gospel of John points to that deepen our understanding of God's directions for our lives.  For eight weeks we will look at the signs of: God's glory, God's grace, authority, provision, presence, light, God's power over death, and his ultimate sign.

The Lifestyle of Worship

This lesson is titled the lifestyle of worship.  We have heard of "the lifestyles of the rich and famous" but let’s define the word lifestyle.

The word life describes our existence in this world.  The word style is derived from a word meaning a writing instrument.  Thus a lifestyle is the instrument with which you write your existence in this world.  Are your actions writing an ordered description that points the way towards God, or does it tell a tale merely of survival in a world of chaos?