In His Service

                                                                   Very Truly I Tell You John 5:24-30 Honesty was definitely a priority for Jesus, and it should be a priority for all who call themselves Christian. We have seen honesty in the calling of the disciples, and others: Jesus saw Nathanael “Here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false.”, Nicodemus, “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”, Jesus spoke of the lady at the well, “...what you have just said is quite true.”.  Now Jesus is speaking to the spiritual leaders: Pharisees, Sadducees, and teachers of the law about truth and honesty. Let’s look at the text, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes hi...

                                                                                Authority in the Son John 5:16-23 Many are quick to accuse, judge, and execute in our world today. I am watching this on several fronts in the world today. Governments and citizens, and even family and friends are condemning one another because of the vaccine, to do it or not to do it. There are controversies over just about everything, the only thing that everyone seems to agree on is the world is coming to an end, but they just can’t agree on the means and about how soon. Jesus came into a world of darkness and he shone the light of the gospel, the love of God for a lost and sin-filled world, and they didn’t realize it, “ The people walking in darkness have seen a grea...

  Do You Want to Get Well? John 5:1-15  It is amazing that God searches out the hearts of people, especially for healing, salvation, and deliverance. This question “Do you want to get well?” seems redundant except it is Jesus who is asking it. Let’s look at the first part of the text, “ Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”  Then Jesus said to him, “Get u...

       The Mind-set of a Following- Commitment or Convenience John 4:43-54 It is interesting to follow in the footsteps of Jesus as he walked through each town. After leaving the Samaritans of Sychar, the disciples and others followed Jesus to Galilee. Along the road to Galilee was Nazareth, Cana, and Capernaum. Let’s look at the text, “After the two days he left for Galilee. (Now Jesus himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, for they also had been there. Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum.”  Jesus knew this road would lead him past his boyhood home of Nazareth, John leaves a reference to a visit to Nazareth where Jesus and his words aren't accepted by the people of Nazareth, they even...