God Running

Christians Behaving Badly: John 6:66-71

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Stained glass depicting Judas turning away from the Last Supper, Moulins Cathedral, France

(Read John 6:66-6:71)

Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”

I’m currently reading Joshua Ryan Butler’s excellent book, The Skeletons in God’s Closet. In chapter seven, Butler tells the story of a friend of his named Jeremiah. He was a Native American, much older than Butler, and he hated Christianity. As their friendship grew Jeremiah shared with Butler the reasons why. Read More

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 Posted on August 20, 2016 by

 Bible Study, John, Seeker

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When Jesus’ Words Are Hard To Hear

Blausen_0329_EarAnatomy_InternalEarRead John 6:59-71.

Last post from the book of John we saw Jesus speaking of how he would give himself for the sake of the world using bread and blood as a metaphor. (see What Does It Mean To Feed On Jesus’ Flesh?)

Hard To Hear

He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. But his disciples were having a hard time with what he was saying. His words were hard to swallow.

I feel the same way sometimes. Maybe you do too. Some of what Jesus says is difficult for me to hear. Jesus said: Read More

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 Posted on August 13, 2016 by

 Bible Study, Is Jesus real, John, Seeker

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What Does It Mean To Feed On Jesus’ Flesh? John 6:47-59

God Running is a place for anyone who wants to (or even anyone who wants to want to) love Jesus more deeply, follow Jesus more closely, and love people the way Jesus wants us to.

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 Posted on August 6, 2016 by

 Bible Study, John

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No One Has Ever Seen God (So what can we really know about Him anyway?) John 6:46-51

Boy_watching_with_binoculars by USFW - public domain

No One Has Ever Seen God (So What’s The Point?)

No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)

This verse is so good. It reminds us of the greatness of God and how we can never really understand God. He’s just too big. No one can really know everything about Him because, well, as the scripture says, “no one has ever seen God.”

It also reminds us of Jesus’ command for us to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to love our neighbor as ourself. (Matthew 22:37-39)

But right now I want to talk about the first part, the part that says, “No one has ever seen God.”

He Spoke As Though He Knew For Certain About Something No One Can Really Know Read More

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 Posted on July 30, 2016 by

 Bible Study, John

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Am I Going To Heaven? (John 6:44-45)

Orroroo,_Magnetic_Hill-Wikimedia Commons.JPG

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me…” (John 6:44-45)

No one can come unless they’re drawn.

Jesus said to the crowd, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.”

Youngs Literal Translation says it this way, “no one is able to come unto me, if the Father who sent me may not draw him…” (John 6:44-45 YLT)

For centuries now, Christians have debated the meaning of verses like this one. God’s sovereignty vs. our free will. Calvinism vs. Arminianism. John Calvin’s theology vs. Jacobus Arminius’s theology. And then there’s a huge number of Christians who hold views that are mixtures of the two. I’m not going to attempt to resolve a debate that began almost five hundred years ago and continues today.

But I will speak to anyone who reads this verse and worries that they may be a person who hasn’t been drawn to Jesus by God the Father.

Am I Drawn? Am I Saved? Read More

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 Posted on July 23, 2016 by

 Bible Study, John

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What God Wants (And what He doesn’t want)

Gathering_of_the_Manna c 1460-1470 via Wiki-Public Domain

The Gathering of the Manna c. 1460

Read John 6:28-43.

Last post from the book of John we saw how Jesus called out the crowd. He told them the reason they went to the trouble to find him was because he fed them, when he multiplied the loaves and the fish. Then he instructed them to work “for food that endures to eternal life,.which the Son of Man will give you.”

This prompted the people to ask, “What is it we should do, to do the works of God?”

Jesus responded, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent.” (If you’re interested you can read the last post here: Is Believing In Jesus All That’s Required? (Because after all, Jesus gave us commands)–John 6:22-40

The Cynical Seeking A Sign

After Jesus says the work of God is to “believe in him whom he sent,” the crowd is cynical toward Jesus. And they say: Read More

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 Posted on July 9, 2016 by

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Is Believing In Jesus All That’s Required? (Because after all, Jesus gave us commands)–John 6:22-40

Marriage via pixabay - Public Domain

We left off in our study of the book of John with Jesus allowing his disciples to be battered about by a storm. There may have been a good reason for that. If you’re interested you can read the last post from the Gospel of John here: What It Takes To Be Glad About Jesus: John 6:16-21.

The Work Of God

The morning after the storm, what the crowd saw was that Jesus sent his disciples over to the other side of the sea of Galilee in a boat, and then he himself hiked up a mountain to pray. What they didn’t see was Read More

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 Posted on July 2, 2016 by

 Bible Study, I Wish Someone Had Told Me This When I Was Young, John

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What It Takes To Be Glad About Jesus: John 6:16-21

rowing-a-boat-on-rough-seas-pv“I AM” Walking On Water

In our last post from the book of John we left off with Jesus withdrawing into the mountains to escape the crowd of 5,000 who wanted to make him king by force, after he fed them. And around this time, Jesus tells his disciples to take a boat to Capernaum. So that’s what happens. Jesus heads to the mountain and the disciples jump into a boat and start to row across the Sea of Galilee toward Capernaum. I don’t know if you’ve ever rowed a boat before, but if you have you know Read More

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 Posted on June 18, 2016 by

 Bible Study, John, Suffering

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Forcing Jesus: John 6:14-15

 

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The Crowd That Decided To Force Jesus Read More

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 Posted on June 11, 2016 by

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What To Do When You Have Little To Offer: John 6:1-13

Fish in Hand by WorldFish-CCA Lack Of Bread (and Fish)

After the healing on the Sabbath at the pool of Bethesda, and after Jesus’ amazing and elegant response to the hatred of the Pharisees, Jesus heads to the other side of the Sea of Galilee where he sits down with his disciples. And because of the miracles he was performing, a large crowd follows him. Read More

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 Posted on June 4, 2016 by

 Bible Study, John

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5 Witnesses To Jesus (And the day I doubted)–John 5:30-47

Witnesses For Jesus by Central Baptist Waycross Georgia-Labeled for re-use on Google Images

The Day I Doubted Read More

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 Posted on May 28, 2016 by

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If Jesus’ Claims Are True–Then…

If-Then-Else-diagram from Wiki-labeled for reuse on Google Read More

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 Posted on May 21, 2016 by

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