John: Chapter Four - Seven

I've read, so here goes a quick run down...

Chapter Four: This chapter can be broken down into two big chunks. (1) The woman at the well encounters Jesus and (2) the miraculous healing of an officials son.

What I take from the the woman's encounter with Jesus is that one person changed a whole city. Jesus talks to this one lady (I've heard it preached that she was a reject of society because of her promiscuous past)-- and she was so impacted by Jesus' words that she goes into town and tells everyone. And then everyone follows her back to the well and they also are changed. It is encouraging to know that ONE person can do so much if we just allow God to work through us.

Chapter Five: This chapter begins with Jesus at a pool asking a cripple if he wants to get well. What strikes me as odd is that the cripple doesn't answer the question.
Jesus asked, "Do you want to get well?"
The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred I have no one to put me in the pool."
I want to-- silly man! You didn't answer Jesus! He asked you do you want to get well and you are talking about some pool. But aren't we that way? We are more concerned about what is going on, how we think things should happen-- that when God talks to us, we don't respond the correct way. They great thing is, Jesus still heals the sick man. He looks past our ignorance and still gives us what we need but don't deserve. That's mercy and grace all balled into one.

One more quick note: The verse in chapter five that says "You can trust my decision because I am not out to get my own way but only to carry out orders" (vs. 30 Message version)... I reread that Sunday morning right before altar service. Jesus' words became so real to me. I can trust Him. I can trust Him. Over and over again. Jesus can be trusted. God can be trusted. Jesse can trust God. Jesse trusts God. I tell you, my heart was full of faith, thanksgiving and a bunch of other good stuff.

Chapter Six: A long chapter but basically opening up with the miracle of feeding 5,000 people with only 5 pieces of bread and two fish. He goes on in the rest of the chapter to talk about bread--Jesus compares Himself to bread. Just like the body needs bread, we need Jesus.

Honestly, in this chapter Jesus gets very graphic. He is borderline gross in saying things like-- you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. It was so tough that many people who were following Jesus decided to leave Him. I don't blame them. I believe Jesus, though, was being very extreme so that only those that could stand to be with Him for the next three years would remain. He wasn't saying to literally eat His flesh-- but in saying this he shook off those that didn't need to be with Him.

One response I love is in vs. 66-68: After saying all of the graphic, horrific things-- Jesus asks the remaining 12: "Do you want to leave?" And Peter says: "Where would we go?" Such an awesome response. No matter how bad it gets with God-- no matter if we don't even understand what He says-- there is no better place than being at Jesus' side. Where would I go? Back to my old life? No way!

Chapter Seven: We see the family of Jesus interacting with Him. His brothers start pushing Him. I think almost taunting Him. But Jesus knows what He needs to do and won't let anyone or anything detour Him. The whole chapter is like a discourse on whether or not the people believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Song Selection Task

In the CD you rec'd on Monday there are 8 songs. Obviously since I chose them, they all somehow have a special meaning to me. From the words of "It IS Well" to the flow of "Faith." However, I choose to briefly talk about the song "Yes." Such a simple song. It says "yes" over and over. My soul says yes... But I played this song at a crucial time in my spiritual journey. I needed to get my head and heart in line with God's plan. No matter what obstacles, hurdles, problems, situations, issues, blessings or difficulties-- I had to say "YES" to God. The question in the beginning-- Will your heart and soul say "Yes"? If I told you what I really need... This song helped me agree and accept whatever God has planned for my life.

John: Chapter Three

While reading the first part of the third chapter of John I had this thought: There is no such thing as a stupid question-- at least to Jesus there isn't. You can ask Him anything. Poor Nicodemus. He just didn't understand what in the world Jesus was talking about. And instead of leaving the garden with all his questions, Nick decided to open his mouth and ask away. Don't we sometimes keep our mouth shut because we don't want to seem dumb or we think our question is stupid? Ask Jesus anything. Ask God anything. He will answer you. Never leave The Spot on Wednesday nights with a question. Ask away. If I or someone else doesn't have the answer, we'll find it for you.

The verse of scripture that jumped out at me in the second part of chapter three was verse 30: He must become greater; I must become less. Shouldn't that be our goal in our journey? To make sure our desires, our wants, our ways of living slowly diminished from sight and everything He is becomes more evident in our lives? That' s my prayer-- God you become greater in my life as I become less.

John: Chapter Two

Chapter Two of John deals with Jesus' first miracle (changing water to wine) and his big entrance into the temple (throwing tables around and throwing everyone out).

One small thing jumped out at me when reading John Chapter Two: When Jesus finally agrees to help out with the wine shortage-- the servants grab six jars probably from outside. These jars were the kind used to wash people's feet. It strikes me odd at first that the water used to clean feet is going to be turned into what the man of the house later calls "the best wine."

But that's how God works. He takes what everyone else discards and makes it what everyone desires. In 1 Corinthians 1.27 it says that God deliberately picks those things that are foolish, silly, weak to shame the arrogant and strong.

This goes hand in hand with God choosing David (the little shepherd boy whose father didn't think to much of) to become king. It is right in line with Jesus born in a lowly manger and becoming the savior of the world. In fact, Jesus 12 disciples (his posse) was a gang of nobodies-- fishermen, blue collar workers, a traitor, a tax collector.

Food for thought then-- don't despise the ugly, little things in life. God can and WANTS to use anything.

John: Chapter One

Read John Chapter One today and here is what stood out to me:

The last person to join Jesus' enterouge in the chapter was Nathaniel. And when Nathaniel walked up to Jesus, Jesus said to him, "Before Peter spoke with you, I saw you underneath the fig tree."

For some reason this made Nathaniel so excited that he exclamed: "You are the Son of God!"

I don't know if Jesus saw Nathaniel sitting underneath the fig tree in a dream, through the spirit or in real life-- it doesn't matter really. Becuase what is important to me is that God sees me. "His eye is on the sparrow", "We are the apple of His eye", ect.

In the old testament, Haggar-- who was thrown out of Abraham's and Sarah's house-- has an encounter with God and she relalizes that God sees her situation. Probably through tears she says, "You are the God who sees me."

Personally, I am comforted by the fact that God sees me. Even if I don't see anything working for my good just yet. even if I don't see the solution to my problem just yet. I am comforted in the fact that I serve a God who sees me.

And so we begin...

We had our first meeting last night and I was touched. To start off, students came in to a dark room playing music softly. They were instructed to pick up a candle, light it and find a place in The Spot to sit and meditate and pray. I thought that this exercise may not go over well. But when we got together, many said that is a pleasant surprise to come in and instead of being preached at or have an activity to do... the chance to be still and settle from a hard day was very inviting.

The discussion on "LIGHT" was awesome. Everyone had unique takes on what Jesus meant when He said, "Be the light of the world." Jordan added that when he was thinking about light, he was thinking about the oxygen needed for the fire to burn. God is the oxygen that makes our light burn bright. Near the end, Ketorah shared an amazing walk away point: "Let your light shine in your life before you light up the world."

The discussion, the insight was truly wonderful. Before we meet again, each student will be listening to a CD I handed out and reading through the book of John. This is the beginning of something good.