Ccf Sunday Messages

Coming to the end of a long, and somewhat difficult, chapter in John, we find at the end of chapter six that the "hard teachings" of Jesus have driven many in the crowd to no longer follow Him. While Jesus most definitely has compassion on the crowds, He is not going to tone down the true message to keep the "numbers" up--His will and direction are clear, and He is doing the Father's will even while many turn away. Of course the disciples themselves know there is no one else to turn to--"only you have the words of eternal life!" says Peter. Starting chapter seven, we even see that his brothers don't believe in Him and challenge Him to be more public if He is really wanting to gain a following. Again, He knows the Father's timing, and it doesn't match with human expectations.

While Pastor Steve is away this weekend, one of our elders, Todd Giszack, continues John 6, looking at the "hard teaching" of Jesus about eating his flesh and blood, as a follow-on metaphor to his claim to be "the bread of life". This is definitely a hard saying for the Jews based on their law, but they continue to miss the intent of Jesus to teach them a spiritual lesson.

What if instead of you searching for the source of life, the source of life was searching for you!? Continuing our study in John, in chapter 6 Jesus declares Himself as the "bread of life"--but not just temporary "bio" life, eternal life that starts now and continues forever! For those who come to Him, He will not lose any; we are safe and secure when the One who gives life finds us and draws us to the Father. There is an amazing amount of the theology of our faith as well as comfort in these few verses in John 6.

Continuing in our study of John chapter 6 from last week, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter with those "seeking him" (v. 26)--He points out that they are currently looking for Him only because of what He did for their stomach (in feeding them), and they have missed the intent of the signs. The key application for us--"don't work for the food that perishes"! We spend a lot of energy on that which does not satisfy; instead, Jesus calls us to seek Him, who can satisfy us fully with his spiritual food!

In John chapter 6, Jesus performs another amazing miracle--in essence creating bread/food from nothing, to meet the people's physical need for food. In this, however, he tests his disciples to see what their solution(s) will be. What they learn, and what we can learn, is that we are not sufficient to handle the issues of life, especially the needs of ministry and of people that will overwhelm us in our own strength. Jesus wants to meet the need as we submit the little we have to Him and watch Him work!

Finishing up John chapter 5 today, Pastor Steve walked us through the "courtroom scene" as Jesus calls witnesses that declare He is who He says He is. Understanding that someone can delude themselves (his own testimony could be tossed aside), he calls others who witness to the truth of His divinity and Sonship to God the Father. You really cannot call Jesus a good teacher--just as C.S. Lewis portrayed in his own writings, He is either liar, lunatic, or He is truly Lord!

After Jesus heals the man with the infirmity by the pools of Bethesda, the religious leaders are angry that He has healed on the Sabbath. Jesus' answer reveals his connection with the Father, and more importantly, reveals his divinity. This is not lost on the religious leaders who want to kill Him not just for breaking the Sabbath, but now claiming to be God! Is Jesus God? Listen in and hear Jesus's own claims from John chapter 5.

"Do you want to be made well?" Jesus asked this seemingly strange question in John chapter five of the man with the physical condition of 38 years! But, maybe it wasn't so strange, as sometimes people become defined by their addiction, or problem, or infirmity, and to have it go away would require changes, and a possible loss of excuses. Jesus did heal the man that day, and He is possibly asking each of us "do you want to be made well?", too.

Continuing our study through the gospel of John, today Pastor Steve finished chapter four with the story of the healing of the nobleman's son. For this communion Sunday, Pastor Steve focused on the aspect of our faith, and looked at Hebrews 11 as well leading into the communion time, praying in faith for those who have need!

What drives you? What's your "food" that feeds you? When the disciples find Jesus talking to the woman at the well, they expect he will want to eat--but He wants to discuss spiritual food with them. Jesus, while he did need physical food, wanted them to understand that doing the Father's will is what truly drove Him. His spiritual focus on doing God's work was more important to Him than physical food!

Returning to our study in John after a few weeks away, we pick up in chapter four with the story of the woman at the well. Interestingly, Jesus chooses to travel through Samaria, in fact the passage states that he "needs to go" through Samaria. He has a divine appointment with this nameless woman, and her story is now immortalized in scripture--how Jesus told her "everything she ever did", and yet still loved her and wanted her to know of this "living water" that only He can offer!

Continuing our walk through the gospel of John, we come to the story of Nicodemus (dare we call him "Nick at Nite"??) in chapter 3. In doing so, we enter one of the most powerful and well-known passages in the gospels--the meat of the "good news": that "God so loved the world that He gave..!" It is an amazing truth to realize the free gift of salvation is available, attainable, transformational.. listen in for 10 descriptive words we apply to salvation from these first 21 verses.

John details Jesus's first passover in Jerusalem since starting his public ministry--and for the remainder of chapter two we get a picture of Jesus that sometimes flies in the face of our "Jesus meek and mild" imagery! Jesus was filled with passion for the purity of the temple and cleansed it from the sinful cheating and corruption going on within its walls. Interestingly part of the original passover feast was the step of removing all leaven--many times a picture of sin in the Bible--from the house to cleanse it before passover. In the same way Jesus begins the passover feast by cleansing His Father's house!

This week we continue in the gospel of John as the writer and apostle John records the first miracle of Jesus' ministry at the start of chapter 2: turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Several lessons we learn from this miracle are: just do what He says, when God acts with creative power, he makes it "good" (see Genesis 1!), and God can in an instant create something that through human processes could take years.

As we finish up the first chapter of John, the title of our series, "Come and See", takes prominence as the first followers of Jesus (and Jesus himself!) tell others simply to "come and see" when asked various questions about Jesus. Our invitation is still the same--"come and see" and learn about this Lamb of God who came to take away our sins!

The apostle John presents the testimony of John the Baptist as we continue walking through chapter one of his gospel--as his following grew in the wilderness, the religious leaders/elite wanted to know who he was. He started by saying that he was *not* the Christ, the Messiah, but was simply a voice calling out for people to follow Him. When Jesus appeared, John was quick to point Him out as the "Lamb of God" who takes away the sin of the world.

The apostle John continues to unravel the great truths of God's incarnation in Jesus Christ in these first verses of chapter 1--we are introduced to the forerunner--John the Baptist--and his witness to the light. The great truth unpacked to us in verse 16 and 17 is that of Jesus' perfect combination of grace and truth! The law revealed our sin perfectly, but could do nothing to change us. God's grace changes us!

We began our series through the gospel of John titled "Come and See" with a look at the opening statements about Jesus as the "logos" or Word, who was in the beginning with God and *was* God. We looked at the amazing truth about Jesus as part of the godhead and his participation in creation--and yet in all this glory and power, he then became flesh--a real man--and laid aside all that glory for us--to die and rise again for our salvation!

Faith by obedience--that's the story of Namaan, a commander of the Syrian army, whose story is told in 2 Kings chapter 5. In Luke chapter 4, Jesus refers to his healing through the ministry of Elisha as something we should take note of, and on this communion Sunday, Steve uses the story of Naaman to illustrate the need for simple faith that leads to obedience in our Christian walk.

Pastor Steve covers the final chapter division of this short letter from Paul to Titus, who is serving as pastor/leader for the churches on the island of Crete. In closing, Paul warns him against all those who will try to bring controversy and distraction from the main goal--doing God's work and being productive for the kingdom!