John 6 Today

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God Bless You Today, Lena B


John 6
Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
1After this, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2And a huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miracles as he healed the sick. 3Then Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him. 4(It was nearly time for the annual Passover celebration.) 5Jesus soon saw a great crowd of people climbing the hill, looking for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, "Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?" 6He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do.
7Philip replied, "It would take a small fortune F26 to feed them!"
8Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. 9"There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?"
10"Tell everyone to sit down," Jesus ordered. So all of them—the men alone numbered five thousand—sat down on the grassy slopes. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate until they were full. 12"Now gather the leftovers," Jesus told his disciples, "so that nothing is wasted." 13There were only five barley loaves to start with, but twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of bread the people did not eat!
14When the people saw this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, "Surely, he is the Prophet F27 we have been expecting!" 15Jesus saw that they were ready to take him by force and make him king, so he went higher into the hills alone.
Jesus Walks on Water
16That evening his disciples went down to the shore to wait for him. 17But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn't come back, they got into the boat and headed out across the lake toward Capernaum. 18Soon a gale swept down upon them as they rowed, and the sea grew very rough. 19They were three or four miles F28 out when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, 20but he called out to them, "I am here! Don't be afraid." 21Then they were eager to let him in, and immediately the boat arrived at their destination!
Jesus, the Bread of Life
22The next morning, back across the lake, crowds began gathering on the shore, waiting to see Jesus. For they knew that he and his disciples had come over together and that the disciples had gone off in their boat, leaving him behind. 23Several boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the Lord had blessed the bread and the people had eaten. 24When the crowd saw that Jesus wasn't there, nor his disciples, they got into the boats and went across to Capernaum to look for him. 25When they arrived and found him, they asked, "Teacher, how did you get here?"
26Jesus replied, "The truth is, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you saw the miraculous sign. 27But you shouldn't be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that I, the Son of Man, can give you. For God the Father has sent me for that very purpose."
28They replied, "What does God want us to do?"
29Jesus told them, "This is what God wants you to do: Believe in the one he has sent."
30They replied, "You must show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What will you do for us? 31After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! As the Scriptures say, 'Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.' F29 "
32Jesus said, "I assure you, Moses didn't give them bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. 33The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34"Sir," they said, "give us that bread every day of our lives."
35Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst. 36But you haven't believed in me even though you have seen me. 37However, those the Father has given me will come to me, and I will never reject them. 38For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do what I want. 39And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life at the last day. 40For it is my Father's will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life—that I should raise them at the last day."
41Then the people F30 began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, "I am the bread from heaven." 42They said, "This is Jesus, the son of Joseph. We know his father and mother. How can he say, 'I came down from heaven'?"
43But Jesus replied, "Don't complain about what I said. 44For people can't come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them from the dead. 45As it is written in the Scriptures, 'They will all be taught by God.' F31 Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to me. 46(Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)
47"I assure you, anyone who believes in me already has eternal life. 48Yes, I am the bread of life! 49Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50However, the bread from heaven gives eternal life to everyone who eats it. 51I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; this bread is my flesh, offered so the world may live."
52Then the people began arguing with each other about what he meant. "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" they asked.
53So Jesus said again, "I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. 54But those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them at the last day. 55For my flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. 56All who eat my flesh and drink my blood remain in me, and I in them. 57I live by the power of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, those who partake of me will live because of me. 58I am the true bread from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever and not die as your ancestors did, even though they ate the manna."
59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Many Disciples Desert Jesus
60Even his disciples said, "This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?"
61Jesus knew within himself that his disciples were complaining, so he said to them, "Does this offend you? 62Then what will you think if you see me, the Son of Man, return to heaven again? 63It is the Spirit who gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But some of you don't believe me." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who didn't believe, and he knew who would betray him.) 65Then he said, "That is what I meant when I said that people can't come to me unless the Father brings them to me."
66At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. 67Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, "Are you going to leave, too?"
68Simon Peter replied, "Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life. 69We believe them, and we know you are the Holy One of God."
70Then Jesus said, "I chose the twelve of you, but one is a devil." 71He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would betray him.
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FOOTNOTES:
F26: Greek 200 denarii. A denarius was the equivalent of a full day's wage.
F27: See Deut 18:15, 18.
F28: Greek 25 or 30 stadia [4.6 or 5.5 kilometers].
F29: Exod 16:4; Ps 78:24.
F30: Greek Jewish people; also in 6:52.
F31: Isa 54:13.


Lena Journals Today-
Does God ever ask you questions?
Why would He do that?
Believe me, it is not because He needs to know anything from us, as though we could know more than He does, right?
The reason is always for Him to get out of us what we are thinking, so we can hear where we are at in our faith walk.
Remember He asked Adam, “Where are you?” Why would He ask Adam that, for God knows everything, right? Right!
He wanted Adam to come out expose his self in sin so he could be forgiven and walk w/ God again, even though there was consequence, there’d be restoration in acknowledgement.
Phillip could acknowledge he was not al that full of faith where provisions are concerned, he was initially moved more by mathematical calculations than by seeing what he couldn’t see. Seeing himself as he was could help him also see a new way to pursue faith.
God can do in moments what fortunes can never do!
If a fortune fed this multitude then man would want to take the glory, just like if we work and earn and buy what we want would give us credit (glory).
But see, God wants the credits! Let’s increase our faith in the areas of provision and glorify God with our lives and needs.
Jesus is walking on water for us and with us in our boats and storms!
Is it our natural human needs for physical things that leads us, and keeps us flowing Christ?
Good question to ask of self, huh?
Does the bread He gives us lead us to give life to others?
Do we even eat Him as daily bread?
Do we appreciate His words enough to eat it daily?
How do we spend our energy?
This is so serious. So serious. I just don’t have words for how serious it is!
The disciples after hearing him tell them how to spend their energies, said- “What does God want us to do?”
Are we asking that, or letting God ask us questions instead?
No really, really. Oh man I cannot express how serious this is……
If we believe we act. If we do not believe we do not act.
If we’re not acting, then we’re not believing.
If that is hard to look at, we need to take a good hard look.
What is the kingdom of God for?
Is it just for us to die and be good with God?
What about living now, good with God for what we are Doing, or not Doing?
His body as bread is now offered to us that we may now live, eternally.
WHAT is the BREAD?
To DO the will of God, how God wants it done.
Our Doings cannot make the kingdom come or the will be done, but the doings in and through faith as one with Him now, can bring the will of the kingdom.
In other words, we cannot earn what has already been paid for, but we can respond and participate, because we believe it was done for us and with us in mind.
AND we SHOULD be responding to that, or else with no response there is NO living faith!
Faith numb, with no response is religious activity alone.
If we eat of Him we cannot remain as we are. There’s NO way. It’s impossible.