John 5 : 25-32  Jesus is the Word and He speaks what His Father tells Him to speak. His work was to reveal the Father.. reveal the Truth about God's Kingdom.  In this passage Jesus reveals the Truth about life and death.  His statement in verse 25 is powerful.. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live." 

Life.. is in the Father and in the Son.  Jesus received from the Father two things.. the authority to give life and the authority to pass judgement.  There will be a time, Jesus tells us, that "all who are in the tomb shall hear His voice." (v28)  Those who believed the Word would be resurrected into Life.  Those who refused to believe and remained in their sinful state.. would be resurrected to "judgement"....  A just verdict of condemnation and punishment will be rendered. 

Once again Jesus declared, "I can do nothing on My own initiative.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgement is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." 

God created everything and set up His plan for all the world according to His will.  He writes the story of history.. and he determines the rules.  Life and judgment are His to give as He chooses.  He decided to give Life to those who would listen to His Word and abide in it.  He sent Jesus to reveal this absolute Truth.. From the beginning of creation to the end.. this is His will.  It is a merciful and gracious gift. It is a priceless promise from His grace and love to His creation.. mankind.   He gave Jesus to fulfill all that was needed to complete the transaction according to His own will. 

Those who refuse to hear.. refuse to believe... and refuse to surrender and obey.. will be held accountable for that decision. They will be judged by Jesus and He will render a just judgement. 

Father in heaven, You are holy, righteous, and perfect.  You are gracious and merciful, full of lovingkindness and love.  You have revealed to us the Truth. You have offered us Life.  You have told us the penalty of rejecting the Truth and the Life.  Father, there are so many who have deaf ears and blind eyes. We plead for You to send forth Your Spirit into the world, once again anointing Your church with the power and love of Jesus Christ so that more will hear and  turn from unbelief and find salvation through the Son who died for them. Let the Name of Jesus be exalted and lifted up today so that the harvest will be great to the glory and honor of Your Name. Amen 

 John 5 : 25-32  Jesus is the Word and He speaks what His Father tells Him to speak. His work was to reveal the Father.. reveal the Truth about God's Kingdom.  In this passage Jesus reveals the Truth about life and death.  His statement in verse 25 is powerful.. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live." 

Life.. is in the Father and in the Son.  Jesus received from the Father two things.. the authority to give life and the authority to pass judgement.  There will be a time, Jesus tells us, that "all who are in the tomb shall hear His voice." (v28)  Those who believed the Word would be resurrected into Life.  Those who refused to believe and remained in their sinful state.. would be resurrected to "judgement"....  A just verdict of condemnation and punishment will be rendered. 

Once again Jesus declared, "I can do nothing on My own initiative.  As I hear, I judge; and My judgement is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." 

God created everything and set up His plan for all the world according to His will.  He writes the story of history.. and he determines the rules.  Life and judgment are His to give as He chooses.  He decided to give Life to those who would listen to His Word and abide in it.  He sent Jesus to reveal this absolute Truth.. From the beginning of creation to the end.. this is His will.  It is a merciful and gracious gift. It is a priceless promise from His grace and love to His creation.. mankind.   He gave Jesus to fulfill all that was needed to complete the transaction according to His own will. 

Those who refuse to hear.. refuse to believe... and refuse to surrender and obey.. will be held accountable for that decision. They will be judged by Jesus and He will render a just judgement. 

Father in heaven, You are holy, righteous, and perfect.  You are gracious and merciful, full of lovingkindness and love.  You have revealed to us the Truth. You have offered us Life.  You have told us the penalty of rejecting the Truth and the Life.  Father, there are so many who have deaf ears and blind eyes. We plead for You to send forth Your Spirit into the world, once again anointing Your church with the power and love of Jesus Christ so that more will hear and  turn from unbelief and find salvation through the Son who died for them. Let the Name of Jesus be exalted and lifted up today so that the harvest will be great to the glory and honor of Your Name. Amen 

 John 5:18-24   John wrote in Chapter 1 verse 18 "No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."  Jesus came to "explain" or "declare" .. to unfold, recount...the Father, the Holy One, the God Who sent Him. 

In these verses from chapter 5 John records the Words of Jesus that explain and declare Truths regarding His Father.   Jesus said that the "Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever He does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works that these will He show Him, that you may marvel." ( v19-20)   Things like raising the dead.. like judging.. separating those condemned to those given true life. 

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His Hands.. He expects His Son to be honored because He is His Son.. To honor the Son is to honor the Father, Jesus says.  To hear and believe the Words of Jesus .. to believe the Words of the Father Who sent His Son.. is the means of eternal life.  There is no other way but God's way. 

The Jews sought to kill Jesus because He called God His Father  "making Himself equal with God."  (v18)   They didn't know the Father or honor Him and would stand in condemnation from God Himself unless they repented and believed.  Jesus explained this relationship between Himself.. the Sent One. the Son.. and the Father, revealing and declaring that this was what the Father was doing.. The Father was working and the Son was that Work.. the Word.. the Life.  The oneness of the Father and the Son is revealed here and we are given the privilege to witness the Work of the Father in the life of the Son. 

"In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it." (1:4-5)

Father in heaven, we give You all praise and thanksgiving for the Life we have been given through the Beloved, Only Begotten Son.  Jesus Christ is our Lord and King, sent to speak Your Words, to do Your Works, and to deliver us from death into Life eternal.  We honor the Son and we honor You, our Father and God to whom all glory and power belongs. Amen. 

 John 5:9-17   The man who was healed by the pool carried his pallet..  and headed to the temple. It was the Sabbath.. and for the first time in 38 years he was able to walk!  He had much to be thankful for and he was ready to worship and praise God for this wonderful miracle.  But.. the first thing he runs into is judgement.. "therefore the Jews were saying to him who was cured, 'It is the Sabbath, and it is not permissible for you to carry your pallet.' "  An incredible work of God had just been done and the Jews missed it because of a pallet... because of their hard hearts. 

The man had heard Jesus and obeyed Jesus.  He was headed to the Temple to thank and praise God, not even knowing who Jesus was until He found the man in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you have become well; do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse may befall you." 

This man went to the Jews and told them that it was Jesus who healed him.  They, in return,  turned on Jesus because He did this on the Sabbath. Jesus had one answer for His actions.. " My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.." 

The work of God .. His business... is not bound by the Law that He gave to men. He is always working and is not limited by earthly expectations and rules.  The Jews continually missed the Truth.. they missed Who was the Sovereign God.. the One who made the rules.  They missed God..completely. 

Psalm 86:5  "For Thou, O Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon Thee."  Verse 8 " There is no one like Thee among the gods, O Lord. Nor are there any works like Thine."  Verse 10 "For Thou art great and doest wondrous deeds, Thou alone are God." 

If only the Jews would remember the Words of God and given Him glory..  Let us not miss Him either..

Father in heaven, You are still at work.. in us, in our world, in the church.  You are working to bring us to know Your greatness and Your wondrous deeds.. to honor Your Holy Name.. to celebrate Your forgiveness and Your love that You have granted to us who will believe.  May our hearts be ever yielded and still before You that all You desire to do in us will bring glory to the Name of our great  Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

 John 5:1-8  Jesus went back to Jerusalem.. back to celebrate one of the feasts, perhaps Passover.   Jesus went first to Bethesda where there was a pool of water surrounded by "a multitude of of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered.. "   A hospital without any doctors or nurses.. a place where the only hope was that the water would be stirred by an angel and one person might be healed.  A place where most of the residents stayed in hopelessness. 

Jesus approached one man.  He had suffered for 38 years.  He could not even hope to reach the healing waters.. he had tried and failed too many times to try again.  Jesus asked him, "Do you wish to get well?" He didn't know who Jesus was.. he didn't have much hope.. but when Jesus spoke the Words, "Arise, take up your pallet and walk."  this man did not hesitate!  It was immediate.  He felt it. He believed.. He obeyed. 

Two quotes from the Bible Knowledge Commentary:

"His Word has power to work; people are simply to believe His Word." 

"Jesus' word accomplished His will... When people obey His command to believe, God works in and through His Word." 

" In the beginning was the Word... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.. " John's gospel shares with us the power of the Word and leads us to "simply believe".  

What words do we need to hear today? What is the Word of God, Jesus Christ, speaking to us.. personally?  Let us have ears to hear.. to believe and to obey. 

Father in heaven, let me hear the voice of Jesus Christ, the living Word today..in Jesus' name Amen. 

 John 4:46-54  Jesus and His disciples left Samaria and returned to Galilee, first going to Cana.  There, a  "certain royal official"  came to  Jesus to request Him to come to Capernaum and heal his son.  This man knew that his son was at the point of death and he knew that Jesus was his only hope.  He had already taken a step of faith, leaving the bedside of his dying son to travel to Cana seeking Jesus.  Yet, Jesus, knowing this said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders you simply will not believe." 

But, this did not phase the royal official.. he just continued to plead with Jesus, "Sir, come down before my child dies." 

Jesus did not go down.. but he said, "Go your way; your son lives."  The man could have given up hope.. but, he chose to believe "the word that Jesus spoke to him and he started off.."  The story continues.. the man meets his slaves on the way home.. they have good news.. his son is healed.. and it happened at the same hour that Jesus had spoken those words. "So the father knew that it was the same hour in which Jesus said to him, 'Your son lives'; and he himself believed and his whole household." 

I see a progression of faith in this event.  The man came to Jesus.. so perhaps there was a measure of faith present in his heart.. or was it just desperation? But.. it seems that the words Jesus spoke hit the mark.. "Unless you people see signs and wonders you simply will not believe.."   Jesus says "will not".. not "cannot".. The man tries again.. he wants to believe.. he wants Jesus to do that sign.. that wonder.. to heal his son.  And when Jesus tells him to go and that his son lives.. he chooses to believe.  Perhaps it was a tentative belief .. a hopeful belief.. a step of faith.  But... when he receives the good news and he checks the timing of the healing.. he knows it was Jesus who healed the boy.. Jesus who spoke the Word.. Jesus who did what He said and was Who He said He was.  And then.. He BELIEVED!  And his whole household did too. 

Perhaps we can relate to this man.. this "certain royal official"..  We come to Jesus with our desperate needs.. we hope.. we have only the smallest grain of faith.  We do want to see the signs and wonders.. but what we need most.. and He knows we need it more than anything.. is the will... to make that choice.. to believe. He speaks to us even now.. we have the ability to believe in Him.  It is not that we cannot.. it is that we will not believe.  It is a choice that we must make our own selves. 

Father, help us to move from unbelief to absolute, confident faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in all things... and in every circumstance.  Open our ears to hear His voice.. the Word, Who became flesh.. Who speaks Your Words.. that we might know Him more and know You, our God and Creator.. in greater fullness than ever before. We know that faith is a gift that You provide, so we ask that You help us to make that choice.. to believe..  We ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ the Beloved Son and King of our hearts. Amen.

 John 4:35-45 Jesus told His disciples to "lift up" their eyes.. to see a harvest that was not 4 months away.. but one that was right before them.  It is not a physical harvest for the food they thought He needed.. but spiritual fields ready for harvest.. people who were waiting for "life eternal".   Truth had been sowed.. the Word of life spoke the words of life and the disciples were sent to "reap" a great harvest.. in a little town.. in Samaria. 

The whole town came out to hear Jesus for themselves and "many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the women who testified.. and many more believed because of His word." ( v39-41)  She spoke.. they heard for themselves.. and they knew that "this One is indeed the Savior of the world." 

Lord, give us eyes to see the harvest before us.. who is waiting to hear our testimony?  Who is waiting to know You as the Savior of the world?  Send more workers into the harvest field Lord God.  Enable those  called to  the far off towns and villages.. of Africa and Asia or South America to go and tell what Jesus has done. Strengthen those who are going to busy, crowded cities around the world, so that the people may hear the Word and know the Truth.  Open hearts, Lord Jesus, that they may see You and hear Your Words of Life. We ask this, Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.