John 6, v35/51

Jesus had gone to Capernaum after feeding a crowd of five thousands with only a few loaves and fishes. When the people found he had gone, they went to Capernaum.

They asked Jesus what they had to do, to do the works of God.  Jesus answered, believe in Him who God had sent. They answered back. What sign do you do, that we may see and believe in you. What do you perform; our fathers ate manna in the wilderness as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat

Jesus then said, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world. They said, Sir, give us this bread always.                                                                                                

When Jesus said, I am the bread of life, he was saying he was essential for life, so to refuse to accept his offer, means to lose eternal life in heaven. He was the mind and voice of God, who lived a human life among us, and offers help to all who seek him. He spoke the words, ‘come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest’.

Bread is an essential of life without which we cannot go on living. Jesus meant life to be more than mere existence, He was speaking of a new life in a relationship with God, which is only possible by accepting Jesus into your life as Savior; without Him no one can enter into a relationship with God.  He is the bread in the sense, that he nourishes us spiritually and satisfies the longing of our souls. We can manage tolerably well with many things on our tables, but not without bread. So it is with Jesus. We must have him  for He is an essential for our life.

This chapter gives us a vision of Jesus, whereby we can relate to Him, not just as someone we read about, but rather as someone we can turn to, and both He and God become a friend, as the hymn states, ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’.    Those who accept Him into their lives will not therefore hunger, because their spiritual longing to know God will be known.

He went on to say, unless we ate the flesh and drank the blood, there would be no life within them. To eat the flesh means to believe in him, and to drink his blood means to accept his death on the Cross, where He shed His blood. In Jewish thought, blood stood for life, and when a body bleeds, life flows out of it, and to a Jew blood belongs to God, which is why Jews will not eat meat unless it is has been completely drained of blood. Jesus wants us to take His life into the very centre of our hearts and life.

Some people were thinking God did not choose them, and Jesus would turn them away, but He promises anyone who turns to Him will never be turned away, and He would accept all who came. Every one called by God, and given to Jesus will be granted salvation, and shall have eternal life. No true believer will ever lose salvation.

Jesus said no one can come to him unless God sent him/her, which implies that no one has the moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ unless God the Father draws them, that is gives the desire and inclination to do so. All of us who have turned to Jesus and accepted him into our hearts and lives, were inspired to do so when God touched our hearts and gave us the choice of accepting or rejecting Jesus. All who truly believe in Jesus will be saved, and have eternal life, and on the day of judgement will be raised up to the fulness of eternal life.

You may have a precious book which you never got down to reading , just having left it in a bookcase. Eventually you do read it, it thrills, entertains and inspires you, and you are left wondering why you turned away from it from the start.  The same kind of situation arises when people have stayed away from Church, and on paying a casual visit realized they were missing so much, probably being mislead as to what it means to attend.

This calls on us in the Church to reflect on our services.  At each Easter and Christmas and special national services, the increased attendances are most notable, and the reason is because the hymns are those with inspiring words and music, which so often in normal services have anthems tuneless and words from another age.

An essential part, some would say the main part, is the sermon. The main denominations keep to a Lectionary, with fixed passages from the Bible, that do not always give the preacher the opportunity of  speaking on a subject to keep the full attention of the congregation.  The evangelical message was the way the Apostles captured people in the early Church, and of course the Apostles believed in what they were preaching, which is not always that happens now. I do not say this loosely, I have been told more than once I was keeping to the Bible too literally.

We will however not fill many Churches by talking about climate change, the books the pastor read last week, foodbanks or the awful Conservatives.

 

Be at Church on Sunday and may God be glorified

 John 6, v35/51

Jesus had gone to Capernaum after feeding a crowd of five thousands with only a few loaves and fishes. When the people found he had gone, they went to Capernaum.

They asked Jesus what they had to do, to do the works of God.  Jesus answered, believe in Him who God had sent. They answered back. What sign do you do, that we may see and believe in you. What do you perform; our fathers ate manna in the wilderness as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat

Jesus then said, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world. They said, Sir, give us this bread always.                                                                                                                                                

When Jesus said, I am the bread of life, he was saying he was essential for life, so to refuse to accept his offer, means to lose eternal life in heaven. He was the mind and voice of God, who lived a human life among us, and offers help to all who seek him. He spoke the words, ‘come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest’.

Bread is an essential of life without which we cannot go on living. Jesus meant life to be more than mere existence, He was speaking of a new life in a relationship with God, which is only possible by accepting Jesus into your life as Savior; without Him no one can enter into a relationship with God.  He is the bread in the sense, that he nourishes us spiritually and satisfies the longing of our souls. We can manage tolerably well with many things on our tables, but not without bread. So it is with Jesus. We must have him  for He is an essential for our life.

This chapter gives us a vision of Jesus, whereby we can relate to Him, not just as someone we read about, but rather as someone we can turn to, and both He and God become a friend, as the hymn states, ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’.    Those who accept Him into their lives will not therefore hunger, because their spiritual longing to know God will be known.
 He went on to say, unless we ate the flesh and drank the blood, there would be no life within them. To eat the flesh means to believe in him, and to drink his blood means to accept his death on the Cross, where He shed His blood. In Jewish thought, blood stood for life, and when a body bleeds, life flows out of it, and to a Jew blood belongs to God, which is why Jews will not eat meat unless it is has been completely drained of blood. Jesus wants us to take His life into the very centre of our hearts and life.
Some people were thinking God did not choose them, and Jesus would turn them away, but He promises anyone who turns to Him will never be turned away, and He would accept all who came. Every one called by God, and given to Jesus will be granted salvation, and shall have eternal life. No true believer will ever lose salvation.
Jesus said no one can come to him unless God sent him/her, which implies that no one has the moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ unless God the Father draws them, that is gives the desire and inclination to do so. All of us who have turned to Jesus and accepted him into our hearts and lives, were inspired to do so when God touched our hearts and gave us the choice of accepting or rejecting Jesus. All who truly believe in Jesus will be saved, and have eternal life, and on the day of judgement will be raised up to the fulness of eternal life.

You may have a precious book which you never got down to reading , just having left it in a bookcase. Eventually you do read it, it thrills, entertains and inspires you, and you are left wondering why you turned away from it from the start.  The same kind of situation arises when people have stayed away from Church, and on paying a casual visit realized they were missing so much, probably being mislead as to what it means to attend.

This calls on us in the Church to reflect on our services.  At each Easter and Christmas and special national services, the increased attendances are most notable, and the reason is because the hymns are those with inspiring words and music, which so often in normal services have anthems tuneless and words from another age.

An essential part, some would say the main part, is the sermon. The main denominations keep to a Lectionary, with fixed passages from the Bible, that do not always give the preacher the opportunity of  speaking on a subject to keep the full attention of the congregation.  The evangelical message was the way the Apostles captured people in the early Church, and of course the Apostles believed in what they were preaching, which is not always that happens now. I do not say this loosely, I have been told more than once I was keeping to the Bible too literally.

We will however not fill many Churches by talking about climate change, the books the pastor read last week, foodbanks or the awful Conservatives.

 

Be at Church on Sunday and may God be glorified

 John 6, v35/51

Jesus had gone to Capernaum after feeding a crowd of five thousands with only a few loaves and fishes. When the people found he had gone, they went to Capernaum.

They asked Jesus what they had to do, to do the works of God.  Jesus answered, believe in Him who God had sent. They answered back. What sign do you do, that we may see and believe in you. What do you perform; our fathers ate manna in the wilderness as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat

Jesus then said, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world. They said, Sir, give us this bread always.                                                                                                                                                

When Jesus said, I am the bread of life, he was saying he was essential for life, so to refuse to accept his offer, means to lose eternal life in heaven. He was the mind and voice of God, who lived a human life among us, and offers help to all who seek him. He spoke the words, ‘come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest’.

Bread is an essential of life without which we cannot go on living. Jesus meant life to be more than mere existence, He was speaking of a new life in a relationship with God, which is only possible by accepting Jesus into your life as Savior; without Him no one can enter into a relationship with God.  He is the bread in the sense, that he nourishes us spiritually and satisfies the longing of our souls. We can manage tolerably well with many things on our tables, but not without bread. So it is with Jesus. We must have him  for He is an essential for our life.

This chapter gives us a vision of Jesus, whereby we can relate to Him, not just as someone we read about, but rather as someone we can turn to, and both He and God become a friend, as the hymn states, ‘what a friend we have in Jesus’.    Those who accept Him into their lives will not therefore hunger, because their spiritual longing to know God will be known.
 He went on to say, unless we ate the flesh and drank the blood, there would be no life within them. To eat the flesh means to believe in him, and to drink his blood means to accept his death on the Cross, where He shed His blood. In Jewish thought, blood stood for life, and when a body bleeds, life flows out of it, and to a Jew blood belongs to God, which is why Jews will not eat meat unless it is has been completely drained of blood. Jesus wants us to take His life into the very centre of our hearts and life.
Some people were thinking God did not choose them, and Jesus would turn them away, but He promises anyone who turns to Him will never be turned away, and He would accept all who came. Every one called by God, and given to Jesus will be granted salvation, and shall have eternal life. No true believer will ever lose salvation.
Jesus said no one can come to him unless God sent him/her, which implies that no one has the moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ unless God the Father draws them, that is gives the desire and inclination to do so. All of us who have turned to Jesus and accepted him into our hearts and lives, were inspired to do so when God touched our hearts and gave us the choice of accepting or rejecting Jesus. All who truly believe in Jesus will be saved, and have eternal life, and on the day of judgement will be raised up to the fulness of eternal life.

You may have a precious book which you never got down to reading , just having left it in a bookcase. Eventually you do read it, it thrills, entertains and inspires you, and you are left wondering why you turned away from it from the start.  The same kind of situation arises when people have stayed away from Church, and on paying a casual visit realized they were missing so much, probably being mislead as to what it means to attend.

This calls on us in the Church to reflect on our services.  At each Easter and Christmas and special national services, the increased attendances are most notable, and the reason is because the hymns are those with inspiring words and music, which so often in normal services have anthems tuneless and words from another age.

An essential part, some would say the main part, is the sermon. The main denominations keep to a Lectionary, with fixed passages from the Bible, that do not always give the preacher the opportunity of  speaking on a subject to keep the full attention of the congregation.  The evangelical message was the way the Apostles captured people in the early Church, and of course the Apostles believed in what they were preaching, which is not always that happens now. I do not say this loosely, I have been told more than once I was keeping to the Bible too literally.

We will however not fill many Churches by talking about climate change, the books the pastor read last week, foodbanks or the awful Conservatives.

 

Be at Church on Sunday and may God be glorified

                                                                 

sul be raised up to the fulness of eternal life.