{"id":30755,"date":"2024-04-23T22:00:22","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-6_1-15-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T16:58:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T23:58:12","slug":"john-6_16-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-6_16-31\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Just Focus on the Immediate. Think About Eternity."},"content":{"rendered":"

John 6:16-31\u00a0 \u00a0(CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 6:16-31.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

John 6:16-21 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake,
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 16-21:\u00a0 Notice that fear kept the disciples from letting Jesus into the boat, but the moment they heard Jesus\u2019 words, their fear subsided and they were willing to let him aboard.\u00a0\u00a0Like the disciples, don\u2019t be afraid of Jesus, but be \u201cwilling to take him into the boat\u201d (v21) with you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, notice that the disciples spent all night rowing 3 or 3.5 miles but were caught in the storm and were getting nowhere.\u00a0 Yet the moment Jesus entered the boat, the boat \u201cimmediately\u201d reached the shore where the disciples were heading.\u00a0 We will go through storms in life.\u00a0 When we try to get through those storms on our own strength, we often end up frustrated and nowhere fast.\u00a0 But\u00a0when you have Jesus with you, you don\u2019t need to be afraid and can rest assured that even through the storm He will lead you to safety, to where you need to go.<\/strong><\/p>\n

John 6:22-27 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-27:\u00a0 The more I read these verses, the more I get the sense that this crowd was trying to use Jesus to get another free lunch.\u00a0 They were not that interested in salvation or forgiveness for their sins.\u00a0 As Jesus suspects in verse 26, what the crowd wanted was something much more immediate and physical: they wanted more bread and fish that they didn\u2019t have to work for.\u00a0 Just as the Israelites under Moses\u2019 leadership received daily manna from heaven, this crowd following Jesus saw Jesus as their free meal ticket (see also verses 30-31).\u00a0 Now Jesus is not opposed to feeding the hungry.\u00a0 After all, He was the one who initiated the miraculous feeding of the 5,000.\u00a0 Yet Jesus tells the crowd not to work for food that spoils but for food that endures to eternal life (v27).\u00a0 That is because\u00a0Jesus didn\u2019t come only to be a free meal service that fed people temporarily.\u00a0 He came to save souls for eternity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t shortchange yourself by looking to Jesus for someone much more short-term and temporary than what Jesus came to give you.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>We do that when we pray for Jesus to bless our career, our health, and our home or to give us peace and circumstances that we think we need, but don\u2019t look to him for help when it comes to our eternal destiny or the eternal destiny of those around us.\u00a0\u00a0Like Jesus, be focused on the long-term, on eternity, more than on the short-term and the immediate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

John 6:28-29 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 28-29:\u00a0 The crowd that was following Jesus believed that there was something they had to do in order to earn God\u2019s approval.\u00a0 Jesus responds in verse 29 by saying that \u201cthe \u2018work\u2019 God requires of you is to believe in me\u201d.\u00a0 In other words, there is nothing we can do to merit God\u2019s approval or to earn our way to heaven.\u00a0 When we could not reach God, God reached for us by sending the One, Jesus Christ, who would die to pay the penalty for our sins.\u00a0\u00a0Instead of trying unsuccessfully to work our way to God, God simply asks that we trust in His Son, the one He has sent, not in ourselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

John 6:30-31 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 30-31:\u00a0 This confirms that the people here were not interested in believing in Jesus for anything eternal, that they really just wanted another free lunch from Jesus.\u00a0 Jesus had already performed an amazing miracle by feeding them the day before.\u00a0 Now they\u2019re asking him for another sign \u201cthat we may see it and believe you\u201d (v30) and the sign they\u2019re asking for is more bread.\u00a0 They even quote Scripture to justify their very short-sighted request.\u00a0 It is in this context that Jesus will utter some of his most famous words about who he is in the verses that follow.<\/p>\n

Jesus, thank You that when I\u2019m in a storm, Your words bring me peace.\u00a0 Thank You that in You I find bread not just for my body but for my soul.\u00a0 Instead of trusting in myself, my smarts, my experience and my performance, may I trust in You today.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2021 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 6:16-31.\u00a0 I encourage you to read the passage yourself first and see what you can glean with the Holy Spirit\u2019s help, then read the GAME sharing below.\u00a0 Let’s go!<\/p>\n

John 6:16-21 (NIV)
\n16\u00a0\u00a0When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake,
\n17\u00a0\u00a0where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark, and Jesus had not yet joined them.
\n18\u00a0\u00a0A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.
\n19\u00a0\u00a0When they had rowed three or three and a half miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified.
\n20\u00a0\u00a0But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”
\n21\u00a0\u00a0Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.<\/p>\n

On verses 16-21:\u00a0 Notice that fear kept the disciples from letting Jesus into the boat, but the moment they heard Jesus\u2019 words, their fear subsided and they were willing to let him aboard.\u00a0\u00a0Like the disciples, don\u2019t be afraid of Jesus, but be \u201cwilling to take him into the boat\u201d (v21) with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30755"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30764,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30755\/revisions\/30764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}