{"id":30845,"date":"2024-04-28T22:00:44","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T05:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-6_52-59-copy\/"},"modified":"2024-04-09T22:02:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-10T05:02:51","slug":"john-6_60-71","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/john-6_60-71\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do You Follow Jesus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 6:60-71 \u00a0 (CLICK HERE FOR\u00a0BIBLE VERSES)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

\n

Today\u2019s passage is John 6:60-71.\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 6:60-71 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n60\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
\n61\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?
\n62\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
\n63\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
\n64\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
\n65\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him.”
\n66\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
\n67\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
\n68\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
\n69\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
\n70\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”
\n71\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0(He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 60-71: \u00a0Upon hearing Jesus talk about the importance of eating his flesh and drinking his blood (symbolic for believing in Jesus) (v51-58), many no longer followed Jesus (v66), leaving only a remnant such as Jesus\u2019 12 disciples (v67-69), although Judas would also later leave Jesus (v70-71).
\nWhat can we learn from this?\u00a0 When you read the whole chapter of John 6, you will notice that people followed Jesus for different reasons. A great crowd followed Jesus at first because they saw him do miraculous signs for the sick (v2). People from that same crowd continued to follow Jesus because they had their fill of food that Jesus miraculously provided and were hoping to get more (v24-26). But then on hearing more of what Jesus had to say, many would desert Jesus (v66) leaving only a remnant who would continue to follow him.\u00a0 That remnant who stayed didn\u2019t just follow Jesus because they saw Jesus as a fascinating miracle worker or a free meal ticket.\u00a0 They followed Jesus because they believed Jesus to be the Son of God whose words brought eternal life (v67-69).<\/p>\n

How about you?\u00a0 Why do you follow Jesus?\u00a0 Do you follow Jesus only for superficial reasons, like to have your immediate needs and temporary concerns taken care of?\u00a0 If so, there is a strong chance that one day you will likely become enamoured with something or someone else, because you are following Jesus for superficial reasons.\u00a0 But if you follow Jesus for reasons that go above and beyond the superficial, if you follow because you believe that Jesus alone possesses the words that will give you life, then your heart is more likely to stay with Jesus till the end. It goes to show that\u00a0the condition of a person\u2019s heart and how open they are to the deepest parts of God\u2019s grace will largely determine how far and how long they follow Jesus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t just follow Jesus so that you can be blessed on earth.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t just follow Jesus in the hope that doing so will bring blessing to your career, your future, your marriage and your kids.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Follow Jesus because only in Him is there true life both now and for eternity.\u00a0\u00a0Follow Him not just because of what He could do for you but because of who He is, the One who holds the words that bring eternal life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Finally, I find it incredible that Jesus already knew who was going to betray him (v64, 71), and yet rather than cutting that person off and canceling him, Jesus allowed that person to stay close.\u00a0 Would you do that?\u00a0 If you knew someone was going to betray you, would you still spend time with them?\u00a0 Would you still keep them on your team?\u00a0 Jesus did it because He was submissive to the will of the Father and what the Scriptures said would happen (see John 17:12).\u00a0 The lesson I learn from this is:\u00a0submit to God\u2019s will, even when it hurts<\/strong>.\u00a0 It will of course be painful at first, but in the end God won\u2019t shortchange you and you will be eternally blessed if you do.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, more people follow You than anyone else in the world, and yet people follow You for different reasons.\u00a0 May I not be so caught up in trying to get miracles from You or treat You like a free meal ticket for my temporary felt needs, that I miss You in the process.\u00a0 May I follow You for who You are, not just for what You can do for me.\u00a0 You are the One who holds the words of eternal life.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\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 6:60-71.\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!
\n\u00a0
\nJohn 6:60-71 (NIV)
\n60\u00a0\u00a0On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
\n61\u00a0\u00a0Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?
\n62\u00a0\u00a0What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
\n63\u00a0\u00a0The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.<\/p>\n

On verses 60-71: \u00a0Upon hearing Jesus talk about the importance of eating his flesh and drinking his blood (symbolic for believing in Jesus) (v51-58), many no longer followed Jesus (v66), leaving only a remnant such as Jesus\u2019 12 disciples (v67-69), although Judas would also later leave Jesus (v70-71).
\nWhat can we learn from this?\u00a0 When you read the whole chapter of John 6, you will notice that people followed Jesus for different reasons. A great crowd followed Jesus at first because they saw him do miraculous signs for the sick (v2). People from that same crowd continued to follow Jesus because they had their fill of food that Jesus miraculously provided and were hoping to get more (v24-26). But then on hearing more of what Jesus had to say, many would desert Jesus (v66) leaving only a remnant who would continue to follow him.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30845","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\/30845","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=30845"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30848,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30845\/revisions\/30848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}