“”After this, Jesus traveled around Galilee. He wanted to stay out of Judea, where the Jewish leaders were plotting his death. But soon, it was time for the Jewish Festival of Shelters, and Jesus’ brothers said to him, ” Leave here and go to Judea, where Your followers can see Your miracles! You can’t become famous it You hide like this! If You can do such wonderful things, show Yourself to the world!” For even His brothers didn’t believe Him.
Jesus replied, ” Now is not the right time for Me to go, but you can go anytime. The world can’t hate you, but does hate Me because I accuse it of doing evil. You go on. I’m not going to this festival, because My time has not yet come.” After saying these things, Jesus remained in Galilee. (John 7, vv. 1-9, NLT)
“”Many of His disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?”
Jesus was aware that His disciples were complaining, so He said to them, “Does this offend you? They what will you think if you see the Son of Man ascend to heaven again? The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But some of you do not believe Me.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and He knew who would betray Him.) Then He said, “That is why I said that people cannot come to Me unless the Father gives them to Me.”
At this point many of His disciples turned away and deserted Him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”
Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go.” You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.”
Then Jesus did, “I chose the twelve of you, but one of you is the devil. He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, one of the Twelve, who would later betray him.”” (John 6: vv. 60-70, NLT)
“”I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
Then the people began arguing with each other about what He meant. “How can this man give us His flesh to eat? ” they asked.
So Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. But anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise that person in the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Anyone who drinks My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. I live because of the living Father who sent me; in the same way, anyone who feeds on Me will live because of Me. I am the true bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will not die as you ancestors did (even though they ate the manna), but will live forever.”
He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.””
“‘Sir,” they said, ‘give us that bread every day.’
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in Me even though you have seen Me. However, those the Father has given Me will come to Me, and I will never reject them. For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent Me, not to do my own will. And 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 up at the last day. For it is why Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven. They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can He say, I came down from heaven?”
“But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. For no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent me draws them to Me, and at the last day I will raise them up. As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me. (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father: Only I , who was sent from God, have seen Him).”” (John 6: vv 34-46, NLT)
“”So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went across to Capernam to look for Him. They found Him on the other side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with Me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given me the seal of His approval.”
They replied, ” We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”
Jesus tool them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the One He has sent.”
They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if You want us to believe in You. What can you do? After all our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness: The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave then bread from heaven to eat.’
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven. My Father did. And now He offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the One who came down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6: vv. 25-33, NLT)
“”That evening Jesus’ disciples went down to the shore to wait for Him. But as darkness fell and Jesus still hadn’t come back, they got into the boat and headed across the lake toward Capernaum. Soon a gale swept down upon them, and the sea grew very rough. They rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. They were terrified, but He called out to them, “Don’t be afraid. I am here!” Then they were eager to let him in the boat, and immediately they arrived as their destination!”” (John 6:vv. 16-21, NLT)
“”So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I. So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For He not only broke the Sabbath, he called God His Father, thereby making himself equal with God.”
So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He is doing. In fact, the Father will show Him how to do even greater works that healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. For just as the Father gives life to those He raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone He wants.”
“In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, He has given the Son absolute authority to judge, so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent Him.”
“I tell you the truth, those who listen to My message and believe in God who sent Me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life.”
“And, I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear My voice – the voice of the Son of God. An those who listen will live. The Father has life in Himself, and He has granted the same life-giving power to hHis Son. And He has given Him authority to judge everyone because He is the Son or Man. Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment. I can do nothing on My own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent Me, not My own will.”” (John 5:VV, 16-30, NLT)
“”Then Jesus and His disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judea countryside. Jesus spent some time with them here, baptizing people.
At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aeon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism (This was before John was thrown into prison). A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing. So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to Him instead of coming to us.”
John replied, “No man can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told you, I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for Him. It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with Him and hear His views. Therefore, I am filled with joy at His success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
“He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but He has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. He testifies about what He has seen and heard, but how few believe what He tells them! He speaks God’s words, for God gave Him the Spirit without limit. The Father loves His Son and has put everything into His hands. An anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”” (John 3: vv. 22-36, NLT)
“”There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus, “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent You to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do You mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into ones mother’s womb and be worn again?”
Jesus replied,” I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but you can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“How are these thins possible? Nicodemus asked.
Jesus replied, “You re a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand the things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when it tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly tings?No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.”
“For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son , so that who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world though Him.”
“There is no judgement against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come into the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”” (John 3: vv1-21, NLT)
“”The following day John as again standing with two of his disciples. As Jesus walked by, John looked up at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.
Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” He asked them.
They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are You staying?”
“Come and see,” He said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with Him to a place where He was staying, and they remained with Him the rest of the day.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his bother, Simon, and told him “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”).
Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John – but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.
Phillip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
“Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come see for yourself,” Philip replied.
As they approached, Jesus said, “Now here is a genuine son of Israel – a man of complete integrity.:
“How do you know about me?”Nathanael asked.
Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
Then Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the Sone of God – the King of Israel!”
Jesus asked him, “Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” Then He said, “I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the S0n of Man, the One who is the stairway between heaven and earth.” (John 1: vv. 35-50, NLT)
