Week 27 Day 1

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 1

Introduction…Everyone is searching for something. Remember the story of the Wizard of Oz? The search in that story led to the direction… “follow the yellow brick road.” They were told exactly what they needed to do to get there. They reminded themselves by singing the instruction,  “follow the yellow brick road,” until they actually got there. We need to remind ourselves and keep ourselves focused on where we are headed. We must follow Jesus…right into eternal life and be with Him forever!

Read John 14:4-6 “Jesus said: ‘And you know the way to where I go.’ Thomas said to him: ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How do we know the way?’ Jesus said to him: ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Bible Study

• Jesus said He was going to prepare a place for us. Think of it…Jesus, who created the world we live in, was going to create another, an eternally great place for us to live together forever with God…heaven! See John 1:2 and Revelation 4:11
• Jesus tells His disciples they know where He is going…to the Father. Again and again, Jesus said He was returning to the Father. See John 7:33
• Jesus tells His disciples they know the way to get there…through Jesus the Son
• The disciple, Thomas, the honest, pragmatist, thinker who on occasion doubted, asks where and how he would follow Jesus to where He was going.
  • No problem, since he followed Jesus on earth, he would have entry and a place in heaven. See John 13:36
  • Unlike Thomas, we should doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs.
• Did you ever get bad directions? You don’t want to get lost seeking God or get bad directions to heaven.
  • Jesus is the Way… Jesus is the only Way to Father’s place…heaven. He is the Savior, the bridge from man to God. The mediator. All other ways to God and heaven are dead ends, wrong directions and lead to destruction.
    • Deuteronomy 5:32,33 says, “You shall not turn aside…you shall walk in al they ways which the Lord your God has commanded.”
    • Isaiah 30:21 says, “Your ears will hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it.”
    • Psalms 27:11 says, “Teach me your way, O Lord.”
  • Jesus is the Truth…He is the reason we live. What Jesus said can be trusted. He is God, spoke only God’s Word and only did the will of the Father. God’s true plan of salvation.
    • Psalms 86:11 says, “Teach me your way O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.”
    • Psalms 119:30 says, “I  have chosen the was of truth.”
  • Jesus is the Life…He is the life giver. Living for Christ is the essence of the purpose driven life.
    • Philippians 1:16 says, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
    • Proverbs 6:23 says, “The commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life.”
    • Proverbs 10:17 says, “He who heeds instructions is on the path of life.”
    • Psalms 16:11 says, “You showed me the path of life.”

Application

• Did life on earth ever become so distressed that you longed for heaven?
• Did people you know ever let you down to the extent you realize the truth that there is no better friend than Jesus and long to be with Him? What a friend we have in Jesus!
• Did you ever come to the realization that what is most important to you is not so much the location or place you are located, but who you are with that makes all the difference in the world?
• Heaven is our home. It won’t be long that we are going home and Jesus is there to welcome us! Oh Happy Day!

Tags: Take 10

Week 27 Day 2

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 2

Introduction… If someone said to you, “I don’t know God, but I want to know Him” What would you tell them? How would you describe God? There are 5 senses…seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. Can one experience God through the 5 senses? And then there is knowing. Can knowing be accomplished without the 5 senses? How can we know God?

Read John 14:7-11 “If you had known me, you would have known my Father too. From now on you are beginning to know him and you have seen him.’ Philip said to him: ‘Lord show us the Father and that is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him: ‘Have I been with you for so long and you did not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say: ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? I am not the source of the words that I speak to you. It is the Father who dwells in me who is doing his own work. Believe me that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me. If you cannot believe it because I say it, believe it because of the very works I do.”

Bible Study

• 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 speaks of knowing and God. “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for them that love Him. But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man…or of God?”
• No man had ever seen God, until in Exodus 33:12-32 it tells of the only time God revealed Himself. In this case it was to Moses. It was an awesome event, but Moses had already known God for years.
• Psalms 34:8 says for us to spiritually…“taste and see that the Lord is good.”
• Philip the disciple, asks the incredible, or the impossible…show us the Father, as if seeing Him would result in knowing Him.
• Jesus says with utter simplicity, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” You have seen me in action, my heart intentions and purposes. You now know God.

• Jesus reflected God. To see and know Jesus, is to see and know God. See Hebrews 1:1-3 where it says, “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past by the prophets, has in these last days, spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…”

• Because we “see Jesus”, we can say and know about God that He…

• • Knows ordinary life, as He experienced human birth, the home, family and childhood.
  • Knows the necessity and honor of work. Not ashamed to do man’s work.
  • Knows what it means and is to be tempted.
  • Knows the joy and wounds that comes from loving others.
  • Knows the sacrifice, pain and suffering of the Cross.
  • Came here out of the love He had for His creation longing to bring back the relationship He had with mankind before the fall.
• The claim and test Jesus put forth relating to God was for one to look at…
  • What Jesus said…His words. They were wonderful words of life. He spoke as one with authority, wisdom, insight and like none other.
  • What Jesus did…His deeds. They were acts no one else ever did. Supernatural and yet done from a heart of love, the very heart of God. See Matthew 11:1-6.

Application

• Would your explanation speak well for God? Would your life be able to be used as an example? Do you reflect God?
• Does your life produce the fruit of His spirit alive, active, changing you from the inside out?
• Pointing people to Jesus and saying…listen to Him, look at Him, know Him and believe in Him is to see and know God.
• From the right and from the left, may we draw them by His Spirit to the straight and narrow way of God that states, Jesus is the way, truth and life and no one comes to the Father but by Him.

Tags: Take 10

Week 27 Day 3

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 3

Introduction…Jesus said to all of us, to those who would be His disciples…“listen to me, look at me and believe in me.” If we do this, we become enabled believers and effective disciples. Throughout the Scriptures there are some amazing challenges and tremendous promises. The ones found in these 3 verses are quite stimulating because they, like all Scripture, are true.

Read John 14:12-17 “This is the truth I tell you, he that believes on me will do the works that I do and he will do greater works than these because I go to my Father. And I will do whatever you shall ask in my name that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments and I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, I mean the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot receive him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him because he remains among you and will be within you.

Bible Study

• What did Jesus mean when He said His disciples would do what He did and even greater works?
  • 1 Corinthians 12: 9, 28 and 30 speaks of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are gracious bestowments given to certain members of the Church to be used for and within the Church to bless and build it.
  • James 5:14 tells us that Christians should pray for each other with faith for those who are in need and God would heal them.
  • But Jesus saw the sea of humanity and the plethora of need they represented throughout the ages and said there is much more to do.
  • It would be His disciples in every decade and around the world that would do greater works by virtue of sheer numbers than Jesus did in His short 3 year ministry that took place only in Israel.
• Jesus taught us to pray. He taught us to pray to the Father. See Matthew 6
  • In the passage we study today, Jesus teaches us to pray in His name.
  • Pray in the strong and mighty name of Jesus, our mediator and intercessor who is on the right hand of the Father.
• If we love the Lord, we will obey Him and His Word and not our selfish desires
  • We use the word ‘love’ in too many situations. We love Dr. Pepper, nachos, surfing, baseball and God! Something is wrong here.
• Jesus would not leave His disciples or us today all alone without Him when Jesus ascended and returned to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit.
  • Jesus would ask the Father and He would send ‘another of the same as Jesus’, the Holy Spirit, not someone different that we must get to know.
  • Parakletos is the word used for ‘helper or comforter’ that is called in for the purpose of God being with us, in us and upon us to guide and help us.
  • Jesus was limited by time and space because He had a physical body, but the Holy Spirit, the 3^rd person of the Triune God, is omnipresent.
  • We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but cherish His presence in us.
  • The Holy Spirit reveals to us Truth. Reveals to us Jesus, who reveals to us the Father.

Application

• We as disciples of Jesus Christ and Christians everywhere recognize and believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
• With the power of Jesus name and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to take His Gospel into all the world.
• Jesus lived His life as the greatest Servant Leader the world has ever known. Why can we say that with certainty?
• He was…
  • Born in a stable
  • Worked as a carpenter
  • Ministered for only 3 years
  • Wasn’t a king or political figure
  • Developed 12 disciples
  • Washed people’s feet with humility
  • Served the needs of others before His own
  • Died for His people when other leaders required their people to die
  • Influenced people for all time and eternity for good and for God
• We too can lead like Jesus and do the work He did loving this world as an ambassador of God.

Tags: Take 10

Week 27 Day 4

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 4

Introduction…Joy and Peace! What wonderfully descriptive words that are so intertwined that when you have one, it seems you have the other too. Joy and peace flow from the inside of us and pour out over our life. Joy is mentioned in the Bible 166 times and peace nearly the same amount of times. Half of those in the Old Testament and half in the New. Joy emerges from the peace of God that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), and like springs of living water within us, they flow up and over us. Ephesians 2:14-18 tells us, “He, Jesus, is our peace…reconciling us to God”.  So the source of joy and peace is God and we are one with God, having “access by one Spirit unto the Father”.

Read John 14:25-31 “I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you. The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of all that I have said. I am leaving you peace. I am giving you my peace. I do not give it to you as the world gives peace. Let not your heart be distressed or fear stricken. You have heard that I said to you: ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to my Father because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you about it before it happens so that whenever it does happen, you will believe. I shall not say much more to you because the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me. His coming will only make the world know that I love the Father and that I do as the Father has commanded me. Rise, let us be going.”

Bible Study

• A Christian and a disciple of Jesus Christ is a learner. The good news is the Holy Spirit is our teacher and reveals to us the deep and even deeper things of God.
  • In Jeremiah 29:13 God challenges us to be hungry learners. “And you shall seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.”
• The Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance all truth pertaining to Jesus and the Word that builds us up, encourages our belief and perfects all that concerns us.
• The Holy Spirit keeps us living and acting right if we listen to the Spirit within us, He will guide and give course correction to us.
• Jesus promises His gift of peace, shalom, which is not the absence of war or trouble, but beyond that He makes things work out for our highest good and we can sense…it is well with our soul.
• My prayer is “Oh Prince of Peace, visit me with your Presence and give me your peace that is beyond my ability to muster or comprehend!”
• Jesus was returning to the Father and would be released from the limitations of this world, ascend on high, be restored to glory and become our advocate and mediator to the Father.
  • Philippians 2:8-11 tells us Jesus was obedient to death on the Cross for us and then was highly exalted by the Father with a name above all names.
• Jesus conquered death so that all believers who die enter the blessedness of His Presence and eternal life.
  • Psalms 116:15 says, “blessed and precious are the death of His saints.”
  • 1 Corinthians 15:55 says, “oh death where is your sting oh grave where is your victory?” Indicating death is defeated by Jesus’ death/resurrection.
• Jesus speaks of the final battleground that He would win at the Cross. Sin and death were defeated, thus fulfilling the 1^st prophecy found in Scripture.
  • In Genesis 3:15 after mankind sins, God speaks to Satan saying, “I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed (fulfilled in the virgin birth of Jesus, the Messiah) He shall bruise your head (Rosh –leadership/rule) and you shall bruise his heel.”

Application

• The words to the song “At the Foot of the Cross” say it all.

At the foot of the cross

Where grace and suffering meet.

You have shown me your love

Through the judgment you received.

And you won my heart

Yes, You’ve won my heart, now I can

Trade these ashes in for beauty

And wear forgiveness like a crown

Coming to kiss the feet of mercy,

I lay every burden down

At the foot of the Cross

Where I am made complete.

You have given me life

Through the death you bore for me.

Tags: Take 10

Week 27 Day 5

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 27 Day 5

Introduction…Don’t you love nature? How about getting your hands in the dirt and  working in the garden? Have you ever pruned a grapevine? It is a simple, yet amazing truth that as soon as we cut a branch off the vine, it begins to dry up and die, but the branch that is still attached to the vine will flourish and when cut back, the vine will yield clusters of grapes.

Read John 15:1-10 “I am the vine and my Father is the vine dresser. He destroys every branch in me which does not bear fruit and he cleanses every branch which does bear fruit, so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean through the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me even as I abide in  you. As the branch cannot bear fruit in its own strength, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. The man who abides in me and in whom I abide, bears much fruit because without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he will be cast out like a withered branch. And they gather such branches and throw them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask what you will and it will be given to you. It is by the fact that you bear such fruit and that you show yourselves to be my disciples that my Father is glorified. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. As I have kept my Father’s commandments, so I abide in his love.”

Bible Study

• Jesus is the vine, God the Father is the gardener and we are the branches.
  • There is no sacred country, religion or group association that can save a person or give them life, but the true vine, the life giver, Jesus Christ.
• A fruitful life is a natural outgrowth of cleansing by God, abiding in Christ and obedience to His ways.
• By abiding in Christ, it means we are…
  • Clean before God…there is no known sin in our life that is not confessed. 1 John 1:9-10 says, “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness…”
  • Connected to Him…all parts of our life are yielded to Him as they are enlightened and positively affected by His continued Presence. 1 John 1:7 “if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus…cleanses us…”
  • Cared for by Christ…He is the source of our strength and strength of our lives. Our concerns and needs are rolled over to Him in prayer. 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon Him for He cares for us”
• As we abide in Christ as true disciples, we will bear fruit…
  • The fruit of effectively witnessing and sharing your faith in Jesus. Leading people to Christ. See Romans 1:13
  • The fruit of Godly character, which can be seen as  the natural outgrowth of a life in Christ. The fruit of the Spirit led life. See Galatians 5:22-23.
  • The fruit of a Godly lifestyle. Our actions led by God yield positive results from following and abiding in Christ. See Romans 6:21-22 and Philippians 1:11
• The 4 stages of fruitfulness are…
  • No fruit…see verse 2, in this case, God cuts off the unfruitful branches.
  • Fruit…see verse 2, God washes and prunes the fruitful branches so they will bear more fruit.
  • More fruit…see verse 2, God continues to work with these branches so they become even more fruitful.
  • Much fruit…see verse 5 and 8, this is the fully mature and functional state that God and a willing follower of Christ work towards.

Application

• If you were a fruit inspector, purveying the vine and branches of your life, what would be the assessment of the condition of the branches and fruitfulness?
• Do you need to work harder at bearing fruit? ….No
• We need to abide, draw our life and strength from Him.
• Think about it…

Tags: Take 10