The Gospel of John

I have been working my way through the Gospel of John for the past month or so. I know it seems like this would be an easy task but it is not.

Sure the reading is easy but how do you get past all of the sermons you have heard over the years. God's word is new and fresh but some of those messages from the past are not so fresh.

 I decided to read only by paragraph and just let God show me a few takeaways from each section. Some of the takeaways are pretty obvious. Some are not.

Now, because this is not an all out Bible Study or sermon, please don't respond with doctrinal arguments. They are what they are.

For example.


The Words of Eternal Life
60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" 61But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this?62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all.The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) 65And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
66After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." 70Jesus answered them,"Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." 71He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.
Takeaways
1. Some of Jesus's sayings were hard to hear. (no really, think about it) Jesus was challenging their entire way of thinking regarding Moses and Manna. Really, eat His flesh? I must say, I would probably be out of there.
2. The Spirit gives life. The flesh is no help at all. (see ya)
3. Jesus' words give life. They are Spirit. (I can do this)
4. No one comes to Jesus except the Father grants it. Now this is an interesting choice of words. Not the same as appoints it. A lot of my friends are predestination believers. I am not. This would imply a request made by the potential believer and the Father saying okay. Yeah I know there are lots of scriptures that support the predestination theory. This is just one of the many that makes me think we ought to look deeper.
5. Jesus chose the 12 disciples even knowing one would betray him. I could really run a lot of different directions with this one. I guess the lone that I would mention in the blog is we really don't know all we think we know. God has a plan for each of us. Some to honor. Some to dishonor. Be the person God made you to be. Don't let the world, religious or otherwise tell you who that is. 

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