The Gospel of John

Jesus
Jesus was born approximately 5 B.C. in the town of Bethlehem, Israel, to a virgin named Mary, who was descended from King David. Raised in Nazareth by Mary and her husband, Joseph, Jesus lived the ordinary life of a carpenter's son. Those who knew him didn't yet know that he was also God's Son. At age 30, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist and tempted by the devil into the desert. He then began healing, teaching and performing miracles throughout Judea. He called people to believe in him as the only way to God.

Time
Time governs our lives. Our day planners help us manage it. We eat by it. We sleep by it. We're upset if people don't respect it. God, however is not constrained by time. He created time, and - though it's hard for us to grasp - he exists outside of time. Because he contains time, he knows the future and is able to reveal it in prophecy.

God has a clear understanding of time. In the Bible, he warned that all people should live for him because the time is coming when he will return to the earth. While some believe they can delay serving God, we are commanded to serve God now. We are to take advantage of the moments God gives us to share the gospel.

Galilee
Described as hilly country, Galilee was located in the northern part of ancient Israel. Jesus was from Galilee, as were his disciples; much of his ministry took place in Galilee. During the time of Christ, Galilee made up about one-third of the present-day holy land. In more modern times, Galilee was revived through Zionist colonizations. The land became part of modern-day Israel after the Arab-Israeli war in 1948-1949.

Greatness
The Bible teaches us that God thwarts those who try to raise themselves up to greatness in people's eyes. It also teaches that those who humble themselves before God will be raised up by God to true greatness. You might think of God's path toward greatness as similar to the law of gravity, except in reverse: "Whoever goes up must first come down".

Signs
When we see geese flying south in a V formation, it's a sign that winter is on the way. Almost every street corner and road we travel is marked with a sign telling us where we are and the direction we're headed. God gives signs-miracles or fulfilled prophecies-to show that his promises will come true. The rainbow in the sky after a storm is God's aerial billboard-his reminder to himself and us that he will never flood the earth again.

The Bible also gives us signs to help us understand what is happening in the world around us. The first believers saw many signs to confirm the truth of the message about Christ. Most of all, signs help explain how we can come into a relation with the true and living God. God expects us to pay attention to, and follow, his signs.

Mountain
In the Bible mountains were often considered holy places where God was worshiped. After the Lord freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he brought them to Mount Sinai, where they first encountered God's full magnificence. It was also on this mountain that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. On another high mountain, selected disciples saw Jesus Christ in his heavenly form: his face shining as brightly as the sun, his clothes tuning as bright as light itself.

Disciples
Does disciple sound uncomfortably like "discipline"? It is. A disciple is a person who adheres to the teaching of another - not just believing a certain philosophy, but also applying it to his or her life.

In the Bible, the word "disciple" can apply to followers of John the Baptist, students of the Pharisees or the broader circle of people who believed Jesus' teachings. But it most often refers to the twelve disciples whom Jesus asked to follow him. They lived with him night and day and learned from his teaching and lifestyle. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus' followers were not perfect, but they knew enough to recognize that leaving everything they had in order to follow Jesus was worth the price.

Passover
The night before the Israelites left Egypt, God instructed them to choose perfect lambs, slaughter them and use their blood to mark the doorframe of every hebrew dwelling. When the angel of Lord came to strike down all the firstborn males, he "passed over" the bloodstained doorframes, sparing the Israelite households.

Today, the Jewish people still celebrate Passover. Their delivery out of Egypt is a major focus of their faith and history. It is a reminder of God's concern for and intervention in, their lives.

Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples the night before crucifixion. He said that from that time on breaking bread and drinking wine was to be done in memory of his broken body and shed blood.

Look
Looking something over is a way of understanding it to a fuller extent. No one knows us more completely than God, who thoroughly examines our actions. Since he is perfect, only he can judge what things are truly done for him and what things are misdirected attentions.

Philip
Philip had waited for the promised Messiah. As soon as Jesus found Philip and said, "Follow me,"his heart responded-and he immediately recruited someone else to follow Jesus too. He was known as a man who was "full of the Spirit and wisdom" (Acts 6:3).

Bread
In many cultures, bread is the essential element of the diet. In the Old Testament, God provided special bread (called manna) for the people of Israel as they were wandering in the desert. The manna rained down on them as "bread from heaven" (Exodus 16:4). Yet God also told his people that "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:3).

Jesus Christ used bread as a symbol of his body being broken in death. Christians remember Christ's death by "breaking bread" (eating bread) together during church services, just as Jesus commanded his disciples to do the night before he was crucified. This part of a church service is usually called "Communion" or "the Lords Supper." Taking part in Communion helps us remember the significance of Christ's death until he comes again.

Mind
God has given us minds to make decisions, think great thoughts and control our lives. But our minds are not only ours to control. They can be controlled by our sin or by the Holy Spirit. If our intellect is controlled by sin, we will make poor decisions. If the Holy Spirit controls our minds, we live in a way that pleases God. We can actually have the "mind of Christ," which leads us to a greater relationship with him.

Wages
"Equal pay for equal work." Everyone wants to get fair compensation––and a big bonus at Christmastime. Employment with even the best company can still leave us wanting more, but God's benefit plan is better than fair. Not only did Jesus pay our debt (death is the compensation we really deserved), but he also blesses us for our obedience to him. Unlike our current paychecks, which we can't take with us after we die, God's rewards will last forever.

Yes, it's sometimes difficult to live for God, but consider the other option: The wages for a life ill invested and lived apart from God is an eternity spent apart from him.

Andrew
Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist before he met Jesus. Andrew, a fisherman, was the first to be personally invited by Jesus to be a "fisher of men." His statement, "We have found the Messiah" (John 1:41), led to his brother, Peter, meeting Jesus Christ.

Andrew is considered the"people person" of Jesus' tight-knit group - the one who always knew who was doing what. He is the one who found the boy with the bread and fish that led to one of Jesus' most amazing miracles (see John 6:5-13).

Simon
Five significant men in Jesus' life shared the name Simon, but they were as different from each other as they could be. (1) Simon the fisherman was a disciple of Jesus. God changed his name to Peter (see Peter) because of the part he would play in the church. (2) Jesus' other disciple named Simon was called Simon the Zealot. He was a man of intense political and religious convictions. (3) One of Jesus' half brothers, a son of Mary and Joseph, was also named Simon. (4) A leper named Simon opened his home to Jesus, perhaps after being cured by him. He was shocked at the woman who came to anoint Jesus with her tears, and he received a lesson on the connection between forgiveness and love. (5) Another Simon, originally from Cyrene, was in Jerusalem one day. Soldiers ordered him to carry the cross for the exhausted and bleeding Jesus. All these men knew Jesus––each in a profound way. Their names may not have all been changed, but after meeting Jesus, their hearts were never the same again.

Peter
When Jesus gave a fisherman named Simon Peter the opportunity to become a "fisher of men," this man left everything to follow Jesus. It was the beginning of a lifelong mission.

Simon Peter was an amazing man of God. One minute we admire him, and the next minute we cringe because he's stuck his foot in his mouth again. One minute our hearts cry out to be like him, and the next minute we're relieved that we're not like him. Peter seemed to operate in extremes, yet God wa preparing him for something very special.

Brothers
Big brothers, babe brothers, blood brothers - all imply a relationship characterized by warmth and similarity of character. Brother can refer to to both natural brothers and "brothers in Christ" (fellow believers). Jesus Christ said that everyone who does the will of God is his brother. Though Jesus is our God, we enter a fraternal relationship with him when we become children of God. Although that does not make us equal with him, Christ is not ashamed to call us his brother or sister.

Christians, as children of God, are spiritual brothers and sisters, called to care for each other. Jesus Christ instructed his disciples to love their brothers and sisters in Christ as they love themselves. The Bible instructs us to lovingly confront a Christian brother who is sinning.

Seated
In the tales of King Arthur, his heroic knights were seated at a round table to prevent arguments about who had the higher ranking seat. Likewise, God also builds in safety features to help us get along with each other. Since there is no rank within the body of Christ, we are to live lives of humility, not "seating" ourselves ahead of others by assuming a higher rank or priority.

There is only one who deserves the highest rank, and that is God himself. Only he is seated on a heavenly throne. Because jesus is worthy to rule (see Rule), the Bible notes that he is seated next to God the Father in heaven.

World
World does not refer to the landmass represented by the globe of the earth; it refers to people, perspectives and practices. When we pray that God loves the whole world, we mean that God loves all people. However, God hates the perspectives and practices that belong to the "prince of this world" (John 12:31), who is Satan (see Satan). That's why Christians are told not to love (see Love) this world. The important thing to remember is that the people God loves and the perspectives and practices he hates are under his control.

Capernaum
This town became Jesus' second home during his ministry. Located on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum was the place from which Jesus called the following fishermen to be his disciples: Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. He also called Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him while he was in Capernaum. Jesus preached and performed many miracles here. However, the people did not follow him, and thus Jesus predicted that the town would be destroyed (see Matthew 11:23-24; Luke 10:15). Jesus' prophecy was so completely fulfilled that today the exact location of the ruins of Capernaum is unknown.

Darkness
Getting up in the middle of the night for a drink of water can be a frightening experience - especially after watching a scary movie. Darkness causes fear - whether or not we're willing to admit it.

God compares life without Jesus Christ to living in the darkness. It's a world without light, without understanding, without joy. Yet we're told that although Christ came to bring salvation to everyone, some prefer to reject Christ and live in spiritual darkness.

Water
In the Middle East a gallon of gasoline is cheaper than a gallon of water. Imagine a Middle Easterner's surprise when he or she goes abroad and finds water in such abundance. Water was valued in the Middle East during ancient times too. God did a lot of amazing things with water: He flooded the earth, turned water into blood, made water pour out of a rock and stacked water up on either side of a dry path through the sea.

Teach
"Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day," the old saying goes, but "teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." Teaching and learning are also crucial to our Christian faith. Learning is the first step, in fact, to telling others about Jesus Christ. Jesus taught the people about God. He explained what the Scriptures meant, and he taught with an incredible authority that the people had never seen before. In fact, the people called him Rabbi, which means "teacher." Jesus told us to carry on his work. We are to instruct people not only in the facts about salvation, but also in how to obey God and apply what they hear.

Teaching is a God-given ability, or spiritual gift; however, it doesn't guarantee that a person with this ability is always right. The Bible warns against Listening to and teaching faulty information about God's truth (see Truth).

Truth
What is truth? God is truth. Everything he says we can believe. There is no deception, no hypocrisy, no half-truth in God. Our finite minds can't fully comprehend God or understand all his mysteries, but he is everything he says he is: the all-powerful, just, loving Creator of everything that exists. How do we know right from wrong? God alone, because he is truth, provides an accurate standard for ethics and morality. Whatever he does and commands us to do is right. Anything God hates and forbids us to do is wrong.

Miracle
Unexplainable healing, the dead raised to life, the sun standing still, strange encounters with supernatural beings, wonders in the sky and other unsolved mysteries - are events like these miracles, coincidences or merely hoaxes? Miracles are occurrences in the physical world that have no natural explanation. Their cause is either still unknown to science or ascribed to the powers of the supernatural. The Bible is filled with stories of miracles performed by God through human beings. God used people to accomplish his purposes (such as parting the Red Sea to bring the Israelites out of Egypt), demonstrate his character (such as sending Jonah to the Ninevites by way of a great fish) and help people believe in him (such as the disciples' ability to heal the sick).

But the greatest miracle worker was Jesus. He said to his disciples, " Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves" (John 14:11).

Work
God created us with a need to engage in meaningful, productive labor - it's part of being made in his image. God worked for seven days to create the earth (see Creation), and then he rested (see Rest).

Eternal
Eternity is much more profound than our common perception of it. God describes himself and his ways as eternal - he and his ways have always been and always will be. His commands, promises and truths are the same forever; they are unchanging. Therefore, we don't need to worry about constantly redefining God's standards for us. He doesn't change. What he says in the Bible will always be true.

Life
Do you want to live forever? Jesus Christ says he's the only true way. He says he's the door to a life of abundant blessing. God is the giver of life, and his role as such started with the creation of our ancestors, Adam and Eve. When sin entered the world, we were blocked, not only from having eternal life with God, but also from a meaningful life on this planet. Both can be obtained through God himself.

God
When you look at your watch, you know that an intelligent person designed it. It didn't just come into existence by itself. What about your wrist - isn't it more complicated than your watch? Didn't an intelligent person design your wrist too? We call the One who designed these things God, our Creator, the One who spoke the word and created the universe.

God has spoken to us in terms we can understand. The Bible is the record of his revelation - what he wants us to know about himself. God also became flesh and blood in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is 100 percent human and 100 percent God. Want to know what God is like? Study the life of Jesus Christ in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Father
God the Father perfectly cares fur us, giving us all we need -- though we may not agree with him regarding what those needs are. He promises us that we don't have to worry about having enough food or clothes because he knows what we need before we ask. God has also given us every spiritual blessing - something of much more value to our lives than any kind of physical possession.

As children of God, we can expect to be disciplined if we err. And we shouldn't be discouraged when this happens because discipline shows that God loves us. Just as good parents teach their children not to do things that will hurt them, so our Father in heaven teaches us what is best for us.

Seal
A manufacturer puts a seal on its product as a guarantee of the product's freshness or fine craftsmanship. In the same way, God puts a seal on his followers as proof that we permanently belong to him. This seal is the Holy Spirit (see Holy Spirit), who guides us and brings us understanding of God's ways. God's seal on our lives affects our actions, showing that our lives are accountable to God.

Seals are also used for security measures, keeping the prying eyes from gaining secret information. God, for unexplained reasons, has kept some information about the end of this world sealed up; he did this by commanding the prophets not to write down what they were seeing. In the book of Revelation, we read that God unleashes calamities that are kept under seven seals in heaven. Only Jesus Christ is allowed to open these seals.

Approve
Worried about what others think? Most of us are, to some degree. We want to be accepted, approved. How do we know we have God's approval? We instinctively know we can't get that approval on our own, though we might try. Without that affirming nod from God, heaven's door remains closed to us.

Without Jesus Christ, none of us are acceptable. But when we believe in Christ's power to save us from God's judgment, we gain God's never-ending approval. God will never approve of the wrong things we do, and he will not tolerate continued disobedience, but God has accepted Christ's death as payment for the sins of anyone who trusts in Jesus as Savior. Through Christ, we gain God's approval.

Believe
Beliefs dictate who we are and how we live our lives. To believe in something is to have faith in it. Though it may seem feeble to accept something on faith rather than fact, we all believe many things on different levels without being experts through experience or knowledge. A Christian's life is a demonstration of grounded belief in action.

Merely "believing" in God does not make someone a Christian any more than believing in exercise keeps one in shape; a person must actually exercise to stay in shape. Demons "believe" in God (James 2:19). They know he exists, but they don't choose to follow him. Believing that Jesus Christ is your Savior means believing that Jesus' death pays the penalty for your sin. As a result of this belief you repent-you turn away from your sin-and obey Jesus Christ.

Desert
Have you ever been really hot and thirsty? Then you will understand why the desert was such a vivid metaphor to the Israelites and appears so frequently in the Bible. The Holy Land, the location where most of the action in the Bible takes place, is surrounded by deserts. Moses fled into the desert after killing an Egyptian. The Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years after God led them out of Egypt. David stayed in the desert when he was hiding from King Saul. Jesus was tempted in the desert for 40 days.

Heaven
Do you ever wonder what heaven is like? Heaven is separate from the earth, and some speculate that it's in another dimension. Because of sin, "heaven-on-earth" just isn't possible. But the true heaven is something much better then we can ever guess. God is in heaven, and although, to us, the distance sometimes seems too great a gulf to cross, we're told that the Lord actively watches over us, listens to our prayers and takes action in our lives.
For those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, heaven will be our home when we die. In fact, Jesus Christ said he was returning to heaven to prepare a home for us. (John 14:2-3)

Moses
As the son of an Israelite slave, Moses should have been killed at birth. Instead, his parents raised him secretly for three months, then placed him in a floating basket among the reeds of the Nile River. No one could have guessed this baby would one day become one of the Bible's greatest leaders, and at the same time, the humblest of men.

Eighty years later, Moses was herding sheep in a desert when God recruited him for an incredible rescue mission. With God's help, Moses led the Israelites - over a million people - out of Egypt. Over the next 40 years, the Israelites faced the Egyptian army, walked through the Red Sea, drank water from a rock (twice!), heard firsthand the Ten Commandments, survived in the desert and finally reached the promised land. Today we remember Moses as a powerful leader, a servant of God and a man of faith.

Hunger
We tend to associate hunger with images on the TV screen: gaunt, sickly-looking children who live very far away. In our prosperous nations, we get distracted with healthy appearances and often overlook another, more hidden, hunger: spiritual starvation for God. Apart from God, we try to fill our hunger with material things: relationships, careers, entertainment. Like food, God is necessary for our bodies and minds, and only he can satisfy what we need. We cannot live apart from him; in fact, God calls those who hunger after him "blessed" (Matthew 5:6).

Write
Books, stories, literature and letters all allow us the joy of communication, even when the writer is far removed from us in time or space. Humanity and civilization are captured in written language. Both written and spoken languages are intimate aspects of an individual person and people group. Writing is a permanent way to preserve history and provide the means for people to share, relate and understand one another.

The Bible's is God's love letter to us. He wrote it for everyone. God himself wrote the Ten Commandments on two stone tablets. More importantly, God's plan and desire was to write his law with permanent marker in the minds and hearts of his people. And that is what he does when he gives the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Jesus.

CHAPTER SIX

Jesus feeds the five thousand

1. Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2. And a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3. Then Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4. The Jewish Passover Feast was near.

5. When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? 6. He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.

7. Philip answered him, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!”

8. Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. 9. “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?”

10. Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, above five thousand of them. 11. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

12. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.” 13. So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

14. After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.” 15. Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself.

Jesus walks on the water

16. When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, 17. Where 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. 18. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. 19. When they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water; and they were terrified.
20. But he said to them, “It is I; don’t be afraid.”

21. Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. 22. The 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. 23. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

Jesus the bread of life

25. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26. Jesus 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. 27. Do 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.”

28. Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29. Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one whom he has sent.”

30. So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31. Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses, who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34. “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us that bread.” 35. Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. 36. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

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THE STARTING POINT STUDY BIBILE New International Version
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