DRAWING THE LOST He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.” —John 6:65 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.” —John 6:44-45 Brother and sister you did not wake up one day and just say, “Well, I guess I’ll decide to follow Jesus today. People dead in their trespasses and sins…

BREAD THAT SATISFIES At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”—John 6:41-42 Physical bread has limitations. It can only feed so many. It gets old and moldy. But the Eternal Bread from heaven lasts forever for those who take of Him. This Bread fills us and satisfies us who believe. This will be the case for all eternity. The Jews could not understand who Jesus was and is. They were…

LITTLE IS MUCH WHEN GOD IS IN IT! “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” —John 6:9 But he answered, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “That would take more than half a year’s wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?” “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.” —Mark 6:37-38 Think about this— take more than half of your year’s income to give people one meal. That…

MY ROCK “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?” —John 5:45-47 Moses and all the Old Testament pointed to Jesus. If the Jewish leaders truly believed on what the Old Testament and Moses said then they would have believed what Jesus said. But this is the reality of it— they knew what the Word of God said, but they did not put their trust in…

JESUS IS EQUAL TO GOD For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. —John 5:18 What so many people do not want to acknowledge what the Jews in Jesus day knew He was claiming. They wanted to kill Him for blasphemy because they knew He was claiming to be “equal with God” by “calling God his own Father.” Yes, the Jews knew what Jesus was claiming and wanted to kill Him for it! The vast majority of people today do not know who Jesus is. Let…

GO INTO THE HARVEST “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits…

WARN OF THE WRATH TO COME! Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son…. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. —John 3:18, 36 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. —Hebrews 10:31 “Turn from you evil ways or be condemned forever!” That is what the Lord said to me back in February of 1979. The message came across loud and clear. There was no mistaking…

POLITICAL MURDERERS Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance…

BE WHERE GOD DESIRES YOU TO BE! There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?” —I Kings 19:9-10 Ever have the Lord say that to you? I remember pastoring a local church shortly after I finished Bible College. I was there for four years, resigned and said, “I will never go back into the pastorate again.” So for the next 3 years I went back into construction. I still spent time with the Lord, witnessed and was part of a local church, but I did not think the pastorate was for me. Then…

SHINE IN THE DARKNESS! When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. —I Kings 18:17-18 Who is it that brings trouble on a nation? It is not that trouble won’t come to a nation at all because we live in a fallen world, but there are people who bring trouble upon a nation. The prophet Elijah said so of Ahab and his relatives— “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your…