Plymothian

³⁷ All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹ So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Not Dying

I am going to see a neurologist today and I am a bit afraid.  My vision has been off for a couple of weeks and my head feels thick.  Today I felt really disoriented at times.  I think that I managed to have sensible conversations with a local school, but as I go out  to the doctor in the suburbs, I wonder what they will find.  Am I okay?

The truth is that I am always okay and I have been reminding myself of this as the day progresses.  This body fails and even my mind might fail, but the bread of life does not fail me.  I have the eternal hope of living forever, and through the death and the resurrection of Jesus he is with me to give me a quality of life which is free from isolation and loneliness now and in eternity all things are made new.

Prayer

When we feel anxious or hard-pressed, help us to remember that you are always with us.  Help us to look to the future hope with the assurance that no matter what occurs you are faithful and our future is secured.

Questions

1. Why do the Jews grumble?
2. How does Jesus respond?
3. What hope does Jesus bring?
4. In what way is your hope challenged?
5. In what way will you move forward?

 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed 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. For 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 he has sent.”

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

³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, 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 the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

I Am the Bread

Jesus points out to those looking at the feeding of the 5000 that they are completely missing the point.  The crowds that follow him around the shore of Galilee are interested in what he can do and not at who he is.  As they see what he can do and they want more, jesus can be seen as serving their nationalistic and private ideals.  He doesn’t however just provide bread like a king, he is the bread.  Life in relationship with Jesus will result in the most basic appetites being satisfied.

So why isn’t that true for us?  Why do we become Christians and still end up with little satisfaction?  It’s because we too are like the crowds of Galilee.  Many become Christians because Jesus is going to deliver our perceived needs and even our wants.  However, Jesus often strips away every distraction – family, friends, dreams, and health – in order to make sure we are left with nothing but the pure sustenance of himself.  Jesus doesn’t provide everything we need, he IS everything we need.  He is God incarnate.

Prayer

I am often not satisfied becase I am lost looking for something in this life besides you.  Help me not to have to have your gifts taken away because all of my longing is realised in you.

Questions

1. Who questions Jesus and how?
2. How does Jesus turn their question on them?
3. What does it mean that Jesus is the bread of life?
4. How do you find sustenance in Jesus?
5. Is he enough?  Really?

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”²¹ Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

²² On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

Jesus Walks on Water

Jesus further shows that he is someone special when he walks on water.  The seas rise up and toss the disciples around.  Why is this significant?  Because the sea is seen as the anti-creation that is the example of chaos.  Israelite writing does not look kindly on the waters and the seas and Jewish people engaged with the water surprisingly little when compared to their Phoenician neighbours.  However, Jesus is unafraid of the forces that work against creation and commands space and time in this story.  It leaves the disciples in awe, but the people of the surrounding area are puzzled themselves.

Does the Jesus that you believe in have mastery over order and chaos?  Does your faith in him diminish rapidly in the storms of life?  I know I sometimes cease to see Jesus clearly in chaotic times.  A passage like this reminds me of his calm mastery.

Prayer

When all is chaos bid my heart to be still.

Questions

1. What does Jesus do?
2. Why doesn’t he just take the boat?
3. What do those living around Galilee learn?
4. What are we to learn from this passage?
5. How does it apply to your life right now?

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ² And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. ³ Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. ⁵ Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. ⁷ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹ Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. ¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

¹⁵ Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Bountiful Provision

Your resources aren’t enough.  Really, you don’t have anything that wasn’t given to you by God.  At this time in the year many of my students seem drained and emotionally spent.  They come back from summer full of good intentions, but a combination of overwork, poor decisions, and a busy social schedule drain most of them by mid to late September.  It’s actually good for them in a way because when life demands more than we have, we either crumble or throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus.

In this passage Philip is tested with a catering issue.  He has to feed 5,000 men with very little.  The disciples look at what they have but they don’t have enough.  Jesus takes the resources surrendered to him and he multiplies them so that there is what seems like a waste at the end.  There are 12 baskets more than necessary provided by Jesus.  This speaks not only to God’s provision but to his bounty.  He gives us more than we need to be able to do what he wants us to do.

Sometimes being stretched is what God wants us to experience.  Sometimes God will not provide bounty because we are not doing his will.  Some people add so much to the basic calling of God on their life that they do not have any scraps left over.  By this I mean that God may have called them to work in Starbucks, but they add part-time work for a clothing store, they go to the movies every night, and they eat at fancy restaurants.  God also calls us to simplicity and some of us may have overfilled our lives whilst also expecting God to take care of all our extras.

A relationship with Jesus lived in total surrender helps us to discern where our time, money and strength should be spent.  Once we are walking in the Spirit, Jesus provides above and beyond all we can possibly imagine.

Prayer

I want more, but I have enough.  I see the life that you are leading me through and you have provided for me enough to eat and enough to drink in every phase.  I have now got more than I need, help me to be grateful.  Help me to live simply and take care of my students, my friends, and my family as you wish.

Questions

1. What is Philip asked to do and why?
2. What does Jesus reveal about himself?
3. Why would people want to make him king?
4. What needs do you have?  What do you lack?
5. Does Jesus really provide more than you need in order to accomplish what he has called you to do?

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgement is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. ³¹ If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. ³² There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. ³³ You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴ Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶ But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, ³⁸ and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ³⁹ You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰ yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. ⁴¹ I do not receive glory from people. ⁴² But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Scripture Witnesses Christ

Jesus talks about the scriptures that he had available to him:  Our Old Testament.  He commended the people of his day for searching the scriptures and finding the truth.  In both the Old testament and the New Testament Jesus can be found.  However, are we going to know about him or are we going to know him?  The reason that the Bible is written is so that we can know God through Christ.

A children’s book like the Jesus Storybook Bible helps us to see how each story whispers his name.  Children need to be raised on the whole Bible as a story of redemption.

Prayer

Jesus let us see you in the pages of scripture.  Let us not know about you, but help us to know you.

Questions

1. What is the occasion of Jesus’ prayer?
2. What are the themes of the prayer?
3. How is Jesus mentioned in the Old Testament if we do not see his name?
4. How have you found Jesus in the Old Testament?
5. How would you teach children to find Jesus in the whole Bible?

¹⁹ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. ²¹ For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. ²² The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, ²³ that all may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement.

No Judgement

Jesus’ authority to judge is established in this passage.  He has been given authority by The Father to bring sentences of life or death on the people of earth.  Those whose hope is in Jesus will receive life and those whose hope is in themselves or something other than Jesus will be condemned to death.  We know from Revelation that John knows of eternal life and eternal death.  Death, for him, is not just the cessation of life but it is an eternal condition of distance from God.

So the question is whether we know the Son and know life?  This life comes to those who believe and is not a reward after death but a different life in this life.  Some people are zombies, they are dead even though they walk and talk with the rest of us.  Jesus’ authority to pronounce life or death leaves them dead.  Others know abundant life in this life.  I was talking to my mother who was sick in bed last night and still I was refreshed by her conversation because it was filled with life from God.  Does the quality of your life suggest that you are truly alive?

I am thankful that as I walk to school I can take the shame and the guilt that I carry from my past and I can cast it on Jesus.  I can take all the things that would kill me and suck the life out of me and I can cast them on God because he cares for me.  Jesus has given me a verdict of not guilty and I am living in that.  If I look too far into the future I sometimes become anxious, but God brings me grace for each moment.  I live in the moment with Jesus and Jesus refreshes my soul and brings me life.

Prayer

You have raised us from death into a new life.  It is a quality of life which is present right now.  We are not yet a completed work, but we are a work that has been started and is in progress.  I thank you that you bring life from the Father to all who believe.

Questions

1. How was Jesus’ authority questioned earlier in chapter 5?
2. How is Jesus’ authority established?
3. If Jesus removes the sentence of death from his hearers, what does he bring in its place?
4. Do you feel dead or alive?  How does that reflect or mask reality?
5. What is the life that Jesus brings?  What are its qualities?  How do you show them?

⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews^[d] said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴ Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶ And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

¹⁸ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Rigid Patterns

Somehow, as we grow up, we develop patterns.  There is nothing wrong with having patterns.  Creation has cyclical patterns embedded in sunrise and sunset, the flow of the seasons, and the need for meals.  However, most of us find that we become rigid about some of the patterns we develop.  We become enslaved to them.  The myth is that we are secure if we control our lives and we are unsafe if the patterns are broken.  In its most extreme forms people develop obsessive compulsive disorder.

If Jesus is to do anything new, the security of our patterns will be challenged.  If we are to grow the safety of routines will be broken.  Our safety is in God and Jesus, as God incarnate, knew that.  The salvation of the people of Israel did not come through their Sabbath keeping, it came through their dependence on God.  God heals a man through his submission to Jesus, but the Jewish authorities do not rejoice in the life-giving healing that Jesus works.  Their security is broken.  They are presented with the need to unthink their laws, but they would rather attack and become cruel in the name of God than admit that God has brought mercy and grace through Jesus.

In your life, is God trying to open you up for deep changes?  Why protect the way that you have known before?  Is it really better than God’s touch?  It may not be easy to take risks and change, but without it we remain crippled and stunted.

Prayer

We have physical ailments that we bring to you.  Our bodies fall short of perfection and our minds are darkened by sin.  Help us to let go of anxiety and embrace the next step you have for us.  Let us be open to teaching from your word that leaves us feeling exposed and unsafe.  Help us to find our safety in you.

Questions

1. What is Jesus doing?
2. How can Jesus’ actions be considered evil?
3. How is Jesus updating the rules on the Sabbath?
4. Should we keep a Sabbath today? What can be done on it?
5. What are some patterns or routines that you might be wed to?  Do they need challenging?

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed. ⁵ One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹ And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

What Kind of Question is That?

Jesus asks people if they want to be healed?  This is not the only time.  Isn’t that obvious?  The invalid had been there for a long time.  Jesus, though does not act in a person’s life regardless of their will.  He treats the invalid as a person and forces them to participate in their healing by choosing it.  The invalid exercises faith when he chooses to get up and walk in response to Jesus.

Some of us have been invalids for years.  We are used to making excuses why we are not healed.  We say that it is not up to us.  Someone else has not rescued us; they have not helped us.  We may not have a physical ailment that everyone can see.  We may have a chronic sense of feeling unloved.  We may be anxious about the future.  We may have a pattern of failed relationships which we put down to bad luck or bad matches.  There are ways that we protect ourselves from change, but secretly we wish for a different life.  Then Jesus asks, “Do you want to be healed?” We think we do, but when he tells us to get up and start following his directions we respond with fighting, fleeing, or freezing.  Are you frozen by the side of the pool?  Are you running from Jesus’ healing?  Are you angry at God because you are unwilling to accept the changes he wants to bring in your life?

It’s time to ‘get up, take up your bed, and walk.’

Prayer

I can be arrogant and think that I have arrived.  I can be blind and ignorant of my next step of growth.  I can be too busy and forget that life is about relationship.  I can be stuck by the side of the pool, unable to see my need to be healed.  Work your healing in us.  Help us to get up and walk wherever you are going to lead.

Questions

1. Where did Jesus go?
2. Why did Jesus ask a question that would have seemed so obvious?
3. How long did it take the man to respond?
4. What is the next step Jesus is calling you to take in spiritual growth?
5. Do you want to be healed?

⁴³ After the two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴ (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honour in his own home town.) ⁴⁵ So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.

⁴⁶ So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. ⁵¹ As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. ⁵² So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³ The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household. ⁵⁴ This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

Second Sign

This story is the second sign in a series that leads us to understand who Jesus is.  The official who believes at the end of the story models for us the process from unbelief to belief.  The official starts with a desperate situation, his son is ill.  Being a father I know how desperate a father might become because of his son being ill.  Of course my son is as mischievous or disobedient as many other sons, but I love him in a way that I couldn’t have foreseen before he came to be in our house.  The official is driven to consider any options for how his son is to be healed and he comes to Jesus.  Jesus graciously works in the life of the family and his whole household sees the effects.

In our times of desperation we come to Jesus because there is no-one else.  If we are sensitive to his leading, we see that he answers us.  He may say, “No”.  He may say, “Wait.”  He knows what is best.  The fact that he is present with us in our anguish is proof of who he is.  So who would you say acts in a family’s life the way Jesus acted in the life of the local leader?

Prayer

I wish you would act in my life in ways that would create pure joy and belief without doubt.  I want you to work in my life to show me signs of who you are.  I do accept that you have worked in the life of others, especially in this story, to show a sign of who you are.  I accept you are God and that you are Lord and I follow you.

Questions

1. What problem is presented to Jesus?
2. How does he react?
3. What must we believe in response to this story?
4. How has Jesus acted or seemingly failed to act in your family?
5. What does Jesus’ action in your family point to?

²⁷ Just then his disciples came back. They marvelled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.

³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word. ⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.”

Go Reap

Jesus’ disciples come to find him reaping a harvest among the Samaritans.  This was unexpected, but he tells them that a harvest is to be reaped.  God himself has prepared the people in many ways so that they are ready for Jesus.  It was unlikely that Jewish evangelists had effectively prepared the Samaritans to become converts to Jesus as the Messiah.  This open attitude to Jesus and his message may have been by word-of-mouth because people had heard what he was doing in the neighbouring regions.  It may have been that God, through the Spirit, was preparing the people in supernatural ways.  In either case, the principle is that God goes before the evangelist preparing the hearts of people so that they are predisposed to the good news of Jesus.

Today we are sometimes afraid to speak about God to people we do not know well.  Sometimes we are afraid to talk about God to people who we do know well because we assume their attitude is fixed.  God prepares people to hear the news of Jesus’ message.  We do not know how he challenges people, we just know that he does.  When we come with an open attitude to discussing Jesus and a passionate attitude to sharing our faith we are coming in after God has worked in people’s lives.  There is often a harvest that leaves us awe struck.  I have personally experienced this on plane flights, in bus stations, and in coffee shops.  It just takes a focus on God rather than ourselves and then God reaps a harvest through us.

Prayer

God, we are often so focused on ourselves and our inadequacies.  I pray that you would help us to reach out and share what we have received and expect a harvest.  Maybe we are to plant a seed that others will reap, but help us not to hold back when we should speak.

Questions

1. Who is converted in this passage?
2. What is the attitude of the disciples?
3. What information brackets Jesus teaching in this section and why?
4. Is there a harvest to be had among the Muslims?  What is your attitude?
5. How freely do you talk about your faith with others?  How can open communication about Jesus be naturally maintained?