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Three Years That Changed The World – A Demonstration of Divine Power

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Three Years That Changed The World – Lesson 8

A Demonstration of Divine Power

(John 6)

The focus of this lesson is on two significant miracles performed by Jesus in which he displays his Divine Power:

The Feeding of the 5000

Jesus Walks on the Water

The timing of the events recorded in John 6 happen sometime after the disciples had been preaching throughout the Galilean region and after John the Batist was killed (beheaded) by Herod Antipas (Mark 6). As such the time between John 5 and John 6 would have been about 6 months and the events of John 6 would have been approximately 1-1.5 years before Jesus was crucified.

Prior to the actual miracle of the Feeding of the 5000, Jesus had crossed (by boat) to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (just east of Capernaum) and went up to the mountainside which would have been in what is today referred to as modern day Golan Heights.

A great crowd (many of them had previously witnessed the miracles Jesus had performed in the region of Galilee) began to assemble in the area where Jesus and his disciples were. The crowd was probably in excess of 10,000 people (men, woman and children) and after a series of discussions with his disciples, Jesus had compassion on the crowd and miraculously fed all of them with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and there was even food leftover.

The second miracle happened shortly after the Feeding of the 5000 and it involved Jesus walking on water. The event and the miracle are recorded in 3 out of the 4 gospel accounts (Luke being the only one to not mention it) and this is the fifth miraculous sign recorded by John and intended to demonstrate the divine power/authority of Jesus over the laws of nature. There has never been another recorded event like this and although skeptics have lobbed their attempts to lessen its significance – it no doubt solidified the faith of those disciples in the boat.

The balance of John 6 addresses the significance of the Divine Authority that Jesus will claim in the first of his “I Am” statements recorded in John’s Gospel. This will be a hard teaching for some to accept but it doesn’t make it any less true that God was in their midst.

A Demonstration of Divine PowerDownload

Three Years That Changed the World – Jesus & The Woman at the Well

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Three Years That Changed The World – Lesson 6

Jesus and the Woman at the Well

(John 4)

After leaving the Judean countryside, Jesus once again makes his way to the region of Galilee. He will make a planned visit to a well located near the town of Sychar which is in the broader region of Samaria. The purpose in stopping at the well was to meet with and have a conversation with an unnamed woman who is often referred to as the “Woman at the Well” or “The Samaritan Woman” for she was a Samaritan who came there to draw water from the well near the town of Sychar.

The division and near bitter animosity between Jews and Samaritans remained an issue prior to, during and even after the time Jesus walked this earth. This made this visit extremely significant for it showed that God cares for the whole of mankind and the Samaritan Woman needed to witness the love and compassion Jesus was offering.

The lesson Jesus used to get his point across involved the comparison of physical water (able to quench the physical thirst of our bodies) and something that lasted for a short period of time to living water (able to quench the thirst of our soul) which was eternal. This translated to the need that the Samaritan Woman and her entire village needed which was the salvation of their souls and the reason Jesus stopped to see her. Only the “Living Water” that Jesus offered could fully quench that thirst and to receive that water the woman needed to recognize her sin (which separated her from God) and embrace Jesus as her Savior/Messiah which she does. There are several lessons found throughout this chapter of the Gospel of John; from the breaking down of the social barriers that separate us, to having love and compassion for those considered downcast and unwanted, and having an understanding that it is faith and not works that save us. Salvation comes to those who accept Jesus Christ as Messiah and he is the only one capable of making us right with God; “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Jesus & The Woman at the WellDownload

Three Years That Changed the World Part 4 – Miracles Are God’s Business

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Three Years That Changed The World

Lesson 4 – Miracles Are God’s Business – John 2:1-12

Sometime after Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael to follow him; Mary, Jesus, and his disciples will head towards the region of Galilee (more specifically Cana). They will be invited to a wedding in Cana, and this will be the scene of the very first “public” miracle by Jesus.

It is interesting that Jesus chose this moment to perform his first miracle in public and the fact that he did it at a wedding ceremony shows the value that he placed on the sacredness and importance of the marriage relationship. Jesus took something completely ordinary (water) and turned it into something extraordinary (the choicest wine). There was no magic wand, no scripted words, and no fanfare – he just made it happen, and it was so.

This miracle which is only recorded by John and not the other 3 gospel writers can be easily overlooked if we don’t take the time to carefully examine it. For starters, how about you try it! You can make wine (some can make it better than others) but it takes more than just water to make that happen. Jesus didn’t add anything to the water – he just made water become wine. We also learn from John’s record that the disciples believed the miracle and no doubt increased their faith in Jesus, but there is no record that the servants who poured the wine from the water jars who witnessed the miracle believed. This is why some people can read about this miracle and believe while others can read it and not believe.

This might have been the first miracle performed by Jesus, but it won’t be his last. In fact, John (the Apostle and gospel writer) will record 8 of the 35 miracles performed by Jesus that we find written in the New Testament. We know that Jesus performed more than 35 miracles for he will perform mass healings of people when he fed the 4000 recorded in Matthew 15; “Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing”.

You have to ask yourself; why did he turn water into wine, why did he heal people of their diseases, why did he cast out demons whose sole purpose was to torment people, why did he feed masses of people with so little? Because he loves them and because he wants people to believe and follow him. He sees the pain of this world (pain not caused by Him) and wants to deliver people from the pain of their sin and the miracles he performed were for that purpose; “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:30-31) Take a good hard look through this lesson – download the PDF and examine the scriptures for yourself. It is quite compelling to see the compassion and the power displayed by Jesus and yet some will accept him while others reject him. My prayer is that you will accept Him.

Jesus Turns Water into Wine – John 2Download