Ridgedale Students

Jesus has fed the multitudes with bread, but when a crowd comes back to Him for more, He enters into one of the most confusing, difficult, and controversial teachings of His entire ministry. He finishes that teaching with hundreds, if not thousands, fewer disciples than before He gave it. What is meant by Jesus being the Bread of Life, why must we eat His flesh and drink His blood, and why couldn't He just make all of this less intense? We enter into John 6:25-71 tonight to answer these questions and more.

Tonight we look at John 6 part 1 with AnnaKate Potter focusing on seeing the real Jesus who sees us, knows us and provides for us.

What do we do with the healing miracles (or signs) of Jesus in John? The signs and wonders of John are meant to be understood as inbreakings of the Kingdom of God that reveal certain realities about life in the here and now as well as life in eternity to come.

As Jesus heals people of sickness and disease (an action that comprises 1/5 of all miracles in the gospels), Jesus is declaring that the Kingdom to come will be one of wholeness and healing. There will be no more sickness or death. When confronted about Him doing this action on the Sabbath we see an attempt by the Pharisees to distract from the real truth of the text; Jesus is bringing healing and to seek healing, wholeness, or Shalom through any other means will be an unfruitful labor. We are healed in and only in Jesus.

John 3 is packed with theological weight and memorable scripture, but even more it offers us the story of a man who knew his life was out of sync but couldn’t figure out how to change. In steps Jesus with a gentle but direct word to Nicodemus on how real change occurs.

As we continue in our series, Presence, we see Jesus calling the first of His disciples in John 1:35-51. Something that jumps out immediately upon entering our text is the second proclamation in John of, "Behold the Lamb of God." There's a unique flavoring of presence in this passage in the way that Jesus calls these disciples and reveals Himself to them. It tells us something unique about our discipleship to Jesus; that we must be WITH HIM as He comes to us and as He calls us to follow Him. To be a disciple is a resolution to being with the One who is with us and who calls us to Himself.

What does a house that honors all do? It eventually becomes a place of great blessing.

What drives thriving culture?

For many churches, organizations, even friend groups, the driving force behind much of the culture in these modern spaces is a sense of superiority, selfishness, and a desire to be "the best." But is this the way the Church is meant to function? Paul makes the statement, multiple times throughout his epistles, that we are to live in such a way that we bestow excessive amounts of honor on one another and in so doing we will live in harmony as God intends. This doesn't happen overnight, but it's only through this hard, consistent work that we become the house that God intends us to be; a House of Honor and Blessing.

What do we do when the tiger gets in? Resisting temptation is often approached from the perspective of formulas and three step processes but what if there’s something deeper? What if we can not only resist temptation but can find rest for our souls in the midst of it? What if resisting temptation boils down to something as simple as trust?

Last week we examined a broad overview of temptation to start our series, but tonight we begin looking deeper at the nature of temptation. We start with how temptation enters our lives.

What is the nature of temptation? How are we most often tempted? Why is it so easy for us to step into temptation?

To begin talking about how we deal with temptation we need to get a grasp on how temptation is so pervasive in our lives. We know we shouldn't do certain things and yet it always finds a way to seep into the fabric of our lives to destructive effect. Before the war begins, we need a plan for the battle and we need to know our enemy.