Jesus does not hesitate to offend listeners in the interest of telling the truth. It is critical for us to know all we cannot do, so that we depend on the Trinity for all aspects of salvation.

Do God’s promises ring hollow when your faith is put to the test? Abraham almost certainly would’ve been tempted to think so when God commanded him to do the impossible and sacrifice his only son. But instead, he trusted God to provide what he could not. In the same way, we can trust that God has provided what we cannot in Jesus Christ.

Jesus begins, here, to treat us like friends, by telling us more than the bare essentials about our real hunger and His eternal supply of Bread through which we will live forever. So He opens up the Father’s heart & plans, to reveal the doctrines of sovereign grace.

Not only is Jesus the eternal Bread we really need for abundant & eternal life, He (Jesus) is an actual gift from God to the unworthy. It is the work of God, that we believe!

After 25 years of waiting, God gives Abraham and his wife a son as He promised. Abraham then gives his son a name that reflects the joy he has in seeing God’s promise fulfilled - Isaac. But even this joy Abraham felt pales in comparison to the joy God freely gives to His people through another promised child - Jesus Christ.

From anxiety about failing to meet basic needs of thousands to rational fears of seastorms & death, Jesus presents Himself as the One to be feared above all; then all our other challenges find their rightful place.

One of the most famous benedictions in all of Scripture displays how the blessing of the Lord is intimately related to His presence. This blessing is ours to proclaim as well if we are united to the person and work of Jesus Christ, “God With Us.”

Our guest preacher this week is Quinn Sloan, a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and the full-time campus minister for Reformed University Fellowship at the University of Kansas.

Many of Jesus’ words & actions seem to persuade all who witnessed His life & read about it new, that He is a new and greater Moses. Above all, let us listen to Him!

As we come to the close of a substantial teaching portion by Jesus (at the end of John 5), He claims that “Moses” & all the Scriptures are all about Him. If we love and understand God’s word, we will love and submit to King Jesus.

Although our extraordinary God gives us extraordinary grace, He uses ordinary means to give it to ordinary people. We clearly see this in God’s dealings with both Abraham and the pagan king Abimelech in this chapter.