Scripture:John 16:32b “You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”Observation:Jesus knew that His friends would all abandon Him in His time of greatest need. They would fall asleep, when He asked them to stay awake and pray with Him in the garden. They would run in fear, when the soldiers came to arrest Him. Peter would even deny he knew Jesus as Jesus was on trial....  Read More

Scripture:John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”Observation:In these last hours of Jesus’ life before His crucifixion, He speaks about some of His greatest concerns for His followers. And at the top of His priority list is that each of us stays connected to Him, keeping the relationship with H...  Read More

1 John 2:18-28Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.  But you have an anointing f...  Read More

Scripture:John 14:27 ”Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”Observation:Hearing Jesus speak of His death and of going away without them was frightening for His disciples. They knew there were people in power who wanted to kill Jesus and it seemed like Jesus was not planning to fight them. This was...  Read More

Scripture:John 13:3 “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist.”Observation:It is amazing to see that Jesus’ willingness to do such a lowly and menial act of service was not in spite of Him being the greatest person in the world ...  Read More

Scripture:John 12:43 “For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.”Observation:Jesus’ miracles and His teaching were nearly irrefutable evidence that He was who He said He was – God’s Son, the promised Messiah. There were ample reasons to believe this. Many of the Jewish leaders really did believe this, but they didn’t want to admit it, because of their fear that they might be ostraci...  Read More

Scripture:John 11:40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”Observation:Mary and Martha were in deep pain, and pain makes faith very difficult. They wanted to believe in Jesus’ ability to raise their brother Lazarus from the dead, but it seemed impossible, since he had already been dead for four days, and his corpse was even beginning to smell as...  Read More

1 John 2:12-17I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake.  I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.  I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been...  Read More

Scripture:John 10:16 “I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”Observation:Jesus desires that people of all different nationalities and cultures be united as one flock under His shepherding. However different we may all be from one another, Jesus longs for us all to love each other an...  Read More

Scripture:John 9:16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”Observation:Because of the Pharisees’ predetermined ideas about what was religious and what wasn’t, they missed out on recognizing their Messiah, for whom they had been waiting for centuries. They were so stuck on their human definitions of what it meant not to do any work on the Sabbath, t...  Read More

Scripture:John 8:11 “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”Observation:Jesus was without sin, and so had the right to condemn this woman. But, as He said in John 3:17, He does not want to condemn people. Instead He is eager to forgive us for wrongs we have done and give us a fresh start to go and live right. Jesus doesn’t say that sinning is no big deal, or...  Read More

1 John 2:7-11Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.  On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true Light is already shining.  The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates ...  Read More