Read: John 7:1-24

Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. (John 7:17)

Do you ever wonder if Jesus actually was what he claimed to be? Do you have trouble at times understanding what he is saying in these tremendous passages, especially in the Gospel of John? Well, if that is the case, he tells you what to do: Practice what he says. Obey his words. Repent of your sins. Come to him. Cast yourself upon his mercy. Believe in his forgiveness, and go out in obedience and treat people the way he says to. Then you will know from an inside knowledge that no one can take away that what he says is true, because his teaching is in line with the reality you are seeing of God at work through you.

This is a principle that runs all through life: You learn by doing. A doctor may learn all that the medical books can teach him, but until he gets his hands into surgery or dispenses medicines to people who are sick he never really learns. The same is true in any field: You learn by doing. When you do what Jesus says, you begin to understand with a deep conviction that he knows what life is all about.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – Is Jesus For Real? →

Read: John 6:60-71

You do not want to leave too, do you? Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:67-69)

Here is the mark of the true believer: He cannot quit! When Jesus said to them, Will you go away also? it is clear that he would have let them go if they had wanted to. He does not hold anybody against his will. Responding to our Lord’s words, Peter says three wonderful things:

First, he says, in effect, Lord, we have been thinking about it. We have investigated the alternatives. You’re not easy to live with. You embarrass us. You frighten us. We don’t understand you at times. We see and hear you do things that simply blow our minds. You offend people who we think are important. We have looked at some alternatives, but I want to tell you this, Lord: we have never found anyone who can do what you can do. To whom shall we go? You have two things that hold us, two things we cannot deny, and the first is your words. What you say to us has met our deepest need, has delivered us from our sins and freed us from our fears. Your words, Lord, are the most remarkable words we have ever heard. They explain us and they explain life to us. They satisfy us. Nobody speaks like you do, nobody understands life like you do. That holds us.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – To Whom Shall We Go? →