“Miracles of Jesus”
John 20:30-31
“And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
Throughout the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John we see Jesus perform many miracles. In John specifically we see just a few of those miracles. But why did He perform these signs and wonders? Each one had a purpose. The first one is turning water into wine. Jesus and His disciples are at a wedding (Jn.2:1-2) and they had run out of wine. Jesus gave instruction to the servants (2:5-8). After the miracle had been performed his disciples believed, this was the manifestation of his glory (2:11). Another well-known miracle is feeding five thousand (6:1-15). A multitude was following Jesus and the Passover was near. Jesus saw the people and said, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” They clearly did not have enough money for all the five thousand (6:6-7). Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish given by a young man and distributed them among the five thousand and all were filled. They even gathered extra (6:9-13). Those in the multitude said, “This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world” (6:14). Jesus was not just “a prophet” but “that prophet” of Moses’ promise (Duet. 18:15,18). Its purpose was a fulfillment of a promise and for the multitude to believe. There are other miracles from Jesus all with purpose. Such as healing the blind man (9:1-41) to teach the Pharisees as well as gain the discipleship of the blind man. Jesus raising Lazarus for the belief of those around (11:38-44), and his own resurrection as fulfillment of the law and prophecy (19:38-20:31). All of Jesus’ actions and miracles had a clear purpose that can be seen. They were used to teach, bring people to belief, manifest his glory, and fulfill law and prophecy.
Kaleb G. Hopper
God’s Son, God’s Leader
John 3:1-21
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."
John 3:18-21
A Pharisee named Nicodemus recognized something special about Jesus, something that set Him apart from the many other religious types he had met. Jesus seemed to possess a unique authority in everything He did or said. So, this zealous leader rightly confessed to Jesus, “No one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). With that statement, Nicodemus showed how close he had come to understanding the true identity of Jesus Christ.
In His conversation with Nicodemus – and in the encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well and in a series of miracles and teachings that followed (John 4-6) – Jesus established Himself in word and in deed as the One God had sent to be the Savior of the world.
While Nicodemus recognized that God had sent Jesus, there was much more to it than that. Christ wasn’t just sent of God; He was God in the flesh, the Son of the true and living God.
Since none of us can claim Jesus’ lofty heritage, none of us can exactly match the kind of leadership expressed by the Lord Jesus Christ when He walked the earth. But we can look to Him as our model and example of perfect leadership and rely on the Holy Spirit (as He did) to empower our leadership.
Use Your Bible!
Using your Bible answer the questions below
Theme #8: The Fall and Redemption of Man
1. What is sin declared to be? (1 John 3:4)
2. What precedes the manifestation of sin? (James 1:15)
3. What is the final result or fruit of sin? (Rom. 6:23)
4. Upon how many of the human race did death pass as the result of Adam’s transgression? (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22)
5. How was the earth itself affected by Adam’s sin? (Gen. 3:17, 18)
6. What additional curse came as the result of the first murder? (Gen. 4:9-12)
7. What terrible judgment came in consequence of continued sin and transgression against God? (Gen. 6:7-13; 7:6-11)
8. After the flood, what came in consequence of further apostasy from God? (Gen. 11:5-8)
9. Into what condition has sin brought the entire creation? (Rom. 8:22)
10. What explains God’s apparent delay in dealing with sin? (2 Pet. 3:9)
11. What is God’s attitude toward the sinner? (Ezek. 18:32)
12. Can man free himself from the dominion of sin? (Jer. 13:23)
13. What place has the will in determining whether man shall have life? (Rev. 22:17)
14. To what extent has Christ suffered for sinners? (Isa. 53:5)
15. For what purpose was Christ manifested? (1 John 3:5-8)
16. What was one direct purpose of the incarnation of Christ? (Heb. 2:14)
17. What triumphant chorus will mark the end of the reign of sin? (Rev. 5:13)
18. When and by what means will the effects of sin be removed? (2 Pet. 3:10)
19. How will the curse of the confusion of tongues be brought to an end? (Zeph. 3:9)
20. How thoroughly will the effects of sin be removed? (Rev. 21:4; Rev. 22:3)
21. Will sin and its evil ever appear again? (Nah. 1:9; Rev. 21:4; Rev. 22:3)
“A Walk With God”
We will “search the scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11) by reading through the entire Bible in a year for 2019. In this section of the Pekin Bulletin you will find the reading schedule to help you take “A Walk With God” so that you may grow closer to Him. This reading will be done in a somewhat “chronological order.” Enjoy!
August 2019
01 – Jer. 50, 51
02 – Jer. 30-33
03 – Jer. 21, 34
04 – Jer. 37-39, 52
05 – Jer. 40-44
06 – Lam. 1-5
07 – 2 Chron. 36:1-8; Dan. 1-4
08 – Dan. 5, 6
09 – Dan. 7-9
10 – Dan. 10-12
11 – 2 Chron. 36:9-21; Ps. 137
12 – Ezek. 1-3
13 – Ezek. 4-11
14 – Ezek. 12-17
15 – Ezek. 18-20
16 – Ezek. 21-24
17 – Ezek. 25-28
18 – Ezek. 29-32
19 – Ezek. 33-35
20 – Ezek. 36-39
21 – Ezek. 40-42
22 – Ezek. 43-48
23 – 2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ez. 1:1- 5:1
24 – Hag. 1, 2
25 – Zech. 1-8
26 – Zech. 9-11
27 – Zech. 12-14
28 – Psalms 107, 126
29 – Ezra 5:2 to 6:22
30 – Esther 1, 2
31 - Esther 8-10