Christian Basics Course
Am I a Christian?
Who is Christ?
What is Church Membership all about?
What is my ministry?
How will prayer and Bible study help me?
Who needs to hear my story?
GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." JOHN 3:16-18
What did God's love cause him to do?
What does it mean that God "gave" his Son?
How can a person receive eternal life?
It is important for you to be assured that you have eternal life. Since feelings change, this assurance must ultimately depend on the Word of God.
These are some Bible passages that have helped many Christians gain assurance. You may want to memorize the verse which helps you most in this area.
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." JOHN 5:24
"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." 1 JOHN 5:11-12
Who has eternal life?
How does someone have eternal life?
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. JOHN 1:9-14
How is one born into God's family? John 1:12-13
What does it mean to receive Jesus Christ?
What does it mean to see that Jesus has the glory from the Father, and it is full of grace and truth?
Who is Jesus Christ?
What does the word "Christ" mean?
What does the name "Jesus" mean?
John's Gospel highlights 7 aspects of Jesus that highlight Who He is. John helps us see that Jesus is God by reminding us of when Jesus announced to the Jewish people that He is the "I am" that Moses met at the Burning Bush (Exodus 3). That Jesus called Himself the "I am" was understood by the Jews as a direct claim to be God. Here are the seven I am sayings.
I am the bread of life (6:35), I am the light of the world (8:12), I am the door (10:7), I am the good shepherd (10:11, 14), I am the resurrection and the life (11:25), I am the way the truth and the life (14:6) and I am the true vine (15:1).
Each "I am" saying is important for you to know and experience for yourself. We will consider each one separately.
JESUS SAID "I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE" (6:35),
After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?"6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.7 Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him,9 "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?"10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost."13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"26 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.27 Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."28 Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."30 So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"32 Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."34 They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."
35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
The moment Jesus said "bread" his listeners would have remembered how each day, during the forty years of Israel wandering in the wilderness after escaping Egypt under Moses, God would provide bread from heaven to feed the Israelites. But receiving free physical bread (manna) on the journey to the Promised Land in Moses' time (Exodus 16:13-18) nor the miracle that Jesus had just performed of creating bread for 5000 people (John 6:1-15) could satisfy the deep soul hunger which only Jesus can satisfy.
Which verses in this passage are encouraging for you?
"I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." JOHN 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Jesus is making a direct claim to being the Messiah (see Isaiah 9:2). The teachers of the law and others present in the temple court would not have mistaken the meaning of his words. The annual feast was highlighted with the beauty of the lighted golden lampstand.
Jesus is described earlier as "the true light that gives light to everyone" (JOHN 1:9).
This implies that until a person comes to know and trust the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, they are walking in spiritual darkness.
Paul describes this spiritual darkness
Colossians 1: 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience---3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ---by grace you have been saved-
What is the difference between walking in darkness and walking in light?
What promise does Jesus give those who walk in the light?
How does a person walk in light?
Do you want to walk in the light of Jesus?
John 10 I AM THE DOOR
1.Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
2 "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
3 "To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
5 "A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers."
6 This figure of speech Jesus spoke to them, but they did not understand what those things were which He had been saying to them.
7 So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 "All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
Jesus announces that He is the door that allows someone to enter into life that is full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' " 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace.
Sheep would be slept at night in a sheepfold made of stone. The shepherd would sleep in the open doorway as a door to keep the sheep in safely and to let them out to feed. The next I am saying reminds us Jesus is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.
There are two things that can happen for you: John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." How does Jesus provide salvation and pasture for you?
Jesus is the Only door, the One door, the Open door for you to have salvation and abundant life.
What does this mean for you?
John 10 I AM THE GOOD SHEPHERD
John 10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."
19 There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.
20 Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?"
21 Others said, "These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"
22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."
25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
30 I and the Father are one."
In what ways is Jesus the Good Shepherd for you? What has Jesus done for you?
Grace is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Can you see grace here for you?
What does it mean to hear His voice?
What does it mean to follow Him?
Who keeps you safe? What does it mean to be kept in His hands?
My Name from the palms of His hands,
Eternity will not erase
Impressed on his heart it remains
In marks of indelible grace
And I to the end shall endure,
As sure as the earnest is given
More happy but not more secure
When glorified with Him in heaven.
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