I am a retired pastor of
the Church of God (Tennessee). My name is Isaac Livingston. I am from Neyyoor India. |
Email: Pastor True Gospel
"John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life,.. Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
Our study portion is John 6:1-31. Verse 2 says, "a great multitude followed him, because they saw his miracles ..." In verse 5, Jesus says to Philip, "Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" Jesus wants to feed the multitude. "7 Philip answered him, Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little. 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith unto him, 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?" It is a pathetic offer. It is five barley loaves, and two small fishes. You and I would not have offered this to him. Andrew had something special in him, that caused this miracle. "10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." Why gather up the fragments? It all came from almost nothing. No! the lesson is; Every miracle from God and parts of it, are rare, and don't take them for granted. Such things are not daily occurrences. They gathered twelve baskets full of loafs and fishes. The miracle was a timely provision of food. Because of that, people considered him as a prophet and wanted to make him their king. The idea is; if he is king then they don't have to worry about food anymore. But Jesus sneaked away from them to a mountain.
At late in the evening, his disciples got into a ship, and was sailing over the sea toward Capernaum. But Jesus was in the mountain and there was a severe storm at the sea. "18 And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew. 19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. 20 But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. 21 Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went." Do you know how many miracles happened in this? Jesus could have transferred himself from the mountain to the sea, where the disciples could see him. He was seen walking on the water, the storm was quenched, and as soon as Jesus got into the boat, the ship was instantly transferred from the middle of the sea to the shore. There were four miracles, one after the other. When the people saw Jesus on the other side, they wondered how he got there, because there was only one boat, Jesus did not come with his disciples, and he was still on the mountain praying to the Father. People did not know about these four miracles; only his disciples knew.
People came by ship to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus, from where he feed the five thousand by miracle. "25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither? 26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled." That is, if they were amazed by his miracle, they would have acknowledged that he was sent by God and they would have listened to him. But they sought after him for free food. So, Jesus accused them for that. "27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed." When he was a man, God the Father sealed him with eternal life. His purpose was to guide people to the eternal life so that they may inherit the kingdom of God. Miracles, healings, and all these things are for signs to show that he was sent by God. But people came for food, but not for eternal life. Jesus told them to seek for eternal life rather than food. We shrug this off as something that Jesus has admonished the Jews, and as we have nothing to do with it. Let us stop here a moment. Most of you may have a career. You may be a doctor, engineer, manager, craftsmen, artist, skilled worker or in some other positions. How much effort you have taken to qualify yourself for your job? Your job is your bread. Compare the benefits of your job to your eternal life. Your job may last for another fifty years. Your eternal life is for thousands of years, for eternity. Say, that you may get in paradise. It is the garden of God and the food is provided by God. Compare the place you live in, and the foods you eat; to the beauty of the place and the delicacy of the food in paradise. That is going to be your dwelling place, or mansion. Also, compare your health and comfort here, to the health and comfort in paradise. Can you compare? There will be no comparison. In case you get to new heavens, (there will be two, one for Sons, and another for the bride,) the sights in front of you on the skies, will always be thousand times more exciting than that of the Disney world. Now let us compare the efforts you and I have put in to obtain our career, as well as to obtain this place that we may inherit in heaven forever. Say, that you are an engineer. How much time that you spent for studies, exams, and how much money you spent for tuition. Compare that to how much time you spent in devotion, to study Bible, and to pray. How much money you have given to poor servants of God to help them to meet their basic needs. Please don't count the money you gave to established churches and to your celebrity preachers. They are not more than dumpsters. Now, tell yourself, whether your efforts justify your inheritance. We will come short. Yet, if you and I, obey Jesus Christ our Lord, he will give us inheritance in his kingdom. We may be his people, servants, sons, or even his bride. Jesus says to count the cost and do what you must do. But don't run after miracles. "Luke 12:29 And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 30 For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. 31 But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Are you one in the little flock of the Father? Jesus Christ tells us not to go after miracles but to go after his kingdom. If you are one in his little flock, he will take care of you.
Jesus told the Jews to labor for eternal life rather than for the bread. Please watch the next two verses. Our preachers twist these two verses also. "28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." Preachers say, what all we have to do is to believe Jesus, which we all do anyway, and so we do not have to do any other work. It is all done. They may win a court case with such an argument, but not before God. Lake of fire will be ready for them. They will spend eternal damnation there for rebelling against God and deceiving people. But if we have truth in our heart and conscience, we will know that these preachers do not serve God but serve their own belly. "30 They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?" Look, this is ridiculous! These are the people, who ate from the five loafs and two fishes. It was by a miracle. They came here looking for him, because they ate. Now they ask him, what sign he will show them, for them to believe that he is sent by God. Look at the next verse and see what kind of sign they are asking for. "31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat." Look! they want manna, like Moses gave Israel to eat every day. So, these people want free food every day. What kind of sign is that? Christians also want to fill our entire life with signs. But most of us do not want the person behind the signs, because if we receive him in our life, then we must obey him. We don’t want to obey God, but just want his miracles. Nobody can exploit God. It is better to obey him.
1, Jesus Christ did many miracles. He feed five thousand people with five loafs and two fishes, transferred himself from the mountain to the sea near the ship, walked on the water, quenched the storm, and moved the ship instantly to the shore. 2, Jesus Christ tells us to work primarily for everlasting life, rather than for our provisions. 3, Even Christians seek miracles, but not the kingdom of God. If we seek the kingdom of God, all the rest will be given to us.
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Matthew 28:20, & Mark 16:15. Jesus Christ preached his commandments to obey, as his
Gospel; it is the true Gospel to inherit Eternal life. Genesis 3:1-4 & 2 Corinth 11:2-4. But Preachers, who are Serpents of Satan, preach the life of man Jesus just to believe, but not to live as a chaste virgin, as the gospel; it is another gospel, which cannot and will not give Eternal life.The true gospel will convert evil people to do good and thereby they will inherit the kingdom in heaven.
John 3:19-21 say that people are two kinds, evil and true. Evil doers will not come to the Light, who is God; but people of truth come to God for their deeds to be made manifest. We have good and evil people by our standard of our society or culture. These evil people may be converted to be doers of truth by the power of God, and they may inherit the kingdom of God in heaven.
Email: Pastor True Gospel