Crossbridge Community Church Of Ocean County

What does it take to keep oneself in good physical shape? It takes discipline in our diet and exercise, which takes hard work and commitment. Explain radio DJ Big Joe Henry's story about his gym membership. I suspect that treadmills at home are being used for hanging laundry or are being sold at garage sales. Would maintaining physical health take discipline and commitment? More importantly, we must ask what it takes to have and maintain spiritual health. This is the issue Jesus addresses in John 6:47-71. Look at this passage together and see what the Holy Spirit wants us to learn and apply.

Some people may believe that theology isn't that important. Allow me to illustrate this with a question. What would it take for you and me to effectively repair a car engine? First, we would need to study and master all the engine systems. Second, we need to learn how the systems interact with each other.  Last, we need to be mentored by a well-trained mechanic until we become proficient. If these things are addressed, we may improve the engine problem instead of improving it. Good biblical theology is essential because it forms a biblical worldview through which we may live for God's glory. This takes disciplined work on our part. We need the illumination and understanding provided by the Holy Spirit. The passage is the continuation of Jesus interacting with the crowd, following Him to get a free lunch again. Some of the religious leaders were present also. To recap, Jesus declared Himself to be the Bread of Heaven sent by His Father to do the will of His Father. When Jesus said, "I Am..." He affirmed th

Every person is born with some degree of spiritual hunger. The crucial question we all need to answer is with whom or what do we fill our spiritual hunger? There are at least three choices which are available to us; 1) We ignore our spiritual hunger; 2) We can try to satisfy it with someone or something that might satisfy us for a short time or; 3) We can trust in Christ, the bread of Heaven and never be spiritually hungry again. There are eternal consequences if we choose either the first or second option. In John 6:25 -36, Jesus confronts the religious leaders and the remaining crowd after feeding the 5,000. He preached a powerful sermon.

"Lessons on Trusting Christ!" John 6:1-21 We all encounter situations in life that can be overwhelming. For example, the loss of a loved one, financial hardship because of the loss of a job or a severe illness, a divorce, a wayward child, and many more. Initially, these problems may seem insurmountable. The issue we all face as Christ's followers is whether we will trust Christ and continue lovingly obedient as we go through these trials and problems. The apostle John records two instances in which the disciples had no choice but to trust Christ when faced with these overwhelming problems. So, when faced with these issues, how will we handle them? There are only two options available to us. We either trust in ourselves or other people or continue to trust Christ.

Intro: "He Is Risen! He has risen indeed!" This Easter morning, this Resurrection Sunday, we can proclaim with complete confidence and joy that Jesus has conquered sin, death, and the devil! Jesus paid the total penalty for all your sin and mine so that we would be forgiven by faith in Him alone. Through His grace and received by faith alone, He gives us the Holy Spirit, who gives us new life in Christ from the inside out. As we learn the Scriptures and grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, He gives us a new purpose to glorify Him. The death and the resurrection of Christ is the second exodus in that, as the first exodus, God miraculously and graciously freed Israel from captivity and slavery; now God graciously frees us from the imprisonment and penalty of sin so that we can be free to obey Him by faith lovingly. This morning, I would like to look with you through the Apostle John's eyes to know the Risen Christ better.

Three key events happened immediately when Jesus died on the cross.

Our world defines peace as the absence of conflict. Biblical peace is so much more than the world's definition of peace. Even the religious leaders of Jesus' day had a wrong concept of what peace really should have been. Many people, including religious experts, missed the only Person who was and is the One who can bring true peace, Jesus Christ. Many people who desire peace in their lives look for cheap substitutes instead of looking to the source of genuine peace. John recorded Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, giving us great insights into biblical peace.

Do you remember the illustration of putting the ends of a raw egg in the palms of your hands and squeezing so the egg will not break? Something different happens when the internal substance of the egg is removed, and one repeats the process; it will break very easily. This is a picture of the Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus' time. They were more concerned about the outward appearance of looking holy and righteous while there was no substance or change internally. This encounter between the Jewish leaders and Jesus after Jesus healed this ungrateful man on the Sabbath shows the shallowness and hypocrisy of the religious leaders. Let's together look at this passage and learn from Jesus.

How hard can one's heart become towards God? We all know the answer to that question. Is it possible for a person to experience a miracle from God and remain ungrateful? The Apostle John recorded a miracle Jesus did for a paralyzed man for 38 years. There is much for us to learn from this miracle. Let's start to unpack this passage together and discover valuable insights about the human heart.

There is a distinct difference between what the world sees as faith and true biblical faith. He is the biblical definition of biblical faith from Hebrews 11:1-3. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." The culture's definition is to put faith in a person, wealth, political system, or candidate. People can exercise faith in fortune tellers or superstitions, or cults. Faith is only as strong as the object or person we trust. Could you give me some examples? We will look at an encounter with Jesus and an official demonstrating true biblical faith.