Come Follow Me John 7-10

hi everyone I'm David Butler I'm Emily Freeman this is don't miss this if you are just joining us new welcome so glad you're here you'll see behind us we've got a board set up and there's a paper that we put there you can actually get this paper as a download it comes free in our newsletter you can sign up it's Emily Belle Freeman but Belle has an e on it like Beauty and the Beast Belle Emily Belle Freeman comm slash don't miss this or the links in my profile on Instagram yes and on my profile Instagram so mr. Dave Butler yeah Emily Belle Freeman on Instagram this newsletter will come out every Monday morning it just comes straight to you with everything you need for your come follow me lesson the upcoming week to teach in your home which is usually the week after a church yeah and if you are not finding in your email box just search for hello Emily bill Freeman comm and that will help solve it if you can find it yeah I'll be there okay okay so this week that we're talking about today is John chapter 7 through 10 so these are some great chapters we're gonna start off by if you'll start off by looking in John chapter 7 on the study guide sheet you'll notice we put some verses there that it's almost as if Jesus has started to do enough miracles he started to make enough of a name for himself that now people can't ignore him anymore okay I love that in in Easter week in the Easter week that we did on the triumphal entry when Jesus rides in and there is this big commotion about him coming in the question is who is this and people who had had an experience with him answered and said well this is Jesus but that is the perfect question that I think everybody needs to answer in their own lives at some time who is this like at this point he almost can't be ignored and there are too many people who have stories or too many experiences there's me yeah at this point it's kind of like why do so many people follow him why is he different you remember they asked the question how come he can speak and teach with such authority how does he know the law so like he's so entry to people that um they all want to figure out why and it's fun as you read through seven eight nine and ten you are gonna notice all these people asking who is he where did he come from is he a prophet what's he doing here it's it's just throughout all of these stories we've given you a couple places to look but there are more than just these and not only do you see the questions but in some places you watch either either people or other people answering or he sometimes answers for himself like this is what I like in eleven and twelve for example the the Jews are looking for a manna feast Jesus always comes into Jerusalem for the feasts and so it's a feast time and they know he's supposed to come and they're just asking where is he in verse 11 like we know he's here so let's just get to the bottom of this and then there's murmuring among the people almost like you can hear them and they're split and some of them are saying he's a good man like I don't know what else y'all want to say about him but all I know is he's good and others are saying no he's deceiving the people he's tricking him to get a big following so you see that he is dividing people and they all want to know and you hear it all throughout this chapter everywhere you go you're gonna watch that division and that questioning of people wanting to know who he is and what we love about these chapters is instead of Jesus just gathering everyone together and saying here let me teach you who I am and what I'm about and all of these things he does what he always does and that is he's just quietly going about his business and we are gonna learn who he is through the eyes of the individuals who he touches we won't have time to do all of them today there are a whole bunch in here there's the woman caught in adultery there's the blind man the leper just these one-on-one experiences which he starts teaching us if you want to know who I am the same invitation as it was in John 1 maybe maybe here's a great question that we can think about as we look at these stories at the very end of John chapter 7 Nicodemus shows up and you'll remember Nicodemus from John chapter 3 who comes to him by night but then if you are with us during Easter week you also find out that Nicodemus is the one who buries who pays for the spices and gets the body of Jesus to bury him so sometime between John three and the death of Jesus Nicodemus has been won over to him and you and he pops up right here in John 7 almost like you get to watch a little bit of Nicodemus journey in figuring out you know who he really is and and verse 15 Nicodemus after they are saying to people you're being deceived by him Nicodemus pipes up and fifty and defends him and says does our law judge any man before we hear him and know what he does why are we making a conclusion about him without listening to his words and watching his works and then the answer back is in 52 and you love this one so ever so much the Pharisees say to him are you also of Galilee and I love that thought of do you come from where he comes from and a little bit you just want to be like yeah I am I want to be from Galilee right who I want to be and then the next to the next three words in 52 right after are you all it's supposed to be an insult right to Nicodemus are you of that Galilee they're kind of backwoods people as with hair considers like so you've been tricked with the rest of them and then I love it says search and look and that is the quest and the journey quest I have send me weird it's exciting um search and look that's the journey that all of us are on who is he well search and look listen to Nicodemus request listen to his words and watch his works and decide for yourself so let's take a look at we love it or your story chapter 8 is where we're gonna be so John chapter 8 are you in the very beginning okay Jesus has gone into the temple for a teaching and here's okay this is so small you can't even see this you should look at a picture of what the temple at Jesus is looked like but there was the part that the priests would offer the sacrifices in and right outside of that was called the court of the women so they might have a yeah maybe you can see that in here and this is where a lot of Jesus's teaching would have gone on and he's in there teaching with the people there's a Bible video for this by the way that you might want to watch I would suggest telling the story first and then watching the video because there's a couple of things that I think you'll want to look for or have the members of your group or family look for before you know before you watch it um yeah but I mean oh no no watch the video read it first then watch it so while he's in there teaching verse three in Chapter eight the scribes and the Pharisees bring in a woman unto him who's taken in adultery and they set her right in the middle so there would have been a crowd of people that were there this woman is taken in adultery they say in the very act verse 4 so she has probably brought in with not not very much on an embarrassing situation and she's brought right into the middle of the Jerusalem branch and imagine sacrament meeting and and and somebody drags a kid up to the front of the meeting and announces one of his sins like this boy we just caught him out there you know enlisting whatever it is and obviously this is a sin that would have been it's extra private and so it's extra like embarrassing for her and they try and set him up and they try to set him up to trick him because they say Moses commanded in the law that she should be stoned to death for the crime of adultery but you've been teaching mercy and forgiveness and grace and so they're trying to pit the crowd against him and get him trapped into a corner what say us thou what are you gonna do about it so just imagine being there and this woman is brought in and and they asking these two questions to try and trick him and then Jesus does one of the strangest things that he does in my opinion in the scriptures says that he Stoops down and with his finger he starts to write in the ground as though he heard them not so could you imagine everyone's like all eyes are on him and all of a sudden he just you know I guess they can't go down all the way but he just bends all the way down and just starts drawing in into the dirt on the floor and they are like what are you doing like we just asked you a question like what in the world what is he doing and then he stands back up it says to talk to them and he says that awesome line in verse 7 he who's without sin among you you first cast a stone at her right and then that convicts everybody and he Stoops back down again and he writes in the ground and does it look at them and then they are convicted of their conscience and then they leave them alone and it's just him and the woman and she's now standing up and it says again in verse 10 Jesus lifted himself up and and then says to the woman where are your accusers has anyone condemned you and she said no man Lord and he says neither do i condemn thee go thy way and sin no more now Bible scholars have argued about what he wrote in the sand for years and years and years right but I don't think that's the point there was the point I think John would have told us what he actually wrote there on the on the temple floor and but I want you to think about this for a second when that woman gets dragged into the temple and thrown onto the ground where is everybody looking and who are they thinking about and who are they judging and who are they condemning it's all on her when Jesus Stoops down on the ground and starts writing in the sand and does that really weird thing he shifts all the attention off of her and puts it all unto himself all the shame all the daggers all the accusations and brings him off of her and write unto him which is so typical of his nature that's what he came to do on Calvary's cross was to take on all of our shame all of our guilt all of the accusations of the adversary against us and to take that on him and then he stands up to address all of them and then I love him the second time he Stoops back down again and I think this time to be down there with her right on his level and once everybody's gone and out of the temple and it can just be one-on-one he lifts her up with him and then they have that conversation about has anyone condemned you it's so interesting because two of the most powerful lessons in this story don't come with words right they come by actions it's as we watch what Jesus does in that moment that in one moment he's just taking all of that humility a wave earth your Billy Asian of waiting from her and bringing it onto himself but also the fact that he meets her where she is he meets her at her level he goes to just where she is and what she's going through and and it's almost as if he's saying I'll do this with you I'll be here with you my goodness and she's there broken and and and in the dirt and and I love that he puts his hand into the dirt to write almost as the sign is like I will be in that mess with you I'm going to come into the dirt and be there with you and I love it they bring her in and there are and there's a commotion and it would have brought a crowd over and there's accusations and there's anger and it's fast-paced in its movie and I love how Jesus just slows it down mm-hmm and he just says we're not doing this at that pace we're doing it at mine a more gentle a more thorough pace and he slows it down and the only person who is in that crowd who had the authority to get to condemn her doesn't he forgives so I know and one of my favorite things about this is it is one of the most beautiful object lessons on Grace in the entire scriptures a lot of times we talk about there's something we have to do in order for grace to work in our life and what I believe about grace is Jesus will meet us where we are as we are he will come into our stories you think about this woman and what what did this woman do to qualify for grace she was caught in the very act and that did not disqualify her from receiving his enabling strength that power that would lift and change her that that invitation was given right to her in that or even his tenderness he doesn't wait for her to be clean or sorrow maybe she is sorrowful I don't know but like he offers a tender moment to her a one-on-one tenderness I meet with her immediately and I love that we learned that is the character of Christ it is to extend that grace and that love and that forgiveness in the very moment right and and this is probably the last place in the world that woman thought she wanted to be was in the temple past the recommend desk with Jesus standing right there yeah especially with the way she was feeling and what we need to learn about Jesus is that's exactly when we need to go to him when we're broken when we feel shame we don't wait until that's conde like that's it was that same story with Adam and Eve you remember in the beginning in Genesis when they run and they hide from him they understood something wrong about him if they were gonna hide from him if they knew who he really was they wouldn't have run in shame and tried to cover it up yeah we need to trust in those moments he's gonna meet us there where we are and just open our hearts wide enough to allow the lifting process and the forgiving process and that healing process to begin in us and begin to propel us forward so remember this is a kind of a case study of the question was who is Jesus and the answer was listen to his words and watch his works that woman learned on that day who he was he preached a sermon in the way that he treated her and and she started learning so the next story I know do you want to just do this story okay the next story isn't gonna be another really really good story this is gonna be in nine one chapter over one chapter over John chapter nine it's a story we are so familiar with we usually focus on the first part we don't always go to the end of the story and the best part of the story is the end of this story so this is the blind man who was blind since birth you remember what happens the disciples asked him master who did sin that this man or his parents because why was he born blind and the tradition in those days were if there was a disability of some sort it came as repercussions as something either that person had done or their parents had done and you and as cool as the disciples asking because they even they don't know yeah even they they're confused about some of the inequalities of life that we are you too sometimes and I love his answer where he's gonna go with this because sometimes we do ask those questions like why did this happen why did that happen to them why is this happening to me is there a lesson I need to learn is there something that needs to happen it just is human nature to ask those questions you know I love what Jesus answer is he says this neither has this man sinned nor his parents and then here is one of the best lessons of all time this has happened that the works of God should be made manifest in him and we're about to watch the work of God right that's what that's what people have been asking about they want to see the works of God well we're about to walk through that process and so he's gonna do his work and he begins by saying I am the light of the world and then when he had spoken he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with clay and then he sends him to go wash in the pool and he goes away and he washes in that pool of healing and and then that's where we usually end this story but the best part of the story is what is about to happen because the first people who notice he's been healed are the neighbors and they come and and they start asking each other isn't this the man who was begging on the streets because he's been there for so long for so long his whole entire life and some are like yes it's him and other people are like no it's someone who looks like him he's standing right there they thought he was deaf instead of blind yes standing right there well you're talking about wait a minute and so they say to him who who did this how did your eyes get open and he says in verse 11 a man is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and then told me to go and wash okay now what we want you to do is watch the process of what happens in this blind man's heart and we're gonna let you look just right here so in verse 11 the people asked who is it who is it that did this to you and the very first thing he says is it was a man called Jesus that's who it was and then the Pharisees come and they asked the same thing how did you get your sight back and he says tells them about Jesus and he put clay on my eyes and then I washed and now I see just goes through that same process again and they said to the blind man what do you say about him that opened your eyes like who do you say he is right because remember a couple of chapters back that's the talk on the street during this everybody's ass just like who is he is he sure and so now he's like in his mind in his mind he starts thinking well maybe he's more than just a man called Jesus now these guys are asking me about it so I'm gonna say in verse 17 he's a prophet he has to be something more there's nothing more than just man and then they go to his parents and they say you tell us who the man is and it's so interesting in verse 21 they say by what means he now see we know not you'll go ask him let him speak for himself why because if they claim that Jesus is who Jesus is they are gonna get kicked out of their synagogue there that's their life right that's the place where they know their salvation we've been on the line and their eyes not willing to give that up even for the for the health of their son they are not willing to give that up so they say you go and ask him and then you learn all that that we just said in 22 like why they were afraid and here's your you say your favorite verse verse 25 Oh cuz then they come to him and you're just like okay anymore give God the praise only we know that that man who came to you as a sinner and he says back look whether he's a sinner or not I don't know one thing I know as I was blind and now I can see right like I don't care what y'all think about him but what I know is this like what you earlier this one yeah call what you want but this morning I could not see until he put mud on my eyes and now I can so call him whatever you want and it's almost as if it's in this chance of him reliving the experience and experience and thinking about the way he felt maybe that he will move now if you look ahead to verse 33 yeah and I love when he says so here's gonna come the next answer if this man were not of God he could do nothing right you call him a sinner if you want but I'm telling you if this man wasn't of God he couldn't do anything and now the last person is gonna come to the blind man and in verse 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out and when he had found him and let's just remember how much we loved that lesson again right here is a man who has been cast out he no longer has a community he no longer has family he no longer has anyone and what does Jesus do what is the character of Christ when he hears he's been cast out he goes to finds him and when he finds him where he is he's he says to him do you believe on the Son of God and the man answered and said who is he Lord right again who is he that I might believe and Jesus said unto Him thou has both seen him and he talked a--the with these do you remember the two things at the very big in John 752 search and look I know and here's what he's gonna say Jesus says to him you have both seen him and it is he that is talking to you and then you love him verse 38 it's the last thing he calls him and I love this I've never thought about this before that I loved that he says who where is he and who is he and he just says you are looking at him and that is so powerful because he could have used the reason morning he could look at him yeah you know I love that he chooses that first it's like that it's me it's like it's the one you can now see you know that's that's so powerful it's so good and then he answers in that moment Lord I believe right and we've watched this man go through this process what Jesus invited everybody to do at the very beginning this man now goes through that whole process of he was a man named Jesus and then maybe it was a prophet I know he is of God and then he gets to the very end Lord I believe and that's what happens to each of us the Lord's gonna meet us where we are as we are comin find us if he needs Jean he's gonna bring the healing he's gonna bring the forgiveness he's gonna bring whatever it is we need in our story in that moment and then he is just gonna let that story work in us until eventually we get to the point where we can say just like the blind man did just like Nicodemus was about to we don't know what happened with woman in adultery but we're gonna assume then all of them left and got to the point where they said lord I believe and it wasn't the Lord teaching a thousand people asking questions it was the Lord going and finding one person right and then let it them hearing his words individually and seeing his works not just his general works right but the works that they experienced in their own life and in their own story and if we go one over one chapter over to John chapter 10 this is where he actually gives some teachings and a lot of us are familiar with on him being the good shepherd but I like that it happens right after these and almost in response to these questions because he's like my ministry will be a shepherd sheep relationship and ministry like this is the this is the type of relationship I'm both looking for and that you can expect you know from so all your thing you have just in this chapter you just want to look you know the selection of verses to see like what are you learning about a shepherd sheep kind of relationship and the one-liners that are in there about that it's a great time to kind of talk about that name of Jesus as the shepherd and how it's so fitting for him and also how we see him as a shepherd in our lives - what does that look like I love when we read and he says right at the very beginning the sheep hear his voice and he call us his own sheep by name and leadeth them out and it reminds me of the time many many years ago when I was young our family raised sheep just a little flock of sheep 7 and to be a herd it was going to be a little and they I don't know walk it's a block ok there's also birds yes Oh Gary gonna talk about sheep sorry yes and so when you have a little flock like that they generally will pick a leader of the flock that it's just kind of in charge of them ours was a lamb by the name of Big Mama isn't that a good name for those also my great-grandma's name Oh he said his great-grandma pan Big Momma she was in charge of our flock of sheep they just went wherever big momma went and the beauty was my dad and Big Momma loved each other they he would come out to the field where our sheep work and he would bath like you do if you've ever raised sheep you know you walk out with the bucket of oats and you make the noise it sounds like like that okay I really real I race sheet so I know what to do the problem is something was wrong with big Mama's vocal cords and so her mad did not sound like that it sounded like have you ever drunk a big can of root beer that contest that you have you drink it as fast as you can and then as soon as you're done you burp for a really long time that is exactly what she sounded like exactly let's hear that one no I can't do it we had to invite my dad over my dad could make that exact noise they would talk to each other from clear the whole field and she would come running from wherever she was to find my dad that is how much she loved him well one day my dad came and woke me up early in the morning and the Sheep had gone missing which is what sheep sometimes do sheep always we looked at the back of it's not complimentary for Jesus to call a sheep it's just say smartest big snuck out under the irrigation ditch and clear down from us like a mile away there was a farmer who was a real-life farmer of sheep he had a herd you can call his or hers okay he had a great big big flaw thousands and so my dad was like I bet ours got in there so we got in our truck and we drove down we knocked on the farmers door who had never met before and my dad said I think you have some of my sheep and the farmer said well are your sheep marked and my dad was like no homework seven sheep know what we don't even have a brand and the man was like well I'm not just giving you seven of my sheep so no you can't have your sheep and my dad said we'll all know which ones are mine and you love this farmer looking out at his backyard at 1,000 white sheep with black faces and then he says my dad how will you know and my dad says just so confident oh my sheep come when I call and then the man gets this look on his face like this I gotta see right so he walks out with my dad it just gets better everyone because my dad climbs up on the back of the tailgate of that truck and then he starts making that noise you know the noise just do it I can't and the man seriously the man isn't looking at my dad like what should we do right now and my dad's making that noise nothing's happening it's just silence the sheep are just eating and then my dad makes that noise again and then it gets to the point where the farmer is gonna and call the police tell on his face that is what's about to happen and my dad makes the noise one more time and from the very back corner you hear the noise and then my dad does it again and there comes the answer and before you know it here comes Big Mama just running forwards and six other sheep running right behind her just right behind her and the man is like flabbergasted he is astounded that that should happen in fact he was so impressed with my dad he helped us load all seven sheep into the back no words and we just drove home with our sheep and fix the gate but every time I read that this sheep he calls his own sheep by name and leadeth them out and they know his voice a stranger they won't follow but they will follow that Shepherd and every time I read it I just think about my dad and it really was true those lambs knew exactly who their Shepherd was and that's what he wants us to know at the end of this channel it's really powerful too that that doesn't happen right when you get she right when it's born that just like the invitation that came at the very beginning was listen to my voice and watch my works why would Big Momma come and respond to that voice well because he knows that as a voice that's going to care for him that's a voice that's going to tend to her knees it's a voice that's gonna bring oats right bring the good things you know so the sheep have learned that over time that that is a voice that they can now take your now trust and they can listen to and what's gonna come from it yeah it's so good we love it as you get to the end of 10 in verse 24 and it's just gonna bring us full circle back to right where we started then came the Jews round about him and said unto Him how long will you make us doubt if you be the Christ tell us plainly right it's this same group who's been asking this whole time and this woman has been forgiven and this has been healed and and he's usually a little cryptic in his answers all right all those things are happening because he knows if I say it you know I'm in trouble because that's gonna be the crime that actually he'll go to trial for his claiming to be the the Christ but so they just tell us if you are the Christ or not and in his hands you're 25 yeah and he said I told you and you believed not the works that I do and my father's name they bear witness of me so I love that he says I told you and their be ignored in it and then he answers what he knows they're gonna ask and says the works I do those bear witness of who I am and who's I am right that I was sent from the father and again I love that it's it's with the people that we saw the woman in adultery in the blind man that is the works that you see happen in your individual life like that is the witness of when I've seen him in my story that he really is not just a man not just a prophet not just of God but the very God of heaven himself that when we see him move and work when we see him meet us in our we're in the dirt in our places and we feel forgiveness and we feel grace and we feel strength and we see things that we've never seen before in our whole world changes because of our interactions with them then we can say this is Jesus this is him yeah so good so ok that's all for this week they will see you guys next week

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Length: 32min 23sec (1943 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2019