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the SEVEN #7: Raising Lazarus from death

28/11/2015

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​Lazarus was seriously ill. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. They were good friends with Jesus.
 
The sisters sent Jesus a message saying – Lord, your friend is very sick.
 
When Jesus got the message, he said, 'This sickness will not end in death. It happened so the Son of God would receive glory.'
So he stayed where he was for 2 more days.
 
After two days, Jesus said, 'Lazarus has fallen asleep, lets go and wake him up.'
The disciples misunderstood, so Jesus said plainly, 'Lazarus is dead. Now you will really believe. Come lets go and see him.'
 
When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. Many had come to console Mary and Martha.
When Martha heard Jesus was coming, she ran to meet him and said, 'If you had been here my brother would not have died. But even now I know God will give you whatever you ask.'
Jesus said, 'Your brother will rise again.'
Martha said, 'I know he will rise on the last day with everyone else.'
Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live even though he dies. And whoever believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'
'Yes', she said. 'You are the Messiah come from God into the world.'
 
Martha got Mary and they went to the grave. Jesus was very troubled. They went to the grave and Jesus told them to roll the stone aside. But Martha said, 'The smell will be terrible! He’s been dead for 4 days.'
But Jesus said reminded them they would see God’s glory. He looked to heaven and thanked God for hearing him and shouted ‘Lazarus come out!’
 
The dead man came out, still wearing the graveclothes.
 
Many believed in Jesus when they saw this happen. 
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the SEVEN #6: Healing the blind man

28/11/2015

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​Jesus was walking along and saw a man begging, who had been blind since he was born.
His disciples asked, ‘Rabbi, why was this man born blind. Was it because of his own sins or his parents?’
 
‘Neither’ said Jesus. ‘It was so the power of God could be seen in him. Remember I said, I am the light of the world.’
Then he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva and put it on the man’s eyes and said ‘Go and wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). So he went and came back seeing!
 
His neighbours and friends argued about whether it was really him or not. Some said he just looked like the man born blind. But the beggar said – I am the same man!
And he told them what happened.
 
The people took him to the Pharisees, because it was the Sabbath day. Some of the Pharisees said – ‘this man Jesus is not from God because he is working on the Sabbath’. Others said ‘how else could he do miraculous signs?’.
 
They asked the healed man who he thought he was, and he said ‘a prophet.’ But they refused to believe.
They asked his parents. They said: ‘We know this is our son and he was born blind. We don’t know what happened. He’s a grown man. Ask him.’
His parents were afraid of the Jewish leaders because it had been announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synangogue.
 
The leaders told the man – ‘God should get the glory for this, because we know Jesus is a sinner’.
The man said ‘I don’t know whether he is a sinner, but this I know. I was blind and now I can see. Why do you keep asking me? Do you want to be his disciples?’
 
They were angry and said, ‘We follow Moses. We know God spoke to Moses. We don’t know where Jesus comes from.’
The man said ‘That’s strange, if this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it’
And they were so angry they threw him out of the synagogue.
 
Later Jesus found him, told him who he was and the man worshipped him.
 
Jesus said ‘I give sight to the blind, and who those who think they see, that they are blind’.
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the SEVEN #5: Jesus walks on water

28/11/2015

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​After Jesus had miraculously fed the 1000s of people with bread and fish, many of them began to realise he was the prophet they were expecting. So some of them wanted to make him King by force. But this wasn’t what God wanted, so Jesus slipped away into the hills by himself.
 
By the end of the day, the disciples were down on the shore of Lake Galilee, waiting for Jesus, but he didn’t come, and when it became dark, they decided to get into the boat and headed across the lake towards Capernaum.
 
Before long, a gale had come down, and the sea was getting very rough. They had rowed about 3 or 4 miles, when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water, towards the boat.
 
They were terrified but he called out to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, it is me’.
 
Then they were eager to let him onto the boat, and immediately they were at the other side. And the disciples worshipped him as the Son of God. (Matt ch14)
 
The next day the crowd who had stayed on the opposite side of the shore, realised only one boat had left and Jesus was not in it – but they couldn’t find him.

When some other boats came by, they got on board and cross over and when they found him said – 'Rabbi, when did you get here?'

'You’re looking for me because you ate and had your fill. Better to look for me because you want food that leads to eternal life… I am the bread of life.'
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the SEVEN #4: Feeding of the 5000

28/11/2015

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Jesus went across to the other side of Lake Galilee, looking to find some peace and quiet, but the huge crowd followed him because of the previous signs they had seen. They wanted to go wherever he went.

Jesus found a grassy area and sat down. The crowd came to him, and Jesus asked Philip where they could find food for the people. He did this to test him, since he already knew what he would do. Philip replied that it would take most of a year's pay to cover that. Peter pointed out a young boy in the crowd with five cheap loaves and two small fish - 'but what good is that with this huge crowd?' 

So Jesus simply said, ‘Tell everyone to sit down.’

They began to sit on the grassy slopes of the hillside, 5000 counting the men alone - probably upwards of 15,000 people altogether! 

Jesus took these few loaves, and gave thanks to God for them: ‘Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth’. Then he started passing them around – and did the same with the fish.

As he passed it out, somehow the food seemed to just keep coming. One group ate, the bread was passed on to the next group, who passed it to the next, and somehow it seemed to keep coming …until eventually, the people were satisfied.

In fact, as Jesus told his followers to gather up the leftovers, they ended up with more than they started with! 12 baskets full!

So the people started to say - 'Surely he is the prophet we've been expecting.'

When they continued to pursue him, he told them not to follow him looking for bread which perishes, but for bread which gives life forever, beyond death. He said 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.' 
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the SEVEN #3: The paralytic healed at Bethesda

6/11/2015

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Jesus moved on from Galilee because there was a Jewish feast coming up in Jerusalem.
 
In Jerusalem, there’s a pool called Bethesda, next to the Sheep Gate – it has 5 roofed porches. In these areas lots of people with all kinds of disabilities and diseases lay – people who were blind, lame, paralysed.
 
One man there had been disabled for 38 years, unable to move himself.
 
Jesus asked him – do you want to be healed? The man said – 'Sir I have no one to move me into the pool when it is stirred up – while I am trying to get down the steps, others always get in there before me – I’ll never be first in.'
 
Jesus simply said, 'Get up, take your bed, and walk. In that moment, the man was healed, took up his bed and walked.'
 
This happened on the Sabbath day. And some of the Jews had made many extra laws about things you couldn’t do on the Sabbath. So they said – it’s the Sabbath – you can’t carry your bed on the Sabbath!
 
But the man told them, 'the man who healed me told me to pick up my bed and walk'
Who told you that? they asked. But the man didn’t know, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd.
 
Later Jesus saw him in the temple and said, 'See! You’re well! No go and sin no more so that nothing worse may happen to you.'
So the man went and told the Jews that it was Jesus who healed him – and this was exactly why the Jews were persecuting Jesus – because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
 
When they challenged him, Jesus’ answer was simply this: ‘My Father is always working – and so am I’
 
This meant the Jews were trying even harder to kill him, because 1. He was breaking the Sabbath according to their view, and 2. He was calling God his Father, making himself equal with God.
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