Can you handle the truth? It’s a famous saying because, for many people, truth is hard to handle. Truth can be explosive. Truth can bring down powerful people and exalt somebody who seems like a nobody. Truth can revolutionize us and the world. But the trend today is to see truth as subjective. It’s “my” truth or “your” truth, something within oneself, not outside of us, and so, all truth is seen as relative. But the real nature of truth is to be both universal and unchanging, not subject to mere perceptions or feelings. In today’s passage Jesus is on trial before Pilate, and their conversation soon turns to truth. Both Pilate and the religious leaders have a hard time handling Jesus’ truth. But Jesus says he came to testify to the truth. He invites those on the side of truth to listen to him. What is the truth Jesus is talking about? Why are there “sides”? And what does he mean to “listen to” him? May God speak to us personally through his word today.

Have you ever heard the Navy Seals’ saying: “The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat”? In life, training makes a huge difference. Without training, musicians can’t play their instruments, surgeons can’t help the sick and wounded, athletes can’t be champions, and armies can’t win battles. Yet even though we know this, it’s still so hard for us to really embrace training. Why? Because our natural tendency is to avoid struggle and hardship. We want everything to just be smooth and easy. In John 6 Jesus turns from testifying to the Jews to training his disciples. Jesus’ training was very simple, yet very deep. What was his point? In feeding the crowd he was training his disciples to actually care about people and have faith in God to do something for them. Now, in walking out to them on the rough sea he’s training his disciples to overcome their fears. Fear causes so many problems in our lives. Often we don’t even know how fearful we are until we’re in a situation. Fear especially cripples us when we have to lead. How can we overcome fear? Through this study may God help us hear our Lord Jesus speaking to us personally.

Have you ever told someone, “You’re just being irrational!” We’d all like to think of ourselves as being logical and rational. But as human experience often tells us, we all can be very irrational. Our fears make us irrational. Our desires make us irrational. And the list goes on and on. But what does it matter? Well, it matters when we’re seeking truth. Our human irrationality obscures the truth from us. Sometimes we’re fearful when the truth is, we have no reason to be fearful. Sometimes we desire something when the truth is, we have no need for it. In today’s passage Jesus is speaking to his Jewish opponents. He wants to help them believe in him. He’s basically saying that in light of so much testimony, it’s very reasonable to believe in him. But they refuse to believe because they’re being irrational. Jesus points out why—it has to do with what’s in their hearts. Today we want to listen carefully to our Lord Jesus and let his word convict us. We especially want to learn what it means to “come to him,” and why we all need to do so. May God open our hearts and speak to us through his living word.

Welcome everyone. Today is a bittersweet day in which we in our Lincoln Park UBF chapter have to say goodbye to Dr. John and Deborah Lee. They have been missionaries in America since the 1970s and were pioneer supporters of Chicago UBF. Deborah Lee joined me in teaching the Bible to DePaul students in 1987. And in 1992 John and Deborah bought this house in order to use it for student ministry. Over the years they have served so many of our coworkers in the Chicago area and all around the world. Many have lived in their home. Now, though they still look young, they have reached their seventies, and the time has come for them to retire and be with their son and daughter-in-law who are so busy in ministry, and their five grandchildren. We’re so happy for them, and we know that they will never stop praying and serving our Lord Jesus until he calls them home.

Are you open-minded? We like to say, “Keep an open mind.” But honestly, we’re all not so open-minded because we all have some ideas we’re pretty set on. Our preconceived ideas are like a filter that block things out of our minds. If somebody violates our preconceived ideas, we immediately disagree with and disregard him. Preconceived ideas may not always be bad, but the problem is, they hinder us from opening our minds, learning and growing. We see this in today’s passage. The Jews have some preconceived ideas about the Sabbath and about God that Jesus seems to violate, so they can’t open their hearts to him. Despite this, Jesus humbly explains who he is and what he’s doing. His main theme in these verses is that God is his Father and he is God’s Son. This beautiful Father/Son relationship helps us understand who Jesus is and what he does. What Jesus wants us to hear most is his invitation to cross over from death to life. Today we’re going to think about what that means, and how we can experience it. May God open our hearts and help us hear and believe his word.

“So what’s your excuse?” We ask this commonly used question in English when someone hasn’t done something they were supposed to do. We all make excuses for not doing the things we should, right? Sometimes our excuses convince even ourselves! In today’s passage Jesus encounters a man who'd been an invalid for thirty-eight years. Out of his great compassion Jesus wants to heal him and give him a new life. But the man makes many excuses for himself and doesn’t really accept Jesus’ word. Though his body is healed, his soul remains sick. So Jesus finds him and tells him, “Stop sinning.” It shows that Jesus wants to heal us not only physically but also spiritually. It also shows the power of his word. May God help us to hear his voice speaking to us personally.

“Are you a Christian?” If we ask this question, so many people say, “Yes.” Maybe they think so because their family was Christian and they grew up attending church. Some think believing in Jesus means mentally agreeing to basic Christian truths. Some think they started believing at a specific time in their lives, and so naturally, they still do. Sometimes it may seem that everybody’s a Christian. But John’s Gospel tells us a different story. It shows that though we may know many things about Jesus in our minds, when life’s problems actually confront us, we don’t really know how to believe. And without believing in Jesus in real life, we can’t be saved. In today’s passage Jesus encounters many people, and especially one man, who seem to believe in him, but actually they don’t. Jesus says and does some radical things to help this one man believe. We want to learn through this study what faith really is and how we can truly have it. May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his word today.

Can’t you see?” We say this when we get frustrated with somebody who doesn’t understand something important we’re trying to show them. In any given situation, why don’t we see or understand? It might be because we’re stuck in our own ideas. Or we just can’t stop thinking about what we want right now. Or, we just don’t want to put in the time or effort.

Are you thirsty? What do you really want? What are you longing for? In John’s Gospel, hunger and thirst symbolize spiritual yearning. As human beings, we’re both body and soul, but we hear our bodies better than we hear our souls. At our core, we’re all longing for something or someone, and, we’re not sure why. In today’s passage Jesus meets such a human being. And he helps her see the source of true satisfaction. May God open our hearts and speak to us personally through his word today.