Month: September 2025

The Creator of the universe – here with me in this room. Who came and substituted Himself for me – so that I may ultimately share in His glory. I am filled with wonder and worship.

”It is so right that you are reminded of My awesome greatness – but the one thing that should continue to fill you with wonder is the length I have gone to – to make it possible for you to draw near to Me as a son, a fellow-heir of Jesus. My goal remains to continue building My kingdom one soul at a time, who will seek Me and find Me and appreciate Me as much. I invite you to continue walking with Me so that you can reflect more of Me and be an effective witness. Words are great but actions often count for more, so be overtaken by My Spirit of love towards Me and from that towards everyone you meet”.

Today we come to the end of a few months of being buried in John’s gospel. What a blessing it has been to me. We finish by reading 21: 15 – 25. Most of this section is taken up by Jesus’ interaction with Peter, after Peter’s great fall. The main lesson is clear and important. We can never fall so far that we cannot be restored again. Not only was Peter restored but he became the leading Apostle as the new kingdom unfolded. His first sermon resulting in the conversion of several thousand of people.

But we must look deeper. This is the end of the whole gospel and John is gathering his teaching together to leave the final impression he wants the reader to remember. What do you think that is?

Obviously everyone will have a slightly different take on this. We remember the verse which expressed John’s main purpose 20:30, 31. Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that my believing you may have life in his name.

However as I think back in relation to the story of Peter, I remember what He said in 3:16. That it was God’s love for the world that brought Him to send His Son on this difficult mission. So the lasting impression after Ch 21 I have is of God’s love expressed in His generosity towards us all. And that He is commissioning all of us to follow that example, going about our daily lives expressing His love and generosity towards everyone we meet. Remembering that His ultimate aim was and is to reach as many people as possible with this life-changing message.

It is also important to pick up the question that Jesus asked Peter before He reinstated him. “Simon son of John do you truly love me?” He repeated that three times. So our response to this gospel story should not be a sense of compulsion and fear of judgement, but based on the recognition that “God so loved…” and that our response of obedience should rise out of “we so loved God through Jesus, who died for us”. A response of gratitude giving rise to a great love for Him. The beauty is that we don’t do this in our own strength we do it through the love that God provokes in us as we respond to Him.

A true witness is only possible if one’s life has been transformed by the gospel message of a vital rebirth and is continually being transformed by our daily interaction with God. So many people are trying to live the Christian life in their own strength, which is actually idolatry and gives an entirely faulty picture of what Christianity really is.

Having come now to the end of John’s gospel, several people have asked me to tackle Romans next, which we will do. So tighten your seatbelts for some Pauline argument for a few months.

I have this picture a simple meal of fish on the coals on a beach next to the Sea of Galilee. And yes, it is Jesus sitting next to it. Can this be the Creator of the whole universe, come down to relate to man on the most elemental level?

”My great desire from the beginning was to create a world for a being who would live in it and appreciate its beauty as coming from Me. Who would seek to have a relationship with Me on a level where he can be completely comfortable. So I have been working through the complicated process of bringing that about. Yes I want your awe and amazement, wonder and your complete worship. But the prize is that I can have that within a simple relationship of friends, of father and son, of loving Shepherd. So I invite you now in your mind, to share the simple meal of fish on the coals on the seashore with me.”

As we read on in John, chapter 21:1-14, we find the disciples have left Jerusalem and returned to their roots in Galilee. Since the central Motive for their lives had left them, they return to do what they have known before. To go fishing. This section has somewhat of a symbolic meaning as we reach the end of John’s gospel though.

Firstly there is the question in vs 12 “Who are you?” Looking back at the whole message of John that is the central question that has been addressed all along. Who is this man? We have read in ch 20 that Jesus did many miracles to demonstrate His supernatural divinity. John mentions 10 in his account which he calls “signs”. Here we have a description of a final miracle after the statement in ch 20 “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” And straight after that the final repetition of the question “Who are you?”

This is such an important question that we should ask ourselves regularly. Who do we believe Jesus really was/is? And similarly to share that question with others.

There is an additional message in this miracle as there has been in most of the other “signs” He performed. I wonder if you can see it?

The disciples had spent a fruitless night catching nothing. Jesus appears and through His intervention a super-abundant catch is made. The number of fish caught is actually given. What is the significance? The number 153 is regarded by many as a number of completeness. The catch of fish then represents all the people who will respond to the message of the gospel that the disciples will take out. However the reminder in this parable is that if they try and do it in their own strength it will bring only a meagre crop. True fruitfulness will only come when Jesus Himself is the One who gives the crop or catch as in this case. This is a sort of parallel to the great commission in Matthew’s gospel.

This is a timely warning to the disciples then, but equally for every one of us. True fruit that flows from our life is a result of the interaction with Jesus who produces the fruit of the Spirit through us.

Enjoy your week and be blessed.

Your love is immeasurable oh Lord, thank you so much that, as You have revealed it to us, we may not only know about it, but can truly know it and experience it daily.

” I am indeed love, My whole being consists of love and that love is directed, in general, towards My whole creation, but especially towards the members of My kingdom where I have demonstrated that love through giving My Son to die on the cross to redeem you and everyone who would receive the gift, which I offer without reserve to the whole world. So focus today on My love and let it lift you up as on an eagle’s wings to soar above all the cares of this world.”

Reading John 20:19 – 31 we come today to the climax of the message John wanted to convey to His readers. We see the last steps as the disciples reach a much cleared idea of Jesus and His mission and come to real faith in Him.

The mission statement of John for this book is found in vv 30,31: “ Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

John recorded 10 miraculous signs in his gospel account, but by far the greatest and most important one was Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Although Jesus had warned the disciples several times that He had to die but that He would be raised from the dead, the disciples did not understand this warning and explanation.

In this passage, after the initial confusion among the women, Jesus appears to the whole group, showing His hands and side. The disciples are filled with joy when they realise that it is really He. To emphasise this important step towards full faith we have the whole story of Thomas who wasn’t there at the time. Then the final words in vs 20 “ because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen me as yet have believed.”

These disciples had known the Lord personally, yet not realised fully who He was. They now could “see” the invisible quality of this “Man”, who was/is really God. We are told in Hebrews 11 what the definition of real faith is: “ Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” So John concludes this vital lesson with the last two verses.

This is a key moment for every reader. His whole purpose in writing the gospel was to lay down a solid basis on which we could believe who Jesus is and what He has come to do, because that is the only way to eternal life.

Do you believe that? Do you really know Jesus’ love and have you really entered into eternal life?

Also in this passage in vv 21,22 Jesus gives His disciples “the great commission” and a promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit to help in accomplishing that mission. Of course that commission is intended for every believer. Each one of us has a specific purpose within the plan of His kingdom.

This is a vital passage in John’s Gospel, but also in the whole bible. Enjoy digesting it and be blessed till next week.

Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up Lord, come and quench this thirsting of my soul Lord. Fill my cup and make me whole.

” I give you my spirit without reserve to fill not only your cup, but your whole soul. My grace has no limit and continues to cover every aspect of your life. But it is good for you to continue to thirst – although you already have everything I can give you in Christ. Yet you are not experiencing it completely. There is always a gap between what I have actually given and what you perceive in your everyday life is from Me and I am continually bringing you closer so that gap may grow smaller and you can really experience the grace you have already received and are continuing to receive from me.”

We continue to read, with wonder at the incredible, supernatural happenings after Jesus’ death on the cross. I am reading John 20:10 – 23.

The emphasis in this section seems two-fold. We have read how Mary Magdalene found the tomb where Jesus’ body had been laid, empty. Her first reaction was that the body had somehow been stolen. However on closer examination the grave clothes were still there, not haphazardly tossed aside, but neatly folded. What had happened to the body then?

In today’s section we have the answer to that question, but maybe not completely as we would have expected it. While Mary, distraughtly weeping next to the tomb, looks up she sees two angels sitting in the tomb. We are not told what their significance is because almost immediately she hears a voice behind her. Turning around she does not recognise the figure standing there. It is only when he speaks that she realises it is actually Jesus.

She immediately wants to fling her arms around him in loving relief, but Jesus backs off and keeps her at a distance. Was He being cruel? Of course not, He could never be cruel. This interaction and much of what follows, demonstrates two things. Firstly that Jesus is really alive. Not only is His tomb empty, but He is present with His beloved disciples. But that is not the complete picture. He now has another physical nature. Mary could not touch Him.

None of the gospel writers could describe this new nature accurately. But among other things He was capable of appearing and disappearing at will. He could even, as we will read next week enter a room with a locked door. Yet at the same time He could sit with the disciples on the beach and eat a breakfast. Could this, somehow predict how we will be with our resurrected bodies?

We are not to know yet. What is important is that by rising from the dead Jesus had introduced a new era. An era where every believer has the hope and expectation of also being raised again after we die here on earth. This is the most powerful story in the whole of God’s story recorded in the bible. It is, apart from the creation story, the one place God demonstrated how great His power is cf Ephesians 1:19 ff “That power is like the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms”. The NIV translation does not do justice to the Greek which uses 4 different words for power here, to reveal how mighty that power is.

Friends, maybe you have become so used to the resurrection story that you have lost some of the wonder of it all. Let this passage reawaken your wonder. God is busy with things that are far, far greater than we can conceive and you are part of that What a mighty God we serve!

Bless you all, till next week.