When Jesus told this woman at the well of Sychar that He was the Messiah, she had to make a decision that everybody must make: to believe or not to believe. We can’t be absolutely certain from what we’ve read today, but it seems this woman at the well was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. Soon after Jesus told her who He was, she left her water jar and went back into her village, telling everyone to come and meet a man who knew her past. “Can this be the Messiah?” she asked them. Perhaps she was sincerely uncertain at that point and wanted to hear the opinions of the people of her village. Or, perhaps she was already convinced about Jesus, and her apparent uncertainty was just a means of wise persuasion by a woman with a bad reputation in her village. Regardless, after Jesus stayed with the people of Sychar for two days, many of them believed that He was the “Savior of the world” (John 4:42). Though they had previously hated all Jews, these Samaritan people now loved a Jewish man who had first loved them.

While the woman was back in her village telling people what had happened to her, Jesus’ disciples returned from the village with food. They urged Him to eat something, and, not surprisingly, Jesus saw the opportunity to convey a spiritual lesson. He responded, “No…I have food you don’t know about” (John 4:32). They thought someone else had brought Him food, but Jesus was talking about His spiritual hunger being satisfied by doing the will of His Father. Just as they had a physical hunger that could only be satisfied with food, He had a spiritual hunger that could only be satisfied by obedience. And, just as we feel much better after eating a good meal (especially if we were really hungry beforehand), Jesus was enjoying the good feeling that came from sharing God’s truth with the woman at the well.

Comparing them to harvesters, Jesus then encouraged His disciples to get involved in telling people the good news of who He was. They didn’t need to wait for the harvest to ripen as do those who harvest wheat or apples. Jesus’ followers were hired to harvest people, and there are always people who are ready to receive the gospel. When Jesus told His disciples this, they were just minutes away from being crowded by spiritually hungry people from Sychar who would soon be saved!

Q. Is there a spiritual hunger inside of us to do God’s will?

A. Yes, if a person is born again, Jesus lives inside him by the Holy Spirit, and Jesus wants to obey God the Father. When we obey God by telling people His truth, we’ll get a good feeling on the inside, because our spiritual hunger will be satisfied for a while.

Q. Is leading people to Jesus the only thing that we can do that contributes to the spiritual harvest that God desires?

A. No, Jesus said that some people plant seeds, while others harvest. We can plant seeds by loving unbelievers, living rightly before them and by sharing the good news. Although they might not believe in Jesus immediately, hopefully our good influence will lead to their eventual conversion, even if someone else gets the privilege of actually seeing them repent and become a follower of Christ. However, Jesus said that there is joy awaiting both planters and harvesters. When we get to heaven and see the people there whom we helped come to Christ, we will be very happy!

Application: We should live our lives in such a way that people are attracted to Jesus. The most important thing that we can do is tell someone else about Jesus.

Today we realize even more what a humble man John the Baptist was. We can learn a lot about humility by considering his words and deeds.

Although John was, according to Jesus, the greatest person to have ever lived (see Matthew 11:11), John knew that Jesus was far superior to himself, since Jesus was God from heaven. Pride sneaks into our lives when we compare ourselves with others. If we know we’re better at doing something than someone else, we can become prideful. If, however, we will compare ourselves with Jesus, as John did, we won’t be able to become proud.

Most often, we compare ourselves with people who have similar abilities and talents. If I’m a basketball player, I don’t care how good another person might be at playing the piano—I’m only interested in other basketball players. For a while, John was the most famous preacher around. Multitudes traveled great distances to hear his anointed sermons and to be baptized. But then Jesus started doing the same things as John, preaching and baptizing, and Jesus’ popularity began to grow. Additionally, God gave Jesus the Holy Spirit “without measure” (John 3:34), something He didn’t do for John. Thus Jesus was able to perform miracles, something John never did, and those miracles really attracted large crowds. God the Father gave Jesus “authority over everything” (John 3:35), including sicknesses and demons. Before long, hardly anyone was coming to hear John, and some of his own disciples became jealous for him.

John, however, realized his place and time in God’s plan. His job was to prepare the way for Jesus. The whole idea from the beginning was that Jesus would be exalted, not John. John knew his ministry would be temporary and said of Jesus, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” (John 3:30). Proud people don’t want to ever let go of something God has given them, even when it’s obvious that God’s plan for them is that they move on to do something else because God has anointed another person to take their place. Proud people want to be recognized and appreciated more and more. Christians, however, should want Jesus to become greater in people’s minds, not themselves. They should be interested in building God’s kingdom and not kingdoms for themselves. They should want to be servants, not rulers.

John also knew that Jesus was the only way to heaven, and that only Jesus could give eternal life to people who believed in Him. John clearly understood that those who truly believe in Jesus obey Him. John said, “Those who don’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life, but the wrath of God remains upon them” (John 3:36, emphasis added). This doesn’t mean that if we commit a sin that we will go to hell, because no Christian is perfect and we all do sin at times. We know from reading the rest of the New Testament that John was talking about people who never obey Jesus, living a lifestyle of sin and selfishness. They are not submitted to Jesus at all, which proves they don’t believe in Him.

Q. Could God ever be guilty of the sin of pride?

A. No, it would be impossible for God to think too highly of Himself. When He speaks of His own wonderful attributes, He isn’t bragging—He’s only telling the truth.

Q. Is there something that you do better than others? (Parents, this would be a good time for you to compliment your kids for things they do well, as they may think they’re being proud if they respond.) Could that talent be an inroad for pride? What can you do to keep pride out?

Q. Is it prideful to say, “I’m a good swimmer” if you are a good swimmer?

A. No. Pride is having an inflated or unrealistic opinion of yourself. To say that you are a good swimmer when you are a good swimmer is simply telling the truth. But, to say that you are the world’s best swimmer (unless you are) would be prideful. It’s best to talk as little as possible about yourself, your abilities and your accomplishments, because even if you are just telling the truth, some people might think you are pridefully boasting. As the proverb says, “Don’t praise yourself; let others do it!” (Proverbs 27:2).

Application: The Bible says that God humbles those who exalt themselves and exalts those who humble themselves. In which of these two categories do you fall?

The Pharisees of Jesus’ time were a very strict sect of Jews. They tried to follow all of God’s laws fully as well as many laws they made up themselves, thinking they could earn their way to heaven. Nicodemus was not only a Pharisee, but also a member of the Jewish ruling council and a very well known religious teacher. He was amazed by the miracles Jesus performed, and was convinced that Jesus was sent from God. However, he didn’t yet know that Jesus was actually the divine Son of God. So Jesus knew He needed to explain some very important things to Nicodemus.

He began by telling Nicodemus that, in order to get into heaven, he had to be born a second time. Nicodemus didn’t understand what Jesus meant. He couldn’t imagine how he could ever go back inside his mother and be born another time! So Jesus explained that He wasn’t talking about his body being born again through his mother, but his spirit being reborn through the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that every person is three parts: spirit, soul and body (see 1 Thess. 5:23). Your body is what you can see in the mirror. Your soul is your mind and emotions. Your spirit is the real you that lives inside your body. It is not made of bones or blood, but of spiritual material. It has a shape and form, just like your body. When your body dies, you, as a spirit, will leave your body and go to heaven if you are a follower of Jesus.

It is people’s spirits that need to be reborn in order for them to get into God’s future kingdom because if a person is not born again, his spirit has a sinful, satanic nature that has no relationship with God. He is spiritually dead. But when a person repents and believes in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes into his spirit and removes the old sinful nature and gives that person a new nature, making him a child of God. Before a person is born again, the devil is his spiritual father. After he is born again, God is his spiritual Father.

As Jesus said, none of us can see the wind, and neither can we see people’s spirits being born again nor the Holy Spirit that makes people’s spirits new. However, just as we can see the effects of the wind, for example, leaves moving in the trees, so we can see the effects of the Holy Spirit when He moves inside a person’s spirit. When He does, people start loving God and serving Him.

Jesus also explained to Nicodemus what he had to do in order to be born again. He told Nicodemus that He would be lifted up on a pole, meaning the cross, and that anyone who believed in Him would then forever have the new life that the Holy Spirit gives. It was just like the story of Moses and the people of Israel in the desert. One time God became very angry with them because of their sins, so He sent snakes into their camp, and anyone who was bitten, died. Moses prayed for God to have mercy, and so God told Moses to make a snake out of bronze and attach it to a pole. Moses then sent news to the people, “If anyone who is dying from a snake bite will come and look at the bronze snake on the pole, he will live.”

The people who believed the news came, looked, and were healed. In the same way, all people have been filled with the venom of sin. Their spirits are dead and their bodies are dying. But if they will believe in the Lord Jesus who hung on the cross, bearing our sins, their dead spirits will be made alive and their bodies will one day live again forever. Have you believed that good news? If you have, you’ve been born twice! (Maybe you should try to convince your mom that you deserve two birthday parties every year!)

Q. Jesus said that people must be born of “water” as well as the Spirit. What do you think He meant?

A. Different Christians have different answers to that question. Some say Jesus was talking about when a person is born as a baby. When babies are inside their mothers, they are enclosed by a sac of water. Just before they’re born, that water sac breaks, so water comes out before the baby does.

A second interpretation is that Jesus was referring to people being baptized. Everyone who believes in Jesus should be baptized in water soon after they first believe. However, you don’t have to be baptized in order to be born again. Baptism represents what has already happened the moment a person first believes in Jesus: He was dead but now has come back to life. Being under the water symbolizes being buried, and coming out of the water symbolizes being raised from the dead.

A third interpretation is that water is symbolic for God’s Word. Truly, in order to be born again, a person needs to first hear the good news of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Then, if he believes it, the Holy Spirit causes his spirit to be born again. People need both the Word of God and the Holy Spirit to be reborn.

Q. We read the most famous verse in the whole New Testament today, John 3:16. It tells us why God gave us His only Son. Why did He?

A. Because He loves us.

Application: Since our spirits have been born again, we should follow the inward leading of our new nature to obey God, and not the evil leading of the old nature that we also still possess. We’re thankful that one day that old sinful nature will be completely done away with when we get brand new bodies.

Jesus really wanted Nicodemus to understand how he could have his sins forgiven and be born again. Nicodemus needed to know that salvation is not something that he could earn , but something that was earned for him by Jesus Christ and is therefore a free gift from God. It is only through Jesus that anyone can be saved. That is why Jesus told Nicodemus that God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn it, but to save it. God wants everyone in the world to be saved because He loves us all.

If God wants every person to be saved, then why isn’t everyone saved? The reason is because people have a part to play in their salvation. As Jesus explained to Nicodemus, every person must individually, by himself, believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

But why doesn’t everyone believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Jesus explained the answer to that question by using the words darkness and light. Darkness represents ignorance (which means not knowing the truth). Light is symbolic of knowing the truth. When you turn out the lights in your bedroom at night, you are somewhat ignorant of where things are. You can’t see where you’re going and might stub your toe on your bed. But when the light is on, you can clearly see your path. Now you know what you didn’t know when you were in darkness.

Jesus said that light from heaven came into the world. He was speaking of the truth that He brought from God the Father and shared with people on earth. Jesus said that people love the darkness and hate the light. They stay away from the light. That is, they don’t want to know the truth that Jesus brought.

But why don’t people want to know the truth? Jesus also explained that. The reason is because people don’t want to stop sinning, and they know that if they come to the light and believe the truth, they will have to change the way they live. So they remain in the darkness, purposely believing all kinds of lies from Satan so that they can continue rebelling against God.

That is the reason, for example, that some people believe that there is no God. Even though it is obvious from looking at all God has made that He must exist, people don’t want to believe it because they know that if there is a God, He has a right to tell them how to live. They want to control their own lives and keep sinning, so they believe the lie that God doesn’t exist.

Thankfully, some people come out of the darkness into the light. Those are people who willingly repent of their rebellion against God because they believe the good news that Jesus is the Son of God who freely offers them salvation. This is why it is necessary to repent, or turn away from sin and selfishness, in order to be saved. Repenting of sin doesn’t earn us our salvation—but repenting is the proof that we really believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

Some people think they are saved even though they have never repented of sin, but they are mistaken. True Christians, although not perfect, are trying to please God and obey Him. People who are constantly sinning aren’t really saved. They are still living in darkness, believing the lie that they can have a relationship with God while they continue a lifestyle of disobedience to Him. They will go to hell when they die. But those who have truly believed in Jesus, as proven by how they live their lives, don’t have to worry about going to hell. As Jesus said, “There is no judgment awaiting those who trust” Him (John 3:18).

Q. Nicodemus heard everything he needed to know in order to be saved, but our reading today doesn’t tell us if he believed it. Do you think Nicodemus ever “came to the light”?

A. According to other scripture verses, we know that he did. He helped another man, Joseph of Arimathea, bury Jesus’ body after He was crucified (see John 19:38-42). By doing so, because he was a ruler and well-known teacher of the Jews, Nicodemus risked being rejected by many people who hated Jesus. But it is better to believe in Jesus and be rejected by others than not to believe in Jesus and be rejected by God and cast into hell!

Application: Sometimes kids who are raised in Christian homes and who have always been taught to do the right thing have a hard time remembering when they first believed in Jesus and repented of their sins. Perhaps you are one of those kids. If you are, don’t let it concern you. The important thing is, do you believe in Jesus right now? And is your faith in Jesus evident by how you live your life? Are you trying to obey God? Perhaps your parents, if they were not raised in a Christian home, can tell you about when they first believed in Jesus and repented.

Many people like to hear about God’s love, but they aren’t interested in hearing about God’s anger with sin and wrongdoing. Today’s reading reveals that side of God. Jesus was obviously very angry about what was taking place in the Temple, and He reacted furiously.

What was Jesus so mad about? Of course, there’s nothing sinful about buying or selling animals or exchanging money. Jesus was angry over the fact that the Temple in Jerusalem, a sacred place where His Father was supposed to be honored and worshipped, had been turned into a marketplace. The Temple was the place where the priests offered sacrifices to the Lord, and in the innermost part of the Temple, called “The Holy of Holies,” God’s presence resided. But in Jesus’ day, the people around the Temple weren’t focused on God or serving the people who came to worship God, but on making money. Not only that, but they were taking advantage of people who came from far away places to worship at the Temple, charging them very high prices to purchase animals and exchange their foreign currency. In another Gospel, the writer records Jesus saying to the merchants at the Temple, “‘My Temple will be called a place of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves ” (Matthew 21:13, emphasis added). There was dishonesty in their dealings, and God doesn’t like that, as Jesus so clearly revealed.

What we’ve read today contains a lot of proof that Jesus was the Messiah and was God in the form of a human being. First, we learned that a verse in the Old Testament book of Psalms foretold that the Messiah would have very strong emotions about God’s house, or Temple. That same Psalm also predicted that the Messiah would be given sour wine to quench His thirst, just as Jesus was when He hung on the cross (see Psalm 69:21 and Matthew 27:34, 48).

Second, if Jesus wasn’t God, then He had no right to chase out the oxen and sheep or overturn the tables of the moneychangers, spilling their money all over the ground. Any person who was not God and who did such a thing would be guilty of not showing respect for the private property of other people. God created everything and owns everything, so everyone and his property belongs to Him! He can do what He wants with anyone’s property, and Jesus, being God, knew He had that right.

Some of the Jewish leaders thought Jesus had no right to do what He did, and they asked Him to justify His actions. He responded by telling them about His resurrection, although they didn’t understand what He was talking about. This is a third proof to us that Jesus was God. Not only did He come back to life after being dead for three days, He predicted it would happen three years before it did!

Q. Jesus told the Jewish leaders who questioned Him, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). He was speaking of the temple of His body, but His listeners thought He was speaking about the Jerusalem Temple building. How was Jesus’ body even more of God’s temple than the Jerusalem Temple?

A. Because Jesus was actually God in the form of a human being, His body was much more a temple of God than the Temple building, which only contained God’s presence in the innermost parts.

Q. In the final verses of today’s reading, we read that Jesus didn’t trust everyone who said they believed in Him. Why didn’t He?

A. Because Jesus knew that people are often liars, and just because someone says he believes in Jesus doesn’t prove he actually does. A person’s actions speak louder than his words, and so the true proof that someone believes in Jesus is his obedience to the Lord.

Application: Because Jesus has come into our temples, and because we are now temples of God, we should keep our temple clean from sin and anything that is not pleasing to Jesus.

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If you’ve ever been to a wedding reception, you probably remember having lots of food to eat and wedding punch to drink. Can you imagine how embarrassed the bride and bridegroom would be if people were standing in line to get punch and were told the punch had run out? The wedding guests would know that the hosts hadn’t planned properly, and in a hot climate like Israel, their thirst would certainly aggravate the situation. This is what occurred at this wedding in the village of Cana that Jesus, His mother and disciples attended.

When Mary told Jesus about the wine running out, Jesus responded with words we wouldn’t have expected. “How does that concern you and me?” Jesus asked. “My time has not yet come” (John 2:4). If we read through the whole Gospel of John, we discover that Jesus spoke often about His “time” coming, and it becomes obvious that He was always referring to the time when He would die for the sins of the world. So when Jesus responded to Mary’s statement about the lack of wine, He must have been thinking about people lacking, not wine, but something that wouldn’t be provided until He died. It’s possible that Jesus was referring to His own blood, which was symbolized by wine at the Last Supper. Or He may have been speaking about the Holy Spirit, who is sometimes symbolized by wine in the New Testament. Everyone needs to have his sins forgiven through the shedding of Jesus’ blood and be born again by the Holy Spirit. Both of those are much greater needs than wine running out at a wedding feast. Jesus was concerned about much more important things than Mary was.

Jesus, however, must have been somewhat concerned about the lack of wine at the wedding feast because He performed a miracle to solve the problem. That miracle may also have had a deeper spiritual meaning, because Jesus didn’t change just any water into wine—He changed water that was used by the Jews for the purpose of purification rites into wine. Because of the many laws that God gave the Jews to keep, they were very conscious (or aware) of their sinfulness, and they were always trying to keep themselves symbolically purified by various washings with water. But since Jesus died for us, cleansing us from all the guilt of our sins, we don’t need any other way of getting spiritually clean. Knowing that we’re cleansed, we can now enjoy ourselves, drinking Jesus’ good wine. Now we can really celebrate!

But isn’t it wrong to drink anything that is alcoholic? If so, why did Jesus change water into wine that day?

Historians tell us that the Jews always diluted their wine with water, so the amount of alcohol in their wine was very small. It was more like what we today call “grape juice” than what we today call wine. We must also remember that, other than water, wine was practically the only beverage people could drink back in Jesus’ day, and the water that was available was often contaminated and undrinkable in the villages and cities. We have many choices of beverages today, so no one has to drink wine. Christians don’t all agree if it is wrong for them to drink alcoholic beverages, but one thing all true Christians agree on is this: the Bible very clearly says that it is a sin to get drunk. Getting drunk starts with one drink, and if that one drink begins to cloud a person’s thinking, he might more easily yield to the temptation for another drink and then another. The safest thing to do is completely abstain from all alcoholic drinks.

Alcohol has caused a lot of heartaches to multitudes of people. Many babies have been born with deformities because their mothers drank alcohol when they were pregnant. Many innocent people have been killed by drunk drivers. Many families have been ruined by parents who became addicted to alcohol. Because alcohol is responsible for so much that is evil and sinful, my advice to Christians is to abstain from drinking it at all. John certainly didn’t record this miracle of Jesus changing water into watered-down wine for the purpose of encouraging Christians to drink modern alcoholic beverages. He recorded this miracle to prove that Jesus was the Son of God and to remind us of the wonderful salvation He’s provided for us!

Q. Did you notice that the wine Jesus made was described by the master of ceremonies as being better than the first wine that ran out? Does this teach us anything about God?

A. Perhaps it does. It shows us that when God does something, He does a quality job, and He wants us to enjoy the best He has to offer us. He has provided a wonderful salvation for us that includes loads of benefits for all eternity, not just a temporary fixer-upper salvation that puts a band-aid on our problem. He doesn’t want us to have mediocre families, but quality families, with truly loving relationships. Are you enjoying all the benefits of what God has to offer us?

Q. Does this miracle of Jesus’ changing water into wine teach us anything about God’s power?

A. Yes, it shows us that God can change anything into something else. If you believe in Jesus, He has changed you from a child of Satan into His own child. One day God will change your physical body into a brand new body that glows with His glory.

Application: Because of this first miracle, Jesus’ disciples believed in Him. For us, this miracle is one more proof that Jesus truly is the Son of God, and because we believe He is, we should trust and obey Him.

Yesterday we read what John wrote about Jesus being called “the Word.” A few verses later in his Gospel, John said, “the Word [who is Jesus] became human and lived here on earth among us” (John 1:14). John was talking about when the glorious God Jesus was transformed into a baby in Mary’s womb, lived there for nine months, was born, grew up, and lived for about 33 years on the earth as a human being. It was a really big miracle for God to become a man, but nothing is too hard for God!

It’s very important for us to understand that Jesus was a very special person. He was God transformed into a man. He wasn’t one-half human being and one-half God. He was 100% of both. That has not been the case with any other person who has ever lived. Jesus was one-of-a-kind! He wanted us to know that He was both human and divine, calling Himself the Son of God and the Son of Man.

Hundreds of years before Jesus became a man, God told Isaiah the prophet what He was planning to do. He promised that a special baby would be born through a woman who had never been married. People often have special names that they call their babies, such as “sweet pea,” “little guy” or “chubby cheeks.” But the special baby that God told Isaiah about would be called “Immanuel,” a name that means “God is with us” (Isaiah 7:14). That is what Jesus was. He was no longer the God in heaven—He was God living with us.

Through Isaiah, God the Father helped us understand how His Son, who had no beginning, would have a beginning as a human being. He promised, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us” (Isaiah 9:6). It was a human being, a child , who was born in Bethlehem, but the Father’s Son was not born because He always existed. Thus, He was given .

Finally, notice Jesus was born to us and given to us . It was for us that He came because God loves us.

Q. Let’s pretend that you wanted to show the dogs in your neighborhood how much you loved them. What would you do? If you had the power, would you be willing to change yourself into a baby dog inside its mother, live there for nine months, be born as a puppy and live for 33 years as a dog when you could have been enjoying life as a human being? You would really have to love dogs to do that! Jesus becoming a man was a bigger step down than for us to become dogs. Does that give you an idea of how much Jesus loves us?

A. Yup!

Q. Are there any other major religions in the world besides Christianity that can truly say they were begun by a human being who was actually God?

A. Nope!

Application: Since Jesus is God, we should pay careful attention to what Jesus said and obey Him.

As we learned before, Andrew and his brother Peter had already met Jesus through John the Baptist. Both Andrew and Peter were from the Galilean village of Bethsaida, and worked together as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee with their friends, James and John, who were also brothers.

One day shortly after Peter and Andrew had met Jesus, Jesus was preaching to great crowds of people along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They were probably sitting on the steep banks as Jesus preached by the water’s edge. But there were so many people who wanted to hear what He was saying that the crowd kept pressing in to get closer. Jesus didn’t have a sound system to amplify His voice, so if people wanted to hear Him, they had to get close. As a result, they were forcing Jesus out into the water! So Jesus stepped into Peter’s boat and asked him to push it out a little way from shore so He could continue teaching while sitting in the boat.

When we give or lend something to Jesus, He always pays us back, and so He did for Peter after borrowing his boat. Peter and his partners had worked hard all night but hadn’t caught a single fish. (The reason they had fished at night was because that was the best time to catch fish. Perhaps they used a lantern to attract the fish at night to their nets.) Even though Peter had already cleaned his nets and was probably ready to head home to get some sleep, Jesus instructed him to put down his nets in the deep water during the daylight, promising him that he would catch a lot of fish. It certainly didn’t seem like a very good idea to an intelligent fisherman. It sounded like it would be a waste of time, but Peter had already witnessed the fact that Jesus knew things supernaturally, and so he did what Jesus said.

Amazingly, Peter’s net was soon so full of fish that it began to tear. So Peter yelled to James and John on the shore to bring their boat out, and when they did, they filled both boats with so many fish that they were close to sinking! Imagine how funny it must have been to watch them try to row their heavy boats successfully to shore without sinking or losing any fish!

It was a huge catch of fish, more than anyone had ever caught before, and Peter and his partners knew it was miraculous. They were stunned when they looked at the big piles of fish in their boats. Peter, realizing how much money all those fish were worth at the market, couldn’t believe how good God had been to him. He knew he didn’t deserve such a blessing, and so he fell at Jesus’ feet, confessing his sinfulness. But Jesus told him not to be afraid, and told him he would soon have a new job: catching people instead of fish!

Q. When Peter realized how kind God had been to him, even when he didn’t deserve it, he became a changed man. He was saved. What evidence is there in what we just read that indicates Peter repented and believed in Jesus?

A. First, Peter humbled himself by falling at Jesus’ feet. Not many people, especially grown men, and especially tough fishermen, would fall at someone’s feet unless they truly believed that person was very special. Second, Peter called Jesus Lord . That indicates Peter believed Jesus was worthy to control his life. Third, Peter admitted that he was a sinner. Before anyone can be saved, they must admit that they are guilty sinners who need a Savior. And fourth, Peter began following Jesus from that day on, leaving everything behind. He made obeying Jesus the most important thing in his life.

Q. How was it, do you suppose, that Peter, Andrew, James and John were able just to quit their jobs to follow Jesus? How did they have money to live?

A. If they sold the great quantity of fish that Jesus just blessed them with, that probably provided their needs for quite some time. There’s a proverb that says, “Where God guides, God provides.” Also, many people supported the ministry of Jesus by giving Him money, so Jesus was able to take care of all His disciples. Finally, it is quite probable that some of the four fishermen we read about today were not yet married, so they didn’t have families to support.

Q. Can you find any evidence in today’s reading that Jesus was in the boat with Peter when they caught all the fish?

A. We read that Peter fell at Jesus’ feet when he realized what had happened (see Luke 5:8-9). If Peter was in the boat (which he apparently was), then Jesus must have been there also. Additionally, Jesus told Peter that he would be catching men before the boats landed (see Luke 5:10-11).

Application: It is always smart to do what Jesus said and trust His promises, even when others might think we are foolish. Jesus can’t lie, and He knows what He’s talking about!

In order for Jesus to die on the cross bearing our sins, it was necessary that He have no sins of His own. If He had committed any sins, then He couldn’t have taken our sins and died as our substitute. Therefore, Jesus had to be sinless, and in order to be proven sinless, He had to be faced with temptation (it’s easy not to sin when there’s no temptation). That is why the Holy Spirit led Jesus out into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

Jesus’ temptations in the desert, however, were not the only times Satan tempted Him, because the Bible tells us that Jesus “faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus was tempted to do wrong throughout His entire life. He was tempted to lie, cheat, steal, disobey His parents and act selfishly, but He never gave in to those temptations even once.

We read today that Satan twice tried to get Jesus to doubt what God the Father had told Him just a few days before: that He was the Son of God. Satan always tries to make people doubt what God has said. That is how he got Adam and Eve to disobey the Lord. Anytime we hear something that does not agree with what God’s Word says, we should realize that it is a lie from Satan. Satan can only fool people who don’t know or don’t believe what God has said. But once you know and believe the truth, you can’t be tricked into believing one of Satan’s lies. People who know and believe what God has said don’t have to be scared of Satan. He can’t hurt them at all.

Knowing that Jesus was hungry after fasting for forty days, Satan tempted Him to change a stone into a loaf of bread so He would have something to eat. But Jesus responded by quoting what God had said, “People need more than bread for their life” (Luke 4:4). When the devil tempts us, we overcome him by knowing, believing, saying and obeying what God has said.

According to the Bible, Satan is “the god of this evil world” (2 Corinthians 4:4). That means he is controlling all the people in the world who are not submitted to Jesus, and also controlling all the evil spirits who rule over those unsaved people. Since most people are unsaved, Satan has power over the majority of people in the world in practically every country. God has allowed him to rule over that domain, called in the Bible, “the kingdom of darkness.” Satan offered Jesus the second-in-command position over his worldwide kingdom if Jesus would join his side, proving His allegiance by bowing down before the devil and worshiping him. Again, Jesus responded by knowing, believing, saying and obeying what God had said: “You must worship the Lord your God; serve him only.” Jesus knew that one day He would be ruling over the entire earth and that Satan would one day be banished to hell forever.

Finally, Satan tried to twist some Bible verses to make them mean something that they really didn’t say. He quoted from Psalm 91, saying that it promised Jesus protection if He jumped from the highest point of the Temple. But Jesus knew what the rest of the Old Testament had to say, and He knew that it would be wrong and foolish to jump off a high place and expect God to protect Him. That would be testing God. Again Jesus overcame the devil by knowing, believing, saying and obeying God’s Word.

Aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t give in to any of Satan’s temptations? If He had, you and I couldn’t have been saved!

Q. What temptations have you faced in the last week? Did you give in or resist? What can you do the next time you face the same temptation?

Q. When you are tempted, does that mean that the devil himself is in your presence, right beside you, suggesting that you do the wrong thing?

A. No, the devil can only be in one place at one time. One of Satan’s evil spirits might be present who is tempting you. However, the Bible says that temptation comes “from the lure of our evil desires” (James 1:14). That means we can be tempted without the help of Satan or one of his evil spirits.

Application: When we face a temptation to do wrong, we should think of what God has said to do. If we don’t know, we should find out what God has said to do. Then we should do it.

John the Baptist had a group of disciples with whom he was very close. They were men who were very excited that the Messiah was about to appear, and John shared with them everything he knew about spiritual things. Together, they were anticipating that they would soon meet the Savior of the world.

When John saw the Holy Spirit come upon Jesus, he knew that Jesus was the one they’d been waiting for, and he undoubtedly told his disciples soon after. Jesus, however, departed for the desert immediately after He was baptized, where He spent forty days. Thus John never had the opportunity to point at Jesus and tell anyone who He was. After the forty days, Jesus returned to a place where John was baptizing, and John began pointing Him out as “the Lamb of God.” Two of John’s disciples were the very first people who learned this wonderful news. One of those two was Andrew, and the other is unnamed in today’s reading, but many people think he may have been John, who became one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and who wrote the Gospel of John.

When people find out that Jesus is the Son of God, they naturally want their friends and families to know also, and so Andrew went and told his brother, Simon. Then he brought Simon to Jesus, and amazingly, Jesus already knew his name! Jesus also told him that one day people would call him a different name, Peter, which means “rock.” Jesus knew the Holy Spirit would change Simon into a man who would be firm in his faith and hard to move, like a rock. God would use him in a mighty way to lay the foundation of the early church.

When Philip brought his friend Nathanael to meet Jesus, Nathanael was surprised that Jesus also knew some things about him. Jesus knew he was a very honest man, and He apparently had a vision of Nathanael sitting under a fig tree where Philip found him. Because of this, Nathanael was immediately convinced that Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus promised him that he would one day be in heaven and see angels. That’s something to which everyone who believes that Jesus is the Son of God can look forward!

Q. As we learned from reading about Peter and Nathanael, God knows everything about you, including your personality, your past, present and future. How should that affect your relationship with Him?

A. It should motivate you to obey Him, trust Him, and want to get to know Him better. It should encourage you to seek His direction for your life.

Q. All the men we read about today, except Nathanael, became members of Jesus’ band of twelve disciples. Many people think that Nathanael was also called Bartholomew, and if he was, then he, too, became one of the twelve. Can you think of any reason why Jesus may have chosen those men rather than others?

A. One obvious reason Jesus chose them was because they were very interested in Him. God chooses and uses spiritually hungry people.

Application: Like Peter, the more we get to know Jesus, the more we’ll be changed to become like Jesus. We can trust that Jesus is going to complete the good work He’s begun in us.