John 11:25-26

John 11:25-26 - Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

For hundreds of years people have been searching for the “fountain of youth.” It has been the subject of countless books and movies. People want to live forever. They don’t want to age, they don’t want to die. Many people spend their whole lives trying to find ways to keep their body from aging. Now as far as the body I don’t have an answer. Our bodies are just shells that house who we truly are. They are for us to live here on earth and then they will be discarded for our new eternal bodies that won’t age.

I do, however, have an answer for living forever. His name is Jesus Christ. He is the resurrection and the life. Jesus is our “fountain of youth”. In Him we find everlasting life and will never die. Again, I am not talking about your body, that is not you. I’m talking about your true self, your spiritual self, along with your soul. These two parts make up the real you and through Jesus you will live forever. That is what Jesus is saying here, “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” Your physical body may die, but you will not.

Once you receive Christ you enter life. Your spirit is revived and you become immortal. Jesus spoke these lines to Martha after her brother Lazarus died and I repeat it to you, “Do you believe this?” Jesus is our “fountain of youth”, we just need to receive Him.

John 10:10

John 10:10 - “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

With so much going on in our lives, all the busyness, we sometimes question whether a situation is from God or the enemy. I’ve heard people say, “I’m going through a hard time. God is testing me.” Some people think that God brings trouble into our lives to help us grow and to strengthen us. I've even heard it said that God decided to take someone “home early’ when they die at a young age. They've said, “Well, God knows best and He decided to take them home.” This kind of talk really gets under my skin, but let’s not talk about my thoughts, let’s look at what the Word says on this matter.

“The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy,” Then on the flip side, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” Sounds pretty clear to me. On one side you have death and destruction, on the other side you have life. So let’s look again at the situations I mentioned in the first paragraph.

First we’ll look at the situation I mentioned of someone dying at a young age, or any age for that matter. Is that Life or Death? Obviously it is death! So that means it comes from the enemy. Death was brought into this world, not by God, but by the deception of the enemy, which brought sin. Now that is a pretty drastic event but let’s look at another one.

What if you get fired from your job? Well, you need a job to bring an income. At our jobs we are to work as if working for the Lord, so if we leave it should be on good terms. Does this situation bring life to the fullest? No it does not. Now we know that God works all things for the good of those who Love Him (Romans 8:28). So we know that better things will come out of it, but the act itself is not good. Therefore, this also is from the enemy.

Every situation that comes up in our life we need to view in the light of the scriptures. Thank God for the good things and trust Him to bring good out of the bad.

John 9:4-5

John 9:4-5 - “As long as it is day we must do the work of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

          Jesus was speaking of His time on earth when He spoke these lines. “As long as it is day,” He said, referring to the time He had before He was crucified, “we must do the work of Him who sent me.” There was so much that needed to be done. Everywhere Jesus looked there were people that were lost and hurting. Some in pain and physical ailment and others downcast and defeated. As long as He was on earth He was the Light in their darkness.

          Jesus knew a time was coming when He would be leaving and would not be there to help them anymore, so He didn't want to waste the time He had. Now that He is not here anymore in the natural He has given us the task of continuing His work. While on earth He showed us how we are to live and what we are to do. He is our example.

          Therefore, we must apply this verse in our own lives. While we are here on earth and are healthy and capable, we need to do the work of God. We must be the ones to minister to those who are lost and hurting. There will be a day when we will no longer be able to carry on the work of God, but until then we must never tire of doing what is right. Now we are the light of the world through Jesus. Let your light shine to those around you.

John 8:12

John 8:12 - When Jesus spoke again to the people He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

“The Light of Life”. Life is a light and you only find it by finding Christ. He is the light of the world, a beacon to help us find our way. imagine being in a boat, traveling in the dark through the fog. This is a thick fog. You can’t hardly see your hand in front of your face, let alone anything in front of the boat. As you navigate through, trying to make sense of where you are, you realize there is no use. Your instruments don’t work and you can’t see anything. All you can do is hope and pray.

Then you see a light. It’s coming from a lighthouse on the shore. You still can’t see what’s around you, but you can see that light. It gives you enough of a bearing of where you are to safely navigate through the dark until you are in the full light of day.

I think many of us have been here in life, wandering through the dark, not knowing where we are or where we are going. Maybe some are still here. We need to be looking to Jesus. He is like the lighthouse, giving us something to latch onto in the dark. And the darker it gets the brighter His light will shine. He will give us what we need to get out of the dark and into the light.

Once we receive Him, His light shines through us and we become the lighthouse to those around us. It is now our job to guide people out of the dark and into the light of life, which is Jesus. It is time to stop wandering like a boat lost in the fog. Let Jesus enter your heart and truly light up your life.

John 7:37-38

John 7:37-38 - On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

 We all have that thirst, that hunger, that desire for something greater. If we will admit it we are not satisfied with the ordinary and want more. We want something supernatural. That is what Jesus is talking about here. Nothing else will satisfy or quench that thirst, only Jesus. He tells us, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me to drink.” Go to Jesus. Let Him quench your thirst. There is nothing else that will satisfy.

Jesus not only quenches your thirst, but also fills you so that you can help others. Now we can see that Jesus has streams of Living Water in Him. We see it in the form of the Holy Spirit, flowing from heaven through Jesus and touching the earth. When we go to Jesus He baptizes us with “fire” and we receive this same Spirit in us. This is the Holy Spirit of God that we have on the inside of us.

So, just as Jesus had the “streams of living water” flowing out of Him, we too have these same “streams” flowing out of us. The same Spirit that was in Jesus is now alive and active in us. This is amazing. Now we must be careful not to dam up these rivers. They are made to flow and we need to follow Jesus example and let them flow through us and touch the lives of those around us. You have life in that will quench spiritual thirst, and it is your responsibility to share it with others. Let the water flow freely through you.

John 6:35

John 6:35 - Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and He who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

As Jesus was ministering to the people He knew their hearts and what they were thinking. He knew that they had all been following Him for awhile. They were with Him when He fed 5000 with the five loaves and two small fish (John 6:1-14). Now they were with Him again, not because they knew He was the Son of God, but because they wanted another free meal. Jesus would give them something, but not in the way they expected.

“I am the bread of life,” Jesus said, “He who comes to me will never go hungry, and He who believes in me will never be thirsty.” We are all created with a hunger and thirst for something greater than ourselves. This is not in the natural, but in the Spiritual. When God created man in the beginning it was to be in fellowship with Him. After man sinned this fellowship was lost and there became a void in man’s life that could only be filled with God.

We can see this today too, because that void is still there. If you look around you will find all sorts of different ways that people are trying to fill that void. Some spend their whole life searching, but the Truth is right in front of us. Nothing else will satisfy of quench that thirst. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Through Him we can come back into that relationship with the Father that our spirit has been hungering for since we were born. Jesus fills that void in our heart and brings us back to God. He is the bread of life. Come to Him and you will never go hungry . Believe in Him and your thirst will be quenched.

John 5:24

John 5:24 - I tell you the truth, whoever hears my Word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. Recently I watched a movie called “Warm Bodies”. This movie tells the story of a zombie. It starts out like a typical zombie story, with the zombies preying on the people that are alive. They chase them in an attempt to take their life from them and turn them into zombies as well. As the movie progresses we see this zombie starting to fall in love with a human girl. With love growing in his heart it actually begins to bring him back to life which makes me think of this verse.

"Love brings us from death to life"

 This is the true and most amazing miracle that God ever performs. Bringing a dead soul to life in Christ. Before we knew Christ we were dead, even though our bodies were alive. Kind of like zombies, going around from one thing to the next, no sense of purpose; basically just wandering. And, like zombies, all you were doing was trying to pull those with life down to your level, stealing the life from them.
When we are born into the natural we are born into sin and death. We can’t help it, that’s just the way it is, since this is a fallen world. Then we hear the Words of Jesus. He speaks straight from the Father through those who have already received Him. So you hear His Word, which is powerful, and you have a choice to make. You can choose to believe the Words of Jesus or you can continue to live life as a “zombie”, with no sense of purpose. If you believe, you will enter life, and not just now, but forever, because your new life is eternal. This is the true miracle. We often ask for miracles that we can see, because in our minds that is cool. Which it is, don’t get me wrong, but we need to believe for the miracle of true life and salvation. That is the most awesome miracle, because it takes place in our true selves; our spirits. Salvation brings a person from death to life through the Love of God. In the romantic zombie flick “Warm Bodies” you see love bringing life to the zombies, so also the Love of God brings life to us. Love brings us from death to life.