Hi all!

Today’s story is a combination of things, we’ll focus on John 6/7 and 10/11 today.

Many people LOVED Jesus. They all wanted to hear Him teach. They knew He could do AMAZING things and that He LOVED people. People believed in Him and followed Him.

But not everybody. Some people were NOT happy about Jesus. Remember the pharisees? They were the teachers who thought they were SOOOOO perfect…but even though they knew every.word. in the Bible…they didn’t REALLY know God’s love. They didn’t OBEY God’s word by loving other people. So Jesus often told them they were going to be in trouble if they didn’t start obeying God. Well they didn’t want to be told they were WRONG?! They were always looking for ways to trick Jesus into saying something bad…but they never quite could.

Also, everyone called Jesus the KING (they thought He would a “real” king like sit ohm a throne and be the leader of Israel.) But Jesus came to be king of our HEARTS. He wants to be the most important thing in our lives. But the kings and leaders then were scared. So many people LIKED Jesus it would be easy for Him to become king. So they were also scared of Him.

Jesus said He was God’s son. Some people believed Him,. but some people did not and were angry that He would say He could be God’s son. Jesus said, “God sent me and you can see by the things I do that I am His son. But you choose not to believe.” A couple of times, they tried to put Jesus in jail. But He always got away…it wasn’t time for that yet.

Finally, the Pharisees and others with “hard” hearts were so ready to kill Jesus that Jesus stayed and lived quietly with His disciples for a while. (Then will come the stories of Easter, which we will do closer to Easter time.)

Lots of people loved Jesus, but He didn’t have a very easy life. He traveled and taught all the time and lots of people were always trying to trick Him or capture Him. When people didn’t have God’s love in their hearts, Jesus loved them anyway. When people were mean to Him, He was not mean back. He told them again and again about God’s love.

In John 16, Jesus was talking to His disciples and He said, “You know I have had a lot of trouble and loneliness. But I’m never really alone because God is with me. People will not always be nice to you either, especially if you love Me.” People who don’t believe God and accept His love can have very sad hearts and might be mean to people who love God. “In this world, you WILL have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”

When we face hard things or when people are mean to us, especially if it’s because we love God, we can remember that HE is God. He is in control. He loves us more than anything and that He is on our side.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!