๐ช๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ฃ
โข Recall a time you experienced a rollercoaster of emotions. What happened?ย
โข Do you usually go with the flow or chart your own course? Recall an instance explaining this.ย
โข Who is one person you would follow blindlyโno questions asked? Why?ย
๐ช๐ข๐ฅ๐ย
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ, โ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ?โ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ? ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ.โ ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฒ:๐ฒ๐ฒ-๐ฒ๐ต
(Read also ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฒ:๐ฑ๐ฏ-๐ฒ๐ญ.)
From the very beginning, God designed us for a relationship with Him. This starts by following Jesus, which is the most important decision we can make in our lives. It is also the most difficult decision. In John 6, we see how many people turned their back on Christ, while some stayed. Jesus had just fed the 5,000 and taught them ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ (John 6:60). In our own lives, we are called to follow Jesus, even when it is hard and when others do not. From this passage, what does following Jesus mean?
๐ญ. ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ธ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐บ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ; ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต?โ ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด, ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด, ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด?โย ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฒ:๐ฒ๐ฌ-๐ฒ๐ญ
What did Jesus mean by eating His flesh and drinking His blood? How were His disciples supposed to do this? They had given up easily and concluded that this was a hard saying. Because of this, they left. The truth is, following Jesus does not always make sense given our limited human understanding. Even when we cannot figure out the circumstances behind the teaching of Jesus, we should continue seeking and following Him. What is one teaching of Jesus that is hard for you to accept?
๐ฎ. ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ด๐ผ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ณ๐น๐ผ๐.ย
๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ. ๐๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ด ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ, โ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ?โ ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฒ:๐ฒ๐ฒ-๐ฒ๐ณ
Not everyone will follow Jesus. Not everyone will keep following Jesus. Not everyone will agree with your decision to follow Jesus. When this happens, will you still follow Him? When everyone else is turning away from Him, may we choose to do what is right, even when it means going against the flow. Why do you think Jesus asked His twelve disciples if they wanted to leave Him as well? Why was it important for Jesus to ask them this?ย
๐ฏ. ๐๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ.
๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ, โ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ? ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ.โย ๐๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฒ:๐ฒ๐ด-๐ฒ๐ต
Simon Peter and the eleven other disciples probably did not understand all that Jesus was teaching, and they could see others turning away from Christ. Yet Simon knew that they had nowhere else to go. They had believed in Jesus and followed Him for who He is. Even when we donโt understand a lot of things in life or our faith, we can trust Jesus who has โ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ.โ We believe and follow Him despite confusion, pain, and suffering. Do you feel and think as Simon Peter did? Why?
If the disciples who left only continued to remain with Jesus and seek understanding, they would have known that eating His flesh and drinking His blood meant believing in Him (John 6:27โ29, 35, 40, 47). When we encounter difficult teachings and things we donโt understand, let us continue to trust in the person of Jesus and seek Him for guidance.
๐๐ฃ๐ฃ๐๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ก
โข Tell us about how and when you decided to follow Jesus. What has it meant for you since?ย
โข In what area of your life is following Jesus difficult? How do you think you will be able to go against the flow?
โข Do you believe that Jesus has โthe words of eternal lifeโ and is โthe Holy One of Godโ? How will this belief affect your daily life?
๐ฃ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ
โข Thank God for Jesusโ invitation to follow Him. Pray that you would follow Him even when you (or others) donโt understand.ย
โข Declare your trust and faith in Christ as โ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ.โ Pray that you would know and love Him more as each day passes.ย
โข Pray for your relatives and friends who donโt know Jesus yet to follow Him, too.ย