Introduction

• Pastor Steve left off last week sharing about the amazing miracles, signs, and wonders that Jesus performed and how they testified of the reality of His Father.  It is so easy to get caught up in seeking God for hand outs when what He really wants is our fellowship.  We need to get beyond grabbing what is in His hand to knowing Him face to face.
• This is the purpose of the Intimacy series to draw closer to God and to be used to draw others closer to Him.
• It is so cool to experience the supernatural manifestation of healing, deliverance, and divine provision but that alone doesn’t transform us it is knowing God intimately that changes us within.  We are going into John 6 as our teacher the Holy Spirit further elaborates.

Feeding 5000 (vs. 1-15)

• • We are not to be moved by natural limitations as long as God is leading supernatural provision is within reach.
  • Faith opens the heavens, all we need to do is take whatever is in our hand and use it and it will multiply.
  • If we are not walking close to God we will be moved by circumstances.
  • Signs point people to the reality of God but we are to point people further to knowing the person of God if they are going to reach their eternal destination.

Walking on Water (vs. 16-21)

• • When we move ahead of God, we will quickly step into a storm.
  • It is those who wait upon the Lord that live above the storm (Isaiah 40:31).
  • Jesus in His mercy will walk right on the crashing waves of our present darkness and as we acknowledge Him, He will come right into our situation and calm the storm.

The Bread of Life (vs. 22-59)

• A good question to ask before making a commitment like marriage is why am I in relationship with this person and why are they in relationship with me?
• If the reason is more on what someone can offer the other than simply loving the person for who they are the commitment will never go beyond the surface.
• The Miracles in our ministry will never be enough to satisfy the true longing of the heart which is for fellowship with God.  If the signs we perform don’t point people into a relationship with God then we have done them a disservice.  We have used the power of God for our own gain and judgement will follow.
• Jesus the bread of life is the only thing that can quench the longing of our soul.  We can help people meeting the needs of their current problems but if in the end they don’t come to know God it will be meaningless.
• Intimacy with the person of Christ is the only means of finding contentment, confidence, and completion.  We will remain discontent, insecure, and incomplete until we live in a covenant relationship with God.
• To walk with God is to walk according to His will, it is in this place that we never hunger or thirst again.
• The outward sign of someone being hungry is complaining and murmuring.
• Eating the flesh and the blood of Jesus is when we make holy communion a lifestyle.  It is a living experience of oneness with Christ.

Are You Committed? (vs. 60-71)

• The marriage commitment is not an easy one to make it means giving yourself completely to another.
• If you have not given yourself completely to God you are not saved.  Believing in God is not enough, one must become His disciple, a true devoted follower.  It is a way of life not a religious experience.
• The hard truth of the words of Jesus caused many disciples to leave Him.  Maybe some churches have been filled with crowds because the truth has been watered down.
• If you are someone who is offended easily you have not surrendered your heart to Jesus, a dead man is not offend-able, and those who are followers of Jesus have died to themselves, yes it is a daily death, a daily choice to pick up the cross, so let today be the day that you make sure you are truly a child of God.

If you look at the sun, s, u, n too long you lose the ability to see, but if you look at the Son, S, O, N long enough you will truly see.  We cannot know who we are and what life is about without knowing the creator of it.  Mankind different than all other creation was made in the very image of God, with the sole purpose of being in fellowship with Him.  Until we know God intimately we are living blind.  If we are going to experience what life was intended to be we must go back to the way it was in the beginning.

This new series is entitled Intimacy, with Christ revealing "In To Me, You See!"  We should expect to grow in understanding our identity and learn to live in an abiding unceasing, intimate relationship with Jesus.  We will be reading through the writings of John, who was called the beloved of the Lord, for he was closest to him, and wrote his books from a deeply intimate place.  Let's now dive into John chapter 1.

John 1:1-5 NLT

1In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He existed in the beginning with God. 3God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 4The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.

If you are married, do you remember the beginning, when you first fell in love with your spouse?  Maybe you are like me, that at that time nothing else really mattered but spending time with her, time disappeared, and all I did was think, and breathe Loraine. Falling in love is such a beautiful experience, staying in love is the difficulty.  Having kids, being busy with work, dealing with finances, all this tends to dampen the passion of when we first fell in love.  We see in Revelations 2:4 the call to return to our first love, it is not just a word to the church of Ephesus, it is a word to all whose love has become lukewarm.

Do you remember the beginning of your relationship with God, when He revealed Himself to you? I remember when I was radically born again, I felt alive for the first time, everything changed. Now I had this overwhelming desire to know God, so I dug into the Word and I felt I wasn't reading it, but it was reading me. The bible literally is alive, a person, as we see in the book of John 1.  

The Word always existed, and all things were created through Him. Life cannot be known apart from Him and whatever one thinks they know is nothing but deception, for one cannot see in the dark. Until we are born again, we are blind! The Word brings Light and Life!

We now learn about John and the Word becoming Flesh, in the person of Jesus.  John's purpose was to prepare the way, which he did by preaching repentance and having it symbolized through the baptism of water.  Yet, he promised that there is one coming greater than he, who will baptize with the Spirit and Fire.  Jesus will transition the age from the law under Moses to the law of grace and truth under Him.  He will make it possible to return to the garden and experience once again the fullness of God.

Once the ministry of Jesus began, He called others to follow Him.  To receive Jesus goes beyond just believing in Him.  It is like when you find the person you want to marry, you cannot just believe it, you got to act on it, you must approach the person and begin a relationship of discovering one another, eventually leading to the seal of commitment being marriage, where the two now become one.  Life is no longer lived alone but in partnership with another.  There is no difference in receiving Jesus we are to become one with Him.  He is the head though, we are to follow Him, not He follows us.  Yet, in following Him, all of our true desires will be met, our God-given destiny will be lived out.

I hope you are ready to go on this journey with me of deeper intimacy with Christ.  Start by making sure you are born again, and secondly answering the call to follow Him.