"John 6:22-29

These are my notes from Apex

Motives

As a believer, motives can keep you from growing
As a nonbeliever, motives can keep you from believing

Typically we love it when Jesus answers our prayers but do not feel the same way when he answers our motives.
Rome would feed the Jews every now and then to control them

Five common but lethal motives in following Jesus

1. Following Jesus to avoid Hell but not wanting Him
2. Following Jesus as a means to obtain something that you perceive of greater value
3. Following Jesus out of cultural expectation "Religiously lost"
4. Following Jesus as a way to get through a crisis
5. Following Jesus to receive forgiveness for sin but not to forsake that sin. Jailhouse gospel.


Jesus reveals our motives (v26) He fed them and they want to be fed physically
Sometimes the gifts of God can be the enemies of God
He challenges our motives(v27)
False motives are poison
He redefines their motives (v28)
They ask what can we do?
They don't get it. It's not about what we can do
It's about what God did for us
Believe in Jesus Christ
God is our bread. The ramifications of this can be hard.

How can I labor and not detach from the light of Christ?

1. Spiritual formation guides how you work
Being in a community, prayer, fasting, being in scripture
Work and labor become an outflow of who you are
If you "don't have time", ask yourself What if Jesus "didn't have time" to go to the cross?

2. Your joy in Christ
This should guide your labor not the coworkers,the money, the power
Let the joy of the Lord be your strength
You need to see work as an act of worship
Our boss is Jesus
You need to see it as a field to expand God's glory
Not everybody loves God's glory. It's not always a pleasant place to be
See work as a place Jesus i making you more like Himself God often uses people to "bubble up" our own idolatry

How are you answering the why questions(motives) in your life?

"John 6:16-21

These are my notes from Apex sermon 7/17

Following Jesus is never a straight line
Rarely a comfortable line

Christian life is not like a vacation cruise liner. It is a war boat storming the beach of a sin torn world

Darkness (17)
Dark nights of the soul
Spiritual depression
Whether or not we see Jesus in the dark, he always sees us

Absence (17b)
Feeling the Lord has abandoned you
Jesus is always praying for you
Philippians 2:1
You have been fused with Christ

Troubled (v18)
Storms of life
We wake up against the wind of culture
This world is broken. This is not our home. Remember to trust Christ
John 14:1..Let not your hearts be troubled...."

Labored (19)
rowing and slogging through life
Being a disciple of Christ is hard work
Take up your cross
You can't be saved by your work, but you don't grow without work
"Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. " Dallas Willard

Darkness, absence, troubling circumstances and fatigue can cause confusing fear (19b)
The disciples were fearing that they weren't in control

God allows in this world, darkness, absence,troubling circumstances, and struggle so that Jesus can be sweeter to you.

On Christmas Day, Jesus came to the boat. Jesus gets us to the other side.
He went through darkness, absence, laboring for us.