Connect: In what parts of your life do you need to continue to change in response to the grace you have received? How could you ask God to help you in his strength?

Warm-Up

1. What are the most common things that people ‘live’ for? Are those things bad? Do they satisfy?

Read John 6:1-14

2. Where has Jesus been prior to this? How big was the crowd? Why had they followed Jesus?
3. As Jesus and the disciples withdrew up a mountainside, what were they probably hoping for?
4. What is the significance of John’s reference to the time of the “Jewish Passover Festival” being near?
5. How do you feel when your quiet time is interrupted? How do you think Jesus felt?
6. How did Jesus have compassion for the crowd even though they had mixed motives? (The parallel accounts of this incident may also shed further light on the shape of Jesus’ compassion.)
7. Where else do we witness the compassion of Jesus? How does it make you feel to know that Jesus is also compassionate towards us? How does knowing that help you to approach Jesus more freely?
8. What happens when Jesus takes the bread and fish? How is it evident that this was a miracle?
9. How abundant is the provision of Jesus? How does this point to his ultimate provision for us?

Read John 6:25-36

10. What has happened just prior to this? Why (according to Jesus) were the crowds looking for him?
11. What does Jesus tell the people not to do? What do you think is the ‘food that spoils’?
12. What are you tempted to ‘live for’ apart from Jesus? What is the danger of making a good thing our ultimate thing in life? 
13. What is the only ‘work’ that is required for salvation? Does this mean we earn our salvation?
14. What role did bread have in the ancient world? What does Jesus mean when he says he is the ‘bread of life’? 
15. Is the ‘life’ that Jesus brings just a mere existence or something more? Try to spend some time discussing all of the wonderful dimensions of the life that Jesus brings for us?
16. What was the manna in the Old Testament? How is the ‘bread of life’ similar? How is it superior?
17. Why did Jesus need to die in order to save us? How does the Lord’s Supper (and the broken bread) point to this? Can we have life to the full and life forever without Jesus’ death?
18.  How did various people respond to Jesus’ claim? What does it mean to feed on Jesus? (Try to consider that for someone who is not yet a Christian AND for those who are believers.)

Apply How do you keep ‘feeding on Jesus’ every day as you seek to live for him?

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On Your Front Line this Week

What would it look like to reflect the gentleness of Jesus on your frontline?

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For Families

• Download: some of the family resources to use at home: stbartskids.org

Listen, Watch, and Read

• Listen (sermon): “The Pool” by Tim Keller:
  https://gospelinlife.com/sermon/the-pool/ 
• Listen (sermon): “Jesus Meets a Paralytic” by Rico Tice:
  https://www.allsouls.org/Media/AllMedia.aspx?show_media=52375&show_file=55923 
• Listen (sermon): “Healed for the Sake of Holiness” by John Piper:
  https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/healed-for-the-sake-of-holiness    
• Read (devotional article): “Healing at Bethesda” by Ligonier Ministries:
  https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/healing-bethesda 

Series Resources

• Read: “John: An Expositional Commentary” by R C Sproul.
• Read: “The Gospel According to John” by Don Carson. 
• Read: “The Message of John” by Bruce Milne. 📚
• Read: “The Gospel According to John” by Leon Morris.
• Read: “John for Everyone: Part 1” by Tom Wright. 📚
• Read: “Can We Trust the Gospels?” by Peter Williams. 📚
• Read: “Signs of the Messiah: An Introduction to John’s Gospel” by Andreas Köstenberger
• Watch: “John” by the Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/guides/book-of-john/  
• Previous Series from St Bart’s (including Children’s Resources):
  https://www.stbarts.com.au/sermon-series/jesus-is
  https://www.stbarts.com.au/sermon-series/i-am
  https://www.stbarts.com.au/sermon-series/truth-glory 

📚Available to borrow from the St Bart’s Library (Toowoomba): stbarts.com.au/library 

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