What Do You Believe About Jesus

Devotional

Day 1: When Miracles Reveal the Heart of God

Jesus’ miracles are more than displays of power—they’re proof of His divine identity and windows into His compassion. Like a father who fixes broken toys to delight his child, Jesus heals, feeds, and resurrects to show He is both capable and caring. His miracles aren’t random acts but intentional signs pointing to His authority over creation. The lame walking and blind seeing aren’t just physical transformations; they’re invitations to trust the God who rewrites impossible stories. [31:02]

“Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, ‘When the Messiah appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?’” (John 7:31, NLT)

Reflection: When has a “small” miracle in your life—a healed relationship, unexpected provision, or renewed hope—deepened your trust in Jesus’ authority? How might His past faithfulness invite you to bring Him your current impossibilities?

Day 2: The Uncomfortable Truth That Divides Crowds

Jesus’ words expose hidden motives, confront sin, and polarize listeners. Just as children resent a father’s discipline, people often reject Christ when He challenges their comfort. The world hates Him because He refuses to endorse half-truths or compromise holiness. Yet this tension reveals the cost of discipleship: surrendering our preferences to embrace His better way. Resistance to Jesus’ correction often masks fear of losing control. [36:24]

“The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil.” (John 7:7, NLT)

Reflection: Where do you feel defensive or resistant when Jesus’ teachings confront your habits or beliefs? What might His willingness to unsettle you reveal about His love?

Day 3: The Rabbi Who Taught With Creator’s Authority

Jesus’ teaching stunned crowds because He spoke as the Author of truth, not just a scholar of it. Unlike human teachers who speculate, He declared reality with the confidence of someone who engineered atoms and shaped history. His lessons penetrated minds, stirred consciences, and demanded action. When He taught about forgiveness, He was the God who’d absorb the cost. When He described the Father’s love, He spoke as the eternal Son. [40:19]

“Then, midway through the festival, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. The people were surprised when they heard him. ‘How does he know so much when he hasn’t been trained?’” (John 7:14-15, NLT)

Reflection: Which of Jesus’ teachings feel hardest to obey? How might remembering He is both Teacher and Creator shift your willingness to follow His instructions?

Day 4: Missing the Messiah in Plain Sight

Religious leaders dismissed Jesus because He didn’t match their expectations—a hometown carpenter instead of a royal conqueror. Their obsession with credentials (Galilee? Nazareth?) blinded them to God’s pattern of using unlikely people and places. Jesus fulfilled prophecies they’d memorized yet failed to recognize. Their error warns us: God often works through ordinary moments, inconvenient calls, and people we’d overlook. [46:20]

“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6, NLT)

Reflection: Where might you be overlooking God’s work because it doesn’t align with your expectations? How could embracing His unexpected methods deepen your faith?

Day 5: The Well That Never Runs Dry

Jesus’ invitation to the thirsty mirrors a father offering water to a parched child after play. He doesn’t ration sips but promises rivers flowing from within. Earthly pursuits—success, approval, comfort—leave souls dehydrated. Christ offers Himself as the living water that satisfies our deepest cravings. To drink means abandoning other “wells” and letting His presence become the source that sustains every desert season. [51:05]

“On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, ‘Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, “Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.”’” (John 7:37-38, NLT)

Reflection: What temporary “wells” have left you spiritually thirsty? How might prioritizing time with Jesus this week become your first response to soul-deep longing?

Sermon Summary

John 7 presses one big question into the room: what does a person believe about Jesus? The question starts with dads, with presence, time spent, patience, sacrifice, and love, but John 7 turns the room toward the deeper question: what makes Jesus a good God?

Jesus is shown first as a miracle working God. His own brothers do not believe him, and their words have that sarcastic tone: if he can do such wonderful things, why hide out in the country? But John has already been piling up the evidence. Jesus calms water, heals lame legs, opens blind eyes, raises the dead, feeds hungry people, and cares for broken families. The miracles are not just because Jesus cares, even though he absolutely does care. The miracles give testimony to who he is. Jesus did it back then, and Jesus can still do it today.

John 7 also shows that some will love him and some will hate him. Jesus says the world hates him because he accuses it of doing evil. Christ does not flatter blind spots, excuse disobedience, or baptize whatever a person already wants. His love is not weak. His love tells the truth, and that truth can make a heart angry before it makes that heart free. Still, Jesus does not run away when people pull away. Jesus keeps drawing people in until his way is seen as better than the way that was not working.

Jesus also stands as the greatest teacher of all time. The people are shocked because he has not been trained the way they expect, yet his words stick. Jesus speaks to the head because he created everything and knows everything. Jesus speaks to the heart because he carries real authority, not borrowed authority. Every other voice is just trying to speak on his behalf, but Jesus is the authority.

John 7 then raises the bigger claim: Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one. Jesus is not just a good teacher or a miracle worker. Jesus is the promised one, the fulfillment of the law and prophets, the main character, the missing puzzle piece, the one the soul has been craving. Some miss him because he does not fit their terms and conditions.

Jesus finally cries out to the thirsty: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” Living water flows from the heart that believes in him. Sin overpromises and underdelivers, but Christ satisfies. John 7 leaves every person facing the only question that really matters: who is Jesus?

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Key Takeaways

1. Jesus still does miracles. The miracles of Jesus are not magic tricks meant to make him famous. They are signs that give testimony to who he is, and they also show that he really does care about hurting people. A healed body, a restored marriage, a broken addiction, and a dead soul brought to life all point back to the same miracle working God. [31:55]
2. Love receives correction from Jesus. Jesus says the world hates him because he accuses it of doing evil. His correction exposes the places where desire has tried to outrank obedience. The heart that receives his correction discovers that his authority is not against love, but is actually the shape love takes when it tells the truth. [36:24]
3. Christ's words carry true authority. Jesus does not speak as one more opinion in a noisy world. His words carry weight because he knows what he made, knows what the heart is, and knows what brings life. Every other faithful voice is only an ambassador, but Christ himself is the authority. [44:42]
4. The Messiah calls people off sidelines. Jesus does not call people into another religious experience so they can stay comfortable. The Messiah calls disciples out of the stands and onto the battlefield of redemption. The question is not how many more moments with God are needed, but whether surrender will finally follow belief. [49:02]
5. Living water exposes false thirsts. Jesus invites thirsty people to come to him and drink. That invitation reveals how many other things have competed for worship, attention, and hope while never satisfying the soul. If Christ is not enough, nothing else will ever be enough.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[20:06] - Kids Rock Camp Celebration
[21:31] - What Makes a Good Dad?
[22:44] - What Makes a Good God?
[23:34] - Believe Series and John 7
[25:40] - Jesus the Miracle Working God
[31:02] - Miracles Testify to Jesus
[35:54] - Loved by Some, Hated by Others
[40:19] - Jesus the Master Teacher
[45:05] - Jesus Is the Messiah
[50:19] - Living Water for the Thirsty
[52:53] - Who Is Jesus to Each Person?
[55:02] - Responding Through Baptism, Prayer, and Communion

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

John 7:1-5
After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world." For not even his brothers believed in him. [26:50]

John 7:7
The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. [36:24]

John 7:15-16
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me." [40:51]

John 7:37-38
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" [50:19]

Observation questions

In John 7:1-5, what do Jesus’ brothers tell him to do, and what does that reveal about whether they believe in him? [26:50]
What reason does Jesus give in John 7:7 for why the world hates him?
In John 7:15-16, what surprises the crowd about Jesus’ teaching, and how does Jesus explain where his teaching comes from? [40:51]
What invitation does Jesus give in John 7:37-38, and what promise is attached to the person who believes in him? [50:19]

Interpretation questions

Jesus’ brothers speak about his miracles with unbelief and sarcasm. What does that show about how a person can see evidence of Jesus and still refuse to trust him? [27:38]
Jesus says the world hates him because he exposes evil. Why does truthful correction so often feel offensive, even when it is meant to lead people toward life? [36:24]
The crowd is amazed that Jesus teaches with unusual wisdom and authority. What makes Jesus different from every other teacher people may listen to? [43:42]
Jesus offers living water to the thirsty. What does that suggest about the deeper hunger underneath sin, distraction, and restless searching? [51:00]

Application questions

Jesus’ miracles testify to who he is. Where is there a need in life right now that feels too far gone, and what would it look like to ask Jesus for help with real faith instead of quiet resignation? [31:55]
Jesus’ love tells the truth about evil. Is there an area of life where correction from Jesus has felt frustrating, exposing, or unwanted? What might it look like to receive that correction as love instead of pushing it away? [36:33]
Jesus’ words carry true authority. Which voices have been shaping decisions lately more than the words of Christ—friends, culture, fear, old habits, personal preference? What would need to change for Jesus’ voice to carry the most weight? [45:01]
Jesus is the Messiah, not just an interesting part of life. Has faith become more about having spiritual moments than actually surrendering? Where might life still be sitting on the sidelines? [49:02]
Jesus says thirsty people should come to him and drink. What has been competing for worship, attention, or hope lately, and how has it been underdelivering? [50:19]
If Christ is not enough, nothing else will ever be enough. When does that feel most true in real life, and when is it hardest to believe? [52:21]
The deepest question is not what other people believe about Jesus, but who Jesus is personally. Is he mostly familiar, mostly useful, mostly distant, or truly Lord? What honest answer would be given right now? [52:53]

Sermon Clips

30s

“``You were made to know him. You were made to worship him. If he is not enough for you, nothing else will ever be. The characters in the novel do not get to argue with the author. Everything that we chase in this life is all fleeting without God. And so come to Jesus and be filled with living water. Taste and see that he is good, which leads me to this question.”

40s

“Who is Jesus to you? we look at verse 45 to 50, we're gonna see people have different opinions about him. And so for us, we have to the most important question we have to answer with our lives is, who is Jesus to me? Is this just the faith of my parents and what I was raised in, or is this my God? Is this the God that I bow to that I follow? Do I have a relationship with him, or am I riding on the faith of the culture around me or the faith of my family? Do I know him? Do I know him personally? Do I know the Messiah?”

38s

“He's everything you need. He's everything you and I need and everything we could ever long for. He's the missing puzzle piece of your life. He's the thing that gives you purpose and fulfillment and healing. And it's crucial that we know this because if we don't, we're gonna spend our entire lives searching for for for fulfillment in places where it is not. Searching to be satisfied outside of god when he's the very thing our soul craves. He is the Messiah. Jesus is the Christ.”

58s

“The fourth one is, he is the Messiah. Jesus is not just a good teacher or a miracle worker. He is the Messiah, the Christ. Those two words mean the same thing. Hebrew Messiah is Hebrew. Christ is Greek. So, it's not his last name. It's his title. It means anointed one. It means the the promised one. Jesus is Messiah. Regardless of who recognizes it or not, he is the Messiah. It's he's the way, the life, and the truth. Whether you bow to it or you don't, Jesus is the Messiah. He's the one that they've all in John seven, they've all been waiting for. He's the fulfillment of all Old Testament law and prophets. Everything in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, every page points back to him. He's the Messiah.”

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What Do You Believe About Jesus — John 7