Daily Bread Pastor Mike Anderson

Click Here to Read or Listen to John 15 Vineyards were all over the area where Jesus and his disciples lived, so it would make sense for Jesus to use this metaphor of the Vine and the Branches. Jesus was a master teacher, so he always took examples from nature to teach spiritual truths. I.e. The Sower and the Seed, The Mustard Seed, Yeast in the Bread In this case Jesus calls himself the "True Vine". Once again Jesus is making a claim to be God. In the Old Testament, Israel was the "True Vine" of God. They were God's instrument to make his will known. Jesus is the True Vine and the Father is the Gardener.  Importantly, the purpose of a vine is to bear fruit. The purpose of a Christian is to bear spiritual fruit. So you can see the connection. Jesus says the key to being a fruit-bearing Christian is to stay connected to the Vine, which is Him. The natural outcome of staying connected to, or abiding in Jesus, is to bear fruit. We don't have to try and make fru

Click Here to Read or Listen to John 14 Jesus Comforts His Disciples John 14-17 are some of my favorite chapters in the bible. Jesus has just washed his disciples feet, Judas has betrayed him, and he has predicted that Peter would deny him three times. At this point the disciples might have needed some comfort. There were a lot of unknowns at this point. They knew Jesus was going to die, be raised after three days, and return the Father. But, what exactly did all this mean for them?   So, Jesus starts out chapter 14 by saying, "Do not let your hearts be troubled!"  Jesus had empathy for them. He knew how they were feeling. Jesus urged them to not only trust in God but also in Him. Why?  Because he was going was a place that had lots and lots of rooms. He was preparing a place for them for when they died. If Jesus prepared a place for them, he would certainly come back to take them with him. They he said something interesting,  "You know the way to the place I am going!&q

Click Here to Read or Listen to John 13 Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet For Jesus' last meal with his disciples, he does something dramatic to reveal the type of Messiah he is. The Passover meal is also called Jesus' Last Supper. The devil had already prompted Judas to betray Jesus and the meal was "go time".  After the meal, it was customary for the servant of the house to wash the guests' feet. But tonight this job was reserved for Jesus. He took off his outer garment, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin.  Then, he began to wash the disciples dirty, dusty, smelly feet. Remember they wore sandals and most of the days walked down dusty roads. We've all seen what our feet look like after a day like this in sandals. Peter thought it was below Jesus to do such a menial job reserved for the servants of the house.  After all, this was not the type of Messiah Jesus envisioned.  But Jesus is dead serious about the message he is conveying

Click Here to Read or Listen to John 12   Jesus Anointed at Bethany A little later Jesus is now at the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. One can only imagine how grateful Lazarus is to be eating anything at all. Martha was serving everyone, and Mary took a pint of expensive nard perfume, poured it on Jesus feet, and wiped it with her hair.  This seems a little bit strange unless you understand the culture they lived in.  Mary’s gift was remarkably humble. When a guest entered the home, usually the guest’s feet were washed with water and the guest’s head was anointed with a dab of oil or perfume. Here, Mary used this precious ointment and anointed the feet of Jesus. She considered her precious ointment only good enough for His feet. “To attend to the feet was the task of the most lowly slave. Thus Mary’s action denoted great humility as well as great devotion.” (Morris) Judas complained about how the money could have been used for the poor. As Judas' later actions at th

Click Here to Read or Listen to John 11 The Death of Lazarus Jesus learns that his friend Lazarus is sick and near death from his sisters Mary and Martha. We know from other verses that Jesus was close to this family. His sisters tell Jesus the " one he loves is sick ". Apparently this was a serious sickness as Jesus says, "This sickness will not end in death." Though Lazarus was very sick, Jesus stayed there for two more days. He said that Lazarus' sickness would glorify him through the sign he would do. The disciples wonder why he would go right back to Judea, where he was a wanted man. But Jesus says, "Are there not 12 hours in the day?" Jesus is saying that he has a lot of work to do during the day. There will be a time when darkness will cover the earth, but while there is still light out, he has work to do. He is the light of the world. Jesus tells the disciples that he is going to wake up Lazarus, implying that he was going to raise him from the

Click Here to Read or Listen to John 10 The Good Shepherd and His Sheep In chapter 10, Jesus uses the common metaphor of a "shepherd", which would be very familiar to everyone in his culture. There are also many references to "shepherds" in the Old Testament. Ultimately Jesus is telling the Pharisees they are not very good shepherds at all. They don't really have the sheep's interest in mind and really don't care about them at all.  They are false shepherds. They are like the strangers who enter the sheep pen and try to call the sheep out. But the sheep will not recognize them and will run away from them. Then, Jesus says that he is the, " Gate for the sheep." The gatekeeper, who is God, opens the door for him. Jesus says, "I am the gate for the sheep ." Another "I am" statement where Jesus is claiming to be God. On top of that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. The sheep listen to his familiar voice and trust he will take care of