As we open this week’s Jesus Story, the disciples of Jesus think that they are in competition with John the Baptist. However, Jesus sets them straight on this point. Even John informs us of his non-competitive position; he will become less while Jesus becomes greater.

Jesus and his disciples leave Judea and head to Galilee. They use the short route which takes them through the region of Samaria. Jesus stops to rest and we drop in on another interesting conversation between Jesus and a woman from Samaria – a person whom Jesus shouldn’t have been talking with – if he listened to the culture. Jesus spoke with her, identified himself to her, and gave her water that would be life for her and her village.

Scriptures used in this story are:

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

In this week’s Jesus Stories, we listen in to a conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus – a conversation which occurred in the night, under the cover of darkness. Nicodemus, as one of the religious leaders of the Jewish people, had some deep questions for Jesus; and Jesus has some deeper answers for Nicodemus. We’ll delve into the conversation, explaining what is going on as it occurs.

This conversation will take us further into understanding the Holy Spirit and the idea of being “born again.” We’ll look at what is probably the most quoted verse from the scriptures and think about the meaning of that verse. And we’ll wrap up with some of the images from the Old Testament which Jesus used to communicate his message to Nicodemus. (You may need to look these scriptures up from the links below.)

The scriptures used in this week’s story include:

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.