Kingdom of Love

November 24 – John 21:1-14

November 24 – John 21:1-14

Passage IntroThe book of John has a masterful structure to it. It falls into four big sections: the Prologue (1:1-18), the Book of Signs (1:18-12:90), the Book of Glory (13:1-20:31), and the Epilogue (John 21:1-25). Thus far in 2019 we’ve looked primarily at the first...

November 17 – John 17:1-19

November 17 – John 17:1-19

Passage IntroIf we're honest, the High Priestly Prayer is kind of hard to take in all at once. Jesus weaves and interweaves perhaps a dozen different themes while addressing every relationship permutation of him, the Father, his disciples, and the world. It’s also...

November 10 – John 16:25-33

November 10 – John 16:25-33

Passage IntroWe're going to spend part of our discussion this week looking at this passage inside out. Doing so will hopefully provide your group with some insight into how much Jesus cared for his disciples and, by extension, how much he cares for us. Starting our...

November 3 – John 16:16-24

November 3 – John 16:16-24

Passage IntroDialogue in ancient writing can sometimes come across as kind of silly to us today. You'll see this pretty regularly in the Bible, where Jesus will say ____, the disciples will wonder why he said ____, they will then ask him why he said ____, and he will...

October 27 – John 16:1-15

October 27 – John 16:1-15

Passage IntroFor the next four weeks we’ll be looking at sections from Jesus’ last discourse with his disciples just before his betrayal and arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. It's helpful to keep that order in mind because everything Jesus says in these chapters has...

October 20 – John 10:1-21

October 20 – John 10:1-21

Passage IntroFor a bit wider context, the monologue in the passage occurred either during the time of the Feast of Booths, which we looked at last week, or sometime between it and the next feast (10:22). For immediate context, this is just after Jesus healed a man...

October 13 – John 7:37-39

October 13 – John 7:37-39

Passage IntroTake just a moment to try to get in the mind of Jesus' audience in this passage. In the US in 2019 you're rarely more than a few minutes from what amounts to an endless supply of water, and folks only die of dehydration from freak accidents. But in Jesus'...

October 6 – John 6:35-59

October 6 – John 6:35-59

Passage IntroThis week is the climax of our little three week unit in John 6 in which Jesus will explain what he was getting at when he fed the 5000 (two weeks ago). One great thing about John's Gospel is his careful attention to detail with Jesus' miracles. John...

September 29 – John 6:16-21

September 29 – John 6:16-21

Passage IntroWith Jesus having withdrawn from the crowds, the disciples decided to head back to Capernaum, a city they had stayed in before that offered some provisions and a place to stay, something they didn't have on the other side of the Galilean Sea. Part way...

September 22 – John 6:1-15

September 22 – John 6:1-15

Passage IntroOver the next three weeks we're going to look at three events in John 6 that all follow after one another. This week we'll look at Jesus' miracle of feeding the 5,000, followed next week by Jesus walking on water to get away from that crowd, then finally...

September 15 – John 5:18-29

September 15 – John 5:18-29

Passage IntroThis week we’re dropping in on part of a monologue from Jesus, so it’ll be helpful to get our bearings. If you back up in John 5 you’ll see Jesus heal a paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda, who was later accosted by Jewish leaders for breaking the...

September 8 – John 4:27-42

September 8 – John 4:27-42

Passage IntroThis week we’re picking up at the end of Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well and focusing on Jesus’ teaching that follows. Note that the sermon was on 4:31-45, but we're going to back up a few verses for context and finish before the...

September 1 –  John 2:13-25

September 1 – John 2:13-25

Passage IntroThinking back to the (series intro) you'll remember we're in the Book of Signs in John's Gospel, which is really interesting given the fact that this passage contains no sign. The Book of Signs (John 2-12) is called that because in it John focuses on...

August 25 – John 2:1-12

August 25 – John 2:1-12

Passage IntroIt’s worth pointing out clearly and emphatically that this passage is not about the wine. Wine is a merry little secondary character in this story, showing up only to tell us something about the hero, Jesus. As John documents in 2:11, turning water into...

August 18 – John 1:19-34

August 18 – John 1:19-34

Passage Intro This week we return to our study of the Gospel of John. Check out the Series Intro for an overview of the next 14 weeks. Since we’ll be hanging out in John for so long, I’d encourage you to dive into the book of John and access some of the resources on...

Kingdom of Love Series Intro

Kingdom of Love Series Intro

Kingdom of Love Series Intro Overview This year’s theme is “Love God, love your neighbor.” We began the year by laying the foundation of love, first through God’s covenants, then examining how Jesus saw and loved each individual he interacted with (Seen). With both...