Happy New Year! We're kicking off our new sermon series with a challenge: Become a disciple-maker for Jesus. But what does that look like? What obstacles might we face when adopting this lifestyle? What joys and triumphs can we hope for, or even, expect?

The world, our family, and our friends need Jesus — the way, truth, and life — and they need Him urgently! There's no time to waste. We must move forward with making disciples!

John 20:31

Today we begin our expository deep-dive into the book of John. Within the first 18 verses, John sets the stage with an illustrative backstory of our main character – Jesus Christ. John shows us the eternality of Jesus, along with His creative and life-giving power, being that He is God in the flesh.

To fully follow Jesus (and to disciple others to do the same) we must first understand just how great He is.

John 1:1-18

What does it mean to witness? John 1:34 defines witnessing as (1) seeing something, then (2) telling others about it. As Christians, we witness by telling people about what Jesus has done in our own lives. And we witness by speaking the truth God's word into the messiness of others' lives – always in love, giving hope when the situation seems hopeless.

What have you seen from the Lord that you can testify to others?

Key Text: John 1:19-34

When Jesus called his first disciples, he told them to "Come and see." We are ALL invited to practice a "come and see" faith, too, in which we openly share Jesus with others, making disciples of Him.

Yet many believers are hesitant to live out this "extroverted" kind of faith, because they are not fully convinced of who Jesus is. When we understand that Jesus really is the sum of our desires, we will find the conviction to witness Him to others.

Key Text: John 1:35-51

Should we expect signs from God? Are Jesus' miracles the only signs we get? What should we make of the signs of the book of John, and what should we make of signs from God today?

God gives us all sorts of signs — of His greatness, of His faithfulness, of His providence, of His salvation, etc. We should see these signs and allow them to draw us closer to God. However, we should be cautious about asking God for a sign, because such requests often invite us to test God, and evil spirits are constantly sending deceitful signs. How do we sort all this out?

Key Text: John 2 (full chapter)

Why can people be so untrustworthy? What's so wrong with humanity?

In Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, we discover the problem: We humans have become nothing but fleshly, earthly creatures who no longer understand heavenly realities or the things of the Spirit. This grieves Jesus (even frustrates him) because humanity was made for so much more. We were made to experience a connection with heaven and a constant connection with the Spirit. Since that connection has been broken — rather than condemning us — Christ offers a rebirth in the Spirit that will once again awaken us to real, abundant life.

God gives the Holy Spirit freely to all who believe, and today we will dive into what it means to be born of the Spirit.

Key Texts: John 3 (entire chapter), Romans 8:1-17

Jesus once asked an invalid man, “Do you want to be healed?” Of course, Jesus knew the answer to the question, but His question drew out a faulty belief system in the man — a belief system that had likely shaped his life up to this point. Even though he wanted to be healed, he believed in something that would never provide the healing he really wanted, nor the one he really needed.

Once he was physically healed, Jesus admonished him to live as if he was spiritually healed, for the spiritual healing was what he needed the most.

Everyone you know is one of two kinds of people: Someone who needs to be spiritually healed or someone who will continue to need Jesus’ spiritual healing. The question for everyone is, “Do you want to be healed?” The affirmative answer will require a different lifestyle.

Key Text: John 5:1-15

What kind of people do we honor in our culture? Who do we honor in our daily lives?

If we claim to follow Jesus, how do we honor him?

Key Text: John 5:16-47

After feeding the 5,000, the large crowds follow Jesus across the lake, but with impure motives. They simply want to fill their stomachs (and maybe their wallets) but they don't come to him for what Jesus ultimately wants to give them — spiritual life.

This nearsightedness is dangerous and contagious. Nearsighted people convince other people to prioritize the wrong things and to focus on lesser goals in life. For a nearsighted person, the purpose in life is always driven by an appetite or desire for a short-term fix. Pleasure. Money. Relief. Entertainment. Me time. Selfish agendas. And on and on it goes.

Jesus wants to lift people out of nearsightedness and into the spiritual realm. He says, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."

Key Text: John 6:1-29

The people followed Jesus across the sea after he multiplied the loaves and fish for them to eat. They wanted another miracle. But Jesus gave them something better than more food to eat – he told them about the food that never spoils, that always sustains.

Jesus told them, "I am the bread of life."

Jesus Christ is the savior who satisfies. We often desire to be filled with many other things, but we find our ultimate filling in Jesus.

Key Text: John 6:25-70

Today, we look at the story of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles, where a daily ritual of collecting water and pouring it out on the altar took place during the seven-day harvest festival. On the last day of the feast, Jesus cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink,” making the point that whoever believed in Him would have rivers of living water flowing from His heart.

Do you know anyone who is spiritually thirsty? People who lack peace and joy in their lives? Who are unsettled by impatience and ungratefulness? Who are plagued by anxiety and worry? Who act compulsivly and harshly towards others? These are the kind of people that Jesus came to heal. These are the kind of people that He offers living water.

As Christ's followers, we are called to let Jesus' living water flow into our own hearts and overflow into the hearts of others. Who will you "flow" into this week?

Key Text: John 7:1-52

In our increasingly secular day, the Christian faith, and the Scriptures we teach, seem to be the exact opposite of freedom. For many, freedom is the ability to do what you desire to do without restriction, guilt, or regret.

But is that all freedom is? Living our lives based on what we want and desire?

If you think about it, living by desire is no freedom at all. After all, which desire do you choose? You might have the desire to be fit and healthy. But you also might have the desire to eat donuts. How do you determine which to choose?

Freedom is identifying the path you are designed to take, then denying desires that will hold you back from that path. Freedom is living by the blueprints given to us in Scripture. Freedom takes discipline. Freedom is found in obedience to God, our designer, as counterintuitive as that might seem.

The alternative, as prescribed in the book of John, is slavery to sin. We all live for something, which then becomes our master. The master of sin enters our lives through the deception of human autonomy. It’s all a lie and it all leads to destruction.

Key Text: John 8:31-44

In today's text, Jesus miraculously heals a beggar who had been blind since birth by putting a clay paste on the man's eyes and commanding him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Once he followed Jesus’ words, he was healed of his affliction.

Such a healing brought about a variety of questions regarding Jesus’ identity and His qualifications to even perform such a miracle. The usual antagonists — the Pharisees — mostly see that Jesus has violated the law of the Sabbath and can only rule that Jesus isn’t from God. The former blind man, though, is convinced that Jesus is a prophet.

The chapter ends with him encountering Jesus again, but this time with fresh eyes. His eyes are now “faithful eyes” and he confesses his belief in Jesus and begins to worship Him. At the beginning of the chapter Jesus gave him physical sight, but by the end, He led him to spiritual sight.

In our daily walk with Christ, let's develop our own eyes to view life through "lenses of faith" in Jesus.

Key Text: John 9:1-41

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He protects His flock from external dangers and provides for their needs.
As members of Jesus' flock, we must tune our ears to hear Jesus’ voice. We have many other voices around us that compete with His, and we are likely guilty of listening to whatever voice is loudest in our lives. If we are serious about making disciples, however, then it is the volume of His voice that we must “turn up.”

Key Text: John 10:1-18

There are a lot of emotions wrapped up in the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead — the sorrow and grief over losing a brother and a friend, the bitterness of feeling abandoned by Jesus (who could have prevented his death), and the shock and joy of watching Lazarus step out of the grave.

One of the greatest lessons we can learn from the people in this story is the faith to say, "Jesus, even though you didn't do what I wanted you to do, it doesn't change my understanding of who you are."

Key Text: John 11:1-54

This Sunday, we jump into John 12. A lot is going on here, but all of it is generated by the “buzz” surrounding the resurrection of Lazarus, by Jesus. Martha and Mary hosted a dinner where Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with an expensive ointment, while Judas complained about how it was a waste of money.

Jesus then came into Jerusalem to shouts of “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”

In erses 20-36, Jesus responded to a request by some Greeks who wanted to see and speak to Him, by announcing that “the time had come” for Him to be glorified. He proceeded to give them something that I think is an inverted call for every disciple — Die so that you may live (v.25).

Consider this idea as being central to how you follow after Jesus. It is what He did and it is what He continues to call us to do. In order to do this, however, we have to embrace the “upside-down” nature of the Kingdom of God.

Key Text: John 12

Sadly, in Jesus' final meal with his disciples, he looks around and finds dirty feet and proud hearts. To be more clear, he finds dirty feet because he finds proud hearts. Not one of his disciples was willing to grab the basin, stoop to the level of a servant, and wash his brothers' feet. By the time Jesus did it, surely the whole room felt guilty for leaving the task undone. Peter tries to stop him from serving in this extreme way, but Jesus presses on - washing the feet of all the men who would scatter when the going gets tough, deny him in moments of weakness, and betray him for a few hundred bucks. It's hard to love people sometimes isn't it? Well, this is one of those times, but Jesus does it anyway.

The church should be the most loving place on the planet. After all, we are to be known by our love (John 13:35). Nothing should even be a distant second to the extravagant love found among the body of Christ - the Lord who washes feet.

People were made to love and to be loved. Our church needs to love one another right now through periods of uncertainty and through a tense political season. And, we need to love others outside of our church body with the sacrificial love of the Savior.

Key Text: John 13:34-35

In His final hours before His arrest, trial, and execution, Jesus sought to ease the troubled hearts of His disciples by encouraging their continued faith in the Father and in Him. Though He was going away, He wanted them to know that He would return and bring them with Him to His Father’s house, where there was plenty of room.

As He continued to fortify their faith, Jesus pointed out a glaring truth. Although they had been following Jesus, they hadn’t fully understood His oneness with the Father. Such a realization would be needed if they were going to embrace the greater things that were ahead for them, one of which included the greater works that they would be able to do in the name of Jesus.

Key Text: John 14:1-14

As Jesus neared the end of His ministry, He began to tell His disciples that He would be going away. But He also told them that He would send another to take His place. The disciples didn't understand at the time, but Jesus assured them that this would actually be better for them (and all Christians) in the long run.

Jesus called His replacement the Helper, Advocate, and the Spirit of Truth. This Spirit would teach them all things. He was One who would “be like Jesus” for them, as He would empower their mission.

The Holy Spirit would give them the peace that their troubled hearts desired.

We have all experienced the human fear of feeling alone — especially in times of trouble and uncertainty. Though it might seem like we are completely on our own, the truth is that we (the disciples of Jesus) have a constant and active advocate in the Holy Spirit. He gives us the power to continue on as we continue to follow Jesus.

Key Text: John 14:15-31

On the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus declares his final “I AM” statement: “I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser.”

In this metaphor, we understand that Jesus is the central "vine" with the power to give nourishment to His "branches" (aka, His disciples). Anyone who chooses to follow Jesus and "remain on the vine" will be given what they need to "produce much fruit" by reproducing the life of Christ in their own lives.

However, any gardner can tell you that fruit-bearing comes at a cost to the plant — pruning. In order to prepare the branch for fruit production, a skilled gardener must cut and remove leaves, twigs, buds, and blooms. This allows the plant to stop pouring energy into lesser things and start focusing more energy into the fruit.

Back to the metaphor: we all have things in our spiritual walks that must be "cut." This removal process might temporarily hurt or sting, but if we hang on to the source and continue to abide in the vine, we’ll be shaped to look more and more like Jesus.

Key Text: John 15:1-11

Key Text: John 17:1-26

Key Text: John 18:1-40

Key Text: John 19:1-42

Key Text: John 20:1-22