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