LifeGroup Notes
Big Idea
John’s Gospel starts as Genesis does: in the beginning.
Creation is the bedrock of a biblical worldview, for it’s the first ultimate truth: God made everything. He wove it like fabric. He spun it like clay. He breathed it into formation like glass.
More remarkable than what God did is the way He did it: His tool was His Word. He spoke, and it was. The apostle John traced this Word through time.
Men spoke of this Word while surrounded by both sea and sand, from human thrones and from pits of despair. One man in the wilderness, dressed in leather and camel hair, announced that this Word that gives light to everyone was coming into the world wrapped in human flesh.
A remarkable claim like this requires remarkable evidence, and John provided it for us. In John’s Gospel we come to know Jesus in the same way evidence is presented to a jury in a courtroom. John introduced witnesses who testified of the Word made flesh. He examined the words Jesus said about Himself. He described the things Jesus did that testified of His divinity.
Everything you’re about to see points to one conclusion: Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and
by believing, you can have life through Him.
[Robby Gallaty (2016). Knowing Jesus: Living by His Name. LifeWay Press. Retrieved from https:// read.lifeway.com]
OPEN
We’ve become experts at filling every hour of our days with something—work, recreation, friends, family, school, church, and daily routines. We have email, text, Internet, and even live chat at our fingertips 24-7. We have smartphones with as many apps as they can hold; inexpensive video- streaming accounts; and endless hours of books, blogs, and games to consume. We squeeze in time between meetings or shifts to check off items on to-do lists or to catch up with activity in our social-media feeds.
What unavoidable responsibilities fill your day?
What additional things do you add to your day?
How do you relax and recharge after a long day?
We first encounter Jesus after He and His disciples had had a trying day. They started out with a long boat ride across the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd of people immediately flocked to them, attracted by the One they had seen work miracles. The disciples worked during Jesus’ all- day healing and teaching service, were directed to distribute food for dinner, and then had to pick up all the leftovers. It had been a long day; all they wanted was to get back to their boat, row home, and sleep. As it turns out, their long day was about to get longer.
The more we know Jesus, the more we
The more we love Him, the more we
The more we obey Him, the more He
Jesus is always
Jesus discloses His
What Jesus is saying, without saying anything, is that He is
Jesus
READ
The opening of the video included the following statement about Jesus:
“The more we know Him, the more we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we obey Him. The more we obey Him, the more He manifests Himself.”
—Gallaty
How does this cyclical process help you understand discipleship?
Read Mark 6:47-50 and John 6:16-20.
What additional details did Mark include? How do they add to the intensity of the situation?
What did Jesus do while the disciples were struggling against the wind?
Robby pointed out that this situation was the second time Jesus took something the disciples knew well—the lake—and used it to teach them dependence on Him.
What was something significant Robby pointed out in Mark 6:48?
The accounts of Jesus walking on the water contained proof of Jesus’ divinity: the fact that He walked on the waves (see Job 9:8) and His response to the disciples’ fear.
How did Jesus respond when He saw that the disciples were afraid? What was significant about the way He referred to Himself?
Read Matthew 14:27-33.
Matthew’s account gives further insight into the events of that evening, particularly Peter’s involvement. But it also shows us something important that happened after Jesus got into the boat.
How did the disciples respond to what Jesus performed that evening on the lake? What proof do you think convinced them?
LET’S PRAY
think about what we saw before Jesus walked on the water. Jesus intentionally took time at the end of a long day to go off by Himself to pray. We don’t often think of Jesus as needing to rest and be refreshed. While we don’t know exactly what He was praying in this instance, we see an invaluable example for our relationship with God.
1. How does prayer refresh you? How does it keep you focused on God instead of fearful of your circumstances?
2. What’s your most difficult challenge to a consistent, healthy prayer life?