The Gospel of John: Hidden Glory
Who is Jesus and how can he transform our lives? The Gospel of John shows us the many layers of Jesus from a great teacher, to a healer and ultimately His hidden glory as a Suffering Servant and later as the resurrected King. John shows us that God's glory is all around but is often hidden and revealed to those with a childlike faith. Join as we begin our journey to see and be transformed by the presence of Jesus.
Text: John 3:22-36 | Summary: We live in a culture of self-promotion and self-improvement at a pace that often leaves us exhausted. John the Baptist shows us the joy of self-forgetfulness and rejoicing in God as we settle into the background.
Text: John 3:1-21 | Summary: Jesus hasn't just come to make us better people but new people. Nicodemus, a religious and political leader, comes to Jesus at night to seek his counsel. Jesus shows us that religion and good intentions are not enough to bring us into the Kingdom. Jesus offers us a new identity, a new power, and a new order of existence that can be received only by faith.
Text: John 2:13-25 | Summary: Jesus has not come to bring a progression to the accepted worship of His day but an astonishing revolution. During Passover Jesus throws out merchants and overturns tables, criticizing the shallow, commercial and convent worship of the time. Jesus challenges us to worship in spirit and truth, a new way of worship, empowered by His resurrection.
John 2:1-12 | Jesus was a man of joy, a kind of person that you invited to your wedding to celebrate with you. Jesus' first revelation was turning water into wine, showing us a glimpse of His hidden glory. The wedding of Cana gives us a picture of Jesus' ultimate mission: to win back His bride, to regain His love and to bring us true joy.
Summary: God can seem like an abstract idea, divorced from the realities of our everyday lives. But John begins that God reveals himself not only through prophets and words but ultimately through breaking into history and time in the form of a human being. Jesus shows us not only the glory of God but the incredible grace of God that comes to us our darkest hour.
