The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
John 14-17
Act 3: God’s New Covenant People
Scene 3: Christ’s Deliverance of His People: God’s Work through the Death, Resurrection, and Enthronement of His King
Background Information: John 14-17
Throughout history, the founders of various religions have proclaimed the ability to show people the way to God. Jesus is the only one who has ever claimed that he is the way. This fact cannot be overemphasized, but it can be overlooked. Some human religious leaders will claim to have received commands from God for others to obey. Jesus, alone, tells us to obey his commands. They are his commands because he is God. Jesus is a stumbling block for many because his claims seem unbelievable to them. Jesus being fully God and fully man is not impossible to believe, but it is impossible to get our minds fully around. One problem is that we use analogy to understand things. “This is like that.” When we try to compare Jesus to other “great” humans, we come up short. There are no other humans to compare him to; he is incomparable. There is no analogy for the Lord Jesus; he is absolutely distinct among all humans. The other problem is human pride. We tend to believe only what we think we can understand. The truth is that we understand very little of the world around us… we are under the illusion that we know more than we do. Our capacity is actually incredibly small. We occupy a tiny amount of space for a tiny amount of time. We know very little about a tiny number of things. Jesus, the maker of time and space, took on our humanity and can identify with us, but don’t let this make you believe that you can understand the scope of his greatness. Speaking of his greatness, how is it that his disciples would do greater things than he did? He healed the sick, raised the dead, and rose from the dead himself! The “greater things” refer to the scope of ministry that his followers would accomplish as they spread out across the globe and across the centuries. It also refers to the fact that Jesus proclaimed that he would die and rise again. We get to proclaim that he has died and risen, and his work for our salvation is complete. We must understand that to get in on these greater things, we must be vitally connected to the greater one. He is the vine; we are just branches. To bear his fruit, we must live our lives in faithful obedience to him. All that we accomplish in his name is for his glory, never for our own. The more we understand this, the more we will understand him.
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Ask God to encourage and instruct River group leaders and leader assistants as they gather on Sunday afternoon for Leadership Community. Give thanks to God for the way these leaders serve the church.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.