Listen to the latest sermon from Cornerstone South Bay in Southern California.
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Application Questions: 1. People like to refer to “God’s plan” when looking for comfort, encouragement, or validation. Why do you think this is so? When does the reality of “God’s plan” not feel so helpful? What place do you tent to occupy in “God’s plan” when you think about it? 2. Why does John the Baptist celebrate Jesus’ rise in prominence, even though it seems to mean his own loss? Can you relate to his perspective? How does his perspective confront you? 3. How have you experienced the supremacy of Jesus in your own life?
Application Questions: 1. What do you think of when you hear the term “born again”? How does that thought compare to what Jesus points to in this passage? Do you tend to think of being “born again” as something you choose for yourself, or something that God has to do for you? 2. Which element of the gospel message do you find hardest to accept as true or possible? Total forgiveness of sin? Radical personal transformation? Eternal life? How does Jesus’ use of the story of Moses’ bronze serpent encourage you in your difficulty? 3. Do you ever struggle from the idea that God might be reluctant to
Application Questions: 1. “Convenient worship makes a convenient God.” What do you think of this statement? Have you seen this idea play out in your life? 2. What are some ways that you tend to make your worship of Jesus transactional? How are you waiting for Him to prove Himself to you? What do you expect to receive from your acts of worship? 3. Is your worship of Jesus fueled by the amazing things He does or the amazing person He is? How should you think of His actions and character together to fuel right worship?
Application Questions: 1. How is this story from Jesus’ life different from others? How do you see Jesus’ real humanity as He attends a wedding? 2. What surprises you about Jesus’ exchange with Mary? Does it have an effect on how you think about approaching Jesus with your concerns? What do you think He wants you to take away from this scene? 3. How does this story reveal Jesus’ heart for you? Does He only care about the “big” things in your life, or the bare necessities?
Application Questions: 1. Of the four characters we meet in this passage, which do you think you have the most in common with? How does making these kinds of connections help you get into the story? 2. If Jesus asks you directly, “What are you seeking?”, how would you respond? Take some time to consider this question for yourself. 3. Do you realize that, like Nathanael, Jesus is well aware of you, inside and out? How does His familiarity with your heart and your circumstances provide comfort for you? How does it make you uncomfortable?
Application Questions: 1. Thinking of what John the Baptist says and why he says it, which of his three descriptions of Jesus is most impactful for you? Why? 2. In what ways is a figure like John the Baptist relatable to you? In what ways does he seem unrelatable? Do you think that the disconnect you feel is because of the uniqueness of his experience, or because of your own lack of familiarity with his experience? 3. How does John’s testimony about Jesus inform you about who Jesus is and how you should represent Him? How does John’s own experience encourage you as you seek to know Jesus bette
Application Questions: 1. When you think of Jesus coming into the world, how do you usually picture that? What is the posture that He comes in? Has your familiarity with the story dull your sense of how shocking the gospel actually is? 2. What does it mean to see Jesus' glory? What are some ways that the New Testament authors and characters were able to see His glory that you cannot? What are some ways that you can see His glory in ways they could not? 3. As we conclude our look at John's prologue, what has stood out to you the most? What has been the most difficult to understand? How can you
Application Questions: 1. In what ways are you like John the Baptist? In what ways are you different? How does his entrance into the story tell you about God’s view and purpose for us? 2. How have you experienced the light of Jesus shining on you in the past, both positively and negatively? How has His revealing light worked to draw you in? How has it caused you to pull away? 3. How do you answer the question, “am I a child of God?” What do you base your answer on? How does this passage either affirm or challenge your reason?
Application Questions: 1. What stands out to you from these opening verses of John’s Gospel? What seems strange? What surprises you? Why do you think John opens his Gospel this way? 2. Why did John write this account of Jesus’ life and ministry? How should this purpose affect the way you read it? In what ways might you miss the person of Jesus while reading about Him? 3. What do you think John wants you to know about Jesus from these opening verses? Is he describing Jesus in a general way, or is he pointing to something specific?
Application Questions: 1. What stands out to you the most about Gaius from this short letter? How can his example of hospitality for the gospel inform your own gospel cooperation? 2. What do you think about the person of Diotrephes? Does it surprise you to see a personality like this having such influence over a local church? In what ways can this letter inform your response when you encounter such an individual in your own church? 3. When you think of the more “business” items of church life, like budgets and giving, what role does the gospel play in your thinking? How can the gospel better i
Application Questions: 1. How likely are you to agree with the idea that the practice of love and truth are at odds with each other? In your experience, do you tend to be a person who emphasizes love towards others, or truth? 2. How does John link the practice of love to the truth of God in this letter? In what ways does he challenge the idea that truth and love are opposing options? 3. How does John say the practice of truth should be demonstrated in our church? How does this manner compare with your past experiences?
Application Questions: 1. For all of John’s concern about the Christian’s relationship to sin expressed in this letter, how does the reality of Christ’s continued work on your behalf give you confidence in your battle for holiness? 2. Do you ever feel out of place in the world? Why is that? How does John’s perspective in this letter strengthen you in your daily living? 3. What battles for your affection for God? What lesser views of Him do you naturally adopted? In what ways has this letter given you tools to stay fixed on the real Jesus?
Application Questions: 1. Throughout the letter, John has been trying to help us see how to have certainty in our relationship with God. In what ways has he been most helpful to you? 2. How confident do you feel in your prayer life with God? What holds you back from enjoying the freedom and security in prayer that God gives us through fellowship with Him? 3. How does John want you to use your confidence in prayer for the sake of your church family? What will that require of you that is currently missing from your relationships?
Application Questions: 1. Do you find it easier to love God or to love other people? How do the two loves look different? How do they look the same? 2. How is it easy for you to love your Christian brothers and sisters? How is it difficult? 3. What is the role of faith in your practice of love for others? How does knowing Jesus change your attitude and actions toward others?
Application Questions: 1. John emphasizes God’s work of salvation for us, and our grasp of this work, as a work of His love for us. Why do you think it is so important for John that we see God’s love at work toward us in this way? 2. What does John say are the practical, personal benefits of our abiding in love? Have you experienced these benefits before? If you are struggling with a lack of assurance, have you given thought to what your practice of “loving one another” looks like? 3. How might keeping the commandment to love your brothers and sisters in Christ strengthen your own relationship
Application Questions: 1. When you hear the command to love one another, what is your immediate reaction? Do you feel challenged? Eager? Apathetic? Why do you think John reiterates this command in this passage? 2. What do you learn from this passage about the kind of love John is calling for us to perform? 3. Why is it necessary for us to love one another as a church? Why is it a privilege for us to do so?
Application Questions: 1. There are lots of voices competing for your attention. Some are explicitly against Jesus, but others claim to represent Him in some way. How often do you consider the influence behind those voices? How much discretion do you normally exercise when giving attention to a professing Christian voice? 2. What is the test that John gives to his audience to use for examining the voices in their lives? What do you think it looks like for you to make use of this test today? What do you feel that you are lacking in order to properly “test the spirits”? 3. What reason does John
Application Questions: 1. What does Easter Sunday mean to you? Why do you celebrate it? 2. Paul argues that losing the resurrection of Jesus completely unravels the gospel message. Do you agree? Which parts of the Christian message do you think are salvageable apart from Jesus’ resurrection? 3. If something as crazy and impossible as Jesus rising from the dead is true, what else might be possible in your life? In the world? If Jesus is fully alive today, what does He mean for your life?
Application Questions: 1. What are some ways, past or present, that your own heart questions your place in God’s family? What sins, situations, or seasons tend to prompt that response from your heart? 2. How might the fact that God is greater than your heart and knows everything cause you to feel more uncertain about your place with Him? How can you make use of this reality to produce confidence with God, as John intends? 3. John grounds our assurance with God on belief in Jesus and love for one another. Are these the foundations you are standing on? Where else do you find yourself prone to pl
Application Questions: 1. Cain is the only Old Testament figure that John references directly in this letter, and he does so to give a negative example that his Christian audience needs to avoid. Have you ever thought of Cain as a character you are in danger of emulating? Why does John warn his readers in this way? 2. We tend to be quick to let ourselves off easy or to reduce the expectations that Scripture puts on us for our conduct in this life. What is John’s response to this tendency? How does Jesus’ love in action for you challenge your love for Him and others? 3. Think of your brothers a
Application Questions: 1. What is the difference between doing a sin, and being a doer of sin? What does a habit of sin reveal about our attitude toward God? 2. When you hear of Jesus dying for your sin, do you tend to understand His purpose in a general way? Do you think He had each of your individual sins in mind? What does it mean for your life that He came to take away your actual sins, not just your sin’s guilt and consequence? 3. Reflect on your relationship to your sins since you became a Christian. What changes do you see? What seems to be unchanged? Do you have the same attitude regar
