13/08/2023

Pointing to Jesus

Home Group Study Notes:   13 August 2023 

Based on https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/- year-a-small-groups 

 

Theme: “Pointing to Jesus…”  

This format is a guide to you for your small group meeting. Feel free to change and adapt it according to the needs of your group. The objective is for you to build authentic relationships within the group, relationships that enable you to learn to love others who are different to you, and to discover as a reality the treasure of relationships built on the foundation of a relationship with Jesus, his life, and his teaching. 

Meeting and Greeting: 

Begin with general conversation and sharing about how the past week has gone.  

Worship and Prayer 

Click on the link below on your smartphone, Smart TV, or computer, to select songs to sing; and then spend a few minutes in song and prayer.  

PLETT METHODIST YOU TUBE CHANNEL SONG’S PLAYLIST:  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbsAkwbV_S1vXdZVPkZ0_tQW5n9RqeZX0 

And if you need to check on the Message for the week again, then click on: 

PLETT METHODIST YOU TUBE CHANNEL (MESSAGE): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU1X4YYw1KLpda1yGnqKgfw/videos 

This time of worship and prayer will encourage you to move your thoughts from daily worries and pressures to our time of Bible study and prayer. 

You do not have to answer all the questions below.  

 

READING:  John 1:1-14 

 

Discussion and Sharing 

  • Do you have a favourite hymn/worship song? What do the words in that song tell you about Jesus? 
  • John the Evangelist (the author of the Gospel) presents John (who we know as John the Baptist) in a new way: as John the Witness. What is John to bear witness about (verse 7)? How does he do this?  
  • What does John want the people there to understand that “he is not” (verse 8)?  
  • What is John to testify too (verse 9)?  
  • What might it mean that God has chosen to “live among us as Jesus” (see verse 14)?  
  • Why is it so important to understand Jesus as both “fully human” and “fully divine”? 
  • How is that a gift to us? To all of humanity? 
  • How does the passage in John foreshadow what will come in the life and death of Jesus? [For clues see verses 11, 12, and 14] 
  • What do you think John meant by describing Jesus as “full of grace and truth” in verse 14? How do we allow Jesus to implant grace and truth in our life? How do other believers (past and present, near and far) help us to get a fuller picture of Jesus? 
  • John the Witness had the responsibility to “point people” to Jesus. How will you “point people” to Jesus this week? 

 

Prayer: Share prayer requests and then pray together. 

God who comes among us: Help us to glimpse your glory. Through our interactions with others and through being attentive to your presence, may our comprehension of your grace and truth be expanded. Help us to see your glory and presence around us, and to experience your love at work within us, each day. Amen. 

 

Closing Prayer:  And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, now, and forever more. Amen 

 

Have a wonderful week. God bless. Tim.