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Jesus says hard words. They aren’t hard because they’re unclear, but because they cost us something we are reluctant to give up. The question the disciples then and today must wrestle with is this: where else are we going to go?

People often see Jesus as a means to an end of what we really want: full bellies, nice homes, good family, inner peace, stable life. But Jesus is not a means to an end; he is everything. The satisfaction we long for is only found in him.

In the episode of the feeding of the 5,000, as in many of the Gospel miracles, Jesus puts people’s faith to the test. Reflecting on this story, we should ask ourselves the question: have I placed my faith in Jesus and has that faith been tested?

Jesus is not officially in a courtroom, but he is very much on trial. The religious leaders have accused him of blasphemy for claiming equality with God. As in a courtroom, Jesus is going to call witnesses that verify the authenticity and truthfulness of his claims. In short, it’s all about Jesus. By the end of his speech, it is no longer Jesus on trial, but his accusers…and those of us still on the fence about who he really is.

In the story of the healing of the official’s son, we see Jesus exposing the sign-seeking hearts of the people around him, while demonstrating that true and lasting faith comes not through observing miracles, but by believing the word of Christ. Questions: 1. Why do signs and miracles so often fail to produce lasting faith? 2. What is the difference between a spiritual life that seeks more of the Word versus one that constantly chases signs? 3. Why do signs and miracles require careful interpretation? 4. Is there a legitimate role for signs and miracles in the life of the believer and, if so, what is it? 5. What would you say to a person who asks: “How can I believe in Christ when I have never seen him?”

What are you feeding on? In John 4:31-45, Jesus tells his disciples that his food is to do the will of the One who sent him, and in doing so, he reframes obedience, mission, and satisfaction entirely. Join us Sunday to explore what it looks like to find true nourishment in Christ.

“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.” How could that possibly be good news? Someone knows everything about you-every wound, every failure, every secret-and it is the best thing that ever happened to you? Because He stayed. Come and see. Small Group Questions Warm-up: Pastor Chuck's pet peeve is loud chewers at the movies. What is yours? And be honest: has anyone ever caught you doing the very thing that drives you crazy in others? 1. He walked away and crossed every barrier to reach her (vv. 1–9). Jesus abandoned an argument he could have won because there was a sinner to be sought. What argument, irritation, or busyness are you most tempted to stay and win? And who might you be overlooking while you do--the person you instinctively dismiss as "not my people"? 2. The wells we drink from (vv. 10–15). "Everyone in this room is drinking from something." What well are you presently drawing identity, approval, security, or comfort from? How has it kept you occupied, jar after jar, without truly satisfying you? Where has the gymnastics teacher already been proven right: "They all do. They all come to the end"? 3. The source moves inside you (John 7:37–39). Jesus tells us the living water is the Holy Spirit: and when you receive the Spirit, the flow reverses: you stop being a consumer hauling a jar, and you become a spring. Where are you still living like a consumer? And who in your life is drinking from what flows through you--the friend, the coworker, the family member who comes to you when everything goes haywire? 4. He went to her deepest wound…and stayed (vv. 16–26). When Jesus named the painful truth about her life, she changed the subject. What subject do you change when Jesus gets too close? What is one place where you want him to comfort you without confronting you? 5. He knew everything about her (vv. 17–18, 29). Do you tend to live as though Jesus is waiting to discover something about you and become disappointed, or as the Savior who already knows everything and stayed? What might change in the way you pray, confess, or ask for help if you fully believed the second? 6. The sixth hour and our turn (vv. 28–30, 39–42). At one sixth hour, Jesus said, "Give me a drink." At the other, on the cross, he said, "I thirst." He reached the bottom of the cup so that you never will. And here is the twist of the whole story: we are not the respectable people beside Jesus helping him rescue someone else--we are the Samaritan. Grace received becomes grace extended. Who is one specific person you will sit beside, start a conversation with, or invite to "come and see" this week?

He Must Increase John the Baptist embodied the whole Old Testament only to point away from himself. "He must increase, but I must decrease" wasn't resignation; it was joy. This week we look at what it means to find contentment not in our own increase, but in Christ’s, and why that pattern of decrease has always been the path to glory.  Outline The man: John, the Old Testament embodied The text: he must increase, I must decrease The calling: decrease, that he may increase Discussion Questions John found joy, not resentment, in decreasing so Christ could increase (v. 29). Where do you struggle most to celebrate someone else's increase over your own?  "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven" (v. 27). How would resting in that truth change the way you hold your gifts, role, or position in life?  Verse 36 moves from belief to obedience — dead faith stops at belief, but living faith walks. Where is there a gap between what you believe and how you're actually living?  The sermon traces self-denial through family, church, and community as the shape of the Christian life. Where is God calling you to decrease this season so someone else can increase?

Fireworks light up the sky for a night. This Sunday we look at the Light that has been shining for 2,000 years and has never been overcome. "The Light Still Shines," John 3:16–21. Bring a friend! Sermon Discussion Questions: 1. This series has repeatedly distinguished between knowing about Jesus and truly knowing him. Nicodemus knew the Scriptures better than anyone and was still in the dark. Where do you see that gap in your own life, and what would it look like to close it? 2. When someone we love walks away from Jesus, we reach for explanations: parenting, church hurt, politics, divorce. Why do you think we prefer those explanations to the diagnosis Jesus gives in John 3:19? How does misdiagnosing the sickness lead us to offer the wrong cures? 3. What areas of your life have you quietly labeled “off limits” to the light of Scripture — anger, greed, bitterness, how you treat your spouse, an unwillingness to forgive? What would it look like, practically, to bring one of those areas into the light this week? 4. “The same light that exposes us is the light that saves us.” Have you experienced a time when the exposure of your sin turned out to be a mercy? When the light shines on your sin now, are you more often grieved by the darkness or defending it? 5. Verse 21 says the one who “does what is true comes to the light.” How does Nicodemus’s journey — from coming by night in John 3 to coming publicly to the cross in John 19 — give you hope for the people you are praying for? How should it shape the way you pray for children and grandchildren who are not following Jesus?

Jesus has a very interesting conversation with a man named Nicodemus. He’s a good man, moral, upright, loves God and the Scriptures as best we can tell. He’s a spiritual leader of his people. But what Jesus will say to him in this passage is that it’s not enough. What Nicodemus needs, what all of us need, is the one thing we cannot provide or produce for ourselves. We need to be born again.  Sermon Outline: I. The Need for the New Birth II. The Marvel of the New Birth III. The Maker of the New Birth Sermon Discussion Questions: 1. How do you feel about the fact that Jesus sees through surface-level religiosity and moral effort? In what areas of your life are you tempted to present God with performance rather than your actual self? 2. Jesus tells Nicodemus, one of the most respected religious men in all of Judaism, that he needs to be born again. Why would this be an offensive message to someone like Nicodemus? Who might be offended by this message today? 3. The new birth is something God produces. How does this change the way you think about your own salvation? Does it produce humility, relief, gratitude, or something else in you? Why? 4. God uses “means of grace” like prayer, fasting, Scripture reading, preaching) as places where the Spirit frequently blows. Which of these are you most neglecting right now? What would it look like to be more intentional about putting yourself in the path of the Spirit? 5. Where in your life right now are you still looking to yourself for something only Christ can provide? What would it mean practically to look to him instead?

In this passage, Jesus is going to clear the way to God. Even more, he’s going to show us that he himself is the way to God because he is the temple. Sermon Outline: I. What Jesus Does II. What Jesus Claims III. What Jesus Is Sermon Discussion Questions: 1. Have you ever had an experience of going through the motions of worship at church, in prayer, in your quiet time, and coming away feeling like you never actually connected with God? What tends to get in the way for you? 2. What legitimate things in your life might be displacing worship? What might Jesus want to clear out of your temple to make more room for genuine encounter with God? 3. What are you most zealous about right now? How does your passion for Jesus and his church compare to the other things that consume your energy and attention? 4. What does it tell us about faith that even the disciples who walked with Jesus were often confused about what he was doing?