We talk a lot about following Jesus when we gather as a church. We desire to learn to be a faithful disciple of Jesus. In particular, our focus at SDBC has been to "love like Jesus," which is our vision statement. This vision statement comes from passages like John 13:34-34, which says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another," and John 15:12-13, which says, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."
Our Christlike, sacrificial love for others will be evidence to show that we truly are Jesus' disciples. In other words, discipleship and Jesus' sacrificial love are inseparable. In the book of John, there is so much we can learn about following Jesus faithfully, which is why we are going to explore this amazing book of the bible this year as a new sermon series starting next Sunday, January 7th. We are calling this series, "The Gospel according to John."
I know that this isn't the most creative title for a series, but it really encapsulates an important truth: We cannot grow in following Jesus faithfully without a deep understanding of the gospel (the good news) of Jesus. In a way, the simplicity of the series title should help us not to pigeon-hole the gospel into an oversimplified, singular theme, and instead, grasp the depth of what God means when he says Jesus is our good news. I believe an appreciation for the gospel will inspire us to an appropriate response to the good news, which is to worship and to follow Jesus by giving him our all.
I am excited to see how the Holy Spirit will work in our church family through his word in the Gospel according to John. Please pray that our hearts would be prepared to receive his message and that our preaching team would be a faithful mouthpiece through which God speaks.
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