If you've ever read Revelation - the last book in the Bible - you might have wondered what John was thinking/had taken as he sat down to write. On Sunday we're going to be looking at Revelation as this is the final week in the Community Bible Experience. I have read John, 1-3 John and Revelation quite a few times over the last couple of weeks as I've tried to get inside John's head a little.
Imagine you were to meet John face to face, what one question would you want to ask him about Revelation?
Imagine John was to meet you face to face, what one answer do you think he would want to give you? Would he want to answer your question - or would there be something more important he had to say?
Let me know what you think.
Last Sunday, as we continued our reading through the New Testament as part of the Community Bible Experience, we looked at 1 & 2 Peter and John.
One of the ways I have been using this book is to colour in different words that keep on coming up - either within a single book, or a series of books written by the same person. It has been really interesting to see what comes up. John makes regular reference to know/knowing etc as well as believe/believing etc. Peter talks about reminding/remember and know/knowledge - and tells his readers in his second letter '...this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.'
Clearly the way that we think and what we believe is very important as we seek to follow Jesus. The way that we think determines how we act - in fact the way that we act betrays what we really think - actions do speak louder than words.
For the writers of the New Testament it was what they knew about Jesus that made all the difference. John and Peter had both known Jesus personally. John is constantly talking about what he had seen and what he had heard (we'll see this again next week with Revelation). If we want to be his disciples we need to know Jesus - not just know about him. And what we think about Jesus is vitally important.
What we think about Jesus should shape everything else - what we think about Jesus is our starting point. Often what we think about Jesus is shaped by what we already think about other things - like what we think church is all about, or what we believe about mission. We read the gospels and we try to fit Jesus into a box that is consistent with our church and its programmes.
We've now completed seven of the eight weeks of the CBE - so in the last seven weeks we've read all four of the gospels. How has our thinking about Jesus been challenged? How has this thinking challenged the way we think about all the other stuff?
Just came across this video clip - a whole marriage preparation session all by itself.
Instructions in my teaching notes would be something like this:
1) Press play
2) Ask the couple to discuss the video
3) Sit back and enjoy
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