Sunday Lesson Notes January 1, 2023
Read John Chapter 1: 1-5
- What is so important about God’s words?
- God used his word to create everything in the beginning, Genesis Ch 1
- God used his word to communicate that he wanted something to be formed, formative speech, he formed the universe with his words
- Why are words so important?
- We use words to communicate to others our thoughts, feelings, ideas, emotions etc. things in our mind and heart
- Our words can lead others to action when we say our words to someone else
- Jesus came to earth to communicate to us the thoughts, feelings and ideas from God. He is the embodiment of God’s word.
- God’s speech caused Jesus to come to the earth and teach us about God
- Why is it important to know Jesus?
- Jesus is the word-mind and thoughts of God
- Jesus does what God wants him to do
- Jesus does what he sees God doing, ie feeding the five thousand like God fed the Israelites in the desert
- Why does John use the terminology “the Word”?
- These are God’s words, the final say
- The Word is Jesus, identical to God, but not interchangeable with God
- Jesus in relation to God is like the voice of person you talk to on the phone- ie, the electronic sound waves are the person’s voice through which you can identify that unique person, but the voice is not the “actual person”
- Jesus is the speech of God, he became human so that he can represent God to us and we can understand God better as a result. God is the source for Jesus.
- Read John Chapter 1: 9-14
- Humans were created in the image of God. God breathe his breath into us and we became living beings created in his image
- Jesus in the same way became the embodiment of God as a human here on earth. He was referred to as the light because light allows us to see in the darkness.
- The truth is made clear when a light shines on a situation. Jesus brought the light into the world and made things clear for us. Jesus is the complete revelation of God.
- Jesus made his dwelling among us, just like God dwelled among the Israelites in the desert. He wanted to make us all part of his community and showed us how to live the way God wants us to live.
- Anyone has access to God’s community if we believe in Jesus. When we are distracted by the worries of the world etc, we ignore the word of God
- By reading the words of God in the bible, we can know the mind of God
- When we practice paying attention to who we are, then move on to paying attention to our relationship with God, then we can really learn how to focus our attention to God himself