Sermon Discussion Guide 5-18-25
Sermon Discussion Guide
The Gospel of John | John 1:35-51
Gathering Question:
What is one way you’ve experienced God in your life this week?
Gathering Prayer
Father, by Your Spirit, would you guide us into all truth. Help us to hear and be attentive to Your voice as we work through this study. In the name of Jesus, Your Son, we pray, Amen.
Opening Questions
John 1:35-51
Andrew | The Inviter
Peter | The Renamed
Philip | The Overlooked
Nathanael | The Skeptic
“As much as the Christian is a person who is seeking after God, it has always been God who first sought us. Just as Nathanael is loaded with naive bias regarding what God can and will do, so is the contemporary Christian. We are blind to our own sin, our own situation, our own self-righteousness. We are blind without God. … Just as Jesus the Word came to his own without being called and was not recognized by his own creation when he arrived, so also will his ministry be to people (then and now) who do not recognize him and do not see a need for him. Yet Jesus still comes.” (Edward Klink)
Closing Prayer
The Gospel of John | John 1:35-51
Gathering Question:
What is one way you’ve experienced God in your life this week?
Gathering Prayer
Father, by Your Spirit, would you guide us into all truth. Help us to hear and be attentive to Your voice as we work through this study. In the name of Jesus, Your Son, we pray, Amen.
Opening Questions
- What stood out to you in the sermon?
- What insights did you gain?
- What questions did it raise?
John 1:35-51
Andrew | The Inviter
- What stands out to you about Andrew’s response to Jesus?
- Why do you think his first instinct was to go and get his brother?
Peter | The Renamed
- What might it have felt like for Simon to receive a new name right away?
- How does it impact you to think that Jesus sees not just who you are now, but who you can become?
Philip | The Overlooked
- Philip wasn’t previously following John the Baptist. What does it say to you that Jesus sought him out directly?
- Have you ever felt unqualified or overlooked in your faith journey?
Nathanael | The Skeptic
- Why do you think Jesus spent the most time talking with Nathanael—the skeptic?
- How does Jesus respond to Nathanael’s doubt?
“As much as the Christian is a person who is seeking after God, it has always been God who first sought us. Just as Nathanael is loaded with naive bias regarding what God can and will do, so is the contemporary Christian. We are blind to our own sin, our own situation, our own self-righteousness. We are blind without God. … Just as Jesus the Word came to his own without being called and was not recognized by his own creation when he arrived, so also will his ministry be to people (then and now) who do not recognize him and do not see a need for him. Yet Jesus still comes.” (Edward Klink)
- “We are blind without God.” In what areas of your life have you seen more clearly—your need, your sin, or your purpose—after encountering Jesus?
- “Just as Nathanael is loaded with naive bias…” What assumptions or biases might you carry about how God works—or who God uses—that could be limiting your faith?
- “Yet Jesus still comes.” How does it impact you to know that Jesus seeks us out even when we don’t recognize our need for him? How have you experienced that in your own story?
Closing Prayer
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