John 1:19-23
ICE BREAKER
How would you rate your faith in Jesus?
Have there been times when that rating has changed?
Maybe things you are going through cause you to question who He really is and what He is doing.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- We saw John the Baptists’ faith in Christ shift from conviction to confidence to confusion and then to a place of needing to choose.
Think through your own life.Where are you now in your faith: conviction, confidence, confusion or a place to choose?
Ask yourself what it means for you right now to choose God.
- John says He must increase and I must decrease.
Do we have John’s same attitude for ministry: I must decrease so Christ can increase?If my role decreases do I feel jealousy, anger?
- At times we face gut wrenching circumstances and we wonder if God is there.
It tends to disorient us.What is God doing in the midst of this? Many times we don’t know the answer. We are called to trust.
Richard Foster says, “Paradoxically, God is purifying our faith by threatening to destroy it.”
It is okay to be there, to be honest with God.
Share about a time you were disoriented in your faith.
What helped you move through it?
Were you able to be honest with God in the process? Why or why not?
NOTES AND QUOTES
John the Baptist is coming to bear witness that all may believe in Christ.
In verse 19 the Jews sent leaders to John to ask him who he was.
They ask him three questions:
Who are you? Are you Elijah? Are you the Prophet?
John answers no to each question.
In verse 23 he says, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah says.”
John is deeply convicted about Christ the Messiah.
When John sees Jesus coming toward him in verse 29 he says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
The “Lamb of God” alludes to a sacrifice.
The entire nation knows about sacrifice as they sacrifice lambs as part of their religious journey.
John is arrested by Herod.
The state of John’s faith is a state of confusion when he is in prison.
He asked whether Christ is the Messiah:
“Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”
Do you ever feel out of the game like John did in prison? Ever been demoted?
A lot of the other prophets hit a place of confusion also. Elijah is one example.
Christ’s own pain in the garden was immense as well.
He cried out to His Father for the cup to pass from Him.
The final step is: choose.
We cannot go by our emotions.
I choose to trust God in the tough circumstances.
We don’t do this alone. The body of Christ walks with us.
