Sunday, March 15, 2009

Look Further and see More

I have been taking our church through a study on the book of John. I didn't allow myself the usual time I would to cover a study on Christ's life. I went through and broke the book of John up on a less detailed pattern. Don't get me wrong, I personally still have to go through and study far longer texts.

You see often when I preach I focus on part of a chapter, possibly ten or twenty verses at the most. However, I am seeing John unfold in a new way, since we are following entire sections as they unfold. From Christ's beginnings to a night before going to the cross. The sections of the book tell a far different story than one may get by looking only at few verses.

For instance, this week we are looking at the week Jesus goes to the Feast of Tabernacles. In this week at various points Jesus shows that He is clearly the Messiah. The crowds and Jewish leaders show clearly that they are unwilling to accept the truth which stood before them. The question of the fulfillment of Jesus birth, his home town, his ability to do miralces and more come out in John 7 through 9. This clear message of who Jesus was could be missed if you only take sections, such as the Woman Caught in Adultry, one by one.

I do believe indepth study is very necessary, but we must always keep the big picture in mind. After all if we loose ourselves looking at small points and miss the biggest points of Salvation, Hope, Joy, Peace, and God's Love. We will miss an awful lot.

- Keep on your journey with Jesus