Beyond the Weekend: GOD IS...
People have a lot of thoughts about God. Some say he is angry and vengeful. Some say he is a buddy or best friend. But what does Scripture tell us about God?
Understanding the character of God matters. It changes how we meet him in our everyday lives. It changes how we understand the world around us, and his work in it. And it changes our prayer life and how we talk and hear from him. Understanding the character of God leads us to living lives of obedience and worship.
Join Pastors Aaron Buer, Jeff Manion and Brad Holmes in our 10-week series GOD IS ..., a study on the identity and character of God, and learn how your faith can grow as you know God better.
Generosity in Christ
Read: John 15:9-17 Listen: John 15
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13
Jesus tells his disciples again that he loves them. Within hours, he will be beaten and hung on a cross. People will mock him. Jesus’s closest friends—those sitting at the table with him—will deny and desert him. But in a final conversation before his death, Jesus tells them he willingly lays down his life because of God’s generous love. The greatest reflection of God’s generosity is seen in the self-giving love of Jesus.
One of the most familiar passages in Scripture comes a few chapters before this final conversation. The Apostle John sits at the table with Jesus. He later records, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We might see this verse written on signs at ball games. The wording may have become so familiar that the depth of meaning has become lost on us. Out of his great love for us, God sent Jesus to die so we could have eternal life. Jesus gave up his life. This aspect of God’s generosity should change everything for us. When we respond to God’s love for us through Jesus and believe in him, we have eternal life—beginning now.
TODAY: Thank God for his incredible generosity through Jesus. This same generosity invites you to join his family by believing in Jesus's death and resurrection. Join the Ada Bible Worship Team as they sing “There is a Savior.” Thank God that “We are forgiven, we are redeemed. This is the good news because of Jesus.” Ask God to prevent you from ever getting over the amazement of that gift.
JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT:
Read Isaiah 20-22. Highlight anything that points to Jesus. Consider how what is said about Eliakim could also point to Jesus (Isaiah 22:20-24).
