Go and Tell John the Things Which You Hear and See

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray had just returned from three weeks away, including a mission trip to Guatemala with Hope of Life International, and he used the morning to report on what the team saw and did there before tying it to a passage in Matthew. The message moved from the objective facts of the trip to a word for anyone sitting in the room who is struggling with faith. John the Baptist in prison became the...

Read together

1. 1 Corinthians 12 God is the one who adds to the body as it pleases him, cited twice during the covenant ceremonies
2. Matthew 11:2-5 John the Baptist in prison sending disciples to ask Jesus if he is the coming one, used as the main sermon text
3. Isaiah (scroll reading) Jesus reads from Isaiah in his first sermon at Nazareth, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach the gospel to the poor
4. Galatians 4:4-5 when the fullness of time had come God sent forth his son to redeem those under the law, cited as the closing slide and where the series left off
5. Galatians 4:6-7 the two verses listed in the bulletin as the planned sermon text for this week
6. Ephesians 2:8-9 salvation is not by works so that no one should boast, referenced briefly alongside verse 10
7. Ephesians 2:10 we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which he prepared in advance

Talk about it

1. Gary described three things First B emphasizes in membership: faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, a core belief centered on Christ that unites rather than divides, and each member's role in the body. What does it mean to you personally to covenant with a church body, and what does that commitment look like in daily life?
2. Pastor Ray described John the Baptist, a man filled with the Holy Spirit since the womb, who had heard the voice of the Father and seen the Spirit descend on Jesus, still sending word from prison asking, 'Are you the coming one, or do we look for another?' What does it tell us that even John struggled with doubt, and how does that change the way we think about our own seasons of uncertainty?
3. When John's disciples came to Jesus with that question, Jesus did not say yes or no. He said, 'Go and tell John the things which you hear and see.' Why do you think Jesus answered that way, and what does it suggest about how God meets us when we are struggling?
4. Pastor Ray pointed out that Jesus listed almost everything from Isaiah when he sent word back to John, but he left out 'proclaim liberty to the captives' because John was not going to get out of prison. How do you hold onto faith when what you are praying for does not come, and God does not promise it will?
5. Pastor Ray said he believes the proclamation of scripture and caring for people's physical needs have to be married together, calling it both temporal and eternal. Where do you see that tension in your own life or in how this church engages the community, and how do you think about keeping both together?