Community Group Guide

> Why We Gather

At The Springs Church, we desire for community groups to be a place where we BEHOLD JESUS, BECOME LIKE JESUS, and BELONG IN COMMUNITY. This means that our primary goal for groups is to gather around the transforming presence of Christ. As we gather around the transforming presence of Jesus, we believe by faith that we will be incrementally transformed into His image and likeness. With that in mind, let's begin in prayer by asking the Holy Spirit to lead our time together, move on our hearts, and help us behold Jesus, become Like Jesus, and experince the gift of belonging in community. Let's pray.

> Announcements

  • Our next Membership Class is on Monday, February 23rd! Click here to learn more or register.

> Give Thanks

Take a few moments to briefly share about anything that you are thankful unto the Lord for? Perhaps you've witnessed God answer a prayer or experienced a moment that strengthened your faith. Feel free to share any recent occurrences that have encouraged you or instances where you've felt God's presence at work in your life.

> Scripture Reading

Have someone read John 1:1-3 and 14.

> Discussion Questions

Knowing God versus knowing about God

It is not possible to know God personally without learning things about God. By contrast, it is possible to know many things about God without knowing Him personally. The goal of our church is to make disciples of Jesus who know him, love him, walk with him, and imitate him. This means we must press beyond merely knowing about God to also know him personally. There are many ways to contrast these two to help us ask the question “Do I know God or do I merely know about God?” As Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

Reflection Question: How do you think of the difference between knowing God and knowing about God?

Reflection Question: What are some practical ways we can keep our focus on knowing Jesus, in addition to gaining knowledge about Him?

Jesus is the Logos

In our main passage in John 1:1-3 and 14, we hear Jesus described as “the Word,” which has multiple layers of meaning. First, in linking “word” to creation, John is recalling how God spoke the world into being in the beginning. Not only was Jesus with God when creation started (meaning he was not part of what was created), all things were created by the Word of God, which John identifies with Jesus. A second layer comes from the term that John uses, which is the Greek term “logos.” This term was used by Greek philosophers to refer to the guiding principles by which the world operated. They clearly understood that the universe operated under regular patterns and laws, which we might associate with physics, chemistry, or biology. Living things grew and behaved in patterns, which we might associate with DNA. These unifying principles of the universe were called the logos. John chose to borrow this term to claim that Jesus himself is the underlying principle of all things that exist. This means that to understand our lives and our world, we must look at them through the lens of Jesus Christ. Pastor Alberto quoted John Calvin as saying, “It is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he has previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.”

Reflection Question: What are some ways that Jesus helps you understand what it means to be truly human or helps you understand your identity?

Reflection Question: What are some ways Jesus helps you understand the nature of community, your work, or other aspects of the world?

Reflection Question: What are some areas of life that you struggle to know how to apply Christian faith to? What are areas where you want to gain Godly understanding?

The third layer of John’s description of Jesus is that he became flesh and dwelt among us. This not only means that Jesus is the logos, but it means the logos is available to us. Greek philosophers thought of the logos as an impersonal rule or principle, but John reveals the mystery that the logos is a person. As Paul would say in Colossians 2:2-3, “in Christ are hidden all

treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” We know we can press beyond merely knowing about Jesus to know him, because he has made himself available to us.

Reflection Question: How have you experienced the nearness of Christ recently?

Reading to Experience Jesus

We have seen that we want to know and experience Jesus, in addition to knowing about him. We have seen that he is the guiding principle for the universe and for our lives. We have seen that Jesus is available to us. How then do we routinely seek to experience Jesus and be transformed into his image? We find him reliably in the Bible. This is why we are adopting a strategy to help guide us to read the Bible and to intentionally seek to experience Jesus in our reading. The strategy that Pastor Alberto shared on Sunday is called SOAP, which stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. It helps if we get a journal so we can write down our thoughts

  • The Scripture step is to read a Bible passage (or maybe keep reading till we find something that strikes us). Once we find a verse that strikes us, we write it down.
  • The Observation step is to reflect on why that verse stuck out to us, what questions we have, and what we learn in the verse.
  • The Application step is where we identify ways we can respond to what we read, in praise, thanksgiving, repentance, or action.
  • The Prayer step is where we then use the verse to initiate a conversation with God. We invite everyone this week to begin practicing the SOAP reading strategy. There is nothing magical or fully unique about this strategy. What is most important is that everyone read their Bibles with the expectation and intention to experience the living Jesus and to be transformed into his likeness.

Reflection Question: Share with your group about plans to try to practice Bible reading.

> Confession and Prayer

Reflect and Pray: As we sit with this passage, ask God to bring to mind anything you need to confess or need prayer for. Take a moment to share and pray for one another. Feel free to split up into pairs depending on the group size.