StoneBridge Community Church
Senior Pastor Jon Saur
In "Revealed: God at Work" we will be looking to the signs that Jesus performs in the Gospel of John. "Signs" are more than just miracles - they point to deeper truths about God's work in the world and what the eternal life that God offers us looks like. Join us, so that you can see God's work in your life more clearly!
John 2:1-11 NRSV
"Signs" in the Bible
New Testament scholar Marianne Meye Thompson writes about "signs" in the Old Testament and what they signified, so that we can better understand the context of Jesus' "signs." Thompson writes:
The term "'Signs,' often linked with 'wonders,' occurs frequently in the Old Testament to refer to plagues and others acts accompanying God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt. But many other things are also called 'signs': the rainbow; circumcision; the lamb's blood on the doorposts; the Sabbath; the words of God to be bound on one's hand, forehead and doorposts; the birth of a child; the fertility of crops in the land; and heavenly portents. Such things are "signs" because they are indicators of God's work in the world. Whether extraordinary (portents in the heaven) or ordinary (the slaying of the lamb; the circumcision of a baby), these things are 'signs' because they are not ends in themselves; signs function primarily to point to to God's work."
GROWTH GROUP / PERSONAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. Have you noticed the six stone jars in the story of Jesus turning water into wine before? What did you think of them?
2. Jesus uses the six stone jars in an unexpected way. Can you think of an example when you, or someone you knew, used something in a way it wasn't intended to be used?
3. Think about your life. What in your life is lying dormant or have you not paid much attention to, that you used to pay attention to?
4. How might Jesus use whatever you thought of question 3 in a new and unexpected way?
5. How might Jesus be preparing to use StoneBridge in a new and unexpected way?
QUESTIONS FOR FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN
1. Do you have a toy that you haven't used for awhile? What is it?
2. Have you ever used a random object as a toy, even though it wasn't intended to be used as a toy? What was it?
3. Similar to the toy(s) you've mentioned above, God can sometimes use things we haven't paid attention to in awhile in ways we didn't expect. What might God be able to use in your life to bless you and others in this way?
