MESSAGE NOTES AND INDIVIDUAL/GROUP REFLECTION QUESTIONS, 9/29/24
So, what do you believe about Jesus? We all believe something about Him. A.W. Tozer, a famous American pastor in the mid 1900s declared, “What comes into our minds when we think about Jesus is the most important thing about us.”
In week 7, we focus on John 7 and consider this question of belief: Do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah?
CONNECT
- When it comes to something you drink, what really quenches your thirst? Now reflect on your own spiritual journey, how would you describe spiritual thirst? What does that look like or feel like for you?
REFLECT
- Read John 7:1-9. What does it seem like Jesus’ brothers are wanting? What do you think are the motives of the brothers?In John 7, his brothers do not believe yet, but in Acts 1:14 Jesus’ brothers came to believe. Why do you think this is so?
- Read John 7:10-18. Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles (see below for more info).This is about 6 months before the Passover celebration where He’ll be arrested and crucified. Jesus sneaks in quietly, then at the right moment appears and teaches.The crowd is “astonished” at His teaching. How does Jesus tell them they can discern if what He says is true or not? And what is the end purpose of His teaching (v.18)?
- Read John 7:19-24. What is Jesus saying to these Jews about their religious ways? How does this relate to Matthew 23:1-12.What does religion do to people and how has it impacted you?
- Read John 7:24-36. Note all the questions about Jesus being the Messiah (def. anointed One, the Christ, Savior) and all the “I am” statements.How are the Jewish people and leaders confused and what is Jesus trying to tell them?
- Read John 7:37-52. Consider the context of these words (see last paragraph on the back page). How does this deepen the meaning of Jesus’ statement that He declared in a loud voice?According to Jesus, what does it mean to drink this water and what will happen if you do? How have you experienced this? Note how Jesus’ words reflect John 4:13 and how Nicodemus from John 3 is referenced.
APPLICATION
Ponder – How do you see others searching for water that doesn’t truly satisfy (substances, status, security, sensuality, success, religion, etc.) And how about in your own life? Consider confessing it.
Prayer – Jesus, make it clear to me that you are my Messiah. May my thirst be quenched by you more than anything else and may streams of living water flow from within me, so that my life may reflect You.
RESOURCES
Gospel of John Simple Journal/Reading Plan (in lobby)
Gospel of John Overview Video [https://shorturl.at/hVyfX]
The Feast/Festival of Tabernacles
This was an annual celebration that took place in the fall to celebrate the harvest. If you were Jewish, you were expected to travel to Jerusalem three times a year, but the Feast of Tabernacles was the most popular. Jews celebrated the completion of harvest and prayed for rain to replenish the parched land. People built and lived in booths—small makeshift huts—to remind them of God’s provision and protections as they wandered in the wilderness. It was a time to thank God for their crops and herds and remember their history (what we know as the Old Testament). Thousands of people gathered for this festival each year.
The Feast of Tabernacles was filled with pageantry. It was filled with joy and life and singing and celebration. Every day for seven days, one of the great moments each day was a procession led by the priests that would go to the pool of Salome. The people would follow with branches very similar to Palm Sunday. You remember the branches are what made up the makeshift huts. They would take one of those branches and shake them to remind you of what sound? What sound does it make? It’s the sound of rain! Because the people are remembering the harvest and if God wouldn’t have sent rain that year, you wouldn’t have a harvest. They’re remembering and celebrating God’s provision for the people as they traveled in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land in the book of Exodus. The priest had a golden pitcher. He would fill it up with water at the pool of Salome, and this procession that was probably thousands of people strong, would head back to the temple. The people are singing various songs; they’re chanting; they’re celebrating. The priest would climb the temple steps and pour the water out on the altar. It makes a pillar of smoke and it was all symbolic of God’s provision of water in the wilderness, when Moses spoke to the rock, and the water flowed out of the rock. That’s what they were remembering. So they’re remembering God’s provision, God’s goodness. They would shout; they would sing; they would celebrate. It was a glorious moment!
Then, on the last and greatest day of the festival, they have something special called the water ceremony which is slightly different from what you’ve seen the last 7 days. The priest would return from the pool one last time and the people are carrying their palms and what do you shout when you’re waving a palm branch? Hosanna! Lord, save us! Comes from Psalm 118. Thousands of people are shouting at the top of their lungs, Hosanna! The priest gets up to the altar and it falls dead silent. And on the last day, the priest pours from the pitcher and there is no water, illustrating the need for One who would come to satisfy the thirst of their hearts. It is perhaps at this moment that Jesus steps up and delivers these words: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me and drink.” (v. 37)