John Chapters 1-5: “Come and See”

Over the next 4 years, we plan to preach through every verse of John’s gospel. This September we start a series in the first five chapters of John’s gospel called ‘Come and See’.

Come and See

At the start of John’s gospel we read about Jesus inviting Simon and Andrew to learn about who he is:

‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’ (John 1:39)

Shortly after, we overhear a conversation between Nathanael and Philip about who Jesus is:

‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked.

‘Come and see,’ said Philip. (John 1:39)

Later in John’s gospel, a Samaritan woman’s life is transformed and she urges her community to check out Jesus for themselves:

‘Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?’ (John 4:29)

In the opening chapters of John’s Gospel, Jesus interacts with different people – ordinary people – who come to discover Jesus to be more wonderful and challenging than they ever dared dream. Those who follow him find their lives completely transformed; those who resist him find he keeps disrupting the way they have conceived the world and their lives. Everyone is invited to ‘come and see’.

The invitation to us all

So the invitation comes to us all afresh; to come and see – whether for the first time or the 100th time – who is Jesus, what does it mean to follow him; and, as John says right at the end of his gospel, what it means not just to believe in him but ‘have life in his name’ (do read John 20:30-31 for John’s motivation and intention for writing his gospel).

Here is how we will structure our series, including our Christmas Services, at both CCC South & Central. After five of our Sunday talks there will be a live Q&A afterwards (anonymously via phones, or through open question and answer) and there will also be personal testimonies.

This will be a great preaching series for anyone who wants to investigate Jesus for the first time, so do be considering family and friends who might be interested. We’re going to look at 10 different titles Jesus is given, as he meets with 9 different people (John the Baptist has two encounters with Jesus). This will then lead into our Advent/Christmas series where we’ll look in detail at the famous prologue in John 1:1-18.

Come and See

• 22nd Sept – John 1:19-34: The Lamb of God (John the Baptist)
• 29th Sept – John 1:35-42: The Messiah (Andrew and Simon) – Q&A
• 6th Oct – John 1:43-51: The One Moses wrote about (Philip and Nathanael)
• 13th Oct – John 2:1-11: The Lord of the wine (Mary the mother of Jesus) – Q&A
• 20th Oct – John 2:12-25: The New Temple (The religious leaders)
• 27th Oct – John 3:1-21: God’s Son (Nicodemus) – Q&A
• 3rd Nov – John 3:22-26: The Bridegroom (John the Baptist)
• 10th Nov- John 4:1-41: The Water of Life (The Samaritan woman) – Q&A
• 17th Nov – John 4:43-54: The Healer, part 1 (The royal official)
• 24th Nov – John 5:1-18: The Healer, part 2 (The invalid) – Q&A

Advent – Preparing for Jesus

• 1st Dec – John 1:1-3: The logos 
• 8th Dec – John 1:4-5: The light – Q&A?
• 15th Dec – John 1:6-9: The witness
• 22nd Dec – John 1:10-13: Children of God
• 24th Dec – John 1:14-18: Grace & Truth

In John 5:39-40 Jesus says to some religious leaders:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

May we study the scriptures this coming term, and discover a fresh Jesus, and in so doing discover life and eternal life in him.

If you’d like to ‘come and see’ the life Jesus offers, here are the options:

1. CCC South: 10.30am at Oatlands Primary School (Stillorgan)
2. CCC Central: 4.30pm at Synge Street Secondary School (Portobello)
3. City Groups: various times and locations throughout the week – do contact us if you want to join one.

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*CCC Central will not meet on 3rd Nov as they will be at their Weekend Away in Castledaly Manor (Athlone). If you are not on the weekend away and normally attend our evening congregation, you’d be welcome to join us in the morning at CCC South.