Questions? Reach out to Zeb Fenimore at zebf@nview.org
High School:
This week John Savage continued our conversation on “Is Jesus worth following?” Multiple times, when Jesus found a large crowd following him, he began to say provocative things that were meant to spur the listeners to count the cost.
Modern translation: do you actually think its worth it to follow me?
John Savage traces the growth of Jesus’ ministry in the gospel of John to help us see why Jesus seemed to want to whittle the group down to the ones that really wanted to follow him. Jesus goes from 5,000 families following him around, to just 12 people, to 11 because one of his closest friends betrays him for money, to 1 person, plus Jesus’ mom. Even with all of Jesus’ whittling, even the truest still abandoned him.
John talked about the amount of people who are taking an exodus from the church. Its river is deep and wide. John posited that it’s because youth fail to ask the question, “do I actually want to follow the God that I’ve been told to follow?” Have you counted the cost? Do you know what you’re signing up for?
All we can say is this: how awesome it is to live a life that you feel good to be living (hardship included)—to actually be becoming a person you want to become; to live as you were made to live. I believe Jesus called it the fullest life.
Middle School:
The Middle School were taught by John Savage this Sunday. Look up at the High School notes to see what he taught.