StoneBridge Community Church
Ryan Joslin, Director of Youth and Families
The Incarnation: A Cascade of Epiphanies
As we exit the season of Christmas and look towards the New Year, we take a moment to contemplate the Incarnation of Christ. This weekend, Ryan Joslin, Director of Youth and Families, will preach on the prologue to the Gospel of John in hopes of exploring the magnitude of the Word becoming Flesh. Communion will be celebrated.
John 1:1-5, 9-10, 14, 16 NRSV
Sermon Outline:
What is the Word and Why is it Important?
The Shock of the Word Becoming Flesh
The Incarnation is not just the Birth but Christ’s entire Life
Epiphany and Self-Revelation of God in Christ
The Fullness of Christ
GROWTH GROUP / PERSONAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. How does your view of Christ change when you consider his life and ministry as part of the incarnation? Did you think of his life in this way before? How has your view changed?
2. How does God directly revealing one self through Christ affect your ideas of who God is? How does it affect your understanding of God's revelation today?
3. How, as a community, do we let the transformative power of the incarnation guide God's call to action as a church? How, as an individual, do you let the transformative power of the incarnation guide God's call on your life?
NEXT STEPS
1. We should look at the incarnation at its most shocking and disruptive in hopes of realizing the transformative and grace filled power of the incarnation. /// Prayerfully consider what the incarnation means for Christian faith.
2. We should seek not to reduce Christ to just his birth, death, and resurrection but look to take Christ’s entire life as it impacts our faith. /// Read a few passages of Christ's teachings and ministry this week, how does viewing his ministry as incarnated change how you view his death?
3. As a community, we should be encouraged to sit with the tension of God revealing Godself through Christ, to inform our understanding of God today. /// Take 5 minutes each day this week and meditate on how Christ reveals God to us, does this affirm or challenge your understanding of God?
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