Search results for: john

The Main Text: Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John...

Come and See: John 1 Sermon Notes

John 1:43-51 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found...

God at Work: Seeing and Reflecting God the Worker (Genesis 1 and John 14 Sermon Notes)

Scripture Genesis 1:27-28 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he...

Pink-Collar Work: July 19 Newsletter

Newsletter

Service industry jobs, like being a hairstylist, housecleaner, or nurse’s aide, are often called “pink-collar” work. Frequently (though not always) done by...

Called to Love: The Tricky Part of Love (John 13 Sermon Notes)

John 13:31-35 When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified...

Forming Vital Connections - Become! Connect to the Workplace by Seeding Faith: John 15 Sermon Notes

Text: John 15:1-17 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He...

Purple grapes vineyard napa valley napa vineyard 45209

Forming Vital Connections - Belong! Connect to the Branches of the Vine: John 15 Sermon Notes

Text: John 15:1-17 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He...

Things Only Servants Know

Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So...

Best of Daily Reflections: Breakfast With Jesus

All of these are gifts from Christ, and he asks us to bring them to him.

White With Harvest

What would happen if you were intentional to share God’s love through technology today?

Gentrification, Redemption, and the Kingdom of God

As people of faith, let's move through the world, always making sure the good we’re doing is good for everyone.

Best of Daily Reflections: The Bread of Life

“What they are missing, really, is a living relationship with God.”

The Purpose of Expanding God’s Glorious Garden

Humanity was (and is) intended to extend the garden of God’s presence throughout the world.

The Benefits of Extending Grace toward Employees

When an employer goes above and beyond, it can feel like “grace upon grace” to an employee.

Transformation Is More Than an Obligation

God’s people cannot help but exhibit the kingdom of God to the world around them.

Five Ways to Be in the World but Not of It

Which of these five approaches to living your faith in the world makes the most sense to you?

Moving into the Neighborhood

God took the first great risk when he moved into the neighborhood.

What Does It Mean to Bear Much Fruit?

We don’t easily understand God’s purposes for our lives, so we often try to keep him out.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

What do we do when we find ourselves working in an institution that has slid down into a culture of questionable ethics?

Keeping Christmas Well: Know God through Jesus the Son

How do we know God? How can we know God, not just theologically, but relationally? Let’s keep these questions in mind as...

Keeping Christmas Well: Focus on the Incarnation

Today is the second installment in a series of reflections called Keeping Christmas Well. If you missed my introduction to this series...

It’s All His

There’s just the first touch of frost in the air. Around here, it sets in a little late. The old primordial chill stretches limbs up from the earth, and you can feel it...

Every Platform an Altar

Really now, who teaches you how to hold up the piles of taffeta and take the stairs for the Oscars? Who teaches you how to stand up and be famous?

The Sixth Word

The Seven Last Words of Christ for Holy Week

The Fifth Word

The Seven Last Words of Christ for Holy Week

The Third Word

The Seven Last Words of Christ for Holy Week ...

Why Holy Week Matters in Our Daily Work

For centuries, Holy Week was the focal point of the Christian calendar.

Best of Daily Reflections: Mud, Spit, and a Pile of River Rocks

When Jesus disturbed and penetrated the sand to heal the man born blind, he disturbed and penetrated the hearts of many who...

The Surprising Truth About What God Really Wants From Us

We are the artists, made to move into the world awake and alive. But after a long week with lots of work...

Life From Within

There is a big difference between a well and a spring. In a well, you have to go get the water and draw it out of the depths of the earth. A spring...

Christmas Reflection: The Word Became Flesh

The prologue of John’s Gospel tells the story of Christmas, but not in the usual manner. We don’t have angels and shepherds...

Advent Reflection: Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas?

Merry Christmas! ...

Best of Daily Reflections: Finding God in All the Wrong Places: In the Midst of...

I like to call Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, Jesus’ “stay-at-home” disciples. It seems whenever he is in...

Best of Daily Reflections: Finding God in All the Wrong Places: In the Midst of...

This story of the loaves and fishes is the only miracle story of Jesus found in all...

For God So Loved...

As I write this reflection, I’m sitting by my Christmas tree, with instrumental carols playing softly in the background.

The Lonely Cross

Jesus’ dark hours remind us there are some roads you must walk alone. ...

The Word Became Flesh

I don’t typically think of this passage when I think about Easter. Instead, when I read John’s words, I imagine the two-inch Fontanini baby Jesus swaddled in white cloth, lying in a straw-stuffed.....

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

Every time I turn around, it seems I’m facing some new obstacle or looming uncertainty. Resistance smacks me in the face whenever I try to take on something worthwhile. ...

Your Job Can Be Sacred

The English writer, Dorothy Sayers, made an interesting comment about Jesus’s carpentry: ...

The Twelfth Station: Jesus on the Cross, His Mother, and His Disciple

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene...

Nothing Deceptive About It

Transcript To Jack, the new guy looked like an unmade bed. Slacks with no crease. Shoes scuffed. Hair messy. The guy’s shirt style was perfect—for ten years ago. Yet, other than his rumpled...

Hike Your Own Hike

Transcript Lucas and Joe hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. From Georgia to Maine—on foot—they covered two-thousand one hundred and seventy-six miles. Along the way, at various times, they saw another hiker enter and...

Chicken Eagle

Transcript Author Tony de Mello tells about a farmer who put an eagle's egg in a barnyard nest. The eaglet hatched and grew up thinking he was a chicken. He scratched for worms...

Love Each Other! Serve Each Other!

Today is Maundy Thursday. No, it’s not “Monday Thursday,” which I thought I heard as a child and which made no sense...

How to Beat Back the Cold

Our furnace died on one of the coldest winters in recent history. No amount of button-pushing or breaker-switching would bring it back to life.There we sat, for three days, with a corpse of...

Your Boss Is Counting on You

Don't ask "What would Jesus do?" That's a bad question.

Good Leaders Are Stewards of God’s People

"Listen, Janet," Richard said in frustration, "this report is not acceptable. You need to redo it and have it on my desk...

Washington Inspired Devotion

During the American Revolution, a man dressed in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small stronghold. Their leader shouted instructions from his horse. The man asked the...

Father Judge

My friend Don heard two men discussing Father Mychal Judge, the New York Fire Department chaplain who died in the World Trade Center collapse. One man said, “Wrong place, wrong time!” Don jumped...

The Divine Trajectory

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ...

Out of Darkness, Into Light

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

The Gospel of John and Work

In addition to modeling good work, Jesus teaches about workplace topics such as calling, relationships, creativity and productivity, ethics, truth and deception, leadership, service, sacrifice and suffering, and the dignity of labor.

Introduction to the Gospel of John

Work pervades the Gospel of John. It starts with the work of the Messiah, who is God’s agent of the creation of...

In the Beginning Was the Word (John 1:1-18)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in...

I Have Called You Friends (John 1:35-51, John 15:15)

We will return to the conventional term “disciples” momentarily, but the term “friends” captures the essence of John’s depiction of the disciples...

Water Into Wine at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)

Jesus’ “first sign” (John 2:11), changing water into wine at a wedding in Cana, lays the foundation for understanding the subsequent signs...

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)

Jesus’ discussions with Nicodemus and his disciples hold innumerable treasures. We will begin with a verse that has profound implications for human...

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4)

The story of the woman at the well (John 4:1-40) has as much direct discussion of human labor as any story in...

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath (John 5)

The healing of the man at the pool of Bethsaida brings to the surface a controversy familiar from Matthew, Mark, and Luke...

Jesus the Bread of Life (John 6)

John’s telling of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1-15) echoes many of the themes we saw in the wedding feast at Cana and the healing of the paralytic man. Again, Jesus...

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind (John 9)

Jesus and his disciples see a man born blind (the entire chapter 9). The disciples look on him as a lesson or...

Jesus’ Sacrifice (John 10-12)

Learning to Save My Students Instead of Judging Them (Click Here to Read) An encounter with the words of Jesus in John 12 encourages a teacher to change his approach to his relationship...

Servant Leadership (John 13:1-20)

Up to this point in John, we have seen Jesus doing work that no one else had ever done before — making water into wine, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead...

Farewell Words: Upper Room Discourse (John 14-17)

Chapters 13 through 17, often called the Upper Room Discourse, contain so much profound theology that we can only touch on a...

The Importance of Workplace Relationships (John 14-17)

An emphasis on personal relationships suffuses the theology of these chapters. Jesus calls the disciples “no longer servants…but friends” (John 15:15, NASB)...

I Am the Vine and You Are the Branches (John 15)

Three Men on a Mission of Integrity, Love, and Community Ryan Dixon, Dan Griffith and Stephen Lee started True Vine, a micro...

My Kingdom Is Not of This World (John 18:36)

Rather than risk reducing John’s passion narrative to a proof-text for work issues, we will address a single verse that is as...

Intro To The Lectio Divina (Devotional)

The Lectio Divina is a traditional Christian practice that helps you dive deeply into a passage of scripture.

Work Through the Whole Bible, Part 10: Matthew - Acts (Devotional)

Do you wonder if God has anything to say about your work? Explore key verses from each chapter of the Bible that...

Work That Matters (Sunday School Lesson for Kids)

How many of you would like your life to be one that makes a difference in the world? Where you know that...

Giving and Receiving Feedback (1-Hour Small Group Study)

Withstand a performance review and give feedback in a biblical way.

Ruth and Parables Curriculum

How can a church integrate workplace issues into a normal structure of weekly preaching and small groups? This integrated series can serve as a model. The Ruth series, piloted by Reservoir Church in...

Week 2: Finding God in the Least Expected People

Week 2 covers the topic of investing in other people, especially those people who seem like unlikely candidates for investment.

Week 3: Invite Jesus into Your Every Crunch Time

Week 3 demonstrates how to bring a guest speaker into an integrated sermon and small group series. Val Snekvik, a guest speaker...

Week 4: When Hope Isn’t Foolish

Week 4 demonstrates how a pastor can integrate work stories from members of the congregation into the order of the service. (See this additional resource on how to conduct faith and work interviews...

Week 5: Becoming an Inspiration: What You Do with What You Know

Week 5 offers some real life examples of people doing work that they feel is for God in the course of their...

Week 6: You Have Something the World Needs

Will Messenger of the TOW Project delivers the sermon for week 6. This sermon covers the biblical basis for the goodness of...

Week 8: What’s Your Next Move? Ingenuity, Faith, and Your Current Lot in Life

In week 8 Senior Pastor Steve Watson talks about risk taking and planning for a legacy using...

Week 9: Alive in an Age of Redemption

Week 9 discusses the work of redemption. Senior Pastor Steve Watson uses Boaz’s actions in the book of Ruth to discuss how...

Week 10: Redemption - the Peculiar Calling of Jesus’ Followers

Will Messenger of the TOW Project delivers the sermon for week 10. He offers his own perspective from the business world on...

Week 11: How to Live After “Happily Ever After”

For the last week of this series, blogger Leah Archibald speaks about finding fulfillment in work from the point of view of...

Ruth and Parables: Small Group Leaders Guide Week 11

Study Guide

This content is part of the Ruth and Parables curriculum, an 11-week integrated sermon and small group series on faith and work...

Best of Daily Reflections: Getting Healed When the Wound is Deep

John 21:15-19 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than...

Downward Mobility: More of Him (John 3 Sermon Notes)

The Main Text: Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. And they came to John...

Come and See: John 1 Sermon Notes

John 1:43-51 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found...

God at Work: Seeing and Reflecting God the Worker (Genesis 1 and John 14 Sermon Notes)

Scripture Genesis 1:27-28 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he...

Pink-Collar Work: July 19 Newsletter

Newsletter

Service industry jobs, like being a hairstylist, housecleaner, or nurse’s aide, are often called “pink-collar” work. Frequently (though not always) done by...

Called to Love: The Tricky Part of Love (John 13 Sermon Notes)

John 13:31-35 When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified...

Forming Vital Connections - Become! Connect to the Workplace by Seeding Faith: John 15 Sermon Notes

Text: John 15:1-17 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He...

Forming Vital Connections - Belong! Connect to the Branches of the Vine: John 15 Sermon Notes

Text: John 15:1-17 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He...

Things Only Servants Know

Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So...

Best of Daily Reflections: Breakfast With Jesus

All of these are gifts from Christ, and he asks us to bring them to him.

White With Harvest

What would happen if you were intentional to share God’s love through technology today?

Gentrification, Redemption, and the Kingdom of God

As people of faith, let's move through the world, always making sure the good we’re doing is good for everyone.

Best of Daily Reflections: The Bread of Life

“What they are missing, really, is a living relationship with God.”

The Purpose of Expanding God’s Glorious Garden

Humanity was (and is) intended to extend the garden of God’s presence throughout the world.

The Benefits of Extending Grace toward Employees

When an employer goes above and beyond, it can feel like “grace upon grace” to an employee.

Transformation Is More Than an Obligation

God’s people cannot help but exhibit the kingdom of God to the world around them.

Five Ways to Be in the World but Not of It

Which of these five approaches to living your faith in the world makes the most sense to you?

Moving into the Neighborhood

God took the first great risk when he moved into the neighborhood.

What Does It Mean to Bear Much Fruit?

We don’t easily understand God’s purposes for our lives, so we often try to keep him out.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

What do we do when we find ourselves working in an institution that has slid down into a culture of questionable ethics?

Keeping Christmas Well: Know God through Jesus the Son

How do we know God? How can we know God, not just theologically, but relationally? Let’s keep these questions in mind as...

Keeping Christmas Well: Focus on the Incarnation

Today is the second installment in a series of reflections called Keeping Christmas Well. If you missed my introduction to this series...

It’s All His

There’s just the first touch of frost in the air. Around here, it sets in a little late. The old primordial chill stretches limbs up from the earth, and you can feel it...

Every Platform an Altar

Really now, who teaches you how to hold up the piles of taffeta and take the stairs for the Oscars? Who teaches you how to stand up and be famous?

The Sixth Word

The Seven Last Words of Christ for Holy Week

The Fifth Word

The Seven Last Words of Christ for Holy Week

The Third Word

The Seven Last Words of Christ for Holy Week ...

Why Holy Week Matters in Our Daily Work

For centuries, Holy Week was the focal point of the Christian calendar.

Best of Daily Reflections: Mud, Spit, and a Pile of River Rocks

When Jesus disturbed and penetrated the sand to heal the man born blind, he disturbed and penetrated the hearts of many who...

The Surprising Truth About What God Really Wants From Us

We are the artists, made to move into the world awake and alive. But after a long week with lots of work...

Life From Within

There is a big difference between a well and a spring. In a well, you have to go get the water and draw it out of the depths of the earth. A spring...

Christmas Reflection: The Word Became Flesh

The prologue of John’s Gospel tells the story of Christmas, but not in the usual manner. We don’t have angels and shepherds...

Advent Reflection: Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas?

Merry Christmas! ...

Best of Daily Reflections: Finding God in All the Wrong Places: In the Midst of...

I like to call Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, Jesus’ “stay-at-home” disciples. It seems whenever he is in...

Best of Daily Reflections: Finding God in All the Wrong Places: In the Midst of...

This story of the loaves and fishes is the only miracle story of Jesus found in all...

For God So Loved...

As I write this reflection, I’m sitting by my Christmas tree, with instrumental carols playing softly in the background.

The Lonely Cross

Jesus’ dark hours remind us there are some roads you must walk alone. ...

The Word Became Flesh

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

Every time I turn around, it seems I’m facing some new obstacle or looming uncertainty. Resistance smacks me in the face whenever I try to take on something worthwhile. ...

Your Job Can Be Sacred

The English writer, Dorothy Sayers, made an interesting comment about Jesus’s carpentry: ...

The Twelfth Station: Jesus on the Cross, His Mother, and His Disciple

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene...

Nothing Deceptive About It

Transcript To Jack, the new guy looked like an unmade bed. Slacks with no crease. Shoes scuffed. Hair messy. The guy’s shirt style was perfect—for ten years ago. Yet, other than his rumpled...

Hike Your Own Hike

Chicken Eagle

Transcript Author Tony de Mello tells about a farmer who put an eagle's egg in a barnyard nest. The eaglet hatched and grew up thinking he was a chicken. He scratched for worms...

Love Each Other! Serve Each Other!

Today is Maundy Thursday. No, it’s not “Monday Thursday,” which I thought I heard as a child and which made no sense...

How to Beat Back the Cold

Our furnace died on one of the coldest winters in recent history. No amount of button-pushing or breaker-switching would bring it back to life.There we sat, for three days, with a corpse of...

Your Boss Is Counting on You

Don't ask "What would Jesus do?" That's a bad question.

Good Leaders Are Stewards of God’s People

"Listen, Janet," Richard said in frustration, "this report is not acceptable. You need to redo it and have it on my desk...

Washington Inspired Devotion

During the American Revolution, a man dressed in civilian clothes rode past a group of soldiers repairing a small stronghold. Their leader shouted instructions from his horse. The man asked the...

Father Judge

The Divine Trajectory

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” ...

Out of Darkness, Into Light

And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

The Gospel of John and Work

Introduction to the Gospel of John

Work pervades the Gospel of John. It starts with the work of the Messiah, who is God’s agent of the creation of...

In the Beginning Was the Word (John 1:1-18)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in...

I Have Called You Friends (John 1:35-51, John 15:15)

We will return to the conventional term “disciples” momentarily, but the term “friends” captures the essence of John’s depiction of the disciples...

Water Into Wine at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)

Jesus’ “first sign” (John 2:11), changing water into wine at a wedding in Cana, lays the foundation for understanding the subsequent signs...

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus (John 3:1-21)

Jesus’ discussions with Nicodemus and his disciples hold innumerable treasures. We will begin with a verse that has profound implications for human...

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4)

The story of the woman at the well (John 4:1-40) has as much direct discussion of human labor as any story in...

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath (John 5)

The healing of the man at the pool of Bethsaida brings to the surface a controversy familiar from Matthew, Mark, and Luke...

Jesus the Bread of Life (John 6)

John’s telling of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:1-15) echoes many of the themes we saw in the wedding feast at Cana and the healing of the paralytic man. Again, Jesus...

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind (John 9)

Jesus and his disciples see a man born blind (the entire chapter 9). The disciples look on him as a lesson or...

Jesus’ Sacrifice (John 10-12)

Learning to Save My Students Instead of Judging Them (Click Here to Read) An encounter with the words of Jesus in John 12 encourages a teacher to change his approach to his relationship...

Servant Leadership (John 13:1-20)

Up to this point in John, we have seen Jesus doing work that no one else had ever done before — making water into wine, giving sight to the blind, raising the dead...

Farewell Words: Upper Room Discourse (John 14-17)

Chapters 13 through 17, often called the Upper Room Discourse, contain so much profound theology that we can only touch on a...

The Importance of Workplace Relationships (John 14-17)

An emphasis on personal relationships suffuses the theology of these chapters. Jesus calls the disciples “no longer servants…but friends” (John 15:15, NASB)...

I Am the Vine and You Are the Branches (John 15)

Three Men on a Mission of Integrity, Love, and Community Ryan Dixon, Dan Griffith and Stephen Lee started True Vine, a micro...

My Kingdom Is Not of This World (John 18:36)

Rather than risk reducing John’s passion narrative to a proof-text for work issues, we will address a single verse that is as...

Intro To The Lectio Divina (Devotional)

The Lectio Divina is a traditional Christian practice that helps you dive deeply into a passage of scripture.

Work Through the Whole Bible, Part 10: Matthew - Acts (Devotional)

Do you wonder if God has anything to say about your work? Explore key verses from each chapter of the Bible that...

Work That Matters (Sunday School Lesson for Kids)

How many of you would like your life to be one that makes a difference in the world? Where you know that...

Giving and Receiving Feedback (1-Hour Small Group Study)

Withstand a performance review and give feedback in a biblical way.

Ruth and Parables Curriculum

Week 2: Finding God in the Least Expected People

Week 2 covers the topic of investing in other people, especially those people who seem like unlikely candidates for investment.

Week 3: Invite Jesus into Your Every Crunch Time

Week 3 demonstrates how to bring a guest speaker into an integrated sermon and small group series. Val Snekvik, a guest speaker...

Week 4: When Hope Isn’t Foolish

Week 5: Becoming an Inspiration: What You Do with What You Know

Week 5 offers some real life examples of people doing work that they feel is for God in the course of their...

Week 6: You Have Something the World Needs

Will Messenger of the TOW Project delivers the sermon for week 6. This sermon covers the biblical basis for the goodness of...

Week 8: What’s Your Next Move? Ingenuity, Faith, and Your Current Lot in Life

In week 8 Senior Pastor Steve Watson talks about risk taking and planning for a legacy using...

Week 9: Alive in an Age of Redemption

Week 9 discusses the work of redemption. Senior Pastor Steve Watson uses Boaz’s actions in the book of Ruth to discuss how...

Week 10: Redemption - the Peculiar Calling of Jesus’ Followers

Will Messenger of the TOW Project delivers the sermon for week 10. He offers his own perspective from the business world on...

Week 11: How to Live After “Happily Ever After”