Tips for Teaching This Week’s Session of The Gospel Project for Adults

Listen to this week’s leader training podcast with Y Bonesteele, team leader for The Gospel Project for Adults, for a summary and guidance in leading your group.

This week’s additional resources for study and preparation:

• Sermon: “Believe and See” by Dave Kiehn
• Sermon: “An Illustration of Faith” by Alistair Begg
• Sermon Manuscript: “The Nobleman’s Faith” by Charles Spurgeon

Transcript of Leader Training Podcast:

Hi, this is Y Bonesteele, team leader of The Gospel Project for Adults. Welcome to another Leader Training Podcast. Today, we are in Unit 22, Session 1: The Official Believed. With the core passage of John 4:46-54, and the key concept of: Faith includes believing in Jesus’s authority and power.

After passing through Samaria, Jesus was back in Cana as news about Him was spreading. John brought the story back as he reminds us that that was where Jesus turned water into wine, His first miracle. In Cana, an official from Capernaum had a sick son who he thought Jesus could heal. So he went to Jesus in Cana to ask and plead with him to come to Capernaum to heal his dying son.

In what ways have you had anxious expectations in your requests from the Lord? Your group will have personal answers here.

Jesus in response told the official, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe” in verse 48. Jesus knew that the crowds’ faith was limited. Many just wanted to see something sensational, entertaining, theatrical—a miracle, a sign. The Gospel Project Commentary on page 14 comments that John Calvin interpreted Jesus’s response this way: “Christ did not tell him off in such a way that he intended to totally reject him or refuse his prayers, but he told him off in order to correct his mistaken idea which was blocking his way to true faith.”

The man continued pleading with Jesus, “come down before my boy dies” in verse 49, like an assurance that he wasn’t there just for entertainment purposes; he really was concerned about the death of his child and knew Jesus could do something about it. Jesus in one sense complied and in another didn’t comply. He did not go with the official, as the man asked. He did not perform a sign then and there for the people to see. He simply said, “Go, your son will live.” The Gospel Project Commentary on page 16 reminds us that the original Greek uses the present tense here: “Your son lives.” Jesus said such with authority and power and “the man believed” and he “departed,” obeying Jesus’s words.

How does the reality of Jesus’s authority and power affect how you approach Him in prayer? We approach prayer knowing God has the ability to do anything. He is able. He is powerful. He is sovereign over all. But we also know that just because He’s able, that doesn’t mean that our prayer requests fall in line with His will. So we approach prayer with the faith to believe He can but with open hands, with submission to His will, wanting His will to be done above all.

So the official departed, heading back home, when while he was still journeying, assuming almost home, “his servants met him saying that his boy was alive” in verse 51. Trying to gather more information, he asked at what time, and they told him one in the afternoon, the same time Jesus told him, “Your son will live.” Verse 53 states “so he himself believed, along with his whole household.” But we already read in verse 50 that “the man believed.” I’m actually glad that John wrote it like this to show us a progression in belief and faith. Sometimes, faith is not instantaneous in the way we think about it. In verse 50, it seems like the official believed what Jesus said to be true, but in verse 53, that seemed more of a belief in Jesus as who He said He was, the Messiah and Savior, a salvific belief. Sometimes people may believe in the Bible or certain passages of the Bible, or even in Jesus as a historical figure. But that belief is different from a salvific belief that internally claims Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is a difference between recognizing facts about Jesus and personally trusting Him as Savior and Lord. After realizing that Jesus heals and restores life even from miles away, the official knew Jesus was more than a man. He believed and his whole household believed. And this was the second sign, with the water turning to wine as the first, in Cana, that Jesus performed.

“Why do you think we feel we need to see to believe?” Many of us want evidence to prove things are true. We want to follow what we believe is true. Without seeing something, it’s sometimes hard to believe its validity. “How has God shown you grace to deepen your faith in Him?” Many personal answers will be given here from the truth of Scripture or answered prayers or feeling forgiveness for sins.

In what ways does your life bear witness to the authority and power of Jesus? Answers can include personal examples of healing or restoration or a changed life.

Like the Gospel Connection states: “Jesus’s power to heal from afar points to His authority over all. That authority reveals itself in His victory over sin and death through His crucifixion and resurrection. We merely need to have faith in Him.”

On to the Group Experience, start with the icebreaker on arrival and move to the Context, displaying Pack Item 2: Jesus’s Ministry in Galilee Map, showing Cana and Capernaum. Recap with, “What stood out to you this week?” Pass out copies of Pack Item 3: Believing Is Seeing and discuss how Jesus continued to perform miracles, but He rebuked the crowds for wanting to see signs but not believe in faith. Transition to the Group Activity about people’s response to healing in Scripture.

Recreate the chart: Healing and Response on a board. Divide the group into 4 smaller groups, assigning each group a different passage from the chart and letting the group fill out the blank spaces.

For Mark 1:29-31, Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever. Her response was to get up and serve them.

For Matthew 8:5-13, Jesus healed a centurion’s servant who was paralyzed and in pain with a word because of the centurion’s faith. The response was the servant was healed and Jesus was able to highlight the faith of the Gentile centurion.

For Matthew 9:27-30, Jesus healed two blind men. The response was they spread the news about Jesus even though He told them not to.

For John 4:46-54, Jesus healed the official’s son with a word from afar. The response was the official and his whole household believed.

Discuss: “What were the similarities in these accounts from Scripture?” Some answers may include that Jesus healed with compassion and authority; He healed without grandeur, a simple motion or word was all He did. “What were some differences?” He healed in different ways; He healed different types of people; He healed in different places. “How did the people respond to these healings?” People responded in faith and service and a spreading of the news.

Debrief with: “How does Jesus’s authority to heal shape the way we view illnesses and sin?” We understand that nothing is beyond God’s control and He can heal anything. However, while God cares about our physical suffering, Jesus’s miracles point beyond bodily healing to the deeper and greater need for spiritual restoration and eternal life. Because believers have eternal life in Christ, illness and death do not have the final word, even though suffering remains painful and real in this fallen world. “How does Jesus’s familiarity with pain and suffering lead us to a greater faith in Him?” Because the Son of God became fully human, He truly experienced suffering and is a merciful Savior who understands our weakness. But like Paul states in Romans 8:18, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” And so, we press on in faith with Christ.

Summarize and tackle the Head question if time is limited: “How do the accounts of Jesus’s ministry draw you closer to Him?” Jesus showed grace, compassion, power, and authority whenever He healed someone. His character should be what draws us to Him more than the miracle itself. These accounts should remind us that Jesus is God and deserves our worship and service. He is Lord because He loves us and cares for us and that should draw us closer to Him.

Continue with Next Steps as optional additional responses to the session. End with prayer requests and praises and if time permits, end with praying with Psalm 142, try verses 1-3: “I cry aloud to the Lord; I plead aloud to the Lord for mercy. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; I reveal my trouble to him. 3 Although my spirit is weak within me, you know my way.”

Hey, thanks again for joining me on another Leader Training podcast. Write me at [email protected] and hope you have a great group time!