MESSAGE SERIES
The Gospel of John
In this series, we discover the words of John who—after walking closely with Jesus—spends the remainder of his life pondering what he observed: who Jesus is, what Jesus did, and why that matters. Through colorful, connected stories unique to this gospel, John writes so readers might come to entrust their lives to Jesus, the God and King, who gave his life for us and inspires us to give our lives for others.
As we begin our new series unpacking the Gospel of John, we see the true character of Jesus and the God who sent him through those who were closest to him. In these eye-witness stories, we find Jesus coming not to people who deserved him, but...
As we continue to dive deeper into The Gospel of John, we see many stories of those who witness the glory of God and are forever transformed. As Christians, we know choosing to walk with Christ can change every aspect of our lives, great and small...
As Christians, most of us will tell you the power of God’s grace has saved us. This truth alone is a beautiful gift, but it’s more than a one-time gift. It pursues us, strengthens, emboldens, and softens us. Can all of us say God’s grace has...
Have you ever faced a problem in your life so big, so unsolvable, it made you question if even God was competent and compassionate enough to lift it from your shoulders? Mankind has always struggled to comprehend our mighty God. When we stumble...
Have you ever prayed for something that seemed perfectly reasonable only to never see that particular hope come to life? You prayed your heart out and for whatever reason, God chose not to grant your request.
When God’s people were praying to be...
Would you consider yourself a Christian? What about a disciple of Christ? At the end of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gives his followers a mission, saying, “Go into the world and make disciples.”, but you wouldn’t necessarily know that by looking at...
How do you feel about sharing your relationship with God with those around you? While there is a private and powerful nature to our faith, we are not meant to journey with him alone.
In the Gospel of John, we see how the faith of one can plant...
What is the least likely way you expect God to reveal himself to you this season? If you were to guess how God would to reveal the power and majesty of Jesus to the world, you might imagine something large and awe inspiring like moving mountains...
Do you have preconceived notions about who you think the messiah should be? Does it ever bother you when Jesus doesn’t do or say exactly what you think he should? The Jesus you’ll find within the pages of John’s Gospel is a Messiah who embodies...
The Bible uses many words to describe God. We see him called Holy, powerful, righteous and faithful… Are these the same words you would use to describe God? Maybe there’s a part of you that feels God is distant. Maybe there was a time in your life...
God gives us the freedom to live as we choose, and we make this choice every day. Either I’ll let God have his way, or he’ll let me have mine.
We have a phrase we say around here all the time: “Grace without truth isn’t love.” Many people are afraid of coming to God because they’re afraid of hearing the truth about themselves. But because of his grace, you don’t have to be afraid of the...
At Capital, our mission is to lead others to become Christ-centered disciples. The woman at the well in John 4 gives us an example of how we can be a catalyst for God’s love to those around us in our discipleship journey. The Samaritan woman came....
What happens to your faith when your heart is set on a prayer God hasn’t answered yet? What happens to your faith if God doesn’t give you exactly what you want when and how you’re praying for it? Have you built your life on a faith contingent on...
Do you want to be made whole? What would it take for you to be freed of the painful deficiencies and barriers in your life? For some of us, it would take a miracle. But what if that miracle already happened, just not the way you expected? In John...
Many followers of Christ have a favorite verse they cling to and it becomes their go-to in times of adversity or struggle. But do you have verses you find you would rather avoid? Maybe you want the God from Philippians 4:19 to ‘supply all...
If you saw someone you knew couldn’t walk for 38 years all of a sudden begin walking, would that get your attention? Would that lend credibility to the one who performed the miracle? In The Gospel of John, Jesus performs that exact miracle. But...
In John chapter 6, we read accounts of some of the most well-known miracles of Jesus, including Jesus walking on water and feeding the 5000. Perhaps we’ve been missing something from these well-known stories…
Some messages are timeless. They can be shared any time and anywhere, and can always be applicable. Some messages are timely. They resonate particularly strongly in your soul because of the circumstances of your current life situation. If you are...
Have you ever had an idea in your mind about what God is supposed to do in your life? Perhaps along your journey, you’ve experienced pain, confusion, or detours that don’t align with the idea you had. Perhaps these detours make you wonder if God...
The Bible tells us that if we seek out the will of God, we will find it. Sometimes we miss finding it because what we want to learn from Him isn’t what he wants to teach us.
Jesus came to us as God in the flesh, and the Holy Spirit is God in our flesh. It is our job to flesh out the love of Jesus here on earth.
If we were to sneak up on you when no one’s looking, what might we catch you doing? In John chapter 8, we read a scandalous story about a woman caught in a shameful situation; however, the woman’s story is not the most interesting part...
In the Gospel of John, Jesus declares that he is the light of the world. Jesus has the power to bring light to the shadows and chaos of our lives, exposing the darkness and making way for his radiant light.
Ever since the devil lied to Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden, humanity – you and I – have been listening to voices from so many places that are not Jesus. We believe the lie that more power or more wealth will fulfill us. We believe that sex or...
Having questions and having strong faith are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the Bible gives us many examples of faithful people whose faith is stretched and made stronger through unanswered questions. But the posture of your questioning may say...
In John chapter 9, we read of a man who was blind from birth. Then Jesus comes along and rubs mud over the blind man’s eyes. An initial observation of this passage may lead you to think that God is making a bigger mess of what’s already a problem...
In John chapter 9, we hear the story of the blind man—not just the story about him being on the receiving end of a miracle that restores his sight, but also the story of his growing discipleship journey with Jesus in the aftermath of the miracle...
Imagine for a moment living with a pervasive sense of wellbeing and security every single day of your life. Imagine being free from the need to constantly second guess yourself and everyone else. Imagine being free to wisely relax even if everyone...
In chapter 12 of the Gospel of John, we step into the stories of Martha, Lazarus, and Mary, and see examples of how our life reveals our love. As we serve, as we rest, as we worship – our thoughts, words, and our every action reveals our love...
The life of Jesus, particularly the story we read in John chapter 12, reveals that our expectations of God are often not met. But the problem is we’re usually thinking too small & setting our sights on short-term outcomes. We’re not able to see...
In John 13, we see two important examples of God’s love at work. Jesus knows that Judas will betray him and that Peter will deny him, yet, in the moment, Jesus fully loves both of them anyway. Despite their future failures, Peter and Judas were...
As Christians, we are called to be like Jesus Christ. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). In Jesus’ love and sacrifice for us, there is a challenge: we are to humble ourselves in order to love and serve each other...
Often in our discouragement with the world and our circumstances, we assume there’s nothing we can do to become encouraged. In the opening verses of John chapter 14, Jesus gives an example of encouraging thinking to his disciples as he describes...
In John chapter 14, Jesus makes a number of bold declarations that may lead us to push back in disbelief, or to downplay, or even write off the important message Jesus wants us to hear. When other religions say, “let me tell you how to get to God...
In the “Farewell Discourse”—the final three and a half chapters from John’s Gospel, John leaves his readers with some of the most intimate and important teachings of Jesus. One of these themes is that of the Holy Spirit and the role of the Spirit...
In John 15 Jesus says, “I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Remaining in Christ is to center your life around the reality of God’s presence...
The Old Testament books of the law are full of stories of God’s people rejecting him and running from him. But no matter what, God remains faithful to them. In the New Testament, we see God coming down from heaven onto Earth, stepping between the...
In John 15, Jesus teaches an important lesson about how to respond when people hate us because of our discipleship to Jesus. We are to respond not with retribution, not with anger, not with hatred—we are to respond with love. As disciples of Jesus...
Have you been so concerned with your crisis you’ve forgotten about your creator? Just in case you forgot or you haven’t spent time in the Word like you used to, or in case you’ve begun to wonder if prayer is useless, be reminded today that when...
In John 16:33, Jesus declares “In this world you will have trouble.” It’s perhaps an unwelcome promise for us as Christians. Jesus came to set the world right-side up; he came to bring heaven on earth; he came to redeem the world. How is it that...
As disciples of Jesus, we’ve got to prepare ourselves for the inevitable unanswered questions—and we can’t assume the questions we’re left asking will be easy to sit with. If we’re going to follow Jesus with any hope of peace, we need to . . .
John 17 gives us an intimate understanding of Jesus’s love for humanity—for you—as he prays. The God you are invited to know is Love itself. And Jesus wants you to know God so that you can experience his eternal life and love; not just when you ....
In John 17, Jesus prays that we, his people, would be sanctified; that we’d become holy. Holiness is about being devoted to something; it’s about being set apart for a purpose—God sets us apart not simply to show the world we’re different, but to ...
Everybody likes to win. And it’s okay to win, depending on what you mean by “winning”… If your goal is to win the argument with your spouse before you’ve even begun, you’ve already lost. In John 17:20-21, Jesus prays that his disciples would be ...
John 18 gives us a glimpse into the complexity, nuance, and multi-dimensionality of Jesus. Jesus is God leaping off the pages of scripture, into humanity and into your struggles and pain. He is the Jesus who falls to the ground and prays for you ...
There are recurring symptoms of approval addiction: cringing whenever you receive criticism; wearing yourself out trying to manage the perceptions of others; derailing plans when you sense disapproval; losing sleep over the possibility that...
People want power. Having power means you can get people to do what you want when you want it. Power brings privilege, pleasure, status, attention, and admiration. But as Jesus gives up his rights and gives up his life, he reveals to us how a true...
John 19:30 reveals Jesus’s last words as he died on the cross: teleō in Greek, meaning “it is finished.” This is the defining and pivotal moment in history. It’s the moment Jesus declared that whatever has happened to you, whatever sin you carry...
Jesus came into the world to tell humanity that the Kingdom of God is available now. And it’s free! But if you want to live in it, you’ve got to give up an old way of living. And the good news is that God’s grace can help. Jesus did not come to...
In John 20:8, John models a resilient faith that we can all learn from. He sees Jesus’ empty tomb, and tells us simply that “he saw and believed.” John could easily have been overcome with despair, anguish, or fear in seeing the empty tomb...
Mary’s grief at the sight of the empty tomb in John 20 can teach us an important lesson. Even as Jesus was right before her eyes, she didn’t recognize him because she wasn’t looking for him. As you deal with your own frustrations, and try to...
It’s easy to show enthusiasm about many things—your favorite sports team, fresh-powder skiing, an amazing restaurant or a great movie—so why do we sometimes freeze when it comes to sharing our faith? Maybe you don’t want to come across as...
At the end of John 20, Thomas—unlike Mary and the other disciples—didn’t see the physical evidence of Jesus’s resurrected body on that first Easter morning, and he doubted news was real. But perhaps it’s unfair that we call him “doubting Thomas”…
Have you blown it big? Did you make a mistake when you should have known better? Are you living in the shame and regret of your past—whether last night, last year, or a long time ago? Well, the story of Peter’s denial and redemption before and...
Do you find yourself looking around at other people’s lives with a little envy? Maybe somebody else has a bigger business, more interesting friends, a healthier physique, better behaved kids, or goes on more lavish vacations… If you constantly...
John concludes his gospel saying that there isn’t enough room in the world for the books it would take to catalogue everything Jesus is doing. But God doesn’t need books to tell the story of what he’s doing—he’s got you. Your life is a chronicle...
Past Message Series
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You can find older messages published before November 2016 on our old iTunes podcast feed.