
John: Decisions that Define Us
Recordings, notes and application questions
Each week, we produce notes, discussion points and application questions for the Sunday talks — helping you go deeper into everything we’re looking at together and resourcing our Small Groups during the week. Use the embedded player to listen to the talk, or click here to visit Soundcloud and download it on a PC. You can also subscribe to Oasis podcasts on Spotify, iTunes or Podbean for listening on the go, and you can find the accompanying Powerpoint presentation for this week’s talk here.
Key Passages
- John 1:35–51
- Philippians 3:12–14
- Genesis 28:10–22
Notes
Jesus calls each of us to ‘follow.’ To live life with Him at the centre and have our identity defined in Him. He is the one who calls. But the specific experience of that may be different from one person to the next. In this passage, Jesus calls his first disciples to himself.
Andrew (what do you want?)
- Everyone is looking for something (often a thing or an experience).
- Jesus asks Andrew ‘what are you seeking?’
- He then asks Andrew to come and investigate — he does not rush, but calls him into relationship through spending time with Him, hearing His voice.
- Andrew becomes convinced by being with Jesus. Faith produced by Jesus’ word.
Peter (known by Jesus)
- Jesus shows Peter that He is known and gives Him a name as an identity to live in.
- God knows all things perfectly. He knows us fully, so no ‘skeleton in the closet’ can be pulled out to put God of us. He knows us fully, nothing hidden. And yet He chooses us, irrespective of weakness and failures, or strengths and successes.
- Jesus renames Simon, calling him Peter (‘rock’)
- Jesus calls him rock way before Peter acts like or looks like a rock. Jesus ‘words him into being’. It’s like saying ‘become what you already are’ not by your skill / efforts but by Gods word.
- Pete than has the ongoing decision to live in who Jesus says he is, rather than every other competing voice (within and without)
- God knows you better than you know yourself, so learn what He says about you in His word and live in the good identity He puts on you in Christ (‘a child of God’)
Philip (follow me)
- Jesus went to find Philip, not the other way round. How good to discover that God is seeking you out.
- God always makes the first move, whether we are conscious of it or not.
Nathaniel (come and see)
- Once again, Nathaniel finds that he is known and welcomed. His trust is in response to Jesus’s word given to Nathaniel.
- The Son of Man (Jesus) will now be the meeting place with God. He will be the place where heaven and earth come together. And at the cross the bridge from heaven to earth will be made known.
Application Questions
- What speaks to you through this passage / Sunday’s sermon?
- Can you think of big decisions in life that tend to shape us? (in general — i.e. where to live / what to study / who to spend time with). How do those decisions shape us?
- Can you think of times when you have been brought to a point of making a significant decision about following Jesus?
- How does Jesus’ words form each of these four disciples? How does it produce faith in them?
- How might Jesus produce greater faith in us through His word?
- What comfort is it to know that God seeks after us?
- The impact of meeting Jesus on the disciples is that they quite naturally tell others about Him, who in turn meet Jesus for themselves…. How do you find speaking about Jesus to others? What might be some natural ways to do so? Who can you be telling about Jesus?
- Perhaps spend some time praying for friends / family who do not yet know Jesus but need to hear of Him.


