Bible Leads is a rendering of my sermon preparation: researching facts & cross-references, drawing up connections through personal experiences, art and music and discerning the essence of the text.

Text

1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

1. Good Parenting Encourages Disobedience.
2. Jesus on burdens (Matthew 11)
3. TED Talk: Depression, Spiritual Awakening, Infertility and Adoption
4. GoPro Video of People Climbing the Monolith in France

Reflection Questions

1. What would it mean to discover that God’s commandments are truly unburdensome?
2. In what ways does the world need conquered?
3. When was a time you knew you were loved?
4. What does your baptism mean to you? What would baptism mean to you?

Image

“Modern Madonna” by Georgie Pauwels

Soundtrack

1. Wasted Years, by Iron Maiden
2. Let the Lower Lights be Burning, performed by Johnny Cash
3. Hey Me, Hey Mama, by Ray LaMontagne
4. Come Down, by Toad the Wet Sprocket
5. Believe (Nobody Knows), by My Morning Jacket

Full Playlist

Haiku

Freedom to follow / and not fall off the cliff of / selfish tendencies.