This upcoming week begins a new year, and with it a new sermon series through John. Along with that new sermon series, we will have a (not that) new focus – discipleship. Particularly, we are encouraging all our people to consider who they might meet with for mutual encouragement and growth in the Lord. One way we are prompting this is by encouraging you to read the book of John with someone else. Each week, the sermon will seek to help you as you read through John, and discuss it with others. We want to give you the big ideas and themes, truths about Christ, and important application points and questions that will help you digest John’s Gospel. Our hope and prayer is that you will then meet with someone else to read through the book of John together. Maybe you do this as a family, and read through the book of John with your kids. Maybe you have a coworker who has expressed some interest in Christianity or spiritual things, and you might see if they would want to read it and get to get together and talk about it. Maybe you have a friend who is a believer, but just needs some encouragement and help. Whatever the case, my prayer is that many in our church will be reading through John with others. As we read through it, the big question to discuss will be; “According to the words of John, who is Jesus?” That’s basically the big question of discipleship – what does the Bible say about Jesus, and what does that mean for me? Discipleship is all about figuring out who Jesus is, and how we grow into and follow Him. My prayer is that we will help people answer that question. And I think maybe the easiest, most accessible way we can accomplish this is simply reading the words of Scripture and getting together to talk about it. We’ll talk more about it in the weeks ahead. For now, I am praying the Lord will open up new doors for discipleship and evangelism as we begin our new year and new series in John.