Series: Committed 
Message: Adventure
Preacher: Japhet De Oliveira

Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 59:8-13.

Read: John 11:1-27 — As you re-read for the final time this week in the ESV translation, what did you discover new about God’s character?

Reflect: The idea that Jesus conquerors death resounds through the whole chapter and through the draw of his powerful “I Am” statement. 
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. - John 5:21
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life… - John 5:28-29
Power over life is something that we—with all our technology, with all our wisdom, with all our budgets and research grants—have never been able to achieve. Our most in-depth scientific discoveries, while greatly improving the quality of our lives in many ways, only scratch the surface of what we need as humans. Can we truly create? Can we create out of nothing? Of course not. We can only create from what is given to us and we can only understand fragments of what is revealed to us. Yet all that we have discovered, the irreducible complexity, points, in my humble opinion, to God. You may wish to call this a great power or another force, but the fact is that we exist within and for love and that is no accident. That is not a disconnected force. That is none other than God Himself.

Recalibrate: ​ 

1.  How have your or would you explain what death means to a close friend?
2. What does the assurance of Jesus, who has power over life and death mean to your closest community? What does it mean for you? 

Respond: Pray for continued hope in the promise of the soon return of Jesus.

Research: Read one of the recommended commentaries on this particular passage.