The Gospel of John. 1. The author conversation for the gospel of John has some debate surrounding it. Possible authors are John the Elder and John Son of Zebedee. To go beyond just the video, it is widely accepted that John the Apostle, “the one whom Jesus loved” is the author according to the Church history and spoken about by the early church fathers such as Origen and Clement of Alexandria. 2. The Historical context of the Gospel of John is that it was written between 90 and 100 AD. It focuses on the idea and states the purpose of the Gospel in John 20:31. It states, “but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” It recounts the truth that Jesus is fully human and Fully God. He is the messiah promised. It shares the identity of Christ, miracles pointing to truths about him, and gives wonderful information on how to attain the life that He promised. Its historical context is it was written post resurrection, written by the Apostle John with the intent to share who Jesus is and why He is import so all may come to believe and have eternal life. 3. Some key take aways are the I am statements that all point to Jesus being the only way to God and giving instructions on how to live. The Gospel also references the tabernacle and the presence of God dwelling with the people and how Jesus is exactly that. The presence of God among his people and the one who makes God accessible. It draws this comparison regarding the Holy Spirit and how the work of Christ has made that available to all. It gives great guidance on how to live as a Christian while also being the Gospel known for being the most outright in communicating that Jesus is God. It launches that idea right at the beginning as John talks about the word being with God echoing Genesis.

My current pattern of biblical study is being in the word in the morning reading of scripture. Praying throughout the day sporadically when I have a free moment at work and at home. Another aspect of my biblical study is reading books by those who have walked the faith before me. Current authors I have been drawing from are Bishop Kallistos Ware and John MacArthur. Scripture is and has become a daily practice, while the reading from the examples of faith that have come before is Monday through Friday.

Forgiving the people that have dirtied the vat has resulted in the cleaning out of the vat. I use the saying “I’m the problem” because I’m the one who needs to do the work at cleaning out the vat partnered with the Healing power of the spirit. I can’t control how others interact or what they try to throw into my vat. Forgiving them and asking the Spirit for the strength to remove the contamination in my vat to grow leads to growth and forgiveness is part of that. Both forgiving others and myself. I believe this will help here the voice of God more clearly because there is less static interfering and distracting me. As the Holy spirit helps me clean out the vat and as a result accepting, I am the problem, but Christ is the answer allows me to be in a place to grow. The vat being clean means there is less to interfere with the voice of God that is attempting consistently to reveal and share with me. Christ is with me, and therefore I’m able to face the dirt and grime in my vat and trust that through the power of the spirit it will get removed. This provides space for me to learn and grow in hearing the voice of God.

The old me was anxious, lost, frustrated, and because of many things I Isolated myself. The new me is bold, consistent, and have a deep desire to continue to be part of community. The new me has been taught the importance of consistency and showing up for yourself in devotions and prayer while also being there for others in the same way. I’ve noticed in the new me there are small changes each day that add up to large growth over time, and the grace and patience Christ has given me to steadily walk even when I do make mistakes and stumble, to get back up and keep growing and learning to be a follower of Christ.

The orphan spirit tendency that I see within my own walk with God is striving. If I am going to default into an orphan spirit, it’s striving. All of these have shown themselves in my life at some point, but striving is the one when I am living out of an orphan spirit I fall into the most. In my life, the world has shown me that if I don’t get it right, don’t do it perfectly, it directly relates to my value. Others’ expectations of me were to always be operating at 100% capacity. The moment it was nothing less, I was rebuke, conversations of how I need to be consistent all the time. It wasn’t just at school or sports, the churches I grew up in preached legalism at their worst and the Gospel of grace at their best. They were both, but it was confusing because when I would default it would be to strive to please God. If I do this, God will love me, but when I read the scriptures it’s God loves me even while a sinner He chose to send his son. God has been working in me to overcome and reassure the Sonship that He has declared over myself. I’m a work in progress and look forward to exploring this more and more over the next few weeks.