John

What were the Father, Son and Spirit doing “before” they created anything? They were single-mindedly absorbed in mutual affection.

The mutual knowing of Father, Son and Spirit is, to put it simply, the deepest truth of all. It is the foundational and all-encompassing intimacy. It is the affection of which all life is simply a joyful overflow.

I receive the abundant-life-giving coming of Jesus as I know and am known in my local church. Local church matters because knowing and being known matter.

The following message “God Shines Forth: How the Nature of God Shapes the Mission of the Church” by Michael Reeves was given at the 2025 Shepherds Conference.

To “abide,” then, is not some special spiritual technique, but instead the posture of trust in Jesus, resting in his love (15:9), lived out in glad obedience to him (15:10). It’s joy-full (15:11). And every branch united to him in two-way friendship is guaranteed fruit that will stand the test of time.

Know that in that day, when Christ takes us to himself fully and finally, one moment in heaven will be worth a thousand lifetimes of trial. All of our regrets, failures, worries, will be assigned to oblivion when we enter into the joyful presence of our supremely kind Saviour and Friend, our Lord and Brother, our King and our God.

Jesus goes out of his way to meet this woman. But why? Perhaps it was not because she was righteous or that she was worthy, but simply that she was: thirsty. Thirsty for more than what she could haul home with her own feeble hands. A thirst that was deeper than Jacob’s well could ever go, deep down in the parched places of her heart.

What kind of love is this? What kind of God is this?  The kind who says, “Come.”   “Come to the wedding feast.”  So, come, hungry. Come, thirsty. He has prepared a table for you. And it is only here, with him, where your hunger is satisfied, and your cup overflows. 

To catch a glimpse of Jesus is to be intrigued. There has never been a man as wise, kind, good, and compelling. There has never been another man in whom we find all the fullness of God.

O Lord, make us like John in the wilderness, with our gaze, hearts, and lives consumed by Jesus, your glorious Son.