John 3: Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

John 3:1-21 says,

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked.
"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light have come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

As always, a small area of Scripture has a goldmine of wisdom. Start with the first 2 verses. Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees on the Jewish council, which can also be read as "People who want Jesus gone." Today there are a lot of people like the Pharisees, people who do not want to even hear Jesus name, and who just want to follow the rules set up by modern culture. But there are those among this group who are curious. People like Nicodemus, people who risk a lot of what they hold dear to find out who Jesus is. Nicodemus could have lost everything he had worked for if the Pharisees knew he was asking Jesus about his teachings. Why else would he go out at night? There are people in our lives who risk what they have, small or big, to ask questions about God. We can not turn an opportunity like that down. Even if it means we end up late for something. What is a few minutes, or even a day, if it means being used by God to give someone an Eternity?

The next vein of mine of wisdom is in verses 3-15. Again Jesus does not talk straight to Nicodemus so that He can show Nicodemus true faith and wisdom, that He is the Son of Man and of God, and most of all, to Glorify God through His words. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be born again by the Spirit. When Nicodemus did not understand, Jesus used the wind as an example. Jesus says you can hear it, but you do not know where it came from or where it is going. When Nicodemus still did not understand, Jesus let loose with a lecture. Jesus said that if a teacher could not understand earthly examples, how could he understand heavenly ones? Jesus tells him, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." This can also mean, just like Moses lifted up the snake for all to see, Jesus offered His words and body to all so that all believers may have Eternal life. People must believe in the words of the Son of Man. We can hear God but we do not know where He came from or where He is going. Even if we do not know certain things about God, we can still hear Him and know He is there. If we choose to focus on what we do not know, we miss what we do know. And as a result, we create doubt and end up fooling ourselves into thinking that we know everything. This causes us to lose any faith that we once had. But if we focus what we do know, we learn more about it and find new things we didn't even think could be there. The wind is a perfect example of this. If we only focus on where the wind comes from and it is going, we miss feeling the wind and hearing it. We won't see how it blows through fields and trees, or how it carries things through the air. We will forget what the wind is and what made it so special to begin with. In the same way we must focus on what we do know of God and what we can hear. That Jesus is the Son of God and the way to Eternal life.

The last six verses that end Jesus conversation with Nicodemus are a perfect example of what could be missed by focusing on useless questions. The truth that God loved the world so much, that He sent His only Son to save it. Jesus is the wind. We know His words, His words that save us from condemnation, and that bring Eternal life. In order to accept that life we must come into the light and let our evil deeds be exposed. We must lay all of our sins before Jesus, and repent for our wrongs. And in the light, we must change out actions and live by the truth that is found within the light. By doing those actions in the light, it is revealed to God and to others that what we do is done through God. But we must not forget the people who choose to live in darkness. We must pray that they come into the light, and experience what Nicodemus, and all the rest of us, have experienced.

We must have faith in what we know of God, and do our best to obey Him and show that God is working through us. Always pray for those who do not know God or who focus on the wrong things. We must not waste any opportunities to tell someone about God. And we must not get wrapped up in needless questions that can make doubts. Let us focus instead on living by the Truth and loving God.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 2: Jesus Clears the Temple

John 2:12-25 says,

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.
When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he has said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
Now While he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.

Verses 12-17 are the first of three main points. When Jesus arrived at the temple and saw people selling dirty animals and making change within the temple walls He was not happy to say the least. Jesus made a whip and then proceeded to drive everyone out of the temple, both men and animals. But why did He do this when this "market" had become accepted by the Jews? Because He had zeal for His Father's house. Because Jesus held the house of God sacred. Think of the most valuable thing you have in your possession. Now imagine people taking and defiling it in any way imaginable. What would you honestly do if you saw that? You would save it from being further defiled, and try to repair it. That is because you hold it sacred. The question now is, "Does God want you to hold this thing sacred?" And the next question is, "Are you holding sacred what God wants you to hold sacred?" Today's generation treats a lot of sacred things like they're trash. Homes, the planet, parents, friends, people in general, religion, sex, marriage, the list goes on. Are you with the world in not holding certain things sacred, or are you looking intently at what God has given you and valuing the blessings? Jesus went so far as to drive out an entire temple and look like a crazy person doing it. Why? Because the people were defiling His Father's house. The place where people are suppose to come and worship God at. This generation is perverse in this regard more than any other. We hold the wrongs things sacred, and ruin the things that are sacred. Now with everyone the things that are held sacred and that are not are always different. So take now to talk with God and ask Him what is sacred and what is not. And then change what you value after He answers.

Verses 18-22 are about the Jews reaction to Jesus actions, and Jesus reaction to their reaction. The Jews demand a miraculous sign from Jesus as proof that He has authority to do such a thing. Jesus answered, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." When the Jews heard Jesus say this they instantly thought He was talking about the temple they were in. But Jesus was talking about His body. Throughout the Bible God talks in riddles. He hides the truth within the truth. There are things that, with the entire Bible, are still hard to understand. I know this very well as there is a lot of the Bible that confuses me. But with every part of the Bible, there is a hidden meaning within it. But it is not impossible to understand the Bible. I understand more now than I did when I started this blog 3 years ago. The way to understand the Bible more is to keep reading it and putting it into practice. The more you read and do what the Bible says the more you come to know who God is. God wrote the Bible through a series of men. If we learn more about God, then we will understand His purpose for the different parts of the Bible. The Bible is not written in a straightforward way because it is a book meant to guide us through life. God reveals different parts of the Bible at different times in our life. God wrote the Bible to guide His followers back from sin, and then down the path of righteousness. The path that ultimately leads to Heaven. The importance of the Bible is more than we can ever know. We won't know all the secrets of the Bible until we are in Heaven. The Bible is so complex and constantly revealing new things that it is impossible completely understand it. That is something that I am truly grateful for. I couldn't ask for a better tool to use to live a righteous life than a book that reveals new things to me with every step I take in life. So we must all stay buried in God's Word, so that we don't miss out on anything that God wants to show us.

Verses 23-25 tell us that Jesus did not entrust himself to the men around Him for He knew what was in a man. These were not even criminals. These were people like you and me. So why didn't Jesus entrust himself to them? Because Jesus knows everything about any one person. People are not something we can completely put our trust in. I know that sounds pretty bad, but we are all sinful beings. We are messed up on a large scale. I heard this from one of my youth leaders, "No matter how bad you think you are, you are always worse." So knowing that I can see why Jesus wouldn't trust me. We are temporary creatures who's attitudes about things change more than the grains of sand in any square foot of the beach. With that known, why do we trust other people so much? Why do we rely on other people for so much in life? We hold our relationships with other more valuable than our relationship with God at times. It's sad to think that we do such a thing. Jesus did not trust in man, but He did trust in God. So like Jesus, we should put all of out trust in God. Before checking on how our relationships with other people are going, we should always check how our relationship with God is doing.

So from this passage comes three lessons that work well together. Ask God what you should hold sacred and place value on that. Two things to hold sacred are reading your Bible constantly, and building your relationship with God. Read your Bible everyday to see what you need to hold sacred and to learn more about God and trust Him with more. And always trust in God and work on your relationship with Him. By growing closer to Him you learn what's important in life and you desire to learn more about Him. The Bible always works with itself to show us an ever growing picture of Wisdom. We must keep working to make that picture bigger in our minds and hearts.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 2: Jesus Changes Water to Wine

John 2:1-11 says,

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied. "My time has not yet come."
His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."
Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you saved the best until now."
This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

There are three major points in this passage. The first is Jesus honoring his mother, even when He didn't really want to. The second is the faith of the servants. And the third is that Jesus shared His first miracle with the servants.
When they ran out of wine at the wedding party, Mary became worried for the bridegroom and enlisted the help of her son, Jesus. Jesus told her flat out that His time had not come to reveal Himself to everyone. But Jesus words went through one ear and out the other. Mary ignored Jesus and told the servants to obey Jesus' every word. Mary was not mentioned again in the passage, so one can assume that she ran off without hearing Jesus out any more. Jesus did not want to reveal Himself yet, but He could not sin. The alternative was to honor His mother's wishes. So He did. He called the servants to fill a bunch of water jars used for washing people. Jesus then had the servants take some to the master of the banquet. The master of the banquet declared the wine to be better than any of the wine that had already been served. So Jesus not only obeyed His mother, but He did extra. He made the wine taste better than any of the wine they had already served. You can imagine Jesus' excitement when the first miracle He would get to do was to turn bath water into wine. But He did it nonetheless. Why? Because it was His mom asking. We must all honor our mothers and fathers. Even if it means not getting what we want or losing an important opportunity. They helped bring you into this world. They are important parts of your life and more importantly, God tells us to honor them. There is no reason to not honor our parents in this life. I'll say that again, "There is no reason to not honor our parents in this life."

Now the faith of the servants is greater than it first appears. Imagine, a man you have never heard of tells you to fill your dirty bath tub with water. Then he tells you to take some of it to the master of the entire banquet and let him drink it. Servants back then did not have much choice in whether they could obey or not, but I would be fighting with the other servants to make someone else go. The scripture however, does not mention an argument between the servants. Just that the servants did so. I would just about fall over in fear. But once the master of the banquet tried the wine he rejoiced. Because of their complete faith in Jesus orders, the servants were able to see the very first miracle Jesus ever performed. We must put our faith in Jesus commands too. The Bible is filled with His commands, many of which take us out of our comfort zone. These are the commands we usually try to pretend we didn't see. But they are there and we must obey them. And in truth, they are not bad for us. Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God's commands are not going to hurt you in the end. They might get you into some situations where you are persecuted, but that is a good thing. Matthew 5:11-12 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." No matter what happens to us, if we obey God, we will be alright in the end.

The last thing to mention is that Jesus did not mind having the servants be the ones to see His miracle with His disciples. Servants were some of the lowest of society. And Jesus did not need them to fix the problem. He could have made all the glasses never empty with wine no matter how much the people drank. But Jesus enlisted the servants anyways to show them that He was the Son of God. Jesus did not discriminate, ever! He told anyone and everyone. We must not try to choose the people we share the Gospel with. It is like saying this person or that person is not worthy of God's Love. Neither are we. But God does Love us.
Do you remember the day you realized that God truly forgave you and Loves you just the way you are? Do you remember the Joy you felt? Do you remember the feeling of a giant burden being taken away? Do you remember the tears that flowed down your face when Jesus broke your heart wide open? I had forgotten. But when I remembered it a few weeks ago, I thought, "Why am I keeping this from other people?" We must not try to choose, but tell everyone that God puts around us. Even if that person is only gonna be there for a few minutes.

Faith and Love are the biggest things to remember in this passage. Faith in Jesus that no matter what happens, if we obey Him, we'll come out of it perfectly fine. And then the motivation to share the Love that changes us with others. In other words, nothing bad will happen to us, and we get to help show other people this same feeling we have. There is no sound Biblical reason to not share the Gospel, only our bad excuses. So ask yourself the same question I keep asking myself, "What is my excuse?"

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 1: Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

John 1:43-51 says,

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked.
"Come and see," said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."
Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

So there is a lot within this small passage. First there is Philip. The second Jesus told Philip to follow Him, Philip went and grabbed Nathanael and told him about Jesus. This was before he had really seen or learned about what Jesus was doing, or going to do. Yet still, with full faith, he grabbed the person he was closest to and told him to come with him and Jesus. I want to have that same feeling when I think of Jesus, and the people around me who don't know Him. We should all actually feel even stronger than Philip because we know what Jesus ultimately did. Jesus sacrificed himself to save us from our sins. Knowing that, we should be running after everyone.

Now for Nathanael. When Philip found him he told Nathanael that Jesus was not only the one Moses wrote about, but a Nazarite. Nathanael responded in shock with "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Even so, he followed Philip. When Jesus and Nathanael met, Jesus said two things to him. The first was, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false." Jesus' way of telling Nathanael that He knew him. But Jesus didn't stop there. When Nathanael asked Jesus how He know him, Jesus said, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you." With just those two sentences, Nathanael threw away any his doubts along with his dislike for Nazarites. He declared Jesus as the Son of God and the King of Israel. Jesus acknowledged this saying, "You believe because I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that. I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
So Nathanael met this guy he doesn't know and who he already doesn't like. And in two sentences, Nathanael is Worshiping Jesus as the Son of God. Honestly, it took more than two sentences for me to believe in Jesus. And I grew up in the church of God. I knew everything Jesus had done for me already too. We all need to strive for the doubtless faith of Nathanael and trust in God with our lives.

Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Faith and Trust are the foundations of this religion. Do we have the excitement of Philip and the faith and trust of Nathanael? "This is a lifestyle, no it's not a religion." -Lecrae

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 1: Jesus' First Disciples

John 1:35-37 says,

The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

John's disciples were his devoted students who had been following him. They were loyal to John, and John to them. The moment John announced that he saw Jesus, John's disciples left to follow Jesus. Andrew and Simon Peter had devoted their lives to John and his teachings. And because they had followed John, they knew he spoke the truth about Jesus. And so they left to follow the person they knew would be the greatest Teacher to ever walk the earth. And was John angry or disappointed about his disciples leaving him for another teacher in an instant? No. He did not stop them. He let his disciples move on to learn what he could never hope to teach.

We can take both John and his disciples, Andrew and Simon Peter, as examples for ourselves. We can be like Andrew and Simon Peter. We need to realize when we need to stop following the earthly teachings we are relying on. It does not matter whether the earthy "teacher," I use this term loosely (pastor, radio, TV, friends, internet, etc), is good or bad. An earthly "teacher" is barely qualified to teach how to live on earth. And when you get on the subjects of "eternal life" and "life after death" that earthly teacher won't have very good answers for you. Which is why we must turn to God and His teachings. Only God has complete guidance for this life and the next.

John himself can also be an example for us to follow. If you are a teacher of the Word, push your pupils to read God's Word for themselves. God wants to teach them something too. And He knows them better than you, so He knows what they need to learn. But the example can be taken another way. That we can't take the place of God for anyone we know. John saw that God wanted Andrew and Simon Peter, so he let God have them. John refused to stand in the way of God's working through his disciples. If we see that we might get in the way of God's work, we need to step aside. That sounds a lot easier in words. But it can mean sacrificing something you really want. Say you are dating someone you really care about. But you notice that they are relying on you as their main source of strength, love, etc. You love them, but you know that if you stay together, the other person will drift away from God. It can be hard to let go, but if God wants that person, He has a reason.

Taking in all of this, it's clear that the best thing to do is to have God become the biggest part of our lives. If we make God the biggest part of our lives and focus on our relationship with Him, He becomes the focus within our other relationships. From experience, I can honestly say that with God at the center, your relationships with everyone in your life are made stronger and more Love based. It is a gain to let God control you relationships, not a loss. After all, God loves us more than we can ever know; He knows more about relationships than anyone on earth.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 1: Jesus the Lamb of God

John 1:29-34 says,

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."
Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

John gave himself to God's orders to be a baptist for His name. In exchange, God showed John His Will. "His good, pleasing, and perfect Will." Romans 12:2 I know that most of the time God doesn't give us visions, but we have something most people did not have back then. We have God's complete written Word. It tells us exactly what God wants. Through listening to what God says, we live a completely different lifestyle. But because we are all unique, even following the same commands of the Bible look different in our lives. They cause us to have unique gifts that God gives to us and calls us to use in order to spread His name and Glorify Him. God has a unique Will for each of us.

It's up to each of us to do what God calls us to do. So that He reveals His Will for us to follow as well. And before you say anything about following rules to get more rules. It's not what you think. "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:29-30 So what's stopping us from doing what God says?

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 1: John the Baptist Denies Being the Christ

John 1:19-23 says,

Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."
They asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?"
He said, "I am not."
"Are you the Prophet?"
He answered, "No."
Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.' "

John was not Jesus, he was not Elijah, and he wasn't the Prophet. So who was he? The Jews all wanted to know who this man was. "Who is this man that is preaching and baptizing all these people?" The answer is that he was a man. An ordinary human being that God commanded to preach and baptize. John 1:6-9 says,

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

John was a normal person like you and me. The Pharisees saw this and questioned him. John 1:24-28 says,

Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"
"I baptize with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."
This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

When John was questioned about the commands God had given him, he gave an answer. He told them about Jesus, and how Jesus was so amazing, that he was unworthy to untie the straps of His sandals. (By the way, shoes and feet back then were known to be dirty and nasty due to traveling long distances without washing) I'm saying all this because we are just like John. We are people sent by God with a command to Love others. To tell them about Jesus and make a way for Him to come into their hearts.

God has given us a direct command to Love everyone. Yes I know that commands are rules, something that current society looks down on. But we're not part of this society. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2 We're different because we know God's Will. So we all need to reach out to the rest of the world and let God's Love pour out of us. "I know it's not very comfortable talking to people about God, but do you think Jesus was "comfortable" on the cross?"

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John 1: The Word Became Flesh

Verses 1-18 of John 1 act as a sort of introduction that is meant to grab your attention. It proves the Bible's reputation as one of the greatest pieces of literature to ever exist. The introduction is meant to tell us about a God of Power, Wisdom, Knowledge, and most of all Love. John 1:1-5 says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood (a) it.

(a) Or darkness, and the darkness has not overcome

A God of Life, who is meant to make a great Light in a world of darkness. Even if the world that He had made did not recognize or receive Him. John 1:10-14 says,

He was in the world, and even though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God came down in human form to save those He gladly, and Lovingly calls His children. He brought Grace and Truth to a world that had been broken, ruined, and scarred by sin and darkness. Sin and darkness that were revealed by the Law of Moses. John, a disciple of Jesus and the author of the book itself, testifies about Jesus and who He is and what He has done. John 1:15-18 says,

John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'" From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

First John cried out saying this. When was the last time you were that pumped for God. If you pay attention as we go through John, you'll notice that when he sees Jesus he gets pumped up and excited. We can't let ourselves be shamed out of doing that. It's Jesus! There is no such thing as shame when it comes to Him. Scream it out!
Jesus Christ blessed us beyond our wildest dreams and beliefs. He came into the world of darkness that ridiculed Him and disowned Him, not only once, but multiple times. Why? Well the only answer I have is that He Loves us. Guess that's why they call it Crazy Love.

Jesus came down, and not only completed this 66 book Love letter, but gave the reason behind its creation. Jesus came down and lived as a teacher, a servant, and most of all our Savior. Now if you still don't want to read the greatest Love letter you will ever receive, I'm praying that you'll change your mind like I did. Because there is no greater Joy than knowing your personal Savior, Jesus Christ.

Thank You For Reading
Long Live Jesus Christ
Amen

John: Introduction

John 1:1-2

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.

God is His Word. If we wish to know God, the best way is through His Word. I have honestly never read through the book of John. But I am going through it now in detailed study while blogging on what God teaches me as I read it. 1 John 4:16 says,

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

God is Love, God is the Word, God's Word is Love. Or as the Bible is more aptly named, God's 66 book Love letter. Written by God, for us to read and study so we can see what God has done for us. The least we can do, the least I can do, is read it and hear what God wants to say. After all, how many times has God listened to us talk? Only difference with listening to what God has to say is that what God says is to help us. So I ask you to go through the book of John with me. Section by section.