Category Archives: John

The King of Kings Becomes The Son Of Man

No one made God, but God made everyone. That’s why He’s God.

The Book of Psalms (90:2 – TLB) “Before the mountains were created, before the earth was formed, you are God without beginning or end.”

People make up or imagine gods that is not the God of our Bible. King David said,

Psalm 121:2 (TLB) “Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? 2 No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too!”

God became a perfect Human in Jesus because He wanted to do this to save us. But God is not made, but He is the Maker. We are told in:

Hebrews 3:4 … many people can build houses, but only God made everything.

God made us to share some of His qualities – this is why the Bible says that “we are made in God’s image and after His likeness” (Genesis 1:26). We share some of God’s characteristics. God builds, and we build. God makes things, and we make things. But God never gets tired, nor hungry, and God never needs anything. If we don’t drink food and water we will perish – but God never gets thirsty. God is always satisfied. He never wants anything like clothing or cars. We live inside of time. We base everything we do on a clock and a calendar. I am 64 years old, which means I have lived 23,360 days or 560,640 hours. If I live until I’m 80, I will have lived 42,048,000 minutes. I will also be very tired and old! But God does not have a clock or a calendar. God created time, as time is a product of our sun. Isaiah said:

Isaiah 40:28 Don’t you yet understand? Don’t you know by now that the everlasting God, the Creator of the farthest parts of the earth, never grows faint or weary? No one can fathom the depths of his understanding.

God does not need us – but we need God. God is independent of the world, but we are very dependent on Him. Sadly the Bible says that when God chose to become Perfect Man and walked among us:… Continue reading →

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Why Follow Jesus?

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

When we come to John chapter 1, the Apostle John wants to tell us why its so important to follow Jesus. As an “Apostle” John walked with Jesus. This is what the Apostles did. Apostles were hand chosen by Jesus to walk with Him as He walked on this earth. The Bible says:

Ephesians 2:20 (TLB) What a FOUNDATION you stand on now: the APOSTLES and the Prophets; and the cornerstone of the building is Jesus Christ Himself!

Christians love the Bible, and trust the Bible because it was written by APOSTLES like John who walked with Jesus, touched Jesus, and listened to Jesus teach. John was not only called “The Apostle John”, but he had other names he was called. … Continue reading →

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Do You Love Jesus?

I was reading an article on “The 3 Misconceptions That Many Muslims Have About Christianity” the other day. I love to read, and learn much by it. One of the largest problems in witnessing Christ to Muslims is that they believe the West is “Christian”. Muslims regard their faith – Islam – as both a religion and a state. If I had never been exposed to Christianity and was told “America is a Christian nation”, I’d have some serious problems with that. If you brand America as “Christian”, then you must believe that sexual immorality, shedding of blood, and celebration of drug and alcohol use are endorsed by Christ. That’s not true. Neither America nor the West are Christian. The bloody “Christian” Crusades endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church are not “Christian”.

Do you know what “Christian” is? It is to love Jesus. It is to obey His Commands, regardless as to what anyone thinks. That’s “Christian”. Anything else is fake.

Being “Religious” does not make you “Christian”. You can know all the songs in the Baptist hymnal by heart and be lost. Jesus’ greatest critics were the Pharisees, who were extremely religious. God turned the tables on the Pharisees when He knocked down the one called Saul of Tarsus (Acts 23:6 & Philippians 3:5) on the Damascus Road, converting him to Christianity. After Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle he often spoke against those who …

“had a form of godliness, but denied the power of God”
(2 Timothy 3:5).

Illustrate: Have you ever seen a Rubik’s Cube? I owned one years ago. The Rubik’s Cube has 43 quintillion (a quintillion has 18 zeros), 252 quadrillion, 3 trillion, 274 billion, 489 million, 856 thousand likely patterns that you have to overcome to unscramble it. I figured out how to unscramble a Rubik’s Cube in about 10 minutes. I peeled off the little paper colored squares, and re-pasted them where they were supposed to be…. Continue reading →

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Jesus Is From Above

John 8:17-24 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. 18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. 19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. 20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. 21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. 22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. 23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

No One Ever Spoke As Jesus Did

When a jeweler wants to show off the beauty of his diamonds, he does not put the diamonds on a white, clean surface. No, the jeweler puts the diamonds against a black surface, usually black velvet. The black focuses the eye on the light reflecting through the facets of the diamond. Displayed against the darkness, the beauty of the diamond comes out.

As our Lord Jesus ministered on this earth, the times that His beauty was most seen was when He was seen against a black surface. Many times we see Jesus being approached by those who were under the blackness of sickness and disease. Other times Jesus was seen against the darkness of sinful man. But Jesus shone brightest when He was seen against the darkness of self… Continue reading →

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Justification Leads To Sanctification

Salvation can only be achieved – not through our works – but through the finished work of Christ. But once saved by justification, the Christian is to actively participate in his or her SANCTIFICATION. Once saved, we are not what we were. Before we were saved, we belonged to ourselves (or so we thought). Once saved, we belong to God. God is our Father. Jesus Christ purchased us by His Blood. Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for us.

We are not what we were, but are now – by the Blood and Intercession of Christ – SONS OF GOD.

As Jesus prays for His Church, He prays:

I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

Christian, you were GIVEN to Jesus. Christian, you BELONG to God. You are “not your own … you are bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23)

Christians are both JUSTIFIED as well as SANCTIFIED. Pastor and Bible Teacher Chuck Swindoll wrote:

“{The Bible’s} message emphasizes the gospel to the lost and grace to the saved. … Just as the lost don’t understand the gospel, the saved rarely understand grace.”… Continue reading →

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Eternal Life Is “This” Not “That”

We’re all going to live forever. Make sure you choose to live your life with Jesus. In 1980, a man named Harry Randall Truman had a sportsman’s lodge on Mount Saint Helens. When Truman was told the mountain was about to blow, he said “If this place is going to go, I want to go with it”. On May 18, 1980 Mount Saint Helens blew its top. This was the most powerful volcanic blast in U.S. History – and Truman’s body is lost under tons of hardened volcanic rock. But his soul lives on. Where did he “lift up his eyes”. As Jesus headed toward the Cross, He “lifted up His eyes to Heaven” (John 17:1). He came from Heaven to earth to bring us life. When you leave this life, will you lift up your eyes to Heaven, or in Hell? The choice is entirely yours. May God lead you to call upon the Name of the Lord today. For His glory we pray. Amen and Amen. Continue reading →

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Four Witnesses For Jesus

According to the Gospels, John the Baptist came as a fulfillment of these prophesies (John 1:23; Mark 1:2-5; Matthew 3:1-3). When John was still forming as a baby in his mother Elisabeth, when Mary came to visit her cousin. As soon as Mary spoke to Elisabeth, that baby John leaped in her womb (Luke 1:41). Elisabeth told Mary,

Luke 1:44 … as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

John was born about six months before Jesus Christ Himself came into the world. His ministry started about six months before Jesus’ ministry started. John was asked at one time if he was the Messiah. John told that he was NOT the Messiah, but that “the One Who is coming is over me, who’s shoestrings I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:27). When John saw Jesus, he told the crowd:

John 1:29-31 … Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. 30 This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. 31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

John’s entire mission of baptizing was to make Jesus Christ “manifest to Israel” as the Messiah. John the Baptist told the Pharisees:… Continue reading →

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It’s All About The Bread

“After these things”. After Jesus healed the crippled man by the pool of Bethesda (remember the FIVE porches around the pool. FIVE is the number of Grace). After the Pharisees sought to kill Jesus for healing someone on the Sabbath (John 5:16). After Jesus told the Pharisees that He, the Son of God, was both equal to God the Father, as well as a follower of God the Father. After Jesus told the Pharisees that the Scriptures they studied – the Old Testament writings – were all about Him. Jesus said:

John 5:39-40 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

John 5:46-47 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

John 6:1 After these things Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.

The Bible has no accidental words, but every word is the pure Word of God. It all has meaning. The body of water Jesus crossed was called the “sea of Galilee” by the Jews, but the “sea of Tiberias” by the conquering Roman forces. The two sets of names are given because Jesus did not just come for the Jews – but for all people. The Bible says:… Continue reading →

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Have You The Right Faith?

What type of faith have you in Jesus? Do you have the faith of Nazareth, that Jesus is but a good man and a human leader of a religion? Do you have the faith of Galilee, believing Jesus can do miracles – but is not your Lord? Or do you have the nobleman’s faith? I pray that each and every one of you have the nobleman’s faith in Christ Jesus. Jesus is able. He is able to save. He is able to secure. He is able to bless. He is both Lord and Savior to His people. May God bring you to this knowledge through His Word and His Spirit…. Continue reading →

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A Picture Of Grace

Grace is in Jesus. The gracious Jesus comes up to Jerusalem in order to celebrate a “feast”. The feasts were opportunities for the people of God to get together and celebrate the Grace of God. Leviticus 23 outlines the requirements for the Jewish weekly Sabbath, and the Feast Days.

The seven Feast Days were times when the Israelis rested and remembered the Grace that God had poured out. In America we commemorate with memorials & statues. Israel commemorated God with “feasts”.

Without going into detail, one of the “High Sabbaths” was Passover, where Israel celebrated God liberating the nation from Egyptian slavery. God did that through Grace. God did not choose Israel, to bring Messiah through them because they were GREAT as a people. No, God told Israel:

Deuteronomy 7:7-9 (ESV) The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.

Israel was the least of all the nations. Israel was riddled with sinful traits and drives. God came to Israel because Israel needed God. … Continue reading →

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