May 22, 2023

Hello Advent Family,

When I was in the 6th grade my Bible teacher was Ms. Schry.  She was also the art teacher but I was far more interested in Bible class.  She was a great teacher that made learning the Bible fun.  I also remember that she required us to learn John 1:1-14 as a memory verse.  It seemed hard at the time but that gave me an appreciation and an ability to memorize long passages of scripture. (which has come in handy in my line of work).  I’d like to take the next few weeks and walk through the book of John together and the best place top start is with that memory passage I learned so many years ago.  Let’s look at it together today. 

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 that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

There is so very much truth packed into these few verses.  Jesus is God.  He is the Word.  He is the creator.  He is the light of the world.  He is our Savior.  He became flesh so that we could believe in Him and become children of God.  This passage has a bit of everything (even mention of John the Baptist).  This intro sets us up for the action packed life of Jesus and the book of John.  John contains the most claims from Jesus, Himself about His divinity.  It contains all 7 of the I AM statements from Jesus.  I find that each time I read through the book of John I am struck with different and amazing things about Jesus.  As we walk through it together I encourage you to read it on your own and ask God to show you Jesus in a fresh new way. 

In His Grip,
Pastor Dave


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