John 3

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Advent Means Love

December 24, 2023 | John 3:16 | christmas

Above all else Advent, which means arrival or coming, is about God’s love coming to us! You see, that’s what motivated the greatest gift ever given. It was God’s love. Yes, Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloths, but more than that, He was wrapped in God’s love. As the Bible says, “For God so loved the world that He gave.” What did He give? He gave us Jesus.
As the prophet Isaiah proclaimed, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isa. 9:6). And as the angels proclaimed, “Unto you is born this day” (Luke 2:11). Jesus is God’s gift of love to us… to you!

So, God has given us this gift. It’s for you. It’s got your name on it. But it’s not really yours until you open it and receive it for yourself.

WHO ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE FAMOUS?

May 4, 2023

‘John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven”‘ (John 3:27 NLT). When John the Baptist’s followers worried that more people were beginning to follow Jesus than their leader, John rebuked them. He recognized that God determined spiritual results. And he also understood that his ministry was to prepare the way

WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS MATTERS

May 3, 2023

“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18 NLT). All of Adam’s children are already judged and condemned because of sin and because of sin’s wage, which is death. Every

“No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven” (John 3:27 NLT).

May 4, 2022

REVIVAL WILL TAKE COLLABORATION NOT COMPETITION John the Baptist’s followers worried that more people were following Jesus than John. When John heard them saying this, he rebuked them. He recognized that God determined spiritual results. And he also understood that his ministry was to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry. As John said referring to

A Simple Invitation

December 5, 2021 | John 3:16-18 | christmas

The Christmas season has become one of the busiest and most expensive times of the year. Retailers spend millions every year inviting us to spend our time and money at their special Christmas sales events. The sales “invitations” from retailers to spend our money with them fill our newspapers and mailboxes every Christmas, but now they increasingly fill our email boxes and social media.

How many of you long for something simpler? What if there were a simpler invitation that you could RSVP this year? What if we could say yes to a simple invitation to spend less and love more. To feel less exhausted and overwhelmed and more filled with a life better than we’ve ever dreamed of? Well, that’s what we’re talking about today… God’s simple invitation to believe in His Son.

‘John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven”‘ (John 3:27 HCSB).

May 4, 2021

STOP TRYING TO MAKE YOURSELF FAMOUS When John the Baptist’s followers worried that more people were going to follow Jesus than their leader, John rebuked them. He recognized that God determined spiritual results. And he also understood that his ministry was to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry. As John said, “He must increase, but

“Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God” (John 3:18 HCSB).

May 3, 2021

WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS MATTERS All of Adam’s children are “condemned already” because of sin and because of sin’s wage, which is death. Every member of the human race is born under the curse of sin. It was this curse, this condemnation that Jesus took upon His own body, so that the judgment that

‘John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven”‘ (John 3:27 NKJV).

May 4, 2020

STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS When John’s followers worried that more people were going to follow Jesus than to John, he rebuked them. He recognized that God determined spiritual results. And he also understood that his ministry was to prepare the way for Christ’s ministry. As John said referring to Jesus: “He must increase, but

“For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit” (John 3:34 NLT).

May 4, 2018

THE SPIRIT WITHOUT LIMIT
On the day he baptized Him, John the Baptist had witnessed the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus “like a dove” (John 1:32). He declared that Jesus was indeed the Messiah since that day. Here, he described the fulness of the Spirit that was given to Jesus. He was not only the One anointed by the Spirit (Both “Messiah” and “Christ” mean “Anointed One”). Jesus was given the Holy Spirit “without limit.” Throughout the Old Testament, men and women had been given the Spirit with limit. Some were given the Spirit to judge, some to lead, and some to prophesy. Even John the Baptist was given the Spirit in a limited way in order to “prepare the way of the Lord.” But Christ was given the Spirit without measure. For, as John went on to say, “the Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands” (John 3:35). That the Father had given even the Spirit into”His hands” shows both Christ’s complete possession, as well as His sole discretion, to give the Spirit to those who would place their faith in Him.

After Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, He appeared to His disciples saying, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:21-22). And so, the apostle Paul wrote instructing us to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18), and to “walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:18).

O how we endure needless pain and struggle while walking in the flesh, when we have available to us in Christ, the Spirit “without limit.”

“There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus” (John 3:1-2 NLT).

May 3, 2018

NIC AT NIGHT
Nicodemus came to speak with Jesus after dark. Perhaps he wanted a private conference, and night time was the only time Jesus wasn’t surrounded by crowds. Or perhaps it was because Nic didn’t want prying eyes from his sect to see him talking with the Galilean. Whatever the reason, this member of the Sanhedrin came to Jesus humbly and willing to listen, although he didn’t fully understand all of Christ’s teaching. One of the greatest verses in the Bible was given in this conversation between Nic and Jesus, as the Lord taught him of God’s love, God’s Son, faith and eternal life (see John 3:16).

In contrast to the Samaritan woman in John 4, to whom Jesus so gently revealed Himself, He was much harder on old Nic, saying, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?” (John 3:10). But Jesus knew what was inside the human heart. And He revealed Himself in a way that was appropriate to the hearer.

The gospel of John is the only one of the four that wrote of Nicodemus. John mentions Nic on three occasions. There is the dialogue at night in John 3, Nicodemus urging his fellow members of the Sanhedrin to first hear Jesus themselves before judging Him (John 7:50-51), and his helping Joseph of Arimathea to prepare Christ’s body for burial after the crucifixion (John 19:39-42).

Nic may have started out with Jesus by the dark of night, but he came out into the light of day at the end. I think John included these stories in his gospel because old Nic ultimately believed in Jesus.