God On Earth (The Light Of The World)

• Pray
• Text –  John 1 1-14

The Word Became Flesh

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

2He was with God in the beginning.

3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.

5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood^[a] it.

6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.

7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.

8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.^[b]

10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—

13children born not of natural descent,^[c] nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.  

14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,^[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Takes more faith not to believe than to believe when you consider:

1. Word of God written 66 books written by 40 people (2 Timothy 3:16
   All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness) – The Bible agrees with itself – from cover to cover
   • In this day and age with fax and email I doubt if we could get 20 of our friends to totally agree on any one point let alone hundreds.
2. The odds of the prophesy in The Bible that have been fulfilled the are about 17,000,000 to 1.

The odds of unfulfilled prophesy in The Bible coming true are exponentially higher.

3. History has proven – Hittite Empire - (mentioned only in Bible) A Hittite city has been uncovered by archeologist.
4. Countless ruins and archeological discoveries confirm places and events mentioned in Bible

Jhn 1:8,9; Jhn 8:12; Jhn 9:5; Jhn 12:35,46; Psa 84:11; Isa 35:4,5; Isa 42:6,7,16; Psa 49:6; Psa 60:1-3; Mal 4:2; Mat 4:16; Luk 1:78,79; Luk 2:32; Act 26:23; Eph 5:14; 1Jo 1:5-7; Rev 22:16

Ministry Of The Holy Spirit

• Pray
• PD

Text verse – Heb. 11:6

 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

• From this verse we see an important premise established: As long as we go to the Word in faith, believe He is who He says He Is, and seek Him (study in truth) we will please God. He then tells us He will reward us. He then rewards us with his presence (Jesus said: ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find).

Before Christ started His Ministry, John The Baptist’s calling was to make straight the way of the Lord. – John 1:22-23, Is 40:3

Now it is The Holy Spirit’s ministry to bear witness of Him 1 John 5:7-8, John 15:26 and to give believers power and ability to witness to others thus spreading the church. Acts 1:8

Leads us into all righteousness – John16:13 – The Holy Spirit’s main ministry is to get ALL people saved.

Preach the Good News (Mark16: 15)– Christ crucified is The Good News (man reconciled back to God [Isa. 61]) 1 Cor. 1:23 (Christ crucified), Mark 16 14:18,

Gal 2:20 (I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.), Rom.1:16  (For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.)

1. God’s intentions toward us
   1. Why did God establish the earth and create man? (Class discussion)
   2. Relationship
   3. Fatherhood / mentor

Holy Spirit of OT

• Part of Godhead – God The Father, God The Son, God The Holy Spirit - Gen 1:1, 1:26 – Job 3:4
• God created man and gave him His Spirit – Gen2:7, 1 Cor. 6:19
• Spirit of God – Came to kings and prophets (wasn’t there all the time – only when God wanted to act specifically.)

Holy Spirit of NT

• The seed of God (re-establishing lost Kingdom) could NOT come through sinful man.
• Scripture records account of god coming to earth by way of the Holy Spirit -

• John prob. only person who has actually (through spiritual eyes) seen the Godhead
  (God The Father, God The Son and God The Holy Spirit)

• Luke 3:22 – Holt Spirit “like a dove” doesn’t mean He is one. He is a distinct person.

• Every one has heard phrases like

“strong as an ox”

“ran like the wind” – that doesn’t mean they are an ox or the wind

Jesus is telling disciples of His crucifixion, tells them He is sending Holy Spirit –

John 14:14 –18

They are distraught Jesus says He has much to tell them but they can’t bear it all at once

-Then in chapter 16: 7– 8 He makes an amazing statement – He says: believe me.

• Remember: they had been with Him for 3 years
• He hadn’t lied to them yet
• Everything He said was going to happen, happened
• they had seen many miracles
• They knew who He was – He (Jesus) was God

Jesus says Believe Me … I’m not kidding …you’ll do greater things than what you have seen me do because of the Holy Spirit that I promise to send once I leave you.

We know from Word That The Holy Spirit -

• Has mind Rom 8:27
• a will and emotions -1 Cor 12:11
• He speaks - Heb3:7
• Give believers power to be witnesses, in fact He told the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until He (The Holy Spirit) came – Acts 1:4 – 1:8
• Give us prophesy - 2 Peter 1:21, 1 Cor. 12
• Inspired men & gave us the words God would call scripture – 1 Tim. 3:16
• Helps us to do the Word – 1 peter 3:22
• Gives people power to act in God’s sovereign purposes – 1 Cor. 12
• Guides us in prayer – Rom 8:28
• Gives us wisdom & tells us what to say when we need it – lk12:2

- You can see that this list is endless (infinite) like God. It is clear from the Bible God is Three persons that make One God. How God is dealing with mankind or His Universal Church is a matter of which One is manifest on earth at the time.

- Any character trait of one part of Godhead is true of all – Matt 12:25

The present day Jews as well as in ancient time Jews (non-believing) can’t get into relationship with God – they reject or rejected Jesus (don’t present day Jews notice no Spirit Of God? And thus something wrong?)

I am saying that if we are going to draw near to God and thus let Him draw near to us (James 4:8) we as Christian have got to not only recognize but rely on The Holy Spirit’s ministry to us and for us. Jesus said He and The Holy Spirit only speak what God The Father speaks – John 5:30, John 16:13.

The only way to Draw Nigh to God is in Spirit and Truth!

• Pray
• PD

Text verse – Heb. 11:6

 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

• From this verse we see an important premise established: As long as we go to the Word in faith, believe He is who He says He Is, and seek Him (study in truth) we will please God. He then tells us He will reward us. He then rewards us with his presence (Jesus said: ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find).

Before Christ started His Ministry, John The Baptist’s calling was to make straight the way of the Lord. – John 1:22-23, Is 40:3

Now it is The Holy Spirit’s ministry to bear witness of Him 1 John 5:7-8, John 15:26 and to give believers power and ability to witness to others thus spreading the church. Acts 1:8

Leads us into all righteousness – John16:13 – The Holy Spirit’s main ministry is to get ALL people saved.

Preach the Good News (Mark16: 15)– Christ crucified is The Good News (man reconciled back to God [Isa. 61]) 1 Cor. 1:23 (Christ crucified), Mark 16 14:18,

Gal 2:20 (I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.), Rom.1:16  (For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.)

1. God’s intentions toward us
   1. Why did God establish the earth and create man? (Class discussion)
   2. Relationship
   3. Fatherhood / mentor

Holy Spirit of OT

• Part of Godhead – God The Father, God The Son, God The Holy Spirit - Gen 1:1, 1:26 – Job 3:4
• God created man and gave him His Spirit – Gen2:7, 1 Cor. 6:19
• Spirit of God – Came to kings and prophets (wasn’t there all the time – only when God wanted to act specifically.)

Holy Spirit of NT

• The seed of God (re-establishing lost Kingdom) could NOT come through sinful man.
• Scripture records account of god coming to earth by way of the Holy Spirit -

• John prob. only person who has actually (through spiritual eyes) seen the Godhead
  (God The Father, God The Son and God The Holy Spirit)

• Luke 3:22 – Holt Spirit “like a dove” doesn’t mean He is one. He is a distinct person.

• Every one has heard phrases like

“strong as an ox”

“ran like the wind” – that doesn’t mean they are an ox or the wind

Jesus is telling disciples of His crucifixion, tells them He is sending Holy Spirit –

John 14:14 –18

They are distraught Jesus says He has much to tell them but they can’t bear it all at once

-Then in chapter 16: 7– 8 He makes an amazing statement – He says: believe me.

• Remember: they had been with Him for 3 years
• He hadn’t lied to them yet
• Everything He said was going to happen, happened
• they had seen many miracles
• They knew who He was – He (Jesus) was God

Jesus says Believe Me … I’m not kidding …you’ll do greater things than what you have seen me do because of the Holy Spirit that I promise to send once I leave you.

We know from Word That The Holy Spirit -

• Has mind Rom 8:27
• a will and emotions -1 Cor 12:11
• He speaks - Heb3:7
• Give believers power to be witnesses, in fact He told the disciples not to leave Jerusalem until He (The Holy Spirit) came – Acts 1:4 – 1:8
• Give us prophesy - 2 Peter 1:21, 1 Cor. 12
• Inspired men & gave us the words God would call scripture – 1 Tim. 3:16
• Helps us to do the Word – 1 peter 3:22
• Gives people power to act in God’s sovereign purposes – 1 Cor. 12
• Guides us in prayer – Rom 8:28
• Gives us wisdom & tells us what to say when we need it – lk12:2

- You can see that this list is endless (infinite) like God. It is clear from the Bible God is Three persons that make One God. How God is dealing with mankind or His Universal Church is a matter of which One is manifest on earth at the time.

- Any character trait of one part of Godhead is true of all – Matt 12:25

The present day Jews as well as in ancient time Jews (non-believing) can’t get into relationship with God – they reject or rejected Jesus (don’t present day Jews notice no Spirit Of God? And thus something wrong?)

I am saying that if we are going to draw near to God and thus let Him draw near to us (James 4:8) we as Christian have got to not only recognize but rely on The Holy Spirit’s ministry to us and for us. Jesus said He and The Holy Spirit only speak what God The Father speaks – John 5:30, John 16:13.

The only way to Draw Nigh to God is in Spirit and Tr

Basis For Belief

Text:, Col 2:13-15, Rom 5:19

Colossians – Freedom from the law, to expose false teaching religious and self-righteousness through ritual

Romans – Explains Christianity

These two verses sum up what God has done for mankind as He re-established His Kingdom.

A.

Col 2:13 new living Translation

You were dead because of your sins and because you’re sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins.

1. Dead because of sinful nature – Sinful nature is in mankind because of disobedience by Adam to God.

Gen 3:1 – 7

·         This passage explains why bad thing happen to good people – why bad thing happen in the world

·         You MUST understand this for anything to make sense

2.      Cut away

a.     circumcision – a ritual God commanded Moses to perform on his people ( his charges ) or oversee it done, in the wilderness.

No law from Adam till Moses

b.    The idea being a setting themselves apart in a way that they will not forget, that

They remember the act of obedience (and disobedience).  – note that obedience is required as He re-establishes His Kingdom.

c.    The ownership was transferred for a time to Satan,  (who had been kicked out of heaven) – God had to do this because He is perfect. The Word says – Pslm 138:2 He magnified thy Word above all thy name.  God is a God of perfection. He always does what He says He is going to do – God is CHARACTER

He ALWAYS holds Himself to standards of:

·         Legality

·         Faithfulness – He always does what He says He will do – NEVER forces anything on anybody

3. Made you alive with Christ

a. Made you and I equals in a sense – co-laborers – equals – joint heirs

Rom 8:17  -  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together. (bodily resurrection)

The idea is that if we accept Christ as God into our hearts, then we have Life as He Has – eternal life with God – forever – Part of His Family

B.

Col 2:14 New Living Translation

He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross

1.     Cancelled the record – KJV says “blotted out the handwriting”. The idea is that the debt we owe is done away with.

Hebrew word for cancelled is interesting because one of it’s definitions is the canceling of a debt owed. That is exactly the meaning here because when we accept Christ, our accountability or debt that must be paid (God is a perfect God), for the sin inherent in man, by the work Christ did at the cross.

C.            Make a show of them openly

·         Crashed party  in hell – Christ Conquers Death – “more than conquerors in Christ”      

·         Matt 16:19

·         Rom 8:37

·         In ancient times returning king – parade spoils of war and leaders upon re-entry of palace or castle walls

·         Christ exposes the devil to us – makes fun of him – give us the keys to life and death

Calls us more than conquerors – of death

·         Tells us we are the head and not the tail

·         Tells us there is no condemnation

·         Makes provision for sins to be forgiven  - on and on

All of these things are because of Christ and only through Him

It is our jobs to stay in Him

·        Bible study

·        Prayer

·        meditation

John 3:1 -18

• Pray
• Text passage John 3:1-18

John 3

Born from Above

2. There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it."

• Pharisees num. About 6000 in Israel
• Very important to them to show outward religion (fasting, praying, ceremonial washing –etc)
• Knew messiah coming
• Very opposed to Jesus
• Jesus very critical of them
• Many theories on why he went at night but I think so no one would see him
• Evidently, the Pharisees had drawn a conclusion about Jesus.
• Called him teacher out of respect / I think he knew who Jesus was (John 7:50,51 & 19:39)

3. Jesus said, "You're absolutely right (about being a teacher – knowing more than you). Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to—to God's kingdom."

• No kidding
• Very well could have taken the attitude of “don’t even try to think of yourself as equal, but I believe Jesus Knew Nic. knew who Jesus was.
• Everything Jesus did pointed to God’s Kingdom & He wanted to get across not only to Nic. But to you and I that we must accept the salvation God is giving to us. Eph 2:8-9

        "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?"

 5-6 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the 'wind-hovering-over-the-water' creation,(Gen. 1:1) the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.

 7-8 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above'—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God."

 9 Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?"

 10-12 Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics? Listen carefully. I'm speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don't believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can't see, the things of God?

 13-15 "No one has ever gone up into the presence of God except the One who came down from that Presence, the Son of Man. In the same way that Moses lifted the serpent in the desert (a type of Jesus Num 21:6-9 )so people could have something to see and then believe, it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up—and everyone who looks up to him, trusting and expectant, will gain a real life, eternal life.

 16-18 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him. (Message)

God’s purpose now is to re-establish Kingdom, in doing, He, sacrificed His Son to “buy back”

- Jesus came 1^st time as a Savior not a Judge

• Jews in those days believed Messiah would judge mankind – they had reason to believe that (Psalm 98:9, Isaiah 3:13)

they rejected Jesus, so salvation had to come from non-Jews (gentiles)Jews did not see Church age (we are in now) – Gospel supposed to come through Jews:

16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 "For God ⁾did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

• notice He does not save by love – He saves by belief - loves all unconditionally - saved or not: God will love us even going to hell.

He saves by Grace – His Grace comes by faith in His Word Eph 2:8-9 – you must be born again (John 3) by accepting and relying on His Word

Ephesian 1:5-6 – He chose us to be adopted sons through (because of)Jesus

John 14:6 – way, truth , light

Heb 2:9-11 - Captain = Gr. archegegos >author >take the lead

Jesus makes it clear that only through Him can we enter into God’s family (children of)

18 "^(AC)He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(AD)the only begotten Son of God.

- You never surprise God

- penalty is always (with God) pre-determined

(NKJV)

Romans 10:9-11

9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."^[