John 7:37-39 GOD’S WORD Translation
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus was standing ⌞in the temple courtyard⌟. He said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty must come to me to drink. 38 As Scripture says, ‘Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.’ ” 39 Jesus said this about the Spirit, whom his believers would receive. The Spirit was not yet evident, as it would be after Jesus had been glorified.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Christianity, though under constant attack, has steadily flourished over the last 2,000 years since it began soon after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the center point of the Christian creed, and it is in Jesus that Christians have confessed with their lips, bent their knees, sacrificed everything, put all of their faith and all of their hope for that eternal salvation which awaits them all.
1. Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
through eternal ages let his praises ring;
glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
standing on the promises of God.
Refrain:
Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of Christ my Savior;
standing, standing,
I’m standing on the promises of God.
4. Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
listening every moment to the Spirit’s call,
resting in my Savior as my all in all,
standing on the promises of God.
(Refrain)
While Jesus walked this earth, His whole ministry, His whole mission involved urging people to “come to Him” “come to believe, to faith and to follow Him.”
John 7:37-39 The Message
37-39 On the final and climactic day of the Feast, Jesus took his stand. He cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (He said this in regard to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive. The Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.)
As we now contemplate the state of our Christianity, is this invitation still at the heart of the Gospel and becoming a Christian – to believe in Jesus, follow Him?
By what measure and degree do we believe and follow Jesus because it was He who has done what no other has done, that He died to save the world, He invites us to believe, faith, He invites us to follow, and He is the only way to the Father?
Do We Still Ask Ourselves and Others – Who Is Jesus?
To understand why we should still ask ourselves, even us “mature Christians,” why we believe and follow Jesus, its vital to understand who 1st Century Jesus is.
From the Bible, we know that Jesus walked this earth around 2,000 years ago.
He was from a small town called Nazareth, He was born to a virgin named Mary.
He was an itinerant Rabbi who had 12 disciples who walked away from the lives they were living to follow Him – they came to believe that He was the Messiah.
We know that during three years of ministry and mission throughout His home regions, occupied and governed by the Roman Empire – he performed miracles.
We know that after three years of ministry, Jesus was repeatedly tested by the Temple Authorities, plotted against, arrested, wrongly accused, and sentenced to death – He was publicly beaten, publicly nailed to a cross upon which he died.
It is not simply this information about Jesus that has captivated generations of faithful people, but rather, it is also what this Jesus has claimed about Himself, along with His miraculous resurrection, that propelled millions and millions of people, believers and nonbelievers around the world to believe and follow Jesus.
John 1:1-14 GOD’S WORD Translation
The Word Becomes Human
1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was already with God in the beginning.
3 Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.
4 He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.
5 The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it.
6 God sent a man named John to be his messenger. 7 John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message. 8 John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light.
9 The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He went to his own people, and his own people didn’t accept him. 12 However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him. 13 These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire ⌞to have a child⌟. They were born from God.
14 The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness [a] and truth.
Scripture declares with boldness the truth that Jesus is God.
He was sent by the Father to take away the sins of the world (see John 1:29).
John 1:29 GOD’S WORD Translation
John Identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God
29 John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah, foretold by the prophets, who resurrected from the grave to conquer sin and death.
Through Jesus all was created and through Him the only way to the Father is found – John declared Jesus brought salvation, redemption, and eternal life.
Then John immediately humbled himself, his humanity, against that divinity.
John 1:30-34 GOD’S WORD Translation
30 He is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’ 31 I didn’t know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel.”
32 John said, “I saw the Spirit come down as a dove from heaven and stay on him. 33 I didn’t know who he was. But God, who sent me to baptize with water, had told me, ‘When you see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, you’ll know that person is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God.”
God Sent His Only Son, Jesus Came to Save the World
John 3:16-18 The Message
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.
Christians will believe and Christians will follow because by Faith Christians believe with their hearts Jesus was sent by God the Father to save the world.
Each of the four Gospel narratives teach that Jesus ministered for three years, walked everywhere, preached everywhere and taught, sent out His disciples, transformed lives through conversations, healings, and miracles performed.
God’s great love for humanity was shown through Jesus, who came to save the world from death – He did not come for His own glory, nor to live a comfortable life in royal palaces, nor be served – instead, Jesus came to love, humbly serve, and save the world through a gruesome death on the cross and resurrection.
By His resurrection, Jesus defeated evil and sin and crushed death, and these no longer have any grip on those who confess and believe, put 1000% faith in Him.
Even in these times when the message of Christianity is under vigorous attack, the message of Jesus Christ, the empty tomb, the resurrection, still remains the very best Good News that inspires people to give their hearts and lives to Him.
In These Perilous Times-We Are Yet Invited to Believe
Mark 1:14-15 GOD’S WORD Translation
Calling of the First Disciples
14 After John had been put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee and told people the Good News of God. 15 He said, “The time has come, and God’s kingdom is near. Change the way you think and act, and believe the Good News.”
In Peace or Perilousness, Christians believe because Jesus invites us to believe.
Jesus’ heart and hope is for people recognize the time is now to come, repent, and to believe that He is the Son of God bringing the good news of salvation.
This was His continuous message for three years on His way to the cross before He finally surrendered and laid down His life to die for the sins of all humanity.
Jesus began with an invitation to come and believe in Him.
Jesus longs for as many people as possible to have a saving belief in Him.
Before He departed from the earth, before He ascended to the right hand of His Father in Heaven, He covenanted His disciples with the Great Commission.
They were to go into all nations, telling people about Him and making more disciples, and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28:19)
Jesus began the work of helping people to believe, come to faith in Him and passed on the torch of this important mission to His disciples, all Christians.
In These Perilous Times, Jesus Invites Us to Follow
Luke 9:23-26 GOD’S WORD Translation
What It Means to Follow Jesus
23 He said to all of them, “Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses every day, and follow me. 24 Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me will save them. 25 What good does it do for people to win the whole world but lose their lives by destroying them? 26 If people are ashamed of me and what I say, the Son of Man will be ashamed of those people when he comes in the glory that he shares with the Father and the holy angels.
Christians follow because Jesus invites us to follow.
Jesus did not just invite people to believe, but also to follow Him.
With faith in Jesus comes empowerment through the Holy Spirit to live the righteous ways of Jesus and partner with Him in furthering His kingdom.
Following Jesus means denying ourselves and living for His glory instead.
Following Jesus will be hard, there will be a cost, but through Him is eternal life.
Jesus gives humanity hope, light, and peace to those who follow Him.
Jesus loves humanity profoundly; so much so that He went to the cross and laid down His life.
Jesus did the unimaginable so that humanity would know the unimaginable God and have the perfect opportunity, chance to believe, follow, enjoy eternal life.
In All Times this Jesus Is The Only Way to The Father
John 14:6-7 GOD’S WORD Translation
6 Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him ⌞through me⌟ and have seen him ⌞in me⌟.”
Christians believe and follow because Jesus is the only way to the Father.
Some believe there are many paths or religions that all lead to the one true God.
However, from the mouth of Jesus we learn that this is not true.
There is only one way to the real God and that is through Jesus Christ.
He alone is the way, truth, and life.
We cannot save ourselves. False gods or other religions cannot save anyone.
Only Jesus has given up His life, satisfied the debt of sin, and overcame death so that all who believe in Him will have eternal life.
God did not want humanity to simply perish and be eternally apart from Him.
He made the only way, through the death, resurrection of Jesus, for humanity to be forever saved – as a result, all have that opportunity to believe, follow Jesus.
In These Perilous Times – It’s Still Good News for All
Romans 15:4-6 GOD’S WORD Translation
God Gives Us Unity
4 Everything written long ago was written to teach us so that we would have confidence through the endurance and encouragement which the Scriptures give us. 5 May God, who gives you this endurance and encouragement, allow you to live in harmony with each other by following the example of Christ Jesus. 6 Then, having the same goal, you will praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It cannot be understated, it can never be preached or never taught enough that even in these perilous days when Christianity is being twisted and turned, our our biblical understanding who this 1st Century Jesus is, makes complete sense of why millions and millions of Christians throughout hundreds of generations until this day, and generations to follow have chosen to believe and follow Him.
Christians across the globe, underground, in freedom of worship, throughout history faithfully believe and follow Jesus because He has invited them to do so.
It was Jesus who gave up everything, saved the world by His death on a cross and made it 100% known that He alone is the way to the Father and eternal life.
Jesus spent His final years sharing the Good News of salvation through Him.
His ministry 1000% testified to who He was and the love He had for humanity.
It is the Good News faithfully shared that moves people to believe, follow Jesus.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 24 New King James Version
The King of Glory and His Kingdom
A Psalm of David.
24 The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
2 For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the [a]waters.
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face. Selah
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
8 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
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Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 