The Gospel According To Saint John

First I want to pray: Thank You Father in Heaven for allowing us to be here on this earth one more time. Thank You for Your love, mercy, and grace. Thank You for Your forgiveness even though we don't deserve it. Thank You for Your protection. Thank You for always providing for us in every area of our lives. Thank You for giving us wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to know that You are the One true Living God. Thank You for everything You did in the past. Thank You for what You are doing right now. Thank You for what You are going to do, and thank You for what You will do in the future. Thank You for our military who laid down their lives to keep us with the freedoms we have. Thank You for everything. Thank You for sending Your One and Only Son, Jesus Christ into this world to die for our sins. According to John 3:16, You did it because You loved us all and You did not, and still don't want any of us to perish in the end. Jesus came to seek out and save those who were lost. That could have not happened had You not sent Jesus into the world. Thank You, Father, there's no one like You. You are a wonderful Father. I give You all praise, glory, and honor with a heart of thanksgiving. In Jesus' name, I pray, Amen.

Introduction: Jesus as the Word of God (1:1-14)

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

Now, in the beginning, was the Word. God spoke everything into being. Jesus was already here in the Spirit. We will look at Genesis later, but for now, we are going to look at John. We know that the Word became flesh. Who was in the flesh? Jesus. Jesus is the living Word, God in the flesh. He came to earth and dwelt among us. He lived a sinless life. He was tempted by the Devil. He used His Word and defeated Satan in the wilderness.

When we are going through trials and tribulations, or when we are in the wilderness, do we remember to use the Word of God to fight the negative feelings we are having? Do we remember what Jesus did? Jesus was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights hungry with no food to eat and no water to drink but He didn't give in to temptation. He didn't let His situation stop Him from obeying the Father. The situation He was in didn't weaken Him it made His faith stronger and that is how we should be. When we are going through things and we don't know why, and we can't see an end in sight, this is where we rely on God to give us strength to make it through what we are facing, but we are not alone. He is there with us. This is when we realize that we can do nothing without God. when we are faced with troubles, our faith becomes stronger in God because when we are weak, He is strong in us.

2. The same was true in the beginning with God.

Genesis 1:1- In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. {1. The First Creation: 1--2} And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

When we look at Genesis, we see that God was at the beginning of it all. God is the living Word. God spoke and it was, is, and always will be. This is why we should understand that there is power in the words that we speak. This is why we should use our words to bring God glory. We should use our words to encourage others and ourselves as well. We are either going to use our words for good, or bad. Let us use our words to speak life.

3. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.

God spoke everything into being. He created everything. He created Adam from the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils and he became a living soul. God is the creator of all life. He created everything on this earth that humans could never create. He created the planets, stars, sun, and moon, and the whole entire universe. He created everything. All of the answers to the questions you have about creation is in the Word of God.

1:1 In the beinning. Thre books have almost the same beginning: Genesis, John, and 1 John. We see tthe Lord Jesus Christ as the One who created and upholds all things, as the One who was made flesh and came tolive on this earth, and as the One*who is eternal life. each says, "He is God." "In the beginning" or "from the bgeinning" (1 John 1:1) mans in eternity, for the Word has always been-the Word is God.

1:3 All things were made by Him. Jesus Christ was one of the Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who created the world (see Genesis 1)

4. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

1:5 Light shineth in darkness. Jesus Christ came from heaven to light up this dark world of sin. He came to show people the way of salvation-He is the way of Salvation (John 14:6), but many would not "comprehend" or understand Him or His message.

There were those who acceptedHis message, and there were those who didn't. Out of the twelve disciples, Thomas doubted Him, Peter denied Him three times, and Judas was a thief, and the betrayer. People who knew Him didn't believe He was the Messiah. They just saw Him as Mary and Joseph's son.

When God change a person from who they were it is sometimes hard for people to accept that person for who they are in God. Some people don't like change, but change is good, and Jesus changed everything. He showed love to everyone even when it was those who wanted to kill him because of how He spoke. He told them who He was many times, but they could not accept it. Jesus told them that He was the bread of life. He told them in so many ways who He was, but they could not understand because they couldn't accept the truth. They couldn't even realize that Jesus was the Messiah that they had been waiting for to come and deliver them from their sins.

Jesus Christ as the Light

6. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

1:6 A man sent from God, whose name was John. This was John the Baptist (see vss. 29-34).

8. He (John) was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the *world.

Jesus is the Light of the world. He is the Light that shines in the darkness. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we no longer walk in darkness. He brings us out of that darkness into His marvelous light. His light shines in us. His love flows through us. We speak in His name. We share His love by sharing His Word, spreading the gospel t the ends of the earth. When we accept Jesus, we never have to worry about being alone. We never have to worry about going through circumstances alone. When we lose someone we love, He is there to comfort us. He is there in the good times just as well as the bad. He will never leave us nor forsake us. He is always with us even when we cant feel His presence, He is just giving us a little more time to pray. We can call on Him any time. Jesus slai down His life to save us fron sin. He paid the price and became sin. He didn't have to do what He did. He could have called on a legion of angels and they would have came and took Him from that cross, but He didn't. H took the punishment that wee deserved. Love is what kept Hm on the cross, not the nails. We should be grateful to God. We should be grateful and thanking God for what He did. There is no love like that of the Father. No one could ever love us the way God does. No one can ever do what God does for us. God is good to us, better than we could ever be to ourselves. God is love. He never change. He is the same today yesterday and forever. we need to ask God to change us for the better because we need Him just as we need our next breath to live.

10. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the wold knew Him not.

11. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.

I know it must have had to hurt Jesus when His won didn't receive Him, but He knew what was in the heart of all people. I know that it would hurt me if I wasn't received by my own. thye saw Him grow up, but they couldn't accept the fact that He was the Messiah who came to deliver them from their sins. Jesus heald so many people while He was on earth, and He is still healing people today. He is still performing miracles that the doctors can't even understand. His own missed out because they didn't believe so, Jesus left without doing anything there.

1:11 His own. The first "his own" is neuter and speaks of Christ's own possessions, including the Jewish people. They, the second "his own", received Him not", that is, through their leaders they officially rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as their King.

12. But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that belive on His name:

1:12 sons of God. Children of God.

13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

1:13 born...of God. This is explained in John 3:3, "Born Again". See 1 Peter 1:23.

14.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father,) full of *grace and truth.

1:14 Word was made flesh. Compare Romans 8:3, Philippians 2:8, Hebrews 2:14-18.

We now know that Jesus is God in the flesh. We know that He is our King, Lord, and Savior. We know He is the Light of the world. He is the Light that shines in the darkness. we know that He is the Messiah, the One who was with God in the beginning when everything was created. We know He was in the Garden Of Eden. We know He is alive in hHeaven sitting at the right hand of the Father. We know that He overcame the whole world. We know that the love He ha for us will never change. I hope you enjoy this message. I thank God for allowing me to share His Word with you all.

If you haven't talked to Jesus today, He is waiting to hear from you. He is ready to change your life for the better. He is ready to bless you. God bless you.