The Word Became Flesh: Love, Light, and Life

And so, John's Gospel was probably the last Gospel written out of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.You know, things are a little unclear, because there's no, you know, perfect history that explains the details of some of these things.But most scholars believe that the Gospel of John was the last of the four Gospels written, which meant that the church, Jesus' church, had been spreading that much more around the Mediterranean world, and that more and more people who [00:57:41] (35 seconds)  #LastGospelPerspective

And so, John doesn't tell us specifically about Jesus' birth.You know, he doesn't tell us about the angel appearing to Mary or to Joseph and, you know, the trip to Bethlehem and that sort of thing.He probably was well aware of the other Gospels, which had already been written.And so, John wants to give us another perspective, to round out our understanding of Jesus, not only his birth, but his ministry, the significance of his [01:00:09] (26 seconds)  #JohnsUniquePerspective

In him, we have life.And that life was and is the light of all mankind.The light of God which shines into the darkness.The light of God which reveals God's holiness, which reveals our sinfulness.The light of God which reveals the way forward for us.He is the life and the light of all people.And we can all experience his light and his life if we would only open ourselves to him. [01:04:48] (34 seconds)  #LifeAndLight

Let's skip ahead.Verse 12.Those verses I'm skipping he's talking a bit about John the Baptist, John the Baptizer who God had sent to prepare the way for Jesus.And he talks a bit about how Jesus came into the world and his own people referring to the Jewish people, Jesus was Jewish, many of his own people did not accept him which is what got him killed. [01:05:29] (27 seconds)  #RejectedByHisOwn

but John writes all who did receive him all who did receive Jesus to those who believed in his name that's how we receive him we believe in his name we believe in who he is we believe in what he's done for us through his life death resurrection and ascension to all of us who believe and I hope you can count yourselves among those who believe he gave the right to [01:05:56] (27 seconds)  #ReceiveByFaith

and as we surrender ourselves to the Lord as we accept the gift of his sonas we acknowledge what he has done for us we receive that gift of being born and again that our old life is put to death just like Jesus was on the cross and we come out as new people not just when we die but here today and Ali shared with us this morning how she had a life of alcoholism and by the grace of Godand by her willingness to surrender and receive Jesus as her Lord and Savior she was set free from that old life and has been delighted in this new life she's been living for these last 27 years [01:07:45] (52 seconds)  #NewLifeThroughSurrender

John had seen Jesus in his glory as Jesus healed people as Jesus raised people from the deadthat's a lot of glory coming forth from Jesus as Jesus taught the crowds of his heavenly father and his heavenly father's heart and his will for people there's glory in that too as Jesus rebuked the scribes and the religious leaders those who seek to condemn him and the glory and the truth of God shone through [01:11:01] (38 seconds)  #GloryAndTruthOfJesus

John saw him die on that cross he saw the Roman soldier put that spear into his side to ensure that he was deadand John was one of the first to run to that empty tomb to see those grave clothes folded and lying thereand then to experience Jesus resurrected risen from the dead John saw him John touched him John ate with him John spent those next 40 days listening and learning and spending those days with the risen Jesus Christ [01:12:15] (43 seconds)  #WitnessToResurrection