Good Wednesday morning! John 1:7 has the remainder of that sentence we started yesterday. With John 1:6, the verses go like this: "God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony." However, if we take just verse 7, we have a command for each of us. What is our main duty in Christ? ...to tell about the light! We want everyone to believe, but the war for the souls of men goes on.
Today, I read a news article about 3 men killed by a bomb exploding. We might not even blink an eye about another far away bomb in this day of homicide bomb attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, but this happened in a western country where war has been absent for more than 60 years. The war goes on in Germany though, as three bomb disposal experts lost their lives trying to defuse another bomb from the days of World War II. Some wars may continue in small ways until Jesus returns. The world is a dark place.
We need some good news, and Jesus provided just the right news for us. To tell about the light we have many good means of communication these days. The Internet didn't bring light to the world, but we can use it to spread the Good News about the Light of the World. We can use radio, telephone, and television in the same way. All means of communication have been used to spread the Good News, and all those means have been abused in spreading sin. Support those who are called to spread the Good News by computer and electronic means. Help your local church spread the Good News in the same way. We have some light to tell about!
"...that everyone might believe because of his testimony." John the Baptist had a message that was also his testimony. John testified about the coming of the Son of God. John had even met him as an unborn baby. John met the Light of the World again while baptizing folks in the Jordan River. I want to rush on ahead with this, but the next few verses tell us more. This seems like a good time to practice waiting on the Lord!
I have studied the Gospel of John many times in my life, but always before when trying to stay one verse at a time, I have rushed on ahead. We all want to get to those famous verses like 3:16, 14:6 and others. John has many great verses and stories of Jesus.
The one verse at a time method comes from John MacArthur and his ministry, Grace to You. John MacArthur started his study in Matthew back in the 70's and took many years in getting through the book. I'm sure that at some point, probably just a few verses into the book, he had some doubts about the strategy. The first sixteen verses of Matthew set down the genealogy of Jesus. Such names as David, Solomon, Rahab, and others certainly provide some fodder for a sermon, but some of those names are a complete mystery. The key to writing or preaching on something like that is to listen to the Holy Spirit. God wrote the Bible; He will know what to say about verses that by themselves seem to have little meaning for us. How valuable to us is each verse in the Gospel of John? We'll find out!
Have a wonderful day in Christ Jesus!
Bucky
No comments:
Post a Comment