Week 9 Day 1

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 9 Day 1

Introduction…John, the writer of the Gospel of John, was one of the original 12 disciples called by Jesus to come follow Him. John was part of the inner circle of closest to Jesus disciples along with Peter and James. John, the last of the 4 Gospel’s, was written circa 90AD. In the book of the Revelation, the 4 Gospel writers are represented in symbol by the 4 beasts that are around the throne of God. See Revelation 4:7. The lion stands for Matthew, who in the first Gospel, saw Jesus as the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The man represented Mark, the most human and straight forward of the Gospels. The ox, the animal of service and sacrifice, stands for Luke, who saw Jesus as the great servant of God and mankind, the sacrifice for sin that whosoever will may come. The eagle, represents John, the writer of the 4^th Gospel, because like eagles who can look steady into the sun, so John had the most penetrating gaze into the eternal mysteries and truths of God as we will see in the study of the Gospel of John.

Read John 1:1-2 “When the world had its beginning, the Word was already there and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was in the beginning with God.”

Bible Study

• John, who recognizes himself as a servant of the Most High God, never mentions his name as the writer of this gospel. Instead he mentions himself as ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’ 4 times, see John 13: 23; 19:26; 20:2 and 21:20. He also describes himself as the witness, see John 19:35; and 21:24.
• John describes Jesus as the Word, ‘Logos’ in Greek, meaning word and reason.
  • The Word of God and the Reason of God is expressed through God the Son, Jesus.
    • God the Son is the creative, life giving and light giving Word of God to the world
    • God the Son is the power of God which created and sustains the world.
    • Love is the reason God the Father, sent God the Son to this world in human bodily form of Jesus to die for our sins
    • Jesus, God the Son was and is the image of God and the expression of love that God has for us.
  • The Jews were God’s chosen people, who for centuries were responsible to bring us light. Jesus, God the Son, came to earth, born of a virgin in Israel and grew up as a Jew. However, according to Scripture, Jesus came into the world for all mankind of the world, so that whosover will come to Him might be forgiven their sins, set free and given new life.
  • In the person of Jesus, God expressed His love and purposes to the world while revealing His nature.
• God the Son, the Eternal Word of God, was there at the very beginning.
  • In the beginning, before Creation, the Eternal God the Son was and is .
  • Since the beginning of time, God has always wanted relationship, fellowship and communion with us. From Garden of Eden and ongoing until today, God has desired and ordained communion with us.
  • God has been and is the same yesterday, today and forever. What has changed is man’s understanding and knowledge of Him. See Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”
  • Revelation 13:8 speaks of Jesus, God the Son as ‘the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.’
  • That relationship with God starts at salvation when we are forgiven and begin our fellowship with God.
• God the Son, the Word of God, was and is with God.
  • God the Son was there as a part of the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) Trinity, but there has been the closest connection between them.
  • God the Son, is so intimate with God the Father, since he has been with Him for eternity past.
  • Jesus is the 1 person in the universe that can and does reveal to us what God is like and shows us the love God feels toward us.
• God the Son, the Word of God, was and is God
  • The very same character and quality and essence and being as God
  • When we see Jesus, we see what God is like.
  • It is Jesus who shows us who God is and like a window into the very nature of God, we see God is full of love and compassion.

Application

• Jesus, was so much man, He was called Son of Man. Yet at the same time, He was so much God, He was called, Son of God. No one ever lived like Him. From His virgin birth, his miracles, no one ever spoke like him, and no one ever died and rose again from the grave.
• Through Jesus, God and His purposes are revealed.
• Through the created world God is also revealed. See Psalms 19. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows forth His handiwork. Day after day it speaks and night after night is shows knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world…”

Questions or comments?

Tags: Take 10

Week 9 Day 2

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 9 Day 2

Introduction…In the first few sentences of the Bible we learn several key truths. Genesis 1:1, 2, 26 says “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 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…And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

Read John 1:3 “He was the agent through whom all things were made and there is not a single thing which exists in this world which came into being without him.”

Bible Study

• In the beginning…there was God! What an incredible and unfathomable reality.
• In Genesis 1:1 “God said, let us make…” To whom is God speaking before anyone was created?
  • It refers to God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity were speaking to each other and were all involved in Creation.
  • The word God used here in the Hebrew is Elohim. It is the first name of Deity. It is a plural noun in form but singular in meaning when it refers to the true and living God.
• The Trinity is a mystery that we can only attempt to grasp. Like H2O/water that can be in the form of vapor, liquid or solid, the 3 persons of the Trinity, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit act in complete unity as 1.
• Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “The Lord our God is one Lord.” Yet there are 3 distinct persons and roles of each. Some additional Scriptures revealing the Trinity are…
  • At the Incarnation, Jesus, God the Son was conceived by the Holy Spirit in his mother Mary as she was overshadowed by the Almighty Father. See Luke 1:35
  • At the baptism of Jesus, God the Son is standing in the water, a voice from God the Father in heaven says this is my beloved son and the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus. See Matthew 3:16-17
  • Before Jesus was crucified and ascended back into heaven, to comfort his disciples about his departure, Jesus said, I will pray to the Father and He will send the Holy Spirit, another Comforter. See John 14:16
• God created all things out of nothing. The world He created was perfect. Behind everything that was created there is God and God alone.
  • Jesus, God the Son, created all things. Colossians 1:16 says, “For in Him (Jesus) all things were created, in heaven and on earth…all things were created through him and for him.”
  • In Hebrews 1:2 speaks of God the Son, Jesus, “through whom also God created the world.”
• This world is God’s creation. We and all that is in it were created for His pleasure. He was and still is intimately involved in it and lives in us His people.
  • Sin entered the world through man’s sin, which has injured the world, but God has redeemed the world through Christ Jesus.
  • Jesus, the Lamb of God, according to God’s plan and purpose, had to come to earth to triumph over sin and death, forgive and redeem us, and this was all done for the purpose of restoring our relationship and bringing us back into fellowship with God.

Application

“God of Wonders”

Verse 1

Lord of all creation

Of water, earth and sky

Heavens are your tabernacle

Glory to the Lord on high

Verse 2

Early in the morning

I will celebrate the light

When I stumble in the darkness

Will call your name by night

Chorus

God of wonders beyond our galaxy

You are holy, holy

The universe declares your majesty

You are holy, holy

Lord of heaven and earth

Lord of heaven and earth

Hallelujah to the Lord of heaven and earth

Questions or comments?

Tags: Take 10

Week 9 Day 3

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 9 Day 3

Introduction…The Bible teaches us that Jesus came into this world at precisely the right time according to God’s plan. See Galatians 4:4 where it says Jesus came in the “fullness of time”. No one ever had nor will anyone ever have the impact on the world that Jesus had. Because of this great God event, history is forever divided B.C., before Christ and A.D. after his death. The plan, content and purpose of His life is what changed the course of history. God stepped into our world and it will never be the same.

Read John 1:4 “In Him was life and the life was the light of men.”

Bible Study

• Life and light is what Jesus, God the Son, the Word, came to earth to bring to us.
• The Gospel of John begins and ends with the life.
  • Here in John 1 we read Jesus was life and at the very end we read John’s purpose in writing the Gospel was that people everywhere might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that through believing, you might have life in his name. See John 20:31
  • The Greek word for life is “zoe”. It occurs more than 35 times in the Gospel so this is a key concept to understand.
• The word Life used here is the opposite of destruction, condemnation and death, which appears to be the way of this world without Christ.
• God the Father sent Jesus, God the Son, so that people, whosoever will, may come and have true life and not merely survive/exist/live while on this earth.
• The life God offers us through Jesus Christ is eternal (the word “aionios” in Greek, which was the language the New Testament was written in). Eternal life is not merely life that lasts forever, but includes the quality of life that our Eternal God lives. We enter God’s life and way of living in eternal life.
• How is this accomplished? By believing in Jesus Christ.
• What does it mean ‘to believe’, the word in Greek is “pisteuein”. This is a critical understanding as this word is used over 70 times in the Gospel. To believe is…
  • A conviction of the mind that is certain that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, Savior of the world.
  • A trust of the heart, a commitment that what Jesus says is true and we live by honoring and taking Him at His Word.
• Jesus is the light of men. Mentioned in this Gospel 21 times. Once again we must grasp the significance to this word.
  • His light removes darkness and ends fear. Darkness flees and fear is gone when His light comes upon us and our chaos.
  • His light reveals, exposes and brings truth to disguises, hidden motives and actions and allows us to see ourselves as we truly are before God.
  • His light guides us showing us how to live and what to do. Doubt is gone as clarity and direction come to our lives.

Application

The song “Who Am I” says it beautifully…

Verse 1

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name, would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the bright and morning star

Would choose to light the way, of my wondering heart

Not because of who I am, but because of what you’ve done

Not because of what I’ve done, but because of who you are.

Chorus

I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean, a candle in the wind,

Still you hear me when I’m calling

Lord, you catch me when I’m falling, and you told me who I am.

I am yours!

Verse 2

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin

Would look on me with love, and watch me rise again

Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea

Would call out through the rain and calm the storm in me

Not because of who I am, but because of what you’ve done

Not because of what I’ve done, but because of who you are.

I am a flower quickly fading, here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean, a candle in the wind,

Still you hear me when I’m calling

Lord, you catch me when I’m falling, and you told me who I am.

I am yours!

Questions or comments?

Tags: Take 10

Week 9 Day 4

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 9 Day 4

Introduction…In this world and in us specifically there is an ongoing battle of good and evil, light versus darkness. The good news is that God promises that good triumphs over evil and where sin abounds, grace does much more abound and we are more than conquers through Christ. Light conquers darkness…every time. Whenever and wherever light comes, darkness goes. In fact darkness can only exist in the absence of light. “God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all.” 1 John 1:5

Read John 1:5 “And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not put it out.”

Bible Study

• The word darkness (Greek skotos) refers to the reality and hostility of darkness, sin and godlessness that exists in this world.
• Sinful mankind lives in and chooses the darkness. The evil in the world hates the light. Why? The light reveals their deeds as evil and wrong. Before God there is no hiding.
• With Jesus coming into this world as God’s light and life, from His birth, evil brought on the fight to kill him, destroy his influence and extinguish that light.
• Jesus triumphed over powers and principalities of darkness (Colossians 2:15) and is our Banner of Victory over sin and death. “For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8
• Our relationship with God is one of light that conquers sin and death. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk (live in) darkness, we lie, and do not have the truth. But if we walk (live in) the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1: 6-7
• Our relationship with God’s light influences and positively impacts our relationships with other people. “He that says he is in the light and hates a brother is in darkness… He that loves his brother abides in the light…but he that hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness and doesn’t know where he is going because darkness has blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:9-11
• Our relationship with God’s light overcomes evil and the darkness of this world. “You are of God and have overcome because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4. In fact we, as believers, should and are called to overcome evil with good. See Romans 12:21
• Our relationship with God’s light causes us to fear no evil for He is with us and no evil formed against us can prosper. See Psalms 23 and Isaiah 54:17
• Our relationship with God’s light overcomes the world. “Whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. And who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God” 1 John 5:4-5

Application

• Ask yourself…
  • Are we aware when we are stepping into the light or darkness throughout the day?
  • Are we walking in the light as God is in the light and having fellowship with Him?
• “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105

Questions or comments?

Tags: Take 10

Week 9 Day 5

The Daily Take 10

The Gospel of John

Week 9 Day 5

Introduction…The Bible is the infallible Word of God. Forty four writers over 20 centuries were used to pen the 66 books that make up the Bible, which is one continuous story of mankind in relation to God. 1 Peter 1:21 tells us that holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Like no other ‘sacred writing’, 30% of the Bible is prophetic, meaning it speaks of something that will happen beforehand and amazingly every prophecy of the Bible has taken place (there is more events prophesied that have not yet taken place until Jesus comes again), further distinguishing the Bible from the Muslim Koran or Hindu Vedas that has no prophetic word.

Read John 1:6-8 “There emerged a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness in order to bear witness to the light, that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light, his function was to bear witness of the light.”

Bible Study

• This Gospel of John that we are studying was written by John, a disciple of Jesus Christ. This passage in John 1:6-8 speaks of another named, John the Baptist, who was prophesied to be the forerunner of Jesus. See Malachi 3:1-6 written 400 years before Christ.
• God chose the Jews as His people to reveal Himself as the Living and True God to the world, to use them to deliver the Word, and through them bring to us Jesus, the Savior of the world.
• Israel, the Jewish people always had a prophet of God, a spiritual leader, living in their land that spoke to them as the voice of God.
• From the prophet Malachi until John the Baptist, 400 years had passed without the voice of a prophet speaking for God. Almost as if God, paused for effect to say, “now here this special announcement”. People were hungry, ready and anticipating the coming of the Messiah.
• John the Baptist came as a witness that the Messiah, Jesus was coming.
• John’s message called people to repentance before God saying He, the Messiah who comes, will be like a “refiner’s fire” (see Malachi 3:2-3) that will purge, cleanse and purify His people.
• As a sign of their commitment to God, John baptized them in water. His message and impact was great in Israel. See Matthew 3:1-17
• John the Baptist, like other prophets, pastors, preachers, or great spiritual leaders are not the light, but should point to the light, Jesus, for He is the way to God.
• Another key concept of study in this Gospel is the word witness. There are seven witnesses to Jesus as God the Son, the preiminent one, the Savior and the way.
  • The witness of the Father. See John 5:37. Jesus moved and worked as the Father spoke within him. No one ever came, lived, died, resurrected and ascended from this world as did Jesus.
  • The witness of Jesus himself. See John 8:14, 18. Jesus knew who He was. Sent from the Father and came to reveal God and lay down His life for our sins. And He said that is who He is.
  • The witness of Jesus’ works. See John 10:25 and 14:11. No one ever did the miraculous works done by Jesus.
  • The witness of Scriptures. See John 5:39, 46. Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophecies indicating without doubt that He was and is the Messiah.
  • The witness of others who came in contact with Jesus. See John 4:39 and 12:17. Jesus changed their lives forever.
  • The witness of the disciples, those closest to Jesus, even John. See John 19:35 and 21:24. John did not hear what he wrote in his Gospel from another. He saw, heard and touched and was an eye witness to the truth.
  • The witness of the Holy Spirit. See John 15:26. It is the work of the Spirit within our hearts enabling us to recognize Jesus as the way and our Savior

Application

God wants us to be like, look like and reflect Jesus in our lives so we can be effective witnesses of Him.

Malachi 3:3 says, “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver..”
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered
what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver
and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at  work.  She didn’t mention anything about the reason for
her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining
silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up.  He explained that in refining silver, one
needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames
were hottest as to burn away all the impurities…
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, then she
thought again about the verse that says:
“He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.”
She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in
front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered…yes, he not only had to sit there holding
the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire
time it was in the fire.  If the silver was left a moment too long
in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment.  Then she asked the silversmith,
“How do you know when the silver is fully refined?” He smiled at her and answered, “when I see my image in it.”

Questions or comments?

Tags: Take 10