Feeding the Lambs - What Do You Believe?
The Word Made Flesh
"And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception).
John testified [repeatedly] about Him and has cried out [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’”
For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift].
For the Law was given through Moses, but grace [the unearned, undeserved favor of God] and truth came through Jesus Christ.
No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father].
-the Apostle John, referring to Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist, 1st century
John 1:14-18
[5th message of the New Believer Series]
People have said that the bible is a book of myths, a fairy tale. It's no more than a book of fables, a book about a Sky Daddy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.
Interestingly, many of these people believe in ghosts, superstitions, good luck, rabbit's foot, knock on wood, the horoscope, the fifth dimension or time travel.
These same people also have no problem believing that Antony, Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Nero, Plato or Aristotle were real people, even though everything they know about them were only taken from stories written about these historical people.
Hard to Believe
The question really is why do we find it particularly hard to believe Jesus of Nazareth but believe totally everything else?
Maybe because of who Jesus claimed to be and also because the stories written about Him just seems so unbelievable, that it couldn't possibly be true.
Or maybe because the concept of God is so absurd or will open up a Pandora's box that we don't want to go there. Yes, but we have no qualms believing anything else. Like there are intelligent beings in other worlds even though there is no evidence for it.
Think About It
If Jesus is who He claims to be, then everything written about Him will absolutely sound as unbelievable as they are.
We should understand that, as we read the gospels and the Book of Acts. We need to read the bible with an open mind. And begin with that mindset.
John one of the fishermen from Galilee that Jesus called out to follow Him, answered His call and stayed with Him for over three years, eating, sleeping, travelling with Him from town to town and He heard Him speak and do the things He wrote about Him.
They were waiting for Someone like Him, the Messiah, their Savior. They know of the prophesies about Him, written and taught to their people for hundreds of years.
Took A While
Yet when they saw Him in the flesh, they still wouldn't believe. They were skeptical up to the very end. Until Jesus was resurrected back from the grave. And after the promised Spirit of God has come upon them.
It is the same with everyone, no believer will become one until they take that first step like John, Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Thomas and the others took. They responded the call of Jesus to them. "Come follow me." And even after they did, they still had a rollercoaster ride until they finally totally believed and spread the gospel ever since.
Yet when they saw Him in the flesh, they still wouldn't believe. They were skeptical up to the very end. Until Jesus was resurrected back from the grave. And after the promised Spirit of God has come upon them.
It is the same with everyone, no believer will become one until they take that first step like John, Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Thomas and the others took. They responded the call of Jesus to them. "Come follow me." And even after they did, they still had a rollercoaster ride until they finally totally believed and spread the gospel ever since.
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