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Our theme for 2022 is “Begin Again”
I felt it was a word from the Lord for this year as COVID restrictions are winding down to begin to do again the things that we used to do.
Begin again means taking what we have learned and starting fresh with a renewed vision and purpose.
It is time to live again, love again and dream again.
I’m calling this series “Believe Again”
The Gospel of John is all about telling the story of Jesus so that people will believe in Him.
John is not just recording facts, but he is using words and imagery in such a way as to convince and remind his readers by experiencing the life, the love and the power of God.
John wants us to have more than just head knowledge, but intimate knowledge of who Jesus is, who the Father is, and who the Holy Spirit is in us.
You may have already believed the gospel, but it is time to believe again.
During the pandemic, a lot of people stopped going to church.
We lost connection with others and some people lost connection with God because their primary way of connecting to God was through others.
John calls us back to a living and vital relationship to God first, and then through God to others.
Faith is something that we grow in, and it is time to believe again!
Believe the Word.
What is the Word?
Earlier this year we went through the prologue of Genesis to see what God intended from the beginning.
To this John adds that “In the beginning was the Word.”
The Word is the idea behind everything.
It is the Divine reason, the intelligent design in all creation.
The Word is the expression of light and of life.
We saw that God created the world good and that His intention from the beginning was to spread that goodness through the whole earth.
When the world became corrupt, God preserved a remnant that would know Him and reflect his goodness and life.
He called and worked through a man, Abraham, who obeyed Him.
And He established a people who would be in relationship with Him to restore the world.
God called a man, to establish a people from whom he would choose a family through which to send His own son.
Jesus is the Word.
And the Word is God; who is also goodness, light and life.
In case you are wondering …Jesus is God!
The Word is God’s self-revelation.
God want’s to communicate with His people; how does he do that?
We can’t comprehend Him; He has to speak in a way that we can understand.
Imagine becoming a fish and learning to breath underwater and speak “fish” so as to communicate with fish.
Even if you could do that, then imagine trying to communicate to fish what life is like on land!
Or imagine becoming an insect an learning to live on an insect scale and to fit into the world of insects.
Then imagine trying to describe to insects that their world is just a small corner of a much bigger world!
Jesus came to the world that He created and even though He made it; it could not comprehend Him.
Try explaining air to a fish.
Try explaining oceans to an insect.
The only way for Jesus to communicate God’s goodness and His intention to the world He created is to become one of us.
Jesus became like us so that we could become like Him.
The Word has creative power.
The other thing about the Word, as was seen in the beginning is that the Word has the power to create what is spoken.
In this creative miracle, the Word incarnates… becomes not only visible but physical.
Mankind was created in God’s image and now becomes the image that He has created.
The physical image is less important that the character and the personality that we see in Jesus, that is where the image of God is really noticeable.
Remember that God created the world good, but we forgot what “good” is.
So much so that at times we call evil good and good evil.
People are so concerned about power and money and other self-interests that it all becomes distorted.
Good is “whatever is good for me”.
Jesus came and showed us another kind of goodness - his glory.
Glory is the substance of heavenly things.
Glory is like light to a dark world, until God speaks and it happens, you can’t even comprehend it.
Glory and majesty in human terms is how we describe kings showing off their extravagant wealth and power.
But Jesus showed us a glory that consists of grace and truth.
Truth is like light, if its not there you may not know it, but you definitely know it when it is present.
Jesus shows up an people are like, “Wait, I thought I knew truth, but I see now that I was only fooling myself.”
Other people are like, “Shut up!
We make our own truth around here.”
‘You turning on the light is making me look bad.”
But Jesus also showed us grace.
Grace is God’s favor - He likes us.
Jesus showed us that God is for us, not against us.
That is, if we receive it …if anyone doesn’t receive it, that’s on them.
The Word brings us into relationship with God through Jesus.
Everything that God did, every interaction with mankind throughout the Old Testament is meant to teach us about God.
During that time, there were a few people who were said to have a relationship with God.
Relationship with God was always possible, however, it was usually the exception.
Most people related to God from a distance.
Many people related to God reluctantly, out of fear.
Jesus came to show us that God really loves us.
Sure.
People in the Old Testament knew that God loved them -He called them his people.
Except for Moses, they never talked with Him face to face.
Except for Enoch, they never walked with Him.
Except for Abraham, they were never consider to be His friend.
Except for David, they didn’t know His heart.
Now Jesus came to do and to be all of those things, and also to give his life, which none of the OT characters foreshadowed - except for Jonah, perhaps.
Because of Jesus, we can all know God.
But how can we know God?
God has given us witnesses - ways to know Him.
Believe the witnesses.
John tells us that Jesus is God, but he doesn’t expect us to just believe it because he says so, he gives us witnesses.
John the Baptist is a witness.
The disciples are witnesses.
Even you and I are witnesses when we learn to recognize what God is doing by His spirit.
Because the outer witnesses resonate with our own inner witness.
The witness of calling.
John the Baptist is called as a forerunner.
He is like the opening act, whereas Jesus is the main event.
The forerunner is there to get you warmed up for what is coming.
But if you don’t know who or what you are going to see, you might think that the opening act is the whole show.
John knew that God had called him to prepare the way for Messiah.
The quotation he uses is from Isaiah - prophesying Israel’s return from exile - after he prophesied the exile.
The point is, when you see the first thing happen, you will know to expect the second.
When you see the forerunner, Messiah is just behind him.
John knew who he what and what his job was to be.
He knew what he was called to do.
He heard a voice telling him to be a voice.
That witness of calling is powerful, because if God calls you to something, you know that He is going to do something.
The fact that there is a John the Baptist means that Jesus is just around the corner.
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