John 1:14-18 God with us

Dear TVCC Students,

We are so thankful for those that were able to join us last night. Going through the book of John with you all has been so encouraging for us. Here is last night's recap...

John 1:14-18

John 1:14

~The Word became flesh; Jesus, who was outside of creation, became one of us and "dwelt" with us.

~The word "dwelt" was the same word for "tabernacle." Jesus came to "tabernacle" or "dwell" with us and reveal the glory of the Father to us.

~God's heart is to be with His creation. We see this all throughout the bible; He longs to be with us as a husband longs to be with his wife. He made the ultimate sacrifice to do this when becoming one of us.

~Even after Jesus had gone back to the Father, God sent the Holy Spirit to dwell among His children so that He would be with us! Amazing!

Q: How do you react knowing that the Lord has done so much to be with us? Have you rejected His coming in Jesus or have you received Jesus? Do you recognize God's heart to "dwell" with us continually? How does that affect your daily life?

John 1:15

~John, who was so near to Jesus (his cousin), came to testify about the greatness of Jesus. He was so close to Jesus and thus was able to see and recognize His greatness.

~Remember: "the power of the gravity depends on the proximity" (Ross King). The more we spend time with Jesus, the more of His glory we will see and He will "dwell" with us more intimately.

John 1:16

~John's message was this: You are sinful BUT the Sin-taker is HERE!

~When he says that in His fullness we have received "grace upon grace" this actually means that we have received grace "for" grace. We are so lost and depraved (Ephesians 2) that we need grace to even receive His grace!

~Ezekiel 16:6 is a good depiction of where we were before the Lord. All of us were helplessly dying until He came to rescue us through His blood.

~The law was "given" in the Old Testament but could not be kept thus grace and truth were "realized" and given in fullest measure in Jesus. It is finished. Our righteousness rests completely in the work of Jesus.

John 1:18

~Jesus has "explained" or "declared" the Father. When Jesus came, He was the exact representation of the glory of the Father.

~ Colossians 1:15 says that He is the image of the Father. We were made by Him and for Him! This means that we were not made to exalt ourselves and be the next Superstar but that we were made to be a worshipper of Him.

~If we do not realize that we were made to be a worshipper of Him, we will spend our lives chasing "shadows" (things that we think will satisfy us but will always leave us empty). Only in Jesus will we be fully satisfied because we were made for Him!

Q: Are you a worshipper of Jesus or someone that is trying to be the next Superstar? Are you trying to live your life to make much of Jesus or much of yourself? You cannot do both!!

Students, we are so thankful for you. We are thankful to see so many of you pursuing Jesus with your lives. It is an honor to be a part of that. We pray that you will spend time letting Jesus "tabernacle" with you this week. We ask that you set aside time with Him daily and let Him teach you through His word and through worship and prayer. We love you all!

~Sonny and Casi

John 1: Life and Light

Dear TVCC Students,

We are officially finished with Hebrews and on to the book of John! We are so blessed to be able to worship with you all every Wednesday. I know things always get hectic in this season after Spring Break, but hang in there! Here is a recap from last night...

*John 1:1-3

~Before there was ANYTHING created, Jesus was with the Father

~Hebrews 13:8: Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is outside of time and we can trust Him completely with today as well as our future.

~Just as words are used to describe things, so Jesus is the Word of God. He is the perfect "description" of who the Father is (Hebrews 1:3)

*John 1:4

~Jesus came to solve the 2 problems of humanity- 1. death and 2. darkness; Jesus is LIFE and LIGHT.

*John 1:5

~The darkness did not "comprehend" (overtake) the light. There is a spiritual battle going on- darkness vs. light; Jesus came as the Light and the darkness could not overtake Him. Jesus is victorious!!

*John 1:6

~John the Baptist was not the light and knew it. He knew his purpose- that he was here to proclaim the coming of the Light. We would do well to follow the example of John and submit all of our pleasures and desires to the Lord and trust that what He does in our lives will be used to proclaim His glory.

Q: How often do we live as though we are the center of the universe and get agitated when things do not go exactly as we plan? Do you live as though Jesus is everything and your life is constantly pointing others to Him or do you live as though YOU are te center of the universe and everyone should bend to your wishes and desires?

John 3:30

"He must become greater; I must become less" (NIV)

*John 1:11

~Jesus came to His own, to His creation that He had spoken into existence and they (we) didn't receive Him and even wanted Him dead. All of mankind is born into the sin of Adam- born with an evil heart that is rebellious towards the Lord and wants nothing to do with Him...

~Genesis 9: Every intent of man's heart is evil from his youth...

~Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is wicked and deceitful above all things...

~Ephesians 2: We are all children of wrath

~Romans 3:10: None are righteous

~All of this is to remind us that we ALL have initially rejected Christ... not until He extends grace to receive His gift of salvation are we able to receive His gift and thus become born again.

*John 1:12

~Those who receive the gift of God and believe (or take refuge) in His Name (in who He is- our Lord and Savior) become children of God. Wow! Praise Him for taking us from darkness to light!

~We can do 2 things with the coming of Jesus...

1. We can reject Him and continue to take refuge in ourselves (which leads to an eternity in hell)

or

2. We can receive His gift of salvation, taking refuge ONLY in Him and what He did on the cross for us (leading to eternal life)

We encourage you all this week to evaluate your lives. Are you taking refuge in Jesus or are you trying to be your own refuge? Are you continually walking in thankfulness for the coming of Jesus and His death on your behalf? He came to bring us back into a right relationship with the Father. What thankfulness should we have for that!! We love you all so much and pray that you will spend time worshipping Him throughout the week. We hope you can make it to our house on Sunday night to encourage and strengthen each other in our pursuits of Christ. Again, we love you!!

~Sonny and Casi