Sermon Central
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The Joy Of John 3:16 PRO
Contributed by Michael Mccartney on Dec 19, 2008 (message contributor)
The Joy of John 3:16
Max Lucado's thoughts:
A twenty-six word parade of hope: beginning with God, ending with life, and urging us to do the same. Brief enough to write on a napkin or memorize in a moment, yet solid enough to weather two thousand years of storms and questions. If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here. We all need the reminder. The heart of the human problem is the heart of the human. And God's treatment is prescribed in John 3:16.
He loves
He gave
We believe
We live
The words are to Scripture what the Mississippi River is to America-an entryway into the heartland. Believe or dismiss them, embrace or reject them, any serious consideration of Christ must include them. Would a British historian dismiss the Magna Carta? Egyptologists overlook the Rosetta stone? Could you ponder the words of Christ and never immerse yourself into John 3:16?
The verse is an alphabet of grace, a table of contents to the Christian hope, each word a safe-deposit box of jewels. Read it again, slowly and aloud, and note the word that snatches your attention. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
"God so loved the world..." We'd expect an anger --fueled God. One who punishes the world, recycles the world, forsakes the world...but loves the world?
The world? This world..." Heartbreakers, hope-snatchers, and dream-dousers prowl this orb. Dictators rage. Abusers inflict. Reverends think they deserve the title. But God loves. And he loves the world so much he gave his:
Declarations?
Rules?
Dicta?
Edicts?
No. The heart-stilling, mind-bending, deal-making or -breaking claim of John 3:16 is this: God gave...
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