TEN GIFTS OF JESUS IN THE GOSPEL OF ST JOHN
In this sermon we outline 10 of the wonderful gifts Jesus gave to us, the Church. Many times we forget all the precious promises He gave us. May we be truly thankful for all He has done for us.
I.GRACE AND TRUTH
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
In the Bible there are three distinctive meanings of grace; it means the mercy and active love of God; it means the winsome attractiveness of God; it means the strength of God to overcome. Charles L. Allen
If God wants you to do something, he’ll make it possible for you to do it, but the grace he provides comes only with the task and cannot be stockpiled beforehand. We are dependent on him from hour to hour, and the greater our awareness of this fact, the less likely we are to faint or fail in a crisis.
Louis Cassels
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. Costly grace ... is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Thou art the way, the truth and the life.
Without the way, there is no going.
Without the truth, there is no knowing.
Without the life, there is no living.
The truth is mightier than eloquence, the Spirit greater than genius, faith more than education.- Martin Luther
II. LIVING WATER
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
A. Jesus is the true Living source of living water. When we receive Him and His Word we receive from the eternal spring of LIFE.
III. HOLY SPIRIT.
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. . John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Every time we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit," we mean that we believe that there is a living God able and willing to enter human personality and change it. - J. B. Phillips
Great messages can be sent along slender wires. The peace-giving witness of the Holy Spirit can reach the heart by means of a threadlike faith, which seems almost unable to sustain its own weight. Think more of Him to whom you look than of the look itself. You must look away even from your own looking and see nothing but Jesus and the grace of God revealed in Him.
* C. H. Spurgeon
A. God has made us to be the temples of the Holy Spirit. Wow? No wonder Paul could say in Romans 8:31, 37. Peter also in 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
IV. PERFECT EXAMPLE
John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God.
C S. Lewis
Love when you expect no love in return.
Do good without expecting thanks.
Lend when you do not hope for a return.
This will make us act like the sons and daughters of the Most High.
* Henrietta Mears
A. In my earlier ministry I worked for a famous evangelist. I used to pray and beg God that I might be like and have the ministry of this evangelist. The Lord let me do this for some time while I was growing in the knowledge of God. Then one day while praying, He spoke that He did not want me to be like this Brother. I felt discouraged, the He spoke to my heart that He wanted me to be like Jesus. Praise God, it is not man but the Lord who is that perfect example. I love that old song my wife sings, ’To be like Jesus’.
V. GOD’S WORD
John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
All that I am I owe to Jesus Christ, revealed to me in his divine book. David Livingstone
* This great book is the best gift God has given to man. But for it, we could not know right from wrong.
Abraham Lincoln
VI. GLORY OF GOD
John 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Resolved: that all men should live for the glory of God. Resolved second: That whether others do or not, I will. - Jonathan Edwards
VII. . TRUE BREAD
John 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven;
A. With this Bread we can live forever with Him.
VIII. ETERNAL LIFE
John 6:33 For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
As I grow older, I care less what people think about me and more what God thinks of me. I expect to be with him much longer than with you.
A. We shall never die.
IX. PEACE
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Our trouble is we want the peace without the Prince.
Peace is not the absence of trouble, but the presence of God.
X. ANSWER TO PRAYER
John 16:23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. . (KJV)
God always answers us in the deeps, never in the shallows of our soul.
If you have so much business to attend to that you have no time to pray, depend upon it, you have more business on hand than God ever intended you should have. D.L. Moody
I love the words to this old song.
’God Answers Prayer’
Verse:
I woke up this morning and rushed right into the day.
It seemed I was so busy, and I didn’t take time to pray.
I felt overwhelmed by the pressures of this life.
It was then I was reminded I need to talk to Jesus Christ.
Chorus:
God answers prayer in the morning.
God answers prayer in the evening time.
God answer prayer every moment of the day,
If we’ll take the time to pray,
God answers prayer.
Verse
Sometimes I feel so far away from God.
Other times I feel His love so near.
Through it all whatever circumstance I’m going through,
I’ve learned that Jesus hears.
Bridge:
He’s only a prayer away,
If we’ll just take time to pray.
You must believe, have faith,
God answers prayer
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