The Eternal Word

Sunday Morning, November 28th, 2004

Let us Pray

Welcome........

I want to thank everyone who came out to our Thanks-giving Service last Thursday, and we did have a wonderful time giving thanks to God.............

Thanks to Sister Barbara Johnson for standing in the gap, for our speakers who shared with us, and for everyone who particpated........

I do trust you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as you fellowshipped with your family and friends.

Last Sunday we said that The Lord is good to all, and that everyday should be a day of thanksgiving. I challenged everyone last Sunday that if you were a complainer to stop complaining for one day, and start praising the Lord. I wonder how many of you spent sometime last week praising the Lord. The devil does not want us to praise the Lord, but the Word of God

says in Psalm 107 verse 8, Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men...........

Today is the first Sunday of the Advent Season. One of the biggest shopping days of the year was last Friday the day after Thanksgiving, and it is quite

possible many of you were out on Friday morning trying to find a bargain, and I trust you did. Let’s not get too caught up in this Christmas shopping

spree, and remember whose birthday that we are celebrating.

Have you ever tried to stop and think what life would be like if you had not done what you did? Would it be better or would it be worse? Let’s try and play for awile the what if game.What if you had not been saved at the time you did, where would you be now?

What if you had completed college, or did not drop out of high school?

What if you had not said that angry word to your boss in that great job you had?

What if you had invested more wisely, and did not waste that little money you had?

What if you had not marry that husband you now have, but had married someone else?

What if you had not marry the girl of your dreams?

What if you had not used up your credit cards to the maximum?

What if you were not born in Chicago or moved to Chicago?

What if you could take back that harsh word you had said?

What if; What if? There are things we will never know the answer to, but we just have to day dream, and move on with our lives. Whenever the Children of Israel hit a rough spot on their journey from Egypt, they would complain of how good life was in Egypt, but that was not the truth, and sometimes we do the same; when we hit a rough spot in our lives we try to

play the what if game.

As we enter the Advent season, let’s remind ourselves once again of our theme for the year, which is, glorifying God; which means that everything

we do, everything we say should be done to glorify God. Sometimes I might say things in haste, and you might say things in haste which did not glorify

God, but let’s all endeavor to glorify God........

On Thanksgiving Day, I was talking to a Christian lady who had gone through a lot of difficult moments in her life, but she had learned the art of

thanking God through her difficulty. She was not aware that others were watching her, and they were coming to her for advice, and some accepted

the Lord because of the life she was living. As a child of God, as one who have been set free, as one who has been born again, don’t forget, somebody

is watching you.

Please turn with me to page 5 of your bulletins or in your bibles to St. John 1 verses 1 through 3, and verse 14. Let’s all stand and read tgether. Please

tell someone, yes, Jesus loves you.

Our sub-ject for today is, The Eternal Word. Number One: The Word was in the beginning. Number Two: The Word was made flesh, and Number Three: The Word dwelt among man. The word eternal means, without beginning or end; existing outside of time; unaffected by time.

The bible says in the beginning was the Word. When we say Word, that is capital WORD, what do we mean? The Jews saw a word as some-thing more than a mere sound. To them a word was some-thing active and existing. To them it was power; it possessed the power to express some-thing, to do some-thing.

The Gentiles or the Greeks saw the Word some-what differently. When the Gentiles looked at the world of nature, they saw that things were not chaotic, but or-der-ly. Every-thing God had made had its place and moved or grew in an orderly fashion. The Gentiles came to realize that behind the world was a mind, a reason, a power that made and kept things in their proper place. This creative and sustaining mind, this su-preme reason, this unlimited power was said to be the Word.