Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / July 2 - John 3

Transcript

July 2 - John 3 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:11
  Hello friends, it's shown here. It is Tuesday, it's the 2nd of
• 0:17
  July and today do do do do do do do do as the World UFO Day.
• 0:24
  You've heard about Roswell and all the shady things that have
• 0:27
  gone on. Well, that all happened on the
• 0:29
  2nd of July. And so today people look to the
• 0:32
  skies and they think, are we all alone?
• 0:34
  Is there someone out there? And I remember how a few years
• 0:38
  ago, I think it was in the midst of COVID, there was a place in
• 0:41
  Hobart that shot a giant big beam of light straight up into
• 0:45
  the sky every night. So the people could look at this
• 0:48
  shaft of light and go ohhhhh, we're not alone in the world
• 0:50
  even though it feels like it during lockdown.
• 0:53
  But this one night, the shaft of light went up and hit this low
• 0:58
  Bank of cloud cover and the whole area in the night sky lit
• 1:03
  up and it looked like the clouds were glowing, sending down a
• 1:07
  shaft of light onto the ground. And there are two members of my
• 1:11
  family. I shall not report who they are,
• 1:13
  but they for all intents and purposes, swore that there was a
• 1:18
  UFO floating in the sky, sucking up some people through that
• 1:22
  shaft of light and were a little bit terrified.
• 1:25
  So today is the day the people go are there, aren't there?
• 1:28
  I'll let I'll let you come up with your own answer.
• 1:31
  I'm not going to cause controversy.
• 1:32
  I'll keep my hands out of it. But all that aside, today's also
• 1:36
  the day that we continue to read through the book of John, and we
• 1:41
  meet, ah, this wonderful character by the name of
• 1:44
  Nicodemus. And he is going to have a
• 1:46
  fascinating conversation with Jesus through which we will
• 1:49
  learn more about what it means to be a part of God's Kingdom
• 1:53
  being reborn in his spirit. So let's read that, shall we?
• 1:57
  All Extraterrestrial talk aside, let us come before our holy
• 2:02
  guide as we hear his words as recorded in John chapter 3.
• 2:18
  There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who
• 2:21
  was a Pharisee. After dark one evening he came
• 2:25
  to speak with Jesus. Rabbi, He said, we all know that
• 2:30
  God has sent you to teach us. You're miraculous signs are
• 2:34
  evidence that God is with you, Jesus replied.
• 2:39
  I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see
• 2:43
  the Kingdom of God. What do you mean?
• 2:47
  Exclaimed Nicodemus. How can an old man go back into
• 2:51
  his mother's womb and be born again?
• 2:54
  Jesus replied. I assure you, no one can enter
• 2:58
  the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.
• 3:03
  Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives
• 3:08
  birth to spiritual life. So don't be surprised when I say
• 3:12
  you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it
• 3:16
  wants, just as you can hear the wind, but you can't tell where
• 3:20
  it comes from or where it is going.
• 3:22
  So you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit?
• 3:26
  How are these things possible? Nicodemus asked.
• 3:31
  Jesus replied. You are a respected Jewish
• 3:35
  teacher, and yet you don't understand these things.
• 3:39
  I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet
• 3:44
  you won't believe our testimony. But if you don't believe me when
• 3:47
  I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if
• 3:52
  I tell you about heavenly things?
• 3:54
  No one has ever gone to heaven and returned, but the Son of Man
• 3:58
  has come down from heaven. And as Moses lifted up the
• 4:03
  bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man
• 4:07
  must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in Him
• 4:11
  will have eternal life. For this is how God loved the
• 4:16
  world. He gave his one and only Son so
• 4:21
  that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have
• 4:25
  eternal life. God sent His Son into the world,
• 4:29
  not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
• 4:34
  There is no judgement against anyone who believes in Him, but
• 4:39
  anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for
• 4:42
  not believing in God's one and only Son, and the judgement is
• 4:46
  based on this fact. God's light came into the world,
• 4:52
  but people love the darkness more than the light, for their
• 4:55
  actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light
• 5:00
  and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
• 5:04
  But those who do what is right come to the light so others can
• 5:09
  see that they are doing what God wants.
• 5:13
  Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the
• 5:17
  Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them
• 5:21
  there baptising people. At this time John the Baptist
• 5:26
  was baptising at Aenon near Salem because there was plenty
• 5:29
  of water there and people kept coming to him for baptism.
• 5:33
  This was before John was thrown into prison.
• 5:36
  A debate broke out between John's disciples and a certain
• 5:40
  Jew over ceremonial cleansing. Sir John's disciples came to him
• 5:44
  and said, Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan
• 5:48
  River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptising
• 5:53
  people and everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.
• 5:58
  John replied, No one can receive anything unless God gives it
• 6:03
  from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly
• 6:06
  I told you I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the
• 6:11
  way for him. It is the bridegroom who marries
• 6:15
  the bride, and the bridegrooms friend is simply glad to stand
• 6:19
  with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy
• 6:24
  at his success. He must become greater and
• 6:27
  greater, and I must become less and less.
• 6:33
  He has come from above and is greater than anyone else.
• 6:36
  We are of the earth and we speak of earthly things, but He has
• 6:41
  come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.
• 6:45
  He testifies about what He has seen and heard, but how few
• 6:50
  believe what He tells them. Anyone who accepts his testimony
• 6:55
  can affirm that God is true, for he is sent by God.
• 7:00
  He speaks God's words, for God gives him the Spirit without
• 7:04
  limit. The Father loves his Son and has
• 7:07
  put everything into his hands. And anyone who believes in God's
• 7:12
  Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn't obey the Son
• 7:16
  will never experience eternal life, but remains under God's
• 7:20
  angry judgement. Jesus, thank you.
• 7:34
  Thank you that you have come here and your mission is clear
• 7:39
  that your time on earth to let us know who you are and your
• 7:44
  mission was not to come here to judge us and tell us how wrong
• 7:47
  we are. Your mission was to come here
• 7:50
  and save us, to tell us the truth about you and that all we
• 7:56
  need do is believe in you, be transformed by you, and that in
• 8:03
  that gift from you there is no judgement.
• 8:09
  Jesus, thank You that before you we stand cleansed and justified
• 8:15
  by everything that you are and nothing to do with what we are.
• 8:20
  Now help us shift our eyes from our own naval gazing up to You,
• 8:26
  Your perfection, Your mission, your righteousness.
• 8:31
  Because of that, that is our ticket.
• 8:36
  Thank you, Jesus, for your generosity, and thank you,
• 8:39
  Father, for sending us your Son, because you loved us so much.
• 8:45
  Come Holy Spirit, transform us by this love so that we can
• 8:50
  indeed live lives that hold up to living in the light.
• 8:56
  Shed from us our love of the darkness so that we can truly be
• 9:01
  your children, children of the light.
• 9:03
  Probably all of this in the saving name of Jesus.
• 9:07
  Amen.