1 John 4:7-21
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Genesis 3:1-24
The Fall of Man
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
John 1:1-18
The Word Becomes Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Luke 9:18-27
Who Do People Say Jesus is
18 Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
19 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”
20 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “God’s Messiah.”
21 Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. 22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
Luke 10:27
Love God With Your Heart, Your Mind, and Your Soul
27 He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
God is LOVE, and love comes from God...We know how to love because of God...
Adam and Eve fell victims to the evil one...They ate the fruit and it caused the fall of man...Sin entered the world...The world was broken, and man was broken...The world needed to be fixed...A fix was to come from God, and the fix would come in the form of a Man, a Son, a Savior...The fix would come from the LOVE of God...
So God sent His Son to earth, and when He did -a process of Divine Events happened all around His Son...If God were to have a Son, and were to send Him to earth wouldn't you think He would be quite different and unique from us?...Wouldn't He talk a little different, be a little mysterious -being from God?...Wouldn't you think the Son of God could do things a normal man could not do?...And wouldn't the event of a Divine Baby Son, who would grow up, be subtle and humble and set off a number of questions and disbelief in some, if not, many men?...God would send a Baby Boy in such a Divine way that He would give us just enough information and Divine Events that it would require faith for us to believe that it happened...A virgin birth of a Boy in a manger in first century Palestine, who would become the Greatest Teacher to ever walk the earth...Shouldn't we expect God's events to be subtle, but also orderly, yet mysteriously (full of miracles and the miraculous), full of grace, love, and Truth...And yes, Divine and different...
I think for God to reveal His Son to us, He would do it in a way that would appeal to our minds, our hearts, and our souls -and require the events of His birth, His life, His work and teachings, and His death to revolve so much around faith...So the events around His Son's life would be done so gradual, done so subtly, done so humbly, and naturally that the people around Him would be amazed, yet still question that He could or might be the Son of God...It would require faith for us to believe that God did this...
When Jesus was praying in private with His Disciples He ask them, “Who do the crowds say I am?.”...They gave Him different answers...People thought He was different and that He could be a number of people...The Disciples replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, that one of the prophets of long ago has come back to life.”...Peter tells Jesus that He is the Messiah, the Son of God...And instead of being able to tell everyone, after all they are His immediate followers, students, and disciples, Jesus tells them not to say a word...No celebration or celebrations that the Messiah, everyone has been waiting for has come...Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone...And He adds, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”...Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me...For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it...What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?...Whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when He comes in His glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels...“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”...
What Jesus told His Disciples here is a mystery, yet the Truth, and the things He told them did happen...Jesus suffered and was rejected and died for our sins...The mystery of Jesus relates to us that our own lives are also somewhat a mystery...We must admit that our own lives often seem like a mystery...This first century Mysterious Traveling Teacher did many miracles, while speaking the greatest words ever spoken...His teachings live on...The Divine Events that He did were surrounded by mystery and faith when He walked the earth, and He still is surrounded by mystery and faith today...How God sent His Son, and all the Divine Events that surround His Son speak of God and how He does things, is how God does things...He did these things in such a way that it requires faith to believe that one or more of these Divine Events happened...One must have faith to believe that God sent His Son to us...One must use their hearts, their souls, and their minds to believe these things happened... When we reflect on these Divine Events, we see LOVE...We must believe all these things come from LOVE...