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            We are going to pause on Colassians and jump over to John Chapter 1. God has really been speaking to me in John this last week so its something I think we all can dive in deeper in, together.

            John was one of the twelve disciples. He begins the chapter by stating that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Word in greek means a though or concept; the expression or utterance of that thought. The bible is God’s Word, and the more we read the Bible, the more we know God. One way to have an intimate relationship with God is through His word, when His word comes to life (He breathes His life into the Word) and you receive a personal revelation from Him in depth. One way we can hear from God is through His word. A prophet once shared, that if you want to hear the voice of God you have to know His word, otherwise you will have no idea what He sounds like when He talks to you because He talks through His word and never goes against it. The more we read His word, the more in tun and in sync we become with God. Think of it this way; there is always something playing on the radio, but if you aren’t tuned into the right frequency you won’t be able to hear it. God is always speaking to us, but if we aren’t tuned into His frequency (by staying in His word) we won’t be able to hear Him.

            All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made. Notice, the devil isn’t the author of making new things, instead he tries to twist and distort something God already made. Look at storms for example, God created rain clouds to water the land. However, when storms get destructive and tornadic with the intent to cause damage, its been tampered with. This is why in Mark ch 4 Jesus calmed the storm by rebuking the winds, He wouldn’t have rebuked it if God had sent such high winds. Jesus wouldn’t rebuke God. This teaches us that it wasn’t Gods doing for the storm that Jesus caused.

            In Him is life and the life of is the light of men. The light sines in the darkness and the darkness can’t comprehend it, the light exposes the darkness. When a born again believer goes into a building, their internal light of God shines and exposes the evil. When you turn the light on in a bedroom the darkness leaves, this is how we need to see ourselves when we have Christ within us. He is the light, Jesus is the light.

            John the Baptist came to preach of the one to come (Jesus) and preached of repentance. When Jesus came to His own, He was rejected, He wasn’t accepted. Often times we will feel rejection for our faith, sadly it can even happen from other believers. But when our feet are firmly planted in Christ, it won’t bother us. Jesus was rejected and was still at peace. So many treated Him wrongly; they mocked Him and ridiculed Him; yet He didn’t once get offended.

            Whoever RECEIVES Jesus have the right to become the Children of God; to those who believe in His name. In this verse, first we need to take note to the word receive. To receive Jesus means to accept Him, to not only invite Him into your heart but choose to know Him. Sometimes, the word receive gets watered down and people act on it as if it means to acknowledge. Acknowledging that Jesus is the Son of God isn’t the same as receiving. One admits that you think He is but you aren’t open to letting Him into your heart; the other leads to surrender. When we choose to receive Jesus in to our hearts, through that we are given the right to become children of God. We need to follow this up with getting born again which we will cover in John Chapter 3. The word right in verse 12 means authority. When you choose to receive Jesus into your heart and you receive the Holy Spirit, you are given the authority as a child of God. It’s not on your own doing, its simply by choosing to receive the Holy Spirit.

            The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Jesus). The Word is God; God is a triunity with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Again, to know Jesus more, read His Word (day and night). John the Baptist baptized with water for the repentance of sins. Jesus was the one to come who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus conquered the cross people would get baptized to repent. We will at some point cover the book of acts which is the beginning of the new covenant (where we begin right after Jesus rose from the cross). From this point on baptism was done In Jesus name, still for repentance but also to receive His Holy Spirit and to put off the old man and come up as a new creation in Christ.

            John the Baptist preached that one would be coming who’s sandal John wasn’t worthy to loose. The next day John saw Jesus and said, “behold, the Lamb of God who take away the sin of the world”. This is who comes after Joh, but is preferred before John. John baptized with water, Jesus baptizes in the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was water baptized by John, John saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and He remained upon Jesus. John saw and testified that Jesus was the Son of God.