1 reason only

I wonder what kind of impact these 16 verses at the beginning of John's Gospel had one people when it first came out 2000+ years ago?

We take the words for granted.

John said things about deity that was incomprehensible & unthinkable by people of the time.

John talks about Jesus' origins.

The way he describes Jesus as “full of unfailing love & faithfulness” was a brand new, radically revolutionary concept of the personality of God.

It was a completely foreign concept.

I wonder how people wold react today if we did the same thing that John did?

What if we portrayed Jesus to people as someone who is “full of unfailing love & faithfulness” for the very people we're talking to?

What if we stripped away all the institutionalized crap that has grown up around Christianity & simply presented the loving nature & identity of Jesus?

What if we dropped the doctrine, the cultural morays & prejudices, the societal traditions, & just told people about this person, Jesus, who is God, who came to live among us, & who's very essence is love.

I'll tell you right now, that's the reason I became a Christ follower, & have remained one for 50 years – I became a follower of Jesus (& have stayed one) because of the person of Jesus – a flesh & blood person whose love for me is completely beyond words to explain, quantify, or illustrate.

And who Jesus is remains the only reason why I continue to follow Him.

Read these words below & think of how we might use them to help people see who this person named Jesus really is, & what connecting with Him can be for each of us.

John 1

1 In the beginning the Word already existed.

  The Word was with God,

  and the Word was God.

2 He existed in the beginning with God.

3 God created everything through him,

  and nothing was created except through him.

4 The Word gave life to everything that was created,

  and his life brought light to everyone.

5 The light shines in the darkness,

  and the darkness can never extinguish it.

  6 God sent a man, John the Baptist, 7 to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony.

8 John himself was not the light;

he was simply a witness to tell about the light.

9 The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

  10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him.

11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.

12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan,

but a birth that comes from God.

  14 So the Word became human and made his home among us.

He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.

And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.

  15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds,

"This is the one I was talking about when I said,

'Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.'"

  16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.

17 For the law was given through Moses,

but God's unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God.

But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father's heart.

He has revealed God to us.