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The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
During February we are going to work our way through the gospel of John our theme is Responding to the Living Word.
Today we are talking about The Incarnate God.
Prayer
Eternal Lord, we are called to give our offerings unto you.
But we give in response to what you have already given.
We do not give to pressure You to give us more.
You have already given Your Son Jesus to save us, Your Holy Spirit to comfort and strengthen us, Your church to teach and encourage us, Your Holy Word to guide and corrects us.
We have been greatly blessed.
Please accept these gifts as expressions of our gratitude to You.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Text
John 1:14 NKJV
The Word Becomes Flesh
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Scripture Reading
John 1:1-14 NKJV
The Eternal Word
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
John’s Witness: The True Light
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
The Word Becomes Flesh
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Introduction
I read a story of a little boy through the week, he was really excited.
His parents had carefully told him how God was sending a little sister to their family for them to love and care for.
When the day arrived and the baby had been put in her crib, the brother stood close by and whispered, “Quick, little sister, tell me, before you forget, what does God look like?”
Who can answer that question?
John’s gospel is an attempt to put into words what God is like, but its success is showing God to us is not in the words of the book, but in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Jesus said in John 14:9, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
So let us see if we can really be put in touch with God through Jesus Christ.
I can tell you as a minister who preaches at least three times a week that the five most important words in the Bible are “And the Word became flesh.”
Without this happening, there would be no life of Jesus, no Sermon on the Mount, no atoning death, no victory in resurrection.
Without the incarnation, we would have no way to know God as He wishes to be known.
- The meaning of the incarnation.
Incarnation is the word used to communicate the truth that God became flesh and dwelt among us.
Carnal is an English word for flesh, as in “carnal desires.”
Carnivorous means flesh eating animal.
Incarnation means the “enfleshment.”
God took on human flesh and revealed Himself to us, He was incarnate among us.
This truth points to the greatest mystery of the Christian faith, Jesus, fully human and fully divine held up for us to see, to attempt to comprehend, and finally to bow our knee before in worship.
We know that if Jesus is not God, He could not have saved us, and if He is not man, He could not have reached us.
The incarnate God has come to us in the flesh, not simply in spirit, which we could not see or touch, but in a body of flesh.
Matthew and Luke wrote that God became flesh through the willing obedience of the Virgin Mary.
They told of Mary’s faith, of Joseph’s fears, of the angel’s songs, and the shepherd’s worship.
Through the Christmas story, the great and powerful truth rings out, John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then John 1:14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
The truth is this, it is not simply a little bay innocently snuggled to his mother’s breast in view here, it is the Lord God incarnate who calls us to believe and follow and who warns us of the consequences of unbelief.
John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
2. The purpose of the incarnation.
The reason for the incarnation is to bring life to all.
John set forth this truth in John 1:4, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Notice also in John 10:10 that Jesus said, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John gave his purpose for writing the book and pointed directly to the reason for the incarnation when he said he had written these things “ but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” John 20:31 NKJV.
God’s purpose was to bring eternal life to us through the life of the Son, who is the Light of the World.
Through Him the light shines into every dark nook and cranny of our loneliness, brokenness, and emptiness.
Eternal life has two dimensions, length and depth.
Eternal life with God id forever, that is the length of it.
Eternal life with God is in the present moment, abundant, meaningful, filled with courage and joy, that is the depth of it.
Jesus, the incarnate God, has come with the purpose of delivering you from the darkness of death into the light of life.
And it is not just existence, not simply breathing, not merely getting by, it is life that is full now, in the world, fulfilled together, in the joy of all that heaven promises to be.
3. The church and incarnation.
The task of the church is previewed in in the incarnation.
Since God sent the Son into the world to minister to us and redeem us, then is that not our best clue as to what the church is to be doing?
Jesus said it Himself in John 20:21, So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
Jesus did not remain distant to our need, He entered into the desperate situation of our community, of our lives.
Whenever missionaries go on behalf of a church to preach the gospel and minister to human and spiritual needs, they are following in the tracks of our Lord Jesus, who came on a mission to redeem our world.
Every time a church goes out to care for men and women, boys and girls who are sick or hungry, lonely, or frightened, left out or ignored, or lost without Christ, we go as a continuation of the ministry of Jesus.
He is the God who travelled from the security of heaven’s glory to the risk and threat of human existence to touch us at our hurting places.
When the church shares the good news that people do not have to die, but they can live, the message comes straight from the open tomb where the incarnate God left death defeated and the grave clothes behind Him.
Every time the church bows in worship, it knows that the transcendent God has come to earth, refusing to remain distant so He might by His presence bring us to a sense of intimacy with Him.
It is Jesus who taught us to call God “Father” and know His love for us as His children.
Our redemption is no longer a question of pursuit, but of surrender to Him who is always and everywhere present.
So we can pray that following Him we can depart from anxiety to His peace.
Conclusion.
God has come to us in Jesus.
]we can never be the same again.
He invites you to believe and to move from darkness to light, from dying to life, from aimless wandering to meaning and purpose.
The journey may be long, but it begins with one decision and one step.
Believe and live!
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us
2022 IS A YEAR OF REPENTANCE AND BLESSINGS
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