John begins his famous gospel the same as Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning" draws the reader to the very thought of God's activity in the creation. (Some call it ID, intelligent design, now, God is probably not impressed.) Throughout the Old Testament, God only had to speak and it was done. The spoken word of God became the moving force for carrying out His will. John 1:1 points out that the life and power of the Word is Jesus. Jesus is the living agent of the Word of God which brings us to John 1:1-4.
Our preacher began his adult career as a teacher, a math teacher. Math, by its very nature, is an exercise in logic. This desire to make things "add up" has given our pastor a way of taking circumstances from life and use them to make biblical passages meaningful. This time it was teaching.
Every student who takes a math class will get a grade. Some will get the grade they desire. Why? Because they put out the effort, worked hard and knew what was necessary in order to get the grade. Some of the students who work for the semester may not quite have the grade they want. But there is a final test at the end of the course. If they work hard and prepare for the test, they may do well enough to get that desired grade.
Someday everyone will receive a final in life, the final grade. For believers the final grade desired is abundant life. In order to get this final grade, it's important to know where life comes from, which is found in the opening eighteen verses of John 1 and was a great text for one of Pastor Josh's sermons.
Our preacher began his adult career as a teacher, a math teacher. Math, by its very nature, is an exercise in logic. This desire to make things "add up" has given our pastor a way of taking circumstances from life and use them to make biblical passages meaningful. This time it was teaching.
Every student who takes a math class will get a grade. Some will get the grade they desire. Why? Because they put out the effort, worked hard and knew what was necessary in order to get the grade. Some of the students who work for the semester may not quite have the grade they want. But there is a final test at the end of the course. If they work hard and prepare for the test, they may do well enough to get that desired grade.
Someday everyone will receive a final in life, the final grade. For believers the final grade desired is abundant life. In order to get this final grade, it's important to know where life comes from, which is found in the opening eighteen verses of John 1 and was a great text for one of Pastor Josh's sermons.
