Today Our Daily Bread

~Today~
John 1: 1 - 18
1 In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. 4 In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. 6 There was a man named Johnn who was sent by God. 7 He came to tell people the truth about the Light so that through him all people could hear about the Light and believe. 8 John was not the Light, but he came to tell people the truth about the Light. 9 The true Light that gives light to all was coming into the world! 10 The Word was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him. 11 He came to the world that was his own, but his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They did not become his children in any human way -- by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God. 14 The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory -- the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father -- and he was full of grace and truth.
15 John tells the truth about him and cries out, saying, "This is the One I told you about: 'The One who comes after me is greater than I am, because he was living before me.'" 16 Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another. 17 The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father, and he has shown us what God is like.
New Century Version
New Century Version © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing,a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission

John 3:1-10
1 There was a man of the Pharisee sect, Nicodemus, a prominent leader among the Jews. 2 Late one night he visited Jesus and said, "Rabbi, we all know you're a teacher straight from God. No one could do all the God-pointing, God-revealing acts you do if God weren't in on it." 3 Jesus said, "You're absolutely right. Take it from me: Unless a person is born from above, it's not possible to see what I'm pointing to - to God's kingdom." 4 "How can anyone," said Nicodemus, "be born who has already been born and grown up? You can't re-enter your mother's womb and be born again. What are you saying with this 'born-from-above' talk?" 5 Jesus said, "You're not listening. Let me say it again.
Unless a person submits to this original creation - the 'wind hovering over the water' creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life - it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. 6 When you look at a baby, it's just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can't see and touch - the Spirit - and becomes a living spirit. 7 "So don't be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be 'born from above' - out of this world, so to speak. 8 You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it's headed next. That's the way it is with everyone 'born from above' by the wind of God, the Spirit of God." 9 Nicodemus asked, "What do you mean by this? How does this happen?" 10 Jesus said, "You're a respected teacher of Israel and you don't know these basics?
16-18
16 "This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17 God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18 Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
U.S.A. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002-2003 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
~ Lena’s Comments ~
Note The WORD IS a person, as we will see The Person of Jesus Christ! Whenever you read the word "Word" now in scripture, think – Person/Jesus Christ! You’ll see "The Word" in a greater light J
Are we also "religious" teachers? Ones who serve in Sunday school or ones who believe in God, but live as we wish to live, adding Godly activities into our lives every once in a while? This guy gave His life for the teaching of the scriptures, but did not have God’s Spirit in Him and Did NOT know God. He only knew the written down on paper words, he did not know the person- Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ wants to tell him what to do with the written down words and live them in everyday life, by loving rather than judging people by "the word". Without God’s Spirit, we are led by our own human spirits and we are led wrongly if we do not place our lives in Christ’s Body where the Word we hear is fine-tuned and clearly defined for us regularly.
THIS is such a serious passage of scripture and the enemy knows it, so he has even caused the world and every church member to recite it, knowing that reciting it is not understanding or seeing it. One cannot see it without having God’s Spirit alive inside of Him, So the whole world practically "knows" this, but do they really know it? Do they know and realize and participate in its message?
THIS IS the message of the GOSPEL –
God created Adam & Eve and placed them as rulers in the earth, to tend the earth and keep it safe, to rule over any enemies of God’s Spirit….
When Adam decided to give his life’s and the earth’s rule over to satan by eating from the tree God told him not to eat of, (the tree that satan talked him into eating of) God told Adam the he’d have to die. (Genesis 1:17) This was the death sentence that would have to be executed on mankind. The death was of an eternal nature; it was dying an eternal death in comparison to living an eternal life, which is what Adam and Eve were created to live in. Man began to die naturally as a result and an effect of the spiritual death happening. BUT the worst part of it was without trying very very hard to obey God and His commands, he’d die eternally where he’d be separated from God’s mercy and any chance of redemption, forever! There were laws set in order (read Deuteronomy for an example) to show man how impossible it would be to obey God on his own strength and with his own will. It showed man his need for help, his need for a Savior and a way out of this mess. In fact, the penalty was really great and it would take a whole lot to be able to pay sin’s price tag and wage. Thus Rom 6:23 The wages of sin are death (of an eternal nature) and the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord! & John 3:16-18 again sum it ALL up for us. 16 This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. 17 God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 18 Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
The good news is we do not have to die that eternal death that our sin’s penalty required of us, Jesus stepped in and did this for us, instead of us. God gave us the Savior we needed to help us do what we could not do on our own strength. The only strong thing we need to do is decide to follow after God’s Plan that He unfolded through His Son Jesus, by giving our lives in exchange for His. He isn’t asking us to die an excruciating death of torment and torture on a cross, as he did. He is asking us to choose Him and walk with Him, and help bring this gospel to anyone who will hear and accept it, that they too could receive salvation. It is about giving our living days over to His mission to save the world, not about dying and leaving the world unsaved.