John 1–12 for You: Find Deeper Fulfillment as You Meet the Word (God’s Word for You | GWFY)

Top Highlights

“the Gospel of John is ‘deep enough for an elephant to swim and shallow enough for a child not to drown.’” (Page 17)

“John has shown us the Word, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus, walking, speaking and doing signs so that those who met him then and meet him today might believe. We have seen that some have met him and believed, albeit in seed form; and as we turn the corner of this Gospel from the book of signs to the book of glory—as we move toward the place where the Son of Man will be glorified at the cross—we are called, like John’s first readers, to find our life in him, through faith in him, by receiving his word. The thief has come to steal and kill and destroy, Jesus says to us. But I have come that you might have life, and life to the full. Receive him, follow him, love, obey and enjoy him—and find life in him today.” (Page 207)

“Is it due to the downplaying of the role of personal evangelism—of individual, faithful, unheralded witnessing—that our churches are so weak? Is it because we do not emphasize one-on-one discipleship conversations over a cup of coffee that we do not see more great leaders and preachers? If we do not have Andrews, then, under God’s providence, we are unlikely to have Peters.” (Page 34)

“A third option is that by ‘water and the Spirit,’ Jesus actually means both terms as descriptions of the supernatural birth. There are Old Testament prophetic predictions that refer to the work of the Spirit in the New Testament that link that work to water as well (Ezekiel 36:25–26; Isaiah 44:3). The most likely interpretation, then, seems to be that Jesus is saying in John 3:5 that the Spirit must be poured out like water so that someone is born from above. In which case, both ‘water’ and ‘the Spirit’ refer to the supernatural work of God in causing someone who believes in Jesus to be born again.” (Page 58)