Category: John
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Preparing the Way
John 1:6-8 There was a man sent from God. This man was not Jesus. John, the gospel writer, suddenly stops talking about Jesus in order to introduce another character in his narrative—John. He is not introducing himself. This is a different John, John the baptizer. John the baptizer is a man sent from God. He…
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Let Me Introduce You to This Jesus
John 1:1-2 Have you ever wondered what came first? I mean, something had to come first, right? Many stories have been told about the origins of all that exists in what we perceive as a very material, raw, and observable universe. Perhaps it was a chance universe with chance physical laws amid many other chance…
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Dismount the High Horses
John 1:14-18 John has introduced the Word, who was with God and was God in the beginning. I believe this is the word through whom God spoke creation into being. I believe it is the Voice of God that was walking in the Garden in Genesis 3. I believe it is the Word the prophets…
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Follow the Money; John 2:13-22
Jesus was not opposed to violence. He was opposed to injustice. It is unjust for any church or clergyman to interest themselves in making money because they will end up using people instead of ministering to them. Like the pyramids were built on the backs of slaves, so Saint Peter’s Basilica was built on the…
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Jesus, The Supplier of our Faith; Devo, John 2:1-12
The turning of water to wine at Cana is a popular story. Many people take many details from the text to expound on them, but I think it is important to keep ourselves from saying what the text does not say. After all, we want to speak God’s explicit words and not our own. There…
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Jesus Sees Us; Devo, John 1:43-51
Philip and Nathaniel follow Jesus. I don’t know why Nathaniel was under the fig tree, but Jesus’s divine knowledge of the occasion was enough to persuade Nathaniel that He was indeed the Son of God. Jesus promised Nathaniel he would see much greater things, including angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man—Jesus’s favorite…
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What do You Seek? Devo, John 1:35-42
John the Baptizer introduces two of his disciples to Jesus—Andrew and Simon Peter. We don’t often think about these two having first been disciples of John the Baptizer. After John introduced them to Jesus and upon hearing Jesus teach, the two men started following Jesus. Jesus asked them a question we should all consider, “What…
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Baptism in the Holy Spirit: Daily Devo, John 1:29-34
When I read this passage at face-value, it seems as though John the Baptizer does not know his cousin is the messiah until the Holy Spirit descends in this moment. This was not a premeditated rouse to capture followers for a new religion or cult. Jesus didn’t tell John. John was prepared to testify to…
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I’m No Prophet or Messiah: Daily Devo, John 1:19-34
John the Baptizer begins his public ministry, comprising mostly preaching Old Testament messianic passages and baptizing Jews who come to him. Some leading Jews come out from Jerusalem to question John, but John was not trying to be the next public teaching figure. Unlike others, he was not claiming to be the literal resurrection of…
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No One Can See God at Any Time: Daily Devo, John 1:14-18
The Word, Jesus, became flesh. I don’t understand this to mean that the divine transformed into flesh but rather assumed human flesh, such that the human flesh and nature was added to the divine nature without losing the divine nature in any degree or respect. In this incarnation, we were finally able to behold God—full…