TUESDAY, May 27th, 2008

Hope you had a great day yesterday! I know that I did: I was able to spend some time with my Mom and Dad, my sister and brother in-law, and two of my nephews: and of course my favorite two people, Katie and Will. We had lots of fun! It was a great day! I hope that yours was as well!

A few thoughts from yesterday:
Alex: Good to have you back man!! We missed you on Sunday!
Gaby: Hey girl, We missed you too: where were you at?
Amy: are you in Texas yet? Hey! Encourage Tricia to join us on here!
Rob: Good Stuff Man! But I think you lost me when you got to the pebbles, the ripples and the lake. :) Thanks for being faithful on here! (I want to go see Indiana Jones ASAP... call me!)
Brooke: Wow. That was quite a bit of info! I enjoyed it. My advice would be to take the low road with your friend. Maybe even write a note explaining what you said on your blog, and explaining to her what really happened, while asking for forgiveness for anything you could have even possibly done wrong. (even if it was an accident, or a miscommunication)
Katie: Great application!! I love your perspective on that! I Love you too! :)
Rachel: I dont think that I could have explained what you said, nearly as good as how you put it! Great Job! I like the way you said: "Who wants to be evil on the inside and the outside?!?"
GOOD STUFF!!!

John 3:9-16
9 Nicodemus (or Nick to Jonathan Massey) answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

So, this is one of the greatest passages about Salvation in the whole Bible! I love to use verses 14-16 to explain Salvation! I will share that with you in one second, but first I will adress the beginning of the passage.
In verses 9-13 we see that Nick is still talking to Jesus, and Nick says: "How can this be??". He was asking Jesus: "How can this be true?" Then Christ says to him: I thought you were a religious teacher, a wise man in the knowledge of God. But if you were then Why dont you believe this foundational stuff?

Here is what I mean: Nick was basically telling Christ, even though I am a religious ruler, I dont know that I can believe this. Christ responded to him in verses 12 and 13 by saying: "If you cant believe this basic stuff, about God here on earth, then HOW IN THE WORLD do you think that you will be able to understand the GREAT THINGS I have to tell you about Heaven!

That is pretty exciting! Think about it, We think God is wonderful and great now... We dont even have a clue of how truely Great He is, because we can't grasp it in our mind.

OK. Now quickly on to the second point: Verses 14-16 are great too!

In the book of Numbers, God must punish the children of Israel by allowing poisonous snakes to flood the people and kill them. Well Moses went to God to bag God to spare the people. God said ok, I will only spare the ones that trust me: Here is how I will do it. God tells moses to build a statue of a snake and hold it up. God told Moses to tell the people, if they wanted to be saved, God said to look at the snake. Well, some people looked and were healed and some people thought Moses was crazy and they did not look, and they were not healed.

Salvation is the same way: God saysthat when Moses lifted that snake up, the people showed they believed by looking toward the snake; in the same way, Christ has been lifted up on the cross, and we must look to Him in faith to receive his gift of Salvation. Looking to Him, is the actions that prove our belief. Good stuff right there!

Then we all know John 3:16. Try to read it as if it were the first time! It is pretty amazing to think of God's love for us!

What are you thoughts about this passage?