From Dream to Deliverance
Sunday, October 3, 2004
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Thank You for this Lord’s Day, when I may gather with brothers and sisters through Your Son, Jesus, to worship and glorify Your name in songs of praise, prayer, reflection on Your word, and giving of tithes and offerings as You have blessed me! Glorify Yourself in us this day, as we gather as Your family. This I pray in Jesus’ name, and for the sake of His ever expanding Kingdom! Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
John 3:1-21
1After dark one evening, a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a Pharisee, 2came to speak with Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are proof enough that God is with you.”
3Jesus replied, “I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.”
4“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5Jesus replied, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. 7So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again. 8Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9“What do you mean?” Nicodemus asked.
10Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11I assure you, I am telling you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe us. 12But if you don’t even believe me when I tell you about things that happen here on earth, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven? 13For only I, the Son of Man, have come to earth and will return to heaven again. 14And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole, 15so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
18“There is no judgment awaiting those who trust him. But those who do not trust him have already been judged for not believing in the only Son of God. 19Their judgment is based on this fact: The light from heaven came into the world, but they loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20They hate the light because they want to sin in the darkness. They stay away from the light for fear their sins will be exposed and they will be punished. 21But those who do what is right come to the light gladly, so everyone can see that they are doing what God wants.”
Reflecting on God’s Word
If you had the opportunity to ask Jesus any one question, what would you ask Him?
A Deeper Exploration of God’s Word
When did Nicodemus come to speak with Jesus? (3:1)
What question did Nicodemus ask Jesus? (Or did he ask a question?) (3:2)
What did Jesus tell Nicodemus a person has to do to inherit eternal life?
Understanding God’s Word
Why do you suppose Nicodemus came to Jesus at night?
Applying God’s Word to Our Lives
What one thing do you need to do as a result of reading today’s Scripture?
Thoughts...A Week of John 3:1-21
All this week we’ll be reading John 3:1-21, one of the most important Scriptures in the Bible. Here Jesus tells us that we must be born again and of God’s great love for us. The “Thoughts” section is intentionally brief so that each of us may invest more time dwelling on Jesus’ vital teaching here. Take the time each day not only to read the focus Scripture, but the entire text, and ask God to show You what He has for you to learn and apply!