John 1: 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John *testified about Him and called out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who is coming after me has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’” 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him.
It is my desire to be a "good" finisher in whatever I do. When I start mowing a lawn, I will not be happy with it until I am done, finished, task completed. If I have something attempt to distract me or get me off focus I do not like it. When I made plans in my mnistry position in church I would always ask other staff members, "What is the purpose of what we are planning?" In most cases, they would look at me like they were saying "Lets just do what we did last year and get it on the calendar." That would frustrate me to no end, and I would say "Anyone can do things that way, but our calling sets us into a different realm of thinking!" Then they would laugh at me like I was some kind of idiot, and I would shut up and follow what they wanted to do as they planned in mediocrity. My asking a deeper question did not mean I was better than them, but my thinking was about the completeness of Jesus and who He was and what He did.
In the above scripture there are some very important words that can get overlooked if we don't look at it a little deeper. Here are the word. Verse 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Keep in mind that God started something before the foundations of the world, and it was His completeness that made it all happen. God is an awesome finisher and what He started He finished, even by sacrificing His only Son for the sins of the world. Jesus coming into the world wasn't some meaningless task by God to help us out. Jesus, the Word, came to complete what God started many years before it happened. God revealed how it was going to happen through prophets, and He protected Jesus, even as a baby, to ensure everything was done. Complete. If one of us humans attempted this we would do some temporary fixes to just get through the present situation. God set this plan in motion with everything taken care of to send salvation to the world.
Further in the above verses the writer goes on to say the following 15 John *testified about Him and called out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who is coming after me has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’” John was pointing to Jesus and saying that HE IS THE ONE! You know. The one the prophets spoke of and the one who is going to complete what God started. God had each of us in mind when Jesus came in glory to walk on this earth. Keep in mind that Jesus had human nature and He was also God, and He was perfect in every way in how He lived. He was the perfect example of fullness.
The result of this "fullness" was it was given to us in grace, as a gift. John went on to clarify how different this was than the law of Moses in verse 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. The Law failed in making us right with God because there was a "human" element in the mix and it failed again and again because of man's disobedience. God chose the best way to make this great plan to save mankind by putting Jesus in the mix. Jesus made it all complete, because of His divine nature. His death on the cross defeated sin and made us clean before the Lord. His victory over death, hell, and the grave gave us the hope of resurrection and eternal life with God. God's purpose was well thought out and perfect and His plan continues to work today, with the culmination of that plan being accomplished when Jesus comes again to catch us up in the clouds, which is known as The Rapture.
Jesus living as a man on this earth with flesh and blood explained God as verse 18 says 18 No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him. We have not seen God, but Jesus lived on this earth as a human and represented God in all of His actions. Jesus moved God's plan toward completion in a very perfect way. God said it this way through the prophet Isaiah 55 where it says 8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
We are also part of this plan as Jesus said when He left that He would send the Holy Spirit and we would do even more than He did. John 14:12 Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. We are capable of seeing God do great things through our lives IF we will turn to God in prayer and just ASK!! Find your vision for life and find your place in God's plan and you will be a part of Completeness Extreme!!
Today's Message
David Warren
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