A Picture of Love (4 of 4)
Series: Living Like Jesus
Jeff Strite
John 3:1-21
OPEN: A soldier serving overseas received a Dear John letter from his girlfriend back home. Not only was she cutting off their relationship - adding insult to injury - she wrote, ''Will you please return my favorite photograph of myself? I need it for my engagement picture in the local newspaper.''
The poor guy was devastated. But the soldiers in his unit came to his rescue. They went throughout the entire camp and collected pictures of all the other guys' girlfriends. Then they put them all in a shoe box and sent it to the girl along with this note:
''Please find your picture, and return the rest.
For the life of me, I can't remember which one you were!!''
APPLY: Pictures can say a lot.
Most people have pictures of loved ones in their wallets and purses.
Or on their walls at home.
Or on their desks at work.
Or they use them for wallpapers on their computers.
Those pictures are an expression of how much they are loved.
And John 3:16 has always been THE snapshot of how much God loves us.
It's simple, short, and to the point:
''God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.''
Now let's think a moment about what that picture of God's love means to us:
It tells you that God loves YOU and that He showed His love for you by giving you His Son to die for us on the cross. And He did this so that you could build your life on Jesus, because once we've built your life on Jesus - we now have hope.
That's what Ephesians 2:1-13 tells us when it says that we should
''remember that (before you became Christians) you were:''
- separate from Christ,
- excluded from citizenship in Israel
- foreigners to the covenants of the promise,
- without hope
- and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blo ...
Series: Living Like Jesus
Jeff Strite
John 3:1-21
OPEN: A soldier serving overseas received a Dear John letter from his girlfriend back home. Not only was she cutting off their relationship - adding insult to injury - she wrote, ''Will you please return my favorite photograph of myself? I need it for my engagement picture in the local newspaper.''
The poor guy was devastated. But the soldiers in his unit came to his rescue. They went throughout the entire camp and collected pictures of all the other guys' girlfriends. Then they put them all in a shoe box and sent it to the girl along with this note:
''Please find your picture, and return the rest.
For the life of me, I can't remember which one you were!!''
APPLY: Pictures can say a lot.
Most people have pictures of loved ones in their wallets and purses.
Or on their walls at home.
Or on their desks at work.
Or they use them for wallpapers on their computers.
Those pictures are an expression of how much they are loved.
And John 3:16 has always been THE snapshot of how much God loves us.
It's simple, short, and to the point:
''God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever should believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.''
Now let's think a moment about what that picture of God's love means to us:
It tells you that God loves YOU and that He showed His love for you by giving you His Son to die for us on the cross. And He did this so that you could build your life on Jesus, because once we've built your life on Jesus - we now have hope.
That's what Ephesians 2:1-13 tells us when it says that we should
''remember that (before you became Christians) you were:''
- separate from Christ,
- excluded from citizenship in Israel
- foreigners to the covenants of the promise,
- without hope
- and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blo ...
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