We'll be reading John chapter 3, starting at
verse 22.
Let's stand.
We read the Word of God.
John chapter 3, starting at verse 22.
After these things came Jesus and his disciples
into the land of Judea.
And there he tarried with them and baptized.
And John also was baptizing in Enon near
to Salem, because there was much water there.
And they came and were baptized, for John
was not yet cast into prison.
Then there arose a question between some of
John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.
And they came unto John and said unto
him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond
Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the
same baptizeth, and all men come to him.
John answered and said, A man can receive
nothing except it be given him from heaven.
Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said,
I am not the Christ, but that I
am sent before him.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom,
but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
He that cometh from above is above all.
He that is of the earth is earthly,
and speaketh of the earth.
He that cometh from heaven is above all.
And what he hath seen and heard, that
he testifieth, and no man receiveth his testimony.
He that received his testimony hath set to
his seal that God is true.
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the
words of God.
For God giveth not the Spirit by measure
unto him.
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given
all things into his hand.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life, and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on him.
Let's pray.
Father, we ask that you would open up
our ears to hear, that there be an
anointing by your Spirit.
We thank you that you're here.
We pray for any that do not know
Jesus as their Savior, that there be a
quickening, a drawing in their heart to recognize
no matter what their experience is, no matter
how long maybe they've been in church or
whatever, that they must be born again, and
that they would understand.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life, and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of
God abideth on him.
Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
You may be seated.
We've been going through John, learning lessons, and
the title of this passage today, this message,
is Grasping.
Grasping.
Now, I have here a box.
This is a treasure box, and it is
a treasure.
Now, remember, our keyword is grasping.
Matter of fact, there is an interesting passage
I was just looking at in Proverbs 2,
about this area of treasure, where Solomon said,
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest
for her as for hid treasure, and he
was talking about the Word of God, he
said, so that thou incline thine ear, matter
of fact, he started in verse 1, My
son, if thou will receive my words, and
hide my commandments with thee, so that thou
incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine
heart to understanding, yea, if thou cryest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding,
if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest
for her as for hid treasure, then shalt
thou understand the fear of the Lord, and
find the knowledge of God.
Now, I'm going to set this treasure box
here, where everybody can keep their eye on
it, make sure nobody steals the treasure.
It's in there.
Want to know what the treasure is?
Huh?
Maybe we'll find out.
Maybe we won't.
We'll just see how things turn out.
Grasping.
A lot of different things you can say
about grasping, but let's just see what God
has to say to us from the Word
of God.
I'm not going to go back over a
review of where we've come through, John.
I'm just going to take you right to
where we're at right now.
We've just read in verse 22 about Christ
and His disciples in Judea.
We go to 23 and 24, and we
see John baptizing in the same area that
Jesus is.
There's an attempt.
There's an attempt by the Jews to get
something stirred up between the disciples of Christ,
and they're just there to cause trouble.
They're probably talking about, well, what's going to
purify?
This baptism or the ceremonial law that you
have, and they were probably, you know, Jews
like to get into it and throw themselves
into it, and you can imagine there might
have been some fur flying and a little
heat, and that's the way they get into
it.
They're just very intense people and very zealous
and very strong on what they believe.
So you can imagine all of these Jews
out there going over this point.
Now, they also wanted to get something started
between the two groups, between Jesus, who is
baptizing, and John the Baptist, who is baptizing,
trying to provoke John's jealousy.
And then you get to 27 and 28.
We looked at John's humility as we read
through there.
We went to John's joy, and then we
come to 30 through 35 through there, and
we see Christ's preeminence, and then we end
up with the eternal choice that is laid
out before us.
Now, here's the historical setting of this passage.
The Jews were occupied with externals, where a
lot of the church is today, occupied with
the externals of religion.
They also, since they're stirring up envy, what
a man usually stirs up, comes up, is
where he is himself, and so they were
envious themselves.
In verse 26, they came unto John and
said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with
thee beyond Jordan to whom thou bearest witness,
behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come
to him.
It wouldn't happen to be that they were
maybe envious because all of a sudden, there
are great multitudes out there in the desert
or out at the river now, and they
don't really draw the crowds like that.
This was an unusual thing, so they might
have been envious themselves very well it could
have been.
They, at this point, are Christ's rejecters.
They're not there to receive from the Lord.
They are rejecting Christ.
And something else, they didn't understand John.
If they were to listen to him the
first time, he made it very clear he
wasn't the Messiah.
He was there to push and to promote
Christ.
Now, the physical setting in verse 23, John
also was baptized in Enon near to Salem
because there was much water there.
Physically, they're at a place that's very pleasant.
Enon means place of springs, and Salem means
peace.
Sort of a contrast where we came from.
John started off in the wilderness, in the
desert, desert man.
John came preaching in the wilderness, the Scripture
says.
And now the setting is very pleasing.
Wherever there's springs, this is called Spring River
because it comes out of springs.
Two main springs, I understand.
I've seen where one of them is and
the other one I haven't seen.
But this is the setting.
There's much water there, meaning that there was
probably some deep pools.
Sometimes in spring areas, there's some very deep
water.
And that was necessary for the baptizing that
was going on.
They liked the deep water so that it
would be easier to baptize.
The political setting of this situation is probably
the same bunch of Jews that came in
John chapter 1.
And around verse 25, when we covered that,
they asked him and said unto him, Why
baptizest thou if thou be not that Christ?
Nor Elias, neither that prophet.
Politically, the setting is they are still the
same set of unbelieving Jews.
They are a self-appointed authority over men.
If you don't do what they think you
should do, then you'd be cast out like
the man that was cast out of the
temple when Jesus healed him.
And when we get to John chapter 9,
they were just a bunch of controlling, unbelieving
Jews.
But Jesus, by the time he gets done
with them, there's going to be a lot
of believers.
Nicodemus, we've already covered him.
He's one.
Now, the spiritual setting.
Here's the old working of Satan again to
set a trap, the old trick of the
enemy to divide and conquer.
Divide and conquer.
And they're trying to do that.
Well, we're not making any headway, so we'll
go down there and try to get something
going between them, get them to fighting.
And it doesn't work.
John's answer in John chapter 3 in verse
27, John answered and said, A man can
receive nothing except to be given him from
heaven.
He speaks of the sovereignty of God in
that verse.
He speaks of the Lord.
He reminds the Jews that he was sent
in 28.
I am sent before him.
In verse 29, he reminds the Jews that
Israel belongs to Christ.
All these people wasn't his.
They belong to the Lord.
He wasn't possessive.
And in verse 30, he reminds them of
proper procedure.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
This is the right thing in life.
This was the right thing for his mission.
And he was headed for a beheaded.
His purpose in life was just to promote
Christ to exalt him.
Is ours any different now?
Let's look at some lessons as we slip
through here a couple of times, couple of
different ways.
Let's see if there are any lessons in
their first lesson that I saw in verse
23.
And John also was baptized in Enoch near
to Salem because there was much water there
and they came and were baptized.
John ministered in the wilderness first.
And then we see him over in the
spring area, close to Jesus.
The lesson here I see as we are
faithful in the desert, as we're faithful in
the desert, then the Lord will draw us
to minister closer to him in a place
of blessing.
He tests our spirit.
He stretches us.
He puts us through all of this so
that we will be able to work with
him, right there with him without trying to
take any of his honor, trying to take
any of his praise and his glory.
And this is why we're going to get
in this lesson here with John.
John is right there near Jesus.
His crowds are diminishing and he just keeps
on going on.
Interesting lesson there.
So as you're faithful in the desert, then
Jesus will draw you to minister closer to
him by the springs in the place of
blessing.
Now, there's another lesson here while we're right
there.
Verse 23.
The crowds have dropped for John and from
all appearance, it looks like his ministry is
diminishing.
From all appearance, it looks like he's on
the way out as the preacher terminology is.
He's being placed on a shelf.
He's being placed on a shelf and he's
being replaced.
No problem for John.
And the lesson there is faithfulness to our
duty for the Lord.
Second lesson.
We'll be revealed and are continuing on no
matter how the circumstances change.
Easy to go up, not so easy to
come down.
Paul said, Let us not be weary in
well-doing for in due season we shall
reap if we faint not.
Now, as we slip down through there, there
is verse 26.
I want to show you a lesson there.
It's a lesson on envy.
Of course, we could take a whole session
on this.
But he said, They said to him, To
whom thou bearest witness, Behold, the same baptizeth
and all men come to him.
If there is any envy, it shows up
in an unsurrendered area of our life.
It wouldn't stick with John.
Just like he was greased with grace and
the goodness of God and greased and filled
with the Spirit.
Envy wouldn't stick in him.
That old dart wouldn't stick.
It couldn't find a place.
So there was no unsurrendered ground.
The Bible says, Who is able to stand
before envy?
It's one of the most powerful weapons that
the enemy uses to divide us.
And these Jews, because they were energized by
their fleshly, demonic, influenced minds, they grabbed a
hold of this dart, knowing that this would
be a deadly dart.
All right.
Who is able to stand before envy?
That's Proverbs 27.4. I believe the Jews
were full of envy.
It was a political system that they had.
Just, you know, if you patted this priest
on the shoulder or whatever, he would see
if you got a bigger vacation or a
better position or whatever it did.
Just like in Acts 13.45, when Paul
and them, when they came in there preaching
and they gathered the crowds there and they
preached and that was great and everything.
But the next Sunday, there were big crowds,
huge crowds.
And then the Scripture says, But when the
Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with
envy.
Envy will reveal the flaw in your heart.
I was reading, I went back over to
that old passage in Philippians about Paul.
Where he said, I can do all things
through Christ which strengthens me.
I can do all things.
He had learned.
He said, I know both how to be
abased and I know how to abound everywhere
in all things I am instructed, both to
be full and to be hungry, both to
abound and to suffer need.
You remember what he had said back in
the first part of that book then?
He said, some were preaching Christ.
Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and
strife.
And some also of goodwill.
He said, the dart doesn't stick in me.
If Christ preaches great, praise the Lord.
The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely
supposing to add affliction to my bonds.
He said, it didn't add it.
It didn't stick.
That dart doesn't work.
But the other of love, knowing that I
am set for the defense of the gospel,
what then?
Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in
truth, Christ is preached.
I therein do rejoice, and yea, and will
rejoice.
Pure heart.
Envy, oh dart of envy, doesn't stick in
a pure heart.
Now there's another lesson and it's in verse
27.
John answered and said, a man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
That's an interesting statement, isn't it?
Man can receive nothing, except it be given
him from heaven.
Let me just say this in a little
bit different way.
But listen.
Before man can receive spiritual things, he must
be given spiritual things from heaven.
Have you ever thought about that?
You've got to receive.
Yes, you have to receive, but before you
receive, you have to recognize that God is
giving.
God's doing the giving.
All things come from above first.
And these Jews will not receive because they
thought that everything come from them.
And actually, they look to themselves for their
wisdom and the direction that they had.
If they were looking to God, well, God,
what about this man out in the wilderness?
What about this one who they're saying may
be the Messiah?
They were going to God.
Give us instruction and wisdom.
If they would have, then they would have
received from above.
And so, John says, a man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
God has given to me.
I have received what God has given to
me.
All things come from above.
I've got a story.
I should have looked it up.
It's about a little boy.
I've shared it before.
His dad was going to die, and so
he told his son before he died, he
said, remember this, as you go through life,
you go through a lot of hard things,
that all things come from above.
And there was a series of things that
happened to him as he went through life.
And in the story, one of them, like
he was very poor, and so he did
whatever he could to get some money.
And one man hired him to deliver a
letter, very important letter, he told him, very
important.
And he was going, and he jumped the
stream, and he slipped, and he fell in
the stream, and he lost the letter in
the process.
And oh, he was really scared.
And he went back, and he told the
man, but before he did, he said, well,
all things come from above.
That's what dad said.
And so he went back, told the man,
the man was very, very angry at him.
And he went on.
A few days later, the man contacted him
again, gave him a great big fat reward.
And he said, if you would have delivered
that letter, I would have been financially ruined
because I delivered that letter in anger.
And he learned some more facts about it.
And so he gave the boy a nice
big fat reward.
And you know what the little boy said?
All things come from above.
The bad and the good.
And the story just went like that.
Different things happening to him.
All right.
Before man can receive spiritual things, he must
be given spiritual things.
And actually, if God first gives, and he
does, and if we receive, then there will
be no room on our part for boasting,
envy, pride, fear, bitterness, anger, all those different
things, worry.
John knew who he was.
John knew where he came from.
John knew what his commission was.
He was sent to proclaim and to push
Christ.
And he says, I am sent before Him.
He said, a man can receive nothing except
it be given him from heaven.
You yourselves bear me witness that I said
I am not the Christ, but that I
am sent before Him.
God gave.
I received.
And so he's saying that.
In verse 29, he talks about the bride.
Traditionally, this is looked at.
I went and looked at a couple of
my commentaries.
And they say that the bride refers to
the church here.
And I'm not going to get into it
now, but it's a very interesting thing that
the church hasn't even been born yet at
this point.
They're dealing with Israel.
John was sent to Israel.
Jesus was sent primarily at that time.
His mission was to Israel.
Remember the woman that came about the crumbs
under the table?
And he says, and so when these commentaries
say this refers to the church.
I'm scratching my head and say, wow, we're
really scratching around and maybe stretching here a
little bit.
This is interesting.
And I went back and studied and the
church is referred to as the bride.
That's not any problem there.
But it was just the bride here really
is presented as a company of regenerated Israelites
who were receiving the Messiah at this context,
right in this section.
And the work is not completed with this
aspect of the bride of Christ.
Matter of fact, we are referred to as
a body.
In the New Testament, we're at a body.
And God's going to get some things together
and we'd have to go over to Revelation
19-21 and look in there and see
how Jerusalem comes down from above adorned as
a bride.
And there are precious jewels in there.
But anyway, I thought this was an interesting
little thing that John the Baptist used this
as a word picture to them.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom, this would
be John the Baptist, which standeth and heareth
him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
This my joy therefore is fulfilled.
This is why envy wouldn't stick in him.
He was not to marry the bride.
The bride was for the groom.
And so, what would have been the problem
is if he hung on to part of
the multitude and said, oh, you stay with
me.
But his job was to get them to
go to Jesus.
What's your job?
Who are you getting the people to go
to?
This is why guys in their churches, many
build up their own kingdoms.
They want the multitudes for themselves.
There's another lesson.
Matter of fact, I'm going to take you
through a series of six lessons as we
move on ahead, as we move on down
through the passage.
In verse 29, we had this.
Notice, there's the standing.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom,
but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth
and heareth him.
John stood.
The two disciples stood with him at the
first two.
He says they stood.
They looked and they heard.
I noticed these three things.
And here's the lesson, spiritual lesson for us.
We must stand before we can hear him.
I was never taught this in all those
years in college.
I was taught you're going to be trained,
you're going to be equipped to go out
there and really do a job.
But I never did have a course on
standing, being still, listening, receiving from God, and
then going out.
It was all geared for head knowledge, going
out and throwing in a little prayer here
and there.
They didn't teach us to stand still, to
go and get it out of prayer.
In the times, listen to God.
What's God have to say?
If he doesn't have anything to say, you'd
be quiet.
Grasping for the wrong treasure leaves you with
an empty basket, leaves you empty.
And this is why so much burnout and
so much dissatisfaction in the churches, in their
lives.
This is why so many people now are
roaming around here and there looking for a
church, whatever, because they receive so little from
this type of a system.
But John, he says, they stand it.
He stood and he heard and then he
rejoiced.
And so this is what I say.
We must stand before we can hear him.
Standing is a cessation of activity.
And so here it is.
Standing, hearing, rejoicing.
These three things, I wrote them down.
Standing, hearing, be still, hear, and then rejoice.
And so if you don't stand and you
don't hear and you want to have the
joy, what do you do?
You pump up some artificial joy.
And so we got our artificial joy programs
around today.
Because we won't be still.
A lot of places are very noisy places.
You can't even hear yourself think.
Music would be so loud in there.
You can't hear God.
All you can hear is the drumbeat of
the activity of man driven, many, by other
spirits.
Here's another lesson out of these little six
concluding lessons.
Joy, I notice, is the byproduct of hearing
the bridegroom's voice.
It's the byproduct.
And that's a perfect tense, too.
Hearing, continuous action, continued, keep hearing, continue.
Okay, verse 30.
Now let's slip on down.
He must increase, but I must decrease.
This lesson is very obvious.
The more I decrease, the more I delight
in standing and hearing.
Now let me say it again.
Because it may not be as obvious as
you think.
The more I decrease, the more I delight
in standing and hearing.
Do you delight in being still?
Do you delight in quietness and calmness?
Some don't know what it is.
From the time they get up in the
morning, they flip on the radio, and they're
doing this and that, and they have no
periods of silence.
So how can you hear God, who's continually
speaking?
The more I stand and hear, the more
He will increase.
To decrease is to be less occupied with
ourselves.
Interesting that Jesus would say, no man can
serve two masters.
Either he'll love the one and hate the
other.
And I wonder if a lot of this
stuff going around that we call Christianity isn't
just self-love and self-service.
And we go through all of this.
A fourth lesson.
Humility is the byproduct of being occupied with
Christ.
A lot of people want to be humble.
I want to be humble, but I can't
be humble.
All I can do is occupy myself with
Christ and humility will be the byproduct.
John the Baptist was occupied with Christ.
His sole mission, his desire, his love, his
heartbeat was for the Messiah.
Hey, you better be a little bit concerned
about yourself, John.
He's getting bigger crowds.
Not concerned about John at all.
Just concerned that Jesus would be lifted up.
Humility.
And so, he was humble.
And because of his position of being so
low, Jesus said, among those that are born
of women, there's none greater than John the
Baptist.
What a testimony of the Messiah for him.
Humility is the byproduct of being occupied with
Christ.
We're changed from glory to glory, 2 Corinthians
3.18. By what you look at will
change you.
His whole focus was on Jesus and that
changed him and made him such a wonderful,
beautiful person in himself because of his looking
at Jesus.
Verse 31.
He that cometh from above is above all.
He that is of the earth is earthly
and speaketh of the earth.
He that cometh from above is above all.
He that is of the earth is earthly
and speaketh of the earth.
He that cometh from heaven is above all.
This is not the same as world and
worldly, I don't think.
John was saying, I live in this earth.
I'm earthly.
Men, we're earthly.
But Jesus, He's not.
He's different.
He came from above.
He that cometh from heaven is above all.
So He's above us.
And the lesson here, I think, that Christ
would give us is that we are limited
by our finite grasp.
Now, there's a treasure in the box.
The one that gets the treasure is the
one that will grasp it.
John is saying, we're earthly.
But we've got to understand that and his
lesson there, Jesus is not.
He's from above.
And what He has seen and heard that
He testifies and no man received His testimony.
It's just like a treasure.
If you're going to get the treasure that's
in the box, you've got to go over
there and open the box and get it.
Do you want the treasure?
If you want the treasure, you go over
to the box, you open it up and
you get it.
If you want the treasure, you grab a
hold of it.
And He's trying to get these guys to
understand.
We've got to move out of the earthly
realm and into the spiritual realm.
And He said about the Lord and what
He has seen and heard that He testifies
and no man received His testimony.
Now, here's an interesting lesson.
In this lesson on being limited by our
finite grasp, by our understanding or whatever, Jesus
had no limitations.
John's telling them.
And then He comes out with this lesson
here in verse 32.
And what He has seen and heard that
He testifies and no man received His testimony.
Now, I think this is interesting.
An interesting lesson.
Statistics are feeble in measuring spiritual results.
Notice what He said.
No man received His testimony.
You go back over to 326.
They came in as John said unto Him,
Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan
to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same
baptizeth.
And all men come to Him.
They're measuring big multitudes.
John said unto him, Statistics are feeble.
We left off in 224 where Jesus would
not commit Himself.
Jesus did not commit Himself unto them because
He knew all men.
So this is a lesson we need to
take to heart.
We know politicians can drum up the statistics
for whatever their purpose.
News media, we know they do that all
the time.
So statistics really depend on who's putting them
together.
You want a true statistic, you get somebody
that's neutral.
John had a true statistic there.
Really, very few are receiving Him.
Have you received His testimony?
Have you received His word?
Let me ask you this question.
I'm going to close down.
Why don't men receive Jesus?
Why would not these Jews receive His testimony?
What would really be in the heart of
a man to keep them from rejecting the
gospel?
Think about it.
Actually, for someone to reject the gospel, they
are just crazy.
To reject Christ, they are just crazy because
they're going to die and go spend eternity
in hell and burn forever.
So what would make them do that?
Some, you'd say, well, they're earthly minded.
They're too educated.
Some are too brilliant.
They just can't figure it out.
Some are too proud.
Some are too high-born, just too dignant.
They can't bow down.
It's too much for them.
They're too haughty.
They're whatever.
You know, the scripture says to the Jews,
Jesus was a stumbling block.
And to the Greeks, He was foolishness.
To you, most of us here today, we
would say He is our light, delight.
He is our love.
So why would people want to reject Jesus?
The root reason for the rejection of Christ
is in this chapter.
It's in verse 19.
You remember that?
And this is the condemnation that light has
come into the world and men love darkness
rather than light because their deeds were evil.
Because people love their sin.
They love darkness.
Then verse 33, as we slip on down,
just make some comments on this.
He that hath received His testimony hath set
to His seal that God is true.
Set to His seal that God is true.
This is a meaning to certify or to
ratify.
Is your life a ratification or confirmation that
God is true?
I think this is why John says, back
over in 1 John 3, and it's so
powerful, that He that is controlled by sin
has a testimony, has His seal that He
is not free, that God is not true
in His life.
And then verse 34.
For he whom God has sent speaketh the
words of God.
For God giveth not the Spirit by measure
unto Him.
And basically words there is Ramos.
The Spirit abode upon Him.
It's said in 1 John 3, and we
started off in the book that the Spirit
abode on Christ.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of
God.
So John is saying, for he whom God
has sent speaketh the words of God.
He said, Jesus of Nazareth is speaking the
Word of God.
You can't speak the Word of God unless
you're God.
He said, actually, every word He spoke was
the Word of God.
So if we take the Word of God
and change it, I wouldn't want to be
in trouble with the Lord for doing that.
So He said, every rhema, every word that
He came, came out of His mouth, was
actually from God.
And He set to His seal that God
is true.
The words are Ramos.
Now, and then verse 35.
The Father loveth the Son and hath given
all things into His hand.
Look at the depth of the understanding of
John the Baptist in the relationship between Jesus
of Nazareth and God.
He understood.
The Father loveth the Son and hath given
all things into His hand.
Who taught John these things?
The Spirit of God did.
And then he comes up with this closing
verse.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life.
This is what John says later on when
he records in 1 John.
He that hath the Son hath life.
Do you have life?
Either you have it, or you don't.
Do you have this treasure?
Have you grasped it?
Either you have it, or you don't.
So far nobody's got up and got into
the box to get the treasure.
Grasping is a matter of taking a hold
and getting it.
And the first one to do it gets
it.
Just like receiving Christ.
If you get Him, you've got the treasure.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life.
And he that believeth not the Son shall
not see life, but the wrath of God
abideth on him.
If you want the treasure, you've got to
get up and go open the box and
grasp the treasure.
If you want Jesus, He's given, you have
to receive Him.
It comes from above.
Who would like that treasure?
Whoever would like eternal life has to grab
a hold of the eternal treasure.
And whoever would like to have that treasure
in that box has got to get up
and go over there and get it.
Boys and girls, do you understand me?
You're welcome.
Boy, did you all know there was a
treasure in that box?
John did.
He knew something was in the box.
He got the message.
And when we go through this week, our
business is going to be get people to
get that treasure out of the box.
Get Jesus.
Receive Jesus.
Not to push ourselves.
Don't be concerned if this happens or that
about our circumstances.
Keep on being faithful.
Let's pray.
We thank you, Father, for ministering to us.
We thank you for your word.
Lord, help us to grasp a hold of
that which you had for us today.
May have been just one little nugget, one
little statement that you had for us.
And that one little thing, if that's what
you want, is all we need for today.
We may not remember anything else.
And we remember very little.
We can't even remember what was preached last
week.
But if we'll remember that and let it
carry us through this week, somewhere along the
line, this week, it's going to be a
valuable thing for us.
Maybe it's a valuable thing right this moment.
Thank you for blessing us.
Thank you for coming by here.
Thank you for loving us.
Thank you for dying on the cross for
us.
Help us to grasp what a treasure you
are.
Not to get all wrapped up like the
Jews in the ceremonialism and all of that
stuff and to miss out on the true
treasure.
Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name.
Amen.