Time. It is so much a part of our life that we cannot even comprehend existence without it. We try to fathom eternity, but we cannot. We think of time going on and on and on, and yet God is without time – He was before time. Time doesn’t even apply to Him; He created it! And He created us to live forever. Someone once said, “I’ve never met a mortal.” What this means is that every soul in existence will go on for eternity. Once time stops for each of us, eternity begins. We thank the Lord that He has secured our eternity forever with Him through Jesus Christ!

All of us are concerned about our material possessions! The “Gold Guy”(William Devane) says, “I’ve worked hard for my money and I don’t plan on losing it now.” His solution, “It’s time to buy GOLD!” In contrast Jesus tells us “don’t be concerned about tomorrow” …..”Lay up for your selves treasure in heaven.” That sounds foolish doesn’t it? This morning our Lord Jesus tells us a parable about a “Rich fool” who built “larger barns to store all his possessions” so as not to lose them. The foolishness of the rich man was not that he worked hard and became rich. His foolishness consisted of the fact that he left God out. He foolishly chose to remain outside of the Kingdom of God. “He was not rich toward God.” God provides everyone rich and poor, young and old, strong and week, the TRUE riches of His eternal Kingdom….Jesus Christ “though He was rich yet for our sakes became poor that by His poverty we might become rich!” We rejoice together as we receive and partake of THE TRUE LASTING RICHES.

Today John paints a portrait of Jesus as the Light of the world. He actually opens the Gospel with the words, “the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9). So Jesus as the Light is not a new concept to John – nor to us. In the Nicene Creed, we profess Jesus as “Light of Light.” Quite simply, we recognize that Jesus is the very source of all light – and that even when God said “Let there be light!” in the third verse of Genesis, Jesus was its source. In today’s Gospel, Jesus brings light to the eyes of a man who has only known darkness. We pray that He will open the eyes of a world darkened by sin and unbelief. Illumine us, Lord Jesus

Water – it’s essential to life. Jesus – He’s essential to life. Jesus *is* the living water. Not only does He supply us with the water we need for life, but He supplies us with so much living water, that we overflow. “Streams” of living water flow from within us – who believe in Jesus – the Bible says! How can we bring that living water to a dry and thirsty land? Who do you know that needs Jesus, the Living Water?

The Apostle John makes clear in John 20:31 that his purpose is to exalt the person of Jesus so that people put their faith in Him and are saved. To portray Jesus so that more people will receive Him, John reveals Jesus in a variety of ways that are different in each chapter. Today we see the "portrait" of Jesus as The Great Physician. What makes Him the Great Physician is not that He can heal the body, but that He can heal the soul! The body is still fragile and eventually dies - even those Jesus healed eventually died. Rather, Jesus is the Great Physician because of the healing that He brings to the soul - that's an eternal healing!

John 3:16, probably the most well-known verse in all of Scripture, is found in the chapter of John we study today. But what else is in John chapter 3? In fact, what is the context in which Jesus utters his famous words about God’s love being so great as to prompt His sending his only Son to save the world? The context, we will see, is Jesus explaining what it means to be born again. How is one born again? Have you been born again?

In John's Gospel we see a side of Christ that the other Gospel writers do not touch on. John was part of that blessed inner circle, that handful of Disciples that was with Christ during some of His most intimate moments. Each chapter presents a new facet of Jesus’ divine character.