A.W. Tozer's materials are a mainstay in Evangelical churches in our day and he is one of the most quoted authors. He was a prophet in his day and his writings are even more influential in our day. One of his books: The Pursuit of God, has had over 1 million copies sold world-wide.

Morning and Evening with A.W. Tozer

Man - The Dwelling Place of God - How to Try the Spirits

<blockquote>
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (<a id="verse_1632879367418670" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Jeremiah/31/3">Jer. 31:3</a>).
</blockquote>God is the first and only Cause. He always makes the first move. "For God so loved. . . that He gave"; "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you" (<a id="verse_1632879367437484" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/John/3/16">John 3:16</a>; <a id="verse_1632879367272311675" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/John/3/15">15</a>:16). Even the hunger of the heart necessary for our response to His love comes from Him. "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus" (<a id="verse_1632879367292449" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-Peter/5/10">I Pet. 5:10</a>). He brought us to His Son; He will make us like His Son."If you feel the drawing of God within, cherish it as you would cherish a great treasure. If you are aware of a deep hunger, if you are entering into a closer walk with Him, do not look upon it carelessly, nor treat it lightly. But if you do not feel the divine drawing and hunger for God, cry to Him that He will give it you; and ever remember that the desire for hunger is the beginning of hunger, and that you cannot feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ until you are spiritually hungry." -H. McI."Our Lord is generous in His provision, but He is neither casual nor wasteful. There must be a real hunger and felt need. It is a fixed principle with the Lord that He does not move until something like desperation makes it evident that it is His move." -T. A-S."No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me attracts and draws him and gives him the desire to come to Me" (<a id="verse_1632879367698345" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/John/6/44">John 6:44</a>, Amp.).

A 365 day devotional that will help you in your Christian growth and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  This devotional is a collection of quotes from some of the best authors in the realm of Christian growth that has been organized by Miles J Stanford.  This devotional study is divided into 12 sections each containing 31 daily portions.

None but the Hungry Heart

 Love Draws And Conforms 

For God loved the world so much.... (John 3:16 NLT)


There is a great 
weight made to rest upon that little word "for" – "For 
God so loved the world." We say that John 3:16 is the heart of the gospel: but 
it is much more than that, it is the heart of the universe. There is back of all 
things in this created universe a heart; not just a mind or a will, a design, a 
reason, a power, a fiat, but a heart. We are familiar with the attempts to prove 
there is a design in creation, that there is a mind behind the universe, and 
that a will brought it into being. That is all quite good and right; but we are 
not so often asked to consider that behind it all there is a heart – and more 
heart than anything else. The reason, the will, the design, come from the heart. 
Everything takes its rise in the heart of God. 


We have said much 
about the thoughts of God, the counsels of God. The nearer we get to the very 
center of things, the more we shall become affected by this fact, that right 
there in the center is a heart. It is a heart that we shall come to eventually; 
not an explanation to satisfy our reason, not a demonstration of power, but just 
a heart – but a mighty heart: and when we use that word rightly, we simply mean 
love. We speak of people being heartless. That means that they are without all 
that love means. Love is not the governing thing in their thoughts, actions, and 
motives; they are strangers to love. Heart then, for us, means love, and when we 
say that back of all things and at the center of all things there is a heart, we 
mean there is love.

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

His Great Love - Chapter 1

 His Great Heart of Love 

God … has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. § God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that  whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 

<blockquote>
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (<a id="verse_1632880485877475" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Romans/8/39">Rom. 8:39</a>).
</blockquote><a id="verse_1632880485661660" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/John/3/16">John 3:16</a>: The Saviour laid down His life for His enemies. <a id="verse_1632880485488820" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/1-John/3/16">1 John 3:16</a>: We are to "lay down our lives for the brethren." The death of the Cross spells love for both friend and enemy."If we get a wrong idea about the inward working of the Cross we shall lose our own enjoyment of God's love and fail to manifest that love to others. We have no doubt that, for the sinner, the Cross is the outstanding expression of God's love, but when we realize that it brings us, as believers, into a very personal experience of being crucified together with Christ, we are apt to lose sight of the love of God."We set our teeth, as though making up our minds that from now on everything is going to be grim and harsh. It almost seems that the carnal Christian may be cheerful and happy, but the crucified ones must expect to pass into a gloomier experience. Nothing is farther from the truth. The Cross will always bring us back to the love of God in ever-increasing fulness.""The challenge of the Cross, the insistence that we have been crucified with Christ, may sometimes appear to be a dark and forbidding message. The Cross is not the end: It is the way through to His end. God is working for something beyond the immediate; He is working towards the glory." -H.F."I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (<a id="verse_1632880485772782" href="https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Jeremiah/29/11">Jer. 29:11</a>).

 Cross Of Love 

God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. § He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? § The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. We love Him because He first loved us. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

 We have known and believed the love that God has for us. 

We are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. § [God] has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. § Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. 

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. § He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. § As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will … For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. § In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Happy is the man who finds wisdom … Length of days is in her right hand … She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her. § Christ Jesus … became for us wisdom.

Evening Daily Light

 The tree of life. 

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. § I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance; let us contend together; state your case, that you may be acquitted. § I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. § But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. § And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

 The free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 

Wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as My followers) into My name, there I AM in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20 AMP)
Jesus, as the Truth, is 
contrasted with Satan, the liar. But He is also contrasted with all 
representations, types, symbols, outward forms, etc., which were – and are – not 
the true, the real. When our Lord spoke of His body as the Temple, deliberately 
refraining from the fuller explanation because of the fixed prejudice of His 
hearers, He introduced the great truth of the transition from one dispensation 
to another, and the complete change in the nature of temple and worship. It was 
because Stephen saw this and declared it that he was murdered by these very 
people. Said he: "The Most High dwelleth not in houses made with hands" (Acts 
7:48). Paul said the same to the Athenians (Acts 17:24). This does not mean that 
God never came into representations when they wholly corresponded with His 
thought. Both the Tabernacle and the Temple were "made with hands" and God came 
into them in power and glory, but not to commit Himself to the thing. The 
time came when He forsook both and He was no longer found there. They were only 
temporary representations and His presence was conditional. 

The "true 
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man" (Hebrews 8:2) is "not of this 
creation." The whole Letter to the Hebrews has to do with this change from the 
earthly and temporal to the heavenly and spiritual. Hence, He is no longer in 
"temples made with hands." To come right to the point: the New Testament teaches 
that the Temple in this dispensation is a Person, and persons incorporated into 
Him through death, burial and resurrection, and "baptized into one body by one 
Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13). We must also remember that Jesus foretold the 
passing away of that entire temporal system, with Jerusalem as its center and 
representation. With His foreknowledge of the 
passing of the earthly, temporal and material things; places, systems, fixed 
locations, and outward forms, the Lord Jesus put the whole matter of survival 
upon Himself as the constituent of a spiritual structure against which 
the very powers of hell would not prevail. Against fixed localizing and 
systematizing of Himself and His presence He was emphatic, and history is 
evidence of how right He was. If, according to John 3:16, salvation is a matter 
of "whosoever," the Lord's presence and true worship, according to Matthew 
18:20, is "wheresoever."

The Dispensation of the Holy Spirit - Chapter 2

 The True Temple 

Love is that quality in God which causes Him to lavish unbounded affection on others. His love is manifest in giving good and perfect gifts to the beloved.We can give only a few of the myriad of verses that speak of that love! "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee" (Jeremiah 31:3). "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us…" (Ephesians 2:4). And, of course, the best known of all, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whososoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).When John says "God is love" (1 John 4:8), he is not defining God, but insisting that love is a key element in the divine nature. We do not worship love, but the God of love.His love had no beginning and can have no end. It is limitless in its dimensions. It is absolutely pure, without taint of selfishness or any other sin. It is sacrificial, never minding the cost. It seeks only the welfare of others, and nothing in return. It goes out to the unlovely as well as to the lovely, to enemies as well as to friends. It is not drawn out by any virtues in its objects, but only by the goodness of the Giver.The practical implications of this sublime truth are obvious. "Therefore be imitators of God," said Paul, "as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us" (Ephesians 5:1-2 a, NASB). Our love should ascend to the Lord, should flow out to our brethren, and should extend to the unsaved world.Contemplation of His love should also inspire deepest worship. As we fall at His feet, we must say repeatedly:How Thou canst love me as Thou dostAnd be the God Thou artIs darkness to my intellectBut sunshine to my heart.

With reverence, humor and skill, William MacDonald wove a daily devotional tapestry that challenges the reader to think deeply and Biblically, and apply God's Word to their lives.

Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

Few Christians take these words seriously, yet they are as truly the Word of God as John 3:16. They tell us to be satisfied with food and covering. That word "covering" includes a roof over our heads as well as the clothes we wear. In other words, we should be content with the minimum essentials and put everything above that into the work of the Lord.The man who has contentment has something that money cannot buy. E. Stanley Jones said, "Everything belongs to the man who wants nothing. Having nothing, he possesses all things in life, including life itself… He is rich in the fewness of his wants rather than in the abundance of his possessions."Years ago when Rudyard Kipling spoke to a graduating class at McGill University, he warned the students against putting a great premium on material wealth. He said, "Some day you'll meet a man who cares for none of these things and then you'll realize how poor you are.""The happiest state of a Christian on earth seems to be that he should have few wants. If a man has Christ in his heart, heaven before his eyes, and only as much of temporal blessings as is just needful to carry him safely through life, then pain and sorrow have little to shoot at; such a man has little to lose" (William C. Burns).This spirit of contentment seems to have characterized many of God's giants. David Livingston said, "I am determined not to look upon anything that I possess except as in relation to the Kingdom of God." Watchman Nee wrote, "I want nothing for myself; I want everything for the Lord." And Hudson Taylor said that he enjoyed "the luxury of having few things to care for."To some, the idea of contentment means the lack of drive and ambition. They picture the contented person as a drone or a freeloader. But that is not godly contentment. The contented Christian has plenty of drive and ambition, but they are directed toward the spiritual, not the material. Rather than being a freeloader, he works so that he can give to those who are in need. In Jim Elliot's words, the contented person is the one for whom God has "loosed the tension of the grasping hand."

"And having food and raiment, let us be therewith content." (1 Timothy 6:8)

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have Everlasting Life." John 3:16 Of all the stars in the sky, the pole-star is the most useful to the mariner. This text is a pole-star, for it has guided more souls to salvation than any other Scripture. It is among promises what the Great Bear is among constellations. Several words in it shine with peculiar brilliance. Here we have God's love with a "so" to it, which marks its measureless greatness. Then we have God's gift in all its freeness and greatness. This also is God's Son, that unique and priceless gift of a love which could never fully show itself till heaven's Only-begotten had been sent to live and die for men. These three points are full of light. Then there is the simple requirement of believing, which graciously points to a way of salvation suitable for guilty men. This is backed by a wide description  "whosoever believeth in him." Many have found room in "whosoever" who would have felt themselves shut out by a narrower word. Then comes the great promise, that believers in Jesus shall not perish but have everlasting life. This is cheering to every man who feels that he is ready to perish and that he cannot save himself. We believe in the LORD Jesus, and we have eternal life.

Another classic from the pen of C.H. Spurgeon that will challenge and inspire you on your daily path to Heaven.

Charles Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook

His Love; His Gift; His Son

<div class="center-it mtb10">God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Sort, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life. - John 3:16 </div>Christ's death proves God's love, because Christ is Divine. How else do you account for that extraordinary shifting of the persons in these words of Paul, " God commendeth His own love to us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us "? God proves His love because Christ died? How so? God proved His love because Socrates died? God proved His love because some self-sacrificing doctor went into a hospital, and died in curing others? God proved His love because some man sprang into the sea and rescued a drowning woman, at the cost of his own life? Would such talk hold? Then I want to know how it comes that Paul ventures to say that God proved His love because Jesus Christ died? Unless we believe that Jesus Christ is the Eternal Son of the Father, whom the Father sent, and who willingly came for us men and for our redemption; unless we believe that in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily; unless we believe that, as He Himself said, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father "; unless we believe that His death was the act, the consequence, and the revelation of the love of God, who dwelt in Him as in none other of the sons of men, I, for one, venture to think that Paul is talking nonsense, and that his argument is not worth a straw. You must come to the full-toned belief which, as I think, permeates and binds together every page of the New Testament - God so loved the world, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins; that Son who in the beginning was with God, and was God. And then a flood of light is poured on the words of Paul, and we can adoringly bow the head and say " Amen! God hath to my understanding, and to my heart, proved and commended His love, in that Christ died for us! " The death on the Cross was on our behalf, therefore it was the spontaneous outgush of an infinite love. It was for us, in that it brought an infinite benefit. And so it was a token and a manifestation of the love of God such as nothing else could be.

A daily readings for a year from the writings of the Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D.D., selected and arranged by the Rev. Geo. Coates.

Music For the Soul

 THE DIVINE REDEEMER

For Reading and Meditation:      1 John 4:7-16We turn now to consider another aspect of God's nature and character - love. There are three things told us in Scripture concerning the nature of God. First, "God is spirit" (John 4:24), which means He has no visible substance. Second, "God is light" (1 John 1:5), which means no darkness can dwell in Him. In Scripture darkness stands for sin, death, and so on. Third, "God is love," which means that the energy that flows out from His Being is that of infinite, eternal beneficence. When John wrote the words "God is love" it was no slick statement, as it was the first time in history that the phrase had been used in that way. People had believed that God was love, and had speculated about His benevolence, but now the categorical statement is laid down for all to behold. These words, in my judgment, are the high-water mark of divine revelation; nothing more needs to be said for nothing greater can be said. I often create a mental picture for myself of the angels peering over the battlements of heaven as John wrote those words and then, when they had been written down, I imagine them breaking into rapturous applause and saying to each other: "They've got it. They've got it! At last they see that God is love." And a sigh of deep satisfaction and great joy would have filled the portals of heaven in the knowledge that the greatest truth about God was now made crystal clear. The implied was now inscribed.O Father, I am so thankful that You have demonstrated categorically that the greatest thing about You is love. My heart gladly rests upon that glorious fact. I look forward to exploring it forever. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Jeremiah 31:1-4</li><li>John 3:16</li><li>Romans 5:8</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did the Lord appear and say?</li><li>How did He demonstrate this?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"God is love." (v. 16)

For Reading and Meditation:      John 8:21-36We saw yesterday that the phenomenon of catharsis comes about not simply through telling someone else our troubles, but when that other person is a warm, accepting and understanding individual. Psychologists believe the explanation for this to be the fact that the warm, accepting manner of the helper is so directly opposite to the harsh, judgmental attitudes of those who caused the hurts that repressed feelings easily surface and are released. What has this law of the personality to do with the subject now under discussion? A great deal, I believe. In Jesus Christ we find Someone who not only yearns for our trust, but is worthy of our trust. To sit in His presence is to hear words similar to those He spoke to the woman caught in adultery: "Neither do I condemn you ' go now, and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11). Such acceptance, such compassion, such concern, cannot fail to produce within every heart a willingness to open up those hurts and fears which have been so deeply repressed. As I said yesterday, I have witnessed on countless occasions this strange and mysterious phenomenon of catharsis take place as, in the presence of love and acceptance, repressed hurts and ideas are discharged from the personality. But beautiful and wondrous as this natural phenomenon is, it is as nothing compared to the glory and radiance that a person shows when they stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, the Wonderful Counsellor, and experience a catharsis that reaches, not merely into the outer regions of the heart, but to its greatest depths. To have such an experience is not just to be free - it is to be free indeed. My Father and my God, slowly things are coming into focus. I am beginning to understand what You mean when You say: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Purge me to the depths of my being. In Jesus' Name. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>John 3:1-18</li><li>John 5:24</li><li>Romans 8:1</li><li>Romans 8:34</li><li>Revelation 12:10</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Who brings condemnation?</li><li>What is the promise to the believer?</li></ul></div></div>

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (v. 36)

For Reading and Meditation:      John 3:1-17Yesterday';s point about God finding great pleasure in His Son is worth pursuing as so much hangs on it when contrasting the Bible with the sacred books of other faiths. It seems strange to me that God should have so much to say about His Son in the Bible and yet ignore Him when supposedly revealing Himself to the founders of other religions. Long ago, in India, I sat by a man who, when he discovered I was a Christian, showed me his English translation of the Qur'an. I spent several hours perusing it. When eventually I returned it to him I commented: "I notice that though it talks a lot about God (Allah), it never mentions that He has a Son." He looked startled for a moment and replied: "Sir, in our religion such a thing could not be possible." He drew my attention to these words: "Allah forbid that He Himself should beget a Son." I turned to the Bible verse which forms our text for today, and read him the words. We sat quietly after that, both of us realizing we had touched on the main difference between Islam and Christianity. My heart leaped in gratitude to God that He had an only begotten Son whom He was willing to give up for my sin and the sins of the whole human race. A God who has no Son has to rely on intermediaries to bring people to Himself. And an intermediary who is not God and not man cannot effect complete reconciliation. It would be like a wonderfully constructed bridge that is broken at the farther end. O Father, as I ponder John 3:16 I feel I am putting my heart up against Your heart. I want to feel its beat and catch its rhythm. For Your heart is here. I am so grateful. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Luke 22:70</li><li>Matthew 16:16</li><li>Hebrews 1:3</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Jesus confirm to His questioners?</li><li>What was Peter's confession?</li></ul></div></div>

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son ..." (v. 16) 

For Reading and Meditation:      1 John 4:7-21There have been two great attempts to find God throughout the ages," said Dr. E. Stanley Jones, "one, philosophy, the other, moralism." The attempts of philosophy to find God are represented by the three great philosophical nations - Greece, India, and China. These three nations have taken men and women about as far as it is possible to philosophical reasoning. Philosophy has strained itself to the utmost and yet it has not been successful in finding God. Lao-tzu, the Chinese philosopher, said the final word about God is Silence, and Shankaracharya, the Indian philosopher, said the final word about God is not that. They both concluded at zero. Moralism, likewise, cannot lead to God. The attempt to find God through the law was the noble effort made by the Jews. Never was such a moral system devised as theirs, nor an end result so disappointing. It produced, for instance, the Pharisee who stood in his pride and said: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men" (Luke 18:11). Jesus pronounced doom on the Pharisee's attempt to find God through moralism when He said: "Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:20). They could not reach the kingdom by even their greatest self-effort alone. Both philosophy and moralism fall short. When our best was not good enough, when our highest attempts could not lead to the kingdom, God came down Himself to lift us. Now no one need say in his or her quest for God: "Not that."O God, Your down-reach is my only hope. My up-reach is feeble and goes little higher than my head. Your down-reach, however, goes to the lowest of the low-it reaches me. I take hold of Your grace and I am lifted - to You. Blessed be Your Name forever. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>Romans 5:1-8</li><li>Ephesians 2:4-5</li><li>John 3:16</li><li>2 Timothy 3:5</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What is the result of moralism?</li><li>What is the heart of Christianity?</li></ul></div></div>

"... God ... sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him." (v. 9)

For Reading and Meditation:      Acts 4:1-12We looked yesterday at the statement to the effect that all religions are the same. We must watch out for such statements, for when they are repeated over and over again, and by seemingly sincere people, we can be brainwashed into accepting them. In 1966, when the first multi-faith service was held in an Anglican church in London, in which Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians took part on equal terms, some Christian newspapers described it as a "betrayal of the faith." Nowadays there is hardly a mention of such services although they take place regularly in different parts of our nation, and also in other countries. People seem to have given up the idea of syncretism - the idea that all religions can be fused into one - and are focusing more on pluralism-the recognition of each faith as being of equal value. I take my stand with Dr. Visser't Hooft who said: "It is high time that Christians should rediscover that Jesus Christ did not come to make a contribution to the religious storehouse of mankind, but that in Him God reconciled the world unto Himself." The words of our text for today were displayed outside a church in London until the minister was told by the local authority to take the poster down as it offended some local inhabitants who were adherents of other faiths. "It is not the best way to love one's neighbor as oneself" was how one critic put it. But how can we love our neighbor as ourselves if we make no attempt to share with them the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ?O Father, in an age when the faith once delivered to the saints is being watered down, deepen my understanding of it so that I may contend for it without being contentious. In Christ's Name I pray. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>John 3:1-17</li><li>John 6:35</li><li>John 14:6</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What Old Testament example shows there is only one way to salvation?</li><li>What did Jesus declare about Himself?</li></ul></div></div>

"Salvation is found in no one else ..." (v. 12)

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God so loved<cr>1</cr> the world that he gave<cr>2</cr> his one and only Son,<cr>3</cr> that whoever believes<cr>4</cr> in him shall not perish but have eternal life.<cr>5</cr>

John 3:16

 For God so loved  the world that he gave  his one and only Son,  that whoever believes  in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 NIV

John 3:16 NIV

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