It's been some time since I have contributed any thing to either of these two blogs, moreaboutHis word or Godspattern. So this is the first instalment of a new Bible study that I am giving at the church house and I'm calling it "the words in red"

 “The words are in red”

When I was eight years old, my great aunt Stell gave me and my older brother a new Bible each for Christmas. That was the year 1948. It had our initials embossed on the cover therby personalizing it. I learned to love it as a child and I have never lost that hunger and  thirsting that the Lord has placed in my spirit and soul for it. It is still around, albeit in well worn condition, the pages are worn and some are torn, some are even missing. It was the best Christmas present I ever received. Nowadays I have many Bibles in m possession, but this first one was especially dear to me. It is a Holman Bible, red letter edition which means the words of Christ are in red. A few weeks ago Judy and I were preparing for a trip and I have a small pocket bible, New King James edition that I like to take along and I laid it on our telephone table so I would see it on our way out and you guessed it, I walked right past it forgetting it.  So as soon as we arrived in South Florida, I went to the nearest WalMart and purchased a new one. You can get some good buys in the WalMart on Bibles. Lo and behold it is a King James, my first Bible was a King James, this new one is a Holman Bible and like my first Bible, it too has the words of Jesus in red. It was a reminder to me that the Lord has been prompting in me to do a study entitling it “the words are in red” meaning of course the words or quotations of Jesus are in red. So this study will be based on the words of Jesus as recorded by the apostle John, the Gospel of John. It is important for the purposes of these studies that we read and understand as best we can, the surrounding verses. So we will begin this first post by reading from ch. 1 starting at verse # 1. It is all about the gospel

#1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2: The same was in the beginning with God.

Verse#14 says “and the Word was made flesh and lived or dwelt or tabernacle with us.” I like the Amplified Bible in this instance, it leaves no doubt as to whom the writer is referring. “In the beginning [before all time]  was the Word(Christ)2. He was present originally with God.3. All things were made and come into existence through Him; and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being.“                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ,

Here we have an identity process, Who is this Word?  It is none other than    the Lord Jesus Christ.  The Bible says that “in Him was life and the life was the light of men.”( Vs. 4 )

Take your Bible and read ch. 1 of John. Vs.#5

Tells us that the light shines in the dark and the darkness could not stop it. Let me quote it from the AMPLIFIED VERSION. “and the light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has

Never overpowered it[put it out or absorbed it, and is unreceptive to it]. The KJV SAID it comprehended it not....couldn’t prevent it in any way. When God’s timing for divine intervention is ripe ...the forces of hell cannot stop it! There are two people named John in this first chapter and both play a key role so to speak in the propogation of the Gospel. Vs. 6 says “there was a man sent from God whose name was John.” That would be John the Baptist. The other John is the Apostle John, the disciple of Jesus and it is he who has recorded these events and the doctrine concerning the Word made flesh for us. He (John)does not identify himself by name but I do believe it is he who says in Vs. 34, “And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God.” Let us bear record tonight “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God”. Do you believe it tonight with your whole heart? Then say it with me one more time... I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. He is the Son of the LIVING GOD! He is alive tonight!

He is the LIVING GOD! I’m glad He is alive tonight, aren’t you? Turn with me to the last book in the New Testament chapter 1 verse 8 and reading from the Amplified again, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the end, says the Lord God, He who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” John the Baptist said “behold the Lamb of God!” When he said that, two of his disciples who were with him, heard him say it, and immediately, they began to follow Him...the Lamb of God...Jesus, and Jesus turned and asked them, Why?, why are you following Me?” The words in red say, “What seek ye?” These three little words are the first recorded words of Jesus that John tells us about.”What seek ye? They asked Him where He was staying...”where dwellest thou?” And His response then was the same as it is today to all who seek Him..”come and see” Come and see....how many times has the King of Glory extended that invitation? Isn’t that why we study like this...prayer groups, corporate prayer, individual prayer, seeking His face being His dwelling place. Verse 10 says “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. 11. He came unto His own, and they didn’t receive Him....but this next verse, verse 12...but as many as received Him...as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God. Imagine being sons, daughters of the God of heaven. He gave that power to Andrew and his brother, Peter, and to Philip and Nathanael. And how could a mortal man receive this power? Even to those who call on His name. The gospel is not complicated, all we have to do is believe. And receive by faith...read that verse 12 again. It’s  even to them that believe in His name. You’ve got to believe in His name. It isn’t a creed or set of rules but it is believing in His name and the finished work on Calvary. “what seek ye”? “come and see”. What was the result of coming to see where Jesus dwelling was? Well ANDREW WAS SO ENTHRALLED BY BEING IN His presence, that he wanted to share the good news with his brother, Simon. And he brought him to Jesus. Philipp also     went and brought Nathanael to Jesus.    Philip was a great soul winner as we learn in the book of Acts.   Andrew was one of those guys who was always doing something good behind the scene, like finding a little boy with five loaves and two fishes to feed a crowd of five thousand, or going down to the fish sheds to find his brother and tell him about Jesus. Philip was an evangelist, he found Nathanael but after receiving the Holy Ghost, he went down into Samaria and started a revival. He used Jesus’ own method to win Nathanael...”Come and see”  It was Philip who said to Jesus, “show us the Father and it will sustain us’” and remember what Jesus said to him in reply, “you’ve already seen Him Philip” Actually what He said according to the 14^th. Chapter and verse 9, “Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?”   “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father...you have already seen Him.”  The Word made flesh said to Philip “have I been with all of you  for so long a time , and do you not recognize and know Me yet, Philip? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, Show us the Father|?”  And He went on to show them that He and the Father are one....but we will leave this for another lesson. And I will not give you anything contrary to the Word of God. In the first chapter you can see the one on one evangelism of Jesus’ disciples. Andrew finds Peter, Jesus calls Philip, Philip invites Nathaneal, all this because Andrew and an other unnamed  disciple started to  follow Jesus after John the Baptist said, “behold the Lamb of God” “Behold the Lamb of God!Is that not still the message today and is it not only the message but also the method? Turn to 1 Cor. 1:17,18 and 23,24. And to whom do we tell? Ro. 1:14-16. :All men everywhere, amen? That is who we need to say these words to, “behold, the Lamb of God!” And when men say “where does He dwell?”, we can tell them that His dwelling place is in our hearts and He dwells there by faith. We will point them to the cross.

While we were away this winter we visited the island of Rotan, it is several miles off the coast of Honduras and belongs to that nation. It was one of our ports of call, and it is a beautiful place. So we went for a tour and hired a taxi to take us. The taxi was a nine passenger van and there were eight of us. I SAT UP  with the driver. His name is Trent. He was singing some gospel sons, so I joined in with him. I asked him if he was a Christian. He said “no”. Then I asked him if he believed in Jesus. His answer was a clear and a positive “yes”. As we talked, I learned that he was raised in a Christian home and he had followed the Lord in his younger years but had drifted away. So the opportunity was there to point him again to the Lamb of God. He was a tender-hearted young man, the timing was right. God is so faithful.

The words in red...the words of Jesus..”what seekest thou?...come and see”