Today's Passage - John 1:15-18

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english John 1:15-18   .... From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.   It says here that we have received the grace of God through Jesus Christ, but this grace is the grace of one blessing after another. We have received God's grace as the first blessing, but it is imperative that we have to imitate the likeness of Jesus Christ, to live out His life; I believe this is the second blessing. We receive the grace of Jesus Christ not only for our own enjoyment; we have to live out this grace. It says in verse 18: "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." How would Jesus make known His Father? During His incarnation when He descended to this world to become man, people saw Jesus Christ as if they saw the Father. By the same token, the people cannot see Jesus in this world as Jesus Christ has already risen to the heaven, then how can they experience Jesus? It is through every of us Christians!   The original meaning of word "Christian" is Little Christ. In the early church, the non-believers remarked when they saw those believers' witness of living like Jesus Christ: "these people are just like Little Christ" and they called them "Christians". We profess ourselves Christians, but can we live out the likeness of Jesus Christ? The Spirit of God is to manifest the life of Jesus Christ through us, the Gospel being preached from us. We ask the Lord to help us living out this grace, incarnating and entering our destined areas of life. The church is very often like a Christian club. We have much enjoyment in the church, yet we shut out our seeker friends or people with needs. We rarely consider the needs of the people outside, then when we start preaching the gospel, we often ask the other people to come listen the good news and to attend the evangelistic meetings. Jesus would rather want us to go, to go into the people with needs. Not to ask them to come, but to serve among them, love them just as Jesus Christ would love them.   At the time when Jesus was on earth, he often went to the people with needs. The religious leaders even wondered: why would Jesus befriend the sinners? Jesus in fact did not relish making friends with the sinners; rather he came to save the sinners. Hallelujah! You and I are both sinners, we all need Jesus Christ's salvation. When we receive this salvation, we also ask God's help to have His mercy, to preach this salvation to the people around us.                Pray with Pastor Tong           Dear Lord, thank you for we have received your abundant and precious grace.  We ask the Lord enabling us to live out this salvation and letting the people around us turn to you because of our witnesses. Thank you and we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen!