Sermon Text.pdf

The Gospel of John is significant because it was written by the disciple closest to Jesus, providing an intimate perspective on Jesus' life and ministry. The Gospel begins with the statement "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1), which declares Jesus' deity. The disciples, who lived with Jesus and saw his humanity, must have struggled with the question of his divinity, but the evidence they saw and heard convinced them of his deity. The theme of the Gospel of John is to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing in him gives life. The Gospel has a twofold purpose: to provide evidence for believing that Jesus is the Christ and to show that he is the Son of God, which to the Hebrews means being identical with God. John employs the principle of selection, choosing specific events and signs to prove Jesus' divinity, and his account is not just a recollection of an old man, but a testimony of one who had lived with the events and teachings of Jesus every day.