Gospel: God Loved

God loved so massively, incredibly, sacrificially, and many other adverbs that He expressed that love to us by sending His Son to die in our place.

Gospel: God Loved

This week's devotions are written by my son, Bryant Forshee, Junior High Pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church.

- Pastor Danny

"For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

(John 3:16-17, CSB)

I recently finished reading the book Deeper by Dane Ortlund, and WOW! What a read! For this week's devotions, I was inspired by this quote from pages 96-97 of Deeper:

"And one vital aspect of growing in Christ is coming back time and again to the doctrine of justification [The Gospel] to do chemotherapy on the remaining malignancies of our craving for human approval."

All throughout the chapter where we find this quote, Ortlund begs, implores, encourages, and challenges readers to constantly be going back to the doctrine of justification for personal growth in their relationship with Jesus. He continually makes the case that those who have a relationship with Jesus do not "graduate" from the Gospel, but we steadfastly and continuously dive deeper and deeper and deeper into the truths, realities, and comforts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So this week, I ask you to not skim over the Gospel and think you have heard it before, but dive deeper into the truths, realities, implications, and wonder of the Gospel. Let's start with the very famous passage of scripture featured above, John 3:16-17.

I love that in the Christian Standard Bible, they put a colon after "For God loved the world in this way". A colon is defined as, "the sign (:) used to mark a major division in a sentence, to indicate that what follows is an elaboration, summation, implication, etc., of what precedes" (dictionary.com). The colon makes the reader stop and emphasize what is shared after it. The colon makes readers sort of take a breath and pause before continuing on reading, and if they do not, then it can spur readers to go back and re-read the passage with the pause and emphasis.

God loved so massively, incredibly, sacrificially, and many other adverbs that He expressed that love to us by sending His Son not only to humble Himself by living amongst us, as one of us, but to die in our place, taking upon Himself the punishment we all deserve for our sins. He loved us so much that He GAVE Jesus to the world. He GAVE so that "everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." Personalize this message now: God loves you so much that He gave Jesus, His one and only Son, so that you who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

God loves you. God loves you on your best day and your worst day. God loved you before you had any clue who He was. God loves you today, He loves you tomorrow, and He loves you until the day you breathe your last and see your loving God face to face.

God loves YOU! Take a moment to recite or read John 3:16 out loud. Don't let this verse be background noise or something we half-heartedly mumble because we know the verse by memorization. Let the truths of this verse and the Good News of the Gospel drive you deeper into your relationship with Jesus!

Partner with us in spreading the Gospel!

Will you help fuel our efforts to spread the Gospel
and equip and empower other Christians to do the same?

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Podcast of the Week

REvangelical Rewind:
Pastor Dave Owen on Discipleship
in the PGA, and More!

Pastor Danny welcomes to the show his friend Dave Owen, Senior Associate Pastor at Providence Church in Raleigh, NC. Danny and Dave have been friends since their time as students together at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. They discuss their friendship, Dave's testimony, his experience with the world of professional golf, some of the great discipleship relationships he has built with folks in that world, and more!

Listen on your preferred platform: