Sermon Cloud

1 In the beginning there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. ⁴ In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.⁶ There was a man named John who was sent by God. ⁷ He came to tell people the truth about the Light so that through him all people could hear about the Light and believe. ⁸ John was not the Light, but he came to tell people the truth about the Light. ⁹ The true Light that gives light to all was coming into the world!¹⁰ The Word was in the world, and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to the world that was his own, but his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who did accept him and believe in him he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They did not become his children in any human way-by any human parents or human desire. They were born of God.¹⁴ The Word became a human and lived among us. We saw his glory-the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father-and he was full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ John tells the truth about him and cries out, saying, "This is the One I told you about: The One who comes after me is greater than I am, because he was living before me. "¹⁶ Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another. ¹⁷ The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father, and he has shown us what God is like.  John Tells People About Jesus ¹⁹ Here is the truth John told when the Jews in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, "Who are you?"²⁰ John spoke freely and did not refuse to answer. He said, "I am not the Christ."²¹ So they asked him, "Then who are you? Are you Elijah?" ²² Then they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to tell those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"²³ John told them in the words of the prophet Isaiah:²⁴ Some Pharisees who had been sent asked John: ²⁵ "If you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet, why do you baptize people?"²⁶ John answered, "I baptize with water, but there is one here with you that you don't know about. ²⁷ He is the One who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie the strings of his sandals."²⁸ This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing people.²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the One I was talking about when I said, A man will come after me, but he is greater than I am, because he was living before me. ³¹ Even I did not know who he was, although I came baptizing with water so that the people of Israel would know who he is."^32-33 Then John said, "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven in the form of a dove and rest on him. Until then I did not know who the Christ was. But the God who sent me to baptize with water told me, You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man; he is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. ³⁴ I have seen this happen, and I tell you the truth: This man is the Son of God."  The First Followers of Jesus ³⁵ The next day John was there again with two of his followers. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" ³⁷ The two followers heard John say this, so they followed Jesus. ³⁸ When Jesus turned and saw them following him, he asked, "What are you looking for?"³⁹ He answered, "Come and see." So the two men went with Jesus and saw where he was staying and stayed there with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.⁴⁰ One of the two men who followed Jesus after they heard John speak about him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹ The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and say to him, "We have found the Messiah." ("Messiah" means "Christ.")⁴² Then Andrew took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas." ("Cephas" means "Peter." )⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." ⁴⁴ Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, where Andrew and Peter lived. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the man that Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about him. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth."⁴⁶ But Nathanael said to Philip, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"⁴⁷ As Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said, "Here is truly an Israelite. There is nothing false in him."⁴⁸ Nathanael asked, "How do you know me?"⁴⁹ Then Nathanael said to Jesus, "Teacher, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."⁵⁰ Jesus said to Nathanael, "Do you believe simply because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that." ⁵¹ And Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man." The Wedding at Cana² and Jesus and his followers were also invited to the wedding. ³ When all the wine was gone, Jesus mother said to him, "They have no more wine."⁴ Jesus answered, "Dear woman, why come to me? My time has not yet come."⁵ His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you to do."⁶ In that place there were six stone water jars that the Jews used in their washing ceremony. Each jar held about twenty or thirty gallons.⁷ Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water." So they filled the jars to the top.⁸ Then he said to them, "Now take some out and give it to the master of the feast."⁹ When he tasted it, the water had become wine. He did not know where the wine came from, but the servants who had brought the water knew. The master of the wedding called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, "People always serve the best wine first. Later, after the guests have been drinking awhile, they serve the cheaper wine. But you have saved the best wine till now."¹¹ So in Cana of Galilee Jesus did his first miracle. There he showed his glory, and his followers believed in him.  Jesus in the Temple ¹² After this, Jesus went to the town of Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and followers. They stayed there for just a few days. ¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover Feast, Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves. He saw others sitting at tables, exchanging different kinds of money. ¹⁵ Jesus made a whip out of cords and forced all of them, both the sheep and cattle, to leave the Temple. He turned over the tables and scattered the money of those who were exchanging it. ¹⁶ Then he said to those who were selling pigeons, "Take these things out of here! Don't make my Father's house a place for buying and selling!"¹⁷ When this happened, the followers remembered what was written in the Scriptures: "My strong love for your Temple completely controls me." ¹⁸ The Jews said to Jesus, "Show us a miracle to prove you have the right to do these things."¹⁹ Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will build it again in three days."²⁰ The Jews answered, "It took forty-six years to build this Temple! Do you really believe you can build it again in three days?"²¹ (But the temple Jesus meant was his own body. ²² After Jesus was raised from the dead, his followers remembered that Jesus had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and the words Jesus had said.)²³ When Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover Feast, many people believed in him because they saw the miracles he did. ²⁴ But Jesus did not trust himself to them because he knew them all. ²⁵ He did not need anyone to tell him about people, because he knew what was in people's minds. Nicodemus Comes to Jesus² One night Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, we know you are a teacher sent from God, because no one can do the miracles you do unless God is with him."³ Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, unless one is born again, he cannot be in God's kingdom."⁴ Nicodemus said, "But if a person is already old, how can he be born again? He cannot enter his mother's body again. So how can a person be born a second time?"⁵ But Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, unless one is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter God's kingdom. ⁶ Human life comes from human parents, but spiritual life comes from the Spirit. ⁷ Don't be surprised when I tell you, You must all be born again. ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to and you hear the sound of it, but you don't know where the wind comes from or where it is going. It is the same with every person who is born from the Spirit."⁹ Nicodemus asked, "How can this happen?"¹⁰ Jesus said, "You are an important teacher in Israel, and you don't understand these things? ¹¹ I tell you the truth, we talk about what we know, and we tell about what we have seen, but you don't accept what we tell you. ¹² I have told you about things here on earth, and you do not believe me. So you will not believe me if I tell you about things of heaven. ¹³ The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is the One who came down from heaven-the Son of Man.¹⁴ "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also be lifted up. ¹⁵ So that everyone who believes can have eternal life in him.¹⁶ "God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ People who believe in God's Son are not judged guilty. Those who do not believe have already been judged guilty, because they have not believed in God's one and only Son. ¹⁹ They are judged by this fact: The Light has come into the world, but they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. ²⁰ All who do evil hate the light and will not come to the light, because it will show all the evil things they do. ²¹ But those who follow the true way come to the light, and it shows that the things they do were done through God."  Jesus and John the Baptist ²² After this, Jesus and his followers went into the area of Judea, where he stayed with his followers and baptized people. ²³ John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were going there to be baptized. ²⁴ (This was before John was put into prison.)²⁵ Some of John's followers had an argument with a Jew about religious washing. ²⁶ So they came to John and said, "Teacher, remember the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you spoke about so much? He is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."²⁷ John answered, "A man can get only what God gives him. ²⁸ You yourselves heard me say, I am not the Christ, but I am the one sent to prepare the way for him. ²⁹ The bride belongs only to the bridegroom. But the friend who helps the bridegroom stands by and listens to him. He is thrilled that he gets to hear the bridegroom's voice. In the same way, I am really happy. ³⁰ He must become greater, and I must become less important.  The One Who Comes from Heaven ³¹ "The One who comes from above is greater than all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and talks about things on the earth. But the One who comes from heaven is greater than all. ³² He tells what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts what he says. ³³ Whoever accepts what he says has proven that God is true. ³⁴ The One whom God sent speaks the words of God, because God gives him the Spirit fully. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given him power over everything. ³⁶ Those who believe in the Son have eternal life, but those who do not obey the Son will never have life. God's anger stays on them." Jesus and a Samaritan Woman² although Jesus himself did not baptize people, but his followers did. ³ Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard about him, so he left Judea and went back to Galilee. ⁴ But on the way he had to go through the country of Samaria.⁵ In Samaria Jesus came to the town called Sychar, which is near the field Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there. Jesus was tired from his long trip, so he sat down beside the well. It was about twelve o'clock noon. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water, Jesus said to her, "Please give me a drink." ⁸ (This happened while Jesus followers were in town buying some food.)⁹ The woman said, "I am surprised that you ask me for a drink, since you are a Jewish man and I am a Samaritan woman." (Jewish people are not friends with Samaritans. )¹⁰ Jesus said, "If you only knew the free gift of God and who it is that is asking you for water, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."¹¹ The woman said, "Sir, where will you get this living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with. ¹² Are you greater than Jacob, our father, who gave us this well and drank from it himself along with his sons and flocks?"¹³ Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give will never be thirsty. The water I give will become a spring of water gushing up inside that person, giving eternal life."¹⁵ The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so I will never be thirsty again and will not have to come back here to get more water."¹⁶ Jesus told her, "Go get your husband and come back here."¹⁷ The woman answered, "I have no husband."¹⁸ Really you have had five husbands, and the man you live with now is not your husband. You told the truth."¹⁹ The woman said, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship."²¹ Jesus said, "Believe me, woman. The time is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor on this mountain will you actually worship the Father. ²² You Samaritans worship something you don't understand. We understand what we worship, because salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ The time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, and that time is here already. You see, the Father too is actively seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."²⁵ The woman said, "I know that the Messiah is coming." (Messiah is the One called Christ.) "When the Messiah comes, he will explain everything to us."²⁶ Then Jesus said, "I am he-I, the one talking to you."²⁷ Just then his followers came back from town and were surprised to see him talking with a woman. But none of them asked, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She said to the people, ²⁹ "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Do you think he might be the Christ?" ³⁰ So the people left the town and went to see Jesus.³¹ Meanwhile, his followers were begging him, "Teacher, eat something."³² But Jesus answered, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."³³ So the followers asked themselves, "Did somebody already bring him food?"³⁴ Jesus said, "My food is to do what the One who sent me wants me to do and to finish his work. ³⁵ You have a saying, Four more months till harvest. But I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields ready for harvest now. ³⁶ Already, the one who harvests is being paid and is gathering crops for eternal life. So the one who plants and the one who harvests celebrate at the same time. ³⁷ Here the saying is true, One person plants, and another harvests. ³⁸ I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work on. Others did the work, and you get to finish up their work." ³⁹ Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because of what the woman said: "He told me everything I ever did." ⁴⁰ When the Samaritans came to Jesus, they begged him to stay with them, so he stayed there two more days. ⁴¹ And many more believed because of the things he said.⁴² They said to the woman, "First we believed in Jesus because of your speech, but now we believe because we heard him ourselves. We know that this man really is the Savior of the world."  Jesus Heals an Officer's Son ⁴³ Two days later, Jesus left and went to Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Jesus had said before that a prophet is not respected in his own country.) ⁴⁵ When Jesus arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed him. They had seen all the things he did at the Passover Feast in Jerusalem, because they had been there, too.⁴⁶ Jesus went again to visit Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. One of the king's important officers lived in the city of Capernaum, and his son was sick. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and begged him to come to Capernaum and heal his son, because his son was almost dead. ⁴⁸ Jesus said to him, "You people must see signs and miracles before you will believe in me."⁴⁹ The officer said, "Sir, come before my child dies."⁵⁰ Jesus answered, "Go. Your son will live."⁵¹ On the way the man's servants came and met him and told him, "Your son is alive."⁵² The man asked, "What time did my son begin to get well?"⁵³ The father knew that one o'clock was the exact time that Jesus had said, "Your son will live." So the man and all the people who lived in his house believed in Jesus.⁵⁴ That was the second miracle Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool² In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches, which is called Bethzatha in the Jewish language. This pool is near the Sheep Gate. ³ Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed. ⁵ A man was lying there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for such a long time, Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be well?"⁷ The sick man answered, "Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. While I am coming to the water, someone else always gets in before me."⁸ Then Jesus said, "Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk." ⁹ And immediately the man was well; he picked up his mat and began to walk.¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day."¹¹ But he answered, "The man who made me well told me, Pick up your mat and walk. "¹² Then they asked him, "Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?"¹³ But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, because there were many people in that place, and Jesus had left.¹⁴ Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple and said to him, "See, you are well now. Stop sinning so that something worse does not happen to you."¹⁵ Then the man left and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well.¹⁶ Because Jesus was doing this on the Sabbath day, the Jews began to persecute him. ¹⁷ But Jesus said to them, "My Father never stops working, and so I keep working, too."¹⁸ This made the Jews try still harder to kill him. They said, "First Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. Now he says that God is his own Father, making himself equal with God!"

 He answered, "No, I am not."

 "Are you the Prophet?" they asked.

 He answered, "No."

 "I am the voice of one

 calling out in the desert:

 Make the road straight for the Lord. " Isaiah 40:3

 They said, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" ("Rabbi" means "Teacher.")

 Philip answered, "Come and see."

 Jesus answered, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree, before Philip told you about me."

  2 Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus mother was there,

 So they took the water to the master.

  3 There was a man named Nicodemus who was one of the Pharisees and an important Jewish leader.

  4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more followers than John,

Jesus said to her, "You are right to say you have no husband.

The man believed what Jesus told him and went home.

They answered, "Yesterday at one o'clock the fever left him."

5 Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish feast.

The day this happened was a Sabbath day.