20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
John 3:20-21
Are people intrinsically good or are they evil? That is a question that people have argued for generations. The Bible says we are born in sin but also that we were created in the image of God. Now there will be those that point to that image being before the fall but it still begs the questions, sin has distorted that image but by how much? Is there nothing left of good in us when we are born in this world?
What’s interesting about verse 20 is that it jumps over that question and get to what really matters. Whether we are born good or evil, it is those who practice sin who really are in trouble. Those who hate the light are the ones who are in danger of eternal condemnation.
Verse 21 is also very interesting because it says that it is possible to do the truth and then go towards the light. Truth can be found and converted into a good action before walking towards the light and I would assume that this is possible through the Holy Spirit.
In both cases choice is the key. We are born into sin, yes, but that doesn’t take away the choice or ability to do good or truth as its stated here. Through the Holy Spirit, even before going to God through your choice, you can already chose to do good and see how different it is to evil.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Psalm 34:8
It is through this blessing that everyone, even the worst among us can still have a choice to go to the light. It is because of this that we have to be so careful in how we judge, and worse prejudge, someone around us. Yes, maybe that person is in the darkness. Yes, maybe they don’t anything to do with the light and with our human eyes we see only an impossibility. But with God nothing is impossible. By allowing them to do an act of good, even in the darkness, they can taste and see what God has for them. Even in the darkest corners, God can work on our hearts.
John 3:16 Part 4 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
That whoever believes in Him… Belief is such a tricky thing. It can change with time especially
as someone experiences different things in life. A strong belief can crumble with a disappointment or
difficulty but the opposite can also occur. Sometimes we also have a follow belief. We think we believe
until put to the test. Belief is central to our Christian experience and yet it’s something that we all struggle
with throughout our lives.
So what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is it believing that he existed and actually walked on
this earth? Is it believing that he is the Son of God? Is it believing that he died on the cross and took our
sins? Is it believing that he’ll come again? Of course many people will say that it is all of those things. If
so, how do you build belief in those things? What can you do every day to be more firm in all those
things?
We know that it’s not just miracles, though they can have their place in helping, because Jesus
would refuse to do them to those asking for them. And several times the miracles did nothing to change
people’s minds.
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” 39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Matthew 12:38-39
Reading the scriptures also has its place but is not the end all of gaining belief. Those who
rejected Jesus most were the well learned scholars and experts in the law. The words of Moses and the
prophets seemed to do little is growing belief.
Miracles and reading the Bible have their place but will always fall short without prayer and the
building of relationship with Jesus. Like Joshua crossing the sea, you must take that first step towards
God for the belief to grow.
14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
Joshua 3:14-16
Growing belief is a journey and one that we have to take seriously. It should be a daily goal.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
https://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.png00adminhttps://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.pngadmin2024-08-10 06:32:262024-08-10 06:32:26John 3:16 Part 4
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
He gave His only begotten Son … Well no one saw that one coming. God, who repeatedly is called one is now proclaiming to have a divine son and more, He will be sacrificing him for our salvation. The Jewish nation believed the Messiah would be a man from the descendent of David but there are a few Old Testament verses that point towards a Son.
7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
Psalm 2:7-8
Psalm 2 is just one such verse, but like the others that exist, it is a verse that can be interpreted to humans as well. In the end, it is the words and actions of Jesus when the belief relies. He did what no simple human could. Jesus himself is the proof of his claim.
People often misunderstand the idea of the only begotten son. Taken literally it means the first to be born however we can see in the Bible that there is a spiritual more important meaning.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”
Hebrew 11:17-18
Here Isaac is called ‘his only begotten son’ but we know that Isaac was neither the only nor the first, Ishmael being the older son. But Isaac is given that title because it carries the biblical promise of the Savior. It is because of that promise that Jesus is given the same title. He is the true fulfilment of the promise of the Savior.
It was hard for Jesus to be accepted as the Son of God when he was on the earth. Even his own followers struggled to accept that truth. But we today have the whole Bible to teach us and there is no excuse to not believe.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
https://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.png00adminhttps://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.pngadmin2024-08-02 12:55:542024-08-02 12:56:53John 3:16 Part 3
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world… I don’t think it’s an accident that this is the most famous
Biblical verse in the Bible. I think God impressed it in our hearts in the hopes that we would
truly and completely understand and be transformed by the message. So much is said in so few
words and the single word I want to focus on today is the word ‘world’.
It doesn’t say that God so loved Christians. It does not say that God so loved those who
follow all the rules and laws. It does not say that God so loved the perfect and righteous. It does
not say that God had any partiality in his love. No. God so loved the world, all of it. From the
very best to the very worst. From the most evil to the most righteous. He loved every skin color.
He loved every nations. He loved everyone regardless of their religion, beliefs, lifestyle or
consequence. God so loved the world.
Until we can truly understand that statement and realize what that means for our own
love, we will never become the people or Christians that God is trying to transform us to be.
God’s love must be our model. It must be our finishing line. It must be the goal we set in our
lives every day that we wake up.
Let’s take a moment at look at the world when this was written. The world empire at that
time was Rome for most of Africa, the Middle East and Europe. This is what history says about
Rome at that time.
The Romans were a notoriously violent society, and their favourite pastimes often reflect that. Despite the societal development that they experienced, the Romans still lived in relative squalor. This meant that their everyday lives were often filled with brutal violence. (1)
In Asia there was the Han Dynasty which had a rapid increase of power through conquest
and wars of neighboring nations. Violence was not just common in the world at this time but it
was expected. Even so, God loved them all.
We now live in a world where war is also common place. Bombings, terrorist acts,
invasions and pirating is in the news every day. Division and anger seems to be festering in every
corner of the world. Morally is evolving and changing causing more division, anger and
violence. In almost every aspect of human life, things are not going peacefully and now I ask,
has God’s love changed? No. God, still today, so loves the world.
May we find a way to make God’s love our goal in our lives.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
(1) https://www.learnancientrome.com/how-were-the-ancient-romans-brutal/#Was_life_in_the_Roman_Empire_brutal
https://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.png00adminhttps://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.pngadmin2024-07-26 18:32:092024-07-26 18:32:09John 3:16 Part 2
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
The most famous verse in the Bible. Possible the most famous line of any book. John
3:16 has found its way far from the church pulpit and unto gratified walls, stickers, mugs and
even signs at football games and wrestling matches. It is used because it’s a short sentence which
captures the bare gist of the gospel message.
For God so loved… This tells us that not only is there a God but he loves us. These are
two statements that one must have faith to believe especially in the world we live in today. There
is no visible proof of God himself (not getting into his handiwork of creation or course). His face
does not shine in the sky. These is no video on Facebook or TikTok of God. And then of course
his love for us can be hard to see when there is so much death and pain in the world. It is the
atheist’s number one comment. How could a loving God allow all this to happen? When a plane
crashes, when an earthquake kills scores of people or when someone dies of cancer people
commonly ask, where was God?
You of course could go over the regular list of answers: God was always with you, He
carried you when you thought you were alone, Satan still has power until God comes back and
other responses, but many times it just doesn’t seem like enough. I’m not going to write here and
try and give a brand new answer that somehow fulfills those who aren’t satisfied with the regular
answers. The reason why they are so common is because we really don’t have a better answer.
For me it goes back to what I originally said- it takes faith to believe.
What I do find is that those who can hold on to their faith in God will find peace in their
hearts after some time. An acceptance and understanding slowly overtakes the broken heart and
the person can truly find acceptance in their life. Does this always happen? I can’t be sure of that
but from personal experience of seeing people go through this, the vast majority do.
Those who reject their faith I find have a tendency to become bitter and cynical. This of
course is to be expected when the one power that you thought you could truly trust seems to fails
you. Trust becomes hard when you give up faith. Like a line of dominos, the falling of faith
seems to knock other things in their life as well- hope, love, joy and so on.
I hope these two statements can be strong and real in your lives. Belief in God and his
love really can fill you up with the gifts of the Spirit and can truly make your life better. May you
always be able to keep your faith in them.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
https://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.png00adminhttps://brontesda.com/allfiles/2018/01/bronte-new-logo.pngadmin2024-07-19 15:55:332024-07-19 15:55:33John 3:16 Part One
Practicing Evil
/in Pastors BlogPracticing Evil
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
John 3:20-21
Are people intrinsically good or are they evil? That is a question that people have argued for generations. The Bible says we are born in sin but also that we were created in the image of God. Now there will be those that point to that image being before the fall but it still begs the questions, sin has distorted that image but by how much? Is there nothing left of good in us when we are born in this world?
What’s interesting about verse 20 is that it jumps over that question and get to what really matters. Whether we are born good or evil, it is those who practice sin who really are in trouble. Those who hate the light are the ones who are in danger of eternal condemnation.
Verse 21 is also very interesting because it says that it is possible to do the truth and then go towards the light. Truth can be found and converted into a good action before walking towards the light and I would assume that this is possible through the Holy Spirit.
In both cases choice is the key. We are born into sin, yes, but that doesn’t take away the choice or ability to do good or truth as its stated here. Through the Holy Spirit, even before going to God through your choice, you can already chose to do good and see how different it is to evil.
8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Psalm 34:8
It is through this blessing that everyone, even the worst among us can still have a choice to go to the light. It is because of this that we have to be so careful in how we judge, and worse prejudge, someone around us. Yes, maybe that person is in the darkness. Yes, maybe they don’t anything to do with the light and with our human eyes we see only an impossibility. But with God nothing is impossible. By allowing them to do an act of good, even in the darkness, they can taste and see what God has for them. Even in the darkest corners, God can work on our hearts.
Let us never give up on anyone.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
The Believer
/in Pastors BlogThe Condemning Condemner
/in Pastors BlogJohn 3:16 Part 4
/in Pastors BlogJohn 3:16 Part 4
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
That whoever believes in Him… Belief is such a tricky thing. It can change with time especially
as someone experiences different things in life. A strong belief can crumble with a disappointment or
difficulty but the opposite can also occur. Sometimes we also have a follow belief. We think we believe
until put to the test. Belief is central to our Christian experience and yet it’s something that we all struggle
with throughout our lives.
So what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Is it believing that he existed and actually walked on
this earth? Is it believing that he is the Son of God? Is it believing that he died on the cross and took our
sins? Is it believing that he’ll come again? Of course many people will say that it is all of those things. If
so, how do you build belief in those things? What can you do every day to be more firm in all those
things?
We know that it’s not just miracles, though they can have their place in helping, because Jesus
would refuse to do them to those asking for them. And several times the miracles did nothing to change
people’s minds.
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign
will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
Matthew 12:38-39
Reading the scriptures also has its place but is not the end all of gaining belief. Those who
rejected Jesus most were the well learned scholars and experts in the law. The words of Moses and the
prophets seemed to do little is growing belief.
Miracles and reading the Bible have their place but will always fall short without prayer and the
building of relationship with Jesus. Like Joshua crossing the sea, you must take that first step towards
God for the belief to grow.
14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing
the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the
feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its
banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still,
and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went
down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over
opposite Jericho.
Joshua 3:14-16
Growing belief is a journey and one that we have to take seriously. It should be a daily goal.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
John 3:16 Part 3
/in Pastors BlogJohn 3:16 Part 3
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
He gave His only begotten Son … Well no one saw that one coming. God, who repeatedly is called one is now proclaiming to have a divine son and more, He will be sacrificing him for our salvation. The Jewish nation believed the Messiah would be a man from the descendent of David but there are a few Old Testament verses that point towards a Son.
7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. 8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
Psalm 2:7-8
Psalm 2 is just one such verse, but like the others that exist, it is a verse that can be interpreted to humans as well. In the end, it is the words and actions of Jesus when the belief relies. He did what no simple human could. Jesus himself is the proof of his claim.
People often misunderstand the idea of the only begotten son. Taken literally it means the first to be born however we can see in the Bible that there is a spiritual more important meaning.
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”
Hebrew 11:17-18
Here Isaac is called ‘his only begotten son’ but we know that Isaac was neither the only nor the first, Ishmael being the older son. But Isaac is given that title because it carries the biblical promise of the Savior. It is because of that promise that Jesus is given the same title. He is the true fulfilment of the promise of the Savior.
It was hard for Jesus to be accepted as the Son of God when he was on the earth. Even his own followers struggled to accept that truth. But we today have the whole Bible to teach us and there is no excuse to not believe.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
John 3:16 Part 2
/in Pastors BlogJohn 3:16 Part 2
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world… I don’t think it’s an accident that this is the most famous
Biblical verse in the Bible. I think God impressed it in our hearts in the hopes that we would
truly and completely understand and be transformed by the message. So much is said in so few
words and the single word I want to focus on today is the word ‘world’.
It doesn’t say that God so loved Christians. It does not say that God so loved those who
follow all the rules and laws. It does not say that God so loved the perfect and righteous. It does
not say that God had any partiality in his love. No. God so loved the world, all of it. From the
very best to the very worst. From the most evil to the most righteous. He loved every skin color.
He loved every nations. He loved everyone regardless of their religion, beliefs, lifestyle or
consequence. God so loved the world.
Until we can truly understand that statement and realize what that means for our own
love, we will never become the people or Christians that God is trying to transform us to be.
God’s love must be our model. It must be our finishing line. It must be the goal we set in our
lives every day that we wake up.
Let’s take a moment at look at the world when this was written. The world empire at that
time was Rome for most of Africa, the Middle East and Europe. This is what history says about
Rome at that time.
The Romans were a notoriously violent society, and their favourite pastimes often reflect that.
Despite the societal development that they experienced, the Romans still lived in relative squalor.
This meant that their everyday lives were often filled with brutal violence. (1)
In Asia there was the Han Dynasty which had a rapid increase of power through conquest
and wars of neighboring nations. Violence was not just common in the world at this time but it
was expected. Even so, God loved them all.
We now live in a world where war is also common place. Bombings, terrorist acts,
invasions and pirating is in the news every day. Division and anger seems to be festering in every
corner of the world. Morally is evolving and changing causing more division, anger and
violence. In almost every aspect of human life, things are not going peacefully and now I ask,
has God’s love changed? No. God, still today, so loves the world.
May we find a way to make God’s love our goal in our lives.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto
(1) https://www.learnancientrome.com/how-were-the-ancient-romans-brutal/#Was_life_in_the_Roman_Empire_brutal
John 3:16 Part One
/in Pastors BlogJohn 3:16 Part One
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
The most famous verse in the Bible. Possible the most famous line of any book. John
3:16 has found its way far from the church pulpit and unto gratified walls, stickers, mugs and
even signs at football games and wrestling matches. It is used because it’s a short sentence which
captures the bare gist of the gospel message.
For God so loved… This tells us that not only is there a God but he loves us. These are
two statements that one must have faith to believe especially in the world we live in today. There
is no visible proof of God himself (not getting into his handiwork of creation or course). His face
does not shine in the sky. These is no video on Facebook or TikTok of God. And then of course
his love for us can be hard to see when there is so much death and pain in the world. It is the
atheist’s number one comment. How could a loving God allow all this to happen? When a plane
crashes, when an earthquake kills scores of people or when someone dies of cancer people
commonly ask, where was God?
You of course could go over the regular list of answers: God was always with you, He
carried you when you thought you were alone, Satan still has power until God comes back and
other responses, but many times it just doesn’t seem like enough. I’m not going to write here and
try and give a brand new answer that somehow fulfills those who aren’t satisfied with the regular
answers. The reason why they are so common is because we really don’t have a better answer.
For me it goes back to what I originally said- it takes faith to believe.
What I do find is that those who can hold on to their faith in God will find peace in their
hearts after some time. An acceptance and understanding slowly overtakes the broken heart and
the person can truly find acceptance in their life. Does this always happen? I can’t be sure of that
but from personal experience of seeing people go through this, the vast majority do.
Those who reject their faith I find have a tendency to become bitter and cynical. This of
course is to be expected when the one power that you thought you could truly trust seems to fails
you. Trust becomes hard when you give up faith. Like a line of dominos, the falling of faith
seems to knock other things in their life as well- hope, love, joy and so on.
I hope these two statements can be strong and real in your lives. Belief in God and his
love really can fill you up with the gifts of the Spirit and can truly make your life better. May you
always be able to keep your faith in them.
Blessings
Pr. Steven Couto