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Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery, and I'm Lonnie Melashenko.

LONNIE: We're glad you've joined us today for our look at "The Forever Savior."

CONNIE: Lonnie, what's your earliest memory?

LONNIE: Well I remember when I had my tonsils out. I had the taste of ice cream for the very first time.

CONNIE: How old do you suppose you were when that happened?

LONNIE: Believe it or not, I was only about two.

CONNIE: I guess we all have "first memories" that we look back to--the time when we became aware of ourselves, and our surroundings.

LONNIE: I think you're right, and if we want to know anything that happened to us before then, we have to ask our parents or an older brother or sister.

CONNIE: But the point is, we all have a beginning point.

LONNIE: But the great thing about Jesus, as we'll be sharing in our program today, is that He has no beginning and no end.

CONNIE: I think I have an easier time understanding something that goes on forever than something that has no beginning.

LONNIE: I suppose that's true for most of us. We enjoy thinking about living on from this point for ever more, but it's difficult to imagine something or someone who never had a beginning.

CONNIE: But that's what the Bible tells us God is--an eternal God who never began and will never end.

LONNIE: We'll never be able to say that about ourselves--because we all had a beginning point.

CONNIE: But as we learn to trust in God, we can have confidence of an eternal future.

LONNIE: Recently I was speaking with a young couple who had kind of given up on their future--until they met Jesus, and I've invited them to join me in the studio today.
Welcome Jessica and Eric to our Voice of Prophecy studio and our microphone.

JESSICA: Thank you.

ERIC: It's good to be here.

LONNIE: You're such a young couple, scrub squeaky clean. I think our listeners would be just delighted to see you, you're in your early twenties. How long have you been married?

ERIC: 6 years and 4 months.

LONNIE: And has it always been peachy and rosy smooth all the way?

ERIC: Every minute.

JESSICA: Not quite actually.

LONNIE: That's part of your story isn't it?

JESSICA: Yeah.

LONNIE: What happened?

ERIC: Well in April of 95', we were to go down to Mississippi for some schooling, and we had a big decision to make. Should Jessica come with me, and she was rather unhappy with me at the time, and I wasn't living up to her marriage expectations.

LONNIE: So you had some pressures and some difficulties.

JESSICA: Yeah we did. I finally made the decision to go with Eric, I felt that he's my husband and I need to stand beside him, and so we went and it turned out to be the best decision we've ever made.

LONNIE: Because something was waiting for you there that you never dreamed would enter into your life. Here you had a successful business, and you were into you careers in high tech of computers, and so forth. What happened down there?

ERIC: Well we got down there, and began living a typical home lifestyle, and kind of thought that maybe we should go to church, but we never found anything that suited us. We attended a few churches and were kind of turned off. And then one day we got a colorful postcard in the mail.

JESSICA: Yeah I went down to the mail, and I was about to throw it away until something grabbed my attention, and it was Revelation Seminar and Bible Prophecy, and so we looked through it and we said, "Hey let's go to this, it sounds just like what we've been looking for."

LONNIE: Isn't that wonderful. Now what happened? Who was there? And what took place as the result?

ERIC: Well it was a meeting at a community call and we showed up and didn't know what to think and the pastor started speaking and it became rather interesting, and before we knew it three weeks had gone by and we had attended every meeting.

LONNIE: You were hooked.

JESSICA: Actually I think it was more like 4 or 5 weeks, I don't remember exactly.

ERIC: Time flies.

LONNIE: This was actually a sister ministry to the Voice of Prophecy.

JESSICA: Amazing Facts.

LONNIE: Amazing Facts in Baluxom, Mississippi, but you somebody there that changed your life and your future.

JESSICA: Yeah, well the amazing thing is, is that Amazing Facts had not been to Baluxom, Mississippi for 14 years and they happened to just come there during the 6 months that we were there. So that was amazing.

LONNIE: A miracle in itself.

JESSICA: Exactly. And so through those meetings we met the Lord and we renewed our relationship with Him and with each other.

LONNIE: What did that mean by way of transforming your relationship with each other? How did that give you a new future in terms of your marriage and some of the rockiness that had been taking place?

ERIC: Will for the first time we as a couple began to share something, an interest between us that was common and new to both of us in the marriage. For the first time we began too explore it together, it became something of our own as a couple.

LONNIE: So you were kind of breathing new romance and zest into your marriage relationship, through knowing Jesus and focusing together on something for the first time.

Eric: Yes.

JESSICA: That's right.

LONNIE: What other dimensions did this exhibit itself in, in terms of your relationship? Did you start doing things together, or enjoying time together that maybe you hadn't before.

ERIC: I think it's more of the things that we quit doing.

JESSICA: Yeah, well we quit doing some things, but we learned the truth about the Sabbath, and that was a dynamic in our marriage to put that special day aside for Jesus and for us and for fellowship for three of us.

LONNIE: Now that's really intriguing by putting Jesus there at the center. Kind of like the center of the hub, spokes of a wheel. By getting closer to Him, you found each other getting quality time.

JESSICA: It's like a triangle. When Jesus is at the top, and each spouse is at the other corners, you grow closer to Jesus, you grow closer to each other, and that's exactly what was happening to us.

LONNIE: Now Eric and Jessica, the big surprise for our listeners is that this resulted in an unusual chain of circumstances, didn't it Jessica, that brought you right here to the Voice of Prophecy, not only as our guest in the studio today, but what?

JESSICA: I'm your secretary!

LONNIE: And wonderful, wonderful couple that have moved into Simi Valley right next to the Voice of Prophecy Studios. You've got your first little new home, God is good isn't He?

JESSICA: Amen.

ERIC: Our cup overfloweth.


CONNIE: Eric and Jessica certainly have a wonderful testimony of the difference God makes when we allow Him into our life, don't they.

LONNIE: They certainly do--it's like their lives began all over again when they surrendered to Jesus.

CONNIE: That's a privilege we all can have. Jesus is waiting to give it to anyone who'll surrender their life into His hands, as the song "He Was There All the Time" reminds us. We're going to listen to Manuel Escorcio singing that song now, and as you listen, why not take a little time to think about what Jesus would like to do in your life today, as you turn it over to Him.

. "He Was There All the Time", Manuel Escorcio, from Irresistible Jesus CD, Track 3

CONNIE: It's true. Wherever you are, whatever path you've taken, whatever is first-in-line on today's priority list, Jesus is waiting for the chance to be where He belongs--at the head of the line.
It's outrageous, isn't it, to think of God Himself waiting in line for people to be ready to receive Him, but God doesn't force Himself on anyone. He waits for us to get to the point where we recognize our need of Him.

LONNIE: He waits to be invited in.

CONNIE: And when we finally issue the invitation, He stands ready to move in and bless us.

That's the outrageous grace of God that Dwight Nelson describes in his book Outrageous Grace. It's God's gift to the human race. And the book Outrageous Grace is Voice of Prophecy's gift to you today, just for the asking.
Why not call our toll-free number 1-800-872-0055 right now and ask for Outrageous Grace? I know you'll enjoy this book by popular pastor and preacher, Dwight Nelson. It's yours for the asking at 1-800-872-0055.
Eternal life is also free for the asking, but as Ken Wade points out in today's commentary, some people aren't sure they want it. Do you?

KEN: Recently I read an editorial in Scientific American that kind of brought me up short. The title caught my eye, "Who Wants to be Immortal." It asked. I suppose it was a takeoff of the popular game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, but it posed a question I've never really thought much about.
As a Christian, I've always looked forward to eternal life. I've considered the privilege of living forever as one of the most important promises Jesus made. The Gospels tell us that when He began His ministry, Jesus went about telling people to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
Whenever we pray the Lord's Prayer, we say the words "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…" reaffirming our hope the for the coming, eternal, kingdom of God where we will live lives of joy without end.
So, why would John Rennie, Editor in Chief of Scientific American even pose the question "Who Wants to Be Immortal?" Surely anyone in their right mind would jump at the chance to live forever if they could do so in a place like heaven.

But it turns out that Rennie has some valid reasons for asking his question. Mind you, he's not asking who wants to live for a long, long time. He's asking who wants to live forever. In his editorial he describes what scientists now understand about the nature of our universe and its future.

According to the best estimates available these days, light and life in our universe will not last forever. In fact, scientists estimate that the stars will all have burned out just a few hundred quadrillion years from now.

So, if you're hoping to live eternally, Rennie says, you'll end up living in an abysmally dark and cold place after a while.

Well, I appreciate Mr. Rennie's insights, and he's no doubt right about the way things will turn out for our universe if everything just continues on as we see it now.

But the good news of the Gospel is that God is in control of the universe. He created it in the first place. He's kept things going for a good long time already, and I have no doubt that He has a plan to keep it going indefinitely.
The one thing the astrophysicists and the editor of Scientific American leave out of their equations is the One most important thing of all: The God who made the universe in the first place!

CONNIE: Thanks Ken. That's a very good point. It's important not to leave God out of the equation whenever we think about life and the future. In fact, it's important not to leave Him out when we're thinking about the past either. Because He's always been here, and always will, as Lonnie shares with us in today's message, "The Forever Savior."

SERMON

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
(John 1:1-5 NKJ)

These five brief verses begin John's telling of the story of the greatest thing that ever happened to him--in fact the greatest thing that ever happened to the world.

If you haven't done so recently, I challenge you to get out your Bible and read through the first chapter of the book of John, concentrating on the first 18 verses--the prologue.

Matthew Henry reports in his commentary that the learned scholar Francis Junius was turned from atheism to faith in God one day when he just happened to read these words.

Junius reported that he "observed such a divinity in the argument, such an authority and majesty in the style, that his flesh trembled, and he was struck with such amazement that for a whole day he scarcely knew where he was or what he did."

Can these words still have such a deep impact today? Friend, how do they affect you? How do they affect me? Are they just a heavy philosophical proposition, or do they come down to my level and walk with me and speak to me?

These words are the carefully chosen, meticulously inscribed words of a very old man, the apostle John, who sat down near the end of his life and considered how to transmit the greatest truth he had ever discovered to a new generation.

I'd like to share with you today three levels on which these words impact the world. John chose his words carefully to touch as many people as possible, to the very core of their beings. He chose them so that wherever you are in life today, they can reach out to you.

John begins his Gospel by saying "In the beginning was the Word." In this sentence he addresses the deepest philosophical questions ever to challenge the mind of humanity: Where did we come from--and why are we here?
He begins by answering this question in a way that would ring true to the philosophers of his day. The Word he wrote about would be a familiar term to them. The Word (the logos in Greek) was regarded by Greek philosophers as the organizing principle of the universe--the thing that drew all matter together in an organized way. Zeus himself, the greatest of the Greek gods, was sometimes referred to as the word--ho logos.

But John challenges the Greek philosophers on their own turf, because to the Greeks all the gods had a beginning--they came into being AFTER the creation of the world. John announces in clarion tones… No that is not the way it was: Before anything else existed, the Word existed as very God. "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. . . . All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made," John declares.

But John was not writing just to Greek philosophers and questioning seekers of a secular bent. His message was intended to reach all people in all times. New Testament scholars note that Matthew's Gospel was probably written especially for Jews; Mark's was addressed to Romans, and Luke's to Greeks. But John's Gospel is regarded as the universal Gospel--written for all people everywhere.

So, in beginning by speaking of The Word, John addressed the curious, philosophical Greek mind, but he went on from there to pen these words:

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
These words would ring a clear bell in the minds of Jewish people everywhere in the world, for they are a clear echo of words faithful Jews recited every week in the synagogue. But more than an echo, they are a challenge as well.

In Jesus' day, the worship service in every synagogue, everywhere in the world, began with the recitation of a prayer that focused on the same elements that John wrote about in the prologue to his Gospel: Those in attendance at synagogue would repeat this prayer before anything else:

Blessed be Thou, O Lord, King of the world, Who formest the light and createst the darkness, Who makest peace, and createst everything; Who, in mercy, givest light to the earth, and to those who dwell upon it.

John takes these same words, these same concepts, and proclaims to his Jewish readers that The Word--that is, Jesus, is also the very light of the world--the very first gift of God to His creation.

And that though this light has now come into the world, they--the people of the world--have failed to comprehend it.

In the first five verses of his Gospel, John throws down the gauntlet and challenges philosophers and thinking people of every bent to consider the story he is about to tell--the story of Jesus.

And the stakes in the challenge are clear: Consider the light that has come into the world. Consider it carefully, and come to understand it in all its brilliance. Or else remain on the outside, in ignorant, unenlightened, uncomprehending, abysmal darkness.

Now, my friend, it may seem to you that in my message today I have strayed from the pure, simple gospel that Voice of Prophecy usually focuses on. You may even think that I've wandered off into vain philosophy.
But that's not my intention at all.

For John's Gospel isn't addressed only to philosophers and religious scholars. It also comes down and speaks to you and me in very practical, personal terms.

Because, you see, the Word that John spoke of became flesh-- took on a human body just like yours and mine. The word that existed as God before anything else was made took on human form and came down and lived among us, facing the same challenges and perplexities that trouble us today.

He skinned His knee when He fell down. His thumb swelled and throbbed if He hit it with a hammer in the carpenter's shop. He faced enemies, cruel tyrants, and sadistic soldiers, and took it all in stride, accepting the suffering as part and parcel of being one with us in our humanity, in order that He could lift our sights toward heaven.

The Man who came to be the Savior of the world was more than just a Man. He was God in the flesh. He had always existed, and He always will exist.
The Man Jesus was God and is God. He was before the beginning of the world, and He will be after the end of the world. And He is your Friend and my Friend.

He came into the world that you and I inhabit. He came as light into the darkness- and the darkness didn't understand what had hit it. But friend, let me share a secret with you: there's a second, hidden meaning in John 1:5. Most Bibles read like the New King James: the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

But that verse can just as well be translated to say "the darkness did not overcome it."

Jesus was not understood while He was on earth, but neither was He conquered. He surrendered His life as Savior, but then He took it up again as Conqueror.

And though you and I may not fully comprehend or understand what all this means, there's one thing we do know. In Jesus we have a Forever Friend and a Forever Savior. In His power and light, we can overcome the powers of darkness.

Oh, my friend, what a wonderful, eternal, forever Savior we have in Jesus. Have you received Him into your life? Why not invite Him in, just now?