2020 FOCUSED on The Word, Part 2

Ryan Cox • February 8, 2020

Every word of the Bible is true, accurate, and inspired, which is why Jesus said in John 10:35, “the Scripture cannot be broken.” You can’t just take part of it and cast some aside; it’s an all or nothing deal.

But let’s one up it. Let’s take this to a level of awareness that transcends human/worldly reasoning and understanding that makes a difference in hearts and minds.

John 1:1-3 says, “ 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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

Who or What is this Word? In John 1, the Greek word translated as “ Word ” is just full of meaning. It is the word logos.

In Greek literature, Socrates and Plato used this word logos not as a part of speech, but as the very thoughts of the gods that somehow made it down to man. The Stoics took logos to mean that it wasn’t just the gods’ thoughts, but that the thoughts and words of the gods took actual physical form in space and time (similar to Genesis 1; God spoke and, *BAM*, it was so).

Philo, a Hebrew scholar who was very Hellenized (of Greek culture), taught in the years before Jesus that the logos of the Old Testament was that which connected God to the world. It’s what allowed man to hear and understand God. It was the spoken word of God that became reality for us.

The Apostle John infuses these two concepts into this word to try the best he can under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to tell us about this supernatural Word that was before the creation of the world. In fact, in verse 1 the word “was” is in the Greek imperfect tense. That means this Word was, still is, and always will be. This Word is eternal! It was with God, meaning it was co-existent yet distinct with God, and yet the Word was God. Again, it was, is, and always will be God. God Himself!

However, in the Jehovah Witness Bible (called the New World Translation) they insert an “a” to say this Word was just “a god” of some kind. That is not found in one single manuscript of John’s Gospel ever discovered.

To emphasize the Word’s true identity even more, verse 3 says, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

Additionally, if you look at verses 2 and 3, what do you discover? Yes, this Word was the agent of creation in Genesis 1, but the Word is also a HE ! You might be thinking, “Yeah, God’s a ‘He.’ So what?” In verse two, He and God are both mentioned and are yet one and the same.

Verse 4 says that in Him, this Word, is life. You could not breathe nor exist today if it were not for this Word. But even more so, verse 4 says that this life is the “Light of men.” Psalm 119:105 states, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” That means this Word as the Light tells man what is moral, what is true, what is righteous, and what is holy. Therefore, the life that is through Him is also eternal.

He was, is, and always will be, and we follow Him because He made us and has offered us eternal life.

Skip down to verse 14 of John 1, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This Word became a man!

So Who was this Word that, even though He is God the Creator and the Life and Light of man, He would leave that position, empty Himself (Philippians 2:7), and become like one of us? Granted, He would still be God; you just can’t quit that day job. But He would take on the form of one of us, full of its pains, aches and troubles, and come be with us so that we could know Him better than we could ever imagine.

John 1:16-17 proclaims, “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

It’s Jesus!    Do you know Him?

After reading what God has told us about Him through John, don’t you think you ought to get to know Him? He’s made quite an effort for you to do so. In fact, if you go back and read it again, who is really the focus of the text?

It’s YOU! It’s ME! It’s EVERYONE!

Despite how awesome, great, and magnificent He is, He took time to make you and me, and then humbled Himself to become one of us that He might save us!

When you realize how badly He wants to know you, have you, save you, and be with you for all eternity, don’t you think that might change how you and I live? Don’t you think that might change what we as the Church do for Him?

If we got to know Jesus, if we were to fall in love with Him once again, if you were to get to know who He really is, what He’s really like, and He became a part of your life like no other companion could ever be, what do you think life would be like?

Don’t you think we’d have the best marriages, the best families?

Don’t you think we’d be the most loving, serving, caring, giving, and charitable people our communities ever met?

Don’t you think we’d be a truly praying church, as we would so badly want to talk with our Heavenly Father?

Don’t you think we would stand upon the Word no matter what would ever happen to us?

Don’t you think God would be well pleased with us?

When we finally see the Word, we finally see Jesus. The everlasting impact of seeing Jesus, of Jesus coming into focus in your life, is indescribable in its life-changing effect.

That is when you will have John 20:20 focus – “After He said this, He showed them His hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Ichthyosaur pic
By Matt Miles October 2, 2025
The Flood during Noah’s day was a devastating judgement against the sin and wickedness of the time. Most people focus on what the Lord did as He saved the eight people and animals on the Ark. Yet while they were being saved, the Flood destroyed the earth and left behind some remarkable things. Geology around the globe shows water burial of plants and animals. Many of the animal remains show signs of drowning and then burial. One particular reptile that shows this is the Ichthyosaurus. From what we can understand, water was her home for everything in life, even giving birth to live young. This well designed creature may even help us trust the Word of God when it comes to the history of the Flood. In our Mobile Museum of Earth History we exhibit a research replica of an ichthyosaur called Stenopterygius quadriscissus . She is from Holzmaden, Germany and is one example of hundreds that have been found in the area. The reason we can so confidently state this fossil is a “her,” when we rarely know for sure about fossil animals, is because she is pregnant. She has three babies present with her remains: one under her tail, one in or near the birth canal, and one still inside. Our fossil is in situ, which means the fossil remains in the rock matrix it was buried in. So, the presence of momma and babies are how they were buried and not articulated in some manner after excavation. This is important to show the rapid, watery burial that must have taken place to lock this scene in the fossil record. The Flood trapped organisms all over the world in different life positions. Sometimes the fossils left behind have shown eating, hunting, sleeping, swimming, nesting, or drowning. When it comes to ichthyosaurs around the planet, there is a significant number of females that seem to be pregnant. They have been found in the fossil record on at least four continents. A fair assumption would be that Ichthyosaurs had a certain time of year they mated and gave birth to young, much like sea turtles today that nest from late spring to late fall depending on the region around the world. So it should come as no surprise that we find pregnant ichthyosaurs all around the world as the Flood lasted an entire year. It would have buried the females that were pregnant near their location of habitat.  Evolutionists maintain that ichthyosaurs lived tens to hundreds of million years ago and each of the mothers found in the fossil record just died while giving birth. This is difficult to support in a millions magnitude time scale. That would mean every time a disaster happened, millions of years apart, the right conditions existed to quickly bury ichthyosaurs that just so happened to be pregnant. It just might take some “faith” to trust that “miracle” would happen over and over again through eons of time. Or you can have faith that the Word of God’s history is correct with a judgement of man’s sin bringing global devastation through the Flood during Noah’s 600th year of life. The Word of God is trustworthy, with even the fossil record showing us glimpses of historical evidence in support of our faith. I’m so thankful we don’t need blind faith to trust our salvation! Blessings.
Furnace
By Ryan Cox October 2, 2025
14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? 15 …if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?” 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:14-18 In the 6th century BC, three young men stood up for their faith in the one true God, for which someone attempted to kill them. Today, in the 21st century AD, one young man was gunned down for his faith in the one true God. And sadly, Charlie Kirk is not the only one. According to The Esther Project, martyrdom for the cause of Christ is commonplace around the world ( theestherproject.com/statistics ). On average: 322 Christians are killed monthly. 214 churches or Christian properties are destroyed monthly. 772 forms of violence (beatings, kidnappings, etc.) against Christians are committed monthly. 100,000 to 160,000 Christians are killed annually in the 21st century. 1.093 million Christians were martyred between 2000 and 2010. And more than 70 million Christians are believed to have been martyred since the 1st century, with more than half killed in the 20th century alone under communist and fascist governments. And how should Christians respond? Peter wrote, “ if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but glorify God in this name ” (I Peter 4:16). Jesus took this a step further; He told us, “ …love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ” (Matthew 5:44). Now, as Shawn Grant, minister at Kissimmee Christian Church, FL, preached on the Sunday following the assassination, th at may not be what you want to hear right now, but that is what Jesus has told us we must do. Why? So the world will see the difference Jesus makes! The night of and the days after the assassination, businesses did not have to board up their stores. Police and soldiers did not have to be deployed. There were no riots, no property damages, no police spat upon – only tears, prayers, and a witness to the world that Jesus is the answer. So noticeable is this to the world, there were more international press requests for the Charlie Kirk memorial service than are requested for Super Bowls. Within seven days of his death, Kirk’s ministry Turning Point USA had received over 54,000 campus chapter requests. And most importantly, scores of videos of young people considering or even deciding to give their lives to Jesus have been posted to social media platforms. 
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