Week 3

This week we will visit the best known verse in the Bible.  John 3:16 is probably the first verse we all learned in Sunday School when we were little girls.  It is the first verse that we try to teach our children because we realize that the truth of the gospel is completely revealed in this one little verse.  That is the reason we will focus on it this week.  In his book, 100 Bible Verses Everyone Should Know by Heart, Robert Morgan says, "When you've memorized Genesis 1:1; John 1:1,1:14,and 3:16, you have the entire Bible in the palm of your hand.  These verses are the four corners of God's Word."  The truth of the Word is communicated clearly in these four verses of scripture.  They tell of the eternal nature of God, the divinity and humanity of Jesus, and the deep love of the Father.  Now we not only hold them in the palm of our hands, we have them hidden deeply in our heart.

Along with John 3:16, this week we will also learn 1John 3:1 and 1 John 3:16.  These two verse follow along with the theme of the love of God.  It has often been said that John 3:16 is "for God so loved the world" and 1John 3:16 is "since God so loved the world".  Remember this as we place these verses in our hearts this week.

John 3:16 (NIV)
 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1John 3:1 (NIV)
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

1John 3:16 (NIV)
This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.