God So Loved the World He Gave His Only Son to Everyone So we Might Have Eternal Life!

 

John 3:16 is the most well known verse in the New Testament, the one that sums up the entire Bible for all Christians! God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life! What a blessing for all of us. We can have life eternal in Heaven with our Lord and Savior, all we need to do is believe and follow Jesus and His example of how to live on this Earth School! God loves us so much! He has so much grace and mercy for us. He forgives us of our iniquities and has so much mercy for us in our journey. We are blessed to serve a wonderful God, He just wants us to know Him. Jesus is gently knocking at our hearts asking us to know Him, to follow Him, will all people let Him in, so we can all follow His example to have Heaven here on Earth and the peace God promises all of us. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you! As the Psalm states this week, we cannot forget God and we need to follow Jesus! For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works  that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them. We need to follow Jesus and His example in how to live on this Earth. We are reminded by Jesus that, "For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light,  so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,  so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God." We need to live in the light, follow Jesus, and do His will! Like it says in John, "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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." God wants to save us! What a blessing! We just need to help Him build His house! We need to stay joyful in God always!  



Fourth Sunday of Lent

Reading I
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people 
added infidelity to infidelity, 
practicing all the abominations of the nations 
and polluting the LORD’s temple 
which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, 
send his messengers to them, 
for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God, 
despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, 
until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed 
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem, 
set all its palaces afire, 
and destroyed all its precious objects.
Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon, 
where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons
until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.
All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: 
“Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, 
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest 
while seventy years are fulfilled.”
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, 
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, 
the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia 
to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, 
both by word of mouth and in writing: 
“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: 
All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, 
and he has also charged me to build him a house 
in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, 
let him go up, and may his God be with him!”




Responsorial Psalm
137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
R. (6ab)  Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!

By the streams of Babylon
    we sat and wept
    when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
    we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
    the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
    “Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
    in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
    may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
    if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
    ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!









Reading II
Ephesians 2:4-10
Brothers and sisters:
God, who is rich in mercy, 
because of the great love he had for us, 
even when we were dead in our transgressions, 
brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —, 
raised us up with him, 
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 
that in the ages to come 
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace 
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, 
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works 
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.



Verse Before the Gospel
John 3:16
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.







Gospel
John 3:14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, 
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish 
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, 
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, 
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, 
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world, 
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light, 
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, 
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.











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