“Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world; red and yellow, black and white; they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” Many of us have known that song since childhood. Where did we get such an idea that “Jesus loves the little children of the world”? Where did we get such an idea that if we fly halfway across the world to a remote village in Romania, to the outcast gypsy children there, that we can tell them that Jesus loves them? We get it from the verse we are studying today, from John 3:16.
We saw with the opening words of this verse (“For God”) the centrality of God, the one-and-only God of the Bible, and that salvation originated with Him. Then last week we saw how this God “so loved” – that He responded to our with love instead of judgment, and with an intensity of love that is beyond our understanding. Today, as we come to the third pair of words in this great verse, we see that this love which God has is for “the world.” “For God so loved THE WORLD …”. Let’s look together at what that means: Continue reading
Alexander Whyte (1836-1921) was considered by many of his contemporaries to be the greatest preacher in Scotland of his day. His book, Lord Teach Us To Pray, consists of a number of sermons on prayer from a variety of scripture texts. One of the messages in the book is based on Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer of John 17, where He prays in verse 19: “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” Following are some highlights from Whyte’s message, which he applies to those who are interceding for their children and for other loved ones: 
shawnethomas 