John, to my dear friends in Christ; April and I have moved and we have started new ministries. For me, I'm teaching 6th and 7th grade math and science at our church's school (please keep me in prayer), and April is leading the children in praise every morning. We are both settling in, so pray that through it all, our eyes remain fixed on Jesus.

During the time I was away from doing Encouragement from the Heart I learned that there is more on the deity of Jesus in the Gospel of John then even I realized. Think about it, so far we have seen, without exception, everything in this Gospel is in support of the deity of Jesus. I find this amazing since many cults disagree with Jesus' deity, so let's press on with our study.

In verses 24 and 25 we have another group of Jews known as the Pharisees asking John questions. The previous group was from the Levites and Priests, and now we have the political group called the Pharisees. The Pharisees also want to know John's authority to baptize with water, but John already told them in verse 23 when he quoted IS 40:3, and rather than repeat himself he expands on what he said, and in verses 26 and 27 he  tells them in words they should understand, he has seen someone whom John himself is unworthy to even untie His sandal strap. John isn't talking in earthly terms, but he is talking in Spiritual terms, and who else could this be for a man under the authority of God other than someone under greater authority whom John isn't even worthy to untie His sandal strap, the Messiah. Remember, Jesus will declare John as one of the greatest men ever (Matthew 11:11), could this mean that Jesus was no other than God Himself? Also, when John told the Pharisees this, I like to think at that very moment, Jesus was standing in their mist. John knows from what God told him, how he would recognize the Messiah, who in turn is the Son of God as we will see in John 1:32-34. Isn't this awesome! Next week we will see John directly point out Jesus as the Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice for our sin, Who could this be? No other than God Himself.

Dear Heavenly Father, we are just overwhelmed at the effort You went to, to ensure we understood that Your Son is also God, help us to remember that Jesus is God and to tell others the Good News, in Jesus name I Pray, Amen.

God's Many Blessings to You,