SPEAKER_00: Good morning and welcome to your daily walk.
SPEAKER_00: It's Thursday, and I'm Dan Stevens.
SPEAKER_00: In January of this year, I saw a Facebook post about In N Out Burger and its owner, Lindsay Snyder.
SPEAKER_00: The post had a picture of Lindsay with one of the iconic restaurants in the background.
SPEAKER_00: Superimposed on the photo was a close-up of the bottom of a cup with John 3.16.
SPEAKER_00: Not the verse itself, but only the reference printed on it.
SPEAKER_00: Now, underneath the post was an AI-generated prompt that simply asked, What's the significance of John 3.16?
SPEAKER_00: And of course, you could click on the prompt to read the answer.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I certainly didn't need a prompt to tell me what its significance was.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_00: John 3.16 was probably the first verse I ever memorized, and I'd guess the same goes for most of you.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the man that led me to faith in Christ when I was 11 years old probably used that verse when he shared the gospel with me.
SPEAKER_00: The interesting thing is that I had been raised in church hearing that verse over and over, but it wasn't until this guy explained the verse that the truth of it really sank in.
SPEAKER_00: So what is the significance of John 3.16?
SPEAKER_00: It's probably the ultimate verse that explains the most important theme of the entire Bible: that God loves us and sent his son.
SPEAKER_00: Those who lived in Old Testament times were promised that there would one day be a Messiah who would come into the world.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, the promise was fulfilled in the New Testament when God sent His Son to die for our sins.
SPEAKER_00: Not only that, but Jesus gave his life up willingly out of his perfect love for us.
SPEAKER_00: But we need to do more than just agree with that part of the verse.
SPEAKER_00: The next part tells us we need to believe in Jesus so that we won't perish but have eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: And that, my friends, is the significance of John 3.16.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus loves you, and I hope to see you tonight at the Monte Thursday service as well as Sunday morning when we celebrate the resurrected Christ on Easter.