Jesus answered, "I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again."

"I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.

And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven."

He tells what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his message.

The one whom God has sent speaks God's words, because God gives him the fullness of his Spirit.

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Jesus answered, "What I teach is not my own teaching, but it comes from God, who sent me.

"No," Jesus answered, "even though I do testify on my own behalf, what I say is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. You do not know where I came from or where I am going.

So he said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, you will know that 'I Am Who I Am'; then you will know that I do nothing on my own authority, but I say only what the Father has instructed me to say.

And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him."

I talk about what my Father has shown me, but you do what your father has told you."

This is true, because I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has commanded me what I must say and speak.

Those who do not love me do not obey my teaching. And the teaching you have heard is not mine, but comes from the Father, who sent me.

I made him a leader and commander of nations, and through him I showed them my power.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

"My Father has given me all things. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

We write to you about the Word of life, which has existed from the very beginning. We have heard it, and we have seen it with our eyes; yes, we have seen it, and our hands have touched it.

What we have seen and heard we announce to you also, so that you will join with us in the fellowship that we have with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the one who came with the water of his baptism and the blood of his death. He came not only with the water, but with both the water and the blood. And the Spirit himself testifies that this is true, because the Spirit is truth.

the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and all three give the same testimony.

So those who believe in the Son of God have this testimony in their own heart; but those who do not believe God, have made a liar of him, because they have not believed what God has said about his Son.

Whoever has the Son has this life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world. He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins

"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: "This is the message from the Amen, the faithful and true witness, who is the origin of all that God has created.

He tells what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his message.

He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him.

"If I testify on my own behalf, what I say is not to be accepted as real proof.

John is the one to whom you sent your messengers, and he spoke on behalf of the truth.

John was like a lamp, burning and shining, and you were willing for a while to enjoy his light.

And the Father, who sent me, also testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his face,

You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me!

Even though he had performed all these miracles in their presence, they did not believe in him,

so that what the prophet Isaiah had said might come true: "Lord, who believed the message we told? To whom did the Lord reveal his power?"

"Why did my people fail to respond when I went to them to save them? Why did they not answer when I called? Am I too weak to save them? I can dry up the sea with a command and turn rivers into a desert, so that the fish in them die for lack of water.

The people reply, "Who would have believed what we now report? Who could have seen the LORD's hand in this?

I have always been ready to welcome my people, who stubbornly do what is wrong and go their own way.

"Jerusalem, Jerusalem! You kill the prophets and stone the messengers God has sent you! How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!

in which I saw the Lord, as he said to me, 'Hurry and leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your witness about me.'

So they set a date with Paul, and a large number of them came that day to the place where Paul was staying. From morning till night he explained to them his message about the Kingdom of God, and he tried to convince them about Jesus by quoting from the Law of Moses and the writings of the prophets.

So they left, disagreeing among themselves, after Paul had said this one thing: "How well the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophet Isaiah to your ancestors!

because this people's minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and closed their eyes. Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand, and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.' "

They do not believe, because their minds have been kept in the dark by the evil god of this world. He keeps them from seeing the light shining on them, the light that comes from the Good News about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.