"What's the big deal about John 3:16?"

(I'm giving the half-time devotion tomorrow morning at Rebecca's Upward Basketball game. Which starts at 8:00.
a.m.
In the morning.
Bright and early on a Saturday!
So here's what I'm going to say.)
Good morning! My name is Kecia. My husband and I have 3 daughters, one of whom is playing on that court this morning! When we were practicing her Upward verse for last week, and saw that it was John 3:16, one of my girls said, "Everybody knows that verse. What's the big deal about John 3:16?" Well, I know not everybody knows John 3:16, but it is very popular--you see it in a lot of places. T-shirts, bumper stickers, football players' faces, football fans' signs. So what is the big deal about John 3:16? As I told my daughter--it's a big deal because it changes everything. Before Jesus spoke those words, the world didn't know that God loved them--especially the non-Jewish heathens like me. And Jesus didn't just say God loved them, He said God loved them so much. He doesn't love us like we love mochas, or our pets, or even, hard as it is to grasp, our children. Judging by His actions, He loves us more than we love our children, because He loves us more than His own one and only, beloved Son, whom He gave up to die in our place, to pay the penalty for our wrong-doing. And not because we're so good and lovable,either. Romans 5:8 says "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." And whoever--Jew, non-Jew, male, female, good, bad, young, old--whoever believes in Him will not die! That changes everything! Whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. We can't just believe about Him, we believe in Him. That He is God, that his death on the cross is the only way my sin could be paid for, that He lives today. When I make a commitment to follow Him with my whole life, He makes that life last forever.
Yeah, John 3:16 is a pretty big deal.
It changes everything.
Thank you for listening. Let's pray.