WEBVTT 00:07.040 --> 00:08.701 [SPEAKER_00]: Hey, man, man, good evening, everyone. 00:08.721 --> 00:09.441 [SPEAKER_00]: Hello. 00:09.461 --> 00:11.122 [SPEAKER_00]: There's one thing I just learned. 00:11.182 --> 00:13.464 [SPEAKER_00]: It's that my head is maybe too big for this headset. 00:16.265 --> 00:18.546 [SPEAKER_00]: I also just want to plug ally leadership institute. 00:18.687 --> 00:19.867 [SPEAKER_00]: I am currently doing that. 00:20.267 --> 00:26.931 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you want a chance and opportunity to grow your faith, to be in community, to learn more about scripture, the teaching is excellent. 00:27.632 --> 00:29.893 [SPEAKER_00]: So if you want to talk about it more, please come up to me. 00:29.913 --> 00:33.695 [SPEAKER_00]: I love to help answer any questions you have, but I really want to plug ally. 00:33.715 --> 00:34.896 [SPEAKER_00]: It is super great. 00:36.437 --> 00:39.679 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I'm super blessed to be here making my debut. 00:39.979 --> 00:41.099 [SPEAKER_00]: So thank you all for taking time. 00:41.119 --> 00:42.500 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not for me for the Lord. 00:42.560 --> 00:44.001 [SPEAKER_00]: Come for the right reasons, please. 00:44.962 --> 00:52.767 [SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, we're taking a break from the current series where I do encalled question and Christianity, which is a series where we question Christianity. 00:53.487 --> 00:57.111 [SPEAKER_00]: And so we're taking a break from that, because it is a special day today. 00:57.131 --> 01:00.214 [SPEAKER_00]: It is Father's Day, so happy, Father's Day, everyone. 01:01.875 --> 01:02.936 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me pray before I begin. 01:03.917 --> 01:05.479 [SPEAKER_00]: Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you all. 01:06.720 --> 01:08.682 [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we thank you that everyone is in this room, Lord. 01:08.722 --> 01:14.728 [SPEAKER_00]: We thank you that you've picked these people to come and have their evening free where we can be in community, being the word, Lord. 01:14.748 --> 01:18.031 [SPEAKER_00]: Would you just fix our gaze towards you, fix our eyes and heart? 01:18.411 --> 01:20.832 [SPEAKER_00]: towards you Lord as we lean on you tonight. 01:21.332 --> 01:22.873 [SPEAKER_00]: We pray this in your mighty name. 01:23.313 --> 01:23.633 [SPEAKER_00]: Amen. 01:25.734 --> 01:36.057 [SPEAKER_00]: So in the Gospel of John, there are over 40 times where Jesus mentions the fact that the Father has sent him into the world to accomplish the mission that He sent to do. 01:36.077 --> 01:43.700 [SPEAKER_00]: And it is that very special relationship between the Father and the Son, which is what we're going to go into today, and we're going to read from John 14. 01:47.983 --> 01:49.364 [SPEAKER_00]: Do not let your hearts be troubled. 01:50.204 --> 01:52.365 [SPEAKER_00]: You believe in God, believe also in me. 01:53.425 --> 01:55.026 [SPEAKER_00]: My father's house has many rooms. 01:55.887 --> 02:00.148 [SPEAKER_00]: If that were not so, would I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you? 02:01.189 --> 02:08.712 [SPEAKER_00]: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you may also be where I am. 02:09.433 --> 02:11.654 [SPEAKER_00]: You know the way to the place where I'm going. 02:12.474 --> 02:15.235 [SPEAKER_00]: Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going, 02:17.619 --> 02:25.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus answered, I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. 02:27.186 --> 02:30.468 [SPEAKER_00]: If you really know me, you will know my father as well. 02:31.348 --> 02:34.591 [SPEAKER_00]: From now on, you do know him, and have seen him. 02:35.912 --> 02:39.434 [SPEAKER_00]: Philip said, Lord, show us the father, and that will be enough for us. 02:40.395 --> 02:45.518 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus answered, don't you know me, Philip, even after I've been among you such 02:47.078 --> 02:50.019 [SPEAKER_00]: anyone who has seen me has seen the father. 02:50.660 --> 02:52.160 [SPEAKER_00]: How can you say show us the father? 02:52.981 --> 02:56.903 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't you believe that I am in the father and that the father is in me? 02:56.923 --> 03:05.146 [SPEAKER_00]: The words I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, rather it is the father living in me who is doing his work. 03:05.987 --> 03:11.429 [SPEAKER_00]: Believe me when I say that I'm in the father and the father is in me or at least believe on the evidence 03:14.977 --> 03:30.681 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, as you make your way through the gospels and further into the life and further into the ministry of Jesus, you might realize that there's less and less mystique and mystery around what Jesus actually lets his disciples know, especially about himself. 03:31.622 --> 03:35.002 [SPEAKER_00]: He's sort of like drip feeding information to them. 03:35.623 --> 03:43.885 [SPEAKER_00]: And this is why when Jesus does talk about his relationship to the Father, while he can be clear, we have to recognize that there is a mystery to it. 03:44.880 --> 03:52.082 [SPEAKER_00]: We will never fully understand the complexity and the connection that the Triune God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit share. 03:54.843 --> 04:02.845 [SPEAKER_00]: But when Jesus does actually peel back the curtain just a little bit into this heavenly bond, He will often use very simple language to help us understand. 04:03.326 --> 04:06.126 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's the same with a lot of the parables and analogies of Jesus. 04:06.527 --> 04:14.109 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses easily comparable metaphors to help us understand what He is saying, to let us infer the on His relationship to the Father. 04:15.089 --> 04:18.552 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, good example of this is actually in the next chapter on John 15. 04:18.952 --> 04:21.134 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says, I am the true vine. 04:21.454 --> 04:22.535 [SPEAKER_00]: My father is there. 04:22.595 --> 04:26.157 [SPEAKER_00]: Does anyone know the branch close? 04:26.257 --> 04:27.558 [SPEAKER_00]: The gardener, I don't know. 04:27.578 --> 04:28.199 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, it's great. 04:32.774 --> 04:36.677 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the same, it's the same with a lot of the parables and analogies of Jesus, okay? 04:37.357 --> 04:38.958 [SPEAKER_00]: Not the branch, the God, not. 04:39.618 --> 04:46.543 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses easily comparable metaphors to help us interpret what He's saying, to let us infer the honest relationship to the Father. 04:48.664 --> 04:54.808 [SPEAKER_00]: And so leading up to this moment, Jesus has been saying and alluding to the fact that He soon will be going away. 04:55.449 --> 04:55.769 [SPEAKER_00]: Right? 04:55.809 --> 04:56.850 [SPEAKER_00]: He'll be going to the Father. 04:57.752 --> 05:03.156 [SPEAKER_00]: and his disciples clearly don't get the full picture here, and they don't want him to go, they're scared, they're worried. 05:03.916 --> 05:10.301 [SPEAKER_00]: And so in an effort to comfort them, what Christ does is he first equates himself and his power to that of God. 05:10.982 --> 05:16.606 [SPEAKER_00]: He's saying the same faith that you have in God to help you deal with your own trouble, apply that same faith to me. 05:17.622 --> 05:19.503 [SPEAKER_00]: But then Jesus does something very human. 05:19.864 --> 05:25.007 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses similar language you yourself might use if you're confident in a friend that's going through hard times. 05:25.508 --> 05:34.935 [SPEAKER_00]: And we've all been there, I hope, when someone close to us is anxious or afraid or going through a tough time, you may point out to them something good that's happening in the future. 05:34.975 --> 05:36.096 [SPEAKER_00]: You want to try to fill them with hope. 05:36.876 --> 05:38.778 [SPEAKER_00]: You want to fill them with something to look forward to. 05:39.700 --> 05:48.145 [SPEAKER_00]: And so here, Jesus lifts himself to the pedestal and nature of God, but he also does a very human thing by choosing to show care to the people around him. 05:49.366 --> 05:50.887 [SPEAKER_00]: He's practicing what he preachers. 05:52.027 --> 06:05.215 [SPEAKER_00]: And so how he does that, how he decides to lift up his disciples, his closest followers and friends with hope, and an effort to peel back that curd and just a little bit, he talks about the house of the Father, he talks about the house of God. 06:06.622 --> 06:18.551 [SPEAKER_00]: One of the only few times that Jesus actually uses this expression of the Father's house was when in Luke's Gospel he records that when Jesus was around 12 years old, it's a very famous story, his parents losing. 06:19.071 --> 06:20.753 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you imagine losing the Son of God? 06:21.073 --> 06:25.817 [SPEAKER_00]: And so Jesus has lost for three days and when they finally find Him, they find Him into Jewish temple. 06:26.597 --> 06:31.281 [SPEAKER_00]: And when they come up to Him, He says to them at 12 years old, why were you searching for me? 06:31.301 --> 06:34.003 [SPEAKER_00]: Did it you know I had to be in my Father's house? 06:35.233 --> 06:41.156 [SPEAKER_00]: And so remember that the Jewish temple served as the life and the heart of the people of Israel. 06:41.717 --> 06:46.179 [SPEAKER_00]: It was essentially a holy place where heaven and earth meant. 06:47.380 --> 06:53.763 [SPEAKER_00]: It completely encompass this idea that God can be anywhere and he can be present on earth even if it's just for a moment. 06:54.384 --> 06:59.747 [SPEAKER_00]: But for God to be there, for God to appear, I'm summarizing here, you had to do something. 07:00.694 --> 07:07.776 [SPEAKER_00]: You had to live up to a certain level, or a certain standard, you had to do X, Y, and Z to make yourself wholly enough for God to dwell. 07:07.796 --> 07:14.398 [SPEAKER_00]: And so here, Jesus takes that same framework, but he hints at a new place, a new world, a new house. 07:14.999 --> 07:16.499 [SPEAKER_00]: We have in a north will meet again. 07:17.199 --> 07:20.180 [SPEAKER_00]: That's of course when God redeems the whole world. 07:20.741 --> 07:27.963 [SPEAKER_00]: And it is then at that time, where Jesus says, there will be room not just for the righteous, and morally upright, there will be room for everyone. 07:29.630 --> 07:32.192 [SPEAKER_00]: A place where you don't have to live up to a standard to be there. 07:32.493 --> 07:42.261 [SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to work to get there, but it's in fact Jesus who does the work, who fulfills the standard, you simply cannot achieve on your own, and if you read carefully, it's actually Jesus who sets your place there. 07:43.082 --> 07:43.542 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not you. 07:44.983 --> 07:46.625 [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone say, Jesus who sets my place. 07:49.167 --> 07:52.129 [SPEAKER_00]: Now does he mean a literal house, four walls and a roof? 07:52.932 --> 07:53.372 [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. 07:53.552 --> 07:54.132 [SPEAKER_00]: Probably not. 07:54.653 --> 07:56.233 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't know what heaven looks like, of course. 07:56.653 --> 07:59.874 [SPEAKER_00]: But remember, Jesus is using language that the disciples can understand. 08:00.314 --> 08:03.615 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the word for house in the Greek is Ikea. 08:03.695 --> 08:04.635 [SPEAKER_00]: Everyone say Ikea. 08:06.316 --> 08:07.596 [SPEAKER_00]: I knew being Greek would come in handy. 08:09.277 --> 08:10.237 [SPEAKER_00]: It means a dwelling place. 08:11.940 --> 08:12.681 [SPEAKER_00]: where God dwells. 08:13.561 --> 08:22.888 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when Jesus says, I will go and prepare a place for you and then I will come back and take you to be with me, that my friends is to dwell in the presence of God. 08:24.249 --> 08:26.751 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you're in the presence of God, how can your heart be troubled? 08:28.732 --> 08:32.375 [SPEAKER_00]: Can you see how his response to the disciples troubled heart is not you go do this? 08:32.895 --> 08:34.877 [SPEAKER_00]: You go find this, go do this. 08:35.237 --> 08:38.740 [SPEAKER_00]: It's actually believe in me and in me, you will find that safe place. 08:39.908 --> 08:43.130 [SPEAKER_00]: And if Jesus is comforting someone, he's doing a pretty good job, I think. 08:44.351 --> 08:49.655 [SPEAKER_00]: So we know there's a place, a somewhere where we will be with God, but there is a problem. 08:50.635 --> 08:51.536 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't know how to get there. 08:52.597 --> 08:54.298 [SPEAKER_00]: And the disciples don't really understand. 08:54.358 --> 09:00.742 [SPEAKER_00]: So when Jesus says, you guys know the way to the place where I'm going, that's exactly what Thomas asks in verse 5. 09:00.842 --> 09:03.044 [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, we don't know where you're going. 09:03.684 --> 09:04.845 [SPEAKER_00]: So how can we know the way? 09:06.666 --> 09:07.207 [SPEAKER_00]: What a question. 09:08.458 --> 09:13.262 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Thomas is asking Jesus, the question we all ask is it not? 09:14.783 --> 09:16.384 [SPEAKER_00]: The answer to life after death. 09:17.925 --> 09:26.511 [SPEAKER_00]: The question that humanity has been pondering for centuries and centuries, what we've been searching for, and so Thomas is essentially asking, how do I get to heaven? 09:27.272 --> 09:31.355 [SPEAKER_00]: How can I know the way to God, the way to the Father, how can we get there? 09:32.322 --> 09:50.077 [SPEAKER_00]: And it is in this passage, during the last supper, less than 24 hours before Jesus is crucified, by the way, where Jesus says in response to Thomas's question, one of the most quoted talked about and debated pieces of scripture in the entirety of the New Testament. 09:51.218 --> 09:59.025 [SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus gives Thomas his answer, and verse six, he says, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. 10:00.533 --> 10:04.376 [SPEAKER_00]: No one comes to the Father, except through me. 10:07.259 --> 10:08.300 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no analogous here. 10:09.781 --> 10:11.162 [SPEAKER_00]: There's no comparisons made here. 10:11.182 --> 10:15.606 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not saying he's kind of the way. 10:16.447 --> 10:17.347 [SPEAKER_00]: He's like the truth. 10:17.788 --> 10:19.729 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is saying he is these things. 10:20.630 --> 10:22.271 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the embodiment of these things. 10:22.331 --> 10:23.913 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the fulfillment of these things. 10:26.018 --> 10:40.262 [SPEAKER_00]: And so, broadly friends, if there is any confusion on what Christ is saying here, it can only be through interpretation because let me tell your friends, in this verse, Jesus is as clear as you need to be. 10:41.803 --> 10:45.164 [SPEAKER_00]: This is some of the most clear, Jesus is an entirety of the of the gospels. 10:46.282 --> 10:55.107 [SPEAKER_00]: The reason why this is one of the most talked about quoted pieces of Scripture is not just because of the words in itself, but of the claim it insinuates. 10:55.768 --> 11:00.030 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ tells His disciples that the only true way to get to God is through Himself. 11:00.451 --> 11:01.211 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the claim. 11:02.872 --> 11:09.136 [SPEAKER_00]: So how can we get to the house of the Father where He has prepared us a place if He doesn't know who we are? 11:18.314 --> 11:23.920 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you're putting your trust, not in what you yourself has done, but in who Jesus is. 11:25.842 --> 11:29.685 [SPEAKER_00]: Not in what you yourself have done, but who Jesus is. 11:31.647 --> 11:38.734 [SPEAKER_00]: Because he says this in a very specific fashion, he uses three specific words, way, truth, life. 11:40.076 --> 11:41.237 [SPEAKER_00]: And so here's how that can make sense. 11:42.675 --> 11:46.396 [SPEAKER_00]: The way to God is through Jesus, because He is the only way. 11:46.957 --> 11:59.361 [SPEAKER_00]: The truth of God is revealed by Jesus, because He brings truth to reality, and the life of God is made known in Jesus, because He is God in the flesh extending His hand to us. 12:00.121 --> 12:04.543 [SPEAKER_00]: Through Jesus, by Jesus, in Jesus. 12:06.564 --> 12:12.126 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if He is the way and the truth and the life, 12:13.402 --> 12:20.605 [SPEAKER_00]: Then I think the only true way to live life with God is through Jesus. 12:22.845 --> 12:27.707 [SPEAKER_00]: The only true way to live life with God is through Jesus. 12:28.127 --> 12:28.607 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you with me? 12:30.508 --> 12:38.451 [SPEAKER_00]: Then he says to fill up, if you really know me, if you really know me, you know the Father. 12:39.800 --> 12:50.567 [SPEAKER_00]: And again, sometimes Jesus can just be so clear on what He says, and these verses, all there, some of those times, make no mistake friends in the presence of Jesus, we are in the presence of God. 12:52.849 --> 13:05.858 [SPEAKER_00]: John also says, whoever denies the Son denies the Father, whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also, simply you can't have one without the other. 13:07.796 --> 13:12.600 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't have the Son without the Father, and you cannot have God without Jesus Christ. 13:13.541 --> 13:14.742 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the claim of Christianity. 13:16.183 --> 13:27.492 [SPEAKER_00]: And so because Jesus is called the Word of God in the Bible, He's the Word of the Father, His speech, His person, His image, constantly displaying who the Father is. 13:30.475 --> 13:33.017 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think John illustrates this. 13:34.573 --> 13:39.238 [SPEAKER_00]: very beautifully, actually, at the beginning of his gospel in verse 18. 13:41.060 --> 13:52.212 [SPEAKER_00]: No one has ever seen God, but the one and only son who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father has made him known. 13:54.118 --> 13:56.140 [SPEAKER_00]: Seeing God, what do you mean no one has ever seen God? 13:56.580 --> 14:09.451 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, Johnny's saying no one has ever seen God in his full glory, in the entirety of his glory because that is simply not something we would be able to fathom, we would be able to comprehend because God is spirit, and that can be hard to grapple with. 14:10.872 --> 14:18.198 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when you take a look at the Greek, which of course I'm gonna do a lot, the word for made him known is exigustle. 14:18.598 --> 14:20.240 [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not gonna, you're not gonna say it, don't worry. 14:21.701 --> 14:23.582 [SPEAKER_00]: It means to declare it means to reveal. 14:24.522 --> 14:39.969 [SPEAKER_00]: And so this is why friends, God has chosen not to reveal himself through a culture, not through a society, not through a church, not even through religion, God has chosen to reveal himself through his son. 14:42.350 --> 14:47.912 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you follow the sun and not those other things, you're on the right track. 14:49.411 --> 14:51.212 [SPEAKER_00]: Because all those other things, I mean, they can change. 14:51.252 --> 14:53.134 [SPEAKER_00]: God or bad, we see them change every year. 14:53.894 --> 15:00.479 [SPEAKER_00]: And so you can put your faith, not an institution, not in a changing world, you put your faith in God's only Son who never changes. 15:03.181 --> 15:07.744 [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, one of my favorite verses is in the book of Hebrews, that says, Jesus Christ is the same. 15:08.184 --> 15:10.526 [SPEAKER_00]: Yesterday, today and forever. 15:10.546 --> 15:12.147 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, our beautiful is a hunt. 15:14.139 --> 15:26.622 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if you're not a Christian, and you are here, which you're so welcome here, thank you for coming, and you wanna understand what the gospel is, you wanna understand who Jesus is. 15:28.543 --> 15:31.243 [SPEAKER_00]: This is what I think John is really saying in this verse. 15:34.004 --> 15:41.706 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ is God, revealing Himself to us in a way that we can understand Him. 15:43.505 --> 15:50.566 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ is God, revealing Himself to us in a way that we can understand Him. 15:52.727 --> 15:57.788 [SPEAKER_00]: There's this verse in the Old Testament in the book of Ecclesiastes, and Solomon writes this incredible verse. 15:57.888 --> 16:09.450 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, God has set eternity on the human heart, God has set eternity on the human heart, and so the human being in us wants to know God, it's Jesus Christ who says, 16:14.237 --> 16:21.818 [SPEAKER_00]: And so if Jesus is revealing the heart of the Father, the heart of God, if you want to know God, if you're searching for God, take a look at Jesus. 16:23.199 --> 16:27.099 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at Jesus, and don't just take it from me, even, read the gospels. 16:27.659 --> 16:31.400 [SPEAKER_00]: Look at how Jesus treated people, how He spoke to people, how He helped people. 16:32.920 --> 16:33.961 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we have to investigate it. 16:34.781 --> 16:38.261 [SPEAKER_00]: Because if the claim of Christ was that He was revealing God, 16:43.748 --> 16:58.037 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus also adds in verse 11 of the passage we read, that if He's disciples do not believe that the Father is in Him and that He is in the Father, then they should look to the evidence of His works. 16:59.718 --> 17:00.398 [SPEAKER_00]: What are His works? 17:00.418 --> 17:01.359 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the things He's done. 17:03.723 --> 17:15.588 [SPEAKER_00]: I've spoken about this a few times at one and I'm sure like a lot of us I'm the only Christian in a lot of my environments as I'm sure most of us are here and so I speak about Christianity a lot It's it's a blessing. 17:15.648 --> 17:28.994 [SPEAKER_00]: It's literally such a tremendous gift But a question that I hear a lot all the time and I hear it on social media as well is this exact question like literally this exact question Where does Jesus say I am God 17:36.652 --> 17:37.473 [SPEAKER_00]: Six people, excellent. 17:38.193 --> 17:38.913 [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for understanding. 17:40.274 --> 17:50.401 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think the true answer to that question is, maybe, you have the wrong idea of who God is. 17:53.083 --> 18:02.909 [SPEAKER_00]: Because the trouble with that question is that it assumes the character of God that after God would come and reveal 18:04.830 --> 18:08.313 [SPEAKER_00]: The first thing he would make known, is to worship him. 18:16.220 --> 18:18.522 [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that we need to investigate that claim. 18:18.622 --> 18:20.264 [SPEAKER_00]: And so let's go through it. 18:20.344 --> 18:24.047 [SPEAKER_00]: Was Christ born, God in human flesh, and demand worship? 18:24.608 --> 18:27.070 [SPEAKER_00]: Or did he instead take on the role as a humble servant? 18:28.215 --> 18:31.016 [SPEAKER_00]: Did Christ come and live lavishly, like a king? 18:31.036 --> 18:36.559 [SPEAKER_00]: Or was he born in Bethlehem, raised in Jerusalem by a normal, ordinary human parents? 18:38.140 --> 18:42.842 [SPEAKER_00]: Did Christ come and only speak to those who were at the top of the societal food chain? 18:43.562 --> 18:49.305 [SPEAKER_00]: Or did he instead spend time in help those who were sick, isolated, and considered societal outcasts? 18:49.805 --> 18:53.467 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus isn't just after worship, he is after transformation. 18:56.197 --> 18:58.619 [SPEAKER_00]: That is the heart of the Father, that is the heart of God. 19:00.080 --> 19:01.621 [SPEAKER_00]: And that is the difference, my friends. 19:04.683 --> 19:14.691 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus wants to transform us from the inside out and it is that grace and it is that love that leads us to worship. 19:15.752 --> 19:21.256 [SPEAKER_00]: That leads us to Him that leads us to the house of the Father, only Christ can do that. 19:23.771 --> 19:28.075 [SPEAKER_00]: And at the start, I spoke about this mission that the Father sent the Son to do. 19:28.975 --> 19:33.359 [SPEAKER_00]: What's the first thing Jesus ever says in the gospel of Mark? 19:33.539 --> 19:37.162 [SPEAKER_00]: Because let me tell your friends, it is not bow down and worship me. 19:37.743 --> 19:41.686 [SPEAKER_00]: The first thing Jesus says in the gospel of Mark is the time has come. 19:42.327 --> 19:44.649 [SPEAKER_00]: The kingdom of God has come near. 19:45.529 --> 19:47.111 [SPEAKER_00]: Repent and believe in the good news. 19:48.622 --> 19:49.383 [SPEAKER_00]: What's the good news? 19:50.003 --> 19:57.489 [SPEAKER_00]: That the kingdom of God has come near, that heaven has come to us, that God has extended his grace to us for his son. 19:57.509 --> 20:03.453 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, Jesus' name, Emmanuel, literally means God with us. 20:07.396 --> 20:15.662 [SPEAKER_00]: I think we also have to remember that when we look to the actions of Jesus, it is Jesus who gives us a whole new covenant in Matthew 5. 20:16.802 --> 20:20.284 [SPEAKER_00]: It is Jesus who gives us a whole new law in Matthew 5. 20:20.625 --> 20:22.165 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, only God can do that. 20:23.046 --> 20:24.447 [SPEAKER_00]: And yet, Jesus does that. 20:25.788 --> 20:32.332 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's partly why the Pharisees, the Jewish religious leaders of the time, were so angry at Jesus. 20:32.672 --> 20:36.355 [SPEAKER_00]: It was because He was doing things only God can do. 20:36.375 --> 20:44.640 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the Jesus to demand worship, straight away, assumes you're thinking of the wrong God. 20:46.020 --> 20:50.782 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ is not the God who demands for me to worship Him. 20:52.283 --> 21:00.948 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ is the God who took on flesh, suffered for my sake, and in doing so, understands my suffering. 21:02.488 --> 21:09.272 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't find any idea in any religion, anything of the sort of God doing that literally anywhere. 21:10.692 --> 21:13.094 [SPEAKER_00]: And you cannot find that peace, that grace, 21:18.882 --> 21:23.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus wants to reveal the love of the Father because He is after transformation. 21:26.006 --> 21:26.786 [SPEAKER_00]: And how does He do this? 21:27.987 --> 21:36.011 [SPEAKER_00]: Let me tell you, in John 13, Jesus kneels down and washes His disciples' feet. 21:38.073 --> 21:42.495 [SPEAKER_00]: If Jesus is God, does that change how you see God's heart? 21:44.826 --> 21:58.754 [SPEAKER_00]: When Thomas sees the risen Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, he says to him, my Lord and my God, Jesus doesn't say, oh, hot on Thomas, don't worship me, only worship the Father. 21:59.735 --> 22:06.799 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says, you believe because you've seen, but blessed are those who believe and have not seen. 22:08.319 --> 22:12.642 [SPEAKER_00]: If Jesus Christ is God, does that change how you see God? 22:14.880 --> 22:16.101 [SPEAKER_00]: How about Matthew 23? 22:16.841 --> 22:21.704 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus says, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. 22:22.665 --> 22:28.809 [SPEAKER_00]: My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. 22:30.910 --> 22:35.693 [SPEAKER_00]: If Jesus Christ is God, does that change how you think God sees you? 22:37.594 --> 22:38.295 [SPEAKER_00]: Because it should. 22:41.116 --> 22:41.897 [SPEAKER_00]: Just again, friends. 22:43.490 --> 22:52.093 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus Christ is God revealing Himself to us in a way that we can understand Him. 22:55.254 --> 23:11.499 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, you might not understand or grasp concepts like the complexity of the universe, like the vastness of the cosmos, even the idea of God, something that is a spiritual 23:13.670 --> 23:22.655 [SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, as human beings, whether you're here and you're a Christian or you're not a Christian, as human beings, there is an ultimate feeling. 23:22.835 --> 23:28.298 [SPEAKER_00]: We have all felt, everyone in this room, there is an ultimate obstacle, and that is suffering. 23:30.099 --> 23:30.639 [SPEAKER_00]: That's pain. 23:31.760 --> 23:32.300 [SPEAKER_00]: That's hurt. 23:33.421 --> 23:35.382 [SPEAKER_00]: We literally enter this world crying. 23:37.863 --> 23:41.145 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, imagine just for a sec, this God, 23:42.644 --> 23:48.129 [SPEAKER_00]: who may feel distant, sees your pain, all of it. 23:49.991 --> 23:56.256 [SPEAKER_00]: He chooses to humble himself, come down the birth canal of a woman, just as we do. 24:06.461 --> 24:20.400 [SPEAKER_00]: He then is crucified on a cross where he has taken all your pain and through his death and because of his resurrection has provided us the ultimate solution to suffering. 24:22.043 --> 24:23.324 [SPEAKER_00]: Life everlasting. 24:24.321 --> 24:36.724 [SPEAKER_00]: in a heaven where there will be no more suffering, no more pain, no more death, no more cancer, no more depression, no more anxiety, but every tear, your every tear will be wiped away. 24:37.064 --> 24:40.204 [SPEAKER_00]: That is the promise of Jesus, that is the promise of God. 24:42.165 --> 24:48.766 [SPEAKER_00]: And so when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life 24:50.170 --> 24:55.014 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus is saying, I have provided the ultimate solution to suffering and death. 24:58.617 --> 25:10.347 [SPEAKER_00]: And so the reason why that is good news is because that is not something you earn, that is not something you work for, that is not even something you have to wait for. 25:11.967 --> 25:40.125 [SPEAKER_00]: that is something you can have tonight because I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit you can know God's love tonight you can know the love of the Father tonight and that's what Jesus says to Philip through me right now you already know the Father and I just want to let you all know at the end of the day regardless of how your own father is 25:41.690 --> 25:42.851 [SPEAKER_00]: or how your own father was. 25:44.452 --> 25:49.854 [SPEAKER_00]: Whether they were the greatest parent in the world, or whether they weren't, whether they made their mistakes. 25:51.615 --> 26:09.605 [SPEAKER_00]: I want to let you know that the love of God, the love of your heavenly father, who does see you, who does hear you, is a love that is revealed through Jesus, by Jesus in Jesus. 26:12.180 --> 26:32.723 [SPEAKER_00]: He offers us something so valuable, so priceless, so transformative that the only way this truth could be given to us is by taking the penalty of sin and paying on his own life thus giving us the way to God, something we do not deserve but yet can redeem through his grace. 26:34.897 --> 26:44.560 [SPEAKER_00]: And if that love is a love that you want to experience, maybe that's a love you haven't felt before, or received, maybe if you think you don't even deserve to have that love. 26:46.000 --> 26:59.904 [SPEAKER_00]: That is when Jesus says, my son, my daughter, my child, I am taking you to the Father where I have prepared a place for you, because I'm telling you, friends, it was love that sent Jesus into the world in the first place. 27:05.113 --> 27:12.118 [SPEAKER_00]: that he loved you enough to come down and reveal himself to you in a way that you understand. 27:13.639 --> 27:15.981 [SPEAKER_00]: And here's how his hand reached out your whole life. 27:17.522 --> 27:22.045 [SPEAKER_00]: Tell me after all that what do you lose by holding onto it? 27:24.547 --> 27:31.192 [SPEAKER_00]: And as I invite the band back up, I would love to spend these next couple minutes just 27:34.985 --> 27:43.068 [SPEAKER_00]: just a chance to allow yourself to think of what you're going through, how you've been hurt, how you felt pain, how you have suffered. 27:44.108 --> 27:52.711 [SPEAKER_00]: And if you're here and you're not a Christian, or maybe this is your first time in church, there's no judgment here. 27:53.772 --> 27:55.452 [SPEAKER_00]: You can do anything you want with the thing boundary. 27:57.453 --> 28:01.294 [SPEAKER_00]: But I really want to take this time, where we can all close our eyes. 28:01.954 --> 28:02.635 [SPEAKER_00]: Close your eyes, please. 28:05.400 --> 28:29.855 [SPEAKER_00]: Open out your hands, and in your own time, think about the things that are weighing you down, think about the things that are burdening you, think about the things you want to let go of, the people you want to forgive, all the things that you want to give to God, you can do that tonight. 28:32.023 --> 28:39.753 [SPEAKER_00]: because Jesus Christ is God, revealing Himself to us in a way that we can understand Him. 28:44.519 --> 28:48.644 [SPEAKER_00]: So take this next minute or so in prayer and then I'll close. 29:14.126 --> 29:21.590 [SPEAKER_00]: Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for sending Christ, the perfect Lamb. 29:23.672 --> 29:33.638 [SPEAKER_00]: The perfect Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, who takes away our sins, our failures, outpaying our misdeeds when we miss the mark. 29:34.178 --> 29:40.262 [SPEAKER_00]: We thank you so much for Jesus that He is the perfecter, He is the author of our faith Lord. 29:40.882 --> 29:52.908 [SPEAKER_00]: We want to carry out this truth into our weeks Lord, may you bless our weeks, may you fill us with your Holy Spirit, fill us with the peace that transcends all knowledge, all understanding. 29:53.988 --> 29:56.009 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus, we yearn for you, we ache for you. 29:57.070 --> 30:04.994 [SPEAKER_00]: We ask that you come into our lives, that you change us from the inside out, that you fill us with love, with grace, with peace, 30:08.755 --> 30:23.320 [SPEAKER_00]: Help us deny ourselves all the things we need to do Lord, we want to fix our eyes onto you because if the eyes are the lamp of the body, then we want to look at you Lord, we want to look at you Jesus. 30:24.941 --> 30:28.802 [SPEAKER_00]: Help us fix our gaze towards you Lord as we come to worship.