1 00:00:06,450 --> 00:00:12,150 Good morning. It's a privilege for me to stand 2 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:17,550 before you with the Word of God as we look into God's Word. 3 00:00:18,420 --> 00:00:22,190 Even though I have prepared, I request your prayers as we look 4 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,500 to a different topic from what we usually see or what we 5 00:00:26,510 --> 00:00:30,490 usually study before we get into the topic. 6 00:00:30,770 --> 00:00:36,430 Can anyone recognise this person on the screen? 7 00:00:37,100 --> 00:00:41,990 So if you are able to, you can get a chocolate. 8 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,760 OK, James. No, not me. 9 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:52,270 I can see it's on that screen but he has hair. 10 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,710 The newest, yes. So it goes. 11 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:03,510 Can I throw it to you? Sorry. 12 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:09,280 OK, so that is Carlos Actus. That's his name. 13 00:01:09,980 --> 00:01:13,410 He's the first millennial St. I never thought that someone 14 00:01:13,420 --> 00:01:16,110 would recognise him. Good that I got chocolate. 15 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:19,480 No, he's the first millennial St. 16 00:01:20,250 --> 00:01:28,380 On 7th September 2025, Pope Leo 14 declared yeah, a 15 year old 17 00:01:28,490 --> 00:01:33,080 computer with as the Catholic Church's first Millennial St. 18 00:01:33,090 --> 00:01:39,000 He was born in May 1991 in London to a wealthy family and 19 00:01:39,010 --> 00:01:41,890 soon after he was born they moved back to Italy. 20 00:01:42,700 --> 00:01:45,460 It seems he was interested he was interested in computer 21 00:01:45,470 --> 00:01:48,350 science. He was interested in preaching 22 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:53,470 in the local parish and he did outreach to homeless. 23 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:59,870 But in October 20, 2006, at the age of 15, he fell ill and it 24 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,170 was later diagnosed as it was an acute case of leukaemia and 25 00:02:04,180 --> 00:02:09,300 within days he was gone. Now some of you might might 26 00:02:09,310 --> 00:02:12,320 understand what happens to become as a St. 27 00:02:12,370 --> 00:02:18,190 It's a long process, but the unfortunate event is unless you 28 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,140 are dead, the process doesn't start. 29 00:02:21,230 --> 00:02:25,460 So you need to be dead 1st and then the process starts. 30 00:02:26,130 --> 00:02:31,460 So first they would recognise you as the servant of God and 31 00:02:31,470 --> 00:02:35,390 they they gather together and then they decide that you are 32 00:02:35,430 --> 00:02:37,870 venerable. That means you are into the 33 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:42,150 first step of becoming a St. and then they look at your life. 34 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:46,230 They do study your life and see what you have done, what all 35 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:51,500 miracles that you did and if they recognise the first miracle 36 00:02:51,550 --> 00:02:55,440 then you become blessed. OK, that is the third stage. 37 00:02:56,890 --> 00:03:01,180 Now they will again look at your life, they will study, and then 38 00:03:01,390 --> 00:03:03,600 if they find that you have done one more miracle, that is the 39 00:03:03,610 --> 00:03:06,560 second one, then you become the Saint. 40 00:03:06,910 --> 00:03:12,030 So that's how you become a St. They did look at his life even 41 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:16,080 though he was only 15 years old, they recognised 2 miracles that 42 00:03:16,090 --> 00:03:18,740 he did in his life. I'm not going to into the detail 43 00:03:18,750 --> 00:03:22,700 but they recognised it and then they decided to declare him as 44 00:03:22,710 --> 00:03:26,300 St. Like I said in the beginning, 45 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,150 they started the process once he was gone. 46 00:03:31,980 --> 00:03:36,910 Now follow along as we continue. By the end of this message, 47 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:41,630 maybe in another 30 minutes, you might have an option to become a 48 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:47,800 St. even when you're alive now. We have been studying about Son 49 00:03:47,810 --> 00:03:52,590 of Man from the Gospel of Luke for the last few weeks, and we 50 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:55,700 have been going through the birth of John the Baptist, Jesus 51 00:03:55,710 --> 00:03:59,420 Christ and all that even even that happened surrounding their 52 00:03:59,430 --> 00:04:02,180 birth. From the coming weeks we'll be 53 00:04:02,190 --> 00:04:06,220 going back again to Gospel according to Luke, but for today 54 00:04:06,530 --> 00:04:11,370 we are looking at another topic that is Son of God. 55 00:04:11,860 --> 00:04:15,530 This is in line with what we have been studying for few weeks 56 00:04:15,540 --> 00:04:19,709 at Hucknall before commencing the studying of Gospel according 57 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,500 to Luke. Can someone recollect what we 58 00:04:24,570 --> 00:04:28,970 did study before that again? Chocolates. 59 00:04:31,740 --> 00:04:36,050 OK, so I'll give a clue. We did study the I AM statements 60 00:04:36,540 --> 00:04:42,890 from Gospel according to John. So now the question for the 61 00:04:42,900 --> 00:04:49,270 chocolates are can you identify the I am statements that we did 62 00:04:49,540 --> 00:04:56,230 and who took those topics? Obviously, who took the study 63 00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:02,410 cannot answer. Go ahead, bread of life. 64 00:05:02,420 --> 00:05:08,220 So who took that then? So you can't access our sermons 65 00:05:08,230 --> 00:05:13,040 on our website. Okay, so one I'll give you a 66 00:05:13,050 --> 00:05:20,790 little later on next one, the I am statements mine. 67 00:05:21,990 --> 00:05:24,820 Lee Hanson. OK, so who is that Sam? 68 00:05:24,830 --> 00:05:28,200 OK. That's for you. 69 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:38,810 OK, anymore and the research. Ohh. 70 00:05:38,820 --> 00:05:44,790 OK, so the first part is right, the second part is wrong. 71 00:05:47,190 --> 00:05:53,610 So still you'll get the chocolate, Yes. 72 00:05:53,620 --> 00:05:58,410 So the I'm the Good Shepherd that was by Andrew Linden. 73 00:05:58,420 --> 00:06:00,670 So the chocolate, I don't know who answered. 74 00:06:00,740 --> 00:06:03,530 Okay, should I give it to you now? 75 00:06:03,620 --> 00:06:11,940 Let's run, okay? Ohh, OK, good answer. 76 00:06:11,950 --> 00:06:17,170 Yeah, that's the right answer. OK, so that that takes that one 77 00:06:17,180 --> 00:06:21,300 out. What did we start off with? 78 00:06:21,390 --> 00:06:26,930 Any idea? Okay, and the light of the 79 00:06:26,940 --> 00:06:28,640 world. So that goes another chocolate. 80 00:06:32,220 --> 00:06:41,350 Now we have one more. That was already covered. 81 00:06:41,540 --> 00:06:43,230 I'm the true wine. That was by Lee. 82 00:06:46,050 --> 00:06:50,040 OK, so chocolate goes to the person who asked the question 83 00:06:50,050 --> 00:06:52,450 itself. I am the resurrection and the 84 00:06:52,460 --> 00:06:53,640 life. Did we cover that? 85 00:06:53,750 --> 00:06:56,520 That was by Billy. So that was that. 86 00:06:56,590 --> 00:07:00,240 I mean just to give the pretext to what we are going to look at 87 00:07:00,250 --> 00:07:02,140 today. That was from the Gospel 88 00:07:02,150 --> 00:07:08,270 according to John. So we are going to look into the 89 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:11,650 1st chapter of Gospel According to John. 90 00:07:11,970 --> 00:07:16,040 We wouldn't be looking at all the chapters or even the full 91 00:07:16,050 --> 00:07:18,940 chapter of chapter 1. We would look at some portions 92 00:07:18,950 --> 00:07:21,220 of chapter 1. Now. 93 00:07:21,230 --> 00:07:24,480 Gospel according to John is unique in several aspects. 94 00:07:24,490 --> 00:07:29,280 The other three Gospels of life presents the life of Jesus in a 95 00:07:29,290 --> 00:07:33,560 very similar format, explaining what Jesus did and taught. 96 00:07:33,850 --> 00:07:38,180 But John focuses more on who Jesus is, the person of Jesus 97 00:07:38,190 --> 00:07:42,450 Christ. John emphasis is on presenting 98 00:07:42,460 --> 00:07:47,630 Jesus as the eternal Son of God, the true Messiah and the Saviour 99 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,370 of the world. John is also presenting Jesus 100 00:07:50,380 --> 00:07:56,450 Christ as both divine and as a T and historical, that means one 101 00:07:56,460 --> 00:08:01,180 who actually lived on earth. Matthew begins the genealogy of 102 00:08:01,190 --> 00:08:05,030 Jesus that connects him to David and Abraham, presenting to 103 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:07,930 Jewish audience as the King, the Messiah. 104 00:08:08,710 --> 00:08:12,760 Mark starts with the preaching of John the Baptist, presenting 105 00:08:12,770 --> 00:08:15,460 Jesus as a servant. In Luke. 106 00:08:15,470 --> 00:08:19,510 We saw him. We saw that he came from Adam 107 00:08:19,550 --> 00:08:23,260 presenting him, him as the Son of man, the perfect man. 108 00:08:24,180 --> 00:08:28,790 But however, John, as we get into chapter 1, we can see that 109 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:30,750 he's direct. He is onto the topic. 110 00:08:30,940 --> 00:08:35,190 He leaves out Jesus birth, baptism, the temptation, the 111 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:36,809 agony and gets him in several topics. 112 00:08:36,820 --> 00:08:40,750 But he's he's onto it. He's direct and very straight 113 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,270 forward. It is believed that Gospel 114 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:48,170 according to John is written somewhere between 8085 in 115 00:08:48,180 --> 00:08:53,150 between 85 to 95 and mainly focusing on Jewish and the 116 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:55,270 Gentile. When we say Gentile, it is the 117 00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:01,200 Greek audience. Now we are going into chapter 118 00:09:01,210 --> 00:09:05,430 one, verse one to three. In the beginning was the Word, 119 00:09:05,590 --> 00:09:09,510 and the Word was with God, and Word was God. 120 00:09:10,060 --> 00:09:13,030 He was with the God in the beginning. 121 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,230 Through him all things were made. 122 00:09:16,940 --> 00:09:20,140 Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 123 00:09:21,910 --> 00:09:26,940 If you read this, it might be confusing in beginning while 124 00:09:26,950 --> 00:09:30,240 John is very straight forward and presenting it direct. 125 00:09:30,530 --> 00:09:34,320 Lots of what's the word was with God, Word was God. 126 00:09:34,750 --> 00:09:37,340 Sometimes it gets difficult to understand. 127 00:09:37,870 --> 00:09:42,140 Now, I'm not too sure whether you're able to go through that. 128 00:09:43,230 --> 00:09:46,360 While I was driving, I got this attention of this particular 129 00:09:46,370 --> 00:09:50,360 truck and then it says, I mean it belongs to the confidential 130 00:09:50,370 --> 00:09:56,280 document destruction company. Okay, And the tagline got my 131 00:09:56,290 --> 00:09:57,830 attention. Are you able to read that? 132 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:03,040 It says shredding the word. So is it this word that John is 133 00:10:03,050 --> 00:10:05,060 talking about? Is something similar or 134 00:10:05,130 --> 00:10:09,460 different one obviously not just shredding of the word. 135 00:10:11,030 --> 00:10:17,620 Now he's he's talking about the eternal aspect of the world. 136 00:10:18,460 --> 00:10:22,530 When we read through that in the beginning was God and the Word 137 00:10:22,540 --> 00:10:28,170 was with God, and Word was God. What we understand is the 138 00:10:28,240 --> 00:10:31,820 eternal nature of God, the timeless eternity. 139 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,530 In the beginning, it's a very familiar phrase for us. 140 00:10:37,540 --> 00:10:41,430 In Genesis chapter one verse one we read about the beginning of 141 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,910 creation. Our John is making it clear that 142 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:49,740 even before that beginning there was the Word. 143 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:55,130 He is further making it clear that the Word was existing even 144 00:10:55,140 --> 00:10:59,130 before the creation of universe, even before the light, even 145 00:10:59,140 --> 00:11:01,570 before the sky, even before the dry land. 146 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:08,080 There was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God. 147 00:11:09,090 --> 00:11:11,430 He was with God in the beginning. 148 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:16,170 That's what we read in verse 2. John is pointing the readers to 149 00:11:16,180 --> 00:11:19,240 the eternal nature or the existence of God. 150 00:11:20,770 --> 00:11:25,540 He's also emphasising on the foundation of our faith which is 151 00:11:25,550 --> 00:11:30,400 the Trinity as we read in first John verse chapter 5 verse 7. 152 00:11:30,410 --> 00:11:34,660 For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, 153 00:11:34,730 --> 00:11:40,340 the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one God in 154 00:11:40,350 --> 00:11:45,950 three persons, Blessed Trinity. The Word was God and Word was 155 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:49,560 with God. The another aspect that we need 156 00:11:49,570 --> 00:11:54,610 to consider is the root word which John has used for the word 157 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:58,790 which is logos. As we saw earlier, John is 158 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:02,010 writing to both Jewish and Gentile readers. 159 00:12:02,100 --> 00:12:05,270 Gentile mainly consisting of Greek audience. 160 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:10,180 For the Jewish audience, the phrase Word of God could be used 161 00:12:10,230 --> 00:12:13,300 to refer God himself. For them. 162 00:12:13,310 --> 00:12:16,900 In the Old Testament, whenever it mentioned the word of God, it 163 00:12:16,910 --> 00:12:22,580 meant Yahweh itself. But for a Greek audience, Logos 164 00:12:22,590 --> 00:12:29,210 means the word, the speech. The reasoning or account the 165 00:12:29,220 --> 00:12:33,070 Greek readers would hear in the beginning was the logos. 166 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:38,410 It's not just a word, but the eternal principle for reason, 167 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:43,720 order, and life that takes us to the next portion. 168 00:12:43,730 --> 00:12:48,310 That is John chapter one, verse 12 to 14 and verse 18. 169 00:12:49,550 --> 00:12:52,820 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His 170 00:12:52,830 --> 00:12:56,910 name, He gave the right to become children of God, children 171 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:01,390 born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's 172 00:13:01,400 --> 00:13:06,360 will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made 173 00:13:06,370 --> 00:13:10,220 His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the 174 00:13:10,230 --> 00:13:13,590 glory of one and only Son who came from the Father, full of 175 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:17,890 grace and truth. No one has ever seen God but the 176 00:13:17,900 --> 00:13:22,050 one and only Son who Himself God, who is Himself God and is 177 00:13:22,060 --> 00:13:26,260 the closest relationship with the Father has made Him known. 178 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,100 John is bringing to the The second point that takes the 179 00:13:31,110 --> 00:13:35,930 second point is the experience that we had the first eyewitness 180 00:13:35,980 --> 00:13:41,000 account that he brings to us. Now I'm not sure whether you are 181 00:13:41,010 --> 00:13:46,950 able to read all those. How many of us use 2° as the 182 00:13:47,150 --> 00:13:50,780 network that we use? Sometime in last year, they had 183 00:13:50,790 --> 00:13:55,780 come out with this pinata game wherein if you play, you will 184 00:13:55,790 --> 00:14:01,210 get a reward which is free data. Now it is the way of engaging 185 00:14:01,220 --> 00:14:05,130 you into that experience. If they give you data free of 186 00:14:05,420 --> 00:14:07,850 without doing anything, you might not be engaged in that 187 00:14:07,860 --> 00:14:09,930 process. It is one of the sales or a 188 00:14:09,940 --> 00:14:13,570 marketing technique most of these companies use, they use 189 00:14:13,580 --> 00:14:16,630 these days. So you play around on your 190 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,550 natural circumstances. You saw, you see that, you smash 191 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,850 it and then you get data. That was when we came in from 192 00:14:23,860 --> 00:14:26,610 India and then we were, we were in short of data. 193 00:14:26,620 --> 00:14:29,970 And then I started playing it more than several times a day 194 00:14:29,980 --> 00:14:32,950 and they came and told that no, you can play only once in a day. 195 00:14:33,060 --> 00:14:37,970 So, so this is a way of engaging you into that experience. 196 00:14:38,730 --> 00:14:45,750 Now experience hold a lot of value when when you have 197 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:51,250 multiple accounts about or there are contradicting information 198 00:14:51,260 --> 00:14:54,090 out there. So John is explaining his first 199 00:14:54,100 --> 00:14:57,770 hand experience with his leaders when it is wrote. 200 00:14:57,780 --> 00:15:00,630 In the beginning was the Logos to the Greek. 201 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,570 They understood Jesus is the answer for word, speech and 202 00:15:04,580 --> 00:15:09,300 reasoning. But for the Jews, John says, the 203 00:15:09,310 --> 00:15:13,600 Word that created all things has become flesh in Jesus. 204 00:15:14,910 --> 00:15:19,830 Now in Acts chapter 1411 and 12, we read that when the crowd saw 205 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,760 that Paul had done, they shouted in Laconian language, The gods 206 00:15:23,770 --> 00:15:25,650 have come down to us in human form. 207 00:15:26,790 --> 00:15:30,720 Verse 12, says Barnabas they call Zeus and Paul they call 208 00:15:30,730 --> 00:15:33,370 Hermes because he was the chief speaker. 209 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:40,010 In Greek mythology, it was common for the so-called gods to 210 00:15:40,020 --> 00:15:44,130 come to Earth in human form, though they did not always do 211 00:15:44,180 --> 00:15:47,570 good for them. There was a myth that connects 212 00:15:47,620 --> 00:15:50,390 zoos and Hermes. They visited the land disguised 213 00:15:50,400 --> 00:15:55,810 as mortals and none of them gave hospitality except for one older 214 00:15:55,820 --> 00:15:58,250 couple. And then they ended up that 215 00:15:58,260 --> 00:16:02,890 angered Zeus and Hummus and they wiped out the whole population. 216 00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:06,250 It is all myth, okay? It's not not a fact, but for a 217 00:16:06,260 --> 00:16:10,590 Jewish reader or an Jewish audience, the moment they 218 00:16:11,420 --> 00:16:15,390 understand this, they know that they have this myth that they 219 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:20,110 believe that gods might come in human form and they with them 220 00:16:20,180 --> 00:16:24,190 try to understand. But here John is taking their 221 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:28,430 attention to the living God who became flesh and lived among 222 00:16:28,440 --> 00:16:33,470 them, as we read in first John chapter one verse one, that 223 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:37,330 which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we 224 00:16:37,340 --> 00:16:41,570 have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands 225 00:16:41,580 --> 00:16:44,800 have touched. This we proclaim concerning the 226 00:16:44,810 --> 00:16:49,270 word of life. The second verse goes like this. 227 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:52,630 The the life appeared. We have seen it and testified to 228 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:57,390 it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the 229 00:16:57,400 --> 00:17:02,500 Father and has appeared to us. The writer is proclaiming that 230 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,410 it's not a myth, it's not a fairy tale. 231 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:09,970 We have heard it with our own ears, have seen it with our 232 00:17:09,980 --> 00:17:14,540 eyes, have looked at it, have touched him with our own hands. 233 00:17:15,690 --> 00:17:18,290 We have seen Him to testify about Him. 234 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:23,890 It is the word of life. The eternal life which was with 235 00:17:23,900 --> 00:17:26,530 the Father has appeared to us. To them. 236 00:17:28,510 --> 00:17:32,900 The first hand experience of John carries the weight as it is 237 00:17:32,910 --> 00:17:37,380 relevant. It is a direct observation which 238 00:17:37,390 --> 00:17:40,180 is authentic and has emotions attached to it. 239 00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:45,850 So John is bringing the the life witness, his eyewitness. 240 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:49,810 So if someone talks about something that they have heard 241 00:17:49,820 --> 00:17:56,010 or a second person description, you might not give them the 242 00:17:56,080 --> 00:17:59,570 needed wait. But when John says that I have 243 00:17:59,580 --> 00:18:05,350 seen him, I have been with him, I have touched him, it carries a 244 00:18:05,360 --> 00:18:08,410 lot of weight for Jews to understand. 245 00:18:08,420 --> 00:18:14,130 And even for a Gentile audience who used to believe in all types 246 00:18:14,140 --> 00:18:18,420 of mythology, this is very relevant and it captures their 247 00:18:18,430 --> 00:18:24,050 attention. That takes us to the the last 248 00:18:24,060 --> 00:18:28,750 portion. That is John chapter one verse 9 249 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:34,150 to 11 and in verse 949 the true light that gives light to 250 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,170 everyone was coming into the world. 251 00:18:36,840 --> 00:18:39,730 He was in the world and through the world, and though the world 252 00:18:39,740 --> 00:18:42,700 was made through him, the world did not recognise him. 253 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,570 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive 254 00:18:48,580 --> 00:18:52,420 him. There's 49, says. 255 00:18:52,490 --> 00:18:56,400 Then Nathaniel declared, Rabbi, you are the son of God. 256 00:18:56,470 --> 00:19:02,800 You are the king of Israel. Here John is directly addressing 257 00:19:02,870 --> 00:19:07,550 about the expectation what the Jewish audience had. 258 00:19:08,610 --> 00:19:12,740 You might have read this news. This came out on September 9. 259 00:19:13,780 --> 00:19:17,440 Apple launched their latest iPhone, iPhone 17. 260 00:19:18,390 --> 00:19:20,970 How many of us have pre booked it or got it in your hands? 261 00:19:21,710 --> 00:19:27,990 OK, maybe we don't want to declare it, but soon after they 262 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:32,870 they launched it, the market share or the market price, the 263 00:19:32,880 --> 00:19:37,090 shareholders were not happy with what they what they revealed and 264 00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:41,440 then it went down by $50 billion. 265 00:19:41,830 --> 00:19:44,740 But soon after that, two days later, they recovered. 266 00:19:45,410 --> 00:19:50,040 But what the idea was, they were expecting something. 267 00:19:50,370 --> 00:19:54,670 Even though the person came out on the stage and said that this 268 00:19:54,680 --> 00:20:00,450 is the best ever iPhone, that never met the expectations of 269 00:20:00,460 --> 00:20:04,500 the shareholders, it went down. And that's what they termed it 270 00:20:04,510 --> 00:20:09,300 as Hype to wipe. That's what this the news read 271 00:20:10,170 --> 00:20:15,760 for a Jewish audience. They were expecting a king, a 272 00:20:15,770 --> 00:20:20,260 political leader to take them out of the Roman rule. 273 00:20:21,710 --> 00:20:25,000 But Jesus never met their expectation. 274 00:20:25,820 --> 00:20:29,550 In Isaiah 7 verse 14, we read that the virgin will conceive a 275 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:31,830 child. She will give birth to a son and 276 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,650 we'll call him Manuel, which means God with us. 277 00:20:34,660 --> 00:20:38,990 And I say A-96 says for us to a child is born to us, son is 278 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:42,430 given, the government will be on his shoulders and he will be 279 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,970 called wonderful councillor, mighty God, everlasting Father, 280 00:20:45,980 --> 00:20:50,310 Prince of Peace. Even though they were given all 281 00:20:50,320 --> 00:20:55,800 these promises in advance, they never understood what it really 282 00:20:55,810 --> 00:20:58,950 meant. If we recollect last Sunday's 283 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:03,340 message in which Barry used a particular term, that they were 284 00:21:03,350 --> 00:21:08,270 looking for a remarkable individual, but when the King 285 00:21:08,280 --> 00:21:12,880 was born in the Manger, it didn't meet their expectation. 286 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:18,380 When he was called Jesus of Nazareth, the response was 287 00:21:18,450 --> 00:21:21,330 Nazareth. Can anything good come from 288 00:21:21,340 --> 00:21:24,560 there? We don't want this man to rule 289 00:21:24,570 --> 00:21:27,140 over us. We have no king but Cesar. 290 00:21:27,860 --> 00:21:31,170 They failed to recognise the Messiah, as their expectation 291 00:21:31,180 --> 00:21:35,280 was a king sitting on the throne, but he came as a 292 00:21:35,290 --> 00:21:38,810 servant. For even the Son of Man did not 293 00:21:38,820 --> 00:21:43,310 come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom 294 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:48,570 for many. We looked at 3 aspects, 3 295 00:21:48,580 --> 00:21:50,710 points. And that is the eternal the 296 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:57,760 experience and the expectation. I'm not too sure whether you 297 00:21:57,770 --> 00:22:02,390 have come today with certain expectation or have been coming 298 00:22:02,550 --> 00:22:05,930 here with certain expectation. The moment you have an 299 00:22:05,940 --> 00:22:08,190 expectation, it becomes conditional. 300 00:22:09,410 --> 00:22:12,510 God loved us unconditionally, no strings attached. 301 00:22:13,270 --> 00:22:16,940 First John chapter 4 verse 9 Intel says this is how God 302 00:22:16,950 --> 00:22:20,760 showed His love among us. He sent his only, his one and 303 00:22:20,770 --> 00:22:23,680 only Son into the world that we might live through him. 304 00:22:23,890 --> 00:22:28,950 This is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and 305 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:32,110 sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 306 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:36,970 Using his first hand experiences, eyewitness John 307 00:22:36,980 --> 00:22:40,200 explained the timeless, the eternal aspect of Jesus. 308 00:22:41,020 --> 00:22:43,810 I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. 309 00:22:43,870 --> 00:22:46,100 No one shall snatch them out of my hand. 310 00:22:47,260 --> 00:22:50,250 What we see on the screen, that is John 134. 311 00:22:50,260 --> 00:22:54,290 I have seen and testified that this is God's chosen one. 312 00:22:54,740 --> 00:22:59,370 This is the testimony by John the Baptist in chapter 20 verse 313 00:22:59,380 --> 00:23:02,330 21. John himself, the writer 314 00:23:02,660 --> 00:23:06,250 testifies or his desire says, but these are written, that you 315 00:23:06,260 --> 00:23:10,320 may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and 316 00:23:10,330 --> 00:23:13,230 that by believing you may have life in His name. 317 00:23:15,130 --> 00:23:18,810 As I have explained in the beginning, you don't need the 318 00:23:18,820 --> 00:23:22,790 approval of another mortal man or an organisation or an 319 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:27,920 individual to declare you as a St. as we read in efficient 320 00:23:27,930 --> 00:23:30,370 chapter 2, verse 19. Now, therefore, you are no 321 00:23:30,380 --> 00:23:34,370 longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with Saints 322 00:23:34,520 --> 00:23:41,130 and members of the household of God, as we read in John 316. 323 00:23:41,180 --> 00:23:45,650 For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, 324 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:50,230 that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but has an 325 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,900 everlasting life. If you understand that you are a 326 00:23:53,910 --> 00:23:58,510 Sinner, you need a Saviour. If you confess with your mouth 327 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,790 that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised 328 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,150 him from the dead, you will be saved. 329 00:24:05,600 --> 00:24:09,280 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, 330 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,130 and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 331 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:18,970 Once you are saved, you are a child of God with an everlasting 332 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:25,330 eternal life and you are a St. I'm not too sure whether anyone 333 00:24:25,340 --> 00:24:29,040 who is here doesn't have this experience. 334 00:24:30,170 --> 00:24:35,950 God came into this world. He dwelt among us and he was 335 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:38,350 with God. That's what we read in verse 336 00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:40,500 one. And he was God. 337 00:24:42,070 --> 00:24:47,360 But when he looked down, when he saw each one of us, he decided 338 00:24:47,370 --> 00:24:51,290 to come into this world to be our Saviour. 339 00:24:52,250 --> 00:24:53,820 And that's what we are here today. 340 00:24:55,020 --> 00:24:57,490 We need. We don't need anyone else to 341 00:24:57,500 --> 00:25:00,630 come and declare that you are a St. 342 00:25:00,730 --> 00:25:04,100 You don't have to go through all those processes, but we have to 343 00:25:04,110 --> 00:25:07,600 come into His presence. Accept Him as your personal 344 00:25:07,610 --> 00:25:13,060 saviour. May this time help us to 345 00:25:13,370 --> 00:25:16,100 introspect. And if you are away, if you're 346 00:25:16,110 --> 00:25:21,550 working far away, May God help you to come closer to His Word. 347 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:27,490 And as we read as Logos, that's the root word. 348 00:25:29,590 --> 00:25:33,240 He is the author. He is the alpha and the Omega 349 00:25:33,970 --> 00:25:36,810 and that's why we are here. Make his name.