1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:01,640 Hi, Every. Hi, Becca. 2 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:05,320 Love it. Ready to go? 3 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:08,720 Yeah, yeah. Eyeballs. 4 00:00:11,120 --> 00:00:13,040 OK. Welcome back, everyone. 5 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:17,040 Welcome, Dave. Should we all say hi, Dave? 6 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,080 Hi, Dave. Lovely to see you. 7 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:24,280 It is genuinely lovely to see you. 8 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:33,960 We are spending a year once a month on on Wednesday evenings, 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:35,760 once a month on Wednesday evenings. 10 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,240 Isn't that better? Going through something called 11 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:42,360 the Introduction to the Trinitarian Faith course with a 12 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:47,520 real emphasis on really understanding this extraordinary 13 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:56,000 mystery that the nature of God is for the Son and Spirit, one 14 00:00:57,040 --> 00:01:04,400 substance, three persons. And we want to emphasise we are 15 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:05,880 not. This doesn't mean we're Tri 16 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,080 deist. We don't believe in three gods 17 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:13,400 and we're not monotheists. We don't believe in one God that 18 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:18,600 exists with only one person within that God. 19 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:27,440 We believe in Father, Son and Spirit, 3 persons in one God. 20 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,720 And that belief was wrestled through after the collection of 21 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:36,080 the Old Testament came together and then people lived in the 22 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:41,000 light of that and then the there was a then Jesus comes in the 23 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:45,400 flesh. He lives and dies and is 24 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:49,080 physically risen from the dead and and people know that changes 25 00:01:49,080 --> 00:01:51,560 everything. Somehow in what we call the 26 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:56,200 Christ event, something changes. And then for three centuries, 27 00:01:56,200 --> 00:01:59,520 people wrestled with the implications of how we 28 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:03,960 understand God and the nature of the collection of texts. 29 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:09,160 We call the Old Testament, then the witness to Jesus that we 30 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:11,320 call the New Testament. They're a collection of 31 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,560 witnesses to the person of Jesus, either passed down 32 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:18,240 through all tradition, through memories, and then through 33 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:22,760 through scribes, writing, or personal revelation. 34 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:26,920 That collection of witnesses to Jesus through looking at all of 35 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:28,720 that which we now call the Bible. 36 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,800 For three centuries, people wrestled with what does this say 37 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:39,000 about the nature of God? We believe, all of us know that 38 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:41,800 we live according to what we really believe is true about 39 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,360 reality. All of us know, all humans know 40 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:47,600 that we what we actually believe is how we live. 41 00:02:47,920 --> 00:02:51,200 So if a storm comes and we don't believe God's got our back, 42 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,320 we'll be scared. And what these things do is they 43 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:59,120 form and invite us into a depth of revelation of God's love for 44 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:04,080 us that he has got our back. So sometimes the language might 45 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:06,520 feel a bit complicated or convoluted. 46 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:13,440 Don't worry about that. As Origen said, God is simple. 47 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:18,360 What that means is there isn't a bit of him that's Father, a bit 48 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:20,760 of him that's Son, and a bit of Him that's Spirit. 49 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:23,880 He is not mixed. It's not like oil and vinegar. 50 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:30,360 He is 1 God in three persons, and we are invited into the 51 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:34,440 Godhead in union with the sun. We are in the Godhead, in union 52 00:03:34,440 --> 00:03:40,480 with the sun, and what we want is for that to go from something 53 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:45,320 we might think about and be quite interested in to have a 54 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:49,160 breakthrough revelation in the way we live our lives. 55 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:54,040 Because what we really want to do is share good news that's 56 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:59,200 actually good news. When we've had an amazing 57 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,400 experience or we've achieved something incredible, we are 58 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,040 overflowing to tell that to someone else. 59 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:09,880 We know we have something good to share, but I think if our 60 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,800 understanding of God isn't good news, we don't really want to 61 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:15,680 share it. We're apologetic, we're 62 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,560 embarrassed, we're ashamed. So we need to understand what it 63 00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:24,240 is that God has done for us in Christ, who we are in Christ, 64 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:30,440 what God is like in order that we are overflowing with good 65 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:33,800 news. So what we're doing this year is 66 00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:36,000 we're wrestling through questions about that. 67 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,160 There are lots of different perspectives, but I sometimes 68 00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:45,680 listen to a podcast called by someone called NT Right and I've 69 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,600 noted the question people are asking. 70 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:53,680 The question above all the other ones like sexuality or politics, 71 00:04:54,840 --> 00:05:03,760 is how we address these issues of if people haven't heard God, 72 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,600 if they haven't had an opportunity to hear God, if 73 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:10,440 people were born before Jesus, can they know God? 74 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:13,360 Issues of universalism, Christian universalism, all 75 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:17,920 these questions are being asked in online spaces and we want to 76 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,960 have the courage as a community to ask them amongst each other 77 00:05:21,960 --> 00:05:24,840 and wrestle through it. As a community, what do we feel 78 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:27,440 the nature of God is like? Because we feel God reveals 79 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:31,600 reality in community. Reality is Trinity and we 80 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,720 operate in the image of God. Reality is forged in us as a 81 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,920 community, travelling together, wrestling this through. 82 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,920 No one has a revelation on their own in their bedroom. 83 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:45,640 That's the full revelation of God. 84 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:51,440 God reveals himself in the body and he reveals it in person. 85 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:56,960 So we are going on a journey this year to try to try and 86 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,720 explore and understand more of what we think the nature of God 87 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:01,480 is like. But not because we just want to 88 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,040 have interesting ideas in our head, but because we want to 89 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:07,360 know we're loved. We really want to know how loved 90 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:12,760 we are, deeply loved we are. And we also want to be good news 91 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:15,400 for other people. So there are things which will 92 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,440 resonate, things which don't resonate, Things we might go, 93 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:20,880 oh, that's liberating. Things we might push back on. 94 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,040 It does matter, but in some ways it doesn't matter. 95 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,280 The point is we're having this conversation together and we're 96 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:31,880 going to work through together what we think God is like and 97 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,720 what we think the good news is. And I'm so grateful for Paul and 98 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:39,160 Grace and the family being here and bringing this to us. 99 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:41,880 This is the first time I think you've run this course in an 100 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,400 actual community in person rather than online. 101 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:48,600 So it's a real privilege that we can wrestle with this content 102 00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:50,880 together. So I'm going to pray for Paul 103 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:52,760 now. And we want to have time at the 104 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:57,000 end for people to receive a fresh revelation of Jesus and a 105 00:06:57,000 --> 00:07:01,960 fresh revelation of God's love. Lord, I thank you so much for 106 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:04,240 Paul and I thank you for his story. 107 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:12,160 His story is 1 of breakthrough revelation of your love and a 108 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:16,000 change of mindset about what you're like and what and what 109 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,160 reality is. And I just thank you for that. 110 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,600 And we, we want to receive fresh revelation today as Paul says a 111 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:27,360 lot in the Bible. Paul in the Bible says 112 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:31,440 repeatedly in his letters, the biggest thing we pray for is for 113 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:37,240 revelation of what you're like, of your love, of what Jesus is 114 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,440 like and who Jesus is. That's why we pray. 115 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:42,400 We ask for revelation. We need our eyes to be opened. 116 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:45,760 We need the darkness to be overcome by the light. 117 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,400 We need the veil between US and you, the lies we believe about 118 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,600 you to be taken away and removed and for us to see you as you 119 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,440 really are. And so we cry out to you to do 120 00:07:56,440 --> 00:08:00,320 that work amongst us today and in the days and weeks and months 121 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,480 ahead. May we see you as as you are. 122 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:06,600 May we be known and loved by you, and may we experience that. 123 00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:08,760 And may we be good news as a result. 124 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:13,800 Amen. Thanks, Alice. 125 00:08:13,920 --> 00:08:20,000 It was really well said. So I'm going to start looking at 126 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:24,600 John's gospel and on Sundays when I'm here, we'll probably be 127 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:26,040 dipping into John's gospel throughout the year. 128 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:29,920 What I'm going to do today, just a couple of points about the 129 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,480 gospel. Then I want to read the prologue 130 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:40,720 and see how we get on because of trying to keep it short and then 131 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:42,840 want everybody to have time to pray. 132 00:08:43,799 --> 00:08:50,360 So John's gospel, I mean couple couple of background facts often 133 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:53,920 considered by most Bible scholars and historians to be 134 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,680 the last gospel written, possibly the last book written 135 00:08:57,680 --> 00:08:59,680 in the New Testament, the the the latest. 136 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:02,920 There are a couple of outliers who argue for it being the first 137 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,000 one, but you know, nobody really knows. 138 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:09,760 But anyway, I like the the perspective of Clement of 139 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,760 Alexandria who is 2 generations on from John the Apostle. 140 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:18,360 He was kind of his spiritual grandson, discipled by Polycarp, 141 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:22,560 his discipled by John and Clement records the background 142 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:23,960 to the writing of the Gospel of John. 143 00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:27,120 And he said that John was in Ephesus. 144 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,480 He had a whole community of disciples in Ephesus, in the 145 00:09:30,480 --> 00:09:36,400 church there who sat under his teaching and his disciples. 146 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:38,760 He, John, was getting towards the end of his life. 147 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:40,840 He was very old. We don't know exactly how old, 148 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,640 but old. And he'd been exiled on Patmos 149 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:47,880 before it had the the Book of Revelation. 150 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:50,800 Then he was back in Ephesus, having come back from exile. 151 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,200 And his disciples basically said to him, John, you need to write 152 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,360 down some of the stuff that you're saying because we haven't 153 00:09:56,360 --> 00:09:59,080 really got a good record of it. We need you to put something 154 00:09:59,080 --> 00:10:00,600 together. Why don't you write a gospel? 155 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,440 And they kept hassling and hassling and hassling him until 156 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:04,920 he said, all right, yeah, let's do it. 157 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:11,360 And Clement said, but John sat down and proposed to compose a 158 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:13,960 spiritual gospel, is the way that he put it. 159 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:16,720 I think that the wedding is something, if I remember 160 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:19,360 something like seeing that the bodily facts had been laid down 161 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:22,200 in the other gospels, he sought to compose a spiritual gospel. 162 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:28,520 So in other words, according to Clement, who's pretty close to 163 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:35,360 the, you know, the original source here, this gospel assumes 164 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,880 you've got a bit of a handle on the facts from the other gospels 165 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:42,840 or other writings and stories that are around about, you know, 166 00:10:42,840 --> 00:10:46,480 the the kind of material facts about what who Jesus was and 167 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:51,160 what he did and said. That what John sought to do was 168 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:54,880 present a gospel that communicated the spiritual truth 169 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:59,000 of what this was all about. So out of all the four gospels, 170 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:03,600 John's Gospel is the one that is most most developed, most multi 171 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,840 layered in terms of its theology. 172 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:10,480 It's complex and you can certainly read it. 173 00:11:10,480 --> 00:11:13,600 And I know it's sort of with those tracts, lovers of bridge 174 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:16,240 tracts, you know, people used to give out a lot would have John's 175 00:11:16,240 --> 00:11:18,200 Gospel in it thinking that this is a good thing to kind of give 176 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:19,560 people to begin with. I get that. 177 00:11:19,560 --> 00:11:22,240 Like on one level it is, you know, it's you can sort of read 178 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:26,440 it as a as a story and get hit with the sort of headlines. 179 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:30,560 But it is definitely the most complex of the gospels, one of 180 00:11:30,560 --> 00:11:33,520 the most complex, maybe the most complex of the New Testament 181 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:40,480 books and extremely multi layered and not without its 182 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,120 controversies over the years, you know, people have accused it 183 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:47,600 of being anti-Semitic or being gnostic magical, you know, all 184 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:52,360 kinds of things. And I'd say that if you want to 185 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:57,680 get into John, try listening to it in audio rather than trying 186 00:11:57,680 --> 00:12:02,640 to try and go through quickly in one or two settings and just see 187 00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:06,120 what what lands for you while you're reading it. 188 00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:09,440 I think one of the risks we have in in sort of, we're so used to 189 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,040 close reading that you might think, I want to read that read 190 00:12:12,040 --> 00:12:13,440 that book. And then you immediately you're 191 00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:17,720 sort of starting to kind of pour over each word and each verse. 192 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,560 And I think this is a book that needs, it needs to kind of 193 00:12:21,560 --> 00:12:24,360 overview first. Like you, you, you go through it 194 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,520 quickly, see what hits you and then go back and do kind of 195 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:32,600 close reading afterwards. Again, a couple of important 196 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:34,080 things. I, I think there's millions of, 197 00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:36,320 of things. But to me anyway, what's been 198 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:40,880 important to me that the Gospel is not in chronological order. 199 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:46,400 John is not interested in in sequences of time. 200 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,360 It's not that there isn't an order to what comes. 201 00:12:49,360 --> 00:12:52,320 There's very definitely an order to what comes in the in the 202 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,240 Gospel, but it's not in chronological order. 203 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:58,400 And that's deliberate. So you'll see in the other 204 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:01,120 gospels, there's the story of Jesus cleansing the temple. 205 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,680 In the other three gospels, he does it right at the end of his 206 00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:08,120 ministry, before he's crucified. In fact, it's the triggering 207 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:12,000 event that gets everybody really ready to crucify him. 208 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,600 But in John's Gospel happens right at the beginning. 209 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,160 There's a reason for that. It's it's not because John's 210 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:20,800 trying to say, I mean, I've heard people say, well, Jesus 211 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:22,840 cleansed the temple twice, once at the beginning, once at the 212 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,360 end. Or I've heard people say, oh, 213 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:28,000 well, John was trying to correct the other, the other writers and 214 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:30,160 put it at the beginning. It's not those reasons at all. 215 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:32,920 John assumes, you know, that Jesus cleansed the temple at the 216 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:34,320 end of his life. This is common knowledge. 217 00:13:35,280 --> 00:13:37,520 He's put it at the beginning because he's making a point. 218 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:41,840 So what is that point? How does it speak to us now? 219 00:13:42,720 --> 00:13:45,840 And that's true for all of these things that as we see them come 220 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,880 out in, in the gospel, he's making very deliberate points by 221 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,440 what he has people say at certain times in certain places 222 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,520 and certain sequences. So the order is important, but 223 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:58,640 it's not chronological. So don't get confused about 224 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,320 that. The other thing is sometimes, 225 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,280 you know, in the if you've ever wondered or you've been in that 226 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,240 kind of apologetic space, people will say things like, well, 227 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,760 Jesus never claimed to be God. It was his followers who claimed 228 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,200 to be God. Well, that's a fundamental 229 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,080 misunderstanding of what's being said in the Gospels. 230 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:20,520 So Jesus repeatedly talks about being the Son of man in the 231 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,120 Gospel of John. Actually, the phrase Son of man 232 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:26,720 is, is what is the claim to be in God. 233 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,840 In fact, the Son of God is not a unique title. 234 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,080 Lots of people call themselves the Son of God. 235 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:35,880 Pharaohs and you know, Caesars and whatever would call 236 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:37,520 themselves sons of God and all the rest. 237 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:39,480 That was not a claim to divinity. 238 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:43,120 When Jesus says I'm the Son of man, he is laying, that's a 239 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:46,000 claim to divinity because that connects into the Jewish 240 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,560 tradition about this figure, this prophesied Messianic figure 241 00:14:49,760 --> 00:14:52,360 that Daniel sees in a vision called the Son of Man. 242 00:14:52,520 --> 00:14:55,240 So when Jesus says I'm the son of man, that's his claim to be 243 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:59,360 God. There are at least 7 instances 244 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:03,440 in across the gospel where Jesus uses the divine name. 245 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,520 Yahweh translates as I am. You know, it's the verb to be. 246 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:11,480 I am a taboo name that Jews weren't allowed to say. 247 00:15:11,480 --> 00:15:16,320 You know, if that's you sometimes see people write G-D, 248 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:21,960 you know, to try and honour that tradition and Jesus uses that 249 00:15:21,960 --> 00:15:24,000 name 7 times to refer to himself. 250 00:15:24,000 --> 00:15:26,800 They're called the I am sayings. I am the bread of life. 251 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:28,080 I am the way, the truth and the life. 252 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,000 I am the the door to the sheepfold. 253 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:37,800 I am the light of the world before Abraham was I am 7/7 254 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,720 times at least maybe 8 depending on exactly how you categorise 255 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,920 it. But these are these are clear 256 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:46,880 statements by John showing us the divinity of Jesus. 257 00:15:47,160 --> 00:15:51,920 So if anybody is, if you kind of come across any of those sorts 258 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:55,480 of arguments that they show that somebody doesn't really know 259 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:57,200 what they're talking about if they're asking that kind of 260 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,040 question, he's saying, well, Jesus didn't say he was God. 261 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,160 No, he absolutely did. You just didn't understand him. 262 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,160 It's right there. And John has that laid out for 263 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,280 us. So the emphasis on the divinity 264 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:13,760 of Jesus is very strong here. Lots of ways that comes out. 265 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:17,880 And this is central to John's gospel, The good news as told to 266 00:16:17,880 --> 00:16:19,960 us by the apostle John. Why is it good news? 267 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:24,400 The essence of that is in who the person of Jesus is. 268 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,760 You have all the way through, you have a theme of light comes 269 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,600 out and life. We'll see that in the prologue 270 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,560 as well. And towards the end of the book, 271 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:40,720 you get some definitions begin to come in, such as what does it 272 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:43,240 mean to have eternal life or God's kind of life? 273 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:50,800 And John will say things like this is eternal life, that human 274 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:54,960 beings may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom 275 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,680 you've sent. So eternal life is an intimate 276 00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,880 knowing and relationship with God. 277 00:17:00,240 --> 00:17:03,240 So and then you see at the end of the gospel, John says, why 278 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:04,640 have I written all this stuff down? 279 00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:07,920 I've written so that you may believe and continue to believe 280 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:10,520 and that in continuing to believe, you may continue to 281 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:13,440 have life. So the purpose of the book is 282 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:15,720 very well laid out. It's evangelistic. 283 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:21,079 It's there for whoever reads it, whoever hears it, to be inspired 284 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:24,880 in faith, in believing in who Jesus is and what he has done 285 00:17:24,880 --> 00:17:29,040 and what he continues to do. And in that belief, engaging 286 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:33,000 with, enjoying, participating in and accessing God's kind of 287 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,440 life. Throughout the Gospel, we get 288 00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:37,720 glimpses of what that kind of life looks like. 289 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,200 And all those things are there for us to have some sort of an 290 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,560 idea of what we're participating in, what we get to enjoy and 291 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,480 engage with. So all all of that is there in 292 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:52,360 the Gospel of John and tonnes more bonus thought for 293 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:56,720 consideration. I quite like the idea that the 294 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:59,200 Book of Revelation and the Gospel of John basically say the 295 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,880 same thing. The Book of Revelation is John's 296 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:06,320 kind of psychedelic unravelling on the Isle of Patmos. 297 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,200 And the Gospel of John is now he's, he's finally at the end of 298 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:13,600 his life, able to put something down that's systematic, having 299 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,880 worked through his experience with Jesus in the flesh, having 300 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,800 worked through after that, the resurrection, the moving of the 301 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,120 Spirit, and then this download that he gets on Patmos and then 302 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:26,840 afterwards through his ministry in Ephesus, now he's putting it 303 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:28,760 down. And then there's one part in the 304 00:18:28,760 --> 00:18:32,880 Book of Revelation where there's a small scroll and the Angel 305 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:37,280 says to John, you have, you have written and you, you must write 306 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,920 again. And I quite like the idea and I 307 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,040 can't prove it, but I like the idea. 308 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:46,440 You can kind of consider it that when the Angel says you must 309 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,480 write again, that what the angels talking about is the 310 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,760 Gospel of John. So John's got that vision. 311 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:53,680 Okay, I know at some point in the future I'm gonna have to 312 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:55,520 write this. Now, that's not a scholarly 313 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:56,840 view. Most scholars don't think John 314 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,840 wrote Revelation anyway, for one reason or another. 315 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:01,600 But you can get into an argument with them. 316 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:04,680 To be perfectly honest, a lot of this, who wrote what and when, 317 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:07,440 it's extraordinarily speculative, frankly. 318 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:12,800 So I wouldn't place too much currency in that kind of 319 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:15,040 argument. Pay attention to it, but don't 320 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:19,000 place too much currency in it. The tradition of the church is 321 00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,360 just as credible on this stuff, frankly, because we've got 322 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:24,600 unbroken records going back to people like Clement of 323 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:28,200 Alexandria, at least just two generations on from John who had 324 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:32,440 personal links, who are giving us this sort of info. 325 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,920 And I kind of trust them more than I trust, you know, 21st 326 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,160 century sort of or 20th century scholar kind of working on it 327 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:41,400 grammatically. But anyway, digressions. 328 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:46,400 Let me read. In the beginning was the Word. 329 00:19:46,480 --> 00:19:48,760 The word was with God and the word was God. 330 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:50,480 He was with God in the beginning. 331 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:52,400 Through him all things were made. 332 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:54,880 Without him, nothing was made that has been made. 333 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,480 In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 334 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:01,280 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has 335 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:04,600 not overcome it. There was a man sent from John 336 00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:08,520 from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify 337 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:11,600 concerning the light, so that through him all might believe He 338 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:13,840 himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the 339 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:14,600 light. By the way, if you've got a 340 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,040 Bible on the table, you can open it up and follow along. 341 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:21,680 We're on page 1063, John chapter 1. 342 00:20:23,560 --> 00:20:25,960 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the 343 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,480 world. He was in the world, and though 344 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,240 the world was made through Him, the world did not recognise Him. 345 00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:34,720 He came to that which was His own, but His own did not receive 346 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:36,240 Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, 347 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,240 to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to 348 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,600 become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor 349 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,040 of human decision or husband's will, but born of God. 350 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:47,120 The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. 351 00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:49,840 We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son 352 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,880 who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 353 00:20:53,800 --> 00:20:56,920 John testified concerning him. He cried out saying this is the 354 00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:59,960 one I spoke about when I said He who comes after me has surpassed 355 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,760 me because He was before me out of His fullness. 356 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:05,400 We have all received grace in place of grace already given, 357 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,160 for the law was given through Moses. 358 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,000 Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 359 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:13,200 No one has ever seen God, but God the one and only Son, who is 360 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:15,520 Himself God and is in the closest relationship with the 361 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:21,280 Father has made Him known. The Prologue, in the prologue 362 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:26,800 you get the, the thematic starter for the whole book. 363 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:30,040 So the, the thing, most of the things we, the, the themes and 364 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:31,680 the threads we can pick up within the prologue. 365 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:33,960 These are things we'll see repeated over and over again 366 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,880 throughout the Gospel. So it again, it's, it's very 367 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,240 condensed, fantastic. Probably more written about the 368 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:44,680 prologue than anything else I'd have thought theologically over 369 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:47,360 the centuries. Couple of highlights from the 370 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:51,720 prologue when it says at the start, in the beginning was the 371 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:55,520 word. The Greek word for word is 372 00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:01,520 logos, where we get the word logic or ology in English. 373 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:06,440 And the logos is basically the idea that this is like the mind 374 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:08,200 of God out of which he creates everything. 375 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:12,240 And I like to think about it like this. 376 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:14,760 In Genesis 1, it says in the beginning God created the 377 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,720 heavens and the earth. It tells you what God did in 378 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:19,720 John One. It tells you how God did. 379 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:23,400 It takes you behind the curtain, what was going on in the mind of 380 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,200 God out of which God created the world. 381 00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:30,080 So John is revisiting Genesis 1 very deliberately right here at 382 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,640 the beginning of the prologue. And he says here's the logos, 383 00:22:33,840 --> 00:22:38,800 this principle, this spiritual template, this matrix out of 384 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:41,880 which everything's made. But he says this thing is not 385 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:43,600 just a thing, it's actually a person. 386 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,840 And this person is in fact God, but is also face to face with 387 00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:50,480 what we call God. The word with. 388 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,400 There the word was God and the Word was with God. 389 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:57,040 The word with actually means facing. 390 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,800 It's not just with in a neutral sense, it has a relational 391 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:04,880 flavour to it that there is a face to faceness between the Son 392 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:08,800 and the Father that is behind the curtain of creation. 393 00:23:09,480 --> 00:23:12,120 And what John is telling us here is that look, everything that 394 00:23:12,120 --> 00:23:14,680 you see, everything that's been created has come out of that 395 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,080 relationship, that face to face us. 396 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,840 And this is this theme of the face of Christ is something that 397 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,320 comes up in throughout John's Gospel, but also throughout the 398 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:28,640 whole New Testament, the the engaging with the face of 399 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:33,480 Christ, this relational knowing John is saying this isn't just 400 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,240 about salvation. This is actually what the 401 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,800 universe was created out of. So when we see Father, Son and 402 00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:42,440 Spirit, before anything is made, the Father, Son and Spirit have 403 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,920 a way of being. They have a way of living, a way 404 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:50,120 of existing that is completely mysterious to us. 405 00:23:50,360 --> 00:23:52,240 But Jesus has come to make that known. 406 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,520 What is that life? What is that way of being? 407 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,800 What is the quality of it? What is the character of it that 408 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:01,880 that is The Fountainhead of creation. 409 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:07,200 So John goes on, everything was made by him and he, he's really 410 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,240 wants you to understand this. He says it twice. 411 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,960 Everything was made by him. Everything you see, everything 412 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:14,920 that has been made has been made by him. 413 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:18,720 Everything has come by and through the person of Christ. 414 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,400 So it's not that God the Father is the creator and Christ is 415 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:23,720 doing something else. John is saying Christ is the 416 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:28,200 creator. He made the world and in him it 417 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:31,360 says in him was life. So all of the life, all of the 418 00:24:31,360 --> 00:24:36,720 energy that animates everything has come from him and that life 419 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:41,280 is the light of all mankind. So, and again, this theme of 420 00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:47,360 light and what what light is spiritually speaking is another 421 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:48,880 another thing that comes up in the Gospel. 422 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:53,680 Get some introductions to John, which is John the Baptist, not 423 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:55,720 John the Apostle. It's very confusing to say the 424 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:58,520 book of John and then this is John in the first few few verses 425 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,600 and they're two different Johns. You'd have thought that the 426 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:03,880 Bible compilers could have done a better job of making that 427 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:05,640 clear. But anyway, there are two Johns 428 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,640 here. They weren't, they weren't very 429 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:10,240 imaginative with names right in this. 430 00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:17,360 So John was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 431 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:20,320 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the 432 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:24,040 world. So what what is being presented 433 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:27,000 to us in the Gospel is that the good news here, so the beginning 434 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:30,480 of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the good news is announced by the 435 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:34,320 angels in the birth of Jesus. We don't get that story here in 436 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,040 John's Gospel. We don't get the the nativity 437 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:40,640 scene. We just get the one in whom all 438 00:25:40,640 --> 00:25:45,720 life and light finds its origin has come into the world. 439 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:51,480 That's just that's what we get. So he's trying to not get us 440 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,880 distracted by the material facts and circumstances around Jesus 441 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:57,560 birth. He assumes you know that and 442 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,600 he's trying to say you. Look, the important thing here 443 00:25:59,600 --> 00:26:04,800 is the very life that is God's has come into the world, not 444 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,800 just in the way that it was before, but actually it has 445 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:14,400 become flesh and dwelt among us. So that life has come in as one 446 00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:16,960 of us. It's not just come in in a 447 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:22,160 metaphysical or mechanical way. That life has come in as a human 448 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:26,600 being. So we see Christ fully divine 449 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:31,480 and fully human at the same time in ways that don't confuse the 450 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:35,360 2. So he is 100% as human as we are 451 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:40,000 and he is 100% as God as God can be, and those things exist 452 00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:44,120 simultaneously in him. Now this is the good news. 453 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,080 This is a gospel, right? This is the good news. 454 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,880 The good news is God has come in the flesh. 455 00:26:51,800 --> 00:26:54,560 That's good news. So again, if you're anything 456 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:57,720 like my come from anything like my background, good news is, 457 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,080 well, Jesus paid the price for your sin. 458 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:05,920 That's not here in the 1st chapter of Sean, but this is 459 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:08,880 John's summary of the good news. The good news is Christ has 460 00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,240 taken on flesh. And by the way, the word flesh 461 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:12,800 there is the bad word for humanity. 462 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:15,200 It's not the good word. So when we talk about all the 463 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:16,800 flesh, I'm wrestling with the flesh. 464 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:19,360 That sort of language, that's the word that's being used here 465 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:24,440 in the Greek. It's sarks, not anthropos. 466 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,160 Anthropos is the word for human. Sarx is the word for flesh. 467 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:31,600 So in the mistranslations of the book of Romans, which use the 468 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:35,480 use the word sinful nature, which is not the right word 469 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,240 actually the the it's the word sarx in in Romans. 470 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:45,040 So, so John is saying to us everything that we are, Jesus 471 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:49,600 has taken on, has assumed every aspect of what it means to be 472 00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:51,880 human. He hasn't just assumed the good 473 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,080 bits, He's assumed all of the bad bits as well, yet without 474 00:27:56,160 --> 00:28:02,880 committing sin. So he, he does not fall short of 475 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,160 what it is to be human. In fact, he, he fully 476 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,760 exemplifies what it is to be human, but he does so sharing 477 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,920 fully in all of our hang ups and problems and issues and 478 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:17,800 difficulties, everything that makes us feel less than. 479 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:22,840 He takes it on in himself. He says he came to his own. 480 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,080 Now who are his own. It's not talking about the Jews 481 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:27,040 here. It includes the Jews, but it's 482 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:29,440 not just talking about the Jews. We know who it's talking about 483 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,360 because it says so immediately before the world. 484 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,640 The world has come into existence through him. 485 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:36,440 All things have come into existence through him. 486 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:40,400 All are his own, and he has come to his own and his own has not 487 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:43,040 received him. And that's all of us, Jew and 488 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,320 Gentile alike, all of us have not received him. 489 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,440 This is another theme that we get throughout the whole gospel, 490 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,920 which is you'll, you'll see Jesus says things like no one 491 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:56,080 knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son wields 492 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,920 to reveal him. Even here in the prologue, no 493 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,600 one has ever seen God. Nobody. 494 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:05,720 Anyone who claims to have seen God has not according to John 495 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:10,560 right here about who Jesus is the only one who can make known 496 00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:15,560 to us what God is like is the one who is himself got very God 497 00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:20,040 of very God in that oneness and the closest relationship with 498 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:23,440 the Father is the NIV puts it here that in the one who is face 499 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,480 to face with the Father, he's the only one who can let us know 500 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,640 what God is like. No one else can let us know that 501 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:32,960 and anyone who claims to can't. In fact, you'll see Jesus at one 502 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:37,000 point saying all who came before me are thieves and liars, which 503 00:29:37,000 --> 00:29:42,360 is pretty inditing, particularly when all includes Elijah and 504 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:46,720 Isaiah and Moses and Abraham, David, all who came before me 505 00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:49,840 are thieves and liars. They, if they claim to see God, 506 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:54,040 they didn't Phenomenal phenomenally provocative 507 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,640 language that that doesn't give us much wiggle room to get out 508 00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,640 of out of the way of the person of Christ here. 509 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,760 Last point I want to make on this and then I'm going to try 510 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,760 something and then we're going to pray. 511 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,840 It says to all who did receive him, to those who believed in 512 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,480 his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children 513 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:18,160 born not of natural descent nor of human decision, but but born 514 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:20,160 of God. Some people have asked me about 515 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:23,640 this verse because I I maintained that all the children 516 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:26,200 of God right, independently of what you believe or decide, we 517 00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,520 are all children of God on the basis of this chapter. 518 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:30,880 And some people have asked me, well, doesn't it say there that 519 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:33,640 only those who believe in him get the right to become? 520 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:38,000 And I just want to make a point on this, which is the word 521 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:44,720 become here is the same become that's used in is it in first 522 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,640 book of Corinthians, I think, where it says Christ became the 523 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:53,160 life giving spirit. Christ became the life giving 524 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,320 spirit. Nobody is saying that Christ 525 00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:01,480 became a ghost became a spirit right that that would actually 526 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,480 violate Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, 527 00:31:05,480 --> 00:31:07,560 you know and his the understanding of his divinity. 528 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:10,880 When it says Christ became a life giving spirit, it means he 529 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:15,080 stepped up into the economic role of the life giving spirit. 530 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,320 That's that you can word study this become does not mean 531 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:22,760 something that was not becoming something that is it means it's 532 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:27,880 something that is steps up to engage the role of so this the 533 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:32,560 the the right to become means those who are by God's design 534 00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:37,040 and God's grace called children of God by believing are able to 535 00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:39,320 step up into their role as children of God. 536 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:42,200 So that's that's what become means here. 537 00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,440 So don't, don't get confused in this sort of transactional sense 538 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,640 that, well, I wasn't a child of God and now I am. 539 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:53,400 There's the point here is up until that point, even here in 540 00:31:53,400 --> 00:31:55,840 the, in the 1st chapter of John, he's trying to say, look, all 541 00:31:55,840 --> 00:31:59,000 have come from him. Everything has come from him 542 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:03,200 that we are all of our origin is in the person of Christ. 543 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:08,120 We are all designed by him, known by him and with good, good 544 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:11,240 purpose and intention. You know, David says I was knit 545 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:12,760 together. You knit me together in my 546 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,840 mother's womb, right? All have their origin in him. 547 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:19,240 And that's a good definition of what it means to be a child of 548 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:20,960 God. But if you don't know that, 549 00:32:20,960 --> 00:32:22,200 you're not going to live that way. 550 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:24,760 But those who believe realise Ah, now. 551 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:29,640 And in believing, that's all it takes to step up into begin to 552 00:32:29,640 --> 00:32:33,600 assume the role that the way of your being begins to match the 553 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:35,760 truth of your being, which is what Alice was talking about. 554 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,160 How is it that this transforms the way that we live? 555 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:40,680 Because if it doesn't transform the way that we live, then 556 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:42,760 something's short circuited somewhere, right? 557 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:44,440 This has to transform everything. 558 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,200 It can't leave any part of life untouched. 559 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:51,560 So some some thoughts there from the prologue to get you started. 560 00:32:51,640 --> 00:32:55,120 I'm going to try one thing, if you'll allow me, which was the 561 00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:56,960 thought that came to me as Alice was praying. 562 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,320 And then we're going to pray, which is, as you know, some of 563 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,160 you, some of you know, I used to do a lot of St preaching back in 564 00:33:03,160 --> 00:33:06,240 the day. And it's something I've, I 565 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,120 intend to do again. In fact, I'm waiting for, I'm 566 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:13,880 waiting for a setup to go and do it with some friends of mine up 567 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,960 in Birmingham. But I actually thought, I 568 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:22,960 haven't, I haven't tried this. But if you'll allow me to just 569 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:26,120 practise, what would it sound like to say this on the street 570 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,960 if I was there with a microphone with passersby in the, in the 571 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:33,320 centre of Broadmead or wherever? I'm just going to try it because 572 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,440 I have, I haven't, right. So I'm not going to do the 573 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:40,840 histrionics like the, the performance bit because I'm not 574 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:48,040 in the, I'm not in the mood. So I'm just going to say it Joe 575 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:49,160 had no, I'm not. I can't. 576 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,240 It's too, too, too, right. We haven't got enough time. 577 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,720 Call it my my microphone elevator pitch. 578 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:59,440 It'll go go something like this. We all we all know the world's 579 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:01,520 in a mess. Tonnes of problems. 580 00:34:01,520 --> 00:34:04,040 We've all got on an individual level, national level. 581 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:07,160 It seems like it's going to hell and handbasket every other day. 582 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,360 And if you watch Satan sitcom the news, then you'll, you'll 583 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:14,239 definitely find all kinds of reasons to be hopeless, burnt 584 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:18,760 out, stressed, and all the rest. But I think all of us have an 585 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:21,199 intuition that this world hasn't just come from itself. 586 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:23,920 It's come from somewhere. It's come from a place. 587 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:26,760 We might call it spiritual, we might call it God, we might call 588 00:34:26,760 --> 00:34:28,840 it a divine source. I don't know, people use all 589 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:32,520 kinds of words for it. But we all know we all have an 590 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:35,880 instinct within us that some things are good, some things are 591 00:34:35,880 --> 00:34:39,920 beautiful, some things are are are worthy of paying our 592 00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:41,920 attention to. And we all aspire to be more 593 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:45,000 than we are. But we're all basically just 594 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,320 trying to muddle through with the doing the best that we can. 595 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,719 Most of the time we feel like we're on our own and we're 596 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:52,080 trying to solve our own problems. 597 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,960 But there's some really good news here. 598 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:59,160 And the good news is that that that divine mind, that that 599 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:03,160 wonderful heavenly place that we see in movies and books and we 600 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,440 try and put it into words. And that people who've had 601 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,200 mystical experiences or they've dosed out on mushrooms and have 602 00:35:09,200 --> 00:35:11,160 said, I've had, I've had something wonderful happen to 603 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:12,560 me. And they try and put it into 604 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:16,160 words, try and try and articulate this something that 605 00:35:16,240 --> 00:35:17,840 is good and true about this world. 606 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:19,840 That is not what we see on an everyday basis. 607 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,280 That the the really good news and that the Christian message 608 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:27,360 has tried to hold on to is that what exists in that spiritual 609 00:35:27,360 --> 00:35:30,080 world has actually come into our world. 610 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:33,280 It's met us as a human being. This is the story of Jesus 611 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:38,520 Christ who 2000 years ago came out of that divine reality and 612 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:40,800 became one of us. Everything that we are, 613 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:44,720 everything that we suffer. He experienced it and in even 614 00:35:44,720 --> 00:35:49,040 going all the way to to suffer a horrendous death, horrendous 615 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,080 suffering which many people experience in this world today. 616 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:55,680 There's all sorts of horrible suffering and when we suffer, we 617 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:57,400 feel like we've been abandoned by God. 618 00:35:57,400 --> 00:35:59,040 We feel like no one is looking out for us. 619 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:02,240 And you know, the world is not the way it should be, but Jesus 620 00:36:02,240 --> 00:36:05,640 came and met us there by taking on what it is to be human. 621 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:08,000 It means whatever you have suffered and whatever suffering 622 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:11,280 you may have inflicted on others, he has been there in it, 623 00:36:11,400 --> 00:36:15,320 forgiving, embracing, continuing to share his life and his love 624 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,400 with you. And the good news is that same 625 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,720 life and love that is his, you can experience it now. 626 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,560 Just believe. And you don't even need to work 627 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:28,920 that up yourself. We can pray and ask Jesus to 628 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:31,520 make himself known to us so that you can experience that life 629 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:33,160 too. Whatever you believe about all 630 00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,520 of this, whatever background you've come from, is not what's 631 00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:37,760 important. What's important is if something 632 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:39,800 in you right now is saying, yeah, I think I need to connect 633 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:41,120 with that. To know that I've been brought 634 00:36:41,120 --> 00:36:44,760 home, to know that I have a heavenly family that has got my 635 00:36:44,760 --> 00:36:46,600 back and that everything is going to work out. 636 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:49,080 All right, That's what we want to pray for. 637 00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:51,440 Because I think if we really could connect with that and we 638 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:54,200 really could live from it, then that would also change the 639 00:36:54,200 --> 00:36:56,360 world. So, and then I would do a little 640 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:57,840 altar call, right? Because you know, it's kind of 641 00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:59,280 close to an altar call. Does that sound good? 642 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,960 So, so anyway, there you go. I just just evangelise this. 643 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:07,640 Let's pray and then I'll do a pray prayer like this. 644 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:10,680 So if you want a little revised sinner's prayer, I might get 645 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,520 everyone around and say or have my little prayer team go and 646 00:37:13,520 --> 00:37:16,560 pray with people and say let me let me help you pray. 647 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:20,680 If you don't know how to pray, use whatever words you like God 648 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:26,000 source whatever Father God, mother God doesn't matter. 649 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:29,640 Something in me is telling me that I need you. 650 00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:32,760 Jesus. Would you show me if this is 651 00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,080 true? I don't want to carry the burden 652 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:39,560 of my life by myself anymore. I don't want to carry the burden 653 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:41,920 of guilt of things I've done before, and I don't want to 654 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:46,960 carry this cycle of bad decisions and judgement and 655 00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,480 broken relationships and cynicism. 656 00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:52,720 I want you to give me the life that you have. 657 00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:54,200 I want you to share that with me. 658 00:37:55,120 --> 00:38:03,810 So would you help me to see it? Please meet me now. 659 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,280 And so now we'll just going to take the next 15 minutes if you 660 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:26,320 want to just stay in that place yourself or or not. 661 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:29,360 Like we want to make space for everybody to pray for each other 662 00:38:29,360 --> 00:38:32,000 if that's what they want to do. But again, if you don't want to, 663 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,720 if you just want to keep engaging where you are, that's 664 00:38:33,720 --> 00:38:36,680 fine. Let's start round tables. 665 00:38:37,640 --> 00:38:40,200 Just pray whatever you feel is coming up. 666 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:43,600 And if you don't know where to start, like Alice said, the 667 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,520 Apostle Paul in the Bible is always just praying that we 668 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:49,240 might be able to see and might be able to know who God is and 669 00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:51,440 what he's doing. So if you're stuck, you can just 670 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:53,960 pray that. But otherwise, just listen and 671 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,520 ask Holy Spirit, what, what should we pray or how should we 672 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:58,640 pray? We've got 15 minutes. 673 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:05,560 Bless you. Yeah, I think just just one 674 00:39:05,560 --> 00:39:11,720 thing I felt was there might be some people here who don't, who 675 00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:15,200 don't really believe they're a child of God, that sort of 676 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:18,440 mindset that that really does change everything about who we 677 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:22,400 are and how we live. And so that might be something, 678 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:26,200 if that resonates with you, that that verse that we have the 679 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:31,360 right to live in the reality that we are children of God. 680 00:39:32,840 --> 00:39:37,640 It would be good to get someone to say to pray with you about 681 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:41,120 that. Yeah. 682 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:43,120 So I'm just going to. I'm going to pray now. 683 00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,720 And I invite you to pray with each other. 684 00:39:47,160 --> 00:39:51,120 I'm going to pray Paul's prayer in Ephesians. 685 00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:55,680 I pray that the eyes of our hearts are enlightened, that we 686 00:39:55,680 --> 00:40:00,480 may get to know you better. I pray that we know how high and 687 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:05,240 wide and deep and long the Father's love is, and know that 688 00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:09,840 love which surpasses knowledge. And Paul prays to the Father, 689 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:15,240 through whom every nation in heaven on earth, every family in 690 00:40:15,240 --> 00:40:16,880 heaven on earth derives its name. 691 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,160 That's who Paul prays to in Ephesians. 692 00:40:20,480 --> 00:40:24,160 And so we pray for breakthrough revelation for us as a community 693 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,560 that we know who we are, children of God. 694 00:40:29,720 --> 00:40:30,080 Amen.