1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:05,760 Everything in this church is operates out of relationship. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:10,960 That's because we have a theology that the self giving 3 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:16,040 love within the Trinity is the place that everything else 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,120 emerges out of. So that's why when we have a 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:23,040 meeting, we'll have a BBQ. It's why we have breakfast in 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,160 the morning, it's why we'll have a church lunch. 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:31,200 It's why we host people spontaneously and sporadically 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:34,400 because we believe that life, the ministry flows out of 9 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:37,600 relationship because that's how God the Godhead operates. 10 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,840 He within the Godhead is self giving love and out of that self 11 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:46,880 giving love God creates. So it's there's thought behind 12 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:48,880 it. It's intentional rather than 13 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,240 unintentional. So I'm really excited today. 14 00:00:52,240 --> 00:00:55,720 We've got Paul. He's been going through the 15 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,840 Gospel of John, and we're about John 4, John 5, so you can 16 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,320 follow the last two. You can find that particular 17 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:07,560 series in on our podcasts. So I'm just going to pray for 18 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:09,480 Paul now. And then there's going to be a 19 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:16,000 response time at the end with Sam and Olivia hosting worship. 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:20,040 So at midday, we're going to have a response time to what we 21 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:24,720 feel God's doing because we really want people to kind of go 22 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:28,120 away having a sense of encountering God and 23 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:35,600 experiencing him. Thank you so much for Paul and 24 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:41,360 thank you for his journey and all that is embodied in him. 25 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:48,280 And we receive what you have through him today, particularly 26 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,000 we we always continually pray this prayer that the eyes of our 27 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:54,360 hearts might be enlightened, that we might know you better. 28 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:57,120 We have may have revelation of you and experience you. 29 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,600 Amen. Thank you Alice everyone. 30 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,400 I was looking for a talk I did some time ago but I couldn't 31 00:02:07,400 --> 00:02:09,680 find it. It's one of the Hope podcasts 32 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,640 where I did John 4. So I was thinking, should I do 33 00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:15,400 John 4 or John 5 today because I wanted to do John 5. 34 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:18,040 Then I realised I actually did John 4 previously. 35 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:22,680 It is there somewhere. So if you want John 4, then you 36 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,240 can go dig back through. It's one, it's one of them in 37 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:27,960 the last couple of years I did, I did it. 38 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,240 I will refer to a couple of things from John four and but I 39 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:34,880 really wanted to zone in on John 5. 40 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:39,600 Before I do that though, I've got, I've got a couple of 41 00:02:39,640 --> 00:02:45,080 announcements slash promos. So one is next month, May the 42 00:02:45,080 --> 00:02:47,600 30th. So Saturday the 30th, we have a 43 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:52,480 conference here, those of you doing the ITTF course with 44 00:02:52,920 --> 00:02:54,840 Baxter Kruger. So Doctor Baxter Kruger is going 45 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:57,800 to be here with us and also Jason Clark who hosts the 46 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,520 Rethinking God with Tacos podcast and a couple of others. 47 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,360 So we, we've, we've got an event on the Friday which is somewhere 48 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:06,520 else. And then on the Saturday we're 49 00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:09,720 here and Sunday morning Baxter will be here with us as well. 50 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,440 We've currently had about 130, a 140 booked in for that Saturday. 51 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,720 Very few people from Hope that conference, I'm fairly sure is 52 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:20,800 going to sell out. Like we've got people flying in 53 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,240 from around the world to come to that one. 54 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,920 And people always leave it to the last minute to book. 55 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,440 If you want to come, I think you should come. 56 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:31,720 And if you want to come, I really think you should book 57 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,640 like sooner rather than later because those places are going 58 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:36,080 to go if you don't want to pay for a ticket. 59 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,440 They're only, they're only 2750. But if you don't want to pay for 60 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:42,160 a ticket, I could also do with some ushers and people who could 61 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,760 volunteer to help. So please come and speak to me 62 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:48,360 about that would be great. But I think it's going to be 63 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:51,360 it's going to be a really fantastic time actually having 64 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,200 those guys with us. And on a Sunday morning, you 65 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,400 know, we we have Alice and I were joking about our hard time 66 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:00,320 stops. You know, well, on the Saturday 67 00:04:00,320 --> 00:04:04,080 we don't have hard time stops. So we'll get to really go deep, 68 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:07,640 deep dive and have sort of extended times and whatnot. 69 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,920 So please come the information for that is in the hope 70 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,920 newsletter. But if you don't know where that 71 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:17,640 is or aren't on the mailing list, then you can get it from 72 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:22,079 my website as well, which is championsofhope.co.uk. 73 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:24,440 And if you still didn't note that down, forget it. 74 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,120 Come up and speak to me and I can send you the link. 75 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,600 So that's number one. Number two is my book is out. 76 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:31,840 A few people have been asking me about it. 77 00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,120 We've got, we have a, we have a load of these up there. 78 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:37,040 I've brought some today. If people actually want to get a 79 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:38,480 hold of them. Better to get it from me 80 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,480 directly than to buy it from Amazon because Amazon is 81 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,480 terrible. And also even by you can buy it 82 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,800 from my my publisher. But if you buy it online, it 83 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,360 automatically adds postage. And if you hear you don't need 84 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:51,000 postage, you can just get it straight from me. 85 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:53,280 So I've got a bunch of them. So the book, the book's called 86 00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:55,360 Damascus Encounter the Unexpected crisis. 87 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,800 It's not about the apostle Paul. It is kind of half about me. 88 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:03,520 It's a I'll just read you. I'll read you what? 89 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:06,760 Paul Young, who wrote The Shag. He's a good friend of mine. 90 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:08,840 I'll just read you the endorsement that he wrote. 91 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:12,080 If it weren't for the grace of failure, you would have become a 92 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:15,040 horribly dangerous man, leaving a multitude of dead bodies in 93 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:18,320 your wake. Don't get me wrong, I still 94 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:20,800 think you're a dangerous man. Only now in the best of ways. 95 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:23,360 So I don't know. I don't know if that sells it to 96 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,440 you or not, but I've got, I've got a bunch of them here. 97 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,480 We'll, there's an audio book version, which you do have to 98 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:31,280 get online. There's an ebook apparently as 99 00:05:31,280 --> 00:05:32,200 well. I think you do have to get that 100 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:35,440 from Amazon. And there's a video course as 101 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:37,880 well and a study guide if you're interested in those. 102 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:39,400 But in any case, the book's the main event. 103 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:41,720 I've got a bunch of them. They're 15 lbs. 104 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,280 So come and see me. I can do cash or or bank card if 105 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:47,360 you want to, if you want to do that. 106 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,760 Anyway, Grace and I, we were just in Italy. 107 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,840 We were, we took the girls, but we want to, it was a kind of 108 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:59,600 bustman's holiday, you know, preaching and beach at the same 109 00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,800 time, which is nice. But also when, when we were 110 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,080 there, there was with the Waiwan base in Italy, the, the DTS 111 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,040 course and that was just a phenomenal time as well. 112 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:12,480 Something really exciting is going on with that group. 113 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,400 Again, people sort of flew in from all over for a week 114 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:19,200 conference on the back of this DTS that that Waiwan were doing 115 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:23,200 there and I visited. I feel like Holy Spirit's 116 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,960 speaking to me or trying to get my attention about Saint Thomas. 117 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:29,320 And the reason I say that is because a couple of years back I 118 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,720 was, I was on a trip in India and to Chennai. 119 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:38,120 And the first day we were there, the the hosts took us to the 120 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,160 Cathedral of Saint Thomas like a or it was like a monastery area 121 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:44,640 up on a mountain. So Saint Thomas, if you know the 122 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:48,720 history tradition, record, Saint Thomas went to India, that was 123 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:52,000 his evangelistic mission. And there's the Temastic Church 124 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,720 which began around his Apostolic ministry in India. 125 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,240 And it sort of formed the basis for the Church of the East in 126 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:00,720 India. Probably monks went from there 127 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,120 to China a few 100 years later. And you know, it was part of the 128 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:06,240 whole ecosystem for the first 5-6 hundred years or so. 129 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:09,920 What was going on in Asia was happening with, with India and 130 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:13,200 Iran, what the then Persia. These were sort of major centres 131 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,800 of the Gospel. And so I was out there and we, 132 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:20,760 we went and visited Saint Thomas anyway, down in Italy, we just 133 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:23,080 took a day trip to the, the next town down. 134 00:07:23,080 --> 00:07:27,640 And I didn't know we were also at the equivalent Saint Thomas's 135 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,560 Basilica, the, the cathedral there in Italy, where history 136 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,960 records that Thomas's body was brought back after he was 137 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:39,240 martyred to Italy. And it's, you know, the 138 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:41,560 Catholics like to have their reliquaries, right? 139 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,960 So they kind of store the the relics of the Saints, which is 140 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:47,920 is nice and gothic. But anyway, you can go down to 141 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:51,000 the the relic query where they've got, you know, Thomas's 142 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,440 body in the in the in the casket there. 143 00:07:53,800 --> 00:08:00,000 And it's a beautiful church, you know, really just beautiful, 144 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:01,480 fantastic, loads of cool stuff in it. 145 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:04,920 But I felt like, OK, 22 for two, right? 146 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:07,920 You know, these suddenly, I'm not intending to go on sort of 147 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:11,160 pilgrimages to learn anything about Saint Thomas, but I felt 148 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,680 really definitely Holy Spirit saying something about Saint 149 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,760 Thomas. So I don't know if you've 150 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:18,960 anyone's got any insight on that. 151 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,760 Come and come and tell me. Maybe you've you've got an angle 152 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:24,120 on Thomas and you've done a lot of reading or research about 153 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:25,800 him. That would be great. 154 00:08:25,800 --> 00:08:27,800 This is Thomas who's doubting Thomas, where they usually call 155 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:30,920 him doubting Thomas. He's the one who says I'll only 156 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:34,919 believe it if I see it right. If if Jesus turns up physically 157 00:08:34,919 --> 00:08:38,640 resurrected from the dead, if I can get a hold of him myself, 158 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:40,360 then I'll believe. I'm not going to believe it just 159 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,120 because anybody told me. So he gets his reputation as 160 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,240 doubting Thomas. But of course, he was the the 161 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:48,680 founder of the Indian Church, you know, major Apostolic 162 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,760 figure. And I think there's something, 163 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:55,400 there's something in that maybe we'll explore as time goes on. 164 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,320 But anyway, Italy was fantastic. Thank you for those who who were 165 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:01,400 praying for while we were out there. 166 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:05,200 And yeah, there's, there's cool stuff going on. 167 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:09,360 I think around the world, people are waking up to the gospel. 168 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:11,680 They're getting clear on the gospel. 169 00:09:12,240 --> 00:09:15,960 And it's like my friend Baxter puts it, the gospel is like 170 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:18,080 Windex. You know, if you've got a, if 171 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,160 you're looking out through a pane of glass and it's all 172 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:24,360 dirty, then the gospel clears that off, clears the vision. 173 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:27,280 So the so that you can see clearly that's what John's 174 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,320 gospel is about. And I'm going to dive into a 175 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,000 couple of points here again, for those of you who've been 176 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:38,040 following this study. I really tried to resist doing 177 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,200 the kind of the classic systematic line by line or 178 00:09:41,200 --> 00:09:44,320 chapter by chapter through John, Partly because if we did that, 179 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:46,360 we would be here for years trying to do it. 180 00:09:46,560 --> 00:09:49,520 Also because I'm here like once every six weeks or two months or 181 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:51,800 so doing it really would be years and years. 182 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:56,560 And the other reason is I think we have this tendency to 183 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:00,520 approach the Bible. Our starting point is we want to 184 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:03,440 read it very close. It's like we want to zoom in 185 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,760 really close. What does this word mean? 186 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:08,400 What does that word mean? And we want to kind of get right 187 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,520 into the, the, the sort of the, the atoms and the molecules of 188 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:14,680 the Scripture. And I raise this point because 189 00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:18,200 this is relevant to some key things that Jesus says in John 190 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:20,920 chapter 5. So this is a general point, but 191 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,960 it's also a specific point. I think that when we, when we 192 00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:28,720 zoom in really close, that's, that's fine, but it's only half 193 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:31,040 the story, or maybe it's even less than half the story 194 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:36,560 actually, because the the Bible is not really written to us in 195 00:10:36,560 --> 00:10:39,600 this from that, that basis of you're supposed to read it very 196 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,800 close. You're actually supposed to read 197 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:46,800 it very far right from you're supposed to see the big picture. 198 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:49,680 It gives us the big picture. And then from the big picture, 199 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:53,440 we then start to understand the little picture, those individual 200 00:10:53,440 --> 00:10:56,760 parts. This is one of the, if I could 201 00:10:56,760 --> 00:11:01,920 say I am ambivalent at times with a lot of contemporary Bible 202 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:06,200 scholarship because it's almost universally accepted that the 203 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:08,680 way you do Bible scholarship is you do close reading. 204 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:11,040 You have to zone in what does this word say? 205 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:12,840 What does that word say? And then you put it into the 206 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,600 historical method, which is, well, how does how does this 207 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:17,200 relate to what happened in history at the time? 208 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,480 What did it mean to them? And all of that is fine. 209 00:11:20,560 --> 00:11:23,120 I'm not, I'm not against it, but it's like the only thing that 210 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:25,600 goes on a lot of the time in Bible scholarship. 211 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,200 And frankly, it's kind of lifeless. 212 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:31,200 It's like a friend of mine said, it's all very well and good with 213 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:34,560 the parable of the lost coin. Having this understanding that 214 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:37,040 the lost coin was probably a wedding coin and that the woman 215 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,640 was wanting to go for a wedding and she needed the coin for the 216 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,480 wedding and it was part of the headdress and all these other 217 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:44,200 sorts of things, all the historical part about it. 218 00:11:44,680 --> 00:11:47,080 But it's like, So what? Who cares? 219 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,080 Honestly, Who cares? Who cares really if the pool of 220 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:53,280 Siloam was on the West side or the east side of this thing? 221 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:55,680 Like what? What on earth difference does 222 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:57,640 that make to anything? Right? 223 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:00,320 The Bible was not written for a historical education. 224 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,360 It was written to blow you up. Blow the flipping doors off, 225 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:07,040 right. It's Sunday morning on a podcast 226 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:09,240 in a family church. So I can't do the, the proper 227 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:12,400 quote supposed to blow the doors off. 228 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,480 It's not supposed to sit there. So we think, Oh yeah, nice. 229 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,560 I, I come out feeling slightly more educated about this book. 230 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,880 I go out slightly clearer about what Jesus might have meant when 231 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,160 he said this versus that, or slightly clearer about what the 232 00:12:26,160 --> 00:12:28,200 Jews were thinking at that at that time. 233 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,360 And I just think like, like who honestly, who cares? 234 00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:35,760 The gospel John says at the end of the gospel, I've written 235 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,240 these things so that you may believe and in believing you may 236 00:12:38,240 --> 00:12:41,120 have life not I've written these things so that you may be a 237 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,040 little bit more historically educated about what was going on 238 00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,720 in New Testament times so that you can publish another book to 239 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,400 keep your faculty happy and justify your job right. 240 00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:58,040 Again, all nice, all good to have that that side of things. 241 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:01,960 But if it is not, if it's not bring like my my book is called 242 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,080 subtitled encounter because I just think if it's not about 243 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,440 encounter, then what what we're doing here. 244 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,200 If it's not about encountering Christ in US in each other in 245 00:13:13,200 --> 00:13:16,040 life, if it's not about that, what's the point? 246 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:23,440 Baxter again quoting him, you know, he said if the if the 247 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:28,480 fullness of life that Jesus promised is basically this, I'm 248 00:13:28,480 --> 00:13:30,760 all right, thanks. I'm out. 249 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:32,360 You know, it's just not really good enough. 250 00:13:32,720 --> 00:13:34,800 If that's really what the fullness of life means. 251 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,960 If it's just that we've got a nice kind of it's nice community 252 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,000 time, connection time, all this is good, fantastic. 253 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:45,400 And we, you know, we kind of learn a few things about the 254 00:13:45,400 --> 00:13:48,960 Bible and we do this and we do that and you know, just 255 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:52,320 basically muddle through. If that's the fullness of life 256 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:54,640 that Jesus promised. I think I've been mis sold. 257 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:58,160 So I want encounter with reality. 258 00:13:58,160 --> 00:13:59,480 That's the only reason I'm a Christian. 259 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:01,760 I'm not a Christian because somebody gave me a good 260 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,320 apologetic or they've got nice arguments about why you should 261 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:07,640 believe in God versus not. I think probably the 262 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:09,680 intellectual arguments against believing in God are 263 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,080 intellectually probably better than the others, frankly. 264 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,120 But it's not about an intellectual argument. 265 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,360 There's there's something more fundamental and clearer and more 266 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,680 powerful and more true, which is not the intellectual side. 267 00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:25,560 The intellect is going to going to constantly leave you falling 268 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:27,840 short. This is about encounter, it's 269 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,680 about life, it's about reality. So having taken most of my time 270 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:36,120 in trying say come and book in on December the 30th and you'll 271 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:42,000 get unfiltered, unmediated, unscripted and unconstrained by 272 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:45,040 time, more or less. If that sounds good, then come. 273 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,200 If it doesn't, then maybe you don't want to come. 274 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,240 I don't know. You can buy the book instead. 275 00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:56,120 So having said that, what? So over the over the last few 276 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:58,840 sessions I've done, I've tried to establish the point of John's 277 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:01,840 Gospel, begins John One in the beginning. 278 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:06,560 God in the beginning was the Word and the Word was face to 279 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:09,000 face with God. So John is reminding us of 280 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:11,360 Genesis One in the beginning God created the heavens and the 281 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:13,720 earth. So Genesis 1 tells us what God 282 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:15,480 did. He created. 283 00:15:15,720 --> 00:15:19,480 John One tells us how God did it, what was going on behind the 284 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:21,560 curtain. Genesis 1 is in front of the 285 00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:23,560 curtain. John 1 is behind the curtain. 286 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,960 Behind the curtain, the Father and the Son are face to face in 287 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:32,240 relationship, eternal oneness in the Holy Spirit from eternity 288 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:34,200 past to eternity future. That's what Alice was talking 289 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,320 about. Other focus, the other focused 290 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,920 self giving love. That is the reality of the 291 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,520 Trinity. That is where everything came 292 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:44,320 from. John's showing us that in John 293 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,880 1. Then everything else that comes 294 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,920 in John's gospel is governed by that first section. 295 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:52,880 He's like, I'm setting out the the big picture here. 296 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:56,040 And you need to keep that in mind as you go through the 297 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,000 gospel because it's going to come up again and again. 298 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:00,520 The same themes are coming up again in John 5. 299 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:02,240 We have the same themes coming up in John 4. 300 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:03,600 It's about the water of life, right? 301 00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:07,000 So if you want to go and track back to that, that podcast I 302 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:10,720 did, the summary is Jesus said, you drink the water I give you 303 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:13,880 from within, you will rise up a spring of living water. 304 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,280 And then in John 7, it says, and then the one who believes that 305 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:19,480 spring will become a river. It will go forth from you. 306 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,200 That's the that's the basis of the Kingdom of heaven is in you. 307 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,560 And as you connect and engage with that experientially, it 308 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,160 comes up within you. And then that educates you in 309 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,720 terms of belief. And it's like, OK, now I can 310 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:32,920 step out and do something with that. 311 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:35,080 The water flows forth from you. Like that's the summary of that 312 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:37,880 part. Then we're in John 5 and 313 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,160 actually at the end of John 4 is where we had the, the turning of 314 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:45,320 water into wine. And that's important because I 315 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:50,520 forget this, which theologian said that Jesus started his 316 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,240 ministry by turning water into wine. 317 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:55,320 And the church for the most part has spent 2000 years trying to 318 00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:59,640 turn it back into water again. That's what I mean about this 319 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:01,600 kind of the educating the mind, right? 320 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:04,640 You can read the Bible, you get educated about things and it's 321 00:17:04,640 --> 00:17:08,640 like it's water in the sense of it's got no punch to it, right. 322 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,440 But why is the symbol of wine used? 323 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,960 And particularly when we know that alcohol, wine is quite a 324 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:16,240 destructive thing in so many people's lives, that why is that 325 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:19,280 being used here? Well, the, the point is that 326 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:24,119 the, the image there, it's a, is that when you receive the wine 327 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:26,800 of the spirit, it actually takes you out of yourself, right? 328 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:31,400 It knocks you out of it into an altered state of consciousness 329 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,520 that is no longer controlled by the world system, but you've 330 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:37,480 been knocked into the consciousness of the Kingdom of 331 00:17:37,480 --> 00:17:41,080 heaven. Paul talks it. 332 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:44,800 He uses the word ecstasis. He says I am in ecstasy is where 333 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,800 we get the word ecstasy from. Ecstasy means literally to stand 334 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:51,640 outside of yourself. The wine of the spirit takes you 335 00:17:51,840 --> 00:17:55,440 into a kind of out of body experience it. 336 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:58,880 It's pulling you out of the pattern in the system of the 337 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:03,440 world, which is like a dreamland shadow land that CS Lewis calls 338 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:05,400 it. And it's it's drawing you into 339 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,000 the life and the experience that is the wonder in the father, son 340 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:12,040 and spirit. It's it's an ecstatic 341 00:18:12,360 --> 00:18:14,920 connectivity with the reality of that life. 342 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:20,040 Thomas Merton said. If the Father were to remove his 343 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:23,640 love for you at the count of three, you would disappear into 344 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,000 nothing at that very moment That you are sustained moment by 345 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:29,600 moment by the love that is between the Father, Son and 346 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:31,560 Spirit. That is what the whole of the 347 00:18:31,560 --> 00:18:35,560 creation is upheld by. That is the light of life that 348 00:18:35,560 --> 00:18:38,960 gives light to everyone. John One says that the Father, 349 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,400 Son and Spirit have a pre-existing relationship with 350 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,720 the entire cosmos as creator and sustainer, and the force of that 351 00:18:45,720 --> 00:18:50,360 sustenance is the 4th force of other focused self giving love. 352 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:54,880 I went into a debate with an old friend of mine on social media a 353 00:18:54,880 --> 00:18:57,080 few weeks back where he said well I just don't accept that 354 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:59,400 the Bible says that love is the essence of God. 355 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,120 And I said well you're absolutely wrong. 356 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:05,080 The Bible is emphatic that love is the essence of God. 357 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:08,000 In fact, it's John the Apostle is the one who says that God is 358 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:13,920 love, not God is loving, God is love, and therefore because God 359 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:18,960 is love, we see his attributes, holiness, justice, all of these 360 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:21,800 things are are extensions of his love. 361 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,040 They're not antitheses to his love. 362 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:25,400 They're not opposite to his love. 363 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,720 Working in tension, this ridiculous word, they're not 364 00:19:28,720 --> 00:19:30,720 working in tension. God has no tension within 365 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:36,480 himself. God is fully integrated, God is 366 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,040 love, everything he does is an extension of that. 367 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,200 And that's what we're created and sustained and held by. 368 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:45,000 Or to encourage you to read John's gospel with that in mind 369 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,440 and read it quickly. When we read it slowly and we've 370 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:51,400 got days in between 1 chapter to another, we miss the repeated 371 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:52,520 themes. You know, it's like if you're 372 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,760 listening to a piece of well crafted classical music, there 373 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:59,760 are themes and those themes continue to repeat and they 374 00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:03,320 continue to vary and there's a constant revisiting of those 375 00:20:03,320 --> 00:20:05,920 themes, right? That's how you got to read John. 376 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:08,840 You have to have an intuition, a sense of what those themes are, 377 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:11,440 and then you realise what the point is as they're coming up 378 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,840 over and over again. So this issue of revisiting 379 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:15,760 Genesis 1 is one of those themes. 380 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:17,480 John is taking you behind the curtain. 381 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:22,680 That happens here in John 52. You get in John 516. 382 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:24,560 So Jesus is doing healing and miracles. 383 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:27,960 And they say because Jesus was doing these things on the 384 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,720 Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 385 00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:35,160 So in the synoptic gospels, the thing that gets Jesus crucified 386 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:37,920 is he challenges the Sadducees over their relationship to 387 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,200 money. In John's Gospel, the thing that 388 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:42,440 gets him crucified. This is a theme that from this 389 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:46,320 point continues on into John. The thing that really upset them 390 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:47,680 was that he was breaking the Sabbath. 391 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,720 And the implication of him breaking the Sabbath was that he 392 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:55,160 was equating himself with God. That's the issue in in John. 393 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:58,000 It's a different level that John is taking us to. 394 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:01,080 So this issue of the Sabbath is really important. 395 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:02,880 Why was it so important to the Jews? 396 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:06,200 Well, in the Jewish history, the Sabbath breaking was given as 397 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:07,800 the reason why they went into exile. 398 00:21:08,880 --> 00:21:11,440 Why did the why did the Jewish nation go into Babylon? 399 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,720 According to the story, it's because they did not keep the 400 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:15,200 Sabbath. Interesting. 401 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,120 This question of Sabbath keeping comes up again over and over in 402 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:21,560 the New Testament. Hebrews also touches on it. 403 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:25,720 It's super important, but look at what Jesus says verse 17 in 404 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,480 his defence, Jesus said to them, my Father is always at his work 405 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:33,440 to this very day and I too am working for this reason. 406 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:35,880 They tried to kill him. Not only was he breaking the 407 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,560 Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, making himself 408 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:43,320 equal with God. I don't know if you how weird 409 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,480 this is. So much of John's gospel is 410 00:21:45,480 --> 00:21:48,320 weird. When I say about water into wine 411 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,720 and the church trying to turn wine back into water, if we try 412 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:54,040 and make John's gospel less weird, we're turning the wine 413 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:56,520 back into water. It is weird. 414 00:21:56,760 --> 00:21:59,160 If anybody tells you this stuff is clear and makes sense, they 415 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:02,080 haven't understood it. It's not clear and it doesn't 416 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:03,840 make sense. It's not supposed to. 417 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:07,680 It's supposed to shock you out of the the, the natural mind 418 00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,600 which seeks to control. It's an environment by 419 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,480 understanding everything. If I get a yes and if I've got 420 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:18,440 an answer to know all 360 degree understanding of my environment, 421 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:21,200 I can control it, I can master it, I can be safe. 422 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,520 The gospel will not allow you to do that because it's blasting 423 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,920 you out of the natural minds tendency and need to control. 424 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:32,960 My good friend Paul Young often says the why question is almost 425 00:22:32,960 --> 00:22:34,960 always about control. Why did that happen? 426 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:36,920 God, why are you like this? God? 427 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,320 Why is it this way about control? 428 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:43,400 I'd feel unsafe with uncertainty. 429 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,400 I need certainty in order to get a handle and a control on my 430 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:49,240 environment, because then I will be competent and safe. 431 00:22:49,440 --> 00:22:51,480 The gospel is not going to allow you to do that. 432 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:54,880 So I don't want to make this try. 433 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:56,760 I don't want to turn this back into water. 434 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:01,520 It's supposed to be something that begins to work on you, and 435 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:03,080 we need to talk to Jesus about it. 436 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:06,440 It should form the basis of our prayer, basis of our communion 437 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:09,160 with one another and our life encounter. 438 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,080 We need to encounter the real Jesus, not a fake Jesus, not a 439 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:14,520 facsimile Jesus, not an outline of Jesus. 440 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,040 We need the real deal. I need the real deal. 441 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:20,880 Anyway, why does he say this stuff about the Sabbath? 442 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,200 Well, it's interesting. My father is always working. 443 00:23:25,360 --> 00:23:29,160 Well, back to Genesis 1. Genesis 1 says the Father is not 444 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,040 always working. You remember it says on the 6th 445 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,360 day he created man, and then on the 7th day God rested. 446 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:39,880 So what's going on here? Well, go, you can talk to Jesus 447 00:23:39,880 --> 00:23:41,720 about it. What's going on here? 448 00:23:41,720 --> 00:23:44,320 Jesus? Genesis once says the Father 449 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:46,520 stopped working, but you say the Father's always working. 450 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,760 You see how the you see how the Pharisees and the Jews might 451 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:56,560 have had a problem with Jesus? 19 Jesus said very truly, I tell 452 00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:58,240 you, the Son can do nothing by himself. 453 00:23:58,240 --> 00:23:59,880 He can only do what he sees the Father doing. 454 00:23:59,880 --> 00:24:01,840 Whatever the Father does, the Son does also. 455 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,960 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. 456 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:08,760 Why is he telling us this? Again, back to John 1 The in the 457 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,360 beginning was the Son face to face with the Father. 458 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:14,560 The whole point of this gospel is trying to reveal to us, Jesus 459 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:18,080 is showing us what is the life that he has with the Father from 460 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:20,560 all eternity past, because that's the life he's come to 461 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:22,720 bring to us. That's the life he's brought 462 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,200 into human flesh. It is. 463 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:27,920 He's transplanted it into the inside of us, Right? 464 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,440 The Father loves the Son, but then he says the Son can only do 465 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,720 what he sees the Father doing. Now, anyone who's still in this 466 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,320 penal substitution thing about Will, the Father is separated 467 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:39,080 from the Son on the cross. Nonsense. 468 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:41,440 Can't be the Son can only do what he sees the Father doing. 469 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:44,160 The Father and the Son cannot be doing two different things on 470 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:46,360 the cross because the Son can only do what he sees the Father 471 00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:50,720 doing. Simple Trinitarian orthodoxy one 472 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,160 O 1 right here. The Father is in the Son, and 473 00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:57,040 the Son only does what he sees the Father doing. 474 00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:03,360 Let's skip down. Just as the Father raises the 475 00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:06,560 dead and gives them life, Even so the Son gives life to whom he 476 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:10,440 is pleased to give it. Who are you pleased to give life 477 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:11,240 to? Jesus. 478 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,680 That's a good question. You should probably ask Jesus. 479 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,120 Who is it you are pleased to give life to? 480 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:21,160 Moreover, the Father judges no one but is entrusted all 481 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:23,200 judgement to the Son. If you think that the judgement 482 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:27,560 question is simple, the Father judges no one. 483 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:30,320 How like, how often have you had this image that God the Father 484 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,840 is like the judge on the throne and Jesus is kind of the defence 485 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:34,200 attorney between him and the Father. 486 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:38,360 Formal heresy, by the way, that's formal heresy. 487 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,000 The Father is not the judge on the throne. 488 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:47,040 He says he's entrusted all judgement to the Son, and it 489 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:52,040 says below, just as the Father has life in himself, so he is 490 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,120 granted the Son also to have life in himself. 491 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,040 And he's given authority to judge because he's the Son of 492 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,800 man. The fact that Jesus has the 493 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:03,920 authority to judge is because he's a human being. 494 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:08,040 Talk to him about that. What does that mean? 495 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:13,880 Jesus? If I test about testify about 496 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,400 myself, my testimony is true, but there is another who 497 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:20,640 testifies in my favour and I know that his testimony is true. 498 00:26:20,640 --> 00:26:22,000 He's talking about John the Baptist. 499 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,840 He says John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you 500 00:26:25,840 --> 00:26:29,000 chose for time to enjoy him. I have testimony weightier than 501 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,600 that of John for the works that the Father has given me to 502 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:33,680 finish. These very works I am doing 503 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:38,440 testify that the Father sent me. John came from God. 504 00:26:39,440 --> 00:26:41,000 The the John the Baptist came from God. 505 00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:42,960 He was sent from God to do something. 506 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,040 But Jesus is also from God, but in a different way. 507 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,280 He says my testimony is greater than the testimony of John 508 00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,880 because it is grounded in the eternal reality of the life I 509 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,840 have with the Father. John was sent out from the 510 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,240 presence of God, but he's still a creation, just like you and 511 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:02,040 me. Christ is not a creation. 512 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,760 That's why the Creed says he's the only begotten Son of the 513 00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:07,600 Father. It's begotten, not created. 514 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,080 We see that here in in the Gospel. 515 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:13,200 He's telling us what I've come to bring you. 516 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,320 Is not that the word of a messenger who's been tasked to 517 00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:19,760 give a message? What I've come to do is bring 518 00:27:19,760 --> 00:27:21,880 you the very life and reality of God. 519 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:25,440 I have come from the other side of the veil to your side. 520 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:29,520 When the veil is torn in 2, the crucifixion, it says it's torn 521 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,360 from top to bottom, not from bottom to top. 522 00:27:31,360 --> 00:27:33,040 Makes a point of saying top to bottom. 523 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:35,680 Why? Because it's showing us this is, 524 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:39,680 this is about the, the, the, the mystery that was hidden behind 525 00:27:39,680 --> 00:27:42,640 that veil has come out. It's not so that we can go in, 526 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,280 It's so that it can come out. This is also John 4, the water 527 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,200 of life coming up and out. Because in John and in most of 528 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:55,320 the New Testament, the physical body is the temple and the the 529 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,040 corporate body is the temple from which God proceeds. 530 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:03,640 Anyway, I'm down to my last couple of minutes, so let me, 531 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:10,520 let me land it. He says the Father sent me and 532 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:13,040 he has testified about me. You have never heard his voice 533 00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:16,200 or seen his form elsewhere. Jesus is going to say everyone 534 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:18,040 who came before me is a thief and a liar. 535 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:20,600 Do you believe Jesus when he says that? 536 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:25,120 Who came before me? Abraham, Moses, Elijah, 537 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,400 Jeremiah. And Jesus is willing to call 538 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:34,280 them thieves and liars, not expecting that Jesus don't try 539 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,160 and turn it into water. Drink it as wine. 540 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:41,280 See what it does. Right here's my my clincher for 541 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:42,880 you and why I was just talking about water into wine. 542 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:45,120 Verse 39. You study the scriptures 543 00:28:45,120 --> 00:28:47,360 diligently because you think that in them you have eternal 544 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:49,880 life. These are the very scriptures 545 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,640 that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have 546 00:28:52,640 --> 00:28:57,320 life. How much of modern church, 547 00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:01,120 contemporary Bible scholarship ministry does exactly the same 548 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,800 thing that Jesus is critiquing right here in this chapter? 549 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:06,840 You study the Scriptures because you think in the Scriptures you 550 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,640 have life. No, you don't. 551 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,200 The scriptures testify about me and in me you have life. 552 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:15,960 That's different. It's not Father, Son and Holy 553 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,720 Bible. The Bible is holy, but it's holy 554 00:29:19,880 --> 00:29:24,520 because it draws out within us and connects us with the 555 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,800 testimony of who Jesus is. And it's in him that we have 556 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:33,280 life, so we don't want to stop at the door, AW Tosa said. 557 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:37,000 The Bible is a book full of doorways and what most 558 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,520 Christianity does is stand there admiring the doorway and 559 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:43,000 discussing the doorway and what colour is the doorway and what 560 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:46,120 material is it made out of. And you know, is it, should it 561 00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:49,920 be this doorway or that doorway? And he said the purpose of a 562 00:29:49,920 --> 00:29:52,840 doorway is that you go through the doorway into an experience. 563 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:56,240 Tosa said we need to stop teaching and start testifying. 564 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,560 And he was talking about the Bible, said we need we need 565 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,760 people who can speak out of their experience of having 566 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:05,680 walked through the doorways of the Scripture, not those who are 567 00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:08,760 teaching an an academic, intellectual or theological 568 00:30:08,960 --> 00:30:10,720 idea. As correct as it might be, it 569 00:30:10,720 --> 00:30:13,880 will not bring life. We're supposed to walk through 570 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:23,840 into life. Lastly, verse 45, having said 571 00:30:23,840 --> 00:30:27,040 I'm the judge, he then says, don't think that I will accuse 572 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:31,160 you before the Father. All right, How does this work 573 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:32,920 out? So you've told me that you're 574 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,000 the judge, you have the power to judge everyone. 575 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:37,720 And then you said I won't accuse you before the Father. 576 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,400 He says your accuser is Moses, in whom your hopes are set. 577 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:44,200 If you believed Moses, you'd believe me. 578 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:46,560 But since you don't believe what he wrote, how are you going to 579 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:48,520 believe what I say? Isn't Moses the one who said 580 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:55,000 that God rested on the 7th day? Traditionally, if you're not 581 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:57,560 confused by this yet, you haven't understand the 582 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,320 implications. He is like slapping them around 583 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,760 with the salmon, you know, like kind of salmon fish and they're, 584 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,040 they're dizzy. It's like knocking them 585 00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:09,160 sideways. Well, what, what, what else do 586 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:10,600 you think? It's like if you're going from a 587 00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,560 A2 dimensional view of the world to a three-dimensional one, 588 00:31:13,560 --> 00:31:15,480 that's going to feel a little bit disorienting. 589 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,520 If the Christian gospel is not disorienting, it's probably not. 590 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:22,040 You're probably not connecting with it, right? 591 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:23,360 We're probably not connecting with it. 592 00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,920 It's extremely disorienting. We go from 2 dimensions to 3 593 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:29,320 dimensions. How dizzy does that make you 594 00:31:29,320 --> 00:31:34,520 feel? This whole business continues 595 00:31:34,520 --> 00:31:37,600 throughout. John about Moses says this. 596 00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:43,280 Moses says this, but I say this and it it's connected with the 597 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:45,160 concept of law. It's connected with the concept 598 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,440 of Sabbath all the way through. He's trying to break us out of 599 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,960 this mentality that is locked in to this old dysfunctional 600 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:55,320 pattern and way of thinking so that we can actually experience 601 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:57,560 the life of God. He's constantly spinning us 602 00:31:57,560 --> 00:32:00,560 around so that we that centrifugal force of being spun 603 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:05,920 around causes us to shed the false armour of Saul that 604 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:08,880 liberates and breaks us out into our true identity. 605 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:11,520 It's not something that's imposed from the top. 606 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,920 It's something that spins from the from within and it bursts 607 00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,640 and breaks everything open. That's the image from the inside 608 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:21,680 to the out. That's the message of John. 609 00:32:21,680 --> 00:32:24,360 That's what Jesus is doing here. I'm going to pray. 610 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,080 The guys are going to do some leading. 611 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:34,120 I think that's what Alice said. Jesus, thank you that you are 612 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:35,920 the new wine. Thank you that your words are 613 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,920 spirit and life. Thank you that we have all this 614 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:41,280 wonderful scholarship that educates the mind. 615 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:45,000 But, and if you can agree with me on this one, then you, you 616 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:49,960 agree with the Holy Spirit. But today we want to agree with 617 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:53,720 you and dethrone the natural mind as the leading part of our 618 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,600 life and give permission to our hearts and to the Holy Spirit to 619 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:02,000 meet us, encounter us and transform us from the inside 620 00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:03,840 out. Thank you, Holy Spirit, you've 621 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,040 come to do that. We don't have to do it, but you 622 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,200 do. We give you permission and then. 623 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:23,280 Yeah, so Paul was saying that God is love, and he's really 624 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:26,040 kind to each one of us. Olivia had a picture at the 625 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:30,040 beginning of Jesus knowing exactly what each one of us 626 00:33:30,040 --> 00:33:33,360 needs. He knows how to take care of us. 627 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:37,240 So as we're going to worship now, we can come to Jesus and 628 00:33:37,320 --> 00:33:41,600 ask him to give us what we need, the revelation we need, the 629 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:45,400 insight into him being loved that we need, the fact that he 630 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:47,880 doesn't accuse us before the Father, the fact that the 631 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:52,080 Father's handed judgement over any anything that that Paul was 632 00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:56,160 bringing just now. Ask Jesus to give us what we 633 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:59,600 need. And part of surrendering control 634 00:34:00,160 --> 00:34:02,600 is trusting everything else to God. 635 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:06,600 He's interested in meeting our needs, giving us today Our Daily 636 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:11,760 Bread and, and he can take, He's got the shoulders to carry 637 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:14,440 anything else and everything else. 638 00:34:15,159 --> 00:34:24,040 So I'm going to invite the Holy Spirit now to reveal to us how 639 00:34:24,199 --> 00:34:27,520 Jesus is meeting our specific need. 640 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,400 Come Holy Spirit, we we know you're in us. 641 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,920 We know you're always with us, but we also know that you love 642 00:34:33,920 --> 00:34:37,280 us to welcome you and say we partner with you. 643 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:42,880 And so I ask that we we get revelation of the specific needs 644 00:34:42,880 --> 00:34:47,800 we have Jesus that you want to meet as we worship now. 645 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:51,239 And I pray if we need to reach out to someone and pray with 646 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:55,440 them and ask for help or or give help to someone else, that we do 647 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,360 that as well. Because you, you break the 648 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,680 broken bread is a community formation. 649 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:04,000 This isn't an individualistic walk. 650 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:09,080 It's a community walk. You give us as a community our 651 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,680 needs. So I bless us to have our needs 652 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:14,960 met. The need that you want to meet 653 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,880 today, may you meet it in our response now. 654 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:21,040 Amen.