WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:03.528 What a blessing to be here all morning with FCC. 00:00:03.528 --> 00:00:04.631 Good morning, how are we doing? 00:00:04.631 --> 00:00:22.852 Okay, man, I'm just excited because I have been watching the FCC story for the last six years, since Pastor Nate came from a distance, following you guys online and watching what God has been doing here in Sassoon to see you guys make Jesus known to this community. 00:00:22.852 --> 00:00:34.841 It's just been so cool to watch from a distance, and now to be able to be here in person today has been a true blessing, and so I'm grateful to be in the house with you, and I thought I would take a moment to embarrass your pastor a little bit. 00:00:34.841 --> 00:00:36.085 Is that okay if I do that? 00:00:36.085 --> 00:00:40.444 So I'll have some pictures that I wanted to show you of our time in the 2000s. 00:00:40.444 --> 00:00:45.753 This first picture is when we were graduating college together from the same school. 00:00:45.753 --> 00:00:52.082 This is a little bit less hair on the lip and a little less muscles on the body, I think, probably at this point. 00:00:52.082 --> 00:00:57.801 So Nate has been an incredible friend for me and for my wife and for our family. 00:00:57.801 --> 00:01:03.222 He was the best man at my wedding, which is the other picture that I wanted to show you. 00:01:03.222 --> 00:01:12.760 This is me and Nate on my wedding day for almost 14 years ago hard to believe and we were just kids back then but so grateful for his friendship. 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:24.489 And Nate is truly one of those friends that is so impactful and helpful for me in my life and I'm blessed and honored to call him a friend and I just I hope you guys know that you have one of the best pastors in the country right here in Nate Stone Street. 00:01:24.489 --> 00:01:24.634 So, man, what a friend. 00:01:24.634 --> 00:01:27.629 And I just, I hope you guys know that you have one of the best pastors in the country right here in Nate Stone Street. 00:01:27.629 --> 00:01:29.510 So, man, what a blessing. 00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:46.170 So, as Nate mentioned, along with my family and a team of people who are coming along with us, we're beginning the preparation to launch Odyssey Church, and so we've got a picture of our team that's starting to form and starting to come together. 00:01:46.170 --> 00:01:54.912 This is actually a couple of months ago and we have a number of other people already who've been joining us and coming alongside to be a part of the launch team. 00:01:54.912 --> 00:01:58.326 How many of you know and believe in a God who does new things? 00:01:58.326 --> 00:02:39.842 Amen, and I'm grateful for a God who wants to do a new thing and start a new church in the Seattle area and, as Nate mentioned, seattle is a city that needs churches and there's not a lot of people who believe in God yet, and so we're believing that God will do an incredible miracle in the city and in people's hearts and lives, and so I would encourage you, I'd love for you, to pray along with us and be supportive of us as we seek to see what God is doing here up there with our folks and our community, and so you can follow along, if you'd like, and learn more about what we're doing at odysseychurch, or you can follow us on Instagram or Facebook. 00:02:39.842 --> 00:02:41.686 Odysseychurch Again, odysseychurch. 00:02:41.686 --> 00:02:48.173 We'd love for you to follow along and be praying with us in support as we seek to start this new church, this new community. 00:02:48.293 --> 00:02:56.263 So today, if you have a Bible, we're going to be in John, chapter 1. 00:02:56.263 --> 00:03:13.556 We've been in a series here at FCC over the last couple of weeks called the Great Reveal, and we've been looking at John and his gospel and how he is slowly revealing who Jesus is, and over the course of these stories and writings, he's really trying to help us see this person named Jesus and who he is. 00:03:13.556 --> 00:03:18.129 And so John, chapter one John is one of the gospels, the first four books of the New Testament. 00:03:18.129 --> 00:03:23.512 So if you're new to scripture or new to the Bible, matthew, mark, luke and John were in the first chapter. 00:03:23.512 --> 00:03:25.387 Here the big numbers are chapters, the small numbers are verses. 00:03:25.387 --> 00:03:25.455 And John we're in the first chapter. 00:03:25.455 --> 00:03:27.693 Here the big numbers are chapters, the small numbers are verses. 00:03:27.693 --> 00:03:32.337 And we're going to be in verse 37 in just a moment. 00:03:32.457 --> 00:03:34.264 But how many of you like coffee? 00:03:35.205 --> 00:03:37.632 Anybody like coffee, maybe you've had some already this morning. 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:39.604 I will say I have not had enough. 00:03:39.784 --> 00:03:40.987 Okay, how many of you are like me? 00:03:41.028 --> 00:03:42.920 You have not had enough of coffee this morning. 00:03:42.981 --> 00:03:45.325 Okay, but I love coffee. 00:03:45.325 --> 00:03:47.891 I think, being from Seattle, you kind of have to. 00:03:47.891 --> 00:03:57.329 It's almost kind of like understood, like, if you're going to be in Seattle, you got to drink coffee, and I don't know about you, but I have had my fair share of good and bad coffee. 00:03:57.329 --> 00:03:58.129 You know what I mean. 00:03:58.129 --> 00:04:04.409 You have really good sometimes and then other times you don't have good coffee, and there is a difference. 00:04:04.409 --> 00:04:06.615 There are some people that believe that there isn't a difference. 00:04:06.615 --> 00:04:09.842 But there is a difference between good and bad coffee. 00:04:09.883 --> 00:04:16.105 But if you're anything like me, when I go to a new city or a new place I want to try to find the best coffee I can. 00:04:16.105 --> 00:04:19.112 Right, nate took me to Davis yesterday. 00:04:19.112 --> 00:04:25.612 We went up to hang out there and took me to Temple Coffee, okay, which was okay, it was pretty good, right. 00:04:25.612 --> 00:04:31.963 But anytime I go to a new place I want to find the best coffee I can, because I just love a good coffee shop and I love a good cup of coffee. 00:04:31.963 --> 00:05:12.273 My wife and I recently, earlier this month, we were in San Diego for a few days and so we're on the search for good coffee in San Diego and we encountered some bad coffee for the first few times we tried, and then we stumbled upon a place in downtown San Diego called Gold Child, and you know, a coffee shop is good when you walk in and you're like, okay, I think this is going to be it right, like you can just tell from the decor and the furniture and the equipment that they have like okay, I think we found a good spot here and sure enough, it was an incredible cup of coffee and a great experience and all of those things that you want to experience and enjoy as you're drinking a coffee. 00:05:13.000 --> 00:05:16.793 And in San Diego it's warm, I'm drinking iced coffee. 00:05:16.793 --> 00:05:27.497 In Seattle I drink it hot, but normally, when I go somewhere where it's sunny, I drink it cold, and so I got an iced latte, and how many of you know, an iced latte usually comes with like half a cup or three quarters of a cup of ice. 00:05:27.497 --> 00:05:28.701 You know what I'm talking about. 00:05:28.701 --> 00:05:31.367 It's like hardly any coffee, it's mostly just water. 00:05:31.367 --> 00:05:35.401 And so I ordered an iced latte and you know what? 00:05:35.401 --> 00:05:37.824 They gave it to me without any ice. 00:05:37.824 --> 00:05:39.206 I was like wait what? 00:05:39.206 --> 00:05:44.012 But they put this iced latte in a chilled glass. 00:05:44.012 --> 00:05:48.002 Man, I'm telling you that was the best iced latte I've ever had. 00:05:48.002 --> 00:05:50.569 It was incredible and the experience was incredible. 00:05:50.668 --> 00:05:57.420 Here's what I'm trying to go with this how many of you have experiences like that, maybe at a restaurant or a coffee shop or an event somewhere? 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:01.490 And what do we do when we have a good experience somewhere? 00:06:01.490 --> 00:06:03.060 What do we typically want to do? 00:06:03.060 --> 00:06:07.829 We want to tell other people about it, right, like we want to leave a review. 00:06:07.829 --> 00:06:09.653 We want to shout them out on social media. 00:06:09.653 --> 00:06:11.343 We want to tell our friends about it. 00:06:11.343 --> 00:06:11.543 Why? 00:06:11.543 --> 00:06:15.812 Because that experience was too great to keep to ourselves. 00:06:15.812 --> 00:06:24.548 We want to share it with other people, and we want other people to know how great of an experience we had, so that they can also have that same experience. 00:06:24.889 --> 00:06:28.165 And I think that's what John is trying to do here in his gospel. 00:06:28.165 --> 00:06:35.706 He's trying to help us see that experiencing Jesus is something that everybody should know about. 00:06:35.706 --> 00:06:41.442 Everybody ought to be able to experience who Jesus is. 00:06:41.442 --> 00:06:45.230 So the question we're trying to answer today is this who is Jesus? 00:06:45.230 --> 00:06:47.112 Who is Jesus? 00:06:47.112 --> 00:06:54.882 And we're going to look here in John 1 to see if we can understand, or begin to understand, who Jesus claimed to be. 00:06:54.944 --> 00:07:02.389 So two of John the Baptist's followers and Pastor Nate preached this last week about John the Baptist and his review of Jesus was look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:07:02.389 --> 00:07:05.620 And so after John the Baptist says that of Jesus was look the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 00:07:05.620 --> 00:07:14.807 And so after John the Baptist says that, two of his followers say you know what, we're going to go check this out and see if what John's talking about is true. 00:07:14.807 --> 00:07:17.033 And so they begin to follow Jesus. 00:07:17.033 --> 00:07:22.928 And so John 1, verse 37, the two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 00:07:22.928 --> 00:07:29.572 When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them what are y'all looking for, right? 00:07:29.572 --> 00:07:31.620 It's like, hey, who are these guys and what are y'all about? 00:07:31.620 --> 00:07:32.983 What are you guys looking for? 00:07:32.983 --> 00:07:38.202 And they said to him rabbi, which means teacher, where are you staying? 00:07:38.202 --> 00:07:40.547 And I love what Jesus says. 00:07:40.547 --> 00:07:45.475 He says, come and you'll see, come and you'll see. 00:07:45.475 --> 00:07:48.161 And so they went and saw where he was staying and they stayed with him. 00:07:48.161 --> 00:07:50.848 That day it was about four in the afternoon. 00:07:51.149 --> 00:07:56.208 Andrew, simon, peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. 00:07:56.208 --> 00:08:01.273 And I love this about Andrew, because Andrew is not a very well-known character in the Bible. 00:08:01.273 --> 00:08:05.487 You know, peter is like the guy who gets all the credit, but it's okay to be Andrew. 00:08:05.487 --> 00:08:14.531 It's okay to be the guy that told your brother about who Jesus was, and now your brother gets all the credit, but it's okay to be the person to bring him to Jesus. 00:08:14.531 --> 00:08:21.314 Right, and so he first found his brother, told him we found the Messiah, and he brought Simon to Jesus. 00:08:21.314 --> 00:08:27.232 And so here's what happens An investigation is being conducted, an investigation is happening this morning. 00:08:27.252 --> 00:08:43.865 Here's what I want you to see In this investigation they're trying to find out who is Jesus, and so an investigation is conducted and these two guys go and follow Jesus and they begin to understand who he is, and the first way that they begin to understand who Jesus is is he is the anointed one. 00:08:43.865 --> 00:08:47.528 That they begin to understand who Jesus is is he is the anointed one. 00:08:47.528 --> 00:08:48.230 Jesus is the anointed one. 00:08:48.230 --> 00:08:52.453 That is what the word Messiah means In our Bible. 00:08:52.453 --> 00:09:01.903 It's Messiah and then translated as the Christ, but it literally means the anointed one. 00:09:01.903 --> 00:09:09.971 And in the Old Testament, prophets and kings would be anointed with oil as a way to signify and to separate them from other people as having divinely ordained gifts and responsibilities. 00:09:09.971 --> 00:09:13.840 But those people were just a foreshadowing. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:30.525 They were just a glimpse as to who the Messiah that ultimately would come to be, that anointed one who is going to come and preach God's word and proclaim the good news of the kingdom and set up God's kingdom on earth. 00:09:30.525 --> 00:09:45.691 And so the first century Jews they were anticipating and waiting for this Christ, this Messiah, to come, who is going to rule and set up a kingdom and overthrow the Romans and make Israel a great nation again. 00:09:45.691 --> 00:09:53.533 And I think they were looking for the Messiah, but they were looking for the wrong kind of Messiah. 00:09:53.533 --> 00:09:57.591 They wanted someone who was going to solve their problems. 00:09:57.591 --> 00:10:08.701 They wanted someone who was going to make them what they once were, again going to make them what they once were again. 00:10:08.721 --> 00:10:11.326 And so often, I think, in our lives, we're looking for that same kind of Messiah. 00:10:11.326 --> 00:10:18.726 We're looking for a Jesus that solves our problems, or a Jesus that works for us or does what we want him to do. 00:10:18.726 --> 00:10:24.528 And when Jesus doesn't do what we want him to do, then he must not be the Jesus that we thought he was. 00:10:24.528 --> 00:10:31.803 Isn't that how we typically go through life? 00:10:31.803 --> 00:10:42.594 We think Jesus is what we want him to be, or we thought he was going to be this, or he was going to do that, or he was going to answer this prayer or show up in this way, and when he doesn't, we begin to question who is Jesus? 00:10:42.594 --> 00:10:45.688 Who is he supposed to be for us and for our life? 00:10:45.688 --> 00:11:01.705 And instead of conforming our lives to Christ, we attempt to conform Christ to our life, and that's when we begin to miss who Jesus is, because he hasn't done what we wanted him to do or what we thought he would do. 00:11:01.705 --> 00:11:07.744 And so we begin to miss out on who Jesus is, because Jesus is the one who brings life. 00:11:07.744 --> 00:11:18.849 He's the one who brings us from death to life, from darkness to light, and I wanted to share a quick story, as a way to illustrate this, of how people in the first century maybe, were missing who Jesus was. 00:11:18.889 --> 00:11:26.611 So later in John's gospel, in chapter 11, is a story of where Jesus is encountering a family who's lost a loved one. 00:11:26.611 --> 00:11:31.283 A loved one has died and he begins to interact with this lady named Martha. 00:11:31.283 --> 00:11:33.907 In John 11, verse 21,. 00:11:33.907 --> 00:11:42.125 It says this and then Martha said to Jesus Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died. 00:11:42.125 --> 00:11:45.376 Isn't that so often how we are too with Jesus? 00:11:45.376 --> 00:11:50.288 It's like Jesus, if you would have done what I wanted you to do, this wouldn't have happened. 00:11:50.288 --> 00:11:55.908 And Martha says to Jesus Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. 00:11:55.908 --> 00:12:00.868 And yet even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, god will give you. 00:12:00.888 --> 00:12:05.909 I think she's trying to convince herself that it's going to be okay and that Jesus is going to figure this thing out right. 00:12:05.909 --> 00:12:07.260 But she's not quite sure. 00:12:07.260 --> 00:12:11.548 And Jesus says to her your brother will rise again. 00:12:11.548 --> 00:12:18.870 And she responds and says I know that he will rise in the last day at the resurrection. 00:12:18.870 --> 00:12:20.984 I know that that's what's going to happen. 00:12:20.984 --> 00:12:23.631 She's still kind of struggling with that doubt of like. 00:12:23.631 --> 00:12:26.005 Is Jesus going to do something here? 00:12:26.366 --> 00:12:28.312 Notice what it goes on to say in verse 25. 00:12:28.312 --> 00:12:33.388 Jesus said to her I am the resurrection and the life. 00:12:33.388 --> 00:12:38.086 The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 00:12:38.086 --> 00:12:40.923 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. 00:12:40.923 --> 00:12:42.067 Do you believe this, martha? 00:12:42.067 --> 00:12:44.000 Do you believe the truth about who I am? 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:44.741 Look what it says. 00:12:44.741 --> 00:12:50.953 She says yes, lord, I believe you are the Messiah, the anointed one. 00:12:50.953 --> 00:12:53.945 You see, the Messiah brings life. 00:12:53.945 --> 00:13:02.187 We think the Messiah is going to bring us deliverance, or rescue, or restoration from what we want him to do. 00:13:02.187 --> 00:13:16.807 But ultimately, the reason Jesus came, the reason the Messiah showed up, was to rescue us from sin and death, to give us life with him, so that, even if we die, we will live. 00:13:16.807 --> 00:13:18.227 So who is Jesus? 00:13:18.227 --> 00:13:19.448 He is the anointed one. 00:13:19.448 --> 00:13:21.009 He brings life. 00:13:21.009 --> 00:13:24.613 Not only is Jesus the anointed one, but he is the prophesied one. 00:13:24.613 --> 00:13:32.258 He's the one that has been talked about and written about and prophesied about for centuries in the Old Testament. 00:13:32.258 --> 00:13:40.364 Look at verse 43 of John, chapter 1, with me. 00:13:40.384 --> 00:13:41.586 The next day, jesus decided to leave for Galilee. 00:13:41.586 --> 00:13:42.688 He found Philip and told him follow me Now. 00:13:42.688 --> 00:13:55.251 Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter Philip found Nathanael and told him we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and so did the prophets Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth. 00:13:55.251 --> 00:14:02.857 So here he says listen, we've found the one who the scriptures have been telling us about For hundreds of years. 00:14:02.918 --> 00:14:10.201 The Jewish people would have read and known, and even memorized the Old Testament scriptures, and known that this person was to come. 00:14:10.201 --> 00:14:15.821 This promised person was to come and rescue them, and so they would have known these prophecies. 00:14:15.821 --> 00:14:20.432 They would have known about who this person was and they were expecting him to come and rescue them, and so they would have known these prophecies. 00:14:20.432 --> 00:14:22.437 They would have known about who this person was, and they were expecting him to come in a palace. 00:14:22.437 --> 00:14:24.542 They were expecting him to be the son of a king. 00:14:24.542 --> 00:14:35.908 They were expecting him to show up in a grand sort of way, and they missed Jesus because they didn't anticipate the way he would come. 00:14:35.908 --> 00:14:41.535 You see, they wanted a Messiah who would have come as a king, not as a carpenter. 00:14:41.535 --> 00:14:56.888 They were looking for someone who was going to come in great pomp and circumstance, and yet Jesus came in humility, as a suffering servant, proclaiming and preaching a counter-cultural way of life. 00:14:56.888 --> 00:15:03.953 And it's safe to say that Jesus fulfilled hundreds of specific prophecies in the Old Testament. 00:15:03.953 --> 00:15:12.081 Now, mathematically, it's pretty incredible to think about the chances of someone fulfilling even one prophecy that's over 100 years old. 00:15:12.081 --> 00:15:17.711 But Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies from the Old Testament. 00:15:17.711 --> 00:15:19.701 He is the one that was being written about. 00:15:19.701 --> 00:15:30.653 He was the one that was being talked about as the one who was to come and save the people, and yet they missed it because they were looking for the wrong Messiah. 00:15:30.653 --> 00:15:33.647 They were looking for the wrong Jesus. 00:15:33.647 --> 00:15:38.298 He didn't fit the framework for the one that they had in mind. 00:15:38.339 --> 00:15:45.081 And I think so often today, you and I, if you're anything like me we're expecting salvation in a certain sort of way, aren't we? 00:15:45.081 --> 00:15:55.331 We're expecting our situation, our circumstances, our challenges, our problems to be handled and answered and taken care of in a specific way. 00:15:55.331 --> 00:15:58.743 And yet, handled and answered and taken care of in a specific way. 00:15:58.743 --> 00:16:01.126 And yet I think so often we're looking for hope in all of the wrong places. 00:16:01.126 --> 00:16:07.149 This is why we start a church in Seattle is because people are coming to Seattle looking for hope. 00:16:07.149 --> 00:16:17.491 They're looking for a job or a career or an education or a better life for their family, and yet they're missing the real person who can give them hope. 00:16:17.491 --> 00:16:25.750 You see, hope is not found in a job or a person, or a political party, or a bonus or a salary. 00:16:25.750 --> 00:16:33.748 Those things are all temporary, they'll fade, they'll go away, they won't last. 00:16:33.748 --> 00:16:37.014 And yet Jesus is the one who satisfies. 00:16:37.014 --> 00:16:39.344 They'll go away, they won't last. 00:16:39.344 --> 00:16:40.168 And yet Jesus is the one who satisfies. 00:16:40.168 --> 00:16:40.951 He is the one that will never fade. 00:16:40.951 --> 00:16:42.197 He was the one that is the same yesterday, today and forever. 00:16:42.197 --> 00:16:44.123 He will never leave us or forsake us. 00:16:44.123 --> 00:16:46.649 He is the firm foundation that we plant our feet on. 00:16:46.649 --> 00:16:54.490 He is the rock on which we stand, because he is the one who has been prophesied to come and give us hope. 00:16:54.490 --> 00:17:02.947 So, as this investigation continues, they begin to see Jesus as the anointed one, as the prophesied one, and then as God's only son. 00:17:02.947 --> 00:17:06.193 They see Jesus as the son of God. 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:08.144 Look what it says in verse 47. 00:17:08.144 --> 00:17:16.568 Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit. 00:17:16.568 --> 00:17:18.883 Nathanael says how do you know me? 00:17:18.883 --> 00:17:21.794 And Jesus says before Philip called you. 00:17:21.794 --> 00:17:26.025 When you were under the fig tree, I saw you, rabbi. 00:17:26.025 --> 00:17:30.673 Nathanael replied you are the son of God, you are the king of Israel. 00:17:30.673 --> 00:17:37.794 All it took was for him to recognize the power of Jesus in that moment to say you are the Son of God. 00:17:38.059 --> 00:17:45.473 Now, in this culture, in this day, saying someone was the Son of God was saying essentially that they were God. 00:17:45.473 --> 00:17:51.232 The Son and the Father have the same rights and the same responsibilities and the same ownership. 00:17:51.232 --> 00:17:56.451 The heir of the estate has the same privileges in this culture. 00:17:56.451 --> 00:18:00.243 The heir of the estate has the same privileges in this culture. 00:18:00.243 --> 00:18:03.169 And so when he says you are the son of God, he's literally declaring and claiming that Jesus is God. 00:18:03.169 --> 00:18:17.633 Just as John wrote earlier in this chapter that the word was with God, the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, nathaniel is recognizing that Jesus is God's only son. 00:18:17.633 --> 00:18:20.336 He is God in the flesh. 00:18:22.059 --> 00:18:30.106 John continues in chapter 3 with this very famous verse that probably all of us are familiar with, and that is John 3.16. 00:18:30.106 --> 00:18:33.645 He says For God loved the world in this way. 00:18:33.645 --> 00:18:41.023 He gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 00:18:41.023 --> 00:18:47.306 For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 00:18:47.306 --> 00:18:48.868 This is why Jesus came. 00:18:48.868 --> 00:18:57.355 He came as God's only son, as God in the flesh, so that we can have a relationship with God once again. 00:18:58.397 --> 00:19:03.529 And so maybe you're here today and you're on, maybe, your own investigation of figuring out who Jesus is. 00:19:03.529 --> 00:19:10.068 Maybe you've been invited here by a friend, or maybe you've just Googled churches or you're trying to figure out what this whole Christianity thing is about. 00:19:10.068 --> 00:19:28.450 And I just want to say, like we're not going to be able to answer all of your questions today, but we invite you to continue your investigation, continue learning and understanding who Jesus is and who he claimed to be, who his followers wrote about him and what they claimed that he was. 00:19:28.450 --> 00:19:33.244 He is more than just a prophet or a good teacher or a miracle worker. 00:19:33.244 --> 00:19:42.242 He is God, the Messiah, the one who is to come, the one who brings hope and life and purpose. 00:19:42.242 --> 00:19:46.152 But not only in this passage is there an investigation conducted. 00:19:46.152 --> 00:19:48.825 There's an invitation communicated as well. 00:19:48.825 --> 00:19:57.116 There's an invitation that's communicated here to those that are beginning to follow Jesus and beginning to see what he is all about. 00:19:57.116 --> 00:20:06.585 Not only does Jesus invite us to follow him, but he gives us an example of how we're to invite others to also come along and follow Jesus as well. 00:20:06.664 --> 00:20:08.670 So look at verse 37 with me again. 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:11.201 It says the disciples heard him, they followed him. 00:20:11.201 --> 00:20:14.990 Jesus, he turned and he says to them what are you looking for? 00:20:14.990 --> 00:20:16.480 They said where are you staying? 00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:17.965 They said where are you living? 00:20:17.965 --> 00:20:18.788 Where are you eating today? 00:20:18.788 --> 00:20:20.366 Because we want to figure out more about you. 00:20:20.366 --> 00:20:22.406 And here's what Jesus says in verse 39. 00:20:22.406 --> 00:20:25.529 He says come and you'll see. 00:20:26.299 --> 00:20:29.530 This invitation communicated is an invitation to come and experience. 00:20:29.530 --> 00:20:33.686 Come and see who I am, come and see who Jesus is. 00:20:33.686 --> 00:20:41.690 This is more than just an academic understanding, more than an intellectual ascent, more than just a mental understanding of who Jesus is. 00:20:41.690 --> 00:20:44.125 This is an experiential thing. 00:20:44.125 --> 00:20:51.467 This is like hey, come and experience, come and live with me, come and abide with me is what John says in John 15. 00:20:51.467 --> 00:20:53.952 He says Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. 00:20:53.952 --> 00:20:55.864 We are to abide with him, we are to remain with him. 00:20:55.864 --> 00:21:07.780 And so the invitation from Jesus is not for you to just understand something here, but to experience something holistically, with everything we are, with our mind, will and emotions. 00:21:07.780 --> 00:21:23.285 We're to come to Jesus and experience who he is, because he is the one who brings life, who brings life and purpose to our individual heart and soul. 00:21:23.285 --> 00:21:23.747 So God is a caring God. 00:21:23.747 --> 00:21:24.631 He is an understanding and relational God. 00:21:24.631 --> 00:21:25.895 He desires to have a relationship with you. 00:21:25.895 --> 00:21:32.901 He desires to eat with you, to live with you, to walk with you through whatever it is that's occurring in your life. 00:21:32.901 --> 00:21:39.032 That is, the invitation from Jesus is to come and experience who he is. 00:21:39.032 --> 00:21:44.588 You see, jesus is so much better than anything or anyone the world can offer. 00:21:44.588 --> 00:21:48.035 Jesus is better. 00:21:48.035 --> 00:21:50.722 He is the one that satisfies. 00:21:50.722 --> 00:21:55.490 It's not that money or power or authority or influence that you might have. 00:21:55.490 --> 00:21:58.414 Those things will fade and fall away. 00:21:58.414 --> 00:22:02.849 It's not a relationship or a possession or a promise or success. 00:22:02.849 --> 00:22:04.381 All of those things are temporary. 00:22:04.381 --> 00:22:16.449 What stays the same, what remains forever, is that relationship that we can have with a God who loves us and wants to be with us. 00:22:16.449 --> 00:22:22.223 So this invitation from Jesus is an invitation to come and see, come and experience. 00:22:22.223 --> 00:22:29.425 But it's also an invitation to belong before belief, to belong before you believe. 00:22:30.027 --> 00:22:31.390 I love this part of the story. 00:22:31.390 --> 00:22:32.840 It's probably my favorite part of this story. 00:22:32.840 --> 00:22:34.364 Look at verse 45. 00:22:34.364 --> 00:22:44.542 So Philip finds Nathanael and tells him hey, we've found the one Moses wrote about in the law and the prophets Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth. 00:22:44.542 --> 00:22:47.172 Now, nathanael was a good Jewish boy. 00:22:47.172 --> 00:22:51.082 He knew the prophecy, he knew that Messiah wasn't supposed to come from Nazareth. 00:22:51.082 --> 00:22:59.922 Here's his response like very honest, a very honest guy, he says this in verse 46, can anything good come out of Nazareth? 00:22:59.922 --> 00:23:08.234 Like maybe you've been there with Nathaniel, you're like bro, you lost me at Nazareth man, like I was with you, I was tracking, like this Jesus guy sounded good. 00:23:08.234 --> 00:23:15.830 And then you said Nazareth, and I'm just like out, right, like that's not, that's not true, right, there's nothing good that comes from Nazareth. 00:23:16.231 --> 00:23:18.214 And here's what Philip does. 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:21.207 Philip answers him come and see. 00:23:22.652 --> 00:23:23.173 Come and see. 00:23:23.173 --> 00:23:26.505 He says listen, you can belong before you believe. 00:23:26.505 --> 00:23:28.590 You may not fully understand it right now. 00:23:28.590 --> 00:23:30.576 You may not fully believe it right now. 00:23:30.576 --> 00:23:32.790 You may not understand who Jesus is, but you know what. 00:23:32.790 --> 00:23:35.458 You can still belong here before you believe. 00:23:35.458 --> 00:23:36.942 Here's what I know about FCC. 00:23:36.942 --> 00:23:39.441 This is a church where people can belong before they believe. 00:23:39.441 --> 00:23:48.359 They can come with their questions, they can come with their doubts, they can come with their skepticism and still belong here before they have to believe fully in Jesus. 00:23:48.359 --> 00:23:50.342 And that's the way that it should be. 00:23:50.342 --> 00:24:04.423 We should make room for people, make space for people to come and ask questions and try to understand more about who Jesus is and find belonging, find connection, find community, before maybe they step into fully following Jesus. 00:24:04.423 --> 00:24:07.480 That's what Philip did for Nathaniel. 00:24:07.480 --> 00:24:11.755 So my question for you today is simple Are we making room for people? 00:24:11.755 --> 00:24:17.313 Are we allowing people to belong with us before they believe what we believe? 00:24:17.313 --> 00:24:34.171 That is the beautiful thing about Christianity, because I know, and I'm sure you know, that it's oftentimes not the first time someone hears about Jesus that they believe in him, is it? 00:24:34.171 --> 00:24:43.644 It takes time, it takes intentionality, it takes conversation, it takes connection and relationship for someone to come and ultimately believe in who Jesus is, and so we want to create spaces where people can belong with us before they have to believe what we believe. 00:24:45.429 --> 00:24:58.965 Not only is this invitation from Jesus said belong before belief, but it's also an invitation to watch miracles happen, to watch God do and perform miracles. 00:24:58.965 --> 00:25:04.834 I love the testimony that Mason shared earlier during worship of a young man who came to know and follow Jesus at a camp. 00:25:04.834 --> 00:25:18.355 Like that is literally watching a miracle happen, watching heaven touch earth as another person comes out of darkness into the light, from death to life, stepping into a relationship with Jesus. 00:25:18.355 --> 00:25:18.936 And guess what? 00:25:18.936 --> 00:25:23.913 I want that same rejoicing and testimony for you as well. 00:25:23.913 --> 00:25:32.336 I want you to experience and watch miracles happen in people's life, to watch God do a breakthrough for someone. 00:25:32.336 --> 00:25:35.083 That's the invitation from Jesus. 00:25:35.123 --> 00:25:36.772 Look what it says in verse 50. 00:25:36.772 --> 00:25:37.515 I love this part. 00:25:37.515 --> 00:25:38.497 Jesus responds to him. 00:25:38.497 --> 00:25:39.579 Do you believe? 00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:40.890 He's talking to Nathaniel here? 00:25:40.890 --> 00:25:42.212 He says do you believe? 00:25:42.212 --> 00:25:44.798 Because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? 00:25:44.798 --> 00:25:45.720 He's like man. 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:47.423 You haven't seen nothing yet. 00:25:47.423 --> 00:25:52.500 He says you will see greater things than this. 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:58.999 Truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man. 00:25:58.999 --> 00:26:09.273 He says you are going to watch what happens through me, the miracles that I'm able to perform in people's lives, and you're going to literally see heaven intersect with earth. 00:26:09.273 --> 00:26:13.287 That's the society of God, the kingdom of God. 00:26:13.287 --> 00:26:21.570 The kingdom of heaven is this beautiful yet mysterious way that heaven touches earth and intersects with what's happening here. 00:26:21.570 --> 00:26:31.394 Because Jesus told his followers to pray that we're to pray that God's kingdom would come here as it is in heaven. 00:26:31.394 --> 00:26:35.262 We're to literally pray that God would connect heaven and earth. 00:26:35.262 --> 00:26:38.394 And this happens through people coming to know and follow Jesus. 00:26:38.394 --> 00:26:45.998 Jesus said there's presence in the angels of heaven over one sinner that repents right. 00:26:45.998 --> 00:26:52.979 There's joy in heaven when somebody comes into relationship with the King and FCC. 00:26:52.999 --> 00:27:08.931 I would love that all of us, as the church of God, take this ownership of this invitation, this experience that we have had with Jesus, this encounter that we have had with the Messiah, and not keep it to ourself. 00:27:08.931 --> 00:27:15.182 The news that we have is too good not to share. 00:27:15.182 --> 00:27:23.162 The experience that we have had with Jesus is too good for us not to tell someone else about. 00:27:23.162 --> 00:27:29.733 And here's the beautiful thing about an invitation is it's really simple and yet it's so hard oftentimes for us to do, isn't it? 00:27:29.733 --> 00:27:32.922 The invitation is just hey, come and see. 00:27:32.922 --> 00:27:37.503 Come and see what God is doing in my life. 00:27:37.503 --> 00:27:39.089 Come and see what God is doing in my church. 00:27:39.089 --> 00:27:43.342 Come and belong here with these people before you believe what we believe. 00:27:44.410 --> 00:27:54.384 That's the invitation, and I wanted to share this stat with you as we close, that over 80% of people are likely to attend a church service if they're invited. 00:27:54.384 --> 00:28:02.250 82% of people who don't attend a church are likely to attend if someone would just invite them. 00:28:02.250 --> 00:28:06.375 According to research, this is what they tell us, and so here's what it is, guys, it's very simple. 00:28:06.375 --> 00:28:16.653 If we're to know Jesus and to make him known we got to give invitations to people to come and see we have to come and experience. 00:28:16.653 --> 00:28:19.597 Who is this Jesus? 00:28:19.597 --> 00:28:31.034 Who is this person that can transform our life, that can change us from the inside out, that can take us from darkness to light, from death to life. 00:28:31.034 --> 00:28:38.262 That's who Jesus is, that's who he's claimed to be, that's who his followers said he is and that's who we believe him to be. 00:28:38.262 --> 00:28:42.134 And so I want to invite you this morning to consider, to believe. 00:28:42.214 --> 00:28:44.961 Maybe you're on your own investigative journey this morning. 00:28:44.961 --> 00:28:47.515 You're not still sure about who Jesus is. 00:28:47.515 --> 00:28:48.175 That's fine. 00:28:48.175 --> 00:28:53.016 Continue coming, continue experiencing, continue asking questions. 00:28:53.016 --> 00:28:58.102 And if you are a follower of Jesus this morning, man, it's too good not to share. 00:28:58.102 --> 00:29:00.272 Who is that person. 00:29:00.272 --> 00:29:05.416 Maybe, right now that you're thinking about that, you have in your mind that you could invite to come. 00:29:05.416 --> 00:29:06.635 Maybe it's to come to Easter. 00:29:06.635 --> 00:29:09.955 Maybe it's to come to a service here on a Sunday. 00:29:09.955 --> 00:29:17.722 Maybe it's to come and have coffee with you or to have lunch with you and to have questions answered and to have conversation about who Jesus is. 00:29:17.722 --> 00:29:20.798 That's the invitation that we see from Jesus this morning. 00:29:20.798 --> 00:29:21.219 Let's pray.