WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:05.679 Well, if you are new, just joining us, I've been doing this little spiel at the beginning of virtually every message all year long. 00:00:05.839 --> 00:00:08.480 We are doing this thing this year called the whole story. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:11.279 We are going through the entire story of the Bible. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:12.800 Um we started it in February. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:14.560 We're gonna finish it in December. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.160 And so we've just been making our way through this uh all year long. 00:00:18.239 --> 00:00:22.160 We broke up the whole story of Scripture down into 14 different series. 00:00:22.239 --> 00:00:26.239 And today we are in our second week of series nine or ten, I think it's 10, I don't know. 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:28.160 It's we're we're a good way through. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.280 And the important thing to know is not the number, it's where we're at in the story. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:36.320 We are at the moment where Jesus steps onto the stage in an undeniable way. 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:39.759 Last week we finally got to Jesus. 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:44.560 And in reality, we've been talking about Jesus every single week because all of Scripture points to Jesus. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:48.719 Like it's hinting at Jesus, it's giving us all these pictures of Jesus. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:52.479 But now we're actually at the moment when Jesus is there. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:55.600 And so we're calling this series the new human. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:05.439 We began with a series called the Human Project, and from the very get-go, the two main characters in the story of Scripture are God and humanity, and God has grand plans for humanity. 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:12.879 He wants us to be like him, he wants us to rule and use the authority that he gives us over this earth in a way that reflects him. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:16.640 But if you know the story up to this point, that hasn't really happened. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:23.760 Like, humans haven't seem to live up to their potential, but all of a sudden there's a new human, and he's different. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:25.599 And that's putting it mildly. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.000 He is he's different. 00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:37.920 He does things that no one's ever done before, he says things that no one's ever said before, and right away when he steps onto the scene, things begin to change, and that person is Jesus. 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:44.319 And over the course of the next few weeks, we're gonna explore events from his life, but this isn't so much about what happened. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:48.719 I think we all, for the most part, know the story of Jesus, at least parts of the story. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:56.000 And if you don't know it, the gist of it is, you know, he's got a mom named Mary, and she's a virgin, and one day an angel shows up and says, Hey, great news, you're pregnant. 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:57.200 She's like, excuse me. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:01:59.200 Um, and he explains how it's gonna work. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:04.159 He said, Hey, look, this child within your womb, not a normal child, son of God, savior of mankind. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:06.319 And she's like, All right, and she goes along with faith. 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:09.840 And Jesus is born, and from the moment of his birth, there's resistance. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:12.080 There are forces out to stop him. 00:02:12.800 --> 00:02:20.960 And so he's basically born as an outlaw, and he lives in obscurity for 30 years as a carpenter in a nowhere town in the Middle East called Nazareth. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:30.879 But at 30 years old, he steps onto the scene, he starts to teach, he starts to do things, creates more attention, more buzz than any human being has ever created in the history of the world. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:34.080 People pay attention to him, very powerful people pay attention to him. 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:40.000 They do not like what he says, they do not like what he does because he's a threat to them, and it's the way that they run things. 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:41.680 And so they kill him. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:43.919 But that's the plan all along. 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:57.039 What they don't understand is they literally play right into his plans because Jesus came not to be worshipped initially, not to be revered, he came to die, to give his life as a sacrifice, to pay the price for our sin. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:02:59.439 So he went to the cross willingly. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:09.120 He died a sacrifice on our behalf, and then he rose from the dead, answering once and for all the question of is this man really more than just a man? 00:03:09.439 --> 00:03:19.280 And then he appeared to his followers, he ascended to heaven, he sent us the Holy Spirit and started the movement of the church which started over 2,000 years ago and has not stopped and will never stop. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:20.879 And that's a movement that we're part of today. 00:03:20.960 --> 00:03:22.960 That is in a gist the story of Jesus. 00:03:23.039 --> 00:03:25.520 But most of you, you know that story. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:29.039 Or even if you're new to church, you know parts of that story. 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:34.479 We're not going to so much focus simply on what happened over the next few weeks. 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:37.360 What is not the question we're trying to answer? 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:38.479 The question is who? 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:42.319 Like, who is Jesus really? 00:03:42.479 --> 00:03:44.960 As we said last week, every faith has a founder. 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:52.319 And you don't you don't judge a faith based on its abuses, every faith has been abused. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:57.520 You judge a faith based on its founder, and no faith can claim to have a founder like Jesus. 00:03:57.840 --> 00:03:59.039 That's just true. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:03.199 There's something different about Jesus, and we need to understand who he is. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:05.039 Jesus himself beckons us to do that. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:08.319 Matthew chapter 16, verses 13 through 15. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:15.199 It says, When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is? 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:21.040 Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.120 And we still see that in our world today. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:25.439 A lot of people will take sort of a safe approach to Jesus. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:26.800 So I think Jesus is great. 00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:28.720 I think Jesus is a good teacher. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:32.000 I think Jesus was a good man, and that's fine. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:38.319 The things that they were saying to Jesus, hey, they say you're a prophet, they say you might even be like Elijah, come back. 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:40.160 Those were really good things. 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:43.759 That's high praise, but that didn't satisfy Jesus. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:47.360 And not in some prideful way, it's just not who he is. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:50.879 And so Jesus puts the question to them, verse 15. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:55.120 He asks, but who do you say that I am? 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:00.959 And I would I would challenge all of us to recognize that that's a question that we have to answer. 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:03.199 Like, who do we say Jesus is? 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:09.040 And the more that we understand who he is, the more that we recognize who he is. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:17.120 And all that does is make it all the more meaningful and powerful when we realize that he is a part of our lives. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:20.639 So we've got to know who we're dealing with when it comes to Jesus. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:22.800 And that is what we're exploring over the next several weeks. 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:24.399 And we're looking at five factors. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:05:25.279 The first was last week. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:28.240 Last week we talked about the fact that Jesus is the one. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:29.279 Like the one what? 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:33.439 Oh, Jesus is the one that the prophecies of the Old Testament talked about all the time. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:41.439 Jesus is the one that Moses and all the prophets were talking about when they kept pointing to some future when someone would come and someone would change things. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:43.120 Jesus is the one. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:46.160 Today we're gonna look at this kind of odd statement. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:47.759 Jesus is the word. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:52.000 And then over the next few weeks, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:06:00.160 And so our hope is that at the end of these five weeks, whether you're here in person, you engage online, or whatever, just like take all of these in. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:06.720 Because if you can have a more fully formed idea of who the God you worship really is, oh, that changes everything. 00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:12.399 And look, I've I've been following Jesus since I was uh 10 years old, 12 years old, something like that. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:18.720 And you know, I've been a pastor for 17 years. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:23.040 In one way or another, I was a youth pastor, I've been in this role for 10 years. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:31.680 I spend most of my week, every single week, researching, reading, thinking, praying about Jesus. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:38.079 And you would think that that after that amount of time, I'd be like, yeah, I've kind of got him figured out. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:41.040 Like I think I fully understand who he really is. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:42.720 And I'm just telling you, I don't. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:44.480 I don't. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.000 Like, we never will. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:07:00.879 He's that he's that good, he's that big, he's that important that you can live your entire life and think about him and focus on him and study him and experience him. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:04.720 And all it leaves you with ultimately is a desire for more. 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:09.680 Sometimes I think that's why heaven lasts forever, because that's how long it's gonna take to understand God. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:11.600 Like it's just it's never ending. 00:07:11.680 --> 00:07:16.240 There's always some new thing about him that I never noticed before, something that just makes me love him more. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:20.160 And so the more we look at Jesus and the more we understand him, the better it gets. 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:24.240 It also just fuels a hunger to know him on an even deeper level. 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:29.519 So before we jump into the scripture that's gonna guide us this morning, I want to just start by saying this. 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:31.199 Jesus did things. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:32.959 It's kind of an understatement. 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:35.680 Like Jesus did some things, some big things. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:48.319 In fact, John chapter 6, verses 1 and 2 says that Jesus crossed over to the far side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias, and a huge crowd followed him wherever he went. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:53.040 Because they saw his miraculous signs as he healed the sick. 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:55.439 When it says a huge crowd, you're thinking, well, how huge? 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:59.759 Well, um, thousands, like literally thousands. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:04.240 Every time Jesus showed up somewhere, it was like a problem for the community. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:08.399 Because thousands of people would flood the streets looking for him. 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:12.720 Jesus had to keep where he was staying a secret half the time, just so it wouldn't be chaos. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:16.639 Thousands of people were following Jesus everywhere he went. 00:08:16.720 --> 00:08:22.079 As soon as someone caught wind that Jesus of Nazareth was in town, it was like this giant, huge thing. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.360 Thousands of people would literally just leave their jobs. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:31.920 And whatever they were doing and go find Jesus and listen to Jesus and try to get face to face with Jesus. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:32.399 Why? 00:08:32.639 --> 00:08:35.679 Because he was doing things, unprecedented things. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.960 The Bible says he was doing miraculous things. 00:08:39.759 --> 00:08:44.159 Now, maybe you're skeptical about that, or you know someone who is, and that makes sense. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:44.720 Right? 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:48.080 It's normal to be skeptical about miracles to some degree. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.000 Maybe you've never experienced one. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:52.159 Or maybe you have, and you can still be skeptical. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:54.720 I don't know, but here's what is non-negotiable. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.200 Here's something you don't have to be skeptical about at all. 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:00.320 Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, was a historical person. 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:05.919 There is more evidence for the existence of Jesus in history than you have of just about anyone else in the ancient world. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.480 It's not even a question, no one questions that. 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:14.799 And not only did Jesus exist, but Jesus changed the world. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:38.799 Jesus went from being this 30-year-old obscure carpenter from the middle of nowhere, no political power, no wealth, no earthly influence of any kind, and within a matter of months, he was the most famous person who has ever walked the face of the earth. 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:47.039 It's interesting if you know history, the era of Jesus' life is a pretty jam-packed era in terms of people of significance. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:50.399 In the century or so that surrounds Jesus, you have Cleopatra. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:56.159 Like that's a we don't know many people's names from 2,000 plus years ago, but you probably know that name. 00:09:56.559 --> 00:10:03.679 You've got Julius Caesar, you've got Mark Antony, you've got queens and emperors and generals and a carpenter. 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:16.240 And it's the carpenter that ends up being the one that people by the millions gather to talk about, to think about. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:19.679 It's the carpenter that they decide to name time after. 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:23.440 To say, you know what, from now on, we're gonna measure all of human history based on this. 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:26.960 Did it happen before Jesus or did it happen after Jesus? 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:34.000 And no matter what you think about Jesus in terms of his divinity and the miracles, that that is an undeniable truth. 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:38.720 There's something about Jesus that caught the attention of the entire world. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:49.519 And here we are 2,000 years later, and we can't stop looking back, and we can't stop talking about what he did and what he said and who he is, and that's because he's someone special. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:51.279 That's undeniable. 00:10:51.679 --> 00:11:03.679 And what we're told in Scripture is that thing that was causing such a buzz, that thing that elevated him to such a place of fame were ultimately the things he was doing, things no one had ever seen before, miraculous things. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:07.200 Many of you know the stories of Jesus' miracles. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:14.080 I love thinking about the miracles of Jesus because they're they're amazing, they're they're awesome, they're also like funny half the time. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:15.120 They're so interesting. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:16.879 For example, first miracle that Jesus performed. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:17.679 Somebody knows it. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:19.600 What's the first public miracle that Jesus did? 00:11:19.679 --> 00:11:20.480 Someone just shout it out. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:21.440 You can participate. 00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:22.799 Water into wine. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.720 Now, who doesn't want a friend who can do that? 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:29.519 Like, no, that story's amazing. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:37.759 Jesus is at a wedding, and this family that's hosting the wedding runs out of wine, and in their culture, that's an that's such an embarrassment. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:39.919 Like everyone would have been talking about that. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.120 It was such a like a stain on their reputation. 00:11:43.360 --> 00:11:46.720 And so Jesus' mom pleads with them and says, Son, you gotta do this. 00:11:46.879 --> 00:11:49.840 And he's like, Mom, not right now. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:51.919 Literally says that to her. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.399 And she just looks at him and says, son, and he's like, All right, mom. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:01.120 Um and so he he makes not just like a little bit of wine. 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:06.639 Uh, if you actually measure it out, it's over 900 bottles worth of wine that Jesus makes. 00:12:06.799 --> 00:12:10.879 Like I said, who would not want to have a friend like Jesus, right? 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:12.240 He's extravagant. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:18.320 And his first public miracle, it's not something that draws attention to him, it's not something like he did it secretly. 00:12:18.559 --> 00:12:22.559 In fact, most of his early miracles, he tells people, don't tell anyone that I did this. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:24.480 Because he's not out for the attention. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:28.000 He just wanted to bless this family that's having a wedding. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:30.639 And not only did he make a lot of wine, he made good wine. 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:33.679 Like the person in charge of the ceremony was like, This is the best wine I've ever had. 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:35.600 Jesus healed people. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:39.600 Oh, the stories of his healing are like the compassion in Jesus. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:43.279 There's a man who has leprosy that comes to Jesus and Jesus heals him. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:45.679 But he doesn't just heal him, he touches him. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.879 It was not lawful to touch a leper. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:54.399 It was against the law to touch a leper, because if you touch the leper, you could get leprosy, and that's how leprosy spread. 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:59.120 And so this is a person that has not felt human contact for who knows how long. 00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:00.320 And Jesus had the power. 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.960 We know that from other miracles where he just healed by word. 00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:09.519 He could have just said, You're healed, but no, he reaches down and he touches this man because it's not just about his body, it's about his heart. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.720 You see a compassion in Jesus, and it's amazing. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:16.480 The power of Jesus, it's just like the power doesn't even make sense. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:18.320 There's this Roman soldier who comes to Jesus. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.200 He has a servant who's sick and he says, Jesus, can you please heal my servant? 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:23.200 And Jesus says, Absolutely, take me to him. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:26.240 And the Roman soldier says, No, no, no, you don't need to go in person. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:29.679 I know who you are, I understand your authority and your power. 00:13:29.759 --> 00:13:30.799 Just say the word and he's healed. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.799 And Jesus says, Wow, I've not seen faith like this in all of Israel. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:36.480 And he says, He's healed. 00:13:36.559 --> 00:13:39.200 And so Jesus does like a long-distance miracle. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.759 Like, who's ever heard of a long-distance miracle? 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:42.879 Jesus did that. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.799 He just said it and boom, way over there, it's it's done. 00:13:47.279 --> 00:13:48.720 This is how powerful Jesus is. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:50.879 Jesus did unintentional miracles. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:54.879 Like, have you ever just been walking around and been like, oops, miracle? 00:13:55.120 --> 00:13:56.720 Like, that's a strange thing to think about. 00:13:56.879 --> 00:13:57.519 Jesus did that. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:07.279 This one day, Jesus was walking in a crowd, and this woman who had great faith, who had been suffering for over 12 years with a really debilitating disease, she is just trying to get to Jesus. 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:08.320 It's crowded. 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:12.720 She's in a street, she reaches out, she just touches like the hem of his robe, is what it says. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:14.399 She just touches his shirt. 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:18.080 And Jesus stops and he's like, Whoa, everybody stop. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:19.440 I felt it. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:21.279 I felt healing power leave me. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:22.240 Who touched me? 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:23.840 And all of his disciples are like, What are you? 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:25.600 There's like, there's so many people here. 00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:26.159 What are you talking about? 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:27.200 Everyone touches like, no, no, no. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:29.200 Someone touched me with faith, and he's like, Who was it? 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:30.480 Ah, you, let's have a conversation. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:31.759 And she's not in trouble, don't worry. 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:32.799 She doesn't get in trouble. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.360 Um, but he didn't even mean to heal her. 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:40.480 It wasn't like he stopped and he put his hands on her and he prayed and he focused and he concentrated and boom. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:41.759 That would have been amazing. 00:14:42.080 --> 00:14:45.279 But he's just walking along and someone touches him and it's like healed. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:47.840 That's in he accidentally healed someone. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:49.200 Do you guys understand what I'm saying? 00:14:49.279 --> 00:14:51.840 Like, that is that is power. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:53.600 I'm not saying it was an accident. 00:14:53.679 --> 00:14:55.679 Someone theologically is like, no, I'm I get it. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:59.759 But like, no, you read the story, he it wasn't what he was intending to do. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:01.440 At least not as far as we can tell. 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:02.960 Like, who does that? 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:04.639 Only Jesus. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:06.080 Only Jesus. 00:15:06.240 --> 00:15:11.360 There's even miracles that Jesus does that are Jesus making something out of nothing. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.399 Essentially, like there's a crowd of 5,000 people. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:19.600 It's actually the only miracle other than his resurrection that's recorded in all four Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:25.360 And there's 5,000 plus people, they're hungry, they haven't eaten, they've been with Jesus for hours and hours and hours. 00:15:25.440 --> 00:15:32.159 And so Jesus takes a little bit of fish, a little bit of bread, and he multiplies it to feed over 5,000 people, and there are leftovers. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:35.200 Jesus, when he does a miracle, you need to go boxes. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:36.960 Like that is who we're talking about. 00:15:37.120 --> 00:15:39.919 I mean, this guy, I'm telling there's no one like him. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:46.000 And it's like the miracles that he does, sometimes they're reminiscent of miracles in the Old Testament. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:55.759 Like there's a miracle of this woman in the Old Testament, and Elijah the prophet basically multiplies oil so that she can continually keep making food, and that miracle feeds her family for a long time. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:58.480 Jesus didn't feed a family, he fed a city. 00:15:59.840 --> 00:16:02.080 No one's ever seen anything like that. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:09.840 So every time Jesus comes somewhere and he does something, his fame just begins to spread because no one's ever heard of anyone doing anything like this. 00:16:09.919 --> 00:16:13.279 It's not even like Jesus doing the things that Moses did. 00:16:14.080 --> 00:16:19.360 It's unprecedented, it's more, it's greater, and that's why his fame spreads so fast. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:22.399 How? 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:24.799 Like, how could he do that? 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:30.399 We get to the book of John, and this is the core of what we're talking about today. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:39.279 And John begins to explain for us how Jesus is able to do these things in a really interesting way. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:46.399 John 1, 1 through 5, he says, in the beginning, the word already existed. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:50.159 The word was with God, and the word was God. 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:52.879 He existed in the beginning with God. 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:56.480 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:02.320 The word gave life to everything that was created in his life, brought light to everyone. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:07.599 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:23.920 John, who was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, one of his inner three, the one that he was probably the closest with in terms of friendship, John decides to explain the power of Jesus to begin to help us come to terms with this in a really unique way. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:26.160 He calls Jesus the Word. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:34.079 And right away, we should have sort of a signal that something big is being expressed here. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:39.680 Because he begins with the words in the beginning, the very same words that open up the story of the Bible. 00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:40.240 Right? 00:17:40.319 --> 00:17:55.839 If you turn to Genesis 1, it says, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters, and God said, Let there be light, and there was light, and God saw that the light was good. 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:02.000 So in the very beginning, God speaks, and his word creates. 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.680 Like he just speaks things into existence. 00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:07.680 Have you ever done that? 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:12.319 I thought about, I thought of one example in my life where I can speak something into existence. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:13.519 It's kind of silly. 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:16.799 But it just illustrates how much bigger God is than all of us. 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:18.720 So I have four kids, many of you know that. 00:18:18.799 --> 00:18:23.680 My two youngest boys, seven and five, and they're at that age where they still hate going to bed. 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:25.920 I don't know if any of you have children that hate going to bed. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:28.000 Like bed is not the end of the day, it's the death of the day. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:29.359 Anyone have kids like that? 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:33.920 And and like do you if you have kids like that, they act surprised every time it's bedtime like it's never happened before. 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:36.240 Like it's an unprecedented event in history. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:37.119 Like, hey, it's time for bed. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:38.400 They're like, what is that? 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:40.160 You know, and you fight with them. 00:18:40.240 --> 00:18:43.759 And so it gets interesting for me, especially in the summertime. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.920 Because like I'll tell my boys, hey, it's bedtime, and they'll go, but it's summer. 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:52.559 And I'm like, yeah, well, you still have to go to bed in the summer. 00:18:52.880 --> 00:19:01.119 I usually I extend their bedtime in the summer a little bit, you know, it's summer, let them let them have fun, but there's still a bedtime, and that just fries their brain. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.079 And then this last summer, my youngest, you know, he's starting to catch on to things. 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.160 He was like, but it's it's not dark out yet. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:11.680 And I was like, yes, in the summer, uh, son, you're you're five, so track with me. 00:19:11.759 --> 00:19:15.839 The earth is is rotating around the sun, and we're on an axis that's on a slight tilt. 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:25.599 And in our summer months, the northern hemisphere tilts toward the sun, which extends our hours of daylight, and this is compounded by the archaic invention of daylight savings. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:28.240 And so now it doesn't get dark until like 10 p.m. 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.400 And he just looks at me like not tracking with that at all. 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:42.240 Um, and so I'm like, no, listen, bedtime isn't when the sun goes down, and he's confused, and I just said to him, bedtime is whenever I say bedtime is. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:45.519 You see, son, the the sooner you realize this, the better. 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:49.440 I speak bedtime into existence. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:52.799 I say it's bedtime, it is bedtime. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:53.759 If it's 4 p.m. 00:19:53.920 --> 00:19:56.400 and I say bedtime, it is bedtime, right? 00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:58.319 It's my power trip moment. 00:19:58.480 --> 00:20:00.480 Bedtime happens when I say it happens. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:05.519 That is the only example I can think of in my life where I have the power to speak something into existence. 00:20:05.839 --> 00:20:06.640 Kind of. 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:11.279 And God can just say light, and there's light. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:17.839 There's this creative power by the word of God that we see. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:21.440 But what John is saying is so much more layered. 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:22.559 It's so much deeper than that. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:24.960 And listen, I don't know if you guys are willing to do this. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:25.759 I hope you are. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:27.440 I like to nerd out from time to time. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:28.079 That's what I call it. 00:20:28.160 --> 00:20:33.119 Like, I like to nerding out for me is like I want to deep dive into an idea for a few minutes. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:36.799 I want to explore it from a lot of different angles and learn things I've never learned before. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:42.880 And and come out of that 10 or 15 minutes going, like, I I know things I didn't know and I'm smarter and I understand it better. 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:45.119 Are you guys willing to like nerd out for 10 minutes? 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:46.079 Can we nerd out? 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.920 Okay, so to understand what John is saying, you have to understand a lot of things going on. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:21:00.720 Because this metaphor, this it's not even really a metaphor, this proclamation that he's making about who Jesus is, it is so loaded with meaning if you understand the Jewish and the Greek context. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.720 Like this is, again, you gotta nerd out for a minute. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:11.920 We're gonna look at like Greek words, we're gonna look at uh Aramaic translations of the Old Testament, like you gotta nerd out for a second on this, but it's so cool when it all comes together. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:14.640 Okay, so so John, we know this. 00:21:14.880 --> 00:21:18.880 John, he's writing his gospel to the Greek people. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:21.920 You have the Jewish people, you have the Greek-speaking people. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:26.079 And if you've ever wondered why there's four accounts of Jesus' life, one of the reasons, there's many reasons. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:28.960 One of those is because the authors are writing to different audiences. 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:31.599 So, for example, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience. 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:32.480 How do we know that? 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:34.960 Well, he begins with a with a lineage, right? 00:21:35.039 --> 00:21:36.319 He begins with a genealogy. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:38.960 The Greek people don't care about the genealogy of Jesus. 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:40.079 That means nothing to them. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:41.839 Those are not their ancestors. 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:43.519 So John doesn't start there. 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:45.359 Now, to the Jewish people, that matters greatly. 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:46.640 That connects to prophecy. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:52.240 Many times in the book of Matthew, Matthew says, and this happening fulfilled this prophecy. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:55.920 John never does that because the Greek people didn't care about those prophecies. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759 John doesn't talk about Jesus as the Messiah in the same way. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.519 Way that Matthew does, because the Greek people weren't searching for a Messiah. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:05.920 They weren't living, waiting for a Messiah. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:07.440 That was the Jewish people. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:10.559 So when John writes his gospel, there's a different approach. 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.440 And John says, in the beginning was the word. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.720 Now, again, some of you know this, and so I want you to shout it out. 00:22:16.799 --> 00:22:18.960 Does anyone know what the Greek word for word is? 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:20.160 Yell it out if you know it. 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:22.480 Logos, all right, there you go. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:24.400 Those are fellow Greek nerds. 00:22:24.480 --> 00:22:25.279 All right, I love it. 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.519 So it's the word logos. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:29.440 That's where we get the word logic. 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:31.200 Like reason. 00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:33.039 Now, here's what's amazing. 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:38.000 500 years before Jesus, there's a Greek philosopher named Heracletus. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:42.240 And he's a very significant figure in Greek history. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:43.920 Greek philosophy is a big deal. 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:47.839 It's one of the things that shapes the way that the ancient world sees life. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:50.480 It's something that still influences the way that we think today. 00:22:50.720 --> 00:22:52.160 And Heracletus had this idea. 00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:56.480 You know, the Greeks, they had their Greek gods, like they got Zeus, they've got, you know, all these gods. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:04.400 They didn't, like, they worship them, they went to the festivals, it was a lot of fun for them, but deep down inside, they knew there was something more. 00:23:04.880 --> 00:23:05.200 Why? 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.920 The Bible says that God has written his law on the hearts of all men. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:12.480 There's something inside of us that just yearns to connect with something bigger than us. 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:17.599 And it doesn't matter what society, what culture, when and where, there's always something that desires more. 00:23:18.240 --> 00:23:24.799 So, Heraclitus writes about this idea called the Logos, 500 years before Jesus. 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:28.559 And the logos to him is this mind. 00:23:29.039 --> 00:23:32.640 It's this undeniable intelligent force that has ordered the universe. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:33.599 He looked around at the world. 00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:36.480 He said, guys, look at how well everything runs. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:41.359 Like we like to focus on the moments when things don't run well, like it rains when it shouldn't have rained in our minds, or something like that. 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:46.960 But the world works like in an insanely well-ordered fashion. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:52.079 I mean, you can set your watch to the minute of sunrise or sunset. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:24:00.640 We can predict with pinpoint accuracy like the next time all the planets are going to align, 2,492. 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:02.319 We won't be here to see that. 00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:03.680 Well, maybe we will. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:04.720 I don't know how it all works out. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:08.640 But the point is, you know, heaven on earth and all this, it's a whole that's a whole different conversation. 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:11.359 But but we know that it's going to happen in that year. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:11.599 Why? 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:13.200 Because the universe just works that well. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:16.400 And Heraclitus said, man, this world is so perfectly ordered. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:17.920 It's not by happenstance. 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:26.160 There has to be something bigger, some grand mind, some grand truth that ordered everything. 00:24:26.400 --> 00:24:30.880 And he went on to say that not only is that truth out there, but that truth is also in here. 00:24:31.279 --> 00:24:32.880 Because we're drawn to it. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:46.559 Because as all these different cultures, whether it was the Native Americans over here or the Chinese, and they were blocked off from the rest of the world while the Roman Empire is going on, every time borders were broken and new peoples were discovered, it wasn't like these people are like, oh, a concept of God? 00:24:46.640 --> 00:24:47.599 I have no idea about this. 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:48.559 We just kind of live life. 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:52.960 No, everyone's like, yes, we we've constantly thought about what's bigger than us. 00:24:53.119 --> 00:24:54.319 We're drawn to it. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:56.960 And Heracletus called that the logos. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:59.759 And by Jesus' time, this has taken root. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:00.480 It's taken hold. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:05.599 Where if you are a Greek person and you have any sense, you believe in the logos. 00:25:05.680 --> 00:25:10.799 You believe that, yes, there is clearly some grand mind that's at work ordering everything. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:17.599 And John is saying, hey, Greek people, you've been talking about this logos, this mind, this intelligence that ordered everything in the world. 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:18.720 And I want you to know something. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:21.440 That mind, that logos is Jesus. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:29.519 And he goes on to say in John 1.14, he says that the word became human and made his home among us. 00:25:30.319 --> 00:25:35.039 So when John says the word, this has this powerful meaning to the Greek people, but not just the Greek people, the Jews. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:36.559