Latest / Heart Check Podcast / Bible Study with Pastor Los | The Gospel of John (1:43-51)

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Bible Study with Pastor Los | The Gospel of John (1:43-51) · Heart Check Podcast

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  What's up, everybody? Welcome back to Heart Check
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  podcast. I'm your host, Pastor Los.
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  Yeah, let's go and I'm so excited to be back with you
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  guys. We are going to continue our
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  journey through the Gospel of John.
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  We are going to be in chapter 1 still, but we're going to be
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  finished in chapter 1 this week. Let's go.
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  It's been so fun to journey through this gospel with you
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  guys. I hope you have been enjoying
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  this. I hope you continue to share
• 0:38
  this like comment subscribe below.
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  I'm so thankful for you guys. Let's continue to get after it.
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  We're going to be in John chapter 1, but we're going to be
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  in verses 43 and finished through verse 51.
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  And remember, I'm reading through the NLT version.
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  Let's get straight to it. Verse 43.
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  The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.
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  He found Philip and said to him, come follow me.
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  Verse 44, Philip was from Beseda, Andrew and Peter's
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  hometown. Verse 45, Philip went to look
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  for Nathaniel, told him we have found the very person Moses and
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  the prophets wrote about. His name is Jesus, the son of
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  Joseph from Nazareth. Verse 46, Nazareth exclaimed
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  Nathaniel, can anything good come from Nazareth?
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  Come and see for yourself. Philip replied.
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  Verse 47. As they approached, Jesus said,
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  now here is a genuine son of Israel, a man of complete
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  integrity. Verse 48.
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  How do you know about me? Nathaniel asked.
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  Jesus replied, I could see you under the fig tree before Philip
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  found you. Verse 49 Then Nathaniel
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  exclaimed, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, the King of Israel.
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  Verse 50 Jesus asked him, do you believe this just because I told
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  you I had seen you under the fig tree?
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  You will see greater things than this.
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  Verse 51 Then he said, I tell you the truth, you will see all
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  heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son
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  of man, the man who is the stairway between heaven and
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  earth. I love how this follows up what
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  we read last week, what we dove into last week through the verse
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  of Jesus asking Andrew to follow him and how Andrew responds with
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  then running and telling his brother Peter.
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  Now it says the next day, the next day Jesus goes to Galilee,
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  he finds Phillip and he asks Phillip to come and follow me.
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  I think this is incredible that these men are responding to
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  Jesus, the Son of God and there's no questioning, no
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  hesitation. It's following him after Jesus
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  asks them to follow him. It is immediate response to yes
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  and following after Christ. But I think when we read this,
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  sometimes you might think, man, these men just met Jesus, Jesus
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  asked and follow him and it happened just like that.
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  Remember the other three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke
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  are the synoptic gospels that are the seed together gospels
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  that those gospels show to them that Jesus had met these men
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  prior to this moment when we read it in the Gospel of John.
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  And so Jesus now goes to these men and now they respond quickly
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  to him asking them to follow him with an immediate response of
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  yes, that they follow after Jesus.
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  But I love how you have this reflection of Andrew and Philip
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  that when they get asked by Jesus to follow them, they run
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  and tell someone else that they don't just keep it for
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  themselves, that they don't hear of this amazing news, the
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  greatest news ever told, that they don't meet their Messiah
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  and keep it to themselves, but rather they go and tell someone
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  else. And I think that's what's been
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  convicted me as we continue to go through the Gospel of John,
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  this question from the Holy Spirit asking me of what are you
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  doing with your faith? What are you doing with this
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  knowledge of God that you have? What are you doing with this
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  transformation that the Holy Spirit has done within your
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  heart and your soul that you now know the Messiah, you know the
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  Son of God, that you know, the one who gives us eternal life.
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  What are you doing with that? Are you running and telling
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  someone else or you just keeping it to yourself?
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  And I love how the immediate response from these men, Andrew
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  and Phillip, is not to just say woo, I'm following Jesus, man.
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  I got the the coolest rabbi man I'm following the one who is the
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  Messiah, the one we've been learning about man.
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  I'm going to make sure that I keep this to myself for that I'm
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  the only one. Maybe I can become the greatest
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  follower of his that they're just focused about their own
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  needs and their own wants. Rather, they respond with let me
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  go and tell someone else that I want everyone to come to know
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  Jesus. And I hope that you are
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  encouraged but challenged also through this time of us walking
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  through the Gospel of John. That if you have faith in Jesus,
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  that you run and tell someone else that you don't just sit on
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  this truth of God that you have. That you don't sit on this word
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  and this news that you've received that can change
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  people's trajectory of their soul.
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  That they can come to know the God who created them and loves
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  them and has purpose for them. That you let this news, you let
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  this truth transform you not just internally, but motivate
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  you outwardly to now go and tell others about Jesus.
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  And I love that it goes on. In verse 45, it says Philip then
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  went to look for Nathaniel and told him we have found the very
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  person Moses and the prophets wrote about.
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  His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.
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  Philip runs and tells Nathaniel. We have found the very person
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  that Moses and the prophets wrote about, that the one who
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  was promised long ago, that we've all studied and learned
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  that there's a Messiah that will come.
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  I have just met him and now I want you to come and meet him.
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  And I love that Philip is just straight to the point when he
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  sees Nathaniel that he doesn't try to beat around the Bush or
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  he doesn't try to use a bait and switch tactic that I think
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  sometimes sadly is used in the church at times where we're
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  trying to get people drawn in by maybe a cool event or, or, you
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  know, a way that might draw people who would never show up
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  to a church or show up to church.
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  Listen, I'm not knocking that. I'm not saying that's a bad
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  thing. I'm not saying you shouldn't do
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  special events or have a block party or some ways to draw
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  people into the church. But one thing that's been
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  challenging me within this is that they went to the people
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  that what they went to the people who didn't know Jesus and
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  that they just hit people with the straight truth that Andrew
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  ran to Peter, that Philip ran to Nathaniel.
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  And it wasn't, hey, maybe you should come see this person I
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  just met. They're like, no, no, no, this
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  is the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who changes everything,
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  the one who I just encountered, the true living God.
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  I want you to now come meet him. That they speak the truth of God
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  that they don't try to withhold from who Jesus is or try to get
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  them to show up without first letting them know that I just
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  encountered the living God, That Jesus, the Son of God is the
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  Messiah that was promised and his name is Jesus.
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  But it's interesting Nathaniel responded responds with in verse
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  46 Nazareth like what you mean Nazareth?
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  Can anything good come from Nazareth if you do not know that
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  context? Nazareth was not like this
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  booming or popular well known town.
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  It wasn't a place It'd be like in our in our day and age.
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  It'd be like someone coming and being like, you know, hey, I
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  just met the Messiah and he's from Lima.
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  OH, Dang, if you're from Lima and you're listening, you can be
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  like, whoa, the shots fired. Or we, we would, we'd be
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  expecting someone of, you know, well stashed or someone who's
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  well known or someone who's going to be the Messiah is going
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  to come from like LA or New York City, right?
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  Like a place that's known. But rather it's like, no, he's
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  from Nazareth. And the response from Nathaniel
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  in that day and age would have been like Nazareth, Like why
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  would the Son of God, the Messiah that was promised has
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  come from Nazareth out of all places, not from the well known
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  towns we know where the popular places, the places for from
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  where people who matter come from.
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  That is Nathaniel's response. It's it's a prejudice to a place
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  that the Jewish people would have looked down upon that
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  Nazareth wasn't just this incredible place.
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  It was a not known small country, you know, out in the
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  boonies type place to the Jewish people that this wouldn't have
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  been somewhere they would have thought the Son of God was
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  coming from. But I love how Phillip doesn't
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  get discouraged by that, that if we were coming to tell someone
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  about something and someone maybe took some shots fired at
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  what you're trying to tell them and they're like, bro, what
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  you're coming from where like, bro, ain't no way that that's
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  the Messiah that we may be discouraged by that.
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  But rather, Phillip replies, come and see for yourself, you
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  come and see for yourself, and I promise you, you would not be
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  disappointed. Phillip knows that he just
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  encountered the Messiah, and he wants that for Nathaniel.
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  That he's not taking no for an answer, that he doesn't care of
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  Nathaniel things. Nazareth is a place that nothing
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  good can come from it. He knows who he just met and he
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  wants to invite Nathaniel to come meet Jesus as well.
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  And it says in verse 47, as they approached Jesus said, now here
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  is a genuine son of Israel, a man of complete integrity, which
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  is pretty incredible. Jesus calls out in Nathaniel who
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  he is. He, he looks to his heart that
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  he knows that Nathaniel is a man of complete integrity, that even
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  though Nathaniel is probably hesitant when he gets told that
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  the Messiah is from Nazareth, but he hears that testimony, he
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  hears Philip tell him that he just encountered the Messiah.
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  Nathaniel goes, but now when he's going, he hears Jesus say
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  something to him about him, his inner being that only someone
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  who really knew him would know. And I love that, that Jesus
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  knows us. Jesus created us.
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  Jesus knows the inner parts of your being that he wove you
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  together in your mother's womb that Jesus knows everything
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  about he he knows the number of hairs on your head as I don't
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  have much lasting or you know, hanging on to that he truly
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  knows who we are. He knows our hearts.
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  He knows everything about us, and I love that that Jesus calls
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  that out with an encouraging word to Nathaniel that probably
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  would have struck him a little bit of man.
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  He's talking about me in this way as if he knows me, which he
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  does. But I love that he says there
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  is. He is a man of complete
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  integrity that Jesus is letting Nathaniel know, I know who you
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  are. I know the type of person that
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  you are, that he is a proper Israelite, a type of man that is
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  blessed, that the psalmist would say is a man that's blessed, the
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  man in whose spirit is no guile. Psalm 32 two, that this is a man
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  who loves God, that honors God, that obviously Jesus sees him in
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  his his his alone time, his isolation, that his withdrawal
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  time to pray and be with God that Jesus sees that he says, I
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  see you under the fig tree, that he sees Nathaniel praying and
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  meditating with God. And I think that's another
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  incredible thing that we should never forget that God sees us,
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  he hears us that he watches over us that he sees that time you're
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  in your prayer closet. He sees the time you're praying
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  and meditating on his word and spending time with him, that he
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  is with you, that he sees you and he lets Nathaniel know that
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  I see you. I see the time that you take to
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  go be with me, to meditate on my word, to pray and talk with me,
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  that this would have been something that was very
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  intentional for Nathaniel to hear that the God of the
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  universe, the God he believed in, saw him and, and maybe this
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  exact fig tree. Perhaps it was a place where
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  Nathaniel had recently sat and meditated and received some
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  spiritual impression from God. But it is, it is impossible to
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  be sure of that. Certainly the shady, the shady
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  tree of this fig tree made it a suitable tree to sit under for
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  the heat of the day. So maybe this was a place that
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  Nathaniel went to that God saw him at meditating and praying.
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  Or this was even just Jesus saying I I see as the this would
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  have been an example for Jewish people to sit under a fig tree
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  would just be a saying that'd be used for a Jewish person to be
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  spending time with God, meditating on God, reading his
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  word. So either this was an actual
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  physical tree that Jesus saw him under or just Jesus is saying, I
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  see the time you spend with me, the time you spend with God, the
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  time you're intentional to be seeking after your heavenly
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  Father. And so it's interesting that
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  then right after Jesus says this about Nathaniel, he's real quick
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  to ask the question, how do you know about me?
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  That he's curious as to how did Jesus know this about me?
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  Just as many of us maybe would ask if Jesus said this thing
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  about our inner being that we respond with, how do you know
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  that? And as they, as as Jesus
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  replied, I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found
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  you. Then Nathaniel exclaimed that he
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  responded very quickly and excitedly that Rabbi, you are
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  the Son of God, the King of Israel.
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  That right away Nathaniel hears this, he encounters the Messiah,
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  that you know Jesus ain't just another regular man, that this
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  is the Son of man, that this is God in flesh, Emmanuel.
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  And he responds with you are the Son of God, king of Israel.
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  This was the testimony of Nathaniel regarding Jesus that
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  Nathaniel calls Jesus the Son of God, describing the unique
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  relationship of Jesus to God the Father and King of Israel
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  described his status as Messiah and king over us.
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  And this is just an just a, a monumental piece that Nathaniel
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  encounters Jesus and his response is to call Jesus the
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  Son of God, the King of Israel. That he now is reiterating what
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  Philip just brought to him. That when Philip said, I have
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  encountered the Messiah, Nathaniel's like, yes, Sir, this
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  is the Son of God, the king of Israel.
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  That now we have Andrew and Peter and Philip and Nathaniel,
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  they are all saying these powerful statements and truth
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  about Jesus that's being revealed to them as they
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  encounter him. And I just love that because
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  when we read through this text, we have to remember that these
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  Jewish men would have studied the Scriptures That most Jewish
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  men, when they went to school, they were being, they're being
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  taught the Torah on the Pentateuch, the five books of
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  the Old Testament, that they knew these scriptures, that they
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  learn these things, that they were excitedly waiting for the
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  Messiah to come. And now here they are
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  encountering him in real life, that they're face to face with
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  Jesus. And so this isn't why wild for
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  them to then say right away, I will follow you or right away
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  I've encountered the Messiah that they're calling Jesus these
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  things that they are. They're they have been waiting
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  for this moment. And I love that it it says then
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  Jesus asked him, do you believe this just because I told you I
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  had seen you under the fig fig tree.
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  You will see greater things than this.
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  And that's interesting that Jesus is saying, Nathaniel was
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  amazed by what he already saw in Jesus.
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  But Jesus told him that there was much, much more to see.
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  That there was going to be greater things that they were
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  going to experience. That they were going to be able
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  to walk, walk and follow after the Son of God, the Messiah, and
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  experience God with them on this earth.
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  That they were going to experience things that they were
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  going to remember for the rest of their lives.
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  But I want to dive deeper into what then Jesus says to follow
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  this up in verse 51. He says, then he said, I tell
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  you the truth, you will all see heaven open in the angels of God
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  going up and down on the Son of man and the one who is the
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  stairway between heaven and earth.
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  I don't know if you guys remember in Genesis 28, but
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  Jacob has this dream in Genesis 28 and it says in verse 12 as he
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  slept he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up
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  to heaven and he saw the angels of God going up and down the
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  stairway. So now we have Jesus, the
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  fulfillment of what even in the Old Testament is talked about,
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  that Jacob in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, that Jacob
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  experiences seeing this stairway that connects heaven to earth.
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  And he sees these angels going up and down on this stairway,
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  which is incredible that Jacob sees this ladder from earth to
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  heaven and the angels ascending to descending upon it.
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  And now Jesus says that he was the latter, that he's the link
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  between between heaven and earth, That Jesus is the the
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  mediator between God and man, That Jesus is our high priest.
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  That now anyone who puts their faith in Jesus is connected back
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  to God the Father. That he bridges the gap between
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  heaven and earth. That now because of our faith in
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  Jesus, we now have in a relationship that's restored,
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  that was broken because of our sin and disobedience to God the
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  Father. That Jesus is the latter.
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  He's the link between heaven and earth, earth.
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  And so this is a pretty pivotal theological stance and and
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  statement that Jesus is saying that just as you see, you will
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  see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the
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  Son of man. Just as Jacob had the dream of
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  seeing this ladder and stairway of heaven.
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  Now Jesus saying that I am that ladder, but even when you read
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  this Son of man description that Jesus gives the idea behind this
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  phrase is not the perfect man or the ideal man or even the common
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  man. Instead it was a reference back
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  again. Another thing that Jesus is
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  fulfilling from the Old Testament and Daniel Chapter 7
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  verses 13 through 14. Daniel says as my vision
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  continued that night, I saw someone like a Son of man coming
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  with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient 1 and
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  was led into His presence. He was given authority, honor,
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  and sovereignty over all the nations of the world so that
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  people of every race and nation and language would obey Him.
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  His rule is eternal. It will never end.
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  His Kingdom will never be destroyed.
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  Daniel prophesied in the OT about the Son of Man that's
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  coming in the clouds of heaven. That He was given all authority,
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  honor and sovereignty over all the nations of the world.
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  That his Kingdom will never be destroyed, That his rule is
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  eternal. That he will be obeyed by every
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  single person. Jesus, the name above all names,
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  the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the one
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  where every knee shall bow. Jesus is the Son of man.
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  Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is God.
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  That this was prophesied long ago and now Jesus is saying he
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  is the stairway to to heaven. That he is God with us.
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  That he is the latter that links us back to God the Father.
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  The Son of Man is who was promised long ago that he will
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  reign and his Kingdom will never perish.
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  That Jesus is on the right hand throne of God, and one day he's
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  coming back to take his children to bring us with him to heaven,
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  to everlasting life, to paradise, and that those who've
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  put their faith in Jesus will have eternal life.
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  And they're connected now forever to God the Father that
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  we even on this earth can go to God to enter his throne room
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  because of our high priest, Jesus Christ.
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  And so I love you guys so much. I thank you for being here with
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  me for continuing this journey through the Gospel of John.
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  I hope that you who have not put your faith in Jesus, that you
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  put your faith in Jesus and find eternal life in him.
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  And those who are listening to this and know Jesus and I've put
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  their faith in him. I pray that you don't hold on to
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  this news, this greatest news ever told to yourself, That you
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  run and tell someone else that you go spread the good news.
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  That you be the hands and feet of Jesus.
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  That you bring the good news to all ends of the earth, to your
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  Co worker, to your family, to whoever it may be.
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  Say I know the Messiah, I know the one who links heaven and
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  earth. I know the one who is the latter
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  to God the Father. And I want to tell you about
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  him. I love you guys.
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  Let me pray so we can get up out of here.
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  Lord Jesus, we love you. And Lord Jesus, we thank you for
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  who you are. Thank you for allowing us to
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  have to be made right with God through our faith in you.
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  Jesus, through your life, death and resurrection, we love you.
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  We thank you. God, help us be bold and
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  courageous to share our faith with others.
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  God, to go and tell everyone about the good news of you.
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  Jesus, I love you so much. I thank you for who you are.
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  Watch over us as we continue to be in a earth that has sinned
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  and brokenness God, that we have sinned and brokenness in us,
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  God. But we know, we know you the
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  great Physician, and I pray that you fill us with the Holy
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  Spirit, that we continue to live out a bold faith, that we tell
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  others about you Jesus, that they come to find hope and faith
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  in you. We love you and pray all us in
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  Jesus name, Amen. I love you guys, God bless.