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John chapter 1 · Scripture Unscripted

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John chapter one, let us pray. Oh God Almighty Lord, we come
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and we sit at your feet. Father, we lay prostate as dead
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men. Lord, we desire revelation
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today. Lord, we desire for you to pull
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back the curtains and allow us to peek and to peer in to the
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throne room of grace. God, we come running in.
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Lord, we desire to see you high and lifted up Jesus Christ.
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Eyes like fire and hair like wool.
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The voice many waters God we desire to see you and we see you
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in Jesus Holy Spirit fill us today.
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Holy Spirit guide us today. I decrease as you increase Jesus
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Christ, as we memorize these words and as we meditate upon
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these words and as we learn your scriptures.
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Father, I pray that it becomes part of us, part of our DNA.
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Lord, I pray that you will discern us.
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Lord, I pray that we will be one with you and you one with us.
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God, I pray that we are lockstep, walking in the Spirit.
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Father, I pray against the satisfying, the lusts of the
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flesh. God I reject the lust of the
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flesh, I reject the lust of the eyes.
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God, I reject the pride of life. In God we take up the cross,
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knowing that the blood of the martyrs, the seed of the Gospel,
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knowing that you are calling us into new heights, knowing that
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you are calling us into a steadfast obedience unto you.
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Lord, I pray that we could lay down our lives for our brothers.
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God, we can know the love that you have for us.
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And God, we can stiff arm fear, we can stiff arm death.
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And Lord, we can stand boldly in the ministry that you've given
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us, God, for our families, for our neighbors, for this world.
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God, I just pray that as we embark on this journey together,
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Lord, that you will be well pleased.
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And Lord, that we can come to know Christ and Christ
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crucified, Lord, reveal to us eternal truths.
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Lord, I pray that we'll be awakened to the word today.
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Lord, that something will shift within our spirit.
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And God, I pray that we will be emboldened in our faith and that
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the scales will fall off. Lord, I pray that self
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preservation and pride will fall off today.
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I pray in the name of Jesus that reputation God in the amassment
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of wealth and greed will fall off today.
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God, I pray that malice and anger and strife and gossip will
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fall off as we read your word. God, I pray that your word will
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read us. I pray that it will purge us,
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purify us, that it will test us, that it will pull out all the
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impurities in the dross. God, in the name of Jesus, I
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pray that we'll never be the same.
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God, I pray that we'll be obedient and the love of Christ
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will consume us. God, I thank you for your Holy
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Scriptures. I thank you for the many things
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that you've already done for us, Lord, the unmentioned things,
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God, the capillaries, Lord, and the thought processes, Father,
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the things that we're not even aware of, Father, the
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subconscious. God, I pray that you'll awaken
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and quicken in us in the spirit God.
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Awaken us to the supernatural. God, let us not just be steeped
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in the natural, but God let us be balanced as we move and
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operate and have our being, you and us and us and you.
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God, we love you. This in the mighty name of Jesus
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Christ, I pray, Amen. Let's start in verse one.
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In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and
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the Word was God. Jesus Christ is God.
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Here you see the Trinity all at play, friends, God the Father,
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God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
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We see that Jesus rightfully shows that he is God.
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There is no breaking in that thought process and in that
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doctrine, Friends, we cannot be duped.
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We cannot be LED astray by those that teach otherwise.
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We must stand firm on the Trinity of God Almighty being
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three in one. And that is not a hard concept,
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friends. We must realize that it is the
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same with the different offices with different facets.
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And you and I are three in one. We have body, we have soul, we
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have spirit friends, but we are one as we wake up and as we go
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about our day. We're one individual, but
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made-up of three. And it's no different with
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Yahweh. He is 3 and He is 1, and we see
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here that His spoken word, the Rhema, we see that the Logos
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here is God. It is His thoughts, it is His
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mind, it is His plan for the ages.
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It is the full authority. And we would do well not to call
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any of it into question, friends.
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We would do well to stand firm and build our lives upon this
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word. Friends, this is the supreme
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authority over the land. This is the supreme authority
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over every nation, every continent, every people group,
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every tongue, friends. The Jewish God Yahweh is the
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only one true God. Every other God is an idol,
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friends. And it's just that clear and
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it's just that factual. Jesus said I am the way, the
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truth and the life, and no one comes unto the Father except
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through me. And here we get to see what he
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meant by that is that Jesus is God.
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Verse 2. The same was in the beginning
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with God. So we can see the deity of Jesus
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Christ, we can see his beginning has no beginning, we can see
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that He is eternal 3. All things were made by him, and
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without him was not anything made that was made before the
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foundations of the earth. He was with God, He is God, and
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He spoke everything into existence.
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Think about it. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light
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of men. So we know that Jesus is the
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life. We know that it is just His
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words. It is his breath that sustains
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all life, friends. And He breathed into us and we
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have His breath in US, and it is the only way that we are able to
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have life and we can have life now and life forever.
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Abundant life, friends. It is by being indwelled with
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the Holy Spirit, it is by having the resurrection power living
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inside of us that we can start the process of eternity now,
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that we will be living forever with Him forever more.
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Every single person who has ever been born, is living today, or
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will be born is going to live forever.
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He created us to live forever. We have eternity placed into the
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heart of man. And here's the reality, friends,
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is that there are only two options.
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There's heaven and there's hell, and we choose to go to hell
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whenever we reject this life that He is giving us, this life
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everlasting five. And the light shines in
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darkness, and the darkness comprehends it.
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Not so this darkness cannot drive out the light.
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It actually is the opposite. The light drives out darkness.
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When the light shines on the horizon, all the darkness flees.
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It is the name above every name, the name Jesus Christ, the Word.
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And we can see that the Word became flesh, and we can see
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that it shines in the darkness. And there is no place on planet
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earth that this light cannot touch and reach.
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Friends, and if we choose to reject this light, it is not
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because the light has not shined upon us.
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All of creation proclaims His name, so that man is without
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excuse, which is the reason that we are sending ourselves into
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eternal damnation, because we have no excuse.
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Look at the beauty all around, friends.
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But people are so in love with evil that they refuse to love
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the truth. Six, There was a man sent from
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God whose name was John. So he's going to start waxing
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eloquently about John the Baptist.
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And by the way, friends, this first chapter here.
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And John, this is not poetry. This is not just some very well
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written account. This is the reality.
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This is the mind of Christ. This is what God had in his mind
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as he was pinning it. These are inspired words.
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This is not just semantics. Friends. 7 The same came for a
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witness, to bear witness to the light that all men through him
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might believe. So we know that John the Baptist
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was the forerunner for Jesus Christ.
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We know that John the Baptist was the herald of our Messiah. 8
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He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
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light. So John the Baptist made sure
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everyone knew that he wasn't even worthy to tie the straps of
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the sandals of our Messiah, which would have been the lowest
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of the lowest position of the Servant.
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And so you can see that he is saying that His glory far
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surpasses anything that man has ever known. 9 That was the true
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light, which lights every man and comes into the world.
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So we know that Jesus Christ is the true light. 10 He was in the
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world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
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They did not receive him, they rejected Him.
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They were too steeped in traditions and ceremony that
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they refused to open up their hearts and their minds and their
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understanding. They refused to allow Jesus
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Christ to break down all their presuppositions.
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They refused him. They rejected him.
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They murdered their Messiah. But the Lord has an ultimate
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plan that he's going to bring this Jewish nation.
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He's going to bring the whole world into the saving knowledge
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of the Lord Jesus Christ. For God so loved the world that
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he gave him, that whosoever will believe in him will not perish,
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but they will have eternal life. And we know that it is God's
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plan that no one should perish, but we choose to reject Him
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because we're so in love with this world.
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We're so in love with the flesh. We're so in love with greed.
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We're so in love with power and position and lording over
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others. We're so in love with all of the
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things in this world that we refuse to follow after.
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The only one that can give us the abundant life.
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The only one that can give us the eternal life.
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The only one that can give us the Holy Spirit as a down
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payment for what's to come, friends.
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And we desperately need Jesus. We desperately need a touch from
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Jesus. We desperately need to be filled
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with the Holy Spirit. We desperately need to have
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assurance of our salvation. Friends 12 But as many as
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received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God,
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even to them that believed on His name.
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That is what it takes, Friends. It takes believing on His name.
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It takes believing that God raised him from the dead.
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And you shall be saved, and the Holy Spirit will fill you.
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We will not satisfy the lust of the flesh, friends, and we will
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be filled and quickened in our spirit.
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And we will come alive, friends, to the knowledge and revelation
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of Jesus Christ. And His glory will overwhelm us.
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His glory will be our meditation.
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His glory will be the very thing that we exalt over this nation
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and over our families. It is His power from on high,
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His deity. Friends, it is the beauty of
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Jesus that we chase after 13 which were born not of blood,
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nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
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God. And this is what Jesus sat down
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and discussed with Nicodemus. This is what He was telling him,
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that you must be born of the Spirit and we desperately need
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to surrender our entire lives. Whatever little bit of time that
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you have left, friends, surrender it unto God.
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Surrender it unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Every moment of every day and every heartbeat and every breath
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fully surrendered unto Him. Nothing held back, nothing
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compartmentalized friends. Every single molecule of your
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being completely yielded it over to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Every thought, every emotion, every dollar, every cent, every
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talent, every single one of your abilities, all of your
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reputation, all of your pride, all of yourself completely
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yielded to the reality of the truth of Jesus Christ. 14 And
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the Word was made flesh, and he dwelt among us, and we beheld
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his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
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full of grace and truth. So here we see the incarnation.
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We see how John the Disciple here, not John the Baptist, but
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John the disciple, the Beloved, got to see Jesus on the Mount of
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Transfiguration. He got to see the glory of Jesus
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Christ exuding from the inside out.
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He took off the veil, He took off the blinders, and he allowed
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the disciples to see him in all of his glory.
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And we will, believers, we will see him rightly.
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We must fix our eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the Author,
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the perfector of our faith. He's leading us home.
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He's going from glory to glory, friends, and we must join him.
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We must take hold of the hem of his garment and allow him to
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make us whole and to heal us, friends, and to fill us,
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friends. And he is full of grace and
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truth. This is set, friends.
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This is the reality of how Jesus operates in this life and in the
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life to come. It's grace and grace abounds.
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It's grace upon grace, friends. It's nothing that you could ever
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earn. It is by His free gift, friends
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of Grace. That he bestows upon us and it
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is truth. You must walk in the truth you
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must tell the truth friends this is Jesus Jesus is the truth
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friends and it are. It's these two points that we
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hyper fixate and focus our actions upon and our obedience
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upon, and we extend grace to those who desperately need it,
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and we instruct those to walk in the truth, friends, and this is
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the way of Jesus Christ. 15 John bore witness of him and cried,
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saying, this was he of whom I spoke.
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He that comes after me is preferred before me, for he was
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before me. We know that John the Baptist
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was the elder. We know that he was born first
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from Elizabeth and Zechariah, and we know that he would have
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been older than Jesus. And here he is showing you that
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Jesus is God because he was before him. 16 and of his
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fullness have all we received and grace for grace.
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We're getting grace instead of grace.
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And it is grace upon grace, friends, that we press into.
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And it is not by works that anyone should boast, Friends,
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we're not going to enter into heaven because of anything that
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we have done. It is all because of what He has
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done. And He imputes His righteousness
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upon us, friends. And that is the grace of God is
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that no matter how despicable you have been, He invites you
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into the holiness of what he wrought for us on the cross.
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The holiness and glory and the innocence that He lived out and
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fleshed out on this earth is available to you and to me.
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And we can stand in the presence of a holy, righteous, Almighty
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God, and we can be counted as innocent because of what Jesus
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did on the cross, and that is grace upon grace, and that is
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grace instead of grace. 17 For the law was given by Moses, but
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grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
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So he's driving down this grace that is balanced with truth,
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Friends. And we know that Jesus Christ is
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grace and truth. We know that he did not come to
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abolish the law, but to fulfill it. 18 No man has seen God at
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any time. The only begotten Son, which is
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in the bosom of the Father, He has declared him.
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So we know that God is an all consuming fire.
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We know that God is the great I am, and we know that Jesus
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Christ is the facet of God that we can look upon. 19 And this is
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the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites
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from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?
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So here comes the Pharisees and they're wanting to know who The
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Who John the Baptist is. 20 He confessed and denied not, but
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confessed I am not the Christ. So they wanted to know if John
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the Baptist was the Messiah, their long-awaited Messiah.
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And he says, no, I am not. 21 So they asked him, what then are
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you Elijah? And he said, I am not.
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So we know in a in a way that John the Baptist, he held the
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mantle in the ministry of Elijah.
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He could have very well said that he was not Elijah, but he
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had a lot of the same characteristics of Elijah.
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And then they asked, are you that prophet?
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And he answered, no. So we know that in the Old
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Testament that it was recorded that a prophet would come and
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they wanted to know, are you that prophet?
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And he says No 22 Then said they unto him, Who are you, that we
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may give an answer to them that sent us?
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What do you say of yourself? So they did not want to go back
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to their leaders and have no answer that they were confounded
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by this hippie in the wilderness eating locusts and honey who had
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outsmarted and outwitted and outmaneuvered them, so they
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needed something to go off of. What does John the Baptist say
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of himself? 2323?
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He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
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Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet
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Isaiah. So here he quotes out of the
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book of Isaiah. And this was foretold that John
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the Baptist would come on the scene and be the herald and the
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forerunner for Jesus Christ. And he's telling them, Go and
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search the Scriptures, and you will know that God is in your
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midst, is right in your midst, friends. 24 And they which were
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sent were of the Pharisees. 25 And they asked him, and said
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unto him, Why do you baptize then, if you are not the Christ,
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nor Elijah, nor that prophet? So they're asking him, What
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authority do you think you have to come and to be the person who
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is baptizing, By what authority do you think that you have?
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You're not of the religious sect, you're not a Pharisee,
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you're not a Sadducee. And here John the Baptist is
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going to proclaim to him where his authority comes from.
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John 26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water,
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but they're standing one among you whom you know not. 27 He it
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is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes
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latch it. I'm not worthy to unloose. 28
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These things were done in Betharba beyond Jordan, where
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John was baptizing. So he's telling them that his
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authority comes from his calling, from the calling that
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was placed on him before he was even conceived.
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We know that the Angel appeared to Zechariah and told him that
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John the Baptist would have a miraculous birth through
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Elizabeth, who was old and stricken with age.
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And we know that John the Baptist was a Nazarite in the
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sense that he went out. He'd never touched fermented
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drink. We know that his food was locust
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and honey. And we know that he has a
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leather belt around his waist and a hairy camel cloak.
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And here these religious people would have been completely put
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off by John the Baptist, and we know that John the Baptist was
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the forerunner and the witness of Jesus Christ. 29 The next day
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John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of
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God, which takes away the sin of the world.
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So here we know that Jesus Christ was the only one found
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worthy to open the scroll. He was the Lamb that was slain
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before the foundations of the earth, and it pleased God to
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crush him, and it is marvelous in our sight.
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And here John the Baptist is pronouncing the death and the
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burial and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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He is the Lamb of God, and he takes away the complete sin of
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the world. And blessed is the man whose
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sins will never be counted against him.
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And we see that Jesus is the only way to have the right
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standing with God Almighty. It is by the blood of Jesus
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Christ covering us, friends, from the bottom of our feet to
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to the top of our head, from the palms of our hands to our back
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and our chest and our legs and our arms.
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We need to be covered in the blood of Jesus Christ so that we
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can stand before Almighty God one day. 30 This is he of whom I
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said, after me comes a man, which is preferred before me,
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for he was before me. So we can see that Jesus Christ
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is the creator of everything, seen and unseen.
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And John the Baptist understood it and he would not.
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John the Baptist would not receive undo worship.
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And we would do well to make sure that when people try to
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exalt us, that we push down that worship and that we give all
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glory and all honor unto God Almighty.
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For we see that we are just unprofitable servants.
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We are bond servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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And anything good in US is only because of the Lord Jesus
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Christ. There is nothing good in US, no,
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not one thing. There is not one man who is
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righteous and all of our righteousnesses, but filthy rags
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before the Lord. We must walk in that bridal
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identity. It is only by Him and Him alone
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that we can come unto the Father, and that we can receive
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salvation, and that we can receive our inheritance with
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Him. 31 And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest
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to Israel. Therefore I am come baptizing
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with water. So here is John's response to
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the Pharisees of why he's baptizing with water.
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It is because God Almighty told him to.
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And then God Almighty said, when he was out in the wilderness, he
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says, listen, the one who is my Messiah, the one who's coming to
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take care of all the sin in the world, you're going to see a
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dove descend upon him and you'll know that he is the Christ, the
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long-awaited Messiah. 32 And John Borer records saying, I saw
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the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode
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upon him. So that was the sign that God
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told John the Baptist that he would see to know that Jesus
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Christ is the long-awaited Messiah. 33 And I knew him not,
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and he sees in 33 I knew him not, but he that sent me to
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baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom you
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shall see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
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as he which baptized with the Holy Ghost.
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So John baptized with water, but Jesus Christ is going to baptize
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with fire the Holy Ghost. 34 And I saw and I bore record that
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this is the Son of God. Can you say that today, friends?
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I pray that you can. I pray that you know that Jesus
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Christ is God. 35 Again, the next day after John stood, and
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two of his disciples. So these two disciples were
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disciples of John the Baptist. 36 And looking upon Jesus as he
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walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
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So John the Baptist pronounces to his disciples, look, there is
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God Incarnate, God in the flesh, the Lamb that was slain before
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the foundations of the earth. 37 And the two disciples heard him
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speak, and they followed Jesus. They left John the Baptist to go
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in to follow Jesus. 38 Then Jesus turned and saw them
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following, and said unto them, What do you seek?
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And they said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being
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interpreted, Master, where do you dwell?
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So Jesus asks you and me the same question, What do you seek?
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Are you just looking for a get out of hell free card?
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Are you just looking for a clear conscience?
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Do you want to manipulate the Word of God for your own selfish
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gain and greed? What do you seek?
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What is the meaning of it all? And we must answer that we only
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want to know Christ and Christ crucified.
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That is suffice for us. Friends, What do you seek?
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We must know Him in his sufferings and all of his glory.
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39 And he said unto them, Come and see, they came, and saw
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where he dwelled, and abode with him that day, for it was about
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the 10th hour. So imagine that friends, Imagine
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how Jesus did not live a an obscure ministry where he just
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was alone. He invited those in and He
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invites you and me in to the life that he has for us.
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Look at how Jesus Christ allowed these men, these 12 disciples,
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to study him, and it was the conviction that led them to go
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out and to suffer martyrdom for the Lord Jesus Christ. 41 Of the
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two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon
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Peter's brother. 41 He first finds his own brother Simon, and
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said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being
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interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he brought him to Jesus, and
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when Jesus beheld him, he said, You are Simon, the son of Jonah.
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You shall be called Cephas, which is interpreted a stone.
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So we know that he called him Peter, and we know that on that
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rock he has built the church, and the gates of hell will not
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prevail. We know that Peter made the
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confession that Jesus is the Son of God.
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We know that he is the Christ and the Messiah, and that is how
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Simon got the name Peter. 43 The day following, Jesus would go
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forth into Galilee and finds Philip and says unto him, Follow
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me. He says the same to you and to
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me. He says follow him.
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Follow him into the darkness, Follow him into all of the
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depravity of humanity, Follow him into the hardest
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neighborhoods, follow him into the unreached people groups,
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follow him into all the world. It's the greatest adventure that
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you'll ever go on and you'll never be put to shame.
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You could spill out your life knowing that you have him right
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beside you. You can be like Stephen as he's
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being stoned to death. You can look up and see Jesus
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Christ seated at the right hand of God.
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And you can have your peace. That only comes from a
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relationship with God Almighty through his Son Jesus Christ.
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And we count this life as nothing, friends.
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We lay down our lives. We spill out our blood because
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we know that that is the seed of the gospel for all those who are
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going to come in and that is how the least become the greatest
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friends. It is a upside down, inside out
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Kingdom. He says.
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Follow me 44 Now Philip was of beside the city of Andrew and
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Peter. 45 Philip found Nathaniel and said unto him, We have found
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him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of
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Nazareth, the son of Joseph. So here this would have been a
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conundrum. Here we would have found that
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Nathaniel would have scratched his head and tried to figure out
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how this obscure little city of Nazareth, if anything good,
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could come out of it. And here he's attaching the son
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of Joseph, who was the Carpenter.
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And there would have been a lot of wrestling that would have
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needed to happen on the part of a disciple to truly trust and to
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follow this person who had no real dignity in the sense of how
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the world looks upon him. He said foxes have holes and
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birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
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And we know that the ministry that Jesus embarked on, he never
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made it about money. Friends, He was taken care of by
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our Father, and it was a day-to-day reliance upon God
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Almighty. We must get to that place.
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We cannot have self-reliance, friends, It's not the way of our
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Lord. We must rely on the Lord Jesus
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Christ for everything, every day of every moment, and receive it
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all as a gift from Him. 46 And Nathaniel said unto him, Can
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there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
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Philip said unto him, Come and see.
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So it is the same that Jesus said, Come and see.
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And now Nathaniel is being called, and Philip is telling
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him, Just come and see. 47 Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and
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said of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no
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guile. He's saying an Israelite of
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Israelites. He's saying there is no
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deception in him. 48 Nathaniel said unto him, How do you know
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me? Jesus answered and said unto
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him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig
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tree, I saw you. So we know that Nathaniel, there
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was no deception in him, and we know that he was a student of
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the Scriptures and he was studying them under the fig
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tree. He was thinking about them and
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meditating upon all of the truth of Scripture.
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And here he would have been really puzzled of how Jesus knew
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him and how he saw him. And it's no different for you
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and for me. Jesus sees us.
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He sees us in the secret place. He sees us in the hidden
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moments. He knows your inner thoughts.
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He knows your inner motives. He knows your emotions.
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He knows your past and present and future.
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He knows how many hairs are on your head.
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He knows every breath that you're going to draw in your
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lifetime time. He knows your beginning and your
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end. You are known by him, believer.
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He knows everything about you. He sees us. 49 Nathaniel
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answered and said unto him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God,
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You are the King of Israel. Can you say that today about
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Jesus Christ? Is he the Son of God, the King
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of Israel? And we would do well to bless
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that nation, friends, God will bless those that bless the
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nation Israel and curse those that curse the nation, nation
41:53
Israel. Friends, it is a biblical truth
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that is congruent from beginning to end.
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It did not have a period of time that was applicable and then
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somehow went by the wayside. It's the full counsel and
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authority of God's Word that we need.
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Francis, ignorance of the Word of God that is destroying so
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many. We must get into the Word. 50
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Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto you, I
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saw you under the fig tree, you believe you shall see greater
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things than these we'll end on. 51 And he said unto him, Truly,
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truly, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and
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the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
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Surely God is in this place, this ladder of Jacob and the
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angels going up and down, and it's the Son of God.
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It is Jesus Christ who is the hinge point between heaven and
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earth. And we must come unto Him, and
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we must know that He is real, and we must know that He is our
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salvation. And there is no salvation apart
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from Jesus Christ. He is the only way, the truth
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and the life. He is the ladder.
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He is the one who Steven saw as he looked up to heaven and
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everything was rendered and ripped apart.
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And he could look and peek and peer into the reality of what is
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about to happen. And we would do well, friends,
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to make sure that we are locked in with the Lord Jesus Christ,
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lockstep with Him, and that we are living out this Word, that
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the Word is in US, friends, and we are in the Word, and the Word
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is alive and active and sharper than any 2 edged sword in the
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Lord. And the Word became flesh,
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friends. And Jesus Christ is the Word,
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the Logos. And John, the disciple here is
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pointing the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews, the Gentiles, the
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Pharisees. He's pointing all of them to the
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reality that they must come to the Father through Jesus Christ.
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Jesus Christ is the only way. Hope you've been blessed by this
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first chapter here in the Gospel of John.
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I know, I sure have. What an amazing book.
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I'm praying for you and I love you.
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So does God. Let's keep pressing forward.
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Let's keep our Wicks trimmed and our oil full and our lamps.
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Let's burn bright for the Lord Jesus Christ and stay prayed up.
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I'll see you back here tomorrow. God bless you.