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The Word - Meeting Jesus In John 1 Pt. 3 · Time with God with John North

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  Speaker 1: Good morning. All this week we're meeting Jesus at this
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  Speaker 1: time of day. Each weekday morning at this time we
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  Speaker 1: open the Bible and meet with God.
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  Speaker 1: And this week focusing in on meeting Jesus, using the
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  Speaker 1: apostle John's introduction to Jesus at the beginning of his gospel,
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  Speaker 1: his account of Jesus' life. He goes way back, we
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  Speaker 1: asked on Monday, who was Jesus before he was born,
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  Speaker 1: and John talks about Jesus' existence as God even before
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  Speaker 1: the world was created.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday we asked the question, well, if God's that and
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  Speaker 1: Jesus is God, can he really be known? And the
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  Speaker 1: answer is a resounding yes. And today we want to
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  Speaker 1: ask what kind of relationship with God does Jesus bring
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  Speaker 1: us into. When John starts his introduction of Jesus, he says,
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  Speaker 1: in the beginning was the Word, referring to Jesus, and
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  Speaker 1: the Word was with God.
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  Speaker 1: So this first verse has two aims in it that
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  Speaker 1: separate three core truths about the state of the word
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  Speaker 1: at the beginning of all things. First, the word was.
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  Speaker 1: Secondly, the word was with God. And thirdly, the Word
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  Speaker 1: was God. Well, the first truth is the existence of
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  Speaker 1: the Word at the beginning, and then there's two things
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  Speaker 1: about the nature of that existence. Since the Word was God,
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  Speaker 1: why does it say the Word was with God?
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's pointing to one of the most basic things
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  Speaker 1: we know about God, and that is that He is
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  Speaker 1: a trinity of three persons.
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  Speaker 1: And here in this statement that the word was with God,
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  Speaker 1: it's emphasising the togetherness of the persons of God. In
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament, usually when it just says God, it's
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  Speaker 1: referring to God the Father. So for example, in John 3:16,
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  Speaker 1: God so loved the world that He gave His only
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  Speaker 1: begotten Son, that's Jesus, the Father gave Jesus, and many
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  Speaker 1: verses throughout the New Testament.
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  Speaker 1: But here at the beginning of John, he's focusing in
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  Speaker 1: more on the three persons of God, the relationships within
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  Speaker 1: the Godhead or the Trinity. Jesus later in John speaks
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  Speaker 1: about the love between him and the Father.
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  Speaker 1: I do just as the Father has commanded me so
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  Speaker 1: that the world may know that I love the Father.
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  Speaker 1: In John 8:29, he says, he talking about the Father,
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  Speaker 1: He who sent me is with me.
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  Speaker 1: Also, in chapter 16, he says, I am not alone,
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  Speaker 1: for the Father is with me. So what began before creation,
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  Speaker 1: the word was with God, continued into Jesus' humanity.
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  Speaker 1: The Father is with me. Jesus wasn't an independent unit
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  Speaker 1: in His eternity. He was moving together with the Father
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  Speaker 1: and the Spirit. He knows the Father and the Spirit completely,
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  Speaker 1: just as they know each other and Him completely. The
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  Speaker 1: Son who is at the Father's side, John says in
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  Speaker 1: verse 18, well.
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  Speaker 1: Uh, for anyone to have already been with God before
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  Speaker 1: creation was a radical departure from the Jewish perspective that
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  Speaker 1: God was only one person and everyone else was created.
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  Speaker 1: What this reality of God, the Father being with the
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  Speaker 1: Son and the Spirit shows us is that God didn't
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  Speaker 1: create the world out of a need for relationship. He
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  Speaker 1: already had perfect fellowship within the Trinity.
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  Speaker 1: And this withness includes so many aspects, it includes the
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  Speaker 1: idea that they're moving with one purpose. It's like a
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  Speaker 1: battle going on, and one soldier stands up and says,
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  Speaker 1: Who's with me? and several others stand up and together
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  Speaker 1: they charge off. They're together in purpose, they're acting in unity.
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  Speaker 1: This is like what we see there, and then Jesus
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  Speaker 1: begins telling us.
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  Speaker 1: As he goes on through his life as a man,
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  Speaker 1: he says, I will be with you at the end
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  Speaker 1: of the great commission. As we move with him in
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  Speaker 1: his purpose, we are united with him in that way.
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  Speaker 1: In Jesus' final prayer at the commissioning of his disciples,
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  Speaker 1: he prays that they may all be one, just as you, Father,
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  Speaker 1: are in me, and I in you.
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  Speaker 1: That they also may be in us so that the
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  Speaker 1: world may believe that you have sent me. You can
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  Speaker 1: be with God in this deep, intensely personal way, united
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  Speaker 1: in purpose, united in love, united in His presence. Well,
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  Speaker 1: that's the relationship that Jesus brings you from God the Father.
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  Speaker 1: I'm John North.
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  Speaker 2: To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.