Scripture referenced 8 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Isaiah 55:8 Pastor's wife reading by the Christmas tree: 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways'
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.
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Keep this verse
2 Thessalonians 3:16
Read during the advent candle lighting: 'now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way'
16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with you all.
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John 5:16-30
The main passage for the sermon, covering Jesus's claims about himself and his relationship to the Father
16 For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.”
18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
20 For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
22 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
25 Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.
26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
27 He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.
28 Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice,
29 and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
30 I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
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John 5:18
Used to show the religious leaders understood Jesus was claiming equality with God
18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
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John 5:19
Jesus saying the Son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do
19 Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
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John 5:21
As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to whom he will
21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
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John 5:22
The Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son
22 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
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John 5:26
As the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself
26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On the second Sunday of Advent, Pastor Ray preached from John 5:16-30, asking the congregation to consider who Jesus actually claimed to be rather than arguing over church traditions. The sermon was part of an ongoing series through the gospel of John, with Boy Scout Troop 67 and Cub Scout Packs also present for the service. Communion followed the message.
What was said
Pastor Ray picked up where the series left off, reminding the congregation that the healing of the man at the Pool of Bethesda had enraged the religious leaders because Jesus did it on the Sabbath. That controversy set up the passage for the morning, because what Jesus says in response to their anger is a series of direct claims about who he is. The observation was made that polls consistently show people have little problem with Jesus himself, but distrust organized religion, and that gap is worth paying attention to.
The first claim Pastor Ray drew out of the text is that Jesus called God "my Father," and in the Greek, "my own Father," meaning a unique, personal relationship. John, Pastor Ray noted, makes the point explicit in verse 18: the religious leaders understood exactly what Jesus was claiming and wanted to kill him for it. He was claiming equality with God.
From there, the passage shows Jesus saying he does nothing independently of the Father. Pastor Ray illustrated this with a story about his own father and grandfather, how they all stand the same way and share the same habits without thinking about it. He connected that to Jesus saying, "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do." Because God works, Jesus works. Because God loves, Jesus loves. Because God raises the dead, Jesus raises the dead.
The passage then turns to judgment, and Pastor Ray acknowledged that is the slide he was most uncomfortable putting on the screen. The point he pressed was that Jesus is not an impartial stranger holding a clipboard. He took the full weight of every sin ever committed onto himself on the cross, so he knows what sin costs, not from having committed it but from having suffered its punishment. That is the judge who will judge us.
Pastor Ray then walked through the criteria Jesus himself gives for that judgment, in verse 24: whoever hears his word and believes in the one who sent him has everlasting life and has already passed from death into life. The grammar mattered to him here. He noted the verb is perfect past tense, meaning it happened once and holds into eternity. The standard is not a ledger of good and bad deeds. It is hearing and believing.
Pastor Ray closed by turning the telescope back on the church. He said that if Christians are grumpy naysayers arguing over order of service and tradition, they have no leg to stand on, and people are right to be put off. What cannot be argued with, he said, is what Jesus claims for himself right there in the text. The invitation was to read John's eyewitness account, all 24 pages of it, and let that be the basis for deciding what to make of Christ in Christmas.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor Ray mentioned that his family celebrated Christmas without Jesus for the first seven years of their marriage. How has your own understanding of what Christmas is actually about changed over time, and what shaped that change?
- The religious leaders were so committed to their traditions that they wanted to kill Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. Where have you seen traditions, whether in church or in your own life, get in the way of what God is actually doing?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,279 words
0:10
Alright. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. It's nice to see you guys here this morning.
0:16
You and we're gonna go ahead and get started here. Call these folks in from the parking lot. We've got a nice troop of Boy Scouts here, so I'm sure they're gonna sing really loud. I'm depending on you guys to sing really loud. So let's stand up together and worship.
0:44
Joy to the world the Lord is come let earth receive every prepare him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and heaven nature sing. And heaven and
3:12
Nice singing. Thanks for hitting that high note for me. I appreciate that. You guys may, be seated.
3:50
I know I'm not on yet. Let's try. Let's try it out. Now, I am. Anyway, this is there are a lot of things going on at first b, and I would call your attention to your bulletin just quickly.
4:10
And I'm gonna highlight I'm gonna give you the highlights this morning. And the two inserts refer to are the today, we're gonna sing Christmas carols, and then we're going to after that is the buzzard breath chili cook off, if you like chili. So singing caroling starts at four, and caroling and the chili cook off is at 05:30. So I would encourage you to take your announcements and read them. And actually between services, we have what's called the connection service down in Fellowship Hall.
4:52
So if those of you guys out there that don't know what to say, you can take the announcements and you can read them to your family or your friend or the person sitting next to you. So, we're gonna do that. But I do love I do love the Christmas season. I gotta tell you. And let me ask you.
5:10
Let me ask all of you out there, I guess, what's your favorite Christmas carol?
5:15
Well,
5:19
that wasn't very good. Come on. What's your favorite Christmas carol? Alright. There we go.
5:26
Boy Scouts. Good job. Well, anyway, my name is John. However, my family, I'm gonna let you on a little slice of my life as the kids were growing up, and that is hang on one second.
5:42
Turn it off.
5:43
I'm on. And that is my family knows me as mister Christmas. And the reason that happened was because when our kids were growing up, we had several Christmas trees in our house. How many people have more than one Christmas tree in their house? Yeah.
6:01
We've got a few. As our kids were growing up, we had I believe we had about five. My youngest son went to school one one day and the teacher said, how many trees do you have? And Tim says, well, I think we have 10. I don't think we ever had 10 trees, but but we decorated and like to decorate and, you know, complete with the Lionel train set under the tree and the tram that goes up to the top of the cabinet and, you know, and so now with the grandkids coming, it's it's awesome.
6:30
I mean, they they all light up and I was thinking about after we came back from Thanksgiving about the Christmas season and and how wonderful it is to celebrate and what a great time of the year it is. So, one morning, I'll I'll just and this is a true story. I got up one morning and I started strutting down the hallway. You know how guys can strut. Dave, you can strut, and Ray, you can strut.
6:54
Several of you can kinda strut down the hallway, and I need a little help from the praise band here, and I was singing Here Comes Santa Claus. So, here we go. Here comes Santa Claus. Here comes Santa Claus. Right.
7:06
Down Santa Claus Lane.
7:07
Boom diata. Boom diata. Zander Blitz and and all.
7:12
Anybody and I look at Renzy goes, boom diata. Is that really a word in the song? Anyway, so I walk in the family room and here's my wife all cozied up, got her tea, and she's reading and and surrounded with an Afghan and I kind of looked at her and I said, what are you reading? And so here she goes. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways.
7:39
I thought, well, that kinda put that in perspective, didn't it? That's found in Isaiah fifty five eight if anybody wants to look that up. But the point being, you know, really, there are several ways to celebrate Christmas. For the first seven years of our marriage, we celebrated Christmas without Jesus in our family. And so my challenge to you today is how are how are you and your family and your household gonna celebrate Christmas?
8:08
And so that is with him or without him. With him or without him. You ever wondered why they put his tree on top of the star or a star on top of the tree? You know, with him. So that's my challenge to you and Ray's going to give the message here a little bit later.
8:29
So, as we go to prayer, if you look inside your bulletin, there's several, there's a big praise on top. Roseanne Welch is coming home from Kenya and that's a great thing. You know, we should pray for each other and our families at this Christmas time. You know, what this Christmas season really means to you. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
8:56
So, father God, we do thank you for this Christmas season. We thank you that you're involved in our lives and that you're involved in you know, every phase of our life. I ask for your blessing, lord, on each family that's present here today, that you would bless their home, that you would bless their children, and and their grandchildren. So, thank you for the opportunity to come and worship you together as a team. We give you praise for all the prayer requests this morning in the bulletin and ask that you look over and your healing hand would be on those who are ill and are sick and that you would give Roseanne safe travel home as she comes back from Kenya.
9:35
So, we thank you for this morning and we thank you for this opportunity to to pray and worship together and we give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen. So, at this time, Christy and Steve come and light the the candle. We're mixing we're mixing things up a little bit. We are honored to have the Boy Scouts and the Cub Scouts here today.
10:10
I actually know some of these guys and I was a Cub Scout through the years. So, I mean, it's a great program and we're going to do what's known as the lighting of the advent wreath and then we'll have you guys come up with your presentation. Steve? I've got it.
10:29
Good morning. We're the Marshtellers. I'm Steve, Christy, and Eileen and we have the privilege of lighting the second advent candle today. This Sunday is the second in Advent. The light, we light the candle of peace as we prepare to celebrate the coming of the prince of peace.
10:48
We're reminded that God's timing is always perfect and his provision is always sufficient.
10:55
Second Thessalonians three sixteen says, now may the Lord have of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.
11:16
The
11:19
candle of peace. How many people actually have an advent wreath in their home? You know, we do. We have obviously
11:32
Who
11:36
said that? We have one, but it has a lot of candles. Alright. The other thing I wanna draw your attention to is the December schedule that's in the bulletin. I'm gonna mix in some of the announcements as we go and there's a lot of things happening including today which I mentioned a few other things.
11:58
I do wanna highlight for those of you family and friends that might be in town, the Christmas Eve service. There'll be a cantata and they're going to do Yeah, twice. Five, 05:00, and 06:30. So, you've got two opportunities in case you go want to go home early but anyway, invite your family and friends to that. So, pastor Ray, do you want to come up and talk and the Boy Scouts, if you guys, Kevin and Gary and if you guys would like to come up.
12:28
I will call up Kevin Anderson and Gary Eddington and I also would just like to recognize that Beth Carlson is a Cub Scout leader also. This church has been sponsoring the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts for a long long time. I'll let them tell you how long. But Boy Scout Troop sixty seven, Cub Scout Troop sixty seven, and Cub Scout Troops forty and two sixty eight are also included. So, if you're a member of any one of those Boy Scout or Cub Scout Troops, would you stand up where you are, please?
13:00
Fantastic and they whoo. Amen. We're glad to have you. Kevin and Gary, would you come on up and this is your mic. We'll see if it whistles.
13:18
Good morning. We decided that we needed to do something to acknowledge the long term sponsorship this church has had with the scouts and so we had this plaque that will go hopefully in Ray's office for a week or two until he gets another one But it basically acknowledges the First Baptist Church in recognition of the long term sponsorship of Troop and Pack sixty seven of the Jackson District. The research would indicate you've done this as a church for seventy eight to eighty years, somewhere in that vicinity. That's a very long term relationship and one that we value and treasure. So thank you for your support of us.
13:54
If there's anything that we can do for your church, please let us know. Thank you.
13:58
Thank you. Thank you very much. And I want to say, y'all, let everybody would just stand and join them too. We're going to sing a song in just a second but they're here every Tuesday. If you come in on Tuesday afternoons, you'll see guys about this tall and if you come in on Tuesday evenings, you'll see guys that that are taller that are that are in here and they are it's a signs of life in this place on Tuesday afternoon.
14:34
So, and we're glad you're here every Tuesday. We're we'd love to have you Sunday, Monday, whenever you're here but thank you very much for what it is that you do and I'll probably refer to y'all several times in the sermon. Come on, let's sing. Alright.
14:47
You sing though. Let's take a moment to welcome one another. Give some handshakes and some hugs. Alright. Let's sing.
15:49
The angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plain. Shall see stay come to Bethlehem and see Christ whose birth and angels sing come adore Christ the Lord shall see stay on. See him in a manger lay whom the choirs of O Glory. In act shall see stay, oh glory. In shall see stay here.
19:41
Excellent ending. Nice job.
20:41
Your light will shine when all else fails, never ending. Your glory comes beyond all things. My I'm a My heart and my soul, I give you control. Consume everlasting. Your light will shine when all else faint, never ending your glory.
22:12
And the cry of my heart is to bring you grace from the Your glory goes beyond all fame. And the cry of my heart is to bring you grace from the inside out, Lord, my soul. Cries out from the inside out, Lord, my soul cries out, Lord. You may be seated.
23:35
And a new microphone. I'm gonna insert something here, and that is there's a Noel tree in the very back of church as you walked in the door. Maybe at this Christmas time, remember our little saying, with him, without him, go to the Noel Tree. And, Christa, I don't know if you're here today or not, but there's a spot on there. There's a there's a bulb that you can take and this is going to be whatever the gift is is going to go to families in need in and around Jackson, Teton County.
24:06
So, it's a great opportunity. So, let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this morning. Help us to remember the birth of Jesus that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men. Father God, as we give this morning something back to you, it can be, you know, from our heart.
24:29
We thank you for this opportunity to give in Jesus name. Amen.
26:28
Amen. It's beautiful. Thank you, Kale. Well, good morning. I am, I love Christmas too.
26:38
I'm not mister Christmas, I don't guess, but I I really, really enjoyed it because it's Christ must. It's not church must. It's not, it's not tradition must but I will have to admit that there are traditions. I know of at least one young lady who remain nameless that ran away from home. Actually, it became a tradition.
27:00
Her running away from home right before the lights went on the Christmas tree because every year, her sister and her mother wanted to put clear lights on the tree and she wanted colored lights on the tree and it was a tradition that they were going to be colored lights or she was leaving and she did multiple years. She will remain nameless. Do you feel faithful? Do you feel joyful? And do you feel triumphant?
27:29
I hope so. I hope so. When you hear the hear the song, it says, oh come all you faithful, joyful, and triumphant. Sometimes this time of year, we can feel hectic. We can feel run down and we can feel beaten up.
27:45
There are a lot of kitsch phrases and a lot of things that people throw around. You see em on bumper stickers. You see em on things that are knitted and crocheted and hanging up all over the place. Wise men still seek him. I love that one.
27:57
Wise men still seek him. Jesus is the reason for the season. One of my seminary professors said, you always ought to start your sermons off with a statistic but I believe that about 90% of statistics are made up about 70% of the time. So, I don't do that. So, anywhere that you look, go on any study, you'll find that organized religion.
28:23
If they put it that way, organized religion receives low marks but Jesus almost always receives high marks. People don't have a problem with Jesus. That's that's saying something. But since truth has to be experienced personally to be valid to somebody. I'm going to ask you this morning to consider Christ, to think about Christ in Christmas, and not to think about our traditions and not to think about how we've kind of not gotten along.
28:53
I know denominationally, there are a lot of different groups represented right here and there are a lot of, if y'all don't know it, there are a lot of different groups represented right here. Everybody has a story. Everybody has a past. You all come from somewhere. Some of your mother and father raised you from early on with certain Christmas tradition, certain church traditions, and some didn't.
29:13
They just didn't and they come, they're all over the map. Today, because we're in a study of the gospel of John, I'm going to start off just where we left off last week. In John chapter five, so the gospel of John chapter five, I didn't look up the page number but if somebody gets John five and you want to holler that out, I'll spread it through the microphone to everybody else. John five, we're going to be reading verses 16 through 30. For the past several weeks, we've been considering this gospel of John.
29:46
The whole book was written by this disciple, this apostle John and he's Jesus's friend and Jesus became his lord and he wants to share it. He tells us specifically why he wrote the book. He wrote these things. He picked these stories specifically so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and by believing, have life in his name. So, we know that that's his reason for writing.
30:10
He's straight upfront about We have seen Jesus doing miracles so far. We have considered Jesus in the period of consideration which is the first four chapters. It's only about four pages long. It's really good. I I urge you to read it.
30:24
In fact, the first Sunday we started this series, what I ask is that we just read the book of John straight through. 20 chapters or 24 pages I should say. It's not long. It's easy to get through and it's some of the simplest but most elegant language in the whole Bible and it's the story of Jesus. Now, John wrote it last after Matthew, Mark, and Luke had written their gospels and so, he had already seen what they had written and he said, yes, those details are true but I'm writing these things because I I know where I would like for you to put your faith.
30:58
This is what matters. So, John is slightly shorter than Luke. It's slightly shorter but it's more theological. The gospel of belief is what we're calling it. So, you don't need any commonaries around or experts around to go through it with you.
31:13
Just read and see what John has to say about his friend and his lord. So, we're up to chapter five verses 16 to 30. If you remember, couple weeks ago actually, talked about the healing of the man at the Pool Of Bethesda and he had been sick for thirty eight years and Jesus said, to him, do you want to get well? And he gave him the reasons why he couldn't be well. He gave him excuses.
31:36
He didn't say yes. If Jesus ask you something, do you want to be well? Just say yes. But he's he gave him the excuses for why he couldn't be and then Jesus healed him anyway. He said, arise, pick up your palate, and walk and when he did that, it made a bunch of people mad.
31:52
Who did it make mad? The religious leaders. Yeah. The religious folks, the Pharisees probably. It doesn't say Pharisees right here.
32:02
It says the Jews but it's the leaders of the Jews, the Pharisees. The people who were stuck in their tradition, they had their traditions said, okay, this is what the this is what the law of Moses says. So, we're going to build a hedge of protection around that and do a little more. So, we make sure we don't cross that line. So, the Sabbath controversy.
32:22
Religious people were called out by Jesus for being what they were, grumpy, old naysayers. Ugh, that's so uncomfortable for a preacher. But they were angry at Jesus for helping this poor man because he did it on the Sabbath day. Picking up his mat and carrying it, they called against the law and since Jesus told him to do it, it was even worse because Jesus was urging someone else to break the Sabbath. Oh, terrible.
32:53
Extra biblical tradition is a lot of what people distrust organized religion for. They don't distrust Jesus and so today, why should we come and adore him? This little dealio is not working either. Next slide, please. What does Jesus say about himself?
33:17
All of that was a story building up. So, it's a period of consideration. We went through the first four chapters. We get to this fifth chapter and we see him heal the man and we get to verse 16 and John tells us flat out. For this reason, the Jews persecuted Jesus, the religious leaders and they sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath but Jesus answered them, my father has been working until now and I have been working.
33:45
So, what does Jesus say about himself? That might not sound like it to you that my father has been working until now but to the Jews, they would know. Our father, yes, we can say our father but when he said, my father, actually, in the Greek, he said, my own father. He made it even more specific that he had a special relationship with God. Am I of the same nature as my dad?
34:13
If y'all saw him, you would have no doubt. Yes, I'm of exactly the same nature as my dad. I'm exactly the same height. I'm pretty much the same build and I'll get to this in a minute but I do things that he does. I cannot help it because I'm of the same nature as my parents.
34:27
So, thank you, Steve. Yeah. Thank you. So, what does Jesus say about himself? When he said, my father, he claimed deity, equality with God.
34:41
You will see history channel presentations and discovery channel presentations about the historical Jesus this time of year and around Easter a lot of times because it's a popular time to talk about Jesus and they'll say, he never claimed deity. Well, he does repeatedly over and over and over again. This is one of the places. By claiming a special relationship as son, he claims deity. So, what effect does does this have?
35:05
Read the next verse. 18 says, therefore, the Jews, the religious leaders, sought all the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath but also said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. So, John clarifies it for us. Is there any doubt that he claimed deity? John clarifies.
35:27
He did and it infuriates the religious people to the point that they want to kill him. So, If we trust what Jesus says Why should we come and adore him? Because he's God. That's the first reason. He is God, the son.
35:50
I won't get into the trinity for crying out loud. It's hard enough to describe that to seminary students. I don't want to say to the Cub Scouts, okay, this is the way the trinity works. Nobody understands how the trinity works but he claims it. He says it right there.
36:02
He is God and from then on in the passage, he refers to himself as the son of God or the son of man and both of those are important because he is fully God and he's fully man. That's important. So, What else does Jesus say about himself? He says that he does not act independently of the father. Verse 19, then Jesus answered and said to them, most assuredly I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself but what he sees the father do for whatever he does, the son also does in like manner.
36:37
This is what I said I was going to tell you about my dad. My dad and my granddad for that matter and probably my great granddad. This looks silly to y'all but this is the way we stand. This and I don't even realize that I do it. I probably do it while I'm preaching sometimes.
36:53
I have shirts when I used to do mechanic work that have finger stains all right here. Because this is how we all stand and there are pictures of me and my father and my grandfather where we're all standing like this and none of us realize it. I do what I see my father doing. I love to do certain things that he used to love to do. I don't like things that he didn't like.
37:15
He never was into sports, watching him on TV, love to play, didn't like to watch him on TV. I could care less who wins or loses, what it looks like. You know, I watch a game occasionally just to be with people but he never cared. I never care. I'm like, I'm following in my father's footsteps.
37:30
For some of us, that's a good thing. My dad's a pretty decent guy. He'd be scared to death to be right here right now but for some of us, that's not so good and when Jesus calls God, father, that might have bad connotations for some of us and I realized that but God the father is love. We know what he is. What does this look like?
37:50
If you he as the son does what the God the father does. What does this look like? God works. Jesus just said it. God has been working until now.
37:59
He was saying that, you know, God doesn't take a break on the Sabbath. He did say that he rested on the Sabbath after his creation. He rested and that is still in process but the world keeps on spinning and God is still active in this world. Babies are still born. He is still giving life in this world.
38:16
So, God works. Jesus works. God loves. Jesus loves. God does greater works than we can understand and Jesus will too.
38:27
He says, right here, the next thing he says, for the father loves the son and shows him all things that he himself does and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel and he's speaking to the religious leaders. Jesus is forecasting some pretty amazing miracles. God raises people from the dead. Jesus raises people from the dead. Verse 21, for as the father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so, the son gives life to whom he will.
39:00
He is claiming. I'll get to this in a minute. He's claiming to give life to whomever he wills. God responds to the call of faith and Jesus responds to the call of faith and he does that every time. That's not in that scripture right there but every time in scripture that you see anybody call out in faith, God answers or Jesus answers.
39:22
So, what does Jesus say about himself? He claims to be able to give life to whom he wills. What else does he say about himself? Oh, so why should we come and adore him? We're getting back to the, oh, come let us adore him.
39:38
Why should we come and adore him? Because he gives life to whom he wills. So, what does Jesus say about himself? Verse 22, for the father judges no one but has committed all judgement to the son. Now, it was a tradition and it is in the Old Testament that God will judge.
39:55
God is the ultimate judge. He is the ultimate judge through Jesus, part of the godhead. Don't want to get into the trinity again but Jesus is the one that the father has left judgement up to and in this place, he says, that he's left it up to the to the son. So, if we trust what Jesus says, we should come and adore him because he is our judge. Now, when this accidentally flashed up on the screen a little while ago and I saw that, I thought, oh, that's the one slide I was scared to put in there.
40:35
He's our judge. Oh, that's uncomfortable. That may sound more like a reason to be afraid of it because we're conditioned to think that if someone is judging, they are sitting there with their clipboard and they are looking and they're just waiting for us to make a mistake. Hebrews says that Jesus was tested in every way that we have been tested and he has had trials in every way that we've had trials. He has felt what we feel and then it says, but he was without sin.
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Oh gosh, that's even worse. Now, he's a judge who's perfect. He's never done anything wrong. He's had the same kind of temptations but never failed. As I was thinking through this, I thought that can sound really uncomfortable from outside of Christ, from outside of his perspective.
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If you feel like the church is judging you and this is the reason why you kind of stay away. This is probably the reason you feel like people are judging you. You don't need to avoid Christ for the same reason though. He did what he did out of love. When he was on the cross, I was talking to Tanya yesterday about this and she said, Jesus never felt the regret of something he did in high school.
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He never felt remorse for having said something ugly to somebody. He never felt that and I said, yes, he did and she said, but he's without sin. I said, that's right. But when he was on the cross, he took upon himself the weight of all of the sins that all of us have ever committed or ever will. That's the guy I won't judge in me.
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He knows what sin feels like but he knows it because he's already suffered the punishment for So, this is the next thing that he says after the judgment part. So, for the father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the son that all should honor the son. You know, we say your honor in court to the judge, your honor. Do we mean it? Sometimes, if it goes our way, yes.
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We are honoring someone who is an impartial judge. Jesus is on our side. He really is. That all should honor the son just as they honor the father. If you look at those same statistics about organized religion and Jesus, God, almost everybody believes in God.
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They believe that there is a god but they don't know what he looks like. They don't know who he is. Hebrews also says, Jesus is the exact representation of God. He is God. So, Jesus is what he looks like.
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He who does not honor the son does not honor the father who sent him. So, those who believe that there is a god but they don't honor his son, don't honor that God that they believe exists. The good thing about this and how we can know that Jesus is on our side is because right here in the red letters in this passage of scripture, he gives the criteria by which he will judge us, all of us and it is not, well, you've done this many good things and this many bad things and blind justice says, okay, you're in. Nah, you're out. That's not the way that he does it.
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Jesus says, most assuredly, whenever he off verily, verily, most assuredly, this is the truth. I say to you, he who hears or whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life at the present right now. Whoever hears and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgement but has passed. Y'all know my grammar stuff. The has passed is perfect past tense.
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It is perfect and that it has happened one time and it holds into eternity future. If that has happened, it has happened for from now forever. So, but has passed from death into life. So, why should we come and adore him? Because he gives us the criteria by which he grants everlasting life.
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If you trust what Jesus says. And you believe in the one who sent him, then you have everlasting life. It's that simple. So, What does Jesus say? We, what are the things that we need to believe?
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Jesus says, right here in this passage, he said, he's God's son. He does what the father directs. He's our judge. He gives life to whoever hears his word and believes and he has life in himself. He has life in himself.
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He says, let me see. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son to have life in himself. This is something that could blow your mind theologically because it gets into eternity. He has life in himself. He doesn't have to have life breathed into his nostrils like Adam did.
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He does not have to have that moment where they Dalalus is what they say in Mexico where they come to the light, where they come out of the womb and into the light and that first breath. No, he has life. He has always had life and he is the giver of life. So, Why should we come and adore him? It's exactly the same list.
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He's God's son. He does what his father directs. He, our judge, he gives life to every, hears his word and believes and he has life in himself. And we may also have life in him, but what it takes is hearing his word, processing it. John has given us that four chapter period of consideration before he gets into this period of controversy and the dividing line is, are you with Jesus or are you not?
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So, why should we come and adore him? It's that same reason, that same list. When I said earlier that most people are cool with Jesus but many distrust organized church or religion in general, I'm in it and I know and if we argue over why we do what we do and when we do it and order a service and everything else like that, We don't have a leg to stand on. That's not prescribed right here. But when it comes down to Jesus, that's where the dividing line happens.
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So, Jesus said, take my burden upon you. It's light. When he said that his burden was light, I got to thinking about how could that be? He had the cross before him. What he's talking about is he does not have all of that that Tanya was talking about.
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Those past regret, remorse, all of that sin. He didn't have that to deal with. So, his burden was light. He offers that same kind of life to us to be able to rid, he will rid us. We cannot rid ourselves.
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He offers to rid us of our sin. That's why he came. That's why he came to die on the cross. So, Do you feel joyful? Do you feel triumphant?
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After that, I do. I feel better. I feel better thinking that. He loves us. I've been thinking a lot about hymns this week.
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What a friend we have in Jesus and so many people see him as judge. Some see him as just just the the passion of Jesus and they feel like it's a power play on our emotions but the suffering that he did physically before the cross was one thing. The suffering that he did when he did take upon himself. Something that he had never experienced. The weight of sin.
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When he took that upon himself, that was the major action. That was what he came to do. That's why he had lived that perfect life. Don't believe this because I tell you. Don't believe it because any other religious leader tells you.
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I'll urge you to read John's eyewitness testimony. 24 pages long in most any Bible. Not much longer than that. His gospel is a great place to start. You're a serious investigation into why we have Christ mass.
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And not church mass. Now, I said all that and I was kind of hard on the heavy and I'm looking straight at you, church. The hard on the religious folks because we can be grumpy, old naysayers. Let's don't do that, please. Let's shine the light before men so that they will see our good works and glorify our father who's in who's in heaven.
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When I was looking over the Cub Scout promise, it's so great. It's so so good. It's to do my best, to do my duty to God. Fantastic. If we're not honoring the son and adoring him, that's what we came to do.
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Come in, come let us adore him. If we're not honoring him, then we're not honoring God. I don't think we can find our duty to God without that. So, my notes end right there because we have communion today. I'm gonna do an invitation first if that's good with y'all.
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Would you just come and play something pretty, Kale? And then the other fellows can come up here and y'all can get ready to play. We're going sing Jesus Paid It All after the communion but I do actually want to do a hymn of invitation today. If you've never seriously considered Jesus or if you have considered him and just kind of what the church said about him, what Christians, if you had considered Christians and not Christ, I'm going to just say the the altar is open. If you want to come and kneel and pray, that's great.
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If you'd like to come talk to me about what you believe, think, feel about Jesus. I'm open right now and even after the service. So, we're going to have a hymn of invitation kind of. It's just something pretty. We'll do this just for a minute.
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Why don't y'all stand? This is the reason preachers write down what they're going to do at this point. Alright, we're coming to a time now for the Lord's supper and I know that we practice this in a lot of different ways, different denominations go different ways. In this church, normally, what we practice is what we call open communion and it's an open table for anyone who's trusted in Christ as their lord and savior, you may take. If there's anybody from a different tradition here this morning and you're, you don't really know.
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Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, if you're from a different tradition and you can see your parents, give em a look and see if it's okay with them, alright? Because if you've trusted in Jesus, the Bible says that you can take communion. Imma ask the offering team if I mean the communion team if you'll come forward elders and as we enter upon the Lord's table, I want us to share together some thoughts regarding the Lord's death so that we can approach the table with the right spirit and right attitude. Jesus said about this, what that we're about to do. Do this in remembrance of me.
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He didn't say exactly how to do it. That's why we have so many different traditions. I've said it before. It's a very simple command. It's very simply defined.
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It's an act of remembrance. Do this in remembrance of me. We do this to remember what the Lord has done for us. Naturally, the simplicity of the Lord's table doesn't need a lot of profound explanations. It's bread and a cup.
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Bread is a symbol of his body given for us. Cup is a symbol of his blood and remember, a remembrance of his death on the cross. I've said this before too, that the cross is no place to argue with God over how you want to be saved. It's a place of surrender and acceptance for the price that he's paid, what he's done. This is the place where sin and sorrow meet salvation.
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He's made the way. For any of you who have heard his word and believe in the one who sent him, this table's open. Paul does say that anyone who drinks of this cup unworthily though drinks to himself condemnation. So, that's to say if you're not a believer in Jesus, or you know right now that you are a believer in Jesus but you're not living your life in line with his commands. I'd ask you to take a moment and pray.
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We're going to pray prayer of confession and then we'll pass the bread. God, I thank you that you are moving and active among us today, that your Holy Spirit is touching hearts, is convicting us of sin, and convincing us of righteousness, of good things, lord, to do. We want to do our best to do our duty to you. So, lord, please cleanse us from our sin. And please bless this communion table.
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It's in your son's name we pray. Amen. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
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Lord Jesus, as we consume and ingest this reminder of your broken body given for us, the perfect life lived. God, we ask you also for your blessing on this cup as we remember your blood. It's in Jesus name, lord, we pray. Amen. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.
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This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Amen. And Paul says, for as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Thank you, elders. We're going to sing one closing song and I pray that this is that this is your joyful and triumphant prayer.
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We say celebrate the Lord's supper but it is always the most somber time of a service to me and it's because we're looking at our lives. We're not looking at so much at what Jesus has done. We're looking at our lives and going, oh, we fall so short. We all fall short. But he makes up.
1:02:27
He makes up for that. So, he paid it all and that's what we're going sing about.
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I hear the savior say, thy strength all, all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. Sin has left a crimson stain he walked still white as snow. Nothing good have I whereby thy grace do claim. I wash my garments wide in the blood of Calvary's land.
1:04:33
Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain, he washed up from the debt. Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the debt. And when lips shall still repeat. Paid it all, all to him I owe.
1:05:44
Sin has left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow. Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead. Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and raised his life up from the dead. Oh, praise the one who paid my debt and who raised his life up from the dead Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe sin has left a crimson stain he washed it white as snow
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Paul, peace show you who he is this Christmas season. More and more every day. Amen. Y'all maybe go. Maybe go.
1:07:00
Y'all maybe go.
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