1 00:00:00,001 --> 00:00:02,480 Are you feeling it? 2 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:04,440 I mean, it's time. 3 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:06,920 The time is now to celebrate, right? 4 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:08,320 I mean, back at the end of September, 5 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:10,320 when you first saw the Christmas stuff at Costco, 6 00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:12,120 you probably weren't feeling it then, 7 00:00:12,120 --> 00:00:13,720 but you need to feel it now, right? 8 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:15,080 Like this is the time. 9 00:00:15,080 --> 00:00:17,800 We are right in the heart of celebration season. 10 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:20,520 Do you feel ready to party or ready to celebrate? 11 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:21,680 (congregation cheering) 12 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:24,000 Wow, see, first and second did nothing. 13 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:26,620 At least there were a few of you that like did a few things. 14 00:00:26,620 --> 00:00:29,280 There's so much to celebrate right now, right? 15 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:30,600 Like how many of you are celebrating 16 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,360 that it's almost time to open presents? 17 00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,720 Anybody, are you celebrating that? 18 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,580 One, all right, pressure's on. 19 00:00:36,580 --> 00:00:37,680 Those of you who know Jillian, 20 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,160 like you better step it up, right? 21 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:42,720 How many of you are celebrating 22 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:44,140 that the weather's a little cooler? 23 00:00:44,140 --> 00:00:45,880 Anybody celebrating that? 24 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:47,160 Way more of you. 25 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:48,800 You care more about that than presents. 26 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:50,120 That's hilarious. 27 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:51,300 School's about to be out, 28 00:00:51,300 --> 00:00:53,680 which means traffic will die down for three or four weeks. 29 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:55,280 How many of you are celebrating that? 30 00:00:55,280 --> 00:00:58,280 Yeah, Merry Christmas to us all. 31 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,520 Election season's over, let's all celebrate that. 32 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:03,760 Looks like the 49ers will miss the playoffs, 33 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,680 so we can celebrate that, a lot of us, you know? 34 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:08,400 Lots to celebrate right now. 35 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,800 What are you celebrating in life? 36 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:13,640 Of all the things that we could celebrate 37 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,200 this holiday season, the main cause for celebration 38 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:19,960 is a baby that was born 2,000 years ago. 39 00:01:19,960 --> 00:01:21,820 This weary world can rejoice. 40 00:01:21,820 --> 00:01:26,120 We can celebrate because of the birth of Jesus. 41 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:27,660 And here's the thing, guys. 42 00:01:27,660 --> 00:01:32,400 You, you are either gonna choose to celebrate Jesus 43 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:33,660 this Christmas season, 44 00:01:33,660 --> 00:01:36,540 or you're gonna choose to ignore him. 45 00:01:36,540 --> 00:01:41,660 You're either gonna choose to celebrate him or ignore him. 46 00:01:41,660 --> 00:01:44,360 Which are you gonna choose? 47 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,040 Before you answer that question, 48 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:49,240 you probably have to answer this question. 49 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:50,840 How are you and Jesus doing? 50 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,820 How are you and Jesus? 51 00:01:54,820 --> 00:01:57,720 Where are you at with Jesus? 52 00:01:57,720 --> 00:01:59,240 What do you believe about him? 53 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:02,380 What are you feeling about him? 54 00:02:02,380 --> 00:02:03,600 If I were to tell you that one of the things 55 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:04,960 we're gonna do this morning is I'm just gonna give you 56 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:08,600 five minutes right now just to be quiet and talk to Jesus, 57 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:10,100 how would you feel about that? 58 00:02:10,100 --> 00:02:12,320 Would you be anxious about that? 59 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,920 Would you be terrified of that? 60 00:02:14,920 --> 00:02:17,220 Would you be super stoked to have that time 61 00:02:17,220 --> 00:02:18,960 to just talk with him? 62 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:20,600 How are you and Jesus? 63 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,320 I remember one year for Christmas, I was in first grade. 64 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,280 I got a magic eight ball, all right? 65 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,100 That was kind of a novelty back then. 66 00:02:28,100 --> 00:02:29,320 And so I got this magic eight ball. 67 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:30,720 I was so stoked about it. 68 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:32,720 And so I went in my room and the first thing I asked 69 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,120 that magic eight ball as a first grader is I asked, 70 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:37,320 I shook it and I was like, I can finally find out 71 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,240 does Fallon Tanksley like me? 72 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,120 All right, this girl in my first grade class. 73 00:02:41,120 --> 00:02:43,320 And so I shook that thing up and I said, 74 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:44,280 does Fallon like me? 75 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:46,240 And I flipped it over and it said these words, 76 00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:47,600 without a doubt. 77 00:02:47,600 --> 00:02:50,600 And I was like, yeah, that's all the validation I needed. 78 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,800 I was like, this thing must know, right? 79 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:55,640 As a Christmas gift, Santa, I mean, it's gotta know. 80 00:02:55,640 --> 00:02:57,240 And so I Christmas break ended, 81 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:00,160 walked into Walker Elementary School, my first grade class, 82 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,240 brushed right past my teacher, walked up to Fallon 83 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:03,800 and I said, do you like me? 84 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,540 And she said, no, no, I don't like you. 85 00:03:07,540 --> 00:03:10,280 So I went home and I took that magic eight ball 86 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:12,720 and I threw it under my bed, never to be seen again 87 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,080 until we moved when I was in fifth grade and I found it. 88 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,060 All right, it was of no use to me. 89 00:03:17,060 --> 00:03:20,920 Maybe that's where you're at with Jesus. 90 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:24,560 You've tried talking to him, asked him for a few things, 91 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:26,660 but it didn't work out and so you've kind of thrown him 92 00:03:26,660 --> 00:03:29,780 into a deep corner of your life and you're ignoring him. 93 00:03:29,780 --> 00:03:33,240 Well, for a few weeks, we're gonna be looking 94 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:35,240 at these passages in the gospel of John 95 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:37,280 that lead up to Christmas and we're gonna all see 96 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,400 kind of where we're at with Jesus. 97 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,700 It's gonna help us to prepare to celebrate him well. 98 00:03:42,700 --> 00:03:45,960 John tells us at the end of his gospel 99 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:47,880 why he wrote all of these words. 100 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:49,000 Like look at what he says, 101 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:51,080 why he did this at the end on the screen. 102 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,200 He says, "These things are written so that you may believe 103 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,920 "that Jesus is the Messiah," that means the Savior, 104 00:03:56,920 --> 00:03:59,500 "the Son of God and that by believing 105 00:03:59,500 --> 00:04:02,080 "you may have life in his name." 106 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,560 In other words, John wrote this whole book 107 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,600 for people who don't believe in Jesus. 108 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:10,100 Maybe that's you this morning. 109 00:04:10,100 --> 00:04:12,540 Maybe you're here and man, that's great, 110 00:04:12,540 --> 00:04:14,440 praise God you're here, but deep down, 111 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:18,040 you kind of feel like all this stuff is just a little silly 112 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,680 and you don't really believe it. 113 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:22,720 Or you haven't really given it much thought 114 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:24,580 to decide if you really believe 115 00:04:24,580 --> 00:04:26,680 that Jesus is the Savior of your life. 116 00:04:26,680 --> 00:04:30,240 Well, John says that he wrote these things down for you. 117 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:34,120 John was a guy who followed Jesus around for three years. 118 00:04:34,120 --> 00:04:37,760 He was an eyewitness to everything that Jesus said and did 119 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:39,440 and he wrote down these words to say, 120 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,960 I want you to know what is true about Jesus 121 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:45,160 so that you'll believe in him too. 122 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:47,760 And so if you're here today and you haven't yet 123 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:48,800 put your faith in Jesus, 124 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:50,400 you haven't yet given Jesus your life, 125 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,040 man, this book is for you. 126 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,880 But it's also for those of you who have. 127 00:04:56,880 --> 00:04:58,840 Like one of the things John wrote that Jesus said 128 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:01,120 was in John 8, it says this up on the screen. 129 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,800 Jesus talked to the Jews who believed in him 130 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:05,960 and he said, if you continue in my word, 131 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:07,640 you really are my disciples. 132 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:10,960 You'll know the truth and the truth will set you free. 133 00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:12,760 Jesus is talking to people who believe 134 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,000 and he's saying, man, if you continue in my word, 135 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:18,880 if you continue to know the truth and believe the truth 136 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:20,720 then you really are my disciples. 137 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,040 And so John, he's writing this so that Christians, 138 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,600 Jesus followers would hear the truth again and again 139 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,920 and would continue to believe. 140 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:31,880 So if you're here today and you're a Christian, 141 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:33,440 this book is for you. 142 00:05:33,440 --> 00:05:35,760 It's for you to hear the truth about Jesus again 143 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:38,400 and say, yes, I believe that. 144 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,000 That's what I believe about Jesus. 145 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,720 And so I wanna open our study of this book 146 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,320 just by praying for both groups that John is writing to 147 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:49,520 and then we'll dig into it. 148 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:50,680 So let's pray together. 149 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,760 And so Father, I pray again for everyone here, 150 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,400 anyone here who is not a believer in Jesus, 151 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,960 who hasn't given him their lives, 152 00:05:59,960 --> 00:06:02,420 who hasn't believed that he's their savior. 153 00:06:02,420 --> 00:06:05,800 God, I pray that this book was written, 154 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:09,160 you inspired John to write it so that people would know 155 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:12,200 Jesus and believe him, that he would be their savior. 156 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,300 And so I pray that you would cast out doubts, 157 00:06:15,300 --> 00:06:16,800 that you would answer questions, 158 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,680 that you would open eyes to see beauty, 159 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,580 that people who don't know you would come out of this study, 160 00:06:22,580 --> 00:06:24,680 rejoicing that they do know you, 161 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:27,280 that they have given their life to Jesus. 162 00:06:27,280 --> 00:06:30,040 Pray for the Christians here in this room, 163 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,200 maybe those who are struggling with their faith, 164 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:34,720 maybe those who have wandered away, 165 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,600 maybe those who are just kind of ignoring you right now, 166 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,120 that you would wake us up to the truth and beauty 167 00:06:41,120 --> 00:06:43,920 of who Jesus is and what he came to do. 168 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:46,040 And then we would run back to you. 169 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:48,920 We would keep on believing and celebrating 170 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:50,880 who you are and what you've done. 171 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,100 We pray it in the name of Jesus, amen. 172 00:06:53,100 --> 00:06:57,300 Okay, let's look at John 1, verse 1. 173 00:06:57,300 --> 00:07:01,480 In the beginning was the word, 174 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,800 and the word was with God, and the word was God. 175 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:07,680 He was with God in the beginning. 176 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:09,720 All things were created through him, 177 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,600 and apart from him, not one thing was created 178 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:14,180 that has been created. 179 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:16,400 What an intro, right? 180 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:17,900 Like John gets right into it, 181 00:07:17,900 --> 00:07:19,520 making these incredible statements. 182 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:23,040 He starts out with saying, man, God exists, right? 183 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:26,160 And there's this word that was with God from the beginning 184 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,100 who is God and who created everything in the universe. 185 00:07:30,100 --> 00:07:32,780 So we need to know who this word is. 186 00:07:32,780 --> 00:07:34,280 Well, John doesn't keep us in suspense. 187 00:07:34,280 --> 00:07:35,320 Look down at verse 14. 188 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:36,280 He makes it clear. 189 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:40,120 The word became flesh and dwelt among us. 190 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,000 We observed his glory, glory as the one and only son 191 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:47,040 from the father, full of grace and truth. 192 00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,960 The word that was with God and was God took on flesh 193 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:51,660 and lived with us, the son of the father. 194 00:07:51,660 --> 00:07:53,920 This is Jesus, right? 195 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,600 The Jesus we were studying last week, full of grace, 196 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:59,100 full of God's glory, all the glory of God, 197 00:07:59,100 --> 00:08:02,800 all of God's beauty and greatness could be seen in Jesus. 198 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:07,040 And so the birth of Jesus was God's glory coming to earth 199 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:11,240 to shine into the darkness of our world, 200 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:13,440 which is why the angels at the birth of Jesus, 201 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:15,000 they started celebrating, man. 202 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,280 They started partying, they burst into song. 203 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:18,800 And the words of the song were, 204 00:08:18,800 --> 00:08:21,500 glory to God in the highest heaven. 205 00:08:21,500 --> 00:08:25,080 And so what happened was this, at the birth of Jesus, 206 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:27,520 God's glory came down. 207 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:31,120 And at that time, glory went up, 208 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:33,400 which shows us this, that the only right response 209 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:35,760 to the birth of Jesus is celebration. 210 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:38,240 It's praise, it's what the angels did. 211 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,120 It's throwing a party. 212 00:08:41,120 --> 00:08:45,160 Celebrating who God is and what God has done. 213 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:46,480 But why? 214 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:47,760 Why? 215 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,020 What is there to celebrate about Jesus? 216 00:08:51,020 --> 00:08:53,500 What's so great about him? 217 00:08:53,500 --> 00:08:56,380 Well, John gives us a few things 218 00:08:56,380 --> 00:08:57,400 in these first three verses. 219 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,220 He gives us three things, three reasons 220 00:09:00,220 --> 00:09:04,680 that we have to celebrate that Jesus has come. 221 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:09,680 And the first is this, Jesus is God himself. 222 00:09:10,020 --> 00:09:11,580 Jesus is God. 223 00:09:11,580 --> 00:09:12,660 Look at verse one again. 224 00:09:12,660 --> 00:09:14,980 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God 225 00:09:14,980 --> 00:09:17,260 and the word was God. 226 00:09:17,260 --> 00:09:21,640 First reason to celebrate here, Jesus is God. 227 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,060 John talks about Jesus, but doesn't use his name Jesus. 228 00:09:24,060 --> 00:09:25,540 He calls him the word. 229 00:09:25,540 --> 00:09:28,300 And he says that the word was God. 230 00:09:28,300 --> 00:09:32,340 Jesus, but before he was miraculously conceived 231 00:09:32,340 --> 00:09:35,180 in a virgin girl and became a zygote in her womb, 232 00:09:35,180 --> 00:09:40,180 before that, Jesus existed eternally with God and as God. 233 00:09:40,180 --> 00:09:43,500 What an incredible thing to say. 234 00:09:43,500 --> 00:09:45,360 I mean, we're talking about some high level, 235 00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:47,360 mind bending stuff. 236 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:49,620 To say that this man who was born in the world 237 00:09:49,620 --> 00:09:52,160 like any other person, who had nothing special 238 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,940 about his appearance, who wasn't born to royalty, 239 00:09:54,940 --> 00:09:56,820 that this son of a Jewish carpenter 240 00:09:56,820 --> 00:09:59,380 isn't merely a human like the rest of us. 241 00:09:59,380 --> 00:10:03,280 He is God come down to become one of us. 242 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:05,800 It's something that if you heard it now, 243 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:07,060 like if someone came up to you and said, 244 00:10:07,060 --> 00:10:10,580 hey, God himself was born at Kaiser Hospital last night, 245 00:10:10,580 --> 00:10:13,980 you'd be like, I don't think so. 246 00:10:13,980 --> 00:10:16,440 That sounds ridiculous, right? 247 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:21,200 And yet the whole Bible, the entire Christian faith 248 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:24,100 depends on this being true. 249 00:10:24,100 --> 00:10:27,320 Either Jesus Christ is God, 250 00:10:27,320 --> 00:10:30,420 or we have no reason to celebrate. 251 00:10:31,540 --> 00:10:34,720 But if he is God, then the only right response 252 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:36,200 is to celebrate. 253 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,480 You see guys, John says that because Jesus is God, 254 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:42,360 that means that he's eternal. 255 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:45,100 The eternal one has been born. 256 00:10:45,100 --> 00:10:48,000 He was in the beginning, he was never created. 257 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,600 Jesus is God himself, eternal God, 258 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,680 who put himself into time when he was born. 259 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,980 He laid aside his omnipresence, this attribute of God 260 00:10:57,980 --> 00:11:00,980 that only God has where he's in all places at all times. 261 00:11:00,980 --> 00:11:02,940 Jesus laid that aside 262 00:11:02,940 --> 00:11:08,560 to be put into a specific time with us. 263 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:12,000 John says that because Jesus is God, 264 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,040 it means that God is relational. 265 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:17,900 This is one of the clear places that we see the reality 266 00:11:17,900 --> 00:11:21,380 of the Trinity, God the Trinity. 267 00:11:21,380 --> 00:11:23,960 The Trinity is a word used to describe God's nature, 268 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:26,200 the idea that we see all throughout the Bible, 269 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,480 that although there is only one God, 270 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:31,680 this one God is very complex. 271 00:11:31,680 --> 00:11:34,140 There are three persons in the one God, 272 00:11:34,140 --> 00:11:36,780 the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 273 00:11:36,780 --> 00:11:40,240 All three have existed eternally as one person. 274 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:42,040 It's this mysterious thing, 275 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:44,280 but it's filled with a beautiful truth. 276 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:46,120 And here's the beautiful truth of it. 277 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:51,080 Because God has always existed as Trinity, 278 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,380 he has always been relational in community. 279 00:11:55,380 --> 00:11:56,960 Before he created anything, 280 00:11:56,960 --> 00:11:59,280 before he created you and I, 281 00:11:59,280 --> 00:12:01,760 a community of relationship existed 282 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,920 within the person of God himself. 283 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,600 And so when God created you and me in his image 284 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:09,200 to image him in this world, 285 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:10,720 he created us to be like him, 286 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,760 and that means he created us for relationship, 287 00:12:13,760 --> 00:12:14,580 for community. 288 00:12:14,580 --> 00:12:17,280 You and I were created to exist with each other 289 00:12:17,280 --> 00:12:19,440 in loving, beautiful relationship 290 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:22,300 because that's how God exists in himself. 291 00:12:22,300 --> 00:12:25,280 And so what John's saying is 292 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:27,880 that Jesus has always perfectly known 293 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:29,800 God the Father and God the Spirit, 294 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:32,560 and now Jesus has stepped into our world 295 00:12:32,560 --> 00:12:34,920 so that we can know them as well. 296 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:39,520 God is not an impersonal force like in "Star Wars." 297 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,660 He's a relational being who we can know. 298 00:12:42,660 --> 00:12:47,400 Because Jesus is God, we can truly know God. 299 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,020 That's why John calls Jesus the word. 300 00:12:50,020 --> 00:12:52,400 Jesus is God's word to us. 301 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,440 We know each other through our words, right? 302 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:57,720 Like if you hung out with me, but I never spoke to you, 303 00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:58,960 you could learn a good bit about me 304 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:00,160 just by being in my presence. 305 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:02,160 You could learn that I have a great fashion sense 306 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,820 just by kind of being around me, right? 307 00:13:04,820 --> 00:13:08,240 But it would take me communicating and giving you my words 308 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:10,760 for you to fully know me. 309 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,740 Like for example, even my closest friends, 310 00:13:13,740 --> 00:13:15,280 friends that I've known for decades, 311 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:17,280 some of them may be in the room right now, 312 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:18,960 there are things they might not know about me 313 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:20,760 because I've never told them. 314 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:22,640 I searched hard this week to think of one 315 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:24,000 that maybe I've never said. 316 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:25,960 There is something I play pretty close to the chest 317 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:26,780 where I'm like, all right, 318 00:13:26,780 --> 00:13:29,180 I'm ready to come out with it to everybody. 319 00:13:29,180 --> 00:13:30,600 You probably don't know this about me. 320 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:32,360 Some of my closest friends don't know about me 321 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:35,720 that I am an absolute art nerd. 322 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,280 I love art. 323 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:39,800 Like I pride myself on the fact 324 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,800 that I can distinguish a Monet from a Monet, all right? 325 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,640 My favorite book that I read last year in 2023 326 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:47,600 was a book about artists. 327 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:49,040 I love it so, so much. 328 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:50,880 I have this mobile app that I use sometimes 329 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:51,700 before I go to bed. 330 00:13:51,700 --> 00:13:53,720 There's just a bunch of different paintings, 331 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:55,760 Renaissance paintings mainly, will come up 332 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,440 and I'll have to type in who painted it and I love it. 333 00:13:58,440 --> 00:13:59,840 I get so excited about it. 334 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:01,600 And I wanna know who all they are. 335 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,160 On my birthday this year, which was just a few weeks ago, 336 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:06,400 my wife asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. 337 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,320 And I told her that I wanted to go to a beach 338 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:11,800 up on the West side and I wanted to read this new book 339 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:13,480 I have about art and artists. 340 00:14:13,480 --> 00:14:16,400 And I read a chapter about Rembrandt that made me cry. 341 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,760 I love art. 342 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:22,100 How many of you are learning this 343 00:14:22,100 --> 00:14:24,360 for the first time about me? 344 00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,080 Yeah, hopefully all of you. 345 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,860 If you knew that about me, like we need to talk, 346 00:14:28,860 --> 00:14:30,480 like it might need a restraining order against you 347 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,080 'cause no one should know that about me, all right? 348 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:34,560 No one should know that. 349 00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:37,240 My wife was the only person that I think knew that about me. 350 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:38,900 And that's because on one of our first dates, 351 00:14:38,900 --> 00:14:40,640 I took her to the Honolulu Museum of Art 352 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:41,960 because there's a Van Gogh there. 353 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:43,920 Did you guys know there's a Van Gogh on our island? 354 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,480 It's the craziest thing. 355 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:46,760 And so I took her to see it and I told her, 356 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:47,880 I was like, I love this stuff. 357 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,760 And we just stood there and looked at that painting. 358 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:52,160 We probably looked at it for like 10 minutes. 359 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:53,360 I could have stayed for another three hours. 360 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:54,320 She was like, hey, I'm done here. 361 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:55,360 Like, can we move on? 362 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:56,960 We go get some food or something. 363 00:14:56,960 --> 00:14:57,880 But I love it, I love it. 364 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:00,960 But the only reason you know that is because I told you. 365 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:04,420 Because I gave you the words that I just gave you. 366 00:15:04,420 --> 00:15:07,680 Why are we like this? 367 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:09,760 Why is it that we can't just be in each other's presence 368 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:11,380 and know each other totally? 369 00:15:11,380 --> 00:15:12,760 Why do we have to communicate words 370 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:14,200 to each other to be known? 371 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:16,240 Well, it's because our God is like this. 372 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:20,040 Our God communicates to us by his word. 373 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:22,760 He gives us his word so that we can know him. 374 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:25,120 We can get glimpses of God through nature 375 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:26,200 and through each other, 376 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:30,200 but God reveals himself fully to us through his words. 377 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:31,760 That's what the Bible is. 378 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:33,920 God's word to us so that we can know him. 379 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:37,640 But now there are things we can know no other way about him 380 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:38,720 than through his word. 381 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:43,400 And John's saying Jesus is the word made flesh. 382 00:15:43,400 --> 00:15:46,160 Jesus being born, the word becoming flesh means this. 383 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:50,260 We can really, truly, deeply know God. 384 00:15:50,260 --> 00:15:54,640 God has spoken to us in his word, the Bible, 385 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:57,680 and now through his word, Jesus. 386 00:15:57,680 --> 00:15:59,040 And so here's what that means, guys. 387 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:00,800 God is not hiding from you. 388 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:04,400 God is not hiding from you. 389 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,400 Your life is not a big scavenger hunt 390 00:16:06,400 --> 00:16:08,760 of trying to figure out how to find God. 391 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,800 And he seems to be hidden and mystic and mysterious. 392 00:16:12,800 --> 00:16:15,860 God became flesh so that you can know him. 393 00:16:16,860 --> 00:16:18,180 Look at Hebrews 1. 394 00:16:18,180 --> 00:16:20,700 It says this, "Long ago, God spoke to the ancestors 395 00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:23,020 "by the prophets at different times and at different ways. 396 00:16:23,020 --> 00:16:24,540 "And one of those is that he inspired them 397 00:16:24,540 --> 00:16:25,380 "to write the Bible. 398 00:16:25,380 --> 00:16:26,860 "God gave them his word. 399 00:16:26,860 --> 00:16:30,980 "In these last days, he's spoken to us by his son. 400 00:16:30,980 --> 00:16:33,100 "God has appointed Jesus heir of all things 401 00:16:33,100 --> 00:16:34,500 "and made the universe through him. 402 00:16:34,500 --> 00:16:36,580 "The son is the radiance of God's glory 403 00:16:36,580 --> 00:16:38,540 "and the exact expression of his nature, 404 00:16:38,540 --> 00:16:42,340 "sustaining all things by his powerful word." 405 00:16:43,380 --> 00:16:46,860 God spoke before and now he's spoken his complete, 406 00:16:46,860 --> 00:16:47,700 total word. 407 00:16:47,700 --> 00:16:51,100 He gave us Jesus, the word made flesh, 408 00:16:51,100 --> 00:16:54,300 so that we can fully know who God is. 409 00:16:54,300 --> 00:16:58,500 And so man, what is worth celebrating about Jesus? 410 00:16:58,500 --> 00:17:03,620 The arrival of Jesus is the arrival of God himself, 411 00:17:03,620 --> 00:17:07,520 not the arrival of the founder of our religion, 412 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:09,660 not the arrival of our co-pilot, 413 00:17:09,660 --> 00:17:11,180 not the arrival of the one 414 00:17:11,180 --> 00:17:13,220 who can take the wheel of your life. 415 00:17:13,220 --> 00:17:14,760 Jesus is not your repairman, 416 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:16,720 your therapist or your homeboy. 417 00:17:16,720 --> 00:17:19,820 The arrival of Jesus is the arrival of God himself 418 00:17:19,820 --> 00:17:22,760 who entered into his creation to live with us, 419 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,420 just like us, so that we can know God 420 00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:27,780 and have everything we're looking for. 421 00:17:27,780 --> 00:17:28,620 Amen? 422 00:17:28,620 --> 00:17:31,740 Oh, you're not ready to celebrate. 423 00:17:31,740 --> 00:17:32,580 Amen? 424 00:17:32,580 --> 00:17:35,580 Yeah, we can celebrate that. 425 00:17:35,580 --> 00:17:39,180 And so how do we get to know Jesus, the word? 426 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:41,120 How do we get to know him? 427 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:45,580 Well, we get to know him through the word, the Bible. 428 00:17:45,580 --> 00:17:49,620 The words of the Bible all point 429 00:17:49,620 --> 00:17:53,320 to the word made flesh, Jesus. 430 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,860 Like look what Jesus said later in John five on the screen. 431 00:17:55,860 --> 00:17:57,700 He's talking to some religious leaders of his time 432 00:17:57,700 --> 00:17:59,140 who studied the Bible. 433 00:17:59,140 --> 00:18:01,540 He said, "You pour over the scriptures 434 00:18:01,540 --> 00:18:03,280 "because you think they have eternal life, 435 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:04,940 "you have eternal life in them. 436 00:18:04,940 --> 00:18:07,340 "And yet they testify about me, 437 00:18:07,340 --> 00:18:09,740 "but you are not willing to come to me 438 00:18:09,740 --> 00:18:10,980 "so that you may have life." 439 00:18:10,980 --> 00:18:12,980 Here's what Jesus is saying, man. 440 00:18:12,980 --> 00:18:15,660 The whole Bible is about him. 441 00:18:15,660 --> 00:18:19,900 If you wanna know Jesus, read your Bible and ask, 442 00:18:19,900 --> 00:18:24,220 "What is this showing me about Jesus?" 443 00:18:24,220 --> 00:18:25,980 Because Jesus knew that the teachers of his day 444 00:18:25,980 --> 00:18:28,540 would spend their whole lives reading the Bible, 445 00:18:28,540 --> 00:18:30,740 but they missed that it's all about him. 446 00:18:30,740 --> 00:18:35,060 See guys, you can say that you know God or feel God, 447 00:18:35,060 --> 00:18:36,320 but unless you study the Bible 448 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:38,820 and see how it points to Jesus, you've missed it. 449 00:18:40,580 --> 00:18:41,800 You can say you love Jesus, 450 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:43,460 but unless you're digging into the Bible 451 00:18:43,460 --> 00:18:45,820 to learn more about who he truly is, 452 00:18:45,820 --> 00:18:47,500 who he himself says he is, 453 00:18:47,500 --> 00:18:49,740 then you might not love the real Jesus. 454 00:18:49,740 --> 00:18:52,500 You might love a Jesus you've created in your own mind. 455 00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:59,340 When I started dating my now wife, 456 00:18:59,340 --> 00:19:00,300 one of the things that she did, 457 00:19:00,300 --> 00:19:02,140 she invited me over to her house 458 00:19:02,140 --> 00:19:03,780 and took me out to a few restaurants. 459 00:19:03,780 --> 00:19:05,500 And at her house and at these restaurants, 460 00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:06,940 she's like, "Try this food, I love this food." 461 00:19:06,940 --> 00:19:09,900 And she was having me eat all this unbelievably, 462 00:19:09,900 --> 00:19:11,660 wickedly spicy food. 463 00:19:11,660 --> 00:19:14,700 And you know in those early stages of dating, 464 00:19:14,700 --> 00:19:17,260 the whole goal is like get through today. 465 00:19:17,260 --> 00:19:19,300 Make sure she still likes me at the end of the day. 466 00:19:19,300 --> 00:19:20,340 And so I'd get this food 467 00:19:20,340 --> 00:19:21,740 and it would just be this color of red 468 00:19:21,740 --> 00:19:24,060 that just like, I'm like, "Oh no." 469 00:19:24,060 --> 00:19:25,340 And I would be dying. 470 00:19:25,340 --> 00:19:27,340 I'd be eating it, literally dying inside. 471 00:19:27,340 --> 00:19:29,420 She'd take a bite and she'd look around 472 00:19:29,420 --> 00:19:31,180 and as she'd look around, I'd be wiping my sweat 473 00:19:31,180 --> 00:19:33,380 and like just water, water, water, ice in my mouth. 474 00:19:33,380 --> 00:19:35,060 I'd be dead inside and I'd be dead 475 00:19:35,060 --> 00:19:36,900 for the next three days on the inside. 476 00:19:36,900 --> 00:19:40,740 And I finally, you know, if He Jung had said, 477 00:19:40,740 --> 00:19:43,620 "Man, I love Justin and I wanna be with Justin 478 00:19:43,620 --> 00:19:45,540 because he loves spicy food." 479 00:19:45,540 --> 00:19:49,700 Then she would be loving somebody who isn't real, right? 480 00:19:49,700 --> 00:19:52,500 She would be loving a guy who doesn't really exist. 481 00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:54,100 But I gave her my words. 482 00:19:54,100 --> 00:19:56,580 I finally said, "Listen, I've gotta tell you something. 483 00:19:56,580 --> 00:19:59,180 This is killing me, I'm dying." 484 00:19:59,180 --> 00:20:01,340 Right, the spiciest thing I ate growing up 485 00:20:01,340 --> 00:20:03,580 is sometimes we sprinkle just a little bit of pepper 486 00:20:03,580 --> 00:20:04,780 on a casserole, you know? 487 00:20:04,780 --> 00:20:06,780 And that's like the spiciest I can endure. 488 00:20:06,780 --> 00:20:09,620 And so I am literally dying, we can't do this anymore. 489 00:20:09,620 --> 00:20:11,860 And so thankfully she continued to love me 490 00:20:11,860 --> 00:20:13,900 and I've grown and I can eat some spicy stuff now. 491 00:20:13,900 --> 00:20:16,340 But now she knows the real me because I told her. 492 00:20:16,340 --> 00:20:21,660 See, it might be that a lot of us love a Jesus 493 00:20:21,660 --> 00:20:24,100 that we've created in our own minds. 494 00:20:24,100 --> 00:20:25,500 We love a Jesus because, well, 495 00:20:25,500 --> 00:20:26,860 this is who I want Jesus to be 496 00:20:26,860 --> 00:20:28,900 or this is who I think Jesus should be 497 00:20:28,900 --> 00:20:33,500 or this is the Jesus I want to love and worship. 498 00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:36,700 But Jesus has said, "I've told you exactly who I am. 499 00:20:36,700 --> 00:20:38,740 I've given you my words. 500 00:20:38,740 --> 00:20:41,260 I've spoken, this is who I am." 501 00:20:41,260 --> 00:20:43,740 It's in the Bible, the Old, the New Testament. 502 00:20:43,740 --> 00:20:47,100 It's all about Jesus. 503 00:20:47,100 --> 00:20:49,060 And so if you wanna know him, the real him, 504 00:20:49,060 --> 00:20:51,300 if you wanna fall in love with the real him, 505 00:20:51,300 --> 00:20:55,860 you gotta be in the word, gotta be in your Bible, 506 00:20:55,860 --> 00:20:59,860 studying it, pouring over it, seeing who Jesus really is. 507 00:20:59,860 --> 00:21:03,220 And man, we can celebrate because it's all right here for us. 508 00:21:03,220 --> 00:21:05,900 We can celebrate by grabbing hold of it. 509 00:21:05,900 --> 00:21:07,620 When the lights go out at your house 510 00:21:07,620 --> 00:21:09,820 and it's utter darkness and it's terrifying, 511 00:21:09,820 --> 00:21:11,140 when the electricity comes on, 512 00:21:11,140 --> 00:21:13,300 you don't celebrate by staying in the dark. 513 00:21:13,300 --> 00:21:16,740 You celebrate by flipping all the lights on, right? 514 00:21:16,740 --> 00:21:19,580 That's how we celebrate the coming of Jesus. 515 00:21:19,580 --> 00:21:20,980 Let's flip the lights on. 516 00:21:20,980 --> 00:21:23,140 Let's not stay in the dark about who he is. 517 00:21:23,140 --> 00:21:25,340 Let's celebrate by grabbing hold of his word, 518 00:21:25,340 --> 00:21:28,220 by digging into it, by studying it, reading it, learning it, 519 00:21:28,220 --> 00:21:29,180 and asking the question, 520 00:21:29,180 --> 00:21:32,380 how does all of this point to Jesus? 521 00:21:32,380 --> 00:21:33,540 That's how you can celebrate 522 00:21:33,540 --> 00:21:35,260 the coming of Jesus this Christmas. 523 00:21:35,260 --> 00:21:37,460 Get into God's word. 524 00:21:37,460 --> 00:21:42,380 Dig into it, love it, prioritize it in your life. 525 00:21:42,380 --> 00:21:43,620 There's some opportunities to do that 526 00:21:43,620 --> 00:21:44,640 coming up here at our church. 527 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,140 If you're a lady, you can sign up for the women's retreat. 528 00:21:47,140 --> 00:21:48,580 The women are gonna get together at our church, 529 00:21:48,580 --> 00:21:50,020 they're gonna get together at a retreat center 530 00:21:50,020 --> 00:21:50,940 and stay a couple nights, 531 00:21:50,940 --> 00:21:52,500 and they're gonna dig into God's word, man. 532 00:21:52,500 --> 00:21:54,500 They're gonna go through a book of the Bible 533 00:21:54,500 --> 00:21:55,500 and just dig in and see, man, 534 00:21:55,500 --> 00:21:57,420 here's what Jesus said about himself. 535 00:21:57,420 --> 00:21:58,660 Here's who he is. 536 00:21:58,660 --> 00:21:59,720 That's a way to celebrate. 537 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:01,260 Say, yes, I'm gonna prioritize that. 538 00:22:01,260 --> 00:22:02,300 I'm gonna go to that. 539 00:22:02,300 --> 00:22:03,280 If you're a middle and high schooler, 540 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:04,360 go to the youth retreat. 541 00:22:04,360 --> 00:22:05,860 They're gonna do the same thing there. 542 00:22:05,860 --> 00:22:07,940 Did you know there's two men's theology groups 543 00:22:07,940 --> 00:22:09,500 that meet at our church weekly? 544 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:11,600 On Wednesday mornings, I think, and Saturday mornings, 545 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:13,580 they meet at a coffee shop or at Denny's, 546 00:22:13,580 --> 00:22:15,460 and they're studying systematic theology. 547 00:22:15,460 --> 00:22:17,860 They're studying some deep things that Jesus said 548 00:22:17,860 --> 00:22:21,140 about himself, about who God is, and how he works. 549 00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:22,300 Man, you could get involved in that, 550 00:22:22,300 --> 00:22:23,580 and that's a way to celebrate. 551 00:22:23,580 --> 00:22:27,620 You could commit to or recommit to a community group. 552 00:22:27,620 --> 00:22:29,100 We have eight groups of people 553 00:22:29,100 --> 00:22:30,340 that get together throughout the week 554 00:22:30,340 --> 00:22:31,880 and they gather around God's word, 555 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:33,380 and they say, we're gonna study it together. 556 00:22:33,380 --> 00:22:34,620 We're gonna look at it together, 557 00:22:34,620 --> 00:22:36,580 because it is one thing, and it's a good thing 558 00:22:36,580 --> 00:22:38,560 to study God's word quietly by yourself 559 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:40,860 in your own room, isolated. 560 00:22:40,860 --> 00:22:42,820 But it's another thing to come in. 561 00:22:42,820 --> 00:22:44,160 Yeah, a lot of times we have blinders on, 562 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:48,060 and we can only see and read and interpret a certain way, 563 00:22:48,060 --> 00:22:49,060 but I come to a community group, 564 00:22:49,060 --> 00:22:51,100 and I hear what God's teaching you and teaching her 565 00:22:51,100 --> 00:22:52,340 and all these people, and I'm like, 566 00:22:52,340 --> 00:22:54,380 oh man, I've never thought of it that way. 567 00:22:54,380 --> 00:22:57,540 That's such a beautiful way to see this verse 568 00:22:57,540 --> 00:22:59,300 and to see truth about Jesus. 569 00:22:59,300 --> 00:23:01,340 And that happens at our community groups. 570 00:23:01,340 --> 00:23:04,740 Man, God has given us his word so that we can know him. 571 00:23:04,740 --> 00:23:07,120 How are you gonna celebrate it? 572 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:10,700 Or are you gonna ignore it? 573 00:23:10,700 --> 00:23:15,140 How are you gonna celebrate it this Christmas? 574 00:23:15,140 --> 00:23:17,300 We have more to celebrate. 575 00:23:17,300 --> 00:23:19,020 Look at verse three again, verse three. 576 00:23:19,020 --> 00:23:21,140 All things were created through him, 577 00:23:21,140 --> 00:23:23,740 and apart from him, not one thing was created 578 00:23:23,740 --> 00:23:25,180 that's been created. 579 00:23:25,180 --> 00:23:28,200 John's saying, man, we can celebrate 580 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,900 that Jesus is the creator. 581 00:23:30,900 --> 00:23:32,740 Jesus is the creator. 582 00:23:32,740 --> 00:23:35,220 It was actually Jesus who created everything. 583 00:23:35,220 --> 00:23:37,080 He made you. 584 00:23:37,080 --> 00:23:39,220 You are not an accident. 585 00:23:39,220 --> 00:23:40,740 You're not just the product of your parents 586 00:23:40,740 --> 00:23:42,580 loving each other at one point in time. 587 00:23:42,580 --> 00:23:44,100 Jesus is the creator. 588 00:23:44,100 --> 00:23:46,140 He created you. 589 00:23:46,140 --> 00:23:47,500 And even more than being the creator, 590 00:23:47,500 --> 00:23:50,060 we read in Hebrews one how he sustains the whole universe 591 00:23:50,060 --> 00:23:51,180 by the word of his power. 592 00:23:51,180 --> 00:23:52,660 He's the sustainer. 593 00:23:52,660 --> 00:23:56,800 He's holding every molecule of this universe together 594 00:23:56,800 --> 00:23:58,640 by his powerful word. 595 00:23:59,780 --> 00:24:03,100 If Jesus were to stop sustaining everything, 596 00:24:03,100 --> 00:24:07,060 all of creation would unravel and fall apart. 597 00:24:07,060 --> 00:24:10,780 Jesus is holding you together right now. 598 00:24:10,780 --> 00:24:12,640 He's holding your life together. 599 00:24:12,640 --> 00:24:16,280 We feel so much like we're in control 600 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,100 or like we want control, but man, praise God 601 00:24:19,100 --> 00:24:22,440 that we can celebrate that Jesus is in control of everything. 602 00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:25,140 Maybe you're like, yeah, but I actually feel 603 00:24:25,140 --> 00:24:27,060 like my life is unraveling 604 00:24:27,060 --> 00:24:28,740 and it's out of control right now. 605 00:24:29,740 --> 00:24:32,700 Yeah, it may feel that way. 606 00:24:32,700 --> 00:24:36,520 And you may have some really heavy things going on. 607 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:42,240 But the creator, the sustainer is right there with you. 608 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:45,940 Because you know that Jesus is the creator, 609 00:24:45,940 --> 00:24:47,680 you can know that Jesus created you 610 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,620 to be exactly who you are. 611 00:24:49,620 --> 00:24:51,360 Because you know that he's the sustainer, 612 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:54,500 you can know that he has you exactly where he wants you. 613 00:24:54,500 --> 00:24:58,180 Because he became flesh, 614 00:24:58,180 --> 00:25:00,340 the creator and sustainer became flesh, 615 00:25:00,340 --> 00:25:01,940 you can know that he's gone through 616 00:25:01,940 --> 00:25:04,620 everything you're going through. 617 00:25:04,620 --> 00:25:05,980 You see, the word becoming flesh 618 00:25:05,980 --> 00:25:08,400 means that we can know God, for sure, 619 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,640 but it also means that God knows us. 620 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,900 God knows you. 621 00:25:12,900 --> 00:25:14,480 God knows you better than anyone else. 622 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,460 God knows you better than you know yourself. 623 00:25:16,460 --> 00:25:18,500 He created you, he's sustaining you, 624 00:25:18,500 --> 00:25:21,520 and he's lived just like you, 625 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:23,260 going through all the stressors and pains 626 00:25:23,260 --> 00:25:26,100 and difficulties of this life. 627 00:25:26,100 --> 00:25:28,740 And he, right now, is holding your life together, 628 00:25:28,740 --> 00:25:31,180 which means he'll provide everything you need. 629 00:25:31,180 --> 00:25:33,660 He knows exactly what you need 630 00:25:33,660 --> 00:25:35,480 to be sustained in this world. 631 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,860 And so, how can we celebrate that this Christmas, 632 00:25:38,860 --> 00:25:40,260 that this is who Jesus is? 633 00:25:40,260 --> 00:25:43,860 We can celebrate by trusting Jesus in the stressors. 634 00:25:43,860 --> 00:25:49,220 Trust Jesus in the stress and difficulty of your life. 635 00:25:49,220 --> 00:25:50,820 The holiday season is notorious 636 00:25:50,820 --> 00:25:52,900 for being unbelievably stressful. 637 00:25:52,900 --> 00:25:55,500 And I read about this study last year, 638 00:25:55,500 --> 00:25:56,780 and it shocked me so much 639 00:25:56,780 --> 00:25:59,560 that I had to double and triple check it. 640 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,200 The American Psychological Association did a study, 641 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:04,780 and they found that 89% of adults 642 00:26:04,780 --> 00:26:07,460 feel stress during the Christmas season. 643 00:26:07,460 --> 00:26:10,620 89%, that's crazy high. 644 00:26:10,620 --> 00:26:11,580 Normally, in studies like this, 645 00:26:11,580 --> 00:26:14,700 you're like, oh, 58%, that's high, I can use that. 646 00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:17,760 89, that's nine out of every 10 of us. 647 00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:21,880 The holiday season is so stressful. 648 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:23,460 And the reasons that we're given here, 649 00:26:23,460 --> 00:26:25,540 they asked, well, why do you feel so stressed? 650 00:26:25,540 --> 00:26:27,980 Some of the reasons that they gave, 651 00:26:27,980 --> 00:26:29,940 lack of time, financial pressure, 652 00:26:29,940 --> 00:26:32,380 gift-giving, family gatherings, 653 00:26:32,380 --> 00:26:36,260 lots of stress around this season. 654 00:26:36,260 --> 00:26:39,300 So even though this season can feel super stressful, 655 00:26:39,300 --> 00:26:42,620 we can be a people who celebrate 656 00:26:42,620 --> 00:26:45,580 by trusting Jesus in the stress, 657 00:26:45,580 --> 00:26:47,420 by leaning on him in the messiness. 658 00:26:47,420 --> 00:26:49,100 And how exactly do we do that? 659 00:26:49,100 --> 00:26:51,300 Through prayer. 660 00:26:51,300 --> 00:26:53,260 We do it through prayer. 661 00:26:53,260 --> 00:26:56,260 Prayer is an act of celebration. 662 00:26:56,260 --> 00:26:58,300 It's an act of saying, all the stressors in my life, 663 00:26:58,300 --> 00:27:00,780 everything that's going on, I should be crushed by it, 664 00:27:00,780 --> 00:27:03,660 but instead I'm celebrating that I know the one 665 00:27:03,660 --> 00:27:05,100 who's in control of it all. 666 00:27:05,100 --> 00:27:08,940 Prayer is an act of celebration. 667 00:27:08,940 --> 00:27:11,180 It's doing what we read last week in 1 Peter 5, 668 00:27:11,180 --> 00:27:15,900 casting all of our anxieties on him because he cares for us. 669 00:27:15,900 --> 00:27:17,740 Guys, you can talk to God and tell him 670 00:27:17,740 --> 00:27:20,220 that you trust him because he created you. 671 00:27:20,220 --> 00:27:21,660 You can tell him that you trust him 672 00:27:21,660 --> 00:27:22,860 because he's sustaining you, 673 00:27:22,860 --> 00:27:25,260 and he'll continue to sustain you. 674 00:27:25,260 --> 00:27:26,500 You can tell him that you trust him 675 00:27:26,500 --> 00:27:29,360 in everything that's going on throughout this season. 676 00:27:29,360 --> 00:27:32,540 We can celebrate because we know the one 677 00:27:32,540 --> 00:27:35,100 that we can trust in all of life 678 00:27:35,100 --> 00:27:37,780 because he's our creator, our sustainer, 679 00:27:37,780 --> 00:27:39,540 and he's lived just like us. 680 00:27:39,540 --> 00:27:43,580 John gives us a third thing to celebrate. 681 00:27:43,580 --> 00:27:46,960 Third reason, and it's that Jesus is the truth. 682 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:48,860 That's why John calls him the word 683 00:27:48,860 --> 00:27:51,340 'cause we see the truth about God through Jesus. 684 00:27:51,340 --> 00:27:53,700 And Jesus said this about himself in John 14. 685 00:27:53,700 --> 00:27:54,540 Look at what he says. 686 00:27:54,540 --> 00:27:57,420 Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 687 00:27:57,420 --> 00:28:00,580 "No one comes to the Father except through me. 688 00:28:00,580 --> 00:28:03,140 "If you know me, you'll also know my Father." 689 00:28:03,140 --> 00:28:05,500 See, Jesus came to tell us the truth, 690 00:28:05,500 --> 00:28:08,220 but he also came to be the truth 691 00:28:08,220 --> 00:28:10,940 about who God is and how God acts. 692 00:28:10,940 --> 00:28:13,500 Like we can read in the book of Exodus 693 00:28:13,500 --> 00:28:15,740 how God is a God who wants to deliver his people 694 00:28:15,740 --> 00:28:18,080 from slavery, but now in Jesus, 695 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:20,980 we get to see that God delivers his people 696 00:28:20,980 --> 00:28:23,260 from sickness and bondage and slavery. 697 00:28:23,260 --> 00:28:25,940 We read in Leviticus how God is holy, 698 00:28:25,940 --> 00:28:26,800 but now through Jesus, 699 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,380 we get to see what a holy life looks like. 700 00:28:29,380 --> 00:28:32,000 We can read in the Psalms that God is patient and kind, 701 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,240 but now we get to see the kindness and patience 702 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,000 of God on display through Jesus 703 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,860 and how he treats his disciples when they keep on failing. 704 00:28:39,860 --> 00:28:44,240 Jesus came to be the truth about God, 705 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:47,040 but Jesus also came to tell us 706 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:49,840 and show us truth about ourselves. 707 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:53,920 In that verse, John 14, we just looked at, 708 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:57,140 Jesus said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life." 709 00:28:57,140 --> 00:28:58,400 Listen to this truth, he said, 710 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,940 "No one comes to the Father except through me." 711 00:29:00,940 --> 00:29:05,160 "No one comes to the Father except through me." 712 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,040 That's a shocking truth about all of us. 713 00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:09,120 Here's what all that means. 714 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,800 None of us can get to God on our own. 715 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,680 None of us can come to God on our own. 716 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,400 We can't be holy enough, good enough, 717 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,200 pious enough, religious enough. 718 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,320 None of us can do anything to get to God on our own. 719 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:25,360 Jesus came to tell us that truth, 720 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,280 but he also came to show us that truth. 721 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:31,040 Why is that? 722 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:33,000 Why is it that we can't get to God? 723 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:34,680 What's wrong with us? 724 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:37,280 Well, the entire Bible and Jesus came to show us 725 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,840 and tell us that it's our sin, it's our rebellion. 726 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:42,960 It's that we, humanity, looked at our creator 727 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:44,480 back in the garden and we said, 728 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:46,640 "We know you created us to live in beautiful relationship 729 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:48,280 "with you and each other in this world," 730 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,600 but we turned our backs collectively on God 731 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:54,160 when we chose to walk away from him. 732 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:57,200 We rebelled, we sinned, and now that brokenness, 733 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:00,680 that sin, it infects all of us. 734 00:30:00,680 --> 00:30:01,720 How bad is it? 735 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:05,400 It's so bad that when Jesus came, 736 00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,560 when God himself was born into this world to live with us, 737 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:10,280 we rejected him. 738 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,600 Look down at verse 11 of John 1. 739 00:30:12,600 --> 00:30:14,880 Jesus came to his own and his own people 740 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:16,280 did not receive him. 741 00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:21,040 God gave his word to us, the word become flesh, 742 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,360 and we rejected his word. 743 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,080 But here's the amazing thing. 744 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,960 Do you know how God responded to our rejection of him? 745 00:30:29,960 --> 00:30:35,880 He responded by giving up his life for us. 746 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:38,320 He responded by the cross. 747 00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,360 We rejected God's word, we rejected the truth, 748 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:43,320 we rejected Jesus. 749 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:45,120 Jesus came and said, "I'm gonna tell you the truth, 750 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:46,240 "I'm gonna give you the truth." 751 00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:49,120 Humanity collectively said, "We don't want it." 752 00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,480 And Jesus said that, "I'm gonna lay down my life for you." 753 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,480 And Jesus went to the cross, a holy, perfect man, 754 00:30:56,480 --> 00:31:00,260 the son of God, dying for our sin and rebellion 755 00:31:00,260 --> 00:31:02,200 and rejection of him. 756 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:06,620 See, Jesus came to tell us a couple things about ourselves. 757 00:31:06,620 --> 00:31:11,280 Number one, he came to show us that we are more lost 758 00:31:11,280 --> 00:31:13,480 than we could ever imagine. 759 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:17,160 It took nothing less than the death of the son of God 760 00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:19,280 for us to be rescued. 761 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,880 But Jesus also came to show us the truth, 762 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:25,120 that because of him, because he did it, 763 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:28,500 that our future is more bright than we could ever hope. 764 00:31:28,500 --> 00:31:31,160 Because Jesus did it. 765 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,960 He loved you to death, and by his death, 766 00:31:34,960 --> 00:31:36,820 he paid the price, the consequences, 767 00:31:36,820 --> 00:31:40,980 the payment of our rebellion and sin and rejection of God. 768 00:31:40,980 --> 00:31:46,000 So that now all we have to do is come to him in faith 769 00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,080 and say, "I trust you." 770 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,040 And we can have life with God now and forever. 771 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:53,080 Jesus said, "No one can come to the Father 772 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:55,740 "except through me. 773 00:31:55,740 --> 00:32:00,280 "I'll do it, I'll make it possible. 774 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,520 "I'll bring you to God." 775 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:03,360 And he did it. 776 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:07,040 We are more lost than we could ever imagine, 777 00:32:07,040 --> 00:32:09,320 but our future is more bright than we could ever hope. 778 00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:10,460 That's the truth. 779 00:32:10,460 --> 00:32:12,760 So maybe you're here this morning and you're like, 780 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,280 "Man, the word just doesn't make sense to me. 781 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:17,100 "Like this Jesus thing, this church thing, 782 00:32:17,100 --> 00:32:18,920 "it just, I don't get it, it doesn't really make sense." 783 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:21,080 But listen, if you ask him to, 784 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,180 Jesus will give you supernatural understanding 785 00:32:23,180 --> 00:32:24,360 into him and his word, 786 00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:26,520 and it'll change everything about your life. 787 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:27,640 We already read it in John 8. 788 00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,340 He said, "You will know the truth, 789 00:32:30,340 --> 00:32:33,280 "and the truth will set you free." 790 00:32:33,280 --> 00:32:36,480 The truth, Jesus himself will set you free 791 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:39,400 if you accept the truth about who you are. 792 00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:42,360 You are a sinner who needs forgiveness and healing. 793 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:46,360 And if you accept the truth about who God is, 794 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,420 he's the one who gives you forgiveness 795 00:32:49,420 --> 00:32:51,800 and healing through Jesus. 796 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:54,520 And so what would be the best way 797 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,560 to celebrate this Christmas season? 798 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:01,560 The absolute best way would be to give your life to Jesus. 799 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,080 That would be the absolute best response 800 00:33:04,080 --> 00:33:06,600 to the word become flesh, 801 00:33:06,600 --> 00:33:09,320 is to say, "Yes, I give you my life." 802 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:11,540 Maybe for some of you, 803 00:33:11,540 --> 00:33:13,320 you'd be doing that for the very first time. 804 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:15,640 You know you've never truly done that. 805 00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:17,760 You've been kind of showing up and acting like it, 806 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:20,520 maybe faking it a little bit, or maybe just curious. 807 00:33:20,520 --> 00:33:23,600 But today you're like, "Okay, if this is truly who Jesus is, 808 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:25,220 "man, I wanna celebrate by responding 809 00:33:25,220 --> 00:33:26,480 "the way the angels respond. 810 00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,360 "That glory came down, I wanna give glory up." 811 00:33:29,360 --> 00:33:30,440 And the way you can do that is saying, 812 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,160 "Yes, I believe it, I trust you, I give you my life." 813 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:37,860 Maybe for some of you, it's kind of a coming back. 814 00:33:37,860 --> 00:33:39,600 You're a Christian, you've done that before, 815 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:40,840 but you've been wandering away, 816 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:42,000 you've been in love with this world, 817 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,880 maybe this year, or for a few months, 818 00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:45,680 or for a really long time, and you're like, 819 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:47,360 "No, I gotta come back. 820 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:49,700 "I gotta remember who Jesus is, 821 00:33:49,700 --> 00:33:52,040 "how he's the main thing to celebrate 822 00:33:52,040 --> 00:33:54,160 "in this life and in this world." 823 00:33:54,160 --> 00:33:56,720 Here's the beautiful thing for all of us, guys. 824 00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:58,160 God says that we don't have to clean our, 825 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:00,080 he doesn't tell us to clean ourselves up 826 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:01,900 to come to him and celebrate. 827 00:34:01,900 --> 00:34:03,160 He doesn't say, "Get clean, 828 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,040 "and then come into my house and party." 829 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:10,460 No, he says, "Come to me as you are, 830 00:34:10,460 --> 00:34:12,420 "and I'll clean you up. 831 00:34:12,420 --> 00:34:15,440 "I'll welcome you into the party just as you are, 832 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:17,600 "and I'll make you clean." 833 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:19,560 And so let's run to him. 834 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,400 Let's know who Jesus is, let's believe who Jesus is, 835 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:27,120 and let's celebrate well by giving him our lives, 836 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:29,800 by trusting Him in all of life. 837 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:30,800 Let's pray together.