Relentless Pursuit
Our relentless pursuit after God as He pursues after us.
Relentless Pursuit
Unraveling the Mysteries of the Word Made Flesh
Embark with us on an enlightening expedition into the depths of the Gospel of John, where hidden gems of spiritual wisdom await discovery. This episode promises to reveal the intricate tapestry of theological themes and the poetic proclamation of Jesus's divinity that John's Gospel alone so brilliantly illustrates. We'll traverse the narrative landscape that sets this Gospel apart, reflecting upon its Genesis-like introduction and unraveling the mystery of the Word made flesh. As your guide, I'll share insights into how this Gospel weaves the Trinitarian nature of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit into a narrative not penned for a specific audience, but as a universal message of divine love and truth.
Feel the pull of your own quest for purpose and witness the transformative power that beckons from the pages of scripture. We'll trace the journey from the ancient prophetic call of Jeremiah to the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and how this shapes our present-day discipleship. Through John's eyes, experience a paradigm shift from the Mosaic Law to the grace and truth personified in Jesus Christ. This episode isn't just a study; it's an invitation to align your life with the divine design, as we contemplate the essence of the Gospel and respond to the call to follow in the footsteps of Christ. Join me, and let's explore the profound narrative that has captivated believers for centuries.
What's up RP family? Welcome back to another episode of relentless pursuit. Today we're doing something a little different, where I'm going to go through the book of John, and so, whenever I don't have a guest this season in in RP, hopefully we can dig a little deeper than the surface level of what John is trying to portray, and so let's let's get into it. So the Bible in the New Testament, more specifically, is written, or starts, started off with four books that are fairly similar. We call them the Gospels. The Gospel means the good news, right, and so it tells the story of Jesus. Jesus and his life and and what he's done and the things that had happened while he was here for three and a half years or so. And so we see, john is just a little bit different from the other three Gospel writers. We sit, we have Matthew, who was the first one, mark, who's the second, and then Luke, who's the third. So we have the four Gospels, but then we have three Synoptic Gospels, the Synoptic Gospels meaning essentially that they just compared each other's, compared to each other's.
Speaker 1:Mark was the first book written, matthew was the second and then Luke was the third. Mark was written for Romans. That's why there's a lot of immediately. That that's why there's a lot of action. That happens in the beginning, that's why there's a lot of boom, boom, boom. Because Romans were, they had short attention span. There are people of action. They had fought many wars, they were, they liked the, the knitting gritty. But then we had Matthew, whose audience was the Jews. And so Matthew, being a tax collector, was already almost like a paradox, and in who he was writing to, because he was Jewish in himself but was looked at and viewed at as less than the people that were oppressing them, the Romans. And so we had Matthew who was second, writing to the Jews and giving the lineage of Jesus. And then we have Luke, who was not even a Jew, he was a Gentile, he was a physician and he wrote his book to the Greeks. And so we see that there was a distinct difference of audience in each individual book.
Speaker 1:But then we come to John. The reason why he's not in a synoptic gospel is because John wasn't necessarily written for a specific audience. But John was more so as a poem, more so as a love note to Jesus, more so geared to give us a peel back of the heart, of who John was and and how we should have and embody this heart, this, this, the disciple that Jesus loved, the son or daughter that Jesus loves, the one that is part of his fold in his three, the one that has has carried the burden of being a witness, the one that is willing to go the extra mile, for when Jesus calls you that you will be. Yes, god, I am listening. And so let's dive into this book of John, where it we're going to start in chapter one, and I'm going to go through verse one to probably around 14 to 18 rounds. So I'm going to read In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.
Speaker 1:He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made. That was made in him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Now I want to break down this a little bit more, because it says in the beginning. And so in the beginning, automatically, most of us referenced the book of Genesis, and so we go to the initial beginning, when God said in the beginning, god. And he said let there be light.
Speaker 1:Now I want, I want to, I want to break this down a little bit, because he said the Bible says in Genesis, one one it says in the beginning, god. The first four by words in the Bible are essentially that everything is the foundation of God, everything has a foundation from God, that God is the absolute zero, the foundation, the everything that comes from the source of everything. And so in the beginning of life was God. And so we have that automatic parallel in the beginning was the word, so in the beginning, god, in the beginning was the word. And the reason why I believe John wanted to make this parallel is because he wanted to make sure you understood and staple it in your brain that Jesus is God and we'll always be God. So in the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God. And when the word came out, see what is the word, the word, the logos word in this time, or in in Greek, it Essentially was, is the embodiment of the thoughts of God. And so in the beginning was the word with the word came out of the Lord's mouth, out of God's mouth, and From that we can see I'm about to make a lot of jumping back and forth from Genesis to John, but in the beginning was God and and I'm sorry in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and and the spirit hovered over the depths of the earth. And now I want, I want to say that the Ruach, which means spirit, which means wind, which means breath, when you breathe, that word comes out. And so the Ruach of God, which means the spirit of God, was then embodied by Jesus. Does that make sense? I hope so, so, so Do I want to get into the Trinitarian and you want this debate? No, so? So, essentially, what this is saying and is stapling, because there are basically three sections, and I keep Whatever there are three sections in the Bible there is God, there is Jesus and there is the Holy Spirit, three different sections.
Speaker 1:So we have the Old Testament, the law of God, that is the essence of God, that is, that is God is holiness, god is holy, and everybody shall proclaim Holy, holy, holy is the, the one who was slain before the foundation. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. And so God is holy, and so that's the law, that's the Torah. And then we have the, the, the Gospels, which is the life of Jesus. So we see the embodiment of God on earth and living and dwelling among us.
Speaker 1:And then we have Acts, chapter 2, when that's when the Holy Spirit is released from heaven, and now he's not in. He's not on earth, but he's in his people. And so we see the three different stages of God God being the ultimate supreme leader or ultimate supreme king overall. And then we see God Living as a servant to his children. And then we see God Expanding his kingdom through his people. He just does mighty works and mighty miracles in each way and each facet that he moves. And we see, in the beginning, god In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning and all things were made through him, and we have to understand that that your only way that you can receive the things that are of God is through God, is with God, is in God, and so if you want peace, you have to be in God.
Speaker 1:And so I had a few conversations With people and they would get into like I don't understand. How do I explain to somebody that that doesn't believe in the Bible and say that God was before everything? Well, then you have to go to the facts, you have to go to science. You know science can prove, if you get this super powerful telescope, that you can see backwards, so you can see into the future essentially, or see into our past. And so they have this really powerful telescope that goes super far. Essentially they can see the First hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of a second. But they can't see before that. They can't be see before the big bang. But I could tell you what is a big bang we have, and that is there was Nothing, the earth was formless and void. And then God said let there be light. Boom, then there was light.
Speaker 1:I Can't tell you how many conversations that I've had about people like where, where did the Giants go? Where did what about the Anunnaki? What about the Samaritans? What about these people, these religious groups with these? What about? How do Buddhists come around? How did, how did Muslims come around? How did Jews come around? How did these different things come around?
Speaker 1:Well, let me tell you that men is desperate to serve. Let me explain. This is because man has always been looking for an idol. Man has always been looking for a God. Since the beginning of time we've been looking for a God, whether we are our own God, whether people are our own God, whether man is our own God, whether Demons are our own God. We try to find us higher, being a reason, a purpose to live, and the only purpose that we have to live is to serve and live for the King that created us. The only way we can have purpose in our own life is if we follow the purpose that God designed us for. The only way we could have a purpose in general is if there was someone that created us, and so in the beginning was the Word.
Speaker 1:And what was that Word in your beginning? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word made Nathan. In the beginning was the Word and the Word made whoever you are that's listening on to this. There was a beginning, there was an origin where God said in the beginning was the Word, and the Word made you, and that was for a purpose, because God was with you. The Bible says in Jeremiah that that that let's actually go there.
Speaker 1:Jeremiah 1, verse 5. Before I formed you in your mother's womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I adained you a prophet to the nations. Why? Because the nations didn't have a prophet that needed a prophet, and so he made a purpose. He had a purpose and so he made you. There's so many instances in our life there was a need in the world, in the earth, that God was like oh, I need so, and so I need Nathan, I need Me there. I need these people that will go out with their purpose on their back and walk and bear witness.
Speaker 1:We're going to get into that a little bit later, because we see that in John, chapter 1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Well, that Word in verse 14 now dwells among us and the Bible talks about how. In the chapter it says how that Word was Jesus and what happened was is the Word never departed from us? The Word was implanted in us when Jesus rose on the third day and ascended to heaven and took the right hand of the Father and he said 40 days later after he ascended I'm sorry, I think it was 10 days later 10 days later, in the upper room, there will shall be an impartation, and that impartation will be known as Pentecost, and then, on Pentecost, there will be tongues of fire that fall down and rest on you and then are implanted in you and people will speak other tongues, and there will be people, around 3000 or so, that will hear this and be transformed inwardly and then have a declaration outwardly that say yes to God.
Speaker 1:And so what do we need to do in order to get to this poem, a moment, or to this point? We have to understand that that Word became flesh and now is dwelling among us and in us. And so we go a little bit further into that, into that, into the Scripture and in the Word dwell. The word dwell in Greek it means to live in one's tabernacle or tent, and so in verse 14, it says that the word dwelt among us. It means he is now abiding in this tabernacle or tent, and so it's a foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. He was God's thought, and thought became embodied, which is now Jesus, and that thought that was in God for our life is now being embodied by who we are, in our identity. That was written over our DNA.
Speaker 1:And so we see let's go back to John, because we're jumping around Praise God. Now we see, in John we have verse 13 or 6 through 13, that was more of a parallel to Genesis, and then we have 14 through 17, which is a parallel to Exodus. And then John references the law in verse 18. I'm sorry, am I saying chapter? I meant verse 18. And John references the law. Let's go there. We're here, open in the Bible, Praise God.
Speaker 1:Okay, we have no one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is the bosom of Father. Or, I'm sorry, 17., for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus Christ. And so we acknowledge the fact that there was a before Jesus on earth which was law. It was God not breathing or embodying on earth, but it was writing. Because what happened is is the law came from these tablets, that Jesus or that God took his finger and he was writing on them.
Speaker 1:But then God said that's not enough for you to just under or learn my word. I need you to understand my word. And so what I'm going to do in order for you to understand is I'm going to break this barrier of sin that could only be broken through the, through me, and so I'm going to send my only begotten Son and allow this grace to overcome, because there is a block and there is a hindrance to my people to come to me. And so then it. Then we reverse a little bit and we see that John the Baptist was here. We see that John the Baptist says he's going to prepare the way for Jesus, and so we went through all of this. We went through all of that kind of trying to break down the description of Jesus becoming flesh, because the Bible says that he was before the foundations of the earth, but now he's flesh dwelling among us, now he's living in us, he's abiding in us, and so now what?
Speaker 1:Now what the thing about witness, that the witness label that's over John the Baptist is. Now the witness label has to be over us, and the word in witness in Greek is Mark, and what's crazy is that we have Mark, we have that responsibility to Mark to be witness. But what we get that another word that comes from Mark to is Mark. So we have to be willing, and this is just a parallel we have to be willing to lay our life down for what we have. Behold that, what we will behold and what we have seen, what we will see, what we can testify about, what our testimony, what God has done in our life, the times that we were down and out and we counted ourself out. But the Lord lifted us up, because he dwells within us and because he has not left us where we were, because he's seen that there was a broken world and that we were not able to do it on our own. And so he came with grace and truth and he embodied everything that God is, everything that God was, everything that God will continue to be. And he embodied that and came in and died a sinless life. And he died for our sins, not so that we could repay, but he did it for free. And he paid the way and paved the way to salvation so that we can inherit the kingdom of heaven and so that we can receive something that's greater than what we are and who we are, and so that we can walk in obedience and be his witness.
Speaker 1:The Bible in Revelation talks about two witnesses and I'm not even on my note, I kind of ran out of notes but the Bible in Revelation talks about two witnesses. Now I have heard many people's, you know, kind of interpretation about who it is, who the witnesses are, but the one that I like to think about, I mean there's Elijah, there's Moses, there's Enoch. Enoch and Elijah the ones that didn't die. They were just there, no more. But then we have Moses. That God would, or I think it was Michael was fighting with Lucifer over Moses' body, and so there's significance there, or that we see them out, transfiguration, where Jesus put on this glorified body, and he was next to Elijah and Moses. So they could very well be the witnesses. And if you told me they were, alright, amen, that's probably what I believe too.
Speaker 1:But there was one thing that I heard before and it just really stuck with me and it continues to stick with me, and that those two witnesses are not going to be somebody that was, they're going to be somebody that is. And in fact they said that those two witnesses are going to be movements and bodies of churches, people, congregations, separate, but the same, that the enemy is going to try to kill them. But even in their darkest hour, because the spirit of the living God lives within them, they will rise again. And so, in this hour that we're in, we have this responsibility to be a witness, and that may be dying to yourself every single day and dying to your desires, because what a witness is is it is a martyr, dying to what you knew, dying to your old self because you are a new creation in Christ. You have been born again. You have been bought and purchased by the blood. Your life is no longer your own, but it is Jesus's.
Speaker 1:And he was the Word that came out of the mouth of God and said let there be light. And there was light. And the thing about the light is that the light is absent of darkness. When you turn on a light switch, darkness leaves, but you can't turn on darkness. You have to turn off the light. And Jesus came to be the light of this world so he could shine his light over the darkness and so he could expand his kingdom, not through him. That's why he said it's better if I leave, because we have a light inside of us. And he said this. And I believe Matthew, chapter six that we now are going to be the light of this world. We are going to be the salt of the earth, because the only way the light expands from sea to shining sea and I know I'm quoting the dang, what is it? I'd say it's dang, whatever, you know what I'm saying If we are going to take this gospel to the ends of the earth and baptizing every nation and every tongue, if we are going to.
Speaker 1:I don't speak Spanish, let alone Mandarin, let alone, you know, there's plenty of other. I can't think of a single one. But my point is is I don't speak every language. I speak one, english, well, two technically, because the language is God. The only way that people can be transformed by the gospel through my words I mean, let me phrase this, through my tongue is if one is with the Holy Spirit obviously helping me and if he graces me with the ability to speak another language, praise the Lord. Or two. I speak to someone who happens to be bilingual and they speak Spanish, and that Spanish speaker speaks to someone who speaks only Spanish. And that Spanish speaker that only speaks Spanish speaks to someone who speaks Spanish and Mandarin and who speaks someone who speaks only Mandarin. Who speaks to who who speaks German and Mandarin? Who speaks to he German and Mandarin, speaks only German, and it bounces and it becomes the greatest game of telephone Just kidding, not a game.
Speaker 1:We become witnesses and his light begins to spread and his influence begins to grow, not because of our doing. And he can. He gave the authority of the earth to man. He's not going to step over his words. He's not going to ignore what he spoke. There's a reason why Moses was like Yo yo yo, you don't want to kill these people, you made these people. It's because when Jesus came into the earth, he became flesh, dwelt among us, he was bearing witness of the Father and the Father of him, and then he planted a seed in all of us, which is the gospel that there are brighter days ahead.
Speaker 1:But the thing is is that the Bible talks about the light and the darkness, the darkness being the, the desire for the light, but the absent thereof, and it also refers to darkness as ignorance and the light being influenced by an abundance of wisdom. And here's the thing is that in the garden, when when for attempted Eve, it was for knowledge right, for the knowledge of good and evil. But the only way that they could see evil is to see the light of the God and the light of the God and the light of the God. And the only way that they could see evil is if they allowed evil to be. Think about this If there was no evil in the earth before Adam and Eve, there needed to be a knock on a door, but in order for that door to be shut, the owner of that door needed to go and close it and lock it. And so what happened? That door was open, when he said in the beginning was the word, and the word became flesh. That door became open and God came through that door. And what happened? He bought the door, essentially, closed it, locked it and then gave us back the keys.
Speaker 1:Thank you, jesus, for everything that you've done, everything that you're going to do and everything that you will do. You are faithful. Thank you, guys, for tuning into this week's episode of Relentless Pursuit. I love you, I thank you. I am so privileged to be in this opportunity to continue to spreading the gospel, to continue to work on what God has called me to do.
Speaker 1:This week has been extremely hectic for me. I am currently moving and getting everything in order. I'm painting and doing a whole bunch of stuff. I feel like a general contractor for real. But you know, youtube University is the best teacher. Praise God, the grace of God, dude, shoot, because I needed it. But yeah, so this week's been crazy, but I really wanted to not cancel this week Because I didn't feel like it was necessary for one. And then two. Who am I that I could reject the call that God has placed over my life and he called me to do 12 episodes straight. I need to do 12 episodes straight without taking any breaks. There is no man too busy to reject the voice of God. Praise God, but thank you guys. See you guys next week. Don't forget to like, follow, share, subscribe to all our social media platforms. See you soon, god bless.
