EP21: Returning to John's Gospel with Bill White

Welcome back to another episode of the Grace Church Members

Podcast. I'm your host, Chris Rivers, and

we have Bill White and Scott Mazingo in the room today.

Our hope in this episode is to discuss an overview and recap of

the John series. Guys, welcome to the table.

Hey, Chris, good to see you this morning.

Thanks, Chris. Good to be here.

Yeah. Well, I'd love Bill, you just

jump right in. Maybe just talk to us a little

bit about the rationale for this series.

I think the rationale for this series, well, I don't think I

know. The rationale for this series is

that we want to do the best that we can to make sure that we as a

community have a true relationship with with the

living Christ that gives life to us.

And and John is is so clear and what his agenda is.

So in John 2031, he said. These things I have written so

that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that by

believing you may have life by the power of his name, that you

may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by

believing you may have life by the power of his name.

And he says In that same paragraph, he says I couldn't

have included. If I tried to include everything

Jesus did, the heavens wouldn't be big enough to write all the

books. He said, But what I have

written, This is why I've written it.

So the whole point is really to speak to religious people who

think they know some things and to challenge them with the

reality of who Jesus really is. Because your ideas don't give

you life. Jesus gives you life and.

And what he is going to show throughout the book is how

people miss Jesus not because they don't have information.

They miss Jesus because they do have biblical information and

because Jesus confounds their understanding of biblical

information. And so our concern is that we

could have a lot of people who are like that, who are in our

church, who confuse knowing facts with having life.

And John's Gospel just gives you opportunity after opportunity

and some of the most beautiful images we have of who God is

come to us from John's Gospel. So that's why we're doing it,

yeah. Well, I love how explicit the

mission of the book is in John, chapter 20.

John 20 · chapter mention

And then when you understand that and you go back and you

just see these little stories and these encounters, John's

doing the same thing each and every time, driving you to make

a decision about who he is. When we think about jumping in

this week, we're going to start back in Chapter 11.

So some people may just be joining us for the first time

over the summer. So what we thought we would do

during this episode is just do a little bit of a review, a recap

where we've been so that when we start up and we hit the last

half of the book, people understand the context, they

understand the flow. So let's just take a few

minutes. We'll just talk through some

parts of the, what we would just call part one of John 1st 10

chapters. What were some of the

highlights? What were some of the themes?

And then we'll get into a little bit of what we can look forward

to Part 2. So this is looking backwards.

What would you like to share? What stood out to you about the

first part of the book of John? One of the things that's super

interesting to note is that we spent the entire spring working

our way through the 1st 10 chapters, which pretty much

covers. Jesus entire ministry.

So we have this theological introduction where we get this

window back into before the creation of the world.

So you get this theological introduction.

You get this historical orientation through John the

Baptist that the last of the prophets is here and he

testifies to the reality of who Jesus is.

The Holy Spirit testifies to the reality of who Jesus is.

And then you have the events of Jesus, life and ministry.

Basically three years of ministry leading up to John

John 11 · chapter mention

Chapter 11, which we real because of how John organizes,

but we really don't know when John 11 takes place.

But it's arranged as the week before the Passion.

And I can tell you the reason why I think it's there.

I don't know why it's there. It makes sense to me why it's

there, but essentially you get 10 chapters.

On Jesus, entire ministry minus everything he did that John

thinks is important to tell us, which is 3 years of ministry

other than the death and the resurrection of Lazarus.

And then from chapter 12 all the way to chapter 21 is one week,

is one week. And so if you just look at the

book, what you can see is. John is making a case for who

Jesus is and all that he did that his signs testified to who

he was and then he is going to take zoom in on the Passion week

and he is going to take us on the deep dive of that.

So the 1st 10 chapters really are just laying the stage for

what Jesus describes as him being exalted Jesus.

In classic John fashion, Jesus all along is laying these hints

that one day he's going to be lifted up and the idea of being

exalted, of being glorified. And in the last half, what we're

going to see is that's a very counterintuitive fulfillment of

what Jesus has been saying because his glorification is His

crucifixion. And so that's the tension that

is being built through the 1st 10 chapters.

And the way in which John goes about it is he has these things

that he calls signs where Jesus is doing something, and then he

is explaining the significance of what he's done as revealing

who he is. And so you have this interplay

between Jesus does something that no one has ever done, and

then Jesus gives you sometimes clear, but most of the time

fairly cryptic explanations that are only going to really make

sense for his disciples. After his death and his

resurrection, and in some senses not until after Pentecost and

with the Holy Spirit do they go back and read the Old Testament

that they start figuring it out. Oh wait a minute, this is what

Jesus sorry y'all. Remember when Jesus said that

this is what he was talking about?

They they piece it all together. And so in the 1st 10 chapters

you realize this is one of the beautiful things to me.

They don't really understand who Jesus is on many levels.

And the the mark of discipleship is not understanding him, it is

trusting him and obeying him, you know?

But it is interesting how Jesus is he.

He is kind in the sense that he uses very familiar expressions

of of Jewish life. And then he so he appeals to

appeals to them at a wedding and in the temple and at the well

and in a conversation with a rabbi.

And so he's like trying to meet them on their terms, but then

he's, he's refiguring what they should be thinking about.

But he kind of meets them and then he like, takes them on a

little journey. And then he next time he takes

them on a little journey and and then it feels like though his I

am statements, his signs. Seems like they're increasing in

intensity over the course of 10 chapters.

Is that is that true? Yeah.

I I think definitively and and he makes these statements.

I am the light of the world. I am living water.

You know I've got living what come to me I'm.

I'm the real well. So the woman at the well is a

great example of what you're talking about, and he doesn't

perform a sign. For her, she doesn't see

anything. Well, I mean, it sort of does

because he goes prophetic on her and he deconstructs her life.

So that's, you know, but John doesn't call that a sign.

But he engages her and and she's on one level and he's operating

on another level and he keeps calling her up to him and she

keeps missing it and and so he's deconstructing her life and

telling her things that she's like how could you know these

things about me? And and so she's like, Sir, I

perceive you're a prophet, so maybe you could answer my

religious question, you know, instead of talking about the

complexity of my life and my sin and my brokenness.

I've been I've been looking for a guy like you to ask a

question. Clearly, you know some things

most people don't. Our fathers say that we should

worship here on Mount Garazine, you know, and they had some

legitimate. Tension and all that, for sure.

Because that's where when the Exodus took place and Israel

first came in. Then, you know, to the land, the

folks were there on Mount Eball Eball and Gerasim and they

that's where they renewed their covenant vows.

And so the Samaritans were like, Nah, man, this is where it all

started. Jerusalem, that's where the

Jebusites were. And David, I mean, who cares

about all that? And so she asked, She's like,

well, can you settle this? So should we worship in

Jerusalem or here And so and Jesus is like look y'all are

wrong. You need to be in Jerusalem

because it's the devil line. He doesn't say all that, but

that's what he's saying. And she says, well, I've heard

that, you know, when the Messiah comes, he's going to clarify all

these things and then Jesus just drops it on her.

He says I who speak to you and he and she receives him and then

bears witness. And then there's this huge

harvest, you know, and. And so you have and and we don't

have any. The beautiful thing about John's

gospel and why I'm so thankful we have his personality and his

literary gifting, is the other writers.

It's not to speak poorly of the other Gospels.

They're all inspired scripture and they're all great.

But John brings us that kind of color and that kind of intimate

image and this kind of pathos that Jesus has that you just

don't quite see anywhere else. And so you see that in in the

1st 10 chapters and and Jesus always makes that about I am who

I am. So the real tension that I see,

and I think it's really important for us as Western

Christians who who think of truth as being ideas, and there

is a sense in which ideas are true.

Or their faults and ideas are very important.

So I don't want anyone to hear me say that propositional truth

is not important but Jesus. And the revelation of Jesus and

being in a relationship with Jesus is more important than any

other idea. Because any idea, no matter how

good it is, is only partial. There is a greater fullness, and

that fullness exists in God himself and and so Jesus is

showing how wrong people were. And that they were going to have

to humble themselves and just receive him as he offers

himself. And y'all know that's a big

phrase for me because I believe that's the most important thing

for us is we have to stop trying to understand what God is doing

and begin to obey Him. And whatever clarity God wants

us to have is going to come as we're in the process of

receiving Him as our Lord and acting on what He has told us.

But even then, when we. Stand face to face before him.

All of our formulations are gonna melt in the light of who

he really is, and that's a beautiful idea.

And John, I feel like makes that point more clearly than anybody.

So it seems like that this idea of obedience is one of the

things you want us to get out of this study.

Is there. What else would you suggest to

us that you want us to get? Because we're jumping back into

it. So what are your hopes for us

and what else we would get out of this study?

Well, the crescendo, as I understand it, of this

revelation of Jesus through his deeds comes in John Chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

I mean, ultimately it's on the cross and the resurrection, but

in John Chapter 11, John positions the, the.

John 11 · chapter mention

The resurrection of Lazarus and Bethany as the final kind of I

am statement in many ways. There's some other things that

are there but but and Jesus says it to Martha.

Martha comes to him and Martha says Lord, if you had been here

my brother would not have died because Jesus knew he was sick

and was going to die and Jesus waited 2 days and so Martha

comes and she's like Lord, if you had been here he wouldn't

have died. You got I'm confident you could

have healed him. And Jesus tells her your

brother's going to rise again and she's like Lord, I know he's

going to rise again at the resurrection and and Jesus says

no, don't you know I am the resurrection and the life?

And this crazy idea that what Jesus is saying is that the

resurrection is not a future event.

That if I'm in your presence, resurrection life is here.

And if you know me, you already have that.

And so that idea that everything that we are looking for in this

world is to be our lives are so simple.

On the one hand, it's difficult but super simple that the

solutions for our problems are not complicated solutions.

They're difficult because it's difficult to get over yourself

and to realize that all I have to do is be near Jesus.

And Jesus has everything I want. So if I will, that's why

obedience is so important, is I'm putting myself with Him.

I am just following him, you know, So if I follow him in

generosity and service in a life of ministry to other people, of

denying myself. Those things are not important

because they're the right things to do.

Those things are important because those things put me with

Jesus. And when I am with Jesus, I have

access to everything that he has.

And and and that's such an important idea.

It's why John later on in this first letter, which is very

destabilizing. For people like us who think

that, well, I know I know Jesus because I prayed.

That's in my heart. And then I was baptized.

And I believe these certain ideas propositionally.

In his first letter, you know, to Christians on the other side

of the resurrection in Pentecost, he deconstructs all

of that and creates all this tension.

And he says, basically he says the only way you know that you

know Jesus and love Jesus is if you love him.

The only way you know you know him is if you love him.

And the only way you know you love him is if you obey it.

So if you're not obeying Jesus in this moment, you can't have

any confidence that you really love him.

If you don't love him, you don't know him and you're outside of

Christ. And then he names specific names

of people used to be a part of the church.

And so I think that's where, when I'm talking about

obedience, it's not, is it obedience or is it love?

John wants to tie all those things together.

And basically what he's saying is this thing about receiving

Jesus as he offers himself. And so the the literature of the

stories, they are all serving that purpose.

And then they're teeing us up for what that looks like on

Passion Week. You know, So what is, what does

that, what does that look like For Jesus to love us to the end

and he's going to give us a window into the Trinity.

That's different from anything else that we have in the

Scriptures. And his High Priestly Prayer and

his Farewell Discourse of High priestly Prayer, John 14 to John

17, is some of the most elegant personal.

Intimate language where Jesus is praying for us.

He's praying specifically for us.

He's praying not just for those people, but for the people who

would come after and who would believe their testimony, which

is us, that he's thinking about us before he goes to the cross.

I mean, it's just some of the most comforting literature and

all of Scripture and. And and the 1st 10 chapters are

setting us up for why that's such a beautiful thing.

And so if you if you haven't really paid attention, I would

encourage you to go back and listen.

I went back and listened to a number of those sermons just in

preparation for talking about it and thinking about how we got

here. And I went back and read the 1st

10 chapters to get oriented because then that really makes

the Passion Week narrative. It makes all of that makes so

much more sense, yeah. And I think the idea of

obedience, obeying the things that Christ teaches, but doing

it through Christ in the power being in Christ in the power of

the Spirit, it's so complicated because in some ways the output

can look the same. That's right.

But the process is really what makes the difference of whether

you know and whether you love. And sometimes we only see

output. And we can be on the wrong side

of judging that output or we could be on the correct side.

But but really what we need to do is kind of worry about our

own journey and where are we? How how are we perceiving our

life in Christ and obeying Christ through him.

And I mean that's a probably another even another podcast but

it but it it is interesting as you set up why are we doing this

book we're trying to help people believe and have power by.

Believing in his name. And then Jesus goes to the

religious people who might be very similar to us today, and he

just meddles with all of their outputs, right?

He does like he meddles with all of their their feasts and their

festivals and their view of Sabbath and Passover and

tabernacles. And then that's where he just

breaks the paradigm apart. Yeah, because he says that all

of those things, he's like, you value these things so much,

right? And you're so worried about

being right about these things. He said, but these things are

all about me. He's like, you're quoting Moses

against me. He's like, and everything Moses

said is about me, which he just deconstructs for people who want

to say. I mean, I don't know about Jesus

being this or that. He's a good moral teacher.

It's like either Jesus is right or he's a total narcissist

because he's saying that everything that has ever

happened of significance was just a prefiguring.

Of who I am and what I came to do.

Your temple. Me.

Yeah, You know, a wedding feast. Me, right?

You know. And and John 9 is is a great

example of that. I know that's one of your

favorite passages, but you know when when he heals the blind man

and the Pharisees, their major argument is you know you can't

do that on the Sabbath. We follow Moses.

You don't follow Moses, therefore we're right.

And he gets into this. He uses this idea of seeing and

not seeing and blindness and light, which, you know the theme

of light is so strong all the way throughout the book.

And he turns it. He basically does application in

that passage and he says. You know, hey, you have

spiritual blindness. You know, there are things that

you think you see but you don't see.

And he just, I just totally messes with him.

But he's messing with us. You know, when we read that

passage and we go okay, where where might I be spiritually

blind? Where am I following along of a

religious process? Or I'm seeking some kind of

output and I'm really not doing it through love, through the

through the power of of Christ. Through the power of the Holy

Spirit. And so I mean the the

implications are are many for us.

I think that speak a little bit to the timing, you mentioned the

timing of Lazarus because we we kind of ended part one at this

pretty climactic moment and we will even see it depends on how

much you want to give away of your your upcoming sermon.

But basically, you know the disciples are saying, hey, if

you go back into town and if you go Hill, if you go see Lazarus,

if you go Hill, Lazarus, if you go see this family, this is

going to be the end for you. Yeah, they're going to kill you

because the tension has been rising so much and I think we

don't really, we don't really think about the the humanity of

Jesus as he is thinking through his mission from the Father.

And it's like, OK, is this it? Is this my time?

So speak a little bit about how you see that play out and it's.

Such a beautiful on a bunch of different levels, so it's going

to be real difficult. I'm teaching all of John 11.

It's. It's already.

Just overwhelming to me to think about trying to teach the whole

thing, but there's so many beautiful things that are in it

and so many things that are confounding.

So at the very beginning of the chapter Jesus gets word that

Lazarus is sick and and the text the way John said he says.

So Jesus waited two more days. This is a man Jesus will love

you. Get ready to see how much he

loves him as you get through it. You know, it is one of the most

human portrayals of Jesus that we have.

And so the agony of all of that. And then he tells his disciples,

all right, let's go. And they're all like, wait,

wait, wait, wow, wow, these people are trying to kill you.

We're going right back into the Lions thing because.

Bethany's just outside of Jerusalem.

You know, there are all these religious leaders who were

there, who were living near the temple.

I mean, there's no way that we can go in here.

And they start trying to talk him out of it.

And he says Lazarus is asleep, We got to wake him up.

And they're like, no, man, don't.

If if he's asleep, he'll wake up.

It's fine. We're good.

Let's stay out here. I mean, people were coming to

him and people were believing in him while he was out there.

We're doing good workout here. And he says, no, Lazarus is

dead. And for your sakes, I'm glad I

wasn't there. I mean just one statement and so

and then Thomas is where we really get introduced to Thomas

who is a fantastic character here and John's Gospel Thomas

moves to the front at the end and Peter kind of recedes in a

for for parts of it and and Thomas says let's go with him so

that we can also die with him. And you just kind of get, I

mean, Thomas has kind of got this pessimistic skeptic side to

him. John invites you to read him

that way, but he also has this intense kind of loyalty, you

know, So it's just kind of, he's a little bit of a hyper realist

dark soul, which part why I like him probably.

But Thomas thought, let's go with him so we can also die with

him. And the irony of all of that is

that. What Jesus is getting ready to

reveal is that death no longer has any hold.

So they have to be willing to risk dying with him and and

Thomas is like, no, we are all getting ready to die.

But let's go, Amepia. So he's doing what's what we got

to do. And I think that's such a

beautiful image about what we're talking about all along is that

you don't understand what he's doing.

But if you go with him then they were they got to be there,

presumably when he told Martha. No, Martha, I'm not talking.

About a future event. I'm here, I am the resurrection

and the life. And then they get to see Jesus.

When Jesus prays later in Chapter 11, he says, you know,

you always hear me, Father and and I'm saying this just so

these people who are around can hear me so that they know that

we're talking and that's what this is about.

And then he yells to Lazarus, who I believe has already been

raised, and tells him to come out, which is.

And they got to see all of that because they believed him.

Even though they didn't understand him.

They obeyed him and went with him.

Even though they didn't understand what was getting

ready to do. They're just with him.

And so they got to see the glory of God, and that's going to

launch us in to all kinds of drama.

The week of Passover and what we call His passion, his

crucifixion, and really them abandoning him, even after they

saw all of this, they still haven't gotten it.

So in a real way, this is his last, this is the end of His

ministry, this is his last miracle.

And it's it's designed so that they can understand what's about

to happen with him on the cross, that death has no power.

But I love the way that you're you're putting us there with

him, following him, not really knowing that Lazarus is going to

walk out of that team, not really understanding how

possible that is And the idea of of obeying out of love

regardless of guarantee of outcome.

I mean, I think that's really, that's really poignant and and

it's just so interesting again, thinking about the entire

passage, I mean the entire book of John for me, like the most

haunting verse from chapter one, verse 10.

You know, he came into the world and he's this light into the

world, but yet the light, the world did not recognize him.

You know the the darkness could not overcome the light, but yet

the light is so bright and there's some people that still

they just don't get. It they can't see it and they

don't get it. And then and then he takes it up

one more notch, which is where John just man, he he.

He goes for the juggler because he talks about the world, which

is one of the real interesting things that John talks about.

He uses that phrase over and over again, and you have to

really work to understand. He's got layers of meaning

stacked in it and he's wanting you to interact with that and

think about all of it. But then he goes from the world,

didn't understand them, didn't recognize him, and then it, and

then it says he came to his own. He uses a parallelism.

And he says he came to the world, the world, and recognized

him. And he came to his own and his

own received him not he was rejected.

So his special people, his peculiar possession and and

John's going to use the phrase is is unique to John of how he

speaks about the religious establishment as the Jews.

And John was a Jew. But he uses this kind of summary

term calling it the Jews. He doesn't often he'll talk

about Pharisees. He'll talk about.

Some of that but but he uses this term the Jews and that's

peculiar to John and and he set you up to see that the people

that God had revealed himself to who had the most reason to

receive him, they actually not just didn't recognize him they

they projected they. They killed him.

He's he's he's set you up. And it is.

You're right. It is so poignant, which is why

John's Gospel is so good. To go back and read over and

over again, I mean all scripture, we need to be reading

it all the time. But the more you read John, it's

just it's layers. Leon Morris devoted a lot of his

life. He wrote one of the most

important commentaries on John, certainly in the 20th century.

But it's one of the ones that people I think will still be

reading 100 years from now, probably.

And and he says at the beginning, I want to get it just

right, he says. I like the comparison of John's

Gospel to a pool in which a child may wade.

And an elephant can swim. It is both simple and profound.

It is for the various beginner in the faith and for the mature

Christian. Its appeal is immediate and

never failing. It is a simple gospel.

The humblest believer can read it and understand it and profit

by it. And then he goes on.

I mean, and I just think that's a.

John had a peculiar literary gift.

And so it's a worthy thing to think about.

The more you study it, the more confounding it is, but also you

find new comforts every time you read it.

So I'm, I'm really excited that we're getting the opportunity to

do it. And I think I just want to

encourage you to not run from the tension that the text puts

you in because John is doing it. Importantly, if John.

Wanted to make something clear for you.

He make it clear. But there are a lot of places

where he's intentionally putting you in a position of

uncertainty. And and I think in most of those

places where he's doing that, it's because he's wanting you to

see that God is more than your ability to understand.

He's wanting to put you in a position to just humbly obey and

then receive Jesus on his terms. And, and and that.

Because that's what eternity is going to be in the new heavens

and new earth. None of us are going to get

there and be like, oh, this confirms all my Orthodox

formulations of the Trinity. You know what I'm saying?

Who cares? Nobody.

Nobody's going to care about any of that.

And I'm not saying that those ideas are important, but we just

have to. John is intentionally.

He knows the danger of a commitment to be right.

And so he wants to make sure that.

What we really do is love and obey Jesus.

And so anyway, I think that's that's the for me, for my money,

that's the core of the message for us and we're going to be in

the Gospel of John all fall really leading up towards

Christmas. We have more organized minds

than mine who are in charge of that.

I just kind of do what I'm told when it comes to this stuff.

I know what my assignments are. But yeah, I think so.

Well, and the reason I bring that up is I don't, I don't want

us to rush through it in the sense that, you know, you jump

in this fall with us. You have time to go back through

the 1st 10 chapters to understand that the tension

that's been building to understand how Jesus is using

every one of these encounters and John is telling these

stories specifically. So at the end of each of them

you are forced to make a decision along with the people

in the text of who Jesus is. Like you just cannot get away

from. It Yeah, that's right, John,

John 6 · chapter mention

Chapter 6, you're either the people, you're either the crowd

who saw some interesting stuff happen and you came along and

you're like, oh man, I'll tell you what.

If this guy got on board with my agenda, gave me the family I

wanted, the job I wanted and everything, my life would be a

lot better. I got to, I got to do that.

Or you're the disciples who, even though you don't know even

where he is and and fully what he's doing, you're just in awe

of who he is and you got to stick with him, you know?

And you have to find yourself in each of those settings you got

to. The point that John wants to

make is he wants to make sure if if you look at John 2031, which

we referenced at the beginning, the way he uses the verb tense

is there. You can get in trouble by trying

to do too much with this. But John, John does this kind of

set. It's the way he likes to play.

And he says there there's an argument to be made that that he

says these things I have written so that you may keep on

believing. And by keeping on believing, you

may have life by the power of his name.

And that is consistent with the way John writes even in his

epistles. John is very concerned not with

something you did two years ago. John is very concerned with what

you are doing right now. And so this kind of continuous

journey that you are on and I think that's the place for us.

You know, it's let's go on that journey and let's not think

about. Yes, I came into a relationship

with God. At this point, let's think about

I am in a relationship with Jesus right now, and what does

the choices that I am making? What do the choices I'm making

right now reveal about where I fit in this story?

Am I with the crowd trying to get Jesus on board with my

agenda and so missing him and wandering away?

Or am I with his disciples who are doing risky things that it

doesn't look like are necessarily going to work out

well? But what else am I going to do?

Because he's got the words of life, you know, and we all have

to do that, and nobody can do it for you.

You don't need to be looking around.

You made this point earlier. You don't need to be looking

around at other people and wondering what they're doing.

You did not what your wife is doing, not even what your kids

are doing. You know it's impossible for you

to read what's going on inside somebody else.

It doesn't mean you're not concerned for folks and you

don't speak about it, but the main thing that he is saying is

you just have to follow me and and it's very interesting.

You'll see at the very end, one of the last things that we have

in John's Gospel is you have Peter and John with Jesus, Jesus

restoring Peter after he's denied him three times and Peter

are talking and Jesus tells Peter you're going to die.

For me, that's a tough nut, you know and.

And and for a man who just denied him, it's also comforting

because he's like, no man. You were afraid to die for me

now, but you are going to get that honor.

You're going to die for me. You're going to get a second

chance. And Peter.

Classic Peter. He looks over and he says hey,

well, what about him? That guy.

Yeah, what about that guy? What about John?

You know, and Jesus says, hey man, that's none of your

business, he said. If I want him to be alive until

I return then. You don't need to worry about

that. You do you, right, which is so

classic. And and John puts this little

parentheses in there. He's like now some people

because of that a rumor circulated that Jesus said this

guy was going to be alive until Jesus returned.

And John, we believe was the last of the original 12

disciples to be alive. He died in exile on Patmus, we

believe. In his 90s, probably.

And so John, as he's writing this, he's like, Jesus never

said that I was going to live until he returned.

But all of the occasion for all of that is Peter's like, well,

what about him? And he's like, man, dog, that

ain't none of your business. I just need you to do you You

follow me? I got a path for you.

You walk your path. And it and it just brings us

back to that idea. It really does I.

Just I have to follow, I didn't think about it until you said

that earlier. I was like that is one of the

last things is that where we have all these challenges, we

can't turn around and take all this.

This is about my personal relationship, not individual

relationship with Jesus, but my personal relationship with

Jesus. And I need to be careful about

being involved in other people's business ultimately.

Because you read that and you're like, why would John include

that? It's like, because that's

exactly what we would have been thinking.

That's exactly right. Like, what about Bill?

What about Chris? What's in it for, you know?

Yeah, that's right. And so I would just encourage

you as you find your place in the story and we, we, we move

through some things that may seem very familiar.

You know, Jesus arrest, Jesus is crucifixion.

Jesus is resurrection. That you would not treat them as

familiar, that you would, you would dwell in the text and you

would really let some of these extremely intimate passages.

You know, you've got Jesus talking to the Father.

I mean, doesn't get more intimate than that.

Your understanding of the Holy Spirit, just just dwell in this

last half of the book and really let it take, continue to take

you on this journey and just don't rush it.

And so I'm looking forward to it.

I think this has been a great opportunity for us to all get

caught up mentally and get ready for the fall.

I have one just as an aside as a.

Just as I'm just one of the members of the teaching team and

so this is not just for me personally but I would just ask

all of you as as we as we study I'd ask you to pray for us.

Because we we need it's gotten clear to me.

We we, we need to hear the voice of God, and I need to hear the

voice of God. And the Spirit of God inspired

the scriptures. And the Spirit of God attends

the study, the reading and the preaching of the scriptures.

And and we as a church need fresh infusions of God's grace,

and those come to us in a variety of ways.

But one of the primary means of grace that God has given us is

this this teaching ministry this corporate teaching ministry.

And so I I would just ask if if y'all would pray.

You know and. If the members of our church

would pray not just for not for us to perform well, but for God

to work in our hearts to give us insight, stuff that we wouldn't

have thought about, you know, but that God would just be at

work in us. So that our application of this

would be a timely word for this moment and for us all to be

aware we need to hear from the Lord and He wants to speak to

us. But he wants us to seek him and

we can't just take that for granted.

And we're not here. I'm not here to be a performer

when I teach. None of our teachers are here to

perform. We're working hard to to get

ourselves out of the way and not be self indulgent in our

communication and just talk about things we're interested

in. But to really pray for and think

about how do I love God's people as we share this, But we have

limited perspective and wisdom and we need the Spirit of God to

be guiding us. And so I would just ask as we

enter into this, it's a unique opportunity for us and the

season and I don't use that word lightly unique, but I believe it

is And and so I would ask that that you would as as the old

people would talk about beseech the Lord on on behalf of both

teacher and hearer that that God would do a work because we need

God to move and speak powerfully in our midst otherwise we're

just a. Social organization that has

some good ideas, but but we that the living Christ, the eternal

Word, would be present with His people.

But to redeem, to transform and to make us agents of change in

the world, we need to not take that for granted.

And we need Him to personally do that so.

Well, why don't we do that together, just as we wrap this

up, you know, we want to thank you for joining us.

We want if you're new to our church, we want to ask you to.

You know, subscribe. We'd love for you to join us in

this In these conversations. There are additional resources

on our podcast page, so you can check those out.

So thanks for joining us. Why don't we end today, Scott?

Why don't you pray for our series, pray for our teaching

team, and just close us out? Sure.

Be honored to Father. We are very grateful that you

have been so kind to us. Thank you for most importantly

the person, the work of Jesus on our behalf.

Thank you that we are we can find ourselves in Christ

forgiven of our sins with a new power, a new purpose by the work

of the Spirit and a new destination which is eternal

life with you, new heavens, new earth and Father.

We pray for that to become more and more clear every time we go

to the scriptures that we would be self forgetful and that.

The narrative of the story, of the work that you have done on

our behalf would just grow. That we would see you more

clearly, that we would be more overwhelmed by your character,

by your nature, by your goodness, by the person of

Christ, by the power of the Spirit and God.

We pray that our teachers would just continue to humbly but

confidently lead us in that journey.

God, we live in a world where are.

There are a lot of distractions and there are a lot of opinions

and there are a lot of judgments on what's best for me.

And we can't seem to get out of our own way.

And so we pray that when we come to the scriptures, we would

think of ourselves less and think of you more.

And by doing that we would see how much you really love us.

The plan that you have for us through Christ and the path that

you've provided. Lord, you have given us

everything we need for living a godly life, and we pray we would

not be blind and forgetful to that, and that the good news

would resonate each and every time we come to the Scriptures

and particularly when we gather corporately on on the weekends.

We pray you would do something special in our midst, that we

may be encouraged in our faith and emboldened to live out our

gospel purpose for You. We pray this thing in Jesus

name. Amen.

Amen. Thanks guys.