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Alright, shall we do it? Let's do it. Alright. Alright, welcome to Assured Foundation Baptist Church, Seattle. We're going to take your handles and turn to number 143, Blessed Assurance. 143, Blessed Assurance. Here we go. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory be mine. Heir of salvation, purges of God. Born of his Spirit, washed with blood. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. Angels descending, Greek from above. Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above. Filled with his goodness, lost in his love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. All right. I really didn't do it. I opened some of my work programs. All right. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for gathering this here. All today, Lord, and pray for those four souls that got saved and will be added to the kingdom of heaven, Lord. Pray that you will feel the passion, confidence, and experience of the utmost as a church of gold and a great servant that will be a blessing to us all. And in Jesus' name we pray that we call on you. Amen. Amen. So our next song, turning the Bibles to Psalm 126. One of my favorite songs. Love this thing. Psalm 126. Singing. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad, turn again our activity. O Lord, as the streams in the south, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad, he that goeth forth and weepeth, fair and precious he shall downest come again. Shall downest come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheep with him. Sing it out now. Then said they among the heathen, the Lord had done great things for them, the Lord had done great things for us. Whereof we are glad. All right. Welcome to Sherr Foundation Baptist Church Seattle. We are in the Wednesday evening, 630 service. Let's read the verse on here. Therefore, let's sayeth the Lord God. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make cases. Isaiah 28 16. So, let's see here. Oh, we had soul winning today at five and I heard we got a bunch of salvation. How many salvations did we get total? One, two, three. Three. Her dad got. So, were you with your dad? So, you all got four. Does that total set? Seven? Six. So, you guys got four, but were you with him or were you either one? They were on their own team. So, that's four. So, five and six. Six. Praise the Lord. That is amazing. Amen. Amen. Yeah. It's a fruitful place over there. Okay. So, last Sunday we had 35 in attendance. I don't know if you all knew that. That's great. A little bit smaller today, but it's Wednesday. You get more people coming over here pretty soon, right? Amen. Amen. Let's see. Take a look at the upcoming events and a lot of these are happening down in Vancouver. So, if you're interested, if you're from this area and you're interested, just email the church for details. Give Pastor Thompson to say, hey, I'd like to go to this. So, May 13th is the ladies' team in Vancouver. Send email. May 14th is Mother's Day and we are going to have gifts for all mothers in attendance. So, if you want to, you know, if your mom's in the area and you want to bring her, please do and we'll have gifts. And then we're going to have cake and ice cream all over the service. That's going to be a lot of fun and we have kitchens so we can clean up everything. May 25th, through the 28th is the King James Bible Conference down in Vancouver, Washington. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. A whole host of awesome preachers preaching about the preservation of the King James Bible. It's going to be awesome. Amen. And, oh, I forgot. Does anyone need a bulletin? Everyone have one that needs one or wants one? Because it's not going to have some back there if you want to pick one up. Sorry about that. And then June 9th, through the 12th is the mission trip and official grant opening to Church Foundation Baptist Church Winnipeg in ordination of Brother Jim Weed as evangelist. That's super duper awesome. I hear he's a really great guy and he preaches really well. That's June 9th through 12th. So, there's that. If you're a first time visitor, pretty much we're all regulars here. There's one first time visitor here. One first time visitor. If you're interested, we have a gift bag back there. And we also have a whole bunch of the preserved Bible DVD's back there brought one up here. So, check this out. It's almost like a church invite. He's got the DVD but on the back you have a QR code. And then you have a whole list of folks that were in there. So, a great icebreaker. Just hand them out. I'm so winning. I thought that was a QR code for the Bible Way to Heaven. It would have been slick. No worries though. And then, if you don't know 100% sure if you're going to heaven when you die, please feel free to ask somebody and they'll show you how to go to heaven. Okay? And then, outside of that. Oh, tell you what. Do we know if we have contact cards back there? Yeah, we do. We do? So, if you plan on coming here regularly, please contact card and fill it out. If we're trying to get birthdays and anniversaries, we want to populate this thing. We want to celebrate your birthdays, anniversaries, and stuff like that. So, it's not just, and now one more song for the offering. So, we have, you know, this is for the family, you know? That's what we're doing. And then, on the very back there, Wednesday nights, Pastor Thomas is going to be up here. Preach for the book of John to start out with. I'm really excited about that. I love that book. Sunday nights, we have a whole host of other brethren coming up and preaching. Never a bad time when these guys preach. They're all really, really solid preachers. I've got a couple additional things here for, just for the building. Please use the fans in the bathroom. There's a little turny knob like above the sink. Just kind of flip it all the way. The gentleman runs his place, likes the airflow, and it's just, it's polite. And leave the door open when you're not using it. Yeah. That's good. Sorry about that. Yeah, yeah, sorry about that. Yeah, so, yeah, so, and when you're done, leave it open, leave the door open and turn the light off. The fan, you can keep on. Thank you, though. I probably forgot that. The mother of baby room is located past the bathroom, past the bathrooms in what's called the extended hallways. That squarish room with no windows. It's to remain locked open. It can be closed for privacy. Like you need a change diaper or a nurse or just a child or something like that. But it must be locked back open afterwards for fire safety and insurance purposes, okay? Clean up after yourselves. So it's like our campsite. So you pack it in, pack it out, make the place look better than what you found it. But we don't have to clean up. We don't have to like sweep the floor or anything like that. Just kind of pick up trash. Seven. Seven salvations. Seven? Amen. Praise God. Right on. Seven salvations. Thank you. And then no unintended children running in the building. So just keep your kids safe. The building is pretty much ours but you never know. Someone can be one around you or whatever. And then this is just me and someone will correct me later. But the stairwell and the stairs and the upstairs are off limits unless we are actually supposed to go up there. There's nothing for us up there unless we're closing down and unless we have like a special service up there. So just pretend that there's like a wall there. There's nothing shining up there anyway. That's about it for announcements. And I think what we're going to do is we're going to have one more song and we'll just have the offering. And go ahead and turn in your windows to number three, Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Jesus paid it all. Please turn to John chapter one in the Bible. John chapter one, starting in verse one. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through Him might believe. He was not that light that was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bare witness of Him, and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness is all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask Him, Who art thou? And He confessed, and did I not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked Him, What then? Art thou Elias? And He said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And He answered, No. Then said they to Him, Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet of sayest. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked Him, and said unto Him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there stameth one among you, whom you know not. He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch, and I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Bethabar, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John seeeth Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I have said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew it not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not, that he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him the same as he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God. Again the next day, after John stood, the two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold, the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard and speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? He said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, Be interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah's which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. And the day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel come unto him, and saith unto him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and saith unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathaniel answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the son of God, thou art the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, Believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. And saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Father God, we thank you so much for all things. Thank you for the great area for solving here. Thank you for all the people willing to listen in this area. Please be with them. Help them, convince them to get over here to church and to learn the things of God. We thank you for your son, God, for submitting Jesus. We pray. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, this is our very first Bible study, so I'm really excited about it. We're doing the book of John. And every Wednesday, I plan on being up here, possibly handy, and I'm going to do an overview of the book quickly. So I'm only going to cover the first 26 verses of the chapter. But before we get into it, I just want to say thank you to everybody for coming up here. Thank you for being faithful. Just bear with us as we work the bugs out. It is kind of like we're packing it in and packing it out, so we're trying to get everything looking nice and everything. We're having some issues with the Internet, so the Internet is giving us problems. But anyway, hopefully that doesn't go out on my phone. I just put it on my cell, so that seems to work. But if it goes out, you people listening at home or whoever is watching, we're going to put a high quality recording of this probably tomorrow. Anyway, let's get right in here because I've got a lot to cover tonight. So like I said, I'm going to do an overview of the book of John. And then the main title of the sermon is Jesus was the Word and the Word is God. And in the book of John, the book of John, obviously most people believe that John the apostle is the writer of this book. I happen to agree with them. And it does clearly state that the person writing this book is the disciple whom Jesus loved. And there's reasons why I think he doesn't name himself. He doesn't say I, John. He does in the book of Revelation, but he doesn't do it in this book. And I believe there's a reason for that, but I think it's very clear who it is. It doesn't specifically say I, John wrote this book, but there's reasons why I believe that he did. And the apostle John also wrote first, second and third John and the book of Revelation. And some liberal scholars try to suggest that the writer of the book of John is John the Revelator, some different John. I don't know where they get that from. It's just these so-called scholars that go to Princeton and all these other worldly colleges. They like to explain everything away from the Bible anyway, so of course they want to try to take it away from John the apostle. But obviously it's not John the Baptist because John the Baptist doesn't make it very far into the book. It's not John the Baptist. Let me show you some reasons why I think it's John the apostle. Let's look at some verses together. So keep your finger in John chapter 1. Let's look at John chapter 13 and verse 23. I'm going to try to get to these fast, so I'm going to try to preach a little bit faster tonight. John chapter 13 verse 23, the Bible says, Now there was leaning on Jesus wasn't one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. And I want to point this out to you because most people probably know this. Peter and John were the closest disciples to Jesus. And John was so close that he's leaning on his chest and you're like, well it doesn't say it's John. But I think John goes out of his way to not, I mean he's being humble through the book. That's what I think. I think that John's just being humble. He says it's the disciple whom Jesus loved. And he says this multiple times in the book. But also when Jesus was crucified, he gave basically his mother's care over to the disciple whom Jesus loved. It doesn't say John. And obviously, again, I can't point you to a verse that says that I John, but I think like I said, he's being humble. Go ahead and turn to John chapter 21. John chapter 21. John chapter 21 verse 20. This is after Jesus appears to them. Peter jumps out of the boat. He's naked. He swims to the shore. Jesus has food prepared for them. And in verse 20 it says, Jesus is telling Peter how he needs to feed the sheep, feed the lambs. And he tells them how basically that he's going to be carried away one day or he doesn't want to go. So he's basically foretelling the fact that he's going to die as a martyr. And he says in verse 20, And then Peter turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, following, which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth me? Peter seeing him said to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to be? Follow thou me. Then went the saying abroad among the brethren that the disciple should not die. Yet Jesus said, not unto him he shall not die, but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to be? This is the disciple which testifieth of these things. So who's the disciple? The one that Jesus loved. Who's the one testifying of what things? The things that are written in the book of John. And wrote these things. And we know that his testimony is true. And I don't have time to really deeply go into this, but you'll notice there's a lot of ties where Peter and John are together. Peter fails before this chapter, but John doesn't. And he even actually says that one of the disciples went in with Jesus when he was being beaten and mocked. There's a lot of details in the book of John that you don't get in any of those gospels. And he hadn't gotten those details if he was sitting there with them. So obviously the gospels are four different tellings from different people that witnessed or knew of these things. And John, you know, he writes this as if it's him going through with them. And then he always is careful to say it's the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now look at verse 25, it says, And there are also many other things which Jesus did, to which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the whole world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen. So, and again, I believe that John, this is John. He's being humble. He doesn't want to say, well, I John, I was the one who was close to Jesus. You know what I mean? So that's what I think. And, you know, it's called the book of John, because everybody believes it was John. Everybody believes it was the apostle John. He says that this is the disciple that testifieth of these things. He was there. He saw it. Another verse I could show you where, but it says who was there. It says the sons of Zebedee were there. At the time when Peter jumps in and swims on the shore. So John is there. And so, but he's very careful not to self-aggrandize himself and make himself look better than he is. And I think that there's another reason why. I think that the fact that John the Baptist is a big central character to the beginning of all the gospels, and the fact that he was the forerunner of Jesus. I think that, you know, God with his infinite wisdom and John obviously with his humble, the way that he was a humble man, didn't want to usurp John the Baptist. And wouldn't it be confusing if it was like, well this John and that John. John the Baptist and John the Baptist. I think it's there to help not confuse us as to the fact that John the Baptist is a completely different character. And obviously both men are great men of God. Brother Stuckey in the Philippines is doing this thing where he says, your favorite Bible character. And you get to pick which one. It's been hard, man. These things are hard. But it was John the Apostle versus John the Baptist. And John the Apostle won. And John's a beloved disciple. And the book of John is an awesome book. But I was like, are you all even Baptists? How are you going to not pick John the Baptist? The Bible says he was the greatest born among women. So, he might be your, John the Apostle might be your favorite, but John the Baptist is still better than me. But anyway, case closed. So, what is the purpose of the book? Well, number one is to record the testimony and the eyewitness and the basketball of Jesus Christ. Number two is specifically written so that people would believe. And that really is the main thing. Amen. So, what makes this book different? Well, it doesn't have an earthly genealogy like you see in Matthew and Luke. But it tells the genealogy of Jesus Christ as the Son of God in the beginning with God. His true genealogy is from everlasting. He always has been. He's always there. He's always been and always will be. And it does not have much of a count of the end times, this book, the book of John. It does allude to some things. But it doesn't really have like the Matthew chapter 24 and Mark 13 and Luke 21 and Luke 17. It doesn't have those aspects. And the reason why is probably because he wrote the book of Revelation later on. But he's not even a bigger, he's got a little book that he's preaching about prophecy. So, probably did not include it for that reason. I'm not sure. But he writes the whole book about the end times. So, it's pretty interesting. But there's also different stories in the gospel. I didn't like belabor myself to look at everything that was different. But some things that I thought of were Nicodemus. Of course, the story of Nicodemus is something that is not in the Gospels. The woman at the well is also not in the Gospels. The long high priestly prayer at Gethsemane is recorded in the fold. At least the fullest, you know, it's way fuller than the other Gospels that talk about that. And it really goes into detail. Of course, there's a lot of things. But different details of the resurrection and restoration of Peter. So, the restoration in Peter happens in the book of John. And it really kind of takes a whole chapter to kind of help us realize that, you know, Peter is the one that Jesus was going to use to spark everything off. And he couldn't just be sitting on the sidelines. He couldn't still be a fisherman. And really when the first sermon is preached, the book of Acts, it's Peter that's preaching. It's not John. But if you'll just, I think I'm going to preach a sermon sometime soon about, I always say that but then they sit on my phone waiting to be preached. I mean, just a sermon about Peter and John. I thought it was really interesting all the times that they're together. Even, you know, they get beaten together. You know, they do a lot of things together. They're at the transfiguration together. So, there's certain things that Peter and John got to do that other people didn't get to do. So, I would assume that they were probably pretty close. They're ministering together. They healed the lame man in Acts, in the book of Acts where he, as they say, silver and gold are their none. And, you know, after that miracle is when they get beaten and they suffer shame. And then, you know, John's brother gets murdered by Herod. So, there's a lot of cool things about Peter and John. So, it's definitely not in the scope of this sermon to go all into that. They did have a close relationship or at least they ministered together. And, you know, John seemed like he was there for Peter. I mean, when Jesus is telling him that story that, you know, and he said, you know, if he lives forever, what's that for you? If he lives, what's that to you? John's sitting right there listening to him. He's like, what about this guy? You know, why does he point out John? Maybe he's just feeling bad still about what he did because John didn't betray him. John walked in to, you know, Peter warned himself by the world's fire. Peter, you know, totally, you know, blew it. But Jesus is restoring him here and so I definitely believe that John is the writer of this book. So, some other things to think about. There's 284, well, actually, let's look at the first, are you still on John 20? Look at verse 30. It says, did I already read those? Oh, no. The purpose of the book. Okay. So, and then the purpose of the book is spelled out in John chapter 20. It says, and many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through his name. So, it spells it out for us right there. These things are written that you might believe. And let me just tell you something right now. The word repent is not in the book of John. Amen. And honestly, you know, repentance isn't a bad word. I believe that the word repentance is a vital word, obviously. But sometimes I wonder, like, if this is a book so that we can believe, the word believed in is in it a lot of times. But the word repent is not. Sometimes I wonder, again, if God in his infinite wisdom said, I don't want this to be confusing to people at all. Believe is what it takes to be saved. It takes patience by faith alone through believing. Because it says these things are written that you might believe. And so that word is used over and over and over again, chapter after chapter after chapter in the book of John. Two hundred and eighty-four verses total how the word believed in the Bible. Two hundred and eighty-four in the whole Bible. Matches of the form of the word like believeth or believeth or things like that. The different forms of the word believe. Three hundred and eighteen times in the whole Bible. So, but ninety-nine times in the book of John, the word believe or a form of the word appears in the book. So that's like a third of all of the verses that say believe in it are in that chapter. But God doesn't do things on accident. God does things on purpose. And if he says this is the reason why this book is written, believing, you know, that you would believe, it would make sense that the word believe is in there more times than any other chapter, any other book of the whole Bible. And it's a third of all the believes in the Bible. So, it's also said by John ten times in 1 John. So, he also gets ten others. So, again, a third of the verses in John have the belief or the form of it, believeth, believeth, all that stuff. So, and of course there's other purposes that are, you know, proclaiming that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. And the creator, he's called the word God. And this book proclaims that Jesus Christ is the son of God. It records the miracles and the record of the gospel. So, there's a lot of purposes to this book. But what's the main purpose? That people would believe. So, let's look at verse one. So, point number one after the overview is Jesus is God. A real simple point. John chapter 1, 1, the Bible says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Now, the Jehovah's false witnesses will change this to say a God, a lower case G, but they're the only ones with that weird New World Order translation or whatever. There's a lot of weird and bad Bible versions, but theirs is probably the worst. Because they're taking away the deity of Jesus Christ, right? So, in the beginning, when is this talking about? What do you think it's talking about? I mean, what's the first verse that you think of when it says in the beginning? Genesis chapter 1, right? So, what's it referring to? It's referring back to Genesis chapter 1, right? So, look what it says. And it says he's the word and the word was with God. So, he was with God and I'm assuming that's talking about the Father. And the word was God. So, he's not only with God, he wasn't just with him in the beginning, but he is God, right? And it says the same was in the beginning with God. Make sure to help us understand it's talking about in the beginning. All things were made by him. Made by who? The word of God, Jesus Christ. And without him was not anything made that was made. So, everything that is in existence today comes from the creator Jesus Christ. In him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. Now, keep your finger in John chapter 1 and let's go back to Genesis chapter number 1. And it specifically spells that it is telling us that it's explaining Genesis chapter 1 to us. Because isn't it true that the New Testament is the actual commentary, it's the right commentary on the Old Testament. It helps us to interpret the Old Testament properly. So, when it references back to in the beginning, it's referencing us back to Genesis chapter 1. It's talking about Jesus being the light of men in verse 4. And it's talking about, I'm talking about in John, and the light that shineth in the darkness. Now, let's look at Genesis 1. It says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the demon. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light and there was light. So, when God said, that's God's word, the word of God. Who created the light? Jesus created everything. So, if God said, that's the word of God speaking this world into existence. And notice it says, let there be light and there was light. So, and it says, and God saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the day light and the darkness he called night and the evening and the morning of the first day. So, when it's talking in John chapter 5 about this light, it's talking about Jesus. Because this light, when it said, when God said, let there be light, that's not the sun. The sun doesn't get made until day 4. So, what is this light? Well, that light is Jesus. That light is the light that shineth in the darkness. That light is the light that lighteth all men. According to John chapter 1 verse 4. Now, obviously, we believe in the trinity at this church. And we see the trinity in the first three verses of Genesis chapter 1. In the beginning it was God created everything. In the beginning it was the word and the word was with God. So, then you have the spirit of God in verse number 2. The spirit of God would come face the waters. And God said, there's the word of God. So, the first three verses of the book of the Holy Bible are explaining to us the trinity. And explaining how this world began. This was the beginning. This was the beginning of this earth. That was the beginning of all creation. And Jesus Christ is the word of God. So, let's look at some other verses. Let's look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 15. So, we believe in the trinity. And we believe that Jesus Christ is God. So, when we go to Lord and we explain to people in gospel, people need to understand that Jesus Christ is God. If they don't believe that, then don't pray with them. Because if they believe that he's just some man, then they don't believe in the right Jesus. Because the right Jesus is God. So, Colossians 1 verse 15 says, who is the image of the invisible God, talking about Jesus, the firstborn of every creature. So, he's also the first one with a resurrected body. But he's the image of the invisible God. If we could see God without melting like a snail, then he would look like Jesus is the image of the invisible God. We can't see God the Father. We can't look upon his face. And there's verses in the Bible that kind of throw people off like, where it'll say that no man could look to God at any time, but then they see Jesus and he's God. Well, how do you explain that? Well, Jesus is the Son of God in the Trinity. And he came and had manifest himself in the flesh. And so, when people saw Jesus, they were seeing God, because he was God manifest in the flesh. So, we cannot look at the Father and live. Moses, you know, he asked to see the Father. And he said, well, I'll walk past you, you can see my hindering parts, like my backside, and I'll hide you in the cleft of the rock with my hand. And so, when God passed by, he put his hand over the place, so Moses couldn't see his face, because what would have happened? He would have died instantaneously. So, he was able to see the hindering parts of God the Father. So, what does that tell you, that God has a body, doesn't it? He has a spiritual body that we can't see, but, you know, because God is a spirit. That's what the Bible says in John 4. And the Holy Spirit is, you know, the Bible talks about God being the invisible God. So, but he's visible if he allows people to see. So, when John sees the dove, it's not a dove, goodnight. When John sees the Spirit coming down like a dove, then he sees something, doesn't he? He sees the Spirit. And so, what does that tell you, that the Spirit also has a body, right? So, there's three bodies. There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. There's three individual persons, but yet, the Bible explains to us that these three are one. So, but let me get a little further down into, look at verse 16, it says, For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. So, this alludes back to John chapter 1. It's telling us he's the image of the invisible God. And so, if we want to know what God looks like, he looks like Jesus. And so, he was also the fullness of the Godhead model. So, when the Father was in him and he was in the Father, but then it talks about him being filled with the Spirit without measure. So, when he's baptized, that's when this Holy Spirit comes down upon John. I think they did that on Jesus. And it says in the form of a dove, but it doesn't say he is a dove. And a lot of people, they'll draw pictures or they'll be pictures, I'm sure you've seen these, where there's a dove floating above Jesus' long hair as he comes out of the water. Jesus doesn't have long hair. But that's what people think. But it wasn't a dove, folks. Do you know how doves fly? Have you ever seen a dove descend or fly down? They kind of do this little hover-flutter thing. So, it's not like the Holy Spirit just went pshoo! It wasn't like the Falcon of the Holy Spirit just instantaneously being caught. The Spirit kind of just fluttered down to him and rested upon him and filled him without measure. So, look at Hebrews 11, verse 3. And what I'm doing here is I'm just proving that Jesus is God with some other scriptures here. But what more do you need to know after John 1-1 when it says that the Word was God? That's what the Bible teaches. We don't apologize for that. But sometimes when they all say that you believe that Jesus Christ is God, you go, well, I believe he's the Son of God. It's like they already have a misunderstanding. So, anyway, Hebrews 11, verse 3 says, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God. So that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Now, it seems kind of like a tricky thing to say, but all the things that he made, we don't see who made it. Because when this building got built, somebody built this building, somebody saw the building. But this world that was created, this world was made by somebody that we can't see. Faith is a very important part of the Christian life. And we don't get to see the miracles that the people in the Old Testament saw. But we have a lot more grace than the people in the Old Testament. People in the Old Testament saw very darkly. We still see through glass darkly on some things. But the fact is, we have a lot easier than the people in the Old Testament. We have full Bibles. Everybody's holding a Bible in their mouth. They didn't have that back then. They had these giant scrolls that they had to scroll on. It's like, let's go Isaiah chapter 57. It's like, let's get the scroll. You know, I mean, they didn't have the technology that we have. But they also didn't have the Savior in the way that we have them now. We look back on the cross and we're saved by looking back on what Jesus did. They were looking forward and didn't quite understand everything perfectly. But we don't get to see miracles. I was talking about this all the way up. We don't get to see the miracles. Why don't we get to see the miracles? We've got the Word of God, folks. It's better than seeing miracles. Peter said that it was better than seeing something with your own two eyes. He said he saw the transfiguration. We saw it happen. But there's a more sure word of prophecy. That is the Holy Bible. The Bible that we have. And so, you know, there's a lot of things that people are like, God could just jump in this test tube for me. Or God would just come down and talk to me personally. He has come down and talked to us personally. But Jesus Christ is only crucified one time. He's gone right now. He's on the right hand of the Father. But the Bible very clearly says that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. And the Word of God made all things. So, let's look back at our text in John chapter 1 verse number 6. John chapter 1 verse number 6. The Bible says there's a man sent from God. His name was John. So, you see how it can be kind of confusing if you're talking about a whole bunch of different John's. There's already enough confusion with all the Mary's in this book. So, we probably want to add that God is not the author of confusion. Anyway, verse 7 says, And the same came for a witness to bear witness of the light, that all men through him might believe. So, there you have that first word of belief in the book of John. Notice it doesn't say that all men through him might repent of other sins. Right. Don't you get sick of that? Yes. Don't get sick of this lordship salvation mortgage. Yes. And when you point to someone with a clear verse like that, and they're just like, Well, what about this verse that says, you know, repent and whatever. Shut up, man. This book, and this is what I point out to people. I say, this book specifically tells us what we have to do to be saved. Yes. And it's written so that we can show people how to believe, and then you want to try to show me something else? Like, why wouldn't you go to the book that tells you how to be saved, and what it tells you you have to do to be saved? Yes. Believe. So, it says, And he was not that light or state, but was sent to bear witness of that light, that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. So, again, referencing back to the true light, we see the light that we see come up every day is the sun, right? It's not the light of Jesus that comes up every day, it's the light of the sun. But John is saying here that he is the true light, the light that lighteth all men. Verse 10, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. So, I mean, Jesus Christ walking on this earth, he made everything, and then think about how he was treated. The person that made everything, blessed them with everything, blessed them with their families, blessed them with their talents, blessed them with their ability to make money, blessed them with a beautiful creation they can enjoy and go out into, and they spit in his face. Right. They beat him, they mocked him, and they crucified him, and cursed themselves by saying his blood be upon us and upon our children. It's a pretty bad way to treat somebody that does something nice for you, huh? The reason why you're even breathing breath every single day, why you can go to sleep at night and your body regenerates, how you can go to sleep at night and, you know, you still breathe without thinking about it, you blink, you know, you blink your eyes. You're always blinking your eyes right now. You're blinking your eyes because God just made us spiritually and wonderfully made. We need kind of that, like, coating or whatever that, you know, it's like a windshield wiper that he made for us so we can just clear our eyes or whatever. Yeah. But, you know, the world knew him not. When they saw him, they didn't understand what it was that they were seeing. It says in verse 11, he came unto his own and his own received him not. So, you know, this is obviously talking, I believe, and it's talking about the Jews. He came to his own people. Jesus Christ was a Jew. And it says that his own received him not. So he came to his own people. They rejected him. But, you know, you can also include all of mankind in here too because really if you think about it as a whole, mankind has rejected Christ. Right. Mankind has rejected Christ. I mean, how many doors can we just knock in like an hour? There are probably not quite a few. And, you know, some people had a fish jumping into the boat. Me and Stephen didn't even get a crack or a bottle. Like he asked, can I just give you one verse? No. I don't have time. I got animals in the house. Yeah. All right. These stupid dogs. Whatever. Dogs stop being insane. Anyway, we're dogs. But, yeah, I mean, people, you know, it says that, you know, most people have rejected Christ as a whole. Most of those people rejected what we said. Seven people got saved today, but how many more doors have we knocked? So as a whole and in the whole of all things, the Jews rejected Christ and they got a special curse for what they did. Yeah. And they're blinded unto this day. They don't believe in Christ. You know, they get all offended when you put up a Christmas tree. You know, they try to, you know, say that they still believe in God. They really don't. Because unless you have a son, you don't have a father. Right. So, look at verse 12. It says, but as many as receive him. So this is the people that do get saved. But as many as receive him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So here you have another very powerful verse that explains to us that when we receive him, that's when we receive him as our savior. We believe on him. We believe in what he's saying. Gave he power. So at that point he gives you the power to what? Become sons of God. Yes. And so is everybody a son of God automatically when they're born in this world? No. No, sorry Mormons. That's not true. Not everybody's a son, daughter or God. Right. Only people that receive him and what's it say? Even to them that believe on his name. What's his name? Jesus Christ. Yep. It's not Yahushua. Yifuda. What was the other one? Oh, okay. They have some weird names that come up where Jesus' name is. But the English Bible that was translated from Greek, his name is Jesus. Amen. And that's what it is in English. Sorry if you write that, but that's what it is. So look at verse 13. And I was well on that verse, but we preach that verse almost every time we go out soloing. So we all understand that, you know, that when we believe, we automatically become a son of God or daughter of God by faith. So verse 13, which were born not of blood. So it's not what bloodline you come from that makes you a son or daughter of God, is it? It's not that you were born into some specific family that makes you saved. It says, nor of the will of the flesh. You can't, no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you want to work for salvation, it's not by the will of the flesh. You can't keep the law. You cannot be saved that way because it's impossible to keep God's law. We sin. Paul says, I die daily. And he's a pretty holy guy, don't you think? So he dies daily. And if he can't contain himself on giving in to sin, then how about us? Yeah, we can't, it's our will of the flesh. This is a sad thing about people sometimes when you're out sowing is that they want to work their way to heaven. They don't want to, you know, it's like they don't want to receive the welfare gift or something. But they're on welfare. But anyway, you know, I mean, that's just, you know, some people are. But there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, if you're just using it for a little while, you're trying to get on your feet. But like if you're just permanently staying on it or something, that's a whole other story. But it says, nor of the will of man. I can't say I want, you know, Tyler, you're saved. It's not my will. You know, because the will, what is the will of God? That all would come to repentance. All would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that all people would be saved. That's the will. So that's God's will and not everybody gets saved. Then how are we going to will somebody to be saved? We can pray. We can, you know, we can pray to God. And obviously he can do many great things and move mountains for us to be able to get someone in gospel or for someone to soften their heart. They can be preached at gospel. But we can't say, you know, we talk about, well, I got so many people saved. But it's a partnership. We partner with God. And Jesus Christ is the one that died for us on the cross. He's the one that forgave us in all of our sins. He's the one that rose from the dead. He's the one that did it all. And we're telling people about that. When we explain to people how to be saved and they get saved, obviously we're partnering with God. We're doing what God said to do. But it's not like I can say, well, my will is that every person in all those apartments, all 850 apartment doors get saved. It's my will. But that doesn't matter. Because it's not my will. It's not the will of men. It says, but of God. So when people do get saved, you know, it's they're born of God. They're not born of me. They're not born of the will of the flesh. They're not born of the bloodline. And it's not weird how many religions there are that if you're part of this bloodline, then you're one of God's chosen people. It's not just Jews. It's the Muslims in the same kind of way. Unless you read the Quran in Arabic, then you're not reading the right word, God. Just like the Catholics want to make it all about the Latin. And they want to be all specific about things. And then you have the servant seed doctrine, which is an even crazier doctrine, where they say that there are certain bloodlines that were literally the bloodline of the devil himself. It's like Cain was a literal son of the devil. And then those people were black. It's like, what? That's ridiculous. All people can be saved. All colors can be saved. All ethnicities can be saved. And that comes through the will of God. So look at 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 13. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 13, the Bible says, Looking for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. So what is it calling him our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ? There's no Savior besides God. So if Jesus is the Savior, then what does that mean? That he's God. It's funny. I forgot to touch on this, but in Genesis where it says that you saw the light and the light was good. You know how Richard Young Willer said, what good things should I do to inherit from the light? And he says there's nothing other than God. So that kind of holds more proof to the fact that Jesus Christ is good. If he is that light, the light of Ben, then he is God. So anyway, I forgot to mention that. So it says in verse 14, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. So he gave himself for us. He's the great God. He is our Savior Jesus Christ. Turn to Hebrews chapter 1 verse 7, Hebrews 1 verse 7. Hebrews 1 verse 7 says, And the angels, he saith, who maketh his angels, spirits, and ministers, his ministers a flame of fire, but unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. So this is God the Father calling the Son God. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. Separate righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows. And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth. This is still God talking to the Son, God the Father talking to the Son. And the heavens are the works of Thine hands. So there's another reference back to in the beginning. So it's using those specific words specifically so we'll understand what time period it's talking about. So Jesus Christ is not a created being. Just because He was born in Bethlehem does not mean that He was created. He was God manifesting in flesh. He was of the Holy Spirit of God put into the womb of humanity. So number 2 tonight, the Word became flesh. It's in John chapter 1, look at verse 14. So this word that it talks about obviously is the Word of God, Jesus Christ. It explains to us that the Word became flesh. So look at verse 14. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. So the Word is the Word of God. It is in the beginning. And then it says here that it is made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father for grace and truth. So Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only begotten of the Father. And the modern Bible versions will say one and only Son. Is that true? No. No, because we're all, John 1-12 says that we're sons of God if we believe in Him. If we receive Him, we're sons of God. So these modern Bible versions, just based upon the fact that if they say one and only Son, it seems similar. They're trying to make it easier to understand or whatever. But what it really is is just making a mistake. It's a contradiction in God's Word. And so anybody with two brain cells to rub together could figure that out really quickly. So why do people disdain Christianity so much? Well, they don't think there's a perfect, preserved Word of God. They think it's got mistakes in it because of all these modern Bible versions, which are complete trash and garbage. So look at John 1 Timothy 3-16. So, you know, obviously we have a concept here in John, chapter 1, where we understand that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. He is God. He's the Son of God. He was made, He was, He made everything. He's the only begotten of the Father. And it says He was made flesh. Look at 1 Timothy 3-16. And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I mean, I've said it in tons of verses already, and that's not even all of them, but I mean, that's a pretty powerful verse to help us to understand that God, Jesus Christ, isn't just a normal man. He is a man. But He's not any old man. He is the God-man. Yes. That's Jesus. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 5. Sorry I already had you in Hebrew chapter 1, but go ahead and go back there real quick. I'm sorry. Hebrews 1-5 says, For unto which of the angels said He at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee. And again, I will be unto Him a Father, and He shall be to me a Son. And again, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, He saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. So when He came into the world, the angels of God, He said, Let these angels worship Him. And the Jehovah's false witnesses will also say that Jesus Christ is just an angel. He's Michael the archangel or something. And the Bible does not teach that at all. The Bible says He's better than the angels. He's better than them. He is God Himself. So, and then 1 John 5-7. I don't have you turn there. Go ahead and turn to Revelation 1. In 1 John 5-7, the Bible says, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. So there you have the teaching of the Trinity, and it calls them the Word. What's it called in the book of John? The Word. And the Word is made manifest in the flesh. The Word is made flesh and dwells among us, dwells among them. So in 1 John 5-7, it says that these three are one. There's three that are one. And Revelation chapter 1-7 says, Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so, amen. So who's the one that was pierced? Jesus Christ, right? Now here's Jesus talking in verse 8. I am Alpha and Omega. So He's the real alpha male. You're not. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, which was, and which is to come. So obviously He's talking about Jesus here, which is, so He is still, He's still alive today, which was, so He was dead at one point, and He's coming back, which is to come. Did I say there the last two words there? The Almighty. The Almighty. He's not some lesser God. He's not less, you know, within the Godhead, obviously they follow a chain of command, God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but they are still equal in power. They're still equal in ability. And they just choose to do it that way. And you know, I'm not going to question it about it, right? Who am I? And He, you know, saw fit to be on this earth, but Turn to Revelation 19, verse 11. Revelation 19, verse 11. It says, And I saw heaven opened, and the old wide horse, and he that was set upon it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So, well, Jesus would never make war. Okay, well, that's what it says right there. Yeah, and the Lord is a man of war, exactly. And his eyes were a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called, what's it called? The Word of God. Amen. So, Jesus Christ is the Word of God. It says it and spells it out for us in multiple verses. Let's go back to John chapter 1, verse 15. Now, remember, John the Baptist is bearing witness. He's the one that's bearing witness of these things. He's the one that's ushering in the Messiah. And his ministry is a special, his mission is a special mission, and that is to be a precursor to Christ, to get a bunch of people saved, get a bunch of people on the right track, and then, you know, be a highway for Jesus Christ to come rolling in. So, look at what it says in verse 15. John bear witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. Which is really interesting, because John the Baptist is Jesus' cousin. And how far along was his mother when Mary came to visit? It was six months, and Jesus was just, you know, newly formed there, right? So, John the Baptist was older than Jesus. So, how was he before him? Well, because he understands that Jesus Christ is not just some normal guy. He's preferred before me, so he's better than John, and John was a great guy, and he was before me. So, John's a sinful man, even though, obviously, he was holy and separated, and he was out in the desert, and he was prepared as a special vessel for God to bring Jesus, the name of Jesus, and to point people to him. But, yeah, he says this, and so he seems to understand, you know, the fact of who he is. And it says, And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath departed. So, see how it says, No man has seen God at any time? And people said, Well, that's a contradiction if you're saying that you saw Jesus. Well, no, Jesus is God manifest in the flesh. So, the only reason why we could look at Jesus is because he was manifest in the flesh. Because if you had to see what was inside of him, which was the Father, and the Holy Spirit filling him, you would die if you saw God. So, anyway, John is, he's like Jesus' hype man. He's like, Wait until you see who's coming! He's like, Let's get rid of the rubble. Anyway, point number three, this is my last point tonight, is the record of John dies. So, look at verse 19, it says, This is the record of John. So, again, you see how it could be confusing if the writer was calling himself John? And he says, This is the record of John. It's like, Which John are you talking about? He only mentions John the Baptist for a reason, I believe. And it says, When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? Which is talking about Elijah. And he said, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. So, he, you know, obviously we understand that Jesus, and we'll go to those verses, says if you'll receive it, John's already come. I mean, Elijah's already come. He's talking about John. So, John came preaching with that fiery spirit of Elijah. He dressed like Elijah. The Bible says Elijah was a hairy man. He had a leather girl. And, you know, he was a rough customer. He wasn't some pretty boy preacher. He had a leather, he had a coat of camel's hair and all this stuff. But Elijah's Bible says he was a hairy man. So, you know, he was like, you know, he just, he was a man's man. You know, he wasn't manly. He wasn't soft or weak. But John doesn't, you see how, John doesn't understand that though. You see how he says, I'm not. When he says, Are you Elias? He says, I'm not. So, obviously, Jesus knows this, but John doesn't understand this about himself. And look, people will say that John is a reincarnation of Elijah. That's just, reincarnation is not true. It's not right. Amen. The point of the man wants to die and after this, the judgment of God says. So, he's not, he's the spirit of Elijah. It's not actual Elijah. So, and let's turn to Malachi and let's look at some of the prophecies of John about this. So, they're asking John, Who are you? You know, and are you this? Are you that? No. Are you that prophet? No. And, you know, there's things written about John about this in the scriptures. Malachi chapter four, verse five. This is the last of the Old Testament. You know, obviously the things that transpire in the gospels are happening in the Old Testament. When Jesus dies, we get his life and then he comes to the Old Testament. So, but this is the last book that is written of the Old Testament. So, anyway, it says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. So, what you have to understand also about this is like when Jesus came, was it the day of the Lord? No. No. And the Bible says it's a great and dreadful day. So, this is not talking about the rapture necessarily. So, I believe that the rapture and the day of the Lord happen on the same day, but there are two different events. Yes. So, the first event is Jesus coming into the clouds to save those people that are alive and men. And so shall the day of the Lord. And then about a half hour later, that's when the smoke comes. Yeah. That's when the fireballs come. That's when things get crazy. But so, this is one of those scriptures where there's multiple layers to it. So, if you will receive it, he was Elijah. But that wasn't the day of the war. So, there's obviously another, you know, there's another layer to this whole thing. And Elijah will come back. I believe Elijah is one of the two witnesses and that he didn't die. And if it's appointed for man lost by and after this the judgment, then what happens when that, you know, beast of the bottomless pit comes up? What's it do to the two witnesses? Kills them. Yeah. So, then they die and the scriptures were fulfilled. And then they are raised from the dead and gone to hell. So, then comes, you know, the destruction of Babylon and all that stuff. And the things that happened in Revelation chapter 19. So, anyway, so, let's see. In verse 6 it says, And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest they come and smite the earth with a curse. Now, here I think it's definitely talking spiritually about John the Baptist here. He's going to turn the heart of the, to the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers. Because, you know, there's obviously at the time when John comes on the scene, there's 400 years of silence between the book of Malachi and the book of Matthew. That's what I've been told. That's what some scholars said. So, that's what, I mean, I think that that's probably right. I mean, there's something wrong about that. That's what I've heard. That's what I've been told. Did I actually say it out for myself? I guess not. But, they say there's a silent period between, you know, between Malachi and Matthew happening. So, anyway, let's turn to Matthew 17 where Jesus actually talks about this with his disciples. Matthew chapter 17. So, what are we talking about here? We're talking about the record of John the Baptist. Not the record of John the apostle necessarily at this point. But the record of John the Baptist. Because that's what it says in verse 19. Because this is the record of John. So, Matthew chapter 17 verse 10 says, And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then, say the scribes, that Elias must first come? Well, why do they say that? Because it says it in Malachi chapter 4 verse 5. That's why they say it. Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come and restore all things. So, I believe he's talking about the literal Elias or Elijah. It says, But I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto them whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall they also the Son of man suffer of them. So, he's talking about, obviously, John as Elias come already. And the disciples understand that he's saying this because it says in verse 13, Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist. So, John the Baptist was killed. It's like, you know, these Pharisees and Sadducees and all these people that, you know, they act like they wouldn't have been partakers of them. They killed the prophets, but then they killed, you know, like they say, how much they love probably Elijah and not want to probably worship his grave or whatever. But, in reality, they don't love them. Jesus said that they are the sons of them that killed the prophets. So, they're doing exactly what their fathers did. And so, they're smote with a curse because they weren't, you know, he didn't turn those children to the real fathers that were actually faithful people of God. They weren't able to turn them. So, when he said, I'll come and smite here for the curse. Well, I mean, again, it's twofold. He smote the Jews with a curse because they're blinded unto this day. And he also is going to smite the earth with the curses of the wrath of God and the revelation. So, now, Elijah, it's interesting because I never thought about this, but someone had asked me a Bible question about this a lot of the times that Elijah had come. And I was like, no, that's a good question. Well, number one, he was born as the prophet at the time of the kings. He was in 1 Kings 17 is where he makes his first appearance as an adult. So, that's Elijah. And then as John, if you will take him as the spiritual John. But then also John, you know, John the apostle and Peter see Elijah and Moses at the transfiguration. So, Elijah comes and he's ministering under Christ. He's there on the earth, right? And as one of the two witnesses, he's going to come back. So, Elijah is actually going to come four times, which is pretty interesting. He's been alive for a long time, too. But anyway, that's true. So, remember they asked him, are you Elias? And then he's like, no. Are you that prophet? No. But what is the problem? Who's the prophet they're talking about? Of course, it's Jesus, but they're referring back to Deuteronomy chapter 18. So, go ahead and turn to Deuteronomy chapter number 18 real quick. So, Moses was a very special prophet. He talked to God face to face, so to speak, man to man. He was different. He was a very powerful prophet, and God blessed him in a tremendous way. And, you know, obviously he's the prophet that God chose to bring that first covenant in with the law. So, Moses talks about, you know, Jesus later on will say, you know, you say you believe in Moses, but he's the one that wrote about me. And Moses is right, and he's writing about him. Deuteronomy 18 says, the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, unto him he shall hearken. So, how is Jesus like Moses? Well, Moses was a powerful preacher. Moses was a powerful, you know, ordained man of God. And, you know, he also did lots of miracles in front of the children of Israel. And Jesus Christ did many more miracles than Moses did, but he was like unto him in the power. Obviously, he was more powerful than Moses. He was better than Moses. He was the son of God. So, but look at verse 18. It says, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will harken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. That's a pretty scary verse, too, because when we go to people's doors and we try to tell people about that prophet, that prophet Jesus, and he says, if they won't harken my words, I'm going to require them. What's he going to require? He's going to require their soul. He's going to require their life at some point, and, you know, it's not going to be good for them. But this is that prophet when they said, are you that prophet? This is what he's talking about, because Moses said there's going to be a prophet that's going to rise up. And he rose up from amongst his brethren. Jesus Christ was born out of one of the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Judah. Now, let's look back at our text in John chapter 1, verse 22. John chapter 1, verse 22, the Bible says, Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make strength the way of the Lord. As he said the prophet, as said it seems to be, the prophet is I. So Isaiah the prophet also proclaimed John the Baptist. So let's look at those verses really quickly. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 3. So there are some things written in the Old Testament about Elijah coming, but also this one that cryeth in the wilderness. And so John, when he tells them, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, he understands that he is the prophecy come to pass that was written about him in Isaiah. So but he doesn't understand that he's coming in that power of Elijah. He's coming in the power of Elijah. So look at Isaiah 40, verse 3, it says, The voice of him that cryeth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. So that's why I said it uses the word highway. So what usually goes on the highway, people travel down highways, right? Whether they're walking or riding a horse, or obviously we ride in cars, trucks and things like that. But his purpose was to prepare the way for the Lord. That's what he was there for. And verse 4 says, Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. You know what, when God speaks something, it comes to pass. It always comes to pass. It's always going to be true. And so when he said he was going to send this guy to prepare the way, that is John the Baptist, living about hundreds of years later, hundreds of years later, he was going to come. Now let's look back at John chapter 1 verse 24, and we'll wrap up the chapter here, at least the first sermon on this chapter. John chapter 1 verse 24, the Bible says, And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. We're going to hear about them a lot. The Pharisees. And they asked him, and said to him, Why baptize this thou, then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Julyas, nor that prophet? So why are you baptizing? What gives you the right to do that? And John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among you whom you know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe latch it I am not worthy to unloose. So it's like God manifests in the flesh wearing sandals. And he's not worthy. He feels like he's not even worthy to unloose one with straps of the sandals. This is God manifesting. I mean, what a great time to be living in there. I actually see these things unfold. Obviously, we get the blessing of just being able to get in on it later, but what a great time that would have been to see these things happen. Obviously, John really didn't have a good ending as far as what he was probably thinking was going to happen. I mean, God allowed him to be killed as a martyr. Verse 28 says, These things were done in Beth-bar beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. So and, you know, he's called John the Baptist. Jesus calls him John the Baptist. Yeah. This is a Baptist church. And, you know, I'm a fan of John the Baptist. I can't wait to meet John in heaven. And it's going to be a great, you know, being reunited with all these people that we see in the Bible. It's like it's funny because we live our life in this world and we read about these great people in the Bible. But one day we'll be with them. Yeah. Let's go fishing, Peter. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. We'll get to talk to John. And like, were you scared when you get your head cut off? And, you know, John, you know, he dies in prison, this great man of God, but he dies as a martyr. And so obviously he's going to get a better resurrection. Jesus said the world was not even worthy of him. The world's not worthy. The world's not worthy of all these prophets have come to preach the word of God and the ill treatment. I mean, we have soldiers get ill treatment. And I got ran off because I didn't have a mask on. I thought that was over. He's like, you don't even have a mask. That's his loud barking pit bulls are wanting to eat me from the door. You know, before he was rude to me, I was going to kind of say, hey, you're not going to eat me. They sounded like pit bulls. And John, you know, he's, he's baptizing in this place. And because he's the Baptist, you know, if anybody knows how to baptize people, it's going to be a Baptist. John T Baptist. So again, John's ministry was being a forerunner of Jesus Christ. He didn't understand some things, but he understood enough to know who he was, who he was there to. He wasn't there to, to, you know, have this huge following, even though he did. He wasn't there to be the man. He was okay with being number two. And obviously, you know, Jesus died in person death. I think I'll take the heading over the crucifixion. Just the fact that he didn't have any water from the time that they captured him in Gethsemane to the whole next day. You know, when he's saying I thirst, that's probably a thirst that we'll never understand. Let's work a real hard day and be just like, I need something to drink. Now! Right now! You're so thirsty that you can't hardly contain yourself. But think about being beaten. I mean, you're, you're, you're going through some calories trying to carry something across. You're being whipped, you're being beaten. Haven't had anything to eat all day, tonight. Haven't had anything to drink all day and night. And then the last thing, they just walk up and try to pretend like they're giving you some water and a sponge. And it's, it's, it's vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is what they try to do. It's disgusting. I'm just kidding. For you apple cider vinegar people. It's very strong. So you've got to take a little bit more of that. It eats your teeth off, okay? It's not a different concept. Anyway, so, but, you know, I mean, so going back to the point, Jesus Christ is God. Obviously we're all, we're all made man on that, right? So number two, Jesus Christ, the word of God made flesh. Of course, many verses that prove that, including John itself. And then John the Baptist was a man sent by God to prepare the way for Christ to be received. He was like the warmup, you know, to everything. And then Jesus Christ was very successful. Why do you, why do you have that? Well, I mean, Jesus didn't do everything himself. You know, and that's the, that's what's so important about being in a church, you know, that everybody's up here. We're all immunities because we're one big team. And nobody's better than anybody else. We're all important here. And God has something for each and every person that comes to this church. God has something for you to do. He wants you to serve with him and for him. And the rewards are great. The retirement is the best. The health care, wonderful. We'll all get to heaven. We're not going to have any rotten teeth or any broken bones or, you know, any, you know, hopefully, long fingernails, fingernails and all that stuff. And it's going to be, it's going to be awesome. Amen. And we get to serve together in this world and then the life to come will be able to rejoice with the people that we, that God allows us to be, to show through. Because we're precursors to Jesus too now, if you think about it. And so that's what, you know, I'm not ashamed to call myself a Baptist. People might be taking the name Baptist down off their signs, but let me tell you something. I'm not ashamed to be a Baptist at all. And I want to be a precursor to people receiving Jesus in their heart also. So if you're a Baptist, don't be ashamed of that. I'm like, yeah, I'm a Baptist. I'm Aaron the Baptist. You know, I'm Aaron a Baptist, whatever. That's what I'm doing, Aaron a Baptist. But, you know, we have a great ministry on this earth and God wants us to go forth and be a highway to him also. And it's just in a different way. Jesus has already come, but we're still presenting, what are we presenting to people? We're presenting Jesus Christ to them so they can make the decision of whether they want to receive him and become sons and daughters of God. And, you know, obviously it's up to us to make sure we're ready or prepared. You know, people weren't prepared to get the gospel today. I mean, this is a new church and we're already off. You know, we had 15 salvations on Saturday, seven more to add to the number today. That's a great start. God's blessing this church beyond all recognition. I mean, people, you know, they're like, oh wow, 35 people showed up. 35 soldiers showed up. 16 to 9. You know, so what if our numbers are low? That's how it starts out. You know, it's like a big snowball that's rolling down a hill and as long as there's fresh power it's going to get into the bigger snowball. Anyway, that's all I got for tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, so much for the scriptures and the book of John. Lord, I pray we'd be attentive to the scriptures and Bible studies to come. Pray, Lord, we'd be faithful in church. Lord, faithful to soul running. Faithful to our preaching duties. Faithful and just trying to make this church as excellent as we possibly can. That we'd be a full runner to Jesus Christ. That we would point the way to them. That we would be a highway to our God. Lord, I thank you for each and every single person that's come here and every time that they've sacrificed in this new work. We pray that you just continue to bless it, Lord. Of course, would you just say we pray? Amen. And real quick before the last song, if you're not in the WhatsApp group for String Foundation Seattle, and you want to be, please ask the pastor or ask someone who's already in so you can get in on it too. And we have soul winning this Saturday at 11 a.m. That's sort of like in the Auburn area. Really, that's going to put that information up in the WhatsApp group as well as the soul winning chat group we've got going. And then this Sunday, we have soul winning at 3.30 p.m. Probably for a big couple hours, so we get a lot of work done. And like I said, if you're not in the WhatsApp group and you want to be in on it, do it so we can. So with that, let's go ahead and turn to our last song. Our last song is 389. Bring them in. 389. I never thought about that. We can go up to people and say, Behold, the land of God is the place of the world. I never thought it was possible. Alright, it's okay. Ready? Hark! In the shepherd's voice I hear, Out in the desert, dark and drear, Calling the sheep who've gone astray, Far from the shepherd's fold away, Bring them in, bring them in, Bring them in from the fields of sin, Bring them in, bring them in, Bring the wandering ones to Jesus, Who'll go and help this shepherd kind, Help him the wandering ones to find, Who'll bring the lost ones to the fold, Where they'll be sheltered from the cold, Bring them in, bring them in, Bring them in from the fields of sin, Bring them in, bring them in, Bring the wandering ones to Jesus, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the mountains wild and high, Hark! Tis the Master speaks to thee, Go find thy sheep wherever they lead, Bring them in, bring them in, Bring them in from the fields of sin, Bring them in, bring them in, Bring the wandering ones to Jesus, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the mountains wild and high, Hark! Tis the Master speaks to thee, Go find thy sheep wherever they lead, Bring them in from the fields of sin, Bring them in from the fields of sin, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the mountains wild and high, Bring them in, bring them in from the fields of sin, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the mountains wild and high, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry, Out in the desert hear their cry,