WEBVTT

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Thank you very much. As Andy said, my name is Micah. For those of you who don't know me,

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I am part of the team that leads the youth here in MCF. I live here on the estate. We have done

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for the last five years, me and my family. I have four wonderful kids, half of whom are represented

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next to me. So when you hear the shouting, that's my responsibility and my fault. You're welcome.

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and I forgot my clicker and I have a dog and I've got the compulsory dog picture if it works

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which it doesn't hey there we go so and I have a dog so you're if you see me around the estate

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you often see me my dog and my kids and you might recognize my front garden as well and

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I literally I've met people on the estate like you're the one with the statues in your garden

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aren't you? So, as a good youth worker, I have a quiz for you all. Oh, that's really

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sad. So, I'm going to not be able to give you the hints. But I've got a quiz for you

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all and there are prizes. So, I'm going to get my glamorous assistant to come up and

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help. And we're going to think about what we've been talking about. We've been, if you

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cast your minds back, glamorous assistant, if you cast your minds back, we have been

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going through the book of John. So my first question is, what is John? Anybody for pride?

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What is John? John is a person. He's one of the gospels. Well done. So who was John?

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There's one of the four gospels in the New Testament. Who was John? Ali. He was one of

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Jesus' disciples. Anyone else?

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Dylan?

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He was the loved disciple.

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I literally wrote that down. Yeah, he was the

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loved disciple. He was

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probably the son

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of Zebedee, brother of James.

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So who, what?

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Anybody know, bonus question,

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anybody know when John was written?

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When was John written?

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John?

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17.

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17.

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so around 70 AD to 100 AD so John was one of the disciples and in his latter years he was

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essentially writing his memoirs and John decided to write his memoirs to write his recollection of

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who Jesus was a little bit differently to Matthew Mark and Luke so that means that he constructs his

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memoir a little bit differently and he does it very intentionally with using numbers and

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highlighting specific things that Jesus said and does.

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And at the end of his book, he tells us exactly why he is writing.

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Oh, I missed the theme.

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At the end of our book, he tells us exactly why he is writing his book.

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He says, Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples,

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which are not recorded in this book.

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But these, these ones that I have chosen are written so that you may believe

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that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in

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his name. So he has very, very specifically constructed his book with the purpose that

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you will meet the living Saviour and Messiah through reading his book. So that's that part

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of our recap. The next part is what books have we already heard? What parts of the story

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have we already read through? So I've got your little picture to help you think. How does John

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start? Very nice. In the beginning was the word. So it starts with this poem. I can't give chocolates

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to you all, but you all did very well to give yourselves a round of applause. Then we go from

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the poem in John, we go into the next part of John. John 2, anybody have that kind of memory?

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yeah we've got the wedding in cana where um jesus turns water into wine that was ali again which

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has already had a child um we then move on i didn't realize when i was reading too i didn't

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realize that this was in this part of john yeah we have um so jesus moves from cana which is in

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the north and he travels down into the south into jerusalem and in jerusalem he gets really angry

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with the people in the temple

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and he turns over tables

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and there's a really good Red Collective song

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that talks about it at the moment as well.

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From Jerusalem, he travels back north again.

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So he's doing lots of this.

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He's traveling back north again.

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I don't know who said Mary.

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Chocolate, right at the back.

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So he goes back to the north to Samaria

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where he meets the woman at the well.

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And this is really important

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because this is what directly precedes the passage we're going to be looking at today.

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And the woman at the well, he tells her everything that's happened in her life.

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And she goes back to her town and goes, oh my goodness, I found this man.

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He's told me everything that I know, everything about my life.

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You have to come meet him.

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And the passage finishes, because of his, Jesus' words, many more became believers.

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And they, the Sumerians or the Sumeritans, said to the woman,

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we no longer believe just because of what you have said, woman at the well.

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But we believe, we have heard by ourselves,

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and we know that this man really is the saviour of the world.

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And based on his words, all of the Samaritans become believers.

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And Mary Beth is going to read a passage to us now, which follows on.

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Where's the microphone, Andy?

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This passage follows on from this point,

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where just based on what Jesus has said, the people believe.

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After the two days, he departed for Galilee.

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For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.

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So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,

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having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast.

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For they too had gone to the feast.

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So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine,

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and at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.

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When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee,

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he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son,

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for he was at the point of death.

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So Jesus said to him,

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Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.

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The official said to him,

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Sir, come down before my child dies.

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Jesus said to him,

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Go, your son will live.

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The man believed that the words that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.

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As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.

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So he asked them the hour when he began to get better,

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and they said to him, Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him.

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The father knew that that was the hour when Jesus had said to him,

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Your son will live, and he himself believed, and all his household.

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This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

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Thank you very much, my glamorous assistant.

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Well done.

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So I have a very important question for you.

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What were you doing on Saturday, the 20th of February at 3.15 in the afternoon?

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Anybody?

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In 2016, sorry.

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Important fact.

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2016.

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Anybody know?

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Rough guess.

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I can tell you exactly what I was doing.

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That is the day that me and my husband got married.

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And at that point, 3.16 in the afternoon, I was on my way down the aisle.

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And I'd just seen a friend of mine.

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I was very excited.

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This man comes back from the, comes back.

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Jesus has done all of this traveling.

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He starts in Galilee.

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He moves all the way down to Jerusalem, then he moves all the way back up to Samaria,

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which is about 50 miles.

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It's several days traveling.

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He goes up through Samaria, comes back up to Cana, back to where he is.

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And he meets this man, and this man knows that at this specific time,

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one o'clock in the afternoon, an event happens that changes his life.

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And what I want us to do today is to go through the passage a little bit over time,

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because I found this passage quite challenging.

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I'd like us to go through and get an understanding

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of why is it that John has chosen to put it

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into his sequence of signs

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that are bringing us closer into a relationship with Jesus.

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So we start with him coming back to Galilee

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and he tells us no prophet is welcomed in his own town.

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So why is he going back when he knows he's not going to be welcomed?

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Why is he going back?

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and the word for isn't always translated as for but it um it means because because jesus had said

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that he wasn't welcomed he is intending to go back to the people who don't welcome him but it then

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says he was welcome so what's going on no prophet is honored but he is welcome but they had seen

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what he'd done in jerusalem so we're starting to think the people are coming they're not going to

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give him honor but the only reason that they want him to go back is because of the things that they

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see him doing. Whereas in direct contrast to how the Samaritans welcomed him just because

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of what he said. He didn't do any signs with the woman. He just spoke to them and they

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welcomed him. So we begin this passage with a direct contrast to what had happened before.

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I wonder, for those of you here this morning, what has brought you here this morning? Have

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you come because you want to see the signs and wonders? Have you come because somebody

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has told you? Have you come because you want to experience more of who Jesus is? Like what

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is bringing you here this morning out of the beautiful sunshine? The next, we next hear

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that somebody has traveled again. So there's lots of movement in this passage. They've

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traveled from Capernaum, which is about between 15 and 20 miles away from Cana. So again,

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and full days walking and traveling.

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And he's come, this official has come

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because his son is ill.

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He has come when he is completely broken.

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I can't imagine what he must have been going through

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when he leaves his house

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knowing that his son will probably die.

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Like that's a long day of walking

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when you know that that's happening.

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And maybe he heard about the signs.

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Maybe he heard about the wine.

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Maybe he heard about what was happening in Jerusalem.

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but he knew that Jesus was his only hope.

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Maybe all he knew was that Jesus was doing something

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and that was his last option.

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But he comes for this day's walk

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and maybe that's something that you've heard as well.

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Maybe you've heard that Jesus is the only option

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but you don't really know that much about him.

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You've just heard these mutterings or these whisperings

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of things that he's done.

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But Jesus' response at this point confused me so much

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because when I hear about Jesus

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when I think of Jesus, I think about this man who welcomes us openly and lovingly. He comes in

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and he says, I have been waiting for you, so I want to welcome you. But instead of saying that

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to this man who is coming and saying, my son is about to die, he says, unless you see the sons

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and wonders, you will not believe. I'm like, that doesn't make sense. That's not the question I'm

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asking. I'm asking you to heal my son. I'm not asking you about anything else. And it's important

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that at this point we recognize that in the original language they had a word for you that

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was plural so anybody who speaks other languages or speaks with a um like understands u.s dialect

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will understand that y'all is quite a common phrase in most other languages and at this point

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we need to insert y'all into it so unless y'all see the wonders and signs y'all will not believe

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because he's speaking not only to the official

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who's come from Capernaum to meet him,

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he's also speaking to the people in Cana who already know him,

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the people who he's grown up around,

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the people who have said,

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I know your dad and I know your brother,

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and mate, who are you to say you are what you say you are?

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Who are you to be changing how you're moving?

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And he's speaking to them who have come and said,

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I just want to see the stuff that everybody else is ranting about,

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but I'm not really that bothered about knowing who you are.

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And he's saying, unless y'all see the signs and wonders,

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unless y'all see me move, you're not going to believe.

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And he's challenging them because that's not why he came.

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But previously, when he's talking to Nicodemus in John 3, he says,

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For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son

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so that he can have eternal life.

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I've not come to be the sign maker.

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I've come because we need a relationship

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that restores us back into the relationship

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we had at the very beginning

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where we are one with God.

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And that is why he's come.

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He's come back on a restoration mission.

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He's not just come back to do all of these

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signs and wonders.

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And it's a little bit like we are described,

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the church body, the body of Christ

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is described as the bride of Christ.

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We have described in the terms of a covenant commitment,

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like the ones that we make when we're getting married,

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a perfect marriage that is based on trusting and loving

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and daily laying down of our lives for the other person.

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That is what Jesus does.

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He commits to us and he says, I'm not going anywhere.

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I love you and I will stay with you.

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And I invite you to come into that relationship as well

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and to be part of that relationship with me

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where every day we are loving and trusting and communing

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and walking together through life.

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If I had stayed in this point, in this picture,

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and not moved any further,

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then everything that's happened over the last 10 years

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wouldn't have happened

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because I wouldn't have continued on my journey

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where I actually made the promises to Toby

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and then we travelled together.

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We wouldn't be in Sheffield if I'd stopped at this point.

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nothing else would have happened and so the official in the story says come because my

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child's about to die and at that point Jesus says go your son will live and I wonder if he was a bit

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disappointed he's like I've traveled for 10 days for not 10 days I've traveled for hours I've

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traveled over 15 miles I asked you to come and you're not even moving what do you what do I do

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now or I wonder if he was like okay I've got my response and now I for the next day of walking

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I have to, every step I take, remember that Jesus said, go, my son's going to live,

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and I just have to trust, and I just have to obey.

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And it says that that's what he did, that he believed the word, and he went on his way.

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And I wonder where you are in that walk, whether you have heard Jesus speak,

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and now if you've heard Jesus speak, and what you need to do now is simply obey,

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and you just simply need to take that first step, and as you take each step,

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you need to keep remembering the promise that he has given you that that will keep you moving

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i wonder um how many of you have heard of love languages a couple of you so there's um

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there's five languages there's acts of service physical touch words of affirmation gifts and

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quality time and the idea is that this is the way that we receive love and but different people

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receive love in different ways. So if you're somebody who's like a real gifts person and the

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person just keeps telling you how wonderful you are, you're like, well, it doesn't matter. You

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haven't given me anything. I don't really believe what you're saying. So the whole concept is that

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we receive and we give love in different ways and we need to recognize the person in front of us to

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love them properly. I heard a while ago, God's love language is obedience. And this man exhibits

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that perfectly jesus says go and he obeys he just goes and as he's going he meets it says

00:17:46.540 --> 00:17:51.500
he meets his servants on the way and yet the servants come and they come with the fantastic

00:17:51.500 --> 00:17:58.150
news your son is healed and he the father asks when was he healed which i think is a fair question

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i think i'd want to know the same thing and they say it was and they say it was the seventh hour

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which is also translated as one o'clock in the afternoon.

00:18:07.590 --> 00:18:09.730
And he recognizes that's exactly the same time

00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:12.870
that Jesus had said the word, your son will live.

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And so he returned knowing that Jesus has completed,

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Jesus has fulfilled his word

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at the time when he returns home.

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And as he goes, he could have just left it there.

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As he goes, he could have said, great, my son is better.

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let's carry on with the life that we were living but he doesn't it says the last sentence in this

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he believed and all of his household so not only did he receive the healing but he actually

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decided to change the way he was living in response to that him and all of his household

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his belief came with a matched action and it's i i think this is amazing because there was nothing

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the man could have done that deserved the healing that his son received. He went and he asked but it

00:19:13.930 --> 00:19:18.010
wasn't because of him being an official that Jesus healed him and it wasn't because he'd walked the

00:19:18.010 --> 00:19:23.270
15 miles that Jesus healed him and it wasn't because he asked nicely that Jesus healed him.

00:19:24.210 --> 00:19:31.330
Jesus heals him out of grace and out of compassion and grace is freely receiving what we do not

00:19:31.330 --> 00:19:38.670
deserve. And he acts often before we do. Jesus doesn't need us to do anything or to earn

00:19:38.670 --> 00:19:42.350
anything. He says, I'm going to act and I'm going to heal. And to be honest, you don't

00:19:42.350 --> 00:19:50.310
even have to believe in me. The payment of the healing isn't your obedience or isn't

00:19:50.310 --> 00:19:54.900
your belief. Just because you don't believe doesn't mean that the healing goes away. But

00:19:54.900 --> 00:20:03.480
But as a response to the healing, the sign is simply there to point us to a greater relationship,

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to point us to something so much bigger than the sign itself,

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because the point of this entire sign isn't the fact that the boy got healed.

00:20:17.420 --> 00:20:21.000
The point of the sign is that he's calling us into a relationship with him

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where he wants to walk more closely with us.

00:20:23.480 --> 00:20:31.140
they lead us the signs lead us into a relationship with Jesus and return us into a right relationship

00:20:31.140 --> 00:20:37.020
with God and they're not enough to satisfy the boy got and the boy was healed but he will get

00:20:37.020 --> 00:20:42.940
sick again because that is what happens in life at that point he was made better but the whole

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point of this sign isn't that we will then be okay the point of the sign is that we then move

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into relationship with Jesus who does satisfy and when he's talking to the Samaritan in

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earlier on in the chapter, he says, I am the living water. Whoever drinks with me will never

00:20:59.320 --> 00:21:04.620
be thirsty again because he is wanting to satisfy our physical needs and our spiritual needs. And

00:21:04.620 --> 00:21:09.980
our spiritual needs are satisfied through Christ. And as we go through the book of John, he will

00:21:09.980 --> 00:21:15.800
keep pointing that out. He said, John wants us to understand that there is far more to Jesus than

00:21:15.800 --> 00:21:20.520
simply the miracles that we see before him. And that he wants us to hold on to the relationship

00:21:20.520 --> 00:21:26.820
with Christ he says I've come for you and I want a relationship with you but do you want a

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relationship with me and that is the question today like where are you on your journey with

00:21:31.780 --> 00:21:37.480
Christ are you at the point where you're still seeing signs but you haven't made that step yet

00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:42.740
where you want a relationship with him where where you speak to him every day or maybe you're in the

00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:48.480
point where Jesus is asking you to do something and you need to take that step of obedience

00:21:49.220 --> 00:21:51.320
Or maybe we simply need to say again,

00:21:51.320 --> 00:21:54.340
I wake up this morning and I want to have a relationship with you.

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So as we finish, that is my question.

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I would really love us to take some time to reflect,

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to think about where is it that you are in your journey today

00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:15.460
and where is it that Jesus is sitting with you.

00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:16.860
So if we could pray.

00:22:16.860 --> 00:22:19.200
so thank you Jesus that you came

00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:21.280
for us, that you love us

00:22:21.280 --> 00:22:23.320
that you see us and that you want

00:22:23.320 --> 00:22:24.180
to hold us

00:22:24.180 --> 00:22:26.100
in relationship

00:22:26.100 --> 00:22:31.280
Jesus I pray that you would show

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me what the next step is

00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:35.680
and Holy Spirit

00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:37.540
I pray that you would give us the strength

00:22:37.540 --> 00:22:39.120
and the obedience to follow that

00:22:39.120 --> 00:22:40.930
Amen