 feedback everyone okay and also here Aran has shared there were times even John was confused proclaiming the coming of Christ but still he didn't give up on his calling okay sure sure yeah so that has blessed Aran and she shares that on the chat with us yeah that's great wonderful okay so we will move back to our text here and the description of John the Baptist he calls Jesus the Lamb of God also along with this showing us that Jesus is the atonement prize John says the Lamb of God so God has provided a lamb you remember when Abraham had to sacrifice his son like Abraham says God will provide and then when he goes to to just about to kill his son no they see a ram in the in the bush so in the same way here John is saying the Lamb of God just think about it okay that God has provided the best lamb who is able to take away our sin not just us who believe but even though the potential is for the for the whole world like if the world responds they too can experience the salvation because the work that Jesus has done on the cross is so powerful that it takes away the sin of the world so there is not one sin which can stand in the presence of God if only we come with repentance if only we come asking and saying like you know God forgive me for this similar lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world very very you know powerful amazing amazing you know that's where that we get the transformation in our lives because this is the work that Jesus has done on the cross and you notice John the Baptist has a revelation before Jesus actually went and paid the price on the cross for us so he introduces in this way and then also he gives witness in the same passage you will notice that he says that I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dump so remember we are talking about the Trinity so far many mentions of the father then begotten son word descriptions of the second person of the Godhead who is the Lord Jesus Christ now the third person of the Godhead the Holy Spirit and John says I saw the Holy Spirit descend again from heaven God is sending from heaven lamb of God you know born became flesh and dwelt among us so lot of interaction between heaven and earth so again the spirit from heaven God is sent like a dark and he remained upon him meaning empowering of the Holy Spirit is on the life of the Son of God okay and who revealed this to John he says that it's the God who sent me to do his work he only told me notice this man the lamb of God he's also empowered by the Holy Spirit and I have seen that so the spirit descended and you know this this is the the Son of God he says okay so why do you think Jesus needed the Holy Spirit isn't he isn't he already God why do you need Holy Spirit what are your thoughts on that because John says that spirit descended but why why do you need spirit already he's the only begotten of the father he was born as a human being so if it was born as a human being do you think there were some limitations they okay so they have the same he has said things so yeah so yeah that's true so even for Jesus to do the work of God he needed the empowering of the Holy Spirit because remember we said he left behind this heavenly glory and he was here in the sonship glory but for Jesus to perform those miracles for Jesus to move in the gifts of the spirit he needed the empowering of the Holy Spirit so today it's very reassuring for us we have the same Holy Spirit who descended upon Jesus and Jesus was able to do the works of the Father so today you and I remember Jesus said that you shall do greater works than these how is it possible are we greater than Jesus no we are not greater than Jesus but we have the same Holy Spirit okay and when Jesus could serve wonderfully under the anointing of the Holy Spirit each one of us we can also serve under the anointing of the Holy Spirit so it's it's very encouraging so we see here that the Lord Jesus also needed I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove so empowering of the Holy Spirit upon the life of Jesus and this was revealed to John through God and he says in the end of that passage it says and I have seen and testified that this is son of God okay one more title here son of God so son of God son of man these are all if you go back like you can really go deep into these expressions and you would notice that these terms made perfect sense to the Jews you know son of man also was referring to the Messiah you know the one who would come now again another term son of God referring to Jesus Christ you know who who is man but he's from God so you know these terms we can study further and you you will have a better understanding of that but so many descriptions about Jesus just from John chapter 1 you can pull out right and then you can do word studies on that and it will give us a great depth and great understanding of who this Jesus is okay now John stood with two of his disciples it says okay the next day and looking at Jesus he again said behold the Lamb of God and the two disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus see this is again beautiful about the ministry of John the Baptist one is he knows what God has called him for his purpose second is you know he knows Christ he says okay I know who I am I know I stress so he's quite clear on those things then he's very humble he says sandal straps are not able to I'm not worthy or loosening it so he gives God the glory his ministry is done incredible humility and now you see in the ministry something for us to learn he's pointing people to Christ not to himself because in just in what I just read it says two of his disciples how would you like it if two people whom you have trained over the years you tell them about Jesus okay okay this is the look this is the Lamb of God and your two disciples say okay bye I'm going I'll go with Jesus see you later John how will you feel if you're John you'll be like what I have raised you in the Lord I have equipped you I have done this I have done that how can you leave me but John knew that ministry is about pointing people to Christ it's not about pointing people to ourselves so that day he lost two people from among his disciples but I'm sure John would have been very happy because the purpose was fulfilled his ministry was successful two people ended up following Jesus and they stopped following me wow this is great okay so the two disciples when they heard him it says heard and speak they followed Jesus and it also tells us that John was faithful to speak about Jesus and that is what our ministry supposed to be right that it's not about us but we have to reveal Jesus to the world and then the world will hear about Jesus only then they will follow Jesus and that's the way in which John the Baptist minister okay then Jesus it says seeing them following said to them what do you seek and they said to him Rabbi which is to say teacher where are you staying he said to them come and see they came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day now it was about the 10th hour so opposite John he shows us that these men who followed Jesus you know Jesus has a question to ask everyone what are you looking for okay thankfully these disciples they wanted to learn from Jesus they wanted to follow Jesus so closely that their answer was you just tell us where you're staying because we want to be with you we want to learn everything about you okay so that was where their heart was so we can ask ourselves the question when if suppose Jesus asked me that question what would I say what do you want or what are you looking for okay I are you looking for miracles are you looking for breakthrough are you looking to know me now these two people it seems like they wanted to know God more because John introduced and said behold the Lamb of God so they thought oh wow we found the Messiah we found the sacrifice perfect sacrifice of God sent from God let's find out more about him so where are you staying Rabbi teacher where are you staying we want to become your followers so they follow after him and you see how Jesus is open you know sometimes we feel that you know in our given culture today sometimes you know preachers and all they're very very like they don't want others to see their everyday life they have a very you know how do I say they're up on a pedestal and you can only see them you know in church you can only see them when they're on stage but other than that you know you don't know like how they are living their lives but Jesus was very down to earth okay and there ever possible he allowed people to come now I'm not saying that you know people should not have leaders should not have their own personal life and boundaries that's not the point but I'm saying letting people learn from our life is also important so Jesus says come and see many my life is open you can understand you know how I live how I do what I do so he says come and see and these people they that they they went and they stayed with Jesus so in the Bible times disciples they would spend time with the teacher that's how they would learn who is a disciple a disciple is somebody who follows closely after their teacher meaning you learn everything you know when when someone is learning surgery or something very serious like that you have you know you have experienced surgeons and they put you under them right you do your internship you keep following okay what is he doing we know the theory but okay how are they doing it you learn every small thing from their lives and then you kind of do it the way they do it and that's how you pick it up so disciple is like that where we want to live our lives the way Jesus lived his life so disciple is not I know the word good great but can I live the life you remember again in the epistles of John he says as he is as he is you know you be like you be like Jesus to be so that is discipleship where we are going to live our life like Jesus so who is a true disciple who will live like Jesus and these two disciples we don't have the names of these two disciples of John who left John and went and stayed with Jesus so basically John's disciples became Jesus's disciples but some historians say that maybe Apostle John was one of them and he went to stay with Jesus you know that's like a speculation that people make maybe I don't know but these two people wanted to become disciples of Jesus so they wanted to go and spend time with Jesus even today if we want to be disciples of Jesus what is Jesus telling us come come and see you know he doesn't stop us but gives us an open invitation for us to learn from his life okay so so far we have seen about John John's ministry how he's the forerunner how he's proclaiming about Jesus giving Jesus the main focus you know that should be the way we do ministry Jesus is the focus look at him if our disciples become Christ disciples wonderful okay I'm moving on okay one of the two heard John speak and followed him was Andrew so one person's name is revealed Andrew the other person's name is not revealed and I told you people speculate that it is John itself so Andrew what does Andrew do he goes and he brings his brother Simon and tells him he says look we we have found the Messiah okay Messiah meaning Christ or the anointed one and he brought him to Jesus now this shows us you know how people were coming to Jesus in those times and even today what happens when we have the good news okay the Lord Jesus the lab of God no God became man word became flesh this is the good news we are proclaiming about what God has done for us takes away the sins of the world come you also have your sins washed so when somebody has understood these things they are excited okay now the common thing that we do is to tell another person you know I still remember this was when I was in college or something and there was a sale okay and it was you know when you're like in studying in college you need clothes to wear every day to college so at one point there was the sale where they were they were you know the prices were super reasonable for college students to go and you know buy themselves some clothes and I happen to see see that on commercial street and I went there and I used to attend a Bible study at that time so I finished you know like shopping and all and I came I was so excited that I told all my friends over there everyone if you want you go here it's so reasonable now you can buy like good clothes and all so on that day the person who was teaching the Bible study was teaching about sharing the gospel and he was saying you know how when we we get a good deal we are so quick to tell others you go there you will get this good deal so there is a sale or something like that so it just hit me because I had actually done that you know at that time and I thought yeah it's so true when we experience something good we don't hesitate we before the preacher can tell you go and share about Jesus we would have told 12 people 15 people that hey this is what Jesus has done in my life this is how my sins are forgiven I feel you know I can experience that freedom in my spirit yeah and God has called me for great things so basically sharing your own life and you're sharing the gospel through that that is the way in which the gospel gets shared yes there are all these crusades and you know proclaiming the gospel in other on other platforms but one of the most effective ways is through personal life interaction and our own people whom we know we just share because we are excited about it and you see Simon doing that he went and he spent time with Jesus and he said hey this is it he found the Messiah and he first goes to his own family member his brother Simon and says we found the Messiah here is the good news come you know and I'm not just telling them but giving them an opportunity to respond and who is this this is Simon Peter okay so he brings Peter to Jesus and what does Jesus say when Jesus looks at him and says you are Simon the son of Jonah you shall be called Cephas you are Simon the son of Jonah you shall be called Cephas so Jesus is proclaiming the destiny of Simon Peter and he's saying this is the prophetic word over your life your destiny is that you are going to be a strong individual in the kingdom of God so Cephas is translated stone or a rock now when we study about the life of Peter we can understand that he was not so you know like how do you put it he was very quick to speak he didn't think much you know when he spoke and he was not brave enough because we know that he denied Christ three times so be an unstable individual how is it that Jesus can look at Peter and say you are Simon son of Jonah you shall be called Cephas or your destiny is that you would be like a rock and this is how God works in each one of our lives you know the way God looks at us is very different from the way we may look at ourselves but we have to embrace the prophetic destiny which God has for us if you recall Gideon you know when Gideon God calls him to go and fight the battle Gideon is so scared he's he's sitting in the you know in that threshing floor place he's hiding there from the enemies and then the angel appears to him and says mighty man of valor and Gideon is like are you talking to me I'm a very scared person but in God's view our destiny is different so we have to embrace that destiny same thing in the case of Peter Jesus looks at him and he sees more than the person in front of him he sees the prophetic destiny of Simon and he says you shall be called Cephas or you're a rock stone okay and now we know looking at early church he was the first leader of the early church who stood up boldly who pitched the gospel who brought people to the kingdom of God so Jesus was saying this by the spirit much early on okay then now the following day it says Jesus went to Galilee he found Philip and said to him so another individual now what is happening Jesus is getting disciples some followed him when John proclaimed about Jesus then the disciples who came went and brought Peter was brought by Andrew and here you you notice that Jesus is calling somebody Philip he says follow me okay and yeah Philip just follows Jesus so Jesus places a call on the lives of people in different ways people come to Christ in different ways okay but ultimately what is the goal that every single person has to become a follower or a disciple or Jesus to live that life okay that Christ is calling us to live now Philip he finds another person called Nathaniel okay and Jesus has an interaction with Nathaniel so Philip finds Nathaniel and he says to him see everyone's excited Andrew went and told Peter now Philip is telling Nathaniel we found him of who Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of chosen so he's introducing Jesus and he says about Messiah there are lots of scriptures but you know who that is he says Jesus of Nazareth this is the son of Joseph so he's giving the exact because those days many people were named as Jesus so you had to clearly tell them so he's not saying Jesus Christ but he's giving you know the details about this particular Jesus he says oh he's from this place called Nazareth and he's the son of chosen he is actually the Messiah so he's selling Nathaniel and Nathaniel is a little taken aback because those days Nazareth was not a town which you know it was it was not a town that was talked about okay and in fact people kind of look down on Nazareth so Nathaniel says can anything good come out of Nazareth you know again this talks about the way God works for us we prefer things and we you know look at things places people with our understanding when Nathaniel is doing the same thing he says nothing good can come out of that place but from God's perspective you know God can do wonderful things in a place that we think is not good enough or you know a person who we think is not good enough so God is able to do all these miracles Tom Nathaniel said that Philip says okay you have doubts right whether Messiah can come from Nazareth of all places how about you come and see okay so the same way as Jesus invited then those two disciples that John sent they said okay you know following after Jesus what do you seek where are you staying come and see Jesus said so now Philip uses that same invitation and says you come and see then you tell me okay so Philip said to Nathaniel you come and see Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him and said of him behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit again if you recall in the book of acts we said Peter when he looked at Ananias in Sapphira he said how could you lie to the Holy Spirit word of knowledge there was no idea that Peter could have heard about what they decided or they discussed okay but through the Holy Spirit Peter had the awareness and in this passage in this very passage by the Holy Spirit Jesus is able to discern the spirits of men so he looks at Peter and says you are Peter you are see first the rock and he is looking at Nathaniel now from the spiritual eyes by the part of the Holy Spirit how does Jesus know who this man is but you can also know the character of a human being through the Holy Spirit's revelation so he just sees Nathaniel and says wow this man basically a man without guy means truthful honest guy this person is a good he's a good man Nathaniel and then Nathaniel is not able to digest that he's like how do you don't meet Jesus I just you know Jesus saw him coming from far away would we ever do that maybe you know first day of Bible college you know how it is when we have our orientation lots of students come and you look at one student and say oh you you're a good person you know you you don't lie or something like that and that student will look at us and say how do you know me I came on it today okay so Jesus is doing it by the power of the Holy Spirit now for Nathaniel to believe him he adds to what he just said so when Nathaniel says how do you know me Jesus answered him and said to him before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree I saw you okay so it's like when you tell that student oh you're a good person and the student ask how do you know me I might say you know what I mean if I were Jesus I would have said something like I saw you taking bus number 298 at 8 a.m. from you know this bus stop today morning you know when something else some details like that and the person goes whoa how do you know this has to be God because I just saw you but you're talking about something that happened a couple of hours ago which only I know so similarly Nathaniel responds and he says no rabbi meaning teacher you are the son of God you are the king of Israel see again new title son of God king of Israel okay so Nathaniel also recognizes wow this has got to be the Messiah otherwise how would he know me obviously it's only God who knows right he's all knowing omission God he knows the spirits of men he knows the thoughts of men he discerns our hearts and Jesus figured out Nathaniel in the first meeting and Nathaniel accepted that this is the Christ and Jesus says look Nathaniel because I said to you I saw you under the fig tree meaning I gave you more details okay that's why you believe isn't it but let me tell you with this you recognize that I'm the messiah but here is what I'm going to do you are going to see greater things than these and most assuredly I say to you here after you shall see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man so Jesus is saying this is just a small example it is a sample what you have seen but you are going to see amazing things as you walk with me now some historians say that why did Jesus say you know you will see the son of man angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of man they think that maybe under the fig tree when Nathaniel was there he was he was a devout man and he was probably reading God's word okay some of the Old Testament scriptures and he was probably studying the life of Jacob and you know how in the life of Jacob you have the ladder when he has a vision of angels going up and down okay so just to help Nathaniel know that now you've understood that much you've studied about Jacob's ladder and you you've learned about the angels going up and down but you know what that ladder is me I am the mediator word became flesh lamb of God son of son of God from heaven to earth I have made that connection and he says you will see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the son of now again the term son of man right and for the Jews the son of man was a term that was used to describe the Messiah so we see here you know such great depth and introduction of Christ so John is writing out of his deep revelation of who Jesus is so it is more than incidents now they went and met John the Baptist and they went and met Peter through Andrew then they went and met Philip then Nathaniel it's a story that goes on yes it is a story but at the same time historical report but the depth of who Christ is John wants to place it before the people and say you know you he's hitting it with you over and over again if you missed it when he said lamb of God then hopefully you will get it when he reveals Jesus as son of God and if you missed it then maybe you will get it when he introduces Jesus as son of man so he's hitting it at you at many different times what is the intention of John in writing the gospel you need to know Christ okay for who he is the king of Israel okay so knowing Christ is the main goal that John has in the gospel and we will continue to see that so I'm just gonna take a small pause here before I go into John chapter 2 any thoughts any clarifications questions let's talk about that and then we will proceed with John chapter 2 yeah or even comments you just want to add to whatever I said you can do that okay so looks like you're all thinking so I don't want to force you to say anything let's just proceed whenever you want to say something please feel free to do that okay so let's go on now John is going to talk about you know begin with a miracle in the next chapter and he's going to show how Jesus was actually moving right in the power of the Holy Spirit so that is there in chapter 2 so here you notice after all this he's recording the number of days also so he says on the third day there was a wedding so maybe after the meeting with Nathaniel the next incident was Jesus going to a wedding and he describes he says in this particular place Kena of Galilee and it seems like it was somebody well-known to the family of Jesus so including Mary they all go for the wedding so mother of Jesus was also there number Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding so that again is quite interesting for us to know that Jesus seems like a very serious person isn't it so serious son of God and you know like moving by the spirit discerning the destiny of men and all but you read in chapter 2 Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding and among the Jewish celebrations wedding was one of the the most joyful celebrations or a party that people would have so for us to think that Jesus being the son of God was able to relate with man right in the joys of man is also very encouraging for us that people did not look at him and say oh Jesus don't call him for the wedding it's he's too serious no they were happy to invite Jesus so Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding also Mary the mother of Jesus was also invited to the wedding now you know you have historical reports all kinds of things are said about who's wedding this was and you know why Jesus went for the wedding you know sometimes all those details may not be that important or necessary but yeah those who want to research those things can go and do it so we're just going to stop with yeah Jesus was invited for a wedding what happens in the wedding now we know that a wedding is a place where people have you know they're celebrating an occasion and the person hosting the wedding make sure that they feed them well or you know that there's something to drink there's sufficient quantity of that so the arrangements are made very well but in this particular wedding it says they ran out of wine and the mother of Jesus said to him they have no wine Jesus said to her woman what does your what does your concern have to do with me my hour has not yet come his mother said to the servants whatever he says to you do it so you know it sounds like maybe this family that was hosting a wedding when not very well to do or they ended up having more guests sometimes it happens right you plant 300 people and what will you do if 400 people show up all your food is over so some challenging situation occurred there and they ran out of the wine but you know Mary remember it says in the other gospel that Mary observed Jesus when he was a child you know and she she saw how he stayed back when he was eight years old he stayed back in the synagogue in the temple and they had to go find him and when they went to find him he says you know I like I'm more concerned about my father I was with my father okay so Mary knew and the angel of the Lord came and said right like okay you know I favored of the Lord and you will give birth to a son so she knew how she birthed Jesus Jesus is not a normal human the way you know other humans were born but he was born by the power of the Holy Spirit so does Mary know what Jesus is she always knew who Jesus is maybe she was waiting for a time when this would be revealed to the world she knows but she is excited about the world knowing who Jesus is so when she encounters this problem she knew Jesus can do something about it now had Jesus done similar miracles earlier there are no accounts here so we don't know but later on we will see that you know Jesus manifested his glory at this time it says so maybe he didn't perform these miracles but still Mary knew that he's able to do these miracles so she just brings it like you know how sometimes when we want something to get done we don't say do it we say there is a problem like this you know so Mary indirectly puts it to Jesus they have no wine so Jesus responds to her and says why are you telling me yeah there's an issue but why are you bringing it to my notice and he says my hour has not yet come so we know about the life of Jesus that he was moving according to the calendar of the Father heavens calendar so there was a timing at which you know he needed to step out and you know do certain things so according to that calendar it was not yet time for Jesus to begin moving you know in in the miracles and signs and wonders that he needed to but Mary knew that you know he's a gracious God remember he said full of grace and truth so Mary anyway put across this word to Jesus and Mary told the servants whatever he says to you do it we don't know whether Mary was hopeful that Jesus is going to respond to this word and he is going to do the miracle but she is she told them you follow Jesus's miracles Jesus somehow responded to what Mary told okay and you know that again is so beautiful then this is not the only time but even when you see that lady who comes to Jesus you know who's not Jewish you remember she says he my son he's being tormented by the by the demons then Jesus says we do not throw you know children's bread to dogs so he says there's a there's a rule I'm going by the book of rule book you know and I can't do these things just because you're asking but we always notice that Jesus is gracious at this time also Jesus like my time has not come but later what does he do he actually does the miracle so it shows us how lady God is to work on on behalf we just have to ask right even in that lady's case he he eats that he delivers that some she's not a Jew Jew a Jew as but he still does it for the person who asks so faith makes a difference in this case Mary's exercising her faith and even though it's not the time Jesus says okay come on there is faith in the house let's do something about this so he does miracle how does the miracle happen you know does you just move his hands and I finished our wine was not there wine has come magic it's not like that but in this case you see that he is asking for the cooperation of the people as well so some miracles in our lives God wants us to take some steps he wants us to make you know some moves then the miracle is unfolding through every step for us we wanted immediate like right now God just move a finger and let it be done but Jesus says come on let's follow these steps okay there were six water pots of stone this was for purification you know when people would enter the wedding they would wash their hands feet according to the ritual and then only they would come in so these pots used to carry water so Jesus instructs the people and he says fill the water pots with water so to whatever capacity 30 gallons is that 20 or 30 gallons to that capacity you fill the water so they have to follow some instructions that Jesus is giving and the people would have thought why should we take all these steps but you know sometimes God wants us to take some steps before the miracles happen so one is filled the pot they fill the pot second he says draw some out now okay it's taking action faith is action so now they have to take out little bit of water from the pot and take it to the master of the feet of the feast so they take it when the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from okay but only the servants who had drawn the water knew so the servants knew that a miracle had taken place because they had seen it before their eyes they had poured water but now wine has come out of the pots okay so God is able to do miracles in our lives God does miracles when there is faith sometimes in the miracles that God does he expects us to take a couple of steps of faith that's when the miracle can be made complete and in this case we also notice the miracle that she did you know it's a miracle of redeeming the time now those of us who know about wine and how long it takes for for wine to be fermented and you know you age the wine it takes years sometimes to get the best wines but when God is involved that the years of effort was you know all sort of squished within no time water and up to water it's not even grape juice some other substance has become some other substance who can do this only God can do this he made wine out of water and in the mat in moments in moments so when we think of our life when we think of you know God's restoration in our lives again that's something that we can hold on to can God do miracles which can you know restore back for us years of time we may think we lost it there's such a lot of delay but God can restore it and he works miracles in this way so with this I'm just gonna stop today and yeah any any quick thoughts before we pray and close okay for some reason you're all in a thinking mode today so I'll just let it be let's just pray and close Akiran can you please pray yeah father God we just come before once again you're but they were thanking you father God to revealing us to talking with us father God through gospel of John father God thanking you for your revelation thanking you father God to your guidance father God thanking you your wisdom knowledge and understanding father God but you are given to us father God thanking you thanking you father God father God in the submitting to upcoming tank 20 year hand father God more revelation you just reveal father God within us that we can serve to your kingdom work full full life father God reveal your more revelation father God thank you father God through listening our prayer thank you father God Nancy memory students father God thank you but mighty Jesus name we pray amen amen thank you Kiran thank you for readily praying God bless you yeah thank you class thank you for joining today and have a blessed day I'll meet you in the act session during the week bye for now thank you thank you thank you mom thank you thank you thank you bye