- ♪ Give me the bible ♪

>>Today we are blessed with a wonderful gift from God, the Bible. This book is God's living word. In its pages we are told for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. It is in this book of books that we find the answers to all of men's questions in need. This morning, your area churches of Christ welcome you to a program committed to that perfect law of liberty. ♪ Thou light shall guide me in the narrow way ♪

>>As we present The Living Word. ♪ Till I shall vanish in eternal flame ♪

>>Now here is your host, Ray Sullins.

>>In Hebrews chapter 13:6, we read, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me." The truth is with God on our side we will always be victorious. And let me welcome you to the program on this wondrous Lord's Day morning. We're excited that you have chosen to be with us today and to offer this time of encouragement to one another but ultimately that we might participate in the praise of God and worship him. This program remains committed to doing what God wants and the way that God wants. And we accomplished this collectively by singing songs of praise, by glorifying his name, in praying to our God and also by studying his perfect word. So as we gather ourselves before the throne of God and humble ourselves before that mighty throne will you bow with me before his throne in prayer at this time. Our God and Father in heaven we are thankful for this day, another day of life and the privilege that we have to be called your children and to be servants in your kingdom. And Father, we thank you because we know that all things are only possible through you and through what Jesus did on the cross as well as his death, burial and resurrection. And Father, we are thankful that we have the opportunity to be found justified through his bloodshed and know that today we're able to be found proper in your sight in pleasing and thus recipients of your blessings now and your eternal rewards. Father, we thank you for this, the Lord's Day, and may we give you our best in spirit and truth. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. How wonderful it is to be reminded to the extent that God will go in order that we might overcome sin and ultimately have a place in heaven someday. So as we think about these things, won't you consider singing with the congregation at this time as we join in the first song of the morning, the name of the song, "A Hill Called Mount Calvary". ♪ There are things as we travel this Earth's shifting sands ♪ ♪ That transcend all the reason of man ♪ ♪ But the things that matter the most in this world ♪ ♪ They can never be held in our hand ♪ ♪ I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary ♪ ♪ I'll believe whatever the cost ♪ ♪ And when time has surrendered and Earth is no more ♪ ♪ I'll still cling to that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ I believe that the Christ who was slain on that cross ♪ ♪ Has the power to change lives today ♪ ♪ For He changed me completely, a new life is mine ♪ ♪ That is why by the cross I will stay ♪ ♪ I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary ♪ ♪ I'll believe whatever the cost ♪ ♪ And when time has surrendered and Earth is no more ♪ ♪ I'll still cling to that old rugged cross ♪ ♪ I believe that this life with its great mysteries ♪ ♪ Surely someday will come to an end ♪ ♪ But faith will conquer the darkness and death ♪ ♪ And will lead me at last to my friend ♪ ♪ I believe in a hill called Mount Calvary ♪ ♪ I'll believe whatever the cost ♪ ♪ And when time has surrendered and Earth is no more ♪ ♪ I'll still cling to that old rugged cross ♪

>>When is the last time that you feel like you just couldn't do it anymore or you just couldn't go on? I think we've all been there before and wondered what we were going to do to really get started up again. It doesn't matter whether you are referring to physical things or spiritual things. We all have ups and downs that make us feel like we would want to give up. If we look in the Bible, this problem is nothing new because we find that even those who lived long ago had the very same struggle, for a while they would be strong and faithful to God, but then they would fall away and have to be reminded in order that they would return to God and make things right. In the book of Lamentations 3:40 we read this statement, "Let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord." Here, Jeremiah most likely is talking about the need for the people of God to examine themselves and why, so that they might turn back to the Lord. To me, this is very encouraging to know that we aren't really going to have to be alone and that we know that even when we're not doing our best we have a place to turn for help. Everyone again certainly has experienced times like this where we need to again find help and the ability to get back where we would like to be. I remember there when Paul himself actually exhorted the Galatians with the following words. He said, "And let us not grow weary in doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Again, what does he tell us here? Don't grow weary, don't give up, again, why? Because if we endure and if we reap the things that God has asked we certainly will be beneficiaries of the great promises and rewards of God. But on the other hand, if we faint, if we give up or or if we quit, we know certainly will not receive what God has promised. What else does God do to make sure that we can make it to the end? Well, as followers of God, we know this answer is also true. Our God is with us each and every day and every step of the way. In fact, in Hebrews 13:5 we have these words recorded which are so encouraging to the faithful, I will never leave you nor forsake you. You see, God is always there to help us when we fall or when we feel like giving up or even when we feel like we're alone. So the next time that you're down and feeling like there's nothing you can do or you don't know which direction to go or how you're going to make it, remember that God is there always and he's by your side. And knowing that certainly will help you as well as us all to know that we can truly do all things with the help of Christ who is ever with us and helping us. The question for us all, are we trying to stand strong in the will of God? And in doing so, do we know that God is by our side? As far as our study of the morning, today we'll be continuing the topic entitled The Word as Jesus of Nazareth. This is the next lesson in our series of study which has been entitled in the beginning was the word. So please stay with us this morning and after our next song together I will be leading us in these thoughts from God's Word. But for now, let's return to our hymns of praise the name of the next song, "The Steadfast Love of the Lord". ♪ The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases ♪ ♪ Your mercies never come to an end ♪ ♪ They are new every morning ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness, O Lord, ♪ ♪ The Lord is my portion, says my soul ♪ ♪ Therefore I will hope in him ♪ ♪ The steadfast love of the lord never ceases ♪ ♪ His mercies never come to an end ♪ ♪ They 're new every morning ♪ ♪ Great is thy faithfulness ♪ ♪ The Lord is my portion, says my soul ♪ ♪ Therefore I will hope in him ♪ ♪ Therefore I will hope in him ♪

>>We're thankful for you continue with us this day as we now go to God's Word and study together another lesson from our series that really is focused on the descriptive concepts of Jesus which are found in the gospel of John chapter one. And together we've seen just a wide variety of such beautiful concepts that show us not only about how special our Christ should be to us but what he has done for us and the love that he demonstrates and the characteristics that he has shown. Things that that even you and I as well should be learning from and demonstrating in our own lives that we might be acceptable and found pleasing in his sight. But in relationship to those things, some of these things have actually been educational and trying to help us to understand some of the concepts about Jesus and really who he was when he came in the flesh and who his parents were and what he was considered or at least what people were looking for and ultimately what he became. And so that would be the case even today as we once again return to our discussion our main focus is going to be verse 45 and a statement that is made there. But we will begin with the call of Philip and Nathaniel those disciples of John as has been seen throughout this study who now have been called to follow Jesus. And there in verse 43, the Bible says, and this is again the Gospel of John 1:43. The following day, Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and he said to him, "Follow me." And Philip was from be Beseda, the city of Andrew and Peter, and Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "We have found of whom Moses and the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Obviously the first thing that jumps out there in verse 45 to us in relationship to the identifying traits that Philip speaks of concerning Jesus is that these are things that have been revealed by Moses and the prophets. So immediately what that does is it takes our minds back to what we call the Old Testament and the writings of Moses are what we call the first five books of the Pentateuch. And then we have the rest of the Old Testament which would often be referred to as law, some of that being found in the Pentateuch and thereafter in the law itself. And then the writings of the prophets like great men of God who wrote primary and large part of what we have in the Old Testament as well. And so here he is saying that the things that we now are experiencing have been prophesied of old, but specifically he says in two respects. And if you'll notice with me there the first thing that he says is that he is the one who was prophesied in the writings of Moses and the writings of the prophets by the Holy Spirit as Jesus of Nazareth. And so the first thing I'd like us to think about is this idea of Nazareth his self. What role does Nazareth play in relationship to the life of Christ? Well, you and I can back up for just a moment and we can remember that one of the big issues that the Jews had with Jesus is that he didn't come into the world like a king, like royalty would. He might have had the right bloodline so to speak, according to prophecy, but he didn't didn't find himself born in a palace or maybe in a fancy place with a lot of money and being one who was really a descendant of those specifically who had ruled before him and his parents being rulers and those types of things. And so he wasn't looked to as someone who was really flashy or great or wonderful or the offspring specifically of parents who were great on the Earth. And so when he was born somewhere besides Jerusalem or in some of these more prevalent places of Judea or according to what the Jews would've thought our king is coming and look at who he is born of and look at the family and he is going to reign. And you see that was their mindset. And so when we begin to look at this idea that he was actually from Nazareth, it changes the concept and the discussion of Jesus just a little bit. In fact, we can go to several verses. We can first of all go back to Matthew chapter two and there in relationship to the flight from Jerusalem, in the area of Jerusalem and Bethlehem after Jesus was born to Egypt that he might be safe for a period of time because they were trying to kill the babies to actually get to Jesus in that respect. What we actually find is that here in this text that we are given a clarification as to where they then go after a period of time in Egypt. And so if you look with me there in verse 23 it actually says, "And he came and dwelt where, in the city of Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene." So Joseph now takes his family to Nazareth far outside of what the Jews would've expected, the Christ child, the Messiah, the king, royalty to come from. And in fact, if you would research the city of Nazareth itself, it really wasn't known for a lot. And the few things it's known for aren't good. It usually was considered a city that wasn't so great and so to be considered a Nazarite or Nazarene. But what that immediately does is it takes our minds back to Isaiah chapter nine and Isaiah chapter 11 and Isaiah chapter 53 and Psalm 22, and there are a lot of passages that begin to speak about the prophecies of Jesus and how there really wasn't supposed to be anything special. He wasn't supposed to be born as like royalty and come in with pageantry into the world but that he was gonna be actually despised and rejected and hated and that he was gonna be common and really not anything special in relationship to what the Jews would've expected to be their king and their ruler on the Earth. So as you applied those things and what we find is that Joseph having most likely been obviously from areas like such as Nazareth itself, takes his family there and raises Jesus. And what does Jesus become, a Nazarene. Because he is from Nazareth. And in fact there in the verse we just read in Matthew 2:23 actually says that he would be called a Nazarene. He would be called from a place of really no significance and a place that would be uncommon or even not considered as great. The second thing then that we notice here is the question then that was asked in John chapter one. And so if we go back and Philip and Nathaniel are talking and right after he said the Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth notice what verse 46 says, and Nathaniel then said to him, to Philip that is, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" See, even he has been kind of corrupted. He knows most likely, as a lot of the Jews might have known what some of the prophecies inferred, but now he's even been corrupted and saying, well, how can anything good? How could a king, how could the Lord of Lords how could a Messiah come from Nazareth? And so can a good thing come out of Nazareth? And that it also shows us, as I had made brief mention about how the city was known for some things but the things it was known for really weren't that good. It really wasn't a prevalent city, especially in relationship to good things. So Jesus, the Nazarite, I'd also remind you that generally the term was used in a derogatory way when the term is being used by many it's like to maybe dress down a bit or to even maybe say it to make fun of. And one such case I found that was interesting about that is found there in Mark chapter one. And you might remember there in Mark, we, as in many of the occurrences of the gospel, find that there are a few different details that take place. And so there early on in the chapter, it's a rather lengthy chapter, around verse 21, we find that there is an unclean spirit and unclean spirits that are going to be cast out. And as we look at what takes place here, it says here the Jesus enters the synagogue, verse 22 of Mark chapter one. And they were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one, having authority. So they were impressed by what he said. But verse 23, "And there was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit and he was crying out let us alone what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth, did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the holy one of God." What a odd, odd moment because here the demons the demons who are possessing this man are crying out in a derogatory way. Jesus of Nazareth, most likely as the Jews would think how can a good thing come out of Nazareth? What significance is there to Nazareth or the fact that he was so common or in the sense of even being unclean not having been born in the area of Jerusalem in relationship also now to what we've seen here, the holy one of God, I love that passage. Because on one hand they're crying out Jesus of Nazareth. You know, who are you, or really, why would you be? They knew what prophecy said. They knew who Jesus was, but then they call him the holy one of God. So even the demons knew that he was the Messiah even they knew he was the Christ despite the fact that even the demons would not have respected him or respected the reality of the prophecies and the fulfillments thereof. And by the way, the Jewish leadership would've well known that Jesus was fulfilling prophecy by having been from Nazareth and those things that we know pertaining to such. The second thing back in our main text there in John chapter one that is said is not just Jesus of Nazareth, but the son of Joseph. And now we well know that as we go back to several places including there in Matthew chapter one Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit. He is considered the son of God but Joseph was told by God to take him as his son and therefore we would consider that he had taken Jesus as his son, as what we would refer to as a stepchild or as an adopted child of sorts. We can go to the book of Luke, and there in Luke chapter three I think there's a interesting verse that actually uses that terminology about Jesus in the fact that Joseph functioned as his earthly father because God was his heavenly father. Verse 23 of Luke chapter three says, "For Jesus himself began his ministry at about 30 years of age being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli. And so what we find here is that he was considered in the descendant or the lineage of Joseph specifically, because that was his adopted father, or earthly father, although he had only been born of Mary as is indicated. So when we find here that Nathaniel again is making this statement and responding and saying, can a good thing come out of Nazareth? It is in response to what Philip has just said that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph, that very one is the Messiah. And so as we understand and we see those things unfold, what we know is that now there is clarity about what it is that we need to understand about some of his physical traits. Yes, Jesus was the word, yes, Jesus was God, yes, Jesus was full of grace and truth. And yes, Jesus was, was rabbi, and and on and on and on that we have studied together. But Jesus also from a physical sense was considered the son of Joseph. And he also from a physical stance was considered a man from the city of Nazareth, in relationship to those who believed and followed. These things didn't make any difference because he was the Messiah and the miraculous powers that he had and who he was and what he said proved it. But to the Jews, these were great stumbling blocks. They were things used against Jesus, things that caused them to hate Jesus and not to believe in him as that true king of kings and lord of lords. So as we as Christians embrace Jesus, may we embrace fully what he was in the flesh in his heritage from a spiritual standpoint and a physical standpoint understanding that all these are a part of the full puzzle that make a beautiful picture of a savior who loved us enough, not only to create us but to come to the earth, to live, to die, to be buried, and rising in the third day. That you and I today might stand here, justified, blessed by God in this life and blessed eternally with heaven someday. ♪ Someday you'll stand at the bar on high ♪ ♪ Someday your record you'll see ♪ ♪ Someday you'll answer the question of life ♪ ♪ What will your answer be ♪ ♪ What will it be? ♪ ♪ What will it be? ♪ ♪ Where will you spend eternity? ♪ ♪ What will it be, oh what will it be? ♪ ♪ What will your answer be? ♪ ♪ Sadly you'll stand if you're unprepared ♪ ♪ Trembling you'll fall on your knee ♪ ♪ Facing the sentence of life or of death ♪ ♪ What will that sentence be ♪ ♪ What will it be? ♪ ♪ What will it be? ♪ ♪ Where will you spend your eternity? ♪ ♪ What will it be, oh what will it be? ♪ ♪ What will your answer be? ♪ ♪ Now is the time to prepare my friend ♪ ♪ Make your soul spotless and free ♪ ♪ Washed in the blood of the crucified one ♪ ♪ He will your answer be ♪ ♪ What will it be? ♪ ♪ What will it be? ♪ ♪ Where will you spend your eternity? ♪ ♪ What will it be, oh what will it be? ♪ ♪ What will your answer be? ♪

>>Again, let me thank you for choosing to be with us this day. I hope our time has been an encouragement and a blessing to us all, and let me remind you that we join together every first day of the week at 7:30 and commit this time to God. So always please join us. But now let me ask you if you have any questions or comments about today's lesson, maybe like a free transcript or free CD or DVD of the program, or possibly we could assist you with free Bible materials or free Bible correspondent courses. No matter what your need is, please feel free to contact us at the following address, The Living Word, 2540 North Kansas Expressway, Springfield, Missouri, 65803. Many of these items are also available on our website, that address thelivingwordprogram.com. Or if you prefer, you may call us at 869-2284 Oh, what a loving God we serve. Who was willing to come in the flesh and to live and die for our sakes, may we always strive to respond to such a love from God in a positive way, and to let God know how much we love him through our faithfulness. Are you faithful to your God today?

>>Our prayer is to help the world know more about God through this television program. The Living Word has been brought to you under the oversight of the Elders of Kansas Expressway Church of Christ in Springfield, Missouri, with the assistance of the following area Churches of Christ. ♪ Give me the bible holy fresh and shining ♪ ♪ Till I shall vanish in eternal ♪