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Hope Channel

InVerse 4th Quarter 2024: The Gospel of John

Sikhu Daco

Justin Kim

Israel Ramos

Joe Reeves

01 God Incarnate

Coming to you from Silver Spring, Maryland, welcome to Inverse, a Bible-based conversation on life principles, contemporary issues, and thought-provoking perspectives.

Now here's your host, Justin Kim, with Inverse.

My name's Justin Kim, and you're here on Inverse, and we are studying the Book of John, the fourth gospel in the New Testament.

We're very excited that you're here with us and if you have your Bibles out there on your phone or in actual paper format, open the book of John with us.

This is our first episode in the next 13 episode arc on the gospel of John and we're gonna have an open discussion with you listening and you participating.

If you wanna study with us, you can go to inversebible.org and actually download the Bible study guide entitled The Gospel of John.

We got Jonathan, Israel, and Joe, and this is, we are, this is gonna be a men's Bible study, yeah?

But if you are not a man out there, you're still welcome.

The gospel is not gender defined, exclusive.

All right, let's go to the Bible because we need to read the Bible.

We have, did we study a book of, 1 of the Gospels before?

Have we done, is this our first time doing this?

We've been doing this for what, 8 years now?

It's a long time we've been talking about the Gospel.

We've been, Joe, you've been with us for a couple seasons, Jonathan a little more, and in Israel since the beginning.

I want to just ask, has there ever been a topic that pops out to you in your, in your recollection of your time here at Inverse that has been powerful to you, or maybe not, maybe nothing comes to your mind.

Joe, what's something that comes to your mind?

Well, while back in the beginning of inverse, we did 1, How to Know the Will of God.

I think 1 of my favorites was actually Jonathan's and the Great Controversy, being able to revisit that and look, take an in-depth look at what is going on in the world today and how it affects us at an intellectual, mental level.

I think our study in the book of James was also.

So you like the ones that were in here, internal ones.

All right, Jonathan, outside the ones that you wrote.

No, no, no, I was gonna return the favor.

The 1 you wrote on education was inspiring.

No, I really enjoyed it, especially the more philosophical look at things, but also in diving into the principle of education in everything.

Yeah, I think the 1 that sticks out to me was the 1 on biblical sexuality.

Everywhere I go around to speak, people have commented on that 1 being very pivotal, and they're still studying the inverse Bible study guide.

And it was, 1, shocking that the Bible talks about it, but 2, it was very clear, and 3, just was very grace-filled and very edifying to their spiritual experience.

Honestly, in my opinion, it's 1 of the best study guides on the topic I've ever seen, if I have ever seen any others.

That 1 has some of the most views on our channel.

So 1 more time, just go to inversebible.org and you can download the Bible study guides there.

Or if you wanna look at the TV episodes, the video episodes, you can go to hopetv.org slash inverse.

And you can see our past seasons of the last 8 years.

I think there's 32 seasons if you do 8 times 4.

I mean, hey, praise the Lord for all these things.

Father, we thank you for the word of God and thank you that you will always speak to us when we come with an open heart.

And so we pray now that you will open our hearts, our minds, and not just here, but everyone watching and listening as well, and that you will give us insight, new insight, fresh insight, something that we need to understand today.

Joe, John chapter 1, let's go to verses 1 through 5, and we'll start there.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.

In him was life and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it.

All right, we'll stop there and pause and we can just spend some time talking about it.

John was 1 of the apostles, 1 of the disciples of Jesus, 1 of the 12.

I believe he was 1 of the 2 sons of ZBD with the nickname Sons of Thunder.

He had an anger problem or a temper problem or a thunder problem, you know, something of that character.

But through his interactions with Jesus, he became the disciple, the apostle of love, and just of softness, and not thunder, but I don't know what's the opposite of thunder, but just about a changed person.

And he was a fisherman, probably not high education at the time level, but this does not sound like someone from low education.

Just kind of a weird, this is not like Luke, where like, hey, this is a dissertation, this is not like an action-packed Mark, this isn't a long genealogy like Matthew, but in the beginning.

If I can just speak to a major context, I think the Gospel of John is 1 of those that was written quite late.

So this is probably close to the end of his life, the end of the first century, where we see the principle of education, you're saying, you know, he comes from low education, but walking with Jesus all his life, being faithful, does something to you.

And he has come to an intellectual level that is profound, very deep, even if you look at the book of Revelation that he wrote, as well as his other letters.

They're very, very meaningful and powerful.

So, we see here now, someone who has been writing, writes the stories of Jesus in his whole book.

Jonathan Walter

02 Christ’s Opening Ministry

Hey everyone, welcome to Hope Channel International Studios.

In the studio with us we have Israel and Joe and Jonathan.

You may be noticing that Siku isn't with us.

Siku is on a different assignment for this quarter.

We wanna encourage you to go to inversebible.org and download the Bible study guide.

And if you're not a computer person and you like the phone and apps, You can also go to your Android and Apple platforms and look at the Sabbath School app, download it, and you can see the inverse Bible study guides there as well.

We're looking at the gospel of John different, vignettes.

We're not doing a systematic study because we only have 13 weeks.

We looked at episode 1, chapter 1, the first 5 verses and maybe verse 14 in the after after.

But we are now in John chapter 2, so we wanna really encourage you to get your Bibles out on your electronic or paper forms and study with us.

Heavenly Father, as we open your word, we want to open our hearts.

Those of us here at this table, those that are listening and watching, and we want to know Jesus better.

Thank you for that prayer and that is indeed our sincere desire.

And there are 2 stories in chapter 2, right?

1 on, well, before we actually read, let me ask you this question.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.

Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding, and when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine.

Jesus said to her, woman, what does your concern have to do with me?

His mother said to the servants, Whatever he says to you, do it.

Now there were set there 6 water pots of stone according to the manner of purification of the Jews containing 20 or 30 gallons apiece.

Jesus said to them, fill the water pots with water.

Verse 8, and he said to them, draw some out now and take it to the master of the feast.

When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine and did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom, and he said to him, Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior, you have kept the good wine until now.

This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested his glory and his disciples believed in him.

After this, he went down to Capernaum, he, his mother, and his brothers, and his disciples, and they did not stay there many days.

Okay, so that was a bit of a long passage, but we really believe in the reading of scripture, and in the study of scripture, and in the discussion of scripture, and we wanna really get into the verse, that's why the whole show's called Inverse, so if you don't get that by now, then I don't know where you've been.

So, why this, this is the question that I wanted to ask beginning, is like you're writing a story about Jesus, like you're a biographer, and this is gonna be the debut miracle that you start off.

I mean, it may be the first miracle he has done.

All right, so chronologically, all right.

I mean, when we look at chapter 1, Jesus is introduced to us in a very powerful, philosophical, spiritual way that we already discussed.

And then we didn't talk about that, but he's calling his first disciples.

So he's starting his ministry, he's not known yet, you know, across Israel, and now we are coming to the situation, Jesus is invited, the disciples as well, or some of them anyway.

It's like we start off super high, and then now we're like super low, like we're at a wedding party.

But I think it's almost like life, you know?

Life doesn't always happen the way you plan it.

And you would think, okay, maybe it should be the first miracle, believe Jesus walking on water, or feeding the 5, 000.

He's going to a wedding, which we could unpack that whole thing, the fact that Jesus honors marriage and all these things, but that's another season on that.

But what we see here is, is Jesus is in a situation that he had nothing to do with in terms of responsibilities, taking care of his wedding.

If you go to a wedding, you're a guest, you're expecting catering service, all these things.

She gets it from the beginning essentially because God told her who he's gonna be.

And she's like, hey Jesus, we have this situation, can you do something?

It's almost like an excited mom that's coming across here.

And Jesus is very interesting how he reacts to this and the whole story, the fact that he actually does something even though he's not supposed to, or this is not it.

But John describes to us here this first miracle of Christ.

I believe it was the first public miracle he did.

And the fact that Jesus is willing to engage, even with these mundane situations, that were maybe not on his original agenda.

Chronologically, just so we know, Jesus has just been at the mountain of temptation, right?

Where the devil, you know, those famous 3 temptations, if you're the Son of God, if you're the Son of God, if you're the Son of God.

So he's coming down from that temptation and now he's, you know, he's kind of going into his public life.

What Jonathan was saying, I think it's, it's, it's awesome that Jesus intersects and interacts with humanity.

I think this is actually 1 of the most profound miracles that Jesus ever performed.

Earlier, we talked about the fact that he performed 7 miracles and each of these miracles shows how or why Jesus is God What's what's amazing about this miracle is that it's kind of like it's setting up the foundation for what his work is gonna be He has water.

Okay now This this tempted not temptation this miracle This miracle has always fascinated me right because you have water he and and what he does with the water is kind of profound.

He doesn't add like a powder to it to make it into something else.

Yeah, he doesn't put Kool-Aid in there, for those who know Kool-Aid, right?

He doesn't, yeah, he doesn't add something to it.

03 A Secret Interview

My name is Justin Kim, And whether it's by radio, whether it's by podcast or video or streaming or satellite TV, we're so glad that you decided to join us here on Inverse.

We have Israel and we have Jonathan and we have Joe.

We are studying the book of John, the gospel of John, the fourth gospel in the New Testament.

And so far in the 2 episodes, they've been very, very profound.

And we were just saying off camera that we are experiencing this in live, vivo, real time, in the verse.

And we want you guys to join us in that experience as well.

You can download the Bible study guides there.

You can also go to the Apple and Android platforms and look at Sabbath School and look at the Inverse Bible Study Guides there.

And also, if you wanna look at the past 2 episodes, you can go to hopetv.org slash inverse and look at the last 8 years worth of 32 seasons of Bible studies, but also look at the last 2 weekends, a week, weeks, weeks, episodes on the Gospel of John as well.

All right, we're gonna go to John chapter 3, so you can open your Bibles.

This is the secret interview episode with the dude named Nicodemus.

So let's have prayer in Israel, if you can pray for us.

Our Father in heaven, thank you for today.

Thank you for the privilege that we have to say your word.

As we look at John chapter 3, 1 of the most famous passages in the Bible, we pray that it would continue to impact our lives today and always.

Be with us now, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

And then John, John, if you can read verse 1 onwards there for us.

John 3, verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no 1 can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Jesus answered and said to him, most assuredly I say to you, unless 1 is born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he's old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?

Jesus answered, most assuredly, I say to you, unless 1 is born of water and the Spirit, He cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.

So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said to him, "'How can these things be?' And Jesus answered and said to him, "'Are you the teacher of Israel "'and do not know these things?

"'Most assuredly, I say to you, "'we speak what we know and testify what we have seen, "'and you do not receive our witness.

If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

No 1 has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven, that is the Son of Man who is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, eternal life.

This is the night interview with Nicodemus.

So much going on here, I don't know where to get started.

What are things that you've seen from chapter 1 and chapter 2, episodes 1 and episodes 2, that we see that lead in to chapter 3?

Is there anything, any themes, parallels, lines that you see there?

You guys are looking at me like you guys want to say something.

Yeah, no, I mean, I just spoke, but anyways, It's a good question.

The first thing I noticed is that, yeah, congratulations.

Here, Nicodemus is speaking to Jesus and he's saying, you know, this is the beginning of, well, some time has passed because obviously Jesus' ministry has grown from chapter 2 to chapter 3 and he's more known now.

He's doing things that are not common And he's saying, we are recognizing, he's saying, you're a teacher, you've come from God because no 1 can do this unless God is with him.

So here we see the introduction of John that talks about the word was with God, the word was God.

This truth that Jesus is God, or was at least connected to God, is slowly making its waves through Israel.

People are realizing this man is different, something special about him.

And then of course, in chapter 2, we see that Jesus is performing miracles or the miracle of water, turning water into wine.

And the deeper truths that we kind of extracted from that were that, you know, Jesus is, he provides in our shame, in our fear, in our situations that we are struggling with.

And here Jesus is introducing also to us, redemptive themes as well in this conversation.

So That's kind of a quick answer to your brilliant question.

John 1, 11 says, he came into his own and his own received him not.

And you begin to see this right away in the stories and it's here.

His own is his people who had received the law and the prophets, the Jews, and this Nicodemus was a big deal.

He's a ruler of the Jews And in verse 10, when it calls him the teacher of Israel, that's a correct translation.

In the Greek, it actually uses that definite article.

Not just a teacher in Israel, but the teacher in Israel.

Like if Jesus wanted any endorsements to move forward his PR, public relations, this would be the man he wants his endorsements from.

Now in chapter 2, at the end of the miracle at the wedding, It said his disciples believed.

There's no verse in here that says that Nicodemus believed.

He's uncommitted, and he's analyzing, and he's undecided.

Later he will decide, but right here he's undecided.

And so we begin to see the tension between Jesus and his people right away.

Also by the fact that he came at night because he didn't want to be caught during the day.

04 The City of Sychar

05 Entering into Conflict

Hey everyone, welcome to our special Lumberjack edition of Here at Inverse.

We are here in a love cabin in front of a wooden table and as you can pan out, you can see we're all wearing different earthly colors.

My name's Justin Kim and I'm the host here at Inverse.

And we have 3 guys here talking around a round table about scripture, about Jesus, and about the gospel of John.

We're so glad that you decided to join us.

You can also put on a, I don't know, a lumberjack shirt, a flannel or something and join the conversation with us.

We just kind of wear what we do, and then sometimes we look good, and sometimes we look like, it looks like this, and it's a different look.

Those are only listening, they now will want to watch the episode.

Yeah, hey, so if you want to watch, you can go to hopetv.org slash inverse and you can watch along with us.

Well, you can't watch along with us, you'd be watching us.

But we'd love for you guys to pop over that website and check out the previous episodes, but also check out the current episode as well.

And if you guys are on podcast or radio, we just love your support, and we love any insights that you may have in the Gospel of John.

You can visit our social media sites and through the handle InverseBible, and leave your comments, leave your reactions, leave your, no insults please, by any other conclusions and other analyses you have on the Gospel of John, we can do a group study together online.

We're gonna go to John chapter 5, John chapter 5.

We have been looking at John chapter 1234 in the previous 4 episodes.

If you want to follow along with us, you can go to inversebible.org and download the Bible study guides there.

Joe, if you can lead us to the throne and we'll study the word of God afterwards.

Series

InVerse 4th Quarter 2024: The Gospel of John

10 The Farewell Discourse

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Talking Points, 3rd Quarter 2020: Making Friends for God

05-Spirit-Empowered Witnessing

30m

Transformed

Only by His Spirit

1h 17m

God's Ordained Order

God’s Ordained Order - Part 2

49m

InVerse, 3rd Quarter 2020: Foundations of Discipleship

03-Power of Discipleship - Prayer

27m

InVerse 4th Quarter 2024: The Gospel of John

06 Healing Blind Eyes

29m

InVerse, 4th Quarter 2022: Beyond Death

10 The Spirits of Just Men

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InVerse, 4th Quarter 2023: Adventist Heritage

02 The Sanctuary Message

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Spiritual Gifts

40m

InVerse 2nd Quarter 2025: Back to the Altar

07 True Worshipers

29m

AMEN 2012 Plenary Sessions

Jesus Our Health, Part 3

48m

InVerse, 4th Quarter 2021: Deuteronomy

11 Life or Death

27m

Daniel Vis Weekend

03 Walking with God

44m

Sound Doctrine