From the transcript...

You were asking about John 3:34—the one whom God has sent to represent Him will speak the words of God, because God has poured out upon Him the fullness of the Holy Spirit without limitation. The Father loves His Son so much that He has given all things into His hands. Those who trust in the Son possess eternal life; those who don’t obey the Son will not see life—God’s anger will rise up against them. That’s John 3:36. He gives all things—is that what He’s doing? Yeah. Now O’Brien says that “all things” can be translated as all things, or all authority, or all people—all means all. I wonder if it’s the same phraseology used in John 12 or John 17. I’m thinking about John 12 where He says, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all to Me,” and in John 17 at the very beginning He says the Father has given Him authority over all flesh. So Jesus comes from the Father and He has all power—He is Lord, He has all authority. John 1 talks about Him becoming flesh, and we were talking earlier about everyone being included. What I’m saying is that when Jesus became a man, He inhabited humanity—He gathered up humanity—because Scripture says more than once that He tasted death for every person. This is the purpose of His coming: to save the world. So when I say Jesus became flesh, I’m saying He affected all flesh—every person, humanity as a whole. That’s the incarnation. I’m learning to think about the incarnation not as a single man who came and died to satisfy the wrath of an angry God for me, and if I do something right I can get in on it, but as God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—invading our sinful darkness and lostness and saving us as a man. Because sin entered by a man, life had to come through a man; resurrection had to come through a man. That’s how I’m beginning to understand it better. The significance of the incarnation is that in becoming a man, He related to every person—connected to every person, representative of every person—and every person is included in Him. By “man” I mean mankind, humanity, all of humanity.

[Verse]

Winds howl through the narrow lane

But faith lights up the darkened plain

Mile by mile we bravely ride

With God’s goodness as our guide

[Chorus]

Oh we’re finding our way through this wild life

His love shines brighter than the brightest light

When we stumble and fall he holds our hand

Together we’ll find goodness in this land

[Verse 2]

The road may twist and rivers rise

But hope reflects in open skies

Each struggle paints a sacred hue

Life’s a canvas he’s painting

Too

[Chorus]

Oh we’re finding our way through this wild life

His love shines brighter than the brightest light

When we stumble and fall he holds our hand

Together we’ll find goodness in this land

[Bridge]

Through valleys deep through mountains tall

His voice calls soft above it all

No fear can linger no shadow stay

When his grace leads us day by day

[Chorus]

Oh we’re finding our way through this wild life

His love shines brighter than the brightest light

When we stumble and fall he holds our hand

Together we’ll find goodness in this land

Welcome to Finding Our Way

From the transcript...

Well, I’ve been reading the Gospel of John, looking for the times that Jesus spoke to or spoke of His Father—that’s a good one. And I’ve found in John chapter 8, there’s a lot of it; He talks a lot. It seems like when He talks about the Father, He talks about judgment. I don’t know if it’s as regular as I think it is, but I know it’s there in chapter 8, and I know it’s there in chapter 12—He’s talking about the Father, He’s talking about judgment. But anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing, and I haven’t finished yet. I might be about a third of the way through, just going through and looking at that—reading the Gospel of John, and any time He comes up talking about the Father, making a note of it. I think that’s a good way to read through John, a good emphasis, because when Jesus is talking to His Father or talking about His Father, it gives us insight into the relationship He’s given to us. Because He said, “When you talk to Him, say, ‘Our Father.’” He’s brought us into His family, and as such, we’re part of that relationship—that the relationship He has is the relationship we have. The same love the Father has for Jesus, He has for us. We have been made one, and that’s what He wants us to know: “In that day you will know—I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you.”

When you mentioned John chapter 8, I immediately thought about John chapter 1. I’m going to pull a James Alderman and start with one verse and then go into another—you’re going to be discipled in my ways. I just follow the Lord; the Holy Spirit brings something to mind and I go with it. In the opening chapter of John, verse 18, it says, “Nobody has ever seen God. The only begotten God, who is intimately close to the Father, has brought Him to life.” That’s the N. T. Wright translation. He’s starting the whole book off with this idea. And in the Passion Translation it says, “No one has ever before gazed upon the full splendor of God except His uniquely beloved Son, who is cherished by the Father and held close to His heart. Now that He has come to us, He has unfolded the full explanation of who God truly is.” That’s pretty good—really good. God is a Spirit, no one has seen Him, but Jesus, God the Son, has come and unfolded Him, revealed Him.

From the transcript...

But the first thing is, you’re talking about how He sees us in Christ. The reality is that we were created in Christ. That’s right—because in Him was life, and that life is the light of men. John’s right. So there was something created in Christ; there’s this creation—God creating something. It’s in Him and through Him and by Him that the Word created all that is. So that’s where we got started. Another scripture that came to mind is that one—I forget exactly where it is—but it talks about, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” Now you know how we grew up on that, but what I’m understanding is that God created Adam in His own image and likeness, and that wasn’t and never could be altered. How are you going to take a child of God and make him a child of the devil? Well, they told me that’s what happened when Adam sinned—I understand—but can a leopard change his spots? So that’s another scripture that comes through. And then there’s this other one that’s very familiar, no surprise about it, but you’re talking about how He sees us. This is my understanding—what I’m beginning to see about this wonderful gospel, this gospel of God that is good news—that from before time, God planned this in Christ, and it included you and me. We were associated in Christ. That’s what I want to read about right here. Paul says, “Dear friends, my name is Paul, and I was chosen by God to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah. I’m writing this letter to all the devoted believers who have been made holy by being one with Jesus, the Anointed One.” So that’s the question—how do you become one? “May God Himself, the Heavenly Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, release grace over you and impart total well-being into your life.” That’s what we were talking about earlier—that kingdom of God that’s available.

From the transcript...

So we were looking at, or talking about, how we’re coming to see God differently. And in understanding who He is, we realize He sees us differently than what we thought. Yeah—how He sees us is different than I used to think how He saw us. Exactly. He hasn’t changed His mind; it’s our perspective that has changed. Because under that penal substitutionary thought process, the idea is that He’s angry, Jesus is running interference, and He sees me “in Christ,” meaning He really doesn’t like me, but as long as I’m hidden here I can get near Him. That’s another scripture that comes to mind when you say that. The whole idea is that in that law-based, legal transaction, it’s like He marks out our sins and gives us a legal righteousness—and for years, that was my understanding of justification. And then I realized, no, that’s not it. It’s not limited to a legal transaction on a piece-of-paper concept, but He’s made me right with Himself in the entirety of my being. Who I am has been made like Him—that it’s the same love He has for Jesus that He has for me. That I can sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and rest, because I belong there because of how He made me and how Christ has redeemed me. That through this good news, this is the life that’s available now and forever—we’ve been brought into that triune dance.

From the transcript...

He’s just saying something about the love of God. No, but maybe we don’t want to look at that. That’s right—look, it’s something about holiness and justice, the wrath. Oh yeah, vengeance is mine, said the Lord. Let’s see here, Romans 1:1—what’s that say? I’m not sure, I thought you had a Bible. Passions, yes. Just verse one? Yeah, for right now, I might have to get to verse two. Paul, a loving and loyal servant of the Anointed One, Jesus—he called me to be his apostle and set me apart with a mission: to reveal God’s wonderful gospel. Okay, that’s it. Is that the end of the verse? I can’t tell you. No, it’s not—hang on. I write to all his beloved chosen ones in Rome. May his joyous grace and total well-being, flowing from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, rest upon you. Son, that’s good. Yeah. All right, now he translates that to God’s gospel—is that how he said that? Yeah. You want me to read the New King James? Well, that’s God’s wonderful gospel—the gospel of God. I think New King James has “the gospel of God.” Speed limit, speed limit—I don’t know if that’s a motorcycle cop or not. You’re good now. No, but I need to slow down anyway. It’s cool, huh? Yeah, 20 miles here. Yeah. It’s the gospel of God, which is the good news of God. Yes. Okay, and sometimes I think that gets missed when we hear the word gospel—that it’s good news about a lot of things, but it’s primarily the good news of God, of who he is. Because when you see who he is, everything else gets taken care of. That’s right, that’s right. The good news of God comes with threats? No, it doesn’t—that’s just it. We thought it was good news because we were getting saved from threats, but that’s not true: you’re going to love me or else. That’s right—it’s the fire, eternal fire. But when you begin to, through Jesus…

From the transcript...

There’s no more. The in and out and us and them is gone. Yes. You know, you think about what you were talking about—being in Him and incarnation and all that. Listen to this verse. It says,

Through His creative inspiration, this living expression made all things. For nothing has existence apart from Him. A fountain of life was in Him, for His life is light for all humanity.

But Jesus, the God-man that walked the planet, is the same one that spoke and brought it into existence. And in Him it is held together. And in Him, we have existed. There is nothing separated from Him. There’s nothing apart from Him.

Can you imagine? You see Jesus, this man walking the shores of Galilee, and He’s holding everything together. That’s what it says. That’s what it says. He’s got it all. And so the One through whom the Father created the world became a man, and now He’s recreating it. Yes. A new humanity,