See His Glory | Manger & Majesty | Pastor Jurie Kriel | Shoreline Church | Message

I am loved by God. I cannot earn it. I cannot lose it. I'm forgiven and made brand new. In Christ I live. With passion and purpose. I am empowered by the Spirit. To be the church in the world. And to live this love revolution. There we go, good morning everybody. I didn't hear you for the creed there, I feel like you missed your moment, but it's great to have you guys here today. It's fantastic to welcome some people that typically come at 9.30 in the morning. Welcome to the 11.30 service. It's great to have you guys with us as well all together. And a special word of welcome to those of you that are online today. It is so great to have you guys with us as well. Now like you guys know, Pastor Rob's been taking us through this journey through John chapter 1 verse 14, where we've been speaking this Christmas season around the idea of the manger and the majesty of Jesus. And today I have the privilege to continue on that conversation that he started out from John chapter 1 verse 14, and I want to invite you to just listen to these words. And maybe as I do, I want you to think back over the weeks, the last couple of weeks together as we've been journeying through this word together. This is what it says. It says, and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Pastor Rob's been taking these words bit by bit and taking us through it. But then John ends with this phrase, he says, and we beheld his glory.

And that is what I want to zoom into today as we're together here. What does it mean to behold his glory? What does it mean to see the glory of God in our lives? We find ourselves at this unique Sunday, right? We're between Christmas and New Year's. It's this in-between moment in the year. It's this in-between Sunday, and I believe God wants to show us something that doesn't just relate to what was, and it doesn't just relate to what is to come, but it actually relates to today in a very unique way as well. And to help me communicate that, I brought together this little plastic tube, okay? So you might have seen one of these before. This is called a glow stick, okay? So a glow stick is basically a plastic tube with some chemicals in there. I'm not going to try and pronounce their names. But then there's certain glass veils inside of this plastic, and it separates the different chemicals from one another so that when you bend it, it makes a little clicking sound. And that clicking sound is actually pieces of glass breaking on the inside that mixes the chemicals and the glow stick starts to glow, okay? Now, in a moment, we're going to hand out some glow sticks, okay? They're primarily for the kids, but the adults can have them too. There's enough for everyone. But before they hand them out, here's the thing. You're not allowed to break them before I say so, okay? So where's the kids? Can I see all the kids? Kids, wave at me. You're my policemen for the next couple of moments, okay? You need to police the adults. No one is allowed to break the glue. It's not very dark.

It's not very bright in here. Everybody's going to see if yours is broken. It's going to shine a bright light. So you've got to wait until I say, okay, say, wait until he says, kids, do you have my back? Hand up if you've got my back. If you'll look and just make sure the adults understand, okay, you've got this, okay. Ashes, you're welcome to hand out the glow sticks, and I don't want to hear any clicking, okay? No breaking of the veil until I say so, okay? You ready? But I want you to hold on to it because it's actually going to be a part of the communication today, kids. It's going to be how we're going to understand this word today. So what does a glow stick have to do with the glory of the Lord? You're about to find out, okay? Some of the adults might actually understand the message too today. It's amazing, okay? So we'll get there. We'll make a way. way through as we go. Okay, so feel free to grab one, adults can grab one, kids can grab one, just don't bend it. If you bend it, it'll break and it'll be bright shining before it's supposed to and everybody will see it shining. Okay, so John chapter one and verse 14, let's go back there. It says, and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory. It's interesting, if you look at the original word here for beheld, the word for beheld here actually

is a Greek word that theomai and theomai refers to not just beholding something at a glance, it's not just seeing something by the by, it's not like scrolling through Instagram and you're scrolling through one thing to the next thing to the next thing or watching reels or when you're watching TikTok and you're just flipping through the different things, this behold, we beheld his glory, isn't that. It isn't seeing something at a glance, it's actually gazing at something, it's actually being drawn into something. The difference between seeing and beholding, the difference between just seeing something at a glance and beholding is the difference between seeing a picture of a sunset and just scrolling to the next thing and being there while the sunset is taking place and the sky above you is lit up like it's on fire and all around you, you can see the environment and experience it. When John is writing, he says, and we beheld his glory, he's not writing about just something that you glanced at or something that you saw for a fleeting moment, no, the word he uses here is we gazed at, we were mesmerized by, we were pulled into his glory. See, we get to not just know of God's glory, we get to truly experience the glory of God, we get to behold it. And this is my prayer for our time together this morning, may God take your perspective of 2028

and may he transform it, may he show you what you haven't seen in this last year, may he come and show you the glory that God has prepared for you. Did I say 2028? I see people are like, that is not right, I skipped a couple of years here, this is the twilight zone. I'm sorry, I don't know where 2028 comes from, it was 2025 that's just passed and we're heading into 2026, so if you felt you just lost three years, you're okay, okay? I just saw the tension in the room and everybody's like, what did he say 2028, does he not know what date it is? I'm sorry, 2025, this is what I'm trusting God for, as I'm not praying for 2028 just yet, okay? But I'm trusting God that as you look back at 2025 that just finished, that you will see the hand of the Lord in every bit of it. And I'm trusting God that as you look forward at 2026, that hope would arise in your heart for what God is about to do and what he will do in 2028, amen, amen, okay, I'm glad you're listening. What we're gonna do is we're gonna actually look back at what was the glory that was hidden, we're gonna look at what is the glory that is inside of us and we're gonna look forward at the glory that is to come. See, this glow stick, don't break it yet, represents potential, everything it needs in order for it to glow is inside of it. But if I didn't tell you that this was a glow stick

and I just came here with a piece of plastic today, you would just think that it was a plain piece of plastic because although everything that is necessary for it to glow is on the inside, it doesn't glow until something happens for it to glow, the potential, the ability is in there. And sometimes even though God's glory is there, God's glory is hidden from us and we can't see it. Sometimes when we look back at the year that was passed, God was with us, but we don't know that he was with us. And sometimes we find ourselves in places in our lives where it just doesn't feel like God is with us. We remember a time when God was with us, we're hopeful that God will be with us, but right now we find ourselves in between. And then I think of 2025, I feel a little bit in. Between, you know those in between moments, that moment where you're in between one thing and the next thing, Christmas is over, New Year's is not just quite yet happened, right? You're in between one season of your life and you're not quite yet at the next season of your life. You're in between finishing one thing and you're about to head into something else, but right now you're in between. You're not there anymore, but you're not quite there yet. And sometimes we forget how hard these in between seasons can be. And these in between seasons, it feels like God isn't there. We read the Bible stories and we know the end,

so we don't feel the tension, right? That moment of tension as they lower Daniel into the lion's den and his feet hits the ground and it's dark all around him and he hears the lions, he doesn't know that God had closed their mouths. Daniel was in between. He didn't know that God was about to save him, but he was finding himself in the moment in between. Joseph in the prison is in between. He doesn't know that God's gonna make him second in command of all of Egypt, but all he knows is that he used to be in his father's house he had a great cloak and his father loved him and now he's in prison, he's in between. We know the end of the story, he didn't. I wanna tell you God knows the end of your story even if you don't. I wanna tell you when you find yourself in between, when you find yourself between one glory and the next glory, the Lord has not forgotten about you. And when you look back at the year 2025, may you remember that even when it doesn't feel like God is there, God is there. There's this story in Luke chapter 24 where a couple of Jesus's disciples is on their way from Jerusalem to Emmaus. And Emmaus is a little town about 11 miles from Jerusalem. So they're taking this journey on foot and these guys are walking. It's the timing of the story is just after

the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus, but they don't quite know that he's risen yet. They've heard rumors of it, but they don't know it for a fact, they haven't seen him. So these guys are walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus and as they're walking, somebody starts walking with them and they don't recognize him. So this guy walking with them, they start telling him the story. So they ask him if he knows and Jesus, who's the guy that joined them to walk with them says, no, I've got no, tell me about it. So they start telling him about Jesus and how he died and how there was this rumor that he rose again, but they didn't quite know if it was the case. And they're telling Jesus the story while he's walking with them, no idea that it's Jesus. They eventually arrive at Emmaus and when they arrive at Emmaus, they invite him to have a meal with them. And then there's this moment where Jesus breaks the bread for them to eat together, where God opens their eyes and they realize that Jesus was with them on the road and they say to one another, didn't our hearts burn within us when he spoke? Didn't we know in our hearts that it was Jesus that was there with us? But here's the lesson is these guys were in between Jerusalem and Emmaus. They were in between the season that was

and the season that was to come. And they didn't feel like Jesus was with them, but Jesus was with them. And when we're in between, Jesus is with us. There is glory in the here past. There is glory in your moment right now that you're just not seeing yet. May God open our eyes for us to see it. May we not get stuck at looking at the ingredients in our lives and saying, this is dull, this isn't bright. May we remember that God is in it even when we don't see it. Amen. As we look back, we don't just look back, but we also look inside of us. This moment of in between Christmas season and the new year's season as a way of doing it for me, that it brings me to this place where I'm wondering about my years and where life is going and what's up next. And you find yourself in these in between moments wondering about what's next and what is God up to with your life. And I believe that it's in these moments that we need to remember some of the things that we've been speaking about. these last couple of weeks. And Pastor Rob actually spoke about this as we went through John 1, verse 14. And he said, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Now, I don't know if you remember this

and if you missed this a couple of weeks ago when Pastor Rob spoke about this, make sure to go and watch the recording. If you're joining us online, just go to YouTube and watch that message. It's an incredible message where Pastor Rob spoke about what it meant for Christ to come and dwell amongst us. But I was inspired by what he shared and I went to dig in a little deeper. And it's interesting as you look at this concept of Christ dwelling amongst us, the original Greek word used here for dwelling amongst is actually the word that the scripture literally says in the original language that it was written. And the word became flesh and Christ made His tent, made His camp amongst us, right? So He tented amongst us, He created a space to stay amongst us. So He dwelt amongst us, but the word is the word that is used for pitching a tent or actually creating your camp in a particular place. So He came to create His tent amongst us. Now it's interesting because if you look at the Old Testament, it's actually a reference back to something called the tabernacle. And the tabernacle was the tent of meeting. It was the tent where God brought His presence to earth. It was the address of God amongst the Israelites was this place called the tabernacle

that would later become the temple. But it was this place where God would dwell. And there was this holy of holies where the presence of God was, the holy place where the priests could bring sacrifices and offerings and consult God. And then there was the outer court where people could come to sacrifice on a regular basis. But it's interesting in Exodus chapter 25, verse eight, it says that have them make a sanctuary for me. This is God instructing Moses around the construction of the tabernacle. And He says, I will dwell among them. So already in Moses' time in the book of Exodus, it's actually prophesying. It's actually speaking of, it's actually creating this idea of God wants to dwell amongst us, right? And He creates this tabernacle and He says the tabernacle will be the place where God will dwell amongst us. He will be between us. He will come there. But it was just one place. It was one place where God dwelt in the holy of holies of the tabernacle. And then John writes later, and John says the word became flesh and the word came to dwell amongst us, right? He came to make His home amongst us.

So this is the fulfillment of what the tabernacle was. But this holy of holies was the space within the tabernacle was this part in the middle of this tent where the presence of God was physically at. It was this holy place. There was no artificial light inside. It was lit by the very presence of God. They had the Ark of the Covenant in there and the presence of God lit up the room of the holy of holies, the place where God dwelt, where God Himself provided the light was the holy of holies in the tabernacle. So John writes later and he says, and the word became flesh and He dwelt amongst us. He set up tabernacle amongst us. The light, the glory of God came to be in our midst. At Jesus's day, the tabernacle was replaced by the temple. It was Solomon's temple and then it was Hezekiah's temple. And then in Jesus's day, King Herod built a temple unto the Lord. But what was interesting about this temple is it was bigger than the previous temples. It was a huge temple, right? And they built it according to the same pattern. But by this time, the tabernacle or the presence of God was lost to the Israelites. About 400 years before the tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant was lost and the Israelites had a temple,

but there was nothing in the holy of holies. So when they built the holy of holies, they wanted to build a grand space for the presence of God, but there was no presence of God in there, right? But they built this incredible holy of holies space. It was a 60 foot high curtain, right, that they had. So 60 feet is about the height of the ceiling. If you're online, unless you have a really, really big house, you don't have a 60 foot ceiling. So just imagine with us for a moment, but it's a 60 foot high, 30 foot wide and four inches thick curtain. that they hung between the Holy of Holies and the holy place, right? Because they were covering up the space of the presence of God is on the other side of it. We call it a veil, but I want to tell you a veil in my mind is a thin little thing that you can see through, right? This was four inches of material, 60 feet high, 30 feet wide, single piece, no breaks in it. This whole thing hung there. It took them years upon years upon years to hang it and it actually took 300 people to pull it up and to get it in place between the Holy of Holies and the holy place where they said, this is the space where the presence of God is contained. The presence of God was supposed to be contained in that one space because through the years,

the tabernacle contained the presence of God. But I want to tell you something about God. God is never contained to be contained. God is contained to be revealed. So when God is contained, God is never contained to stay contained, but God is contained in order to be revealed because God is not hidden from us. He's hidden for us. So when we're seeking the Lord, we're not seeking God as if God is trying to get away from us. We're seeking a God that wants to reveal Himself to us. Amen. And so when Jesus came and He dwelt among us, the presence of God, the glory of God wasn't in the tabernacle, the glory of God, the Word became flesh and the flesh dwelt amongst us. He tabernacled amongst us. He carried with Him the glory and the light and the presence of God. And when His body was broken for us, something happened to the veil or that four inch thick curtain. It was torn from the top to the bottom, not from the bottom to the top as if man made its way to God. No, no, from the top to the bottom because God was making His way to us and God was revealing His glory through His Son. Jeremiah, can I have the lights for a moment? Do you wanna grab your glow stick with me?

God's glory moved from being far away in some temple somewhere and some holy of holies and then moved from being hidden away. His glory is no longer hidden somewhere, but when Christ died and when Christ's body was broken for us, the temple, the curtain, the veil dividing the holy of holies to the outside world, that veil was torn and Jesus's body was broken so that the glory of God no longer remains hidden, but the glory of God is now revealed in and through us. And what happens is the glory and the light of God has come and He wants to reveal His glory inside of you. And that glory that was hidden is now a glory that is revealed. And no longer are we living in darkness. No longer are we feeling around for God, says the book of Acts, like somebody touching around in the dark, but we get to know God in His glory. When John writes, he says, He dwelt amongst us and we beheld His glory. We get to behold His glory. And as you're holding up that glow stick, this is my prophecy over your next year. Okay, not 28, 26. I'm prophesying over 2026 that you will take the glory of the Lord with you. Why? Because the glory of the Lord dwells inside of you.

1 Corinthians 6 verse 19 says, we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We are the dwelling place of God on earth. And as you go from this year to the next year, you carry His glory with you because His glory is inside of you. And that little glass veil that kept the chemicals apart, He tore the veil. He broke the distance between you and God. And now He dwells in you. Amen. Amen. Amen. I love the Bible. And in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 19, that verse I just quoted, it says, do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit? Right? So I'm in such a profound statement. Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It's interesting that the word used by Paul here for temple, of all the different words he could use, he doesn't use the word temple. He doesn't use the general word for the temple complex. He uses this specific word for the Holy of Holies. He's saying that you now are the address of God on planet earth. You are the dwelling place of the Most High.

When John says that we beheld His glory, he had you in mind. Because people are gonna behold the glory of God because they know you and inside of you lives the presence of God. You are the modern day tabernacle. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit on earth. And when people encounter you, they get to encounter Him. You are the carrier of the light. And as we look forward to next years, we look forward to 2026, we get to carry His light with us. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18 says, but we all with unveiled face, we all with unveiled face, no curtain anymore, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. So I don't know if you've seen the glory of the Lord in your 2025, but I know this, you get to see the glory of the Lord in 2026 and in 2027 and in 2028, you get to carry with you God's glory from glory to glory. And as you behold His glory, you become more like His glory and you live out more of His glory. And then you see who He is and you get to live it out. You get to do it on a day to day basis as you go. So may our expectation of the year that lies ahead of us be raised to a God level expectation.

We're kicking off the year with a series called when less is more. And Pastor Rob's gonna be sharing next week when we go back to 9.30 and 11.30, our normal service times, you're gonna have an opportunity to experience some of those moments of what it means to strip away the things that you're beholding, the many other things you might be beholding and just focusing in on God and seeing His glory and living His glory. Make a commitment right now to not miss an opportunity to see Him and to live Him in 2026. When we look back, we sometimes miss His glory because sometimes it feels like His glory was hidden. When we look inside, we see that there is a glory retained, which is a glory that's supposed to be revealed. And when we look forward, we see that we get to live from glory to glory. We get to carry the presence of God and live in the light. So John, in John 1, verse 14, as we together as a congregation closes weeks of meditating on this idea of John 1, verse 14, my prayer is that this verse will more and more become more and more real in your life. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. When John is writing this, history tells us that John was about 90 years old. He outlived every other apostle.

So as John is writing down the gospel of John, he's somewhere in his 90s thinking back of his life and he's outlived Peter, he's outlived Paul. He looks back at all this life that he's lived and he said, we beheld His glory. And man, I could just imagine how as Paul is writing these words or dictating it to a scribe, however it was written, as John is writing these words, as he's dictating to a scribe, as he's thinking through this, I can just imagine how John must have thought back of all the years, maybe he was thinking back of the, The time with Jesus, the moments on the lake, or the breakfast on the beach, or maybe he was thinking back of some of the healings and the incredible things Jesus did, or the moments on the cross and the days preceding the cross. We beheld His glory, we gazed at it, we saw it. But I'm pretty sure that John wasn't just writing about what he saw when Jesus was around, because John is writing at the end of his life. And John isn't like those guys that were on their way to Emmaus from Jerusalem to Jemaias. John isn't in the in-between right now, he's looking back at his life. And John is saying, throughout my entire life, we've beheld His glory,

because John was a carrier of the glory of God. He didn't just know about what Jesus did, no, John lived it, he beheld it, he experienced it, God activated in him, the Holy Spirit lived in him, and I'm sure John prayed for some sick people that were healed, and he shared the gospel with people and saw their lives changed, and he helped plant some churches, and he did some things through his life where he loved on people, and he cared for people, and he showed up in people's lives when they were in need, and he loved them, and he saw the transformation of the gospel happen through his life. So when John's writing at the end of his life, and he says, we beheld His glory, I'm sure John was thinking of some people that he saw it in, I'm sure he was recognizing, I saw His glory when so-and-so experienced the love of Christ, and I saw His glory when I showed up for somebody that was hungry, and I cried with somebody that was crying, and I served somebody that was in need, and John is looking back at his life, and he's saying, the Word became flesh, and it dwelt amongst us, and I beheld His glory. May it be a year from now, maybe three years from now, maybe when we're all in our 90s, may it be one day that we could look back

and say, we beheld His glory. Lord, I pray. Father, I pray for people that are finding themselves in between. God, I pray for people that are living their lives, and maybe they're on the road to MS, they're between one place and another, between one season and another, and right now it doesn't feel like you're close by. Lord, I pray that this day will be the day that their eyes will open, whether online or in this room. Lord, my prayer is that there will be an opening of their eyes, and they will see Your glory. Lord, I pray for an activation. Lord, I pray for hearts to be activated. Father, people that have lost hope in their ability to display the glory of God, Lord, I pray that they will recognize and realize today that they are the address of the living God on planet Earth, Lord, and You will activate them, Father, even as these glow sticks were activated in our midst. Lord, I pray for an activation in their hearts. Lord, I pray that, Lord, not only will You activate us, but God, I pray that our looking forward, Father, we will remember that our lives will go from glory to glory, because just like You've been present in our past, and You're present in our present, God, You will be present in our future.

And Lord, I pray that our expectation of the year 2026 will be sky high because our expectation is not in ourselves, but our expectations are in You. Lord, I pray that we would see Your glory, Lord, and not just see it, but gaze at it in a way that it'll transform us, and we'll go from glory to glory. But I also wanna make a moment this morning. If you're maybe here, and you've come to church today, and you know there's distance between you and God, you're just not feeling as if your relationship with God is in the right place, and maybe you've heard me preach about His glory coming, and God making His home. with you, but you don't feel as if God's made His home with you and as if your sin is standing in the way between you and God. I wanna tell you, Jesus Christ has dealt with your sin. All you need to do is to agree with Him and accept what He has done on the cross for God to come and make His home with you today. So if that's you, if you need to respond to His invitation to live with Him and for Him to come and live with you, I wanna invite you right there where you are with every head bowed and every eye closed in this room, just to put your hand up high in the air. Whether you're doing this for the very first time or as a reaffirmation of your faith, if you need to make, say yes to the Lord, I wanna invite you to just put your hand up.

I see hands going up all over. Is there anybody else today that needs to agree? I see you. I see you guys. I see you. There we go. Can we pray together all aloud and at once? Let's repeat this, whether we're reaffirming what we believe or we're praying this for the very first time. Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. Thank You that I am forgiven and made brand new. Lord, I will live for You from this day on forevermore. Amen, amen. Amen. Amen. What a wonderful message. Thank you, Pastor Uri. Yes. I'm gonna close this out with a really, really special blessing this morning. So I wanna ask you to just stick with me for a minute. If you raised your hand in this room today, or maybe if you joined us for Christmas Eve service and you made that decision to give your life to God or to maybe resurrender after a long time, and you're ready to come back to make that decision and have a conversation, we have a gift for you, a Bible, and we'd love to have a conversation with you

about how to take those very, very important next steps. Pastor Oscar is standing right on that side and he's holding this great sign. It says, made brand new this way. Do you see him? Right there. So if you raised your hand and you're willing to do that, you can stand with me right now and you can walk right over there to Pastor Oscar and they're ready to have a wonderful conversation with you if you raised your hand this morning or even at Christmas Eve. And now I just wanna quickly remind you of a couple of things coming up here at Shoreline. I'm gonna ask the prayer partners to come down right now. If you have anything or anyone that you would like to bring before the Lord this morning, we have this glorious prayer team. They are phenomenal. And let me tell you, anything that you bring to them is gonna be sorted out, sorted out immediately. So come forward if you have prayer today, we'd love to partner with you with whatever it is that you want to bring before the Lord. And then we have an opportunity today for everyone that would like to volunteer. If you've been dreaming for all your life that you've always thought, I wish I could be on the Shoreline staff team,

today is your chance. We're gonna take down all the Christmas decorations in our lobby together right after the service today. And there might be pizza involved as a reward to those of you who'd like to join us. Come meet Mikhail out in the lobby today. We've got everything organized for you to join us as we undick the halls, ha, ha, ha. All right, now the very, very special blessing. Make sure that you invite someone back next week because let me tell you what happened in the room today really shifted the atmosphere, didn't it? God is up to something brand new at Shoreline this year. Can you feel it? So receive this blessing as I pray this blessing over us today. Lord, I pray that we will see your glory. I pray that we will carry your glory. And I pray God that we will know that your glory will be revealed to us, through us. And in a phenomenal 2026, all the glory will be unto you forever and ever, amen. Amen, God bless you, see you again soon. Love you guys, goodbye. ♪ Your presence is my hope, I'm living in you ♪