Youtube Chapters

• [27:14] - What Advent Means and Why We Slow Down
• [30:35] - The Incarnation: Son of Heaven Focus
• [31:14] - John’s Prologue as Overture
• [33:12] - The Word’s Eternal Preexistence
• [40:35] - With God and Was God—Trinity
• [45:19] - Council of Nicaea and Nicene Faith
• [46:10] - Modern Arianism: Jehovah’s Witnesses
• [49:56] - Plugging Into the Power Source
• [54:52] - Life and Light That Overcomes

Sermon Big Idea:

Jesus, the preexistent Word, is our unchanging source of hope in a changing world.

Sermon Overview:

Advent invites us to slow down in a noisy, hurried season and recover and rediscover the wonder of Christ’s coming. This year, Pastor Jason will slowly teach through John 1:1-18, the prologue, which is a highly designed, artistic poem, offering a rich “theology of Christmas.” One goal is to help us ponder the mystery of Jesus’ origin before Bethlehem—the Word who is both with God and is God. John reaches back past the manger, past creation itself, to show us the eternal Son. By calling Jesus the Word (logos), John speaks to both Greek longings for the rational order behind the cosmos and Israel’s story of God’s powerful, creative speech. He immerses us in the mystery of the Trinity: one God, and yet the Word is personally with God and fully God. That truth has always stretched minds—and in history, it sparked heresies like Arianism. The church answered at Nicaea, confessing what Scripture already taught: the Son is of the same essence as the Father. That matters, because only One who is truly God can truly save.

John also says all things were made through the Word. Creation is not self-sustaining; it lives because he wills it, moment by moment. Think of a citywide blackout: it’s not that lamps and appliances cease to exist—they just have no power. Our lives dim in similar ways when we disconnect from Christ’s life-giving presence. And unlike popular spiritualities that blur the line between Creator and creation, the Word remains distinct, sovereign over what he made. That’s good news when our personal worlds feel out of control.

Finally, John names Jesus as life and light. Light sustains life—without it, photosynthesis stops, and ecosystems collapse. Spiritually, Jesus brings the light that reveals and heals, and the darkness cannot overcome it. Our world often copes with mortality by acceptance meditations and “enjoy it while it lasts” counsel. But Jesus does more than help us face death; he conquered it, offering abundant life now and eternal life to come. Advent calls us to abide in him—the inexhaustible source—and to carry his light into a darkened world with humility, courage, and hope.