Scripture referenced 3 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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John 14 the entire chapter read aloud as the main text for the evening
1 “Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.
3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
4 Where I go, you know, and you know the way.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, ‘Show us the Father?’
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12 Most certainly I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father.
13 Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.
15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
16 I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,—
17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also.
20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are about to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
24 He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
25 I have said these things to you, while still living with you.
26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will remind you of all that I said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful.
28 You heard how I told you, ‘I go away, and I come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I said ‘I am going to my Father;’ for the Father is greater than I.
29 Now I have told you before it happens so that, when it happens, you may believe.
30 I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Keep this verse
John 3:16
quoted to support that Jesus is wide enough for the whole world, God so loved the world he gave his only son
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
1 Peter 5:8
referenced when discussing the adversary, your adversary the devil
8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
World English Bible · Read it in another translation
Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray walked the Monday night group through John 14, a chapter where Jesus offers his disciples comfort and hope in the middle of rising political and religious tension, just before his arrest. The evening combined a short teaching with an open conversation, and the group's reflections on grief, peace, the Holy Spirit, and obedience shaped the discussion as much as the prepared remarks did.
What was said
Jesus speaks John 14 into a moment of real crisis. Judas has already slipped out to betray him, his disciples are about to scatter, and arrest is hours away. Pastor Ray pointed out that Jesus does not wait for the storm to pass before offering comfort. He speaks directly into the tension: "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust also in me."
The promise of rooms in the Father's house came up as a promise about eternal life, but Pastor Ray was honest that he holds more questions than answers about what heaven actually looks like. What he was certain of is that Jesus will be there, and that is enough reason to want to go. The comfort is not in the details of the destination but in the person who will be there.
Thomas's blunt admission that the disciples did not know where Jesus was going or how to get there opened the door to the "I am the way, the truth, and the life" statement. Pastor Ray acknowledged that this teaching is both deeply comforting and genuinely difficult. His answer to why there is only one way was simple: God made that way, and it goes through Jesus. The point he kept returning to was that Jesus is wide enough for the whole world, and that John's gospel is fundamentally a gospel of belief, not of religious performance.
The Holy Spirit received sustained attention. Drawing from verses 17 and 26, Pastor Ray described the Spirit's role as leading into all truth, teaching, and reminding the disciples of everything Jesus said, which amounts to having Jesus present all the time, only now living inside rather than walking alongside. The result Jesus promises is a peace of mind and heart that the world cannot manufacture. That peace, Pastor Ray stressed, does not arrive after the trials are over. It operates inside them.
The pattern Pastor Ray noticed running through the chapter was belief leading to love, and love leading to obedience. He was careful to separate this from a performance mindset, noting that Jesus saying "if you love me, obey my commandments" is not a checklist but a description of what happens when God is genuinely living in someone. One person in the group reinforced this, saying that when the Holy Spirit is the advocate, condemnation is not the voice you are hearing, and if condemnation is what you feel, that is the adversary, not God.
The conversation the group shared was woven through everything. One person spoke about losing a father-in-law and how John 14 became the passage he returned to for comfort during that grief. Another noted that Jesus models obedience at the very moment he is walking toward his own death, so the peace he offers is clearly not about physical safety. A third reflected on how the chapter is saturated with the Trinity, the Father sending the Son, the Son asking the Father to send the Spirit, all of it pointing to a God who refuses to leave people without presence and advocacy.
Pastor Ray closed where he started, with the conviction that runs through the whole chapter: God is with us. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. The peace Jesus leaves is not fragile or conditional. It stays. It was there with the disciples in their darkest hours, and it is available now in whatever hard spot someone in the room might be sitting in tonight.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Jesus says 'Don't let your hearts be troubled' at a moment when everything around the disciples was falling apart politically and religiously. When has it been hardest for you to actually trust that, and what helped you hold on to it?
- Pastor Ray described heaven mainly by saying 'Jesus will be there, and that's why it will be wonderful.' What does it mean to you personally that Jesus wants you to be where he is?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,281 words
We're so sweet. We're gonna start with whatever comes up on that screen. How's that sound? The second song. The second one.
It's called the second. God rest you. Yep. Hello, everybody. How are you?
Great. Good to see you tonight. And welcome to Monday nights. Welcome. Can we give Felix and Guadalupe a hand for making dinner tonight?
Thank you so much. They say we've had enough of you. We're closing the doors now. Goodbye. Good luck with your life.
But, really, welcome. Glad you're here. Glad to have you. So we've been going through the book of John on Monday night. So that's where we're at.
You can jump in anytime in John. That's what's beautiful about it. But if you wanted to mark your mark your spot, John 14, the whole chapter is what we're covering tonight. And I'll usually share just a little bit, but then I've opened it up to a conversation and the conversations have been just wonderful. I've so valued your input as we're studying John.
So that being said, we're not there yet, but I would like to, sing first. Cool. So shall we stand together and sing? Actually, couple of announcements. Let me just share a couple of things that are going on.
The these two right here. If you haven't met Jesse and Teresa, they had started dating, and they're engaged. And they just wanted us to they they wanted to share that. And I think that's a beautiful thing. And we we wanna mention those things because they're wonderful.
Chili cook off in Caroling is next Sunday already.
Yep.
So it is a it's a blast.
It's fun.
If you wanna break a bring a chili, please do that. If you wanna just show up, please do that. But start at 04:30 and then go on from there. So know that you're invited to that. And then every this is a busy month if you haven't noticed.
But on the nineteenth, there's a Christmas program. Monday, we have Monday nights again on the twentieth. That's that is such a great idea. Take a picture. Take a screenshot.
The candlelight service. So Christmas Eve candlelight service, 04:30 and 06:00. We'd love to have you there. And so that's all I got. Any any other announcements?
Am I missing anything? Is this online, Carl? These are all online. Yep. Yep.
Yep. Monday nights are. Sunday mornings are. Thanks to.
Well, I was gonna say speaking of online, we have our gospel conversations tonight. So we have this wireless microphone for the people that are joining us online. Yes. So if you feel like you wanna share tonight in the conversation, please don't be shy when I stick this in your face.
Yeah. Don't be intimidated by a microphone.
Yep.
It's just so that the people that are watching from home and online can can watch. Yes?
I did the list of
these Yes.
It's online too.
Oh, yes. Sorry, Monique. Yes.
Yep.
Yes. Everything is online. Yep. So let's stand, and we'll sing together. God, as we sing that song, tonight we're gonna hear in your word when you say, don't let your hearts be troubled and Do not be afraid.
You say it so often in scripture. Do not be afraid. God, that we wouldn't because we are leaning in. We are pressing in toward you. In Jesus' name.
And this is a prophecy from from Isaiah saying just that, that he shall be called, speaking of Jesus, wonderful counselor. Oh, counselor. Couldn't we all use a counselor sometimes? A wonderful counselor. Everlasting father.
He is forever. He is eternal. He goes on and on and on, and that is what he's offers us, eternal life. Prince of peace. Who needs peace these days?
All of us do. This is what Jesus offers, and he shall reign forevermore. You can have a seat here for a moment. I've got a little just a little starter video I'd like to show.
Teach you the meaning of that name, Emmanuel, God with us. Emmanuel, it is wisdom's mystery, God with us. Sages look at it and wonder. Angels desire to see it. The plumb line of reason cannot reach halfway into its depths.
The eagle wings of science cannot fly so high, and the piercing eye of the vulture of research cannot see it. God with us. It is hell's terror. Satan trembles at the sound of it. His legions fly apace.
The black winged dragon and the pig quails before it. Let Satan come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper the word, God with us, and back he falls, confounded and confused. Satan trembles when he hears that name. God with us. It is the laborer's strength.
How could he preach the gospel? How could he bend his knees in prayer? How could the missionary go into foreign lands? How could the martyr stand at the stake? How could the confessor acknowledge his master?
How could men labor if that one word were taken away? God with us is the sufferer's comfort, is the balm of his woe, is the alleviation of his misery, is the sleep that God gives to his beloved, is the rest after exertion and toil. God with us is eternity's sonnet, is heaven's hallelujah, is the shout of the glory, is the song of the redeemed, is the chorus of angels, and is the everlasting oratorio of the great orchestra of the sky. God with us. God with us.
God with us.
I love that video, and I use it just about every year. And every year, I'm
like, man,
that's good. And if if you walk away with something tonight, would you walk away with that? God is with you. God loves you, and God is with you. He has always been.
He always will be. He's with us. And it's a huge theme from John 14. Right here, these these couple of verses. Sorry.
This isn't working at the moment, but it's sixteen and seventeen. Jesus says, the father's gonna send us send us an advocate, a helper, a counselor who will never leave us. He's the Holy Spirit. That's the good news. God is always with us.
There's a whole lot more in this chapter too, John 14. I wanna just go ahead and read it. And so if if if you've got the, you know, Bible app on your phone or, you know, a real Bible with pages and or it'll be up here on the the screen as well. But I'm just gonna go ahead and read it through the whole chapter of John 14. The heading in my Bible is Jesus is the way to the father, and Jesus promises the Holy Spirit.
Let's hear what God has to say here. I'll share a few comments of my own after that, and then I'd love to hear yours as well. Here's what it says. This is Jesus speaking. He says, don't let your hearts be troubled.
Man, we could just stop right there and call the sermon, couldn't we? Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me, Jesus says. There's more than enough room in my father's home.
If it weren't so, would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I'll come and get you so that you will always be where I am. And you know the where the way to where I'm going. No. We don't, Lord, Thomas said.
We have no idea where you're going. So how can we know the way? Jesus told him. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the father except through me.
If you had or if you had really known me, you would know who my father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the father and we will be satisfied. Jesus replied, have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the father.
So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don't you believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the father and the father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work that you've seen me do.
I tell you the truth. Anyone who believes in me will do the same works that I have done and even greater works because I'm going to be with the father. You can ask anything in my name, and I will do it so that the son can bring glory to the father. Yes. Ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the father, and he will give you another advocate who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit who leads you into all truth. The world cannot receive him because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you.
No. I will not abandon you as orphans. I will come to you. Soon the world will see me no longer, but you will soon. Since I live, you also will live.
When I'm raised to life again, you will know that I'm in the father. I am in my father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.
Judas, not Judas Iscariot, but another disciple that had the name, said to him, Lord, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us and not to the world at large? Jesus replied, all who love me will do what I say. My father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. Anyone who doesn't love me will not obey me. And remember my words are not my own.
What I am telling you is from the father who sent me. I'm telling you these things now while I'm still with you. But when the father sends the advocate as my representative, the Holy Spirit, he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything that I've told you. I'm leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. And the peace that I give is a gift the world cannot give, So don't be troubled or afraid.
Remember what I told you? I'm going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really loved me, you'd be happy that I'm going to the father who is greater than I am. I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe. I don't have much more time to talk to you because the ruler ruler of this world approaches.
He has no power over me, but I will do what the father requires of me so that the world will know that I love the father. Come. Let's be going. There's all of John 14. And, let's pray first, and I'd love to talk some more.
God, thank you for your word to us. And I pray that it would bring comfort, peace, that we know that we know that we know, that you truly are sent from God, sent from heaven. You are in the father. The father is in you. That when we see that when we see God, when we see excuse me.
When we see you, Jesus, we're we're seeing God. Thank you, God, for peace of heart and for peace of mind. Thank you, God, for your Holy Spirit to teach, to lead, to guide, to remind us, to lead us into truth? God, would your word fall on open ears and open hearts this evening? In Jesus' name.
Amen. Isn't this such a great chapter? I mean, John is is great, but it just it just get keeps getting better and better and better. And, I think 14 really is one of my my favorite chapters. And, John, I'm only gonna scratch the surface here.
But what this what makes it so good to me is at a time where everything around them was tense. There was political tension. There was religious tension, and it was gonna get worse and worse. Jesus is offering comfort, and he's offering hope in the middle of in the middle of that tension. Look at this again.
Verse verse one, don't be don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God and trust also in me. With all that tension that was around him, Jesus is about to be arrested. Judas had already gone out to betray him. His disciples were going to abandon him soon.
And Jesus is he's offering them comfort. He's telling them how much he loves them. He's already said in John, he's he's gonna love them to the very end. He's offering them. He's offering us comfort and hope.
I want you to hear this. Jesus is saying, trust me through this. Guys, trust me through it. There's more than enough room in my father's house. I'm preparing a place for you.
He's talking about eternal life here, heaven. So what does that look like? I don't know. I I don't know. I don't know what eternal life really looks like and and what's gonna happen in heaven.
I have a whole lot more questions than I do answers about heaven. But I do know this. Jesus will be there.
Amen. Yeah.
No. But really, like, this is this is what I take the most comfort in. Jesus will be there, and that's why it'll be wonderful. Because when I get to know Jesus in the gospels, that's somebody I can trust. That's somebody I can love.
And so when he says, I prepared a place for you, I'm there. I'm there. Count me in. Verse three, he says this. When everything's ready, I'll come and get you so that you can be where I am.
I want you to hear this because Jesus has told his disciples a couple of times now, at least a few, I want you to be where I am. Jesus wants you to be where he is. He wants to make his home in your heart, in your life. And then Thomas says this. I I like this because it's it's bold.
It's honest. Well, I we don't know where you're going. We don't get it yet. Okay? And guess what?
If you're in here and you go, I don't get it yet, it's okay. It's alright. Because when you see, you will find. God will reveal himself to you. If you're looking, maybe you don't get it right now.
And guess what? We all don't really get it. We're being sanctified. We're being made more and more like Jesus every single day. We don't have it all figured out.
And just when we do, usually our world gets rocked and falls apart. Thomas says, we don't know where you're going. We don't know how to get there. Jesus says this, I am that way.
I am that way.
I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Now that can be a very comforting tea teaching, but that can also be a very, very difficult teaching too, can it? At the same time, why does it have to be one way? Why does there have to be just one way to heaven? Can't there be multiple ways?
Don't we hear every single day from religions all around the world? There's gotta be multiple ways. The best that I can answer it is this. There's one way because God made that one way, and it's through Jesus. I'm not God.
I don't make those decisions. Or at other places in scripture, it says his ways are higher. Jesus is the provision that God has made for us to go to heaven. And some would say, well, it's just too narrow for me. It's just too narrow.
But the truth is, Jesus is wide enough for the whole world. He is. For God so loved the world, he gave his only son. If the world would choose to believe that message, John truly is the gospel of belief. It's about believing, friends.
It's not about doing. Doing comes after believing. Believing is the most important. We've got one job. It's to believe in the one he sent.
When I reflect on this, though, the way, the truth, the life, I think it's amazing that God would even give us a way to heaven. You know what I
mean? Like,
he didn't need to. We he could have said forget it. I tried that once. No. Thanks.
He doesn't owe us anything, but what he does give us is love and forgiveness and wholeness, redemption. I mean, he doesn't give up on us. Have you ever been has anyone ever given up on you? It hurts, doesn't it? God doesn't do that.
He doesn't do that. He will never leave us. Here. Here's one. Jesus says, I'm gonna ask the father, and he's gonna give you another advocate.
Advocate, comforter, counselor, helper, encourager. It's a combination of all those words who will never leave you. Everybody say, never leave you. Ready? Never leave you.
That's what's true. The Holy Spirit. This is huge. And just take a look at the Holy Spirit's work here. Holy Spirit's role.
Verse 17. He leads us into all truth. So if it's true, that's where the Holy Spirit leads us to. That's good. Skipping down to verse 26, the next one.
He will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I told you. So we have leading, teaching, and reminding. To me, this sounds a whole lot like having Jesus with you all the time.
Doesn't
it? And I
think that's the idea here. The Holy Spirit would lead and teach and remind the disciples of everything that they everything that he taught them so that when Jesus does ascend up to heaven and sends his Holy Spirit, it's like having Jesus right by their side. Even better, he's living inside them. By the way, the Holy Spirit does that today too. When we believe, we receive the Holy Spirit, and it's like having Jesus living right here.
Right here. Look at the result here in verse 27. He goes, I'm leaving you with a gift. I mean, it's just getting better and better. I'm leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and peace of heart.
And the peace that I give, catch this, is a gift the world cannot give, so don't be troubled or afraid. If you are looking for a peace outside of Jesus that can only come from this world, it's not going to do it. It's not gonna do it. God gives a peace. Look at the definition here.
God's gift of wholeness. That's what peace means. His gift of wholeness, quietness, rest. How many of how many of us could use some of that right about now? That's what Jesus is offering.
In the middle of our trials, not in the absence of them. It was actually in the middle of them, in spite of them. The trials were there. They weren't going anywhere, but also God's peace wasn't going anywhere. You you know what I'm saying?
His peace was gonna be right there among them in that trial. That's what Jesus offers his disciples. That's what Jesus offers us. It's not, well, you know what? Someday, it will get better, and maybe that Holy Spirit thing will work if I don't have any problems.
No. It doesn't work like that. It's when I do have problems in the middle of those problems, in the middle of that storm, that's when the Holy Spirit does his best work. That's when his peace works. If we'll have it.
If we'll have it. It's there. It's available. It begins with belief. God, I do believe.
I do believe that you offer that kind of peace. Would you help me to find that? A pattern that I see in John 14 is that belief leads to love, and love leads to obedience. I I I saw that here in in John 14. Jesus says, if you love me, then you'll obey my commands.
23, that's a similar verse. It says, all who love me will do what I say. I couldn't I couldn't get away from it. Jesus is saying this over and over again that love leads to obedience. But catch the last part of this verse.
It says, my father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. God with us. God wants to make his home in you, in your life, in your heart, in your being. I see it over and over again in John. God is with us.
God the father with us. God the son with us. God the Holy Spirit with us. God is with us. And he leaves us with a gift.
Peace of mind and peace of heart. John, that's, verse 14, 27. And that's why we don't have to be troubled or afraid. Because it's a legitimate piece. It's not a piece that can just kind of come and go.
It's there. It abides. It stays. It's sticky even in the middle, the middle of crisis. So those are just a few of my thoughts from John fourteen.
I I bit off a lot, didn't I? Tonight. But I would love to hear yours as well. And, again, I've got a a microphone. Don't be scared by the microphone.
It's just so that people that are watching online can hear too, be part of the conversation. But if there was something from John fourteen that just reached out and grabbed ahold of you, that you'd be willing to share, I'd I'd love to hear it, and and maybe we could get a a bit of conversation going from John 14. Would anybody be willing to share first?
I'll go first. Usually, when we do, like, gospel conversations, like what this has become on Monday nights, Ray and Carl and I would do it throughout the pandemic when we weren't able to meet in person, and you would read a part of the the gospel and try and understand it and understand what Jesus was talking about, what was going on. And you kinda look at it theologically, or I would try and be like one of my pastor friends here and try and be like break it down. But if I could go in a little different tonight and just give, my testimony for a moment. This past year, I lost a a member of my wife's family that was very near due to patriarch of her family.
And this passage, the beginning of 14, is probably the most one of the most meaningful passages in all of the Bible because of that situation in my testimony and in my life to where we're losing our her father, and we know that it's happening. And what what trust, what comfort can you get? You look search through the whole Bible and are looking for some sort of answers, some sort of comfort that you can get from it. And it comes from from this chapter, and it's really it's just Jesus, man. It's like this the the one thing that can comfort.
Martin Luther King Junior talks about this this inescapable mutuality. It's the thing that connects all humans is that we're all gonna die, and we all lose somebody. And this part is about eternal life, but it's also not it's not about escapism because we're talking about what gives us comfort here is and I'm gonna go to it real quick. I asked the father, and he would I'll just go to my notes instead. In in our grief, it it just says, do not let your hearts be troubled.
Trust in God. Like, first of all, you're losing somebody that you love and mean so much to you guys. And it's like, well, don't be troubled. Trust trust in God this Sunday. I got a lot of spinning discs back there at the sound booth.
A lot of things going on. And so sometimes I just stick my head up, and I did that this Sunday, stick my head up and started listening again. And Ray was talking about all these angels are always saying, do not fear. Do not fear. There's this constant theme.
Do not fear. It's because you can trust God. Hasn't he always taken care of you? Hasn't he always had your back? And I heard that, and I just had to shout amen from the back of the soundbird.
I heard that. I heard that, by
the way. And and that's the truth is that isn't gonna isn't he gonna trust you later on in my own testimony about this. He leaves, and there's many his father's house has many rooms. If it were not so, I would I would have told you. I'm going there to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me. And so as you're losing someone that you love, Jesus is he's talking about the second coming there. Sure. But he comes back all the time, and he's here with us now and here to live with us, help us in the Holy Spirit. And he's coming back to take our loved ones in his father's house, which has many rooms.
And so as I go through that life experience, that is the not on this. Is the perhaps the most there it is. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me.
There's more than enough room in my father's home. And that's what I got. It's just a it's not a theological breakdown of anything like that, but it's the most meaningful part to help me get through. One of the hardest things that we all go through is is losing somebody that we love.
Yeah. Thanks for sharing that, Blake.
Something that always strikes me in this. He talks about obedience so much through here, but yet his example at the very end he's talking about how he's going to be obedient to death. So it's not about physical comfort. A lot of like kind of modern pop culture Christianity is about protection and being safe and that's not what Jesus' example is here. It's actually quite the opposite.
He's leading them to death. He's leading himself to death as the example and he's leading them to death through martyrdom. But it's he this is in the midst of him saying, do not let your hearts be troubled. So he's giving them that precursor that, like, what you're about to go through is worth it because this that's not what eternity is all about. You know, God's God's plan is so much bigger than than our physical safety.
And yet we worship that, and especially in modern Christianity, people tend the food was so good that I'm joking. Sorry. It's really good. It just wants to reprice. But but I think that's that's the interesting thing to me is that that what he's leading us through here is you have peace no matter what.
Even though he might be leading you to sacrifice your life for him, it's gonna be it's gonna
be worth it. That's part of God's plan And and to continue to obey even though it might cost you everything. Because I live, you also will live. Yeah. So on the resurrection of life, if you believe in me, you will live even though you die.
So Right. Yeah. They were leading death but into life. Yeah. Probably more alive than they'd ever felt in their entire lives for following Jesus.
Yeah. Anybody
else? John 14. Any any other comments from
I'm not sure if
I have a complete thought here, but I'm
gonna go for it. Please. Something that stood out to me this isn't particularly, like, a Christmas passage. It's not about the coming of Jesus, but, I mean, I guess every gospel is a little bit
Christmas because It is. Yeah.
Anyway. But something about some, like, phrase and themes of Christmas that have stood out to me a lot as I've gotten older is the peace aspect of it. You know? What did the I think the angel said to the shepherds, peace on earth, I think. And I know I think it's interesting because, you know, we talk about how, back in those days, you know, they were those days were rough.
Like, you know, there's a lot of political turmoil, a lot of cultural turmoil, lot of stuff, a lot of division, a lot of you know, they were waiting for Emmanuel to come. Yeah.
Which is why oh, come to
come Emmanuel is my favorite song because they're waiting. We're still waiting. It's like, I heard a pastor say they're waiting in a minor key. It's like rejoicing, but also, like, it's like there's still a som somberness to it. Mhmm.
But I also so then, you know, they they were it was hard times. It was sad times. There was a lot of you know, people were feeling oppressed. And I think, you know, I remember last Christmas, that that theme really spoke to me and, like, the peace that Jesus provides. Probably every Christmas, you know, throughout history, everyone's been like, man, I really relate to those people back in those days waiting for Jesus to come Yeah.
You know, throughout history. Every Christmas would come when we think about, you know, how he brought peace to earth. But, yeah, just the just the peace aspect of it. And and, you know, like, kind of Nick was saying, it's not this peace that he was talking about, like, you know, it's not about it's not about physical comfort. This life that brings happiness and physical comfort.
I mean, often does lead to martyrdom. But, you know, we're called to carry our cross, but what's cool about the peace that Jesus provides, you know, and I I love how he says it's this peace that the world cannot cannot give, is that it's we just so focused on emotions and our physical comfort in this day and age, and it's comforting to know that to a degree, it's okay to be sad. It's okay feel hurt. I mean, that's natural. Mean, it's normal.
And you can experience peace of Christ. And those feelings may not go away, but you can still know that it's it is okay. Yeah. And think, that's something I want to embrace more is that, you know, there is gonna be mourning. There is gonna be, sadness.
There's gonna be loss. But, you know, the peace of that Christ provides is outside of all what's going on in our lives. And I I just I don't know. Like, that just really comforts me in this and it comes you know, we should remember that all year round, but it does kind of come up a lot in my mind during Christmas time because we're saying peace be with you, you know, and peace on earth, goodwill toward men. So Yeah.
Yeah. That I forgot what verse it was, but peace in mind and heart. You know, the peace that the world cannot give. I forgot what versa was, but that that really stuck out to me.
Yep. Me too. Me too. Thanks for sharing that. And you and I I think you nailed it.
It's not the absence of sorrow and sadness and trouble and turmoil. It's God's peace within that. Mhmm. We're still gonna go through the whole, you know, gamut of emotions, aren't we?
Yeah.
But we can still have God's peace in them. Anyone else?
Anybody at the back of the room?
I'll I'll share a little bit. A lot of a lot we were we were talking about the peace, but I'm trying to think what verse it was. I think 13 or 14. Jesus throws out a nugget. And he says, ask anything in my name, and it'll be given to you.
Right? Yes. I I I believe they knew the troubles, and they were feeling it. But he throws a nugget out. Mhmm.
And that nugget is still a nugget today for us. And I've always wondered, how does that work? Ask anything in the father's name. It'll be given
to you. Yep. Is he a magical genie? Yeah.
Yeah. But it is a nugget. Mhmm. And one of the things and I'll share this real quick. One of the things that helped me to understand this nugget was, I did a study, and there was a little story in there that called the blue bike.
I don't know if anybody has ever heard this story, and I'll share it real quick. It it was about a father and a son, and the father knew the son needed a blue bike for his birthday. So he goes out and buys a blue bike, and he hides it in the garage. So over the next month, the father sits with the son and walks with the son and shares about this blue bike and how nice a blue bike would be and and how he needs that. So on the birthday, the father goes to the son and asks him, what would you like for your birthday?
And the son goes, hey. I like that blue bike we've been talking about. And the father, sure, he, you know, takes him to the garage because he's already got it there for him. And that's how I see asking in the father's name. When when we walk with God and we meet and and God touches our heart and molds us, we will ask for what God wants to give us because he's got it for us.
And I think that's what Jesus was doing there. He was saying, ask anything in my name, I'll give it to you. Mhmm. Little nugget.
Yep. Thanks, Gary. That's a great story. I'm I'm gonna that's gonna stick with me.
So the the advocate is what stuck out stuck out to me this time. We see, that we have an adversary. I think of the verses in first Peter. It says, for you have an adversary, your adversary, the devil. And Jesus is specifically saying at exactly the same time when Judas is out betraying him.
Right? Judas is already out betraying him. It mentions earlier that that Satan had entered into him. He said, what's gonna happen when I do leave is I'm gonna send for you an advocate. And that is the instead of being the prosecuting attorney, that's your advocate, your counselor, your the one who speaks for you before God and the one who is constantly giving you the direction that you need to be able to withstand the trial that you're in.
So the adversary, we is, you know, pretty much ever present. We all when we talk about sorrow and grief and trial and temptation and tribulation and all that, we know that there's an adversary. He But say, I'm gonna send you an advocate, and he's gonna be just like having me right there with you absolutely all of the time. And so I do think that when he said but Thomas goes, but we don't know where you're going. He says, well, I am the way.
I'm I'm the way. You've seen how I've lived these past three years. I'm the way. I'm the truth. Just believing that, and I'm the life.
Just live this life, and you'll be fine. I think that's I think there's a lot there. You're gonna you're gonna be alright. Yeah.
You're gonna be alright. Yeah.
One other thing that I would and this is one that that I struggled as a young Christian because you can see when Jesus said, if if you do what I say or I command and and, of course, I turned it into a performance thing. And and, of course, when you do that, you always fall short. Mhmm. Right? Because it in a matter of hours, you're gonna find where you've where you've where you didn't follow God's commands.
But I think it's more about the heart. I love the commands of God, and I know they're right, but I can't always pull it off. Yeah. So it's not a performance. It's it's a it's a part of when God lives in us, we see his truths, and we know they're right, and we embrace those.
So if the advocate is condemning you, because that's what that's what the devil does.
The Adversary.
Right? Adversary. Yeah. Sorry. Mhmm.
He'll condemn you. But in in Christ, we're not condemned. Mhmm. So if if if you feel and I used to do this a lot is doubt my because I couldn't pull it off. I couldn't live it out.
And and if the adversary is condemning you, that's not done. That's right. Thank you.
Something else that just stuck out to me, read just listening, you know, probably just read this passage and then reading this chunk of verses up here. There's a lot about the trinity in this whole passage. Like, I mean, and there's, like, there's there's, like, there's just a lot in this passage. And one of them there there's a lot about the trinity and and the Holy Spirit and God the father and, you know, Christ the son. And, I mean, that's basically a sense of my point, but but I just I just think it's I don't know.
Something that's cool, and I you know, it's one of those things where, you know, when I'm talking to people about my faith and, like, you know, the trainee come up, like, oh, man. Like, not quite sure how it works, but, like, it's this beautiful mystery of God. I mean, he's, like, three in one. He's, like, this he's just I think that one thing that's cool about is, like, there's there's a community in that in that aspect. Like, there's, different aspects to it.
There's an advocate. There's, you know, Lord of the Universe. There's a sacrificial lamb. There's a a lion. But, I mean, it's all community, and it's like a a tag team, but also the same person at the same time.
I think it's really cool, you know, that Jesus is gonna ask his dad to send him in another form. You know? It it just it's it's cool. And, I don't know. I just there's a lot about it in here and kind of about the nature of the trinity and the the I guess, kind of tasks that each one has and nature of each one.
I think an advocate's a really, I mean, cool a cool name for the Holy Spirit because I think everyone in this world could use an advocate. And I think oftentimes people feel advocate less. We, you know, we Yeah. You know? And so I think that's also really cool because that, you know, to to be called by that name, you know, it's encouraging.
Yep. And we got one. Yeah. The Holy Spirit. Yeah.
Yeah. Monique?
Yeah. I think just one last thought is we were as we were talking about the advocate and then just asking in Jesus' name. Yesterday, I was reading through acts and just came to the part where Stephen was stoned. And, you know, I think this time, I think all throughout the year, but this time, like, just really leaning into the mystery of God. There's certain things that we don't fully understand or might not ever fully know this side of heaven.
And and I think, you know, like, the way, the truth, and the life, just that first the life part, it's like, we won't gain our life unless we lose it. And when we walk with the Lord, right, there's certain things like his desires become our desires. And, like, reading about Stephen right before he was stoned and even just seeing, like, Paul witnessing that, like, the garments were laid at Paul's feet and then knowing the New Testament and what was written. And and I think just even, like, in our lives too, right, when the advocate is there giving us those desires or, you know, speaking before people with words we don't know or where there's just a mystery, I think, to life with God. And, like, when we lean into that, then the fullness is there, but it's, yeah, it's it may be martyrdom.
You know, it may be nothing like we hope and definitely not, you know, probably at the center of our country's idols, which are comfort and convenience that, you know, we can be really blind to because we're in this culture where, like, other other countries and other cultures can see that really clearly. You know? So, yeah, I guess I would just encourage us all to lean into those mysteries and not be afraid of them. And and maybe just, like, encourage us to, like, dive into the wonder and awe of not knowing that I think this year this time of year really stirs up. So
yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing
that. Thank Yeah.
I love it. Love the conversation tonight. Thank you, everybody. And how about this? Let's let's I think there's some Awana kids that are about ready to plow down that door, and they're gonna they're gonna be looking for cookies here at the moment.
But can we I'd like to just end in a doxology. You know, the praise God from all whom all blessings will. If we could just kinda sing that acapella.
But this
you got a benediction.
I do. Actually, Jesus has a benediction for you. And he is saying, I'm leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. And the peace that he gives is a gift the world cannot give and soon so do not be troubled or afraid. Gotta do pray as we go that we would not be troubled or afraid no matter what the outcome is this week.
Some of us might be in a terribly, terribly hard spot right now, right at this moment. But, Jesus, you're right in this moment too. Holy Spirit, you're bringing comfort and peace, peace of heart, peace of mind in this moment. May we press in, lean in, depend. In Jesus' name.
Amen. Love Amen. You all. Looking forward to the next one too.
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