Good morning, everybody. It's good to be here with you,
all. It's good to worship together.
I'm just excited to be here, but to be able to speak for you,
it's special. So thank you for having me and
I'm excited for a week for what we have to study this morning
and John chapter 14, if you'll turn with me there.
Thank you for your prayer this morning.
Darren one of the things you mentioned was the promises that
we have and I want to study a little bit about those promises
because things clutter our mind things, get us distracted on
daily basis and we get layers in our mind that cover the things
that we used to have as a foundation.
And so I want to study through this chapter and unpack the
richness that we have in John 14.
One of the things that's amazing about it is for a lot of the
Bible. We have Snippets of God.
Of speaking, we have Snippets of what Jesus said, to his
followers in different situations.
But for about John 14:2 about 17, he just just pours out his
heart. We just get a one way with a
little bit of interaction with the disciples almost a one-way
stream of Jesus. Just just pouring out his heart
to them telling them all these things.
He has to let them know before he goes.
And so this is special what we're about to read at this
point. John chapter 14, we're going to
pick up, Jesus has just called out his disciples in the upper
room. He's up there with him.
He told him Judas, you're going to betray me, he walked out and
left him. Then he told Peter, Peter,
you're going to deny me and Peter's, like, oh no, I'm gonna
be there for you and he's like, no, you're going to deny me?
So there's a lot of tension going on because he tells them
that he's about to leave and they throughout the throughout
the gospel they they clearly didn't get it.
They didn't get the fact that he said, I'm going to leave but
they're like, no, you're not. Where we're going to set it up.
It's gonna be great here. And when he said he's going to
leave, they start to get worried because they're like, what are
you talking about? No, you're not.
And so it's all this with all this turmoil going on.
It's with all their anxiety in this stress that's building
after. He's just told him all these
things that are going to happen that we read it.
Beginning in verse 1, John 14:1, he says, Let not your heart, be
troubled, you believe in God believe.
Also in me and my father's house are many mansions, if it were
not. So I would have told you I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again. And receive you to myself that
where I am, there you may be also and where I go, you know,
and the way, you know, so let's back up to verse 1 and see what
he's saying. Here verse 1, he says let not
your heart, be troubled. He starts out by saying,
regardless of what's happened? You can't get worried.
You can't let your heart get anxious and stirred up about
this. You can't, it's imperative,
don't let it happen and usually when people tell us, you know,
don't worry. Uh something they just say that
they say don't worry about it and they don't really give you
anything to make you not worried and so it doesn't really help.
But I think Jesus is going to give us three things that will
help us to not worry for good. He's going to tell us to not
worry because of what he'll show.
Because of where we'll go. and because of who, we know, He
said, you can't worry because of what he's going to show us
because of where we're going to go.
And because of who we know he says you believe in God believe.
Also in me. I can see him just sitting
across the table under candle light.
Talking to his close friends, and remember that.
He's saying this to you by extension.
That whatever you're going through.
These are his words directly to you.
Because you were his friends. You believe in God believe also
in me in my father's house are many mansions.
As I understand this words actually better translated rooms
this word Mansions but because of some issues with the Latin
Vulgate, they translated it Mansions but it makes sense more
with rooms when you look at kind of the context It Was Written in
because during this day and time they would live together as
families. If you had your extended family,
you would all kind of share a big dwelling together and when
your family grew, They just added on room.
And it made sense because you live together to feed off of
each other. You have support systems for
each other. They didn't have social security
like we do. So you need to support the
elderly, you need to share resources together and this is
how they did that they would live together and they groups.
And so they would just add on a room when the family got bigger
and he says, don't worry. There's plenty of room for you.
There's plenty of rooms for everyone at you if it were not.
So I would have told you, I love this.
Chapter is so Full, because it deals with things that seem very
distant and very far out and very simple ways.
He's like, it wasn't this way. I want to told you.
I'm here, I'm being straight up with you.
I'm being face value with you, you can trust what I'm saying.
He said, this is the way it is, if it weren't.
So I would have told you He says I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also now
as this picture of their own Traditions at the time is drawn
here, it's amazing. What Jesus says, when you look
at kind of the history behind it, and it has to do a lot with
the Jewish marriage traditions of the time.
Because during this time, a man When he was looking for a wife,
he had a prospective bride. He was living in his father's
house at the time. They probably didn't look
anything like that, but he would see a prospective bride living
somewhere else. And what he would do is he would
leave his father's house. To go to meet them to spend time
with him. And when he went, he came with a
gift from his father. Maybe you've known as a dowry.
He came with a gift to give to her family.
And if all went well and they worked it out, they would say,
okay, this is decided, you're going to be engaged, you will be
married. And so at that point, the Dowry
was given everything was set up. The gift was paid, they were
engaged. Or betrothed.
Then after everything was climaxed after all, this was
decided, it was such a big deal. You turn around and leave this
man went turn around and go back to where he came from right
after they got engaged. That doesn't really make any
sense to us, but he had to go back to add on a room, he had to
go back to get his father's house.
Ready for them to live together. And so he would turn around
leave right after all this happened.
And he would tell her. Don't worry, I'm coming back to
get you. I'm going to go get ready and
get things ready for you and you can trust in that, but he would
leave for an unspecified amount of time and she just had to
trust that was going to happen and it could be up to about a
year before he got this house. Ready for them to live together.
And when he finally finished, he started to make his way back to
the woman. Now, they didn't have a
communication platforms that we do now.
And so, when you start to come back, people to see him coming
and they said, hey, he's coming. He's coming to get, you get
ready in the word with pass along a heaven ahead of him
because word travels faster than foot, the word would get ahead
of him and people would start talking, hey, this guy's Getty.
This guy is on his way, get ready, get yourself ready, he's
coming. And when they finally got back,
she was ready to go and they reunited and then they turned
around and went back together to live in the father's house.
Now, this is amazing. When you look at what Jesus just
said, he said, I'm going to go away, but I'm going to prepare a
place for you. There are so many overtones of
what Jesus did we learn in John chapter 1, the in the beginning
was the word, the Word was God, the word was with God, just was
there a living in his father's house and the special place and
he left. He left and came to offer a gift
from the father to pay for a new relationship.
We know that is the New Covenant.
He came and brought a gift from the father.
That gift was his life. And when you paid that gift,
that gift of his life, a New Covenant was set up.
His betrothed, he was betrothed to the church.
We learn about Jesus being the church be like the bride of
Christ. This is all tied in with this
and he came and set up this relationship with his life but
he turned around and he left and that's what his disciples are
going through right now. They're struggling with is
what's going on, you're leaving. But he's like I'm setting this
up because I'm going to come back to you.
I'm going to come back to get you.
Don't worry. And the beauty of all this is,
we see this a lot of times we're frustrated, we're tired, were
anxious, we're worried and we get slow in our faith.
And we forget the big picture. The big picture is that half of
this most of this has already been done because in the Old
Testament know, they had to wait, they were still looking
for the Messiah to come. There is a whole process that
still had to happen. But at this point where we're at
right now, Jesus has already left the father's house guard.
This world came in the flesh. He left, he came.
Paid a gift. He died.
It's proven, you can look at history and he left.
So we're already here and so the only thing we're waiting for is
for him to come back and it seems like it's been so long.
What's going to happen? And the early church, they were
frustrated because they were like, it's been like 50 years.
What are we gonna do? But it's been like, two thousand
years and so we feel the weight of that.
We naturally feel that kind of sense of what is it really going
to happen, but you can know that it is because of what he said is
he says all the plans. It's not like weirdest a dead
state with this whole process God is working.
Now, the cogs are moving, everything is turning.
It's all in his timing. And so wherever you're at, you
can know that we're at this point right here.
He's getting that place ready for us.
Are you ready for that? Are you?
That bride here. Getting ready.
Are you looking forward to that? I kind of doubt that bride just
forgot about it. We showed up, he was like oh man
I yeah you're coming back I forgot about you.
Is that how we are? Do you everyday wake up with a
joy knowing that it could be today?
And if you don't that's that's real, that's that's life life.
Just covers our priorities with layers with distractions.
But it's so important to see the big picture.
Because Jesus is doing things right now.
He's getting things, ready for us.
I will come again and receive you to myself.
That where I am there you may be also, he doesn't where I go, you
know, and the way you know, I love Thomas because he pretty
much says, what everyone was thinking but he's the only one
that pulled up to say, it Thomas said to him.
Lord, we don't know where you're going.
How can we know the way that's like saying, hey, I'm going
somewhere, you want to meet me there?
Like, what? What are you talking about?
He says, Jesus said I am the way.
The truth and the life. No one comes to the father,
except through me. I think that's true in a couple
different ways. One, Jesus said, in John chapter
10, the he is the gate to the Sheepfold.
He is the door, you can't get in without him because if you go in
any other way, you're not legitimate.
Jesus says, I am the door, I am the way in, but it's also true
in the sense that, you know, if I was going to tell you how to
get somewhere, I could say up on the main road, you're going to
go left, you're going to turn left.
You go about a mile. No way.
You're gonna hang a right in about a quarter mile and it's
going to be the third house on your left, whatever.
I can give you those kind of vague instructions or I could
say, hey, I'm going to get my car.
You get in yours and you follow me, I'll take you there.
And Jesus. So to speak.
Didn't both of us. He got in his car so to speak
and he took us there. He spent the time he took the
time out of his Heavenly existence where everything was
perfect, he came down and he got in his car so to speak and took
you there. That's special says I no one
comes to the father, but through me, I am the way, the truth and
the life. Verse seven.
If you had known me, you would have known my father also and
from now on, you know, him and have seen him, you know, this
idea for me I'm kind of visual. So if this seems extra to you, I
apologize. But this is this helps me.
Sometimes it when when I think of the idea of seeing God it
seems like it's a distant idea. Like when I go up in the
mountains and I'm back packed in and I'm in the middle of the
clearing and there's not a light around except for this guy, and
it's glowing, like I never seen it before and not moment, I try
to see God for whatever that means.
I try to see God and understand him or if I'm standing on the
edge of the ocean, I look out. I try to see God.
And honestly, I kind of get confused.
I'm just kind of unsettled. I don't quite get it, I can't
comprehend it. But one of the things he's going
to tell us in just a minute will clear that up a lot.
He says, if you had known me you would have known my father also
and from now on, you know, him and have seen him.
So he says, if you know me, you know the father, okay?
So was its physical qualities. Was it seeing his physical form
and the things he did fleshly that we need to know?
Well, no, because we learn in John, chapter 6.
The Jesus came and he was, he was feeding the multitudes.
He added, give him physical food, and he was feeding
thousands, and it was an amazing scene And they saw that and
they're like, yes Jesus, give us this bread.
Always, we love it. This is great and Jesus is like,
you don't get it. I'm the bread it come from God.
I am the Manna From Heaven. I'm the one who should be paying
attention to do? You look at me and he's like,
they're like well Jesus, we know your parents.
So And they just didn't get it. So it's not the physical
qualities. Jesus possessed.
It's not the things he did for them physically.
It's a spiritual, it's his character.
It's the things he teaches as the things you live by its his
ideologies. It's his life.
It's the things you brought those different than anybody
ever brought. He's like, if you know me, you
know, the father, And a little bit, he says, if you love me,
keep my Commandments. And I will pray the father and
he will give you another Helper and he may abide with you.
So, as you think about knowing god, Jesus says, just follow me.
Just follow my footsteps. And you what happens with me I
think is you know I think I tried and do that but I'm just
sitting there looking down at the ground trying to follow in
his footsteps and I never take the time to look up and see
where I'm going. I never take the time to look up
and realize. Wow, I'm getting closer to God.
Do you realize that that it might seem like a for I far-out
idea to know God but if you're walking closer to him, you're
following in his footsteps. You're getting closer to the
Creator and you can know him. You can own it for sure.
That's what Jesus says. He's like if it wasn't so but I
told you it's that simple and you can know that you know, him
If you had known me, you would know, my father.
Also Philip said to him verse a lord, show us the father and
that is sufficient for us. He's like just just show us this
and then that's enough. You know what amazes me is, they
had the Son of God walking with them and talking to them,
they're close to him and they look past it like no just shows
this and then Does your faith feel that way?
Does your faith feel like an if-then Faith?
Just just show us this and then it'll be enough.
Just just do more than then you're doing right now and then
I will that's a trap that even they fell into his close.
Friends is his disciples fell into so it's not as nothing new
but we have to read, you have to understand this so we can get
past in our own faith. He said just show us the father
and that's enough. Jesus said to him have I been
with you so long and yet you have not known me Philip he who
has seen me, has seen the father.
So how can you say show us the father?
Do you not believe that I am in the father?
And the father in me? The words that I speak to you, I
don't speak on my own authority but the father Other dwells in
me, does the works believe in me and I am in the father and the
father in me or host believe for the sake of the works
themselves. See, they all kept looking past
and he's like, you don't don't look for more than what I have
provided you with. Don't take rest anywhere but the
plan I have for you and what I'm showing you pay attention, dig
into this. It's got right here with you
still Verse 12, most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in
me. The works that I do.
He will do also and Greater Works than these.
He will do because I go to my father and whatever you ask in
my name that I will do that, the father may be glorified in the
son. That's an amazing thing.
You just said, whatever, I ask, whatever you ask in my name that
I will do. Do you realize that he's
provided you that outlet, that you can literally talk to this
God that we've been talking about.
You can literally speak to him. He's like, I got you, I'll give
you what you need. But it is lines up its when you
line up with his will he says, and whatever you do, whatever
you ask, in my name that I will do that.
The father may be glorified in the son, if you ask anything.
In my name, that in my name is really closely tied with, you
know, if it's, if it's in our best interest and part of that
is in your life, we need to line our interests up with gods.
And if you don't feel like they are pray about that.
Say, God, my interests aren't lined up with years and maybe
that's why you don't feel like your prayers are being answered.
Is because you're Interest don't line up with God's.
What are your interests? Do you really care about the
things that the Creator cares about do?
I really care about the things, the Creator cares about, he
says, if I do he's like, ask I'll give you it.
No one else can say that you can, you might have a boss that
gives you some perks. It's like, hey, can I get the
tickets? And he's like, yeah.
And that's a amazing thing for us.
Like if we get one little perk for a boss, when we feel like,
man, he's powerful, he helped me out big time, he says, whatever
you ask in my name. Your life can have, meaning your
life cannot value connected to the real source of value.
Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches.
Just connect to me and you'll have fruit if you want value in
your life. Connect to me, just stay in me.
Have your interest in line with where I'm going.
It'll be good. I will do for you.
I won't work fruit through you. Are you producing fruit?
Am I producing fruit? Whatever you ask in my name,
that I will do verse 15. If you love me, keep my
Commandments and I will pray the father and he will give you
another helper that he may abide with you forever.
So when Jesus left, he said, I'm going to leave something with
you. He told us he's not gonna leave
us orphans. My question for you is, do you
feel like an orphan spiritually? So, we can look at the old test
and we can say, yeah, you know, Adam God was with Adam in the
garden. He spoke to him, he was in the
air in the Old Testament. He was doing these amazing
Miracles. The ground would open up and
swallow people. He was on the mountain, he made
the mountain blow up with a storm, and he was there,
literally, with a cloud of smoke by day.
Cloud of Fire by night in the Old Testament, he was there
everywhere, man, you could see it.
And then when Jesus came, wow, that was Jesus.
God In the Flesh. Walking among them.
Man, they have all this. What do I have?
I can't see it. Do you feel like you're an
orphan spiritually right now? Inferred in chapter 15.
Jesus says, excuse me, verse chapter, 16 verse 7.
He says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your
advantage that I go away for. If I do not go away, the helper
will not come to you, but if I depart, I will send him to you.
So there's a lot. I need to learn about this
Helper but one of the things he says that it's to our advantage.
Aged if Jesus, the son of God, Walking In the Flesh, doing
Miracles, healing people talking with it as like a close friend
right there with them back and forth.
Jesus says it's better for you. It's to your advantage that I go
away. So, whatever our state of mind
is, you know, I could, I could see in the Old Testament, the
Bible, how people God was there with them?
What about me? We're going to study a little
bit about this afternoon, but one of the things that we can
see is that this helper was going to come, he says I will
give you another helper that he may abide with you forever.
That forever is forever. That's us included, the spirit
of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees
him nor knows him. So, the first thing about this
is I just need to learn to appreciate this helper this Holy
Spirit, obviously because it's a big deal.
I might not ever see understand everything about it.
But I can't look at God and feel like, hang on, what are you
doing? Where you're not coming through
for me? Because he has, it's a matter of
whether I see it. Whom the world cannot receive
because it neither sees him nor knows him. but, you know, him
for he dwells with you and will be in you I will not leave you
orphans, I will come to you. The reality is, you're not an
orphan. But whether you feel like it or
not, that's that's in our own mind, a little while longer in
the world will see me, no more. But you will see me Wow, do you
see? Because I live, you will live.
Also at that day, you will know that I am in the father and you
and me and I in you, he who has my Commandments and keeps them.
It is he who loves me and he, who loves me, Will Be Loved by
my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
Judas not Iscariot said to him. Lord, how is it?
You will manifest yourself to us and not to the world.
Again, it's almost like it's kind of a mystical question.
Like, how are you going to show yourself to them and not to us?
And Other people, and Jesus answered and said to him, if
anyone loves me, he will keep my word.
And my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our
home with him. He who does not.
Love me, does not keep my words and the word what you hear is
not mine, but the fathers you sent me.
So, it's not mystical, it's not some far-out idea.
He's like, just do what I say and you can know me.
You can be close to me. So, whatever we understand about
this, we learned in chapter 16 verse 12.
He says, I still have many things to say to you, but you
can't hear the know. However, when he the when this,
however, when he the spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you
into all Truth for he will not speak on his own authority.
So we learn that the Holy Spirit at least what we can know, is it
came and it delivered the word on the day of Pentecost,
starting on the day of Pentecost.
And so whatever we need to know, we've got it right here.
Do we appreciate this? Like it's literally part of God
With Us and I think a lot of times we we might fall into the
Trap and we hear the world talking about the Holy Spirit.
We want some infomercial holders infomercial, Holy Spirit, like
being bang. Boom.
There's there's one right there. There's one under your seat.
That's not how it has to work, though.
He's like, just follow me, keep my Commandments and it's simple.
We can live inside you and we can mistake these simple reading
the Bible and take it in praying about it.
We can look past I go and I want something bigger than that.
We mistake and we don't understand the value.
At least I fail to a lot of times the value of just reading
it and having them, aha moment. And it's understanding of what's
in there. He says, I'm going to be with
you. I'm going to live in you today.
If you don't have that in your heart and your life, why not?
He only offers us good things. The fact that all this plan is
set up for you. We've already made it most of
the way through its we're just waiting on him.
If you're not ready this morning, why there's no reason
not to be. You can leave here and wake up
every morning with this real. This realization that your life
means more. Life is going to be born.
More than you can make out of it, more than your schooling or
your career, or your eight hours a day.
You're going for something more. You've heard a little bit that
were this morning, if you believe it, you can repent of
your past life and say, I want to change.
I want to wake up. I want to live a new life, you
can confess that Jesus Christ. Is the Son of God, we learned
that he will confess us back, you can be baptized and added to
the church as they were on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:38.
Or if you've done that and you just need some help.
You want our prayers. I know I need yours.
It's okay to not be okay. And we all need to wake up.
We all need the revamp. We all need to repent daily but
if you want the prayers of the church to help you with that
together, please do that. If there's any Kate want to be
the case, come on waste. And what we see We thank you for
listening to our podcast, put on by the Church of Christ at 22:15
plans. Road in Bakersfield, if you
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