The Way To The Father's House | Wade Orsini

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All right, it's great to see you church. Happy Lord's Day Glad to share this day with you

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We're gonna be in John chapter 14 today You want to turn there with me and your Bibles?

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For those of you who don't know me, I'm Wade Orsini pastor at Apology at Church in Utah We're a church plant

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From you all two and a half years ago is when we were sent and the Lord has been doing tremendous work there and seeing many people saved to his glory and for our grace and So grateful to be with you

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Today, it's such an honor to bring the proclamation of the word to you all. I have decided that You know many missionary pastors will come to their home church and They'll preach something that is more in Evangelistically inclined, but I've decided to simply bring to you all today

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Texts that we've been working through for the past year and a half or so. We've been in the gospel according to John and So that's really the reasoning behind that we're gonna be in verses 1 through 6

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The title of the sermon today church is the way to the Father's house the way to the

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Father's house So starting in verse 1 of the gospel the gospel according to John chapter 14 here now the words of the living and true

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God Do not let your heart be troubled believe in God believe also in me in My father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you

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For I go to prepare a place for you If I go and prepare a place for you,

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I will come again and receive you to myself That where I am there you may be also and you know the way where I am going

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Thomas said to him Lord. We do not know where you are going. How do we know the way?

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Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the life

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No one comes to the Father but through me Thus ends the reading of God's holy and magnificent word.

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Let's pray once more as a church God we ask that you would illuminate the scriptures today for your people

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By your Holy Spirit the same Holy Spirit who gave us these words

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God, please use me Today to bring the proclamation of this word help me to speak clearly and in truth and to bring forth no error here in this congregation

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God I thank you for this church body. I thank you for their support. I thank you for your their love towards us

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God all that you're doing in the eight years that I've been able to have here at Apologia Thank you

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God for what you're doing be exalted be praised today. Oh Lord God, I pray specifically with this text

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That the church would be edified that they would be strengthened and Lord if there's anyone here today

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Who doesn't know the way? to the Father's house or Someone who has been pretending or someone who has thought that they knew the way

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Lord that you Today would work in the hearts and minds of these people and especially the

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Saints Lord we thank you. We give you all the praise and glory in Jesus name.

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Amen Church There is no doubt That many are troubled by the times that we are living in.

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I Think there can be somewhat of a solace in the fact that we know each Generation that preceded us felt similarly

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But to many in this world, there is an uncertainty to life What does the future hold?

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Where are we going? How do we get there? Right these questions come to us all throughout our lives, especially those who don't know

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Christ who don't know the future. I Remember as a young boy, I always wanted to know where we were going, you know

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I don't know if your kids are that way. It's like what are we doing today? Where are we going now?

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They always want to know I always wanted to know too. I didn't like surprises.

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I Wanted to know what to expect But even then when I was a child,

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I didn't really care how I got there. I Trusted my mother. I trusted my father that they that they knew the way and they would get us to where we need to to be

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I I do remember though on some occasions where we would get lost and You know, my parents wouldn't really convey that loss this very very much but when they did

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I remember if they felt 10 % Worried I felt 100 % worried.

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Where are we? How are we? How are we gonna get to where we're going? these feelings of being lost would would overwhelm overwhelm me and so we live in a world today church where there is an illusion of being found of Knowing who you are and where you're going

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But many are actually very very lost very lost

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The Bible speaks into the lives of men and women about one of two destinies that await us all

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We don't know where we will be next week, but we can know based on this word

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Where we will be after this life we can know with certainty But what is the map

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How do we get there how do we get to heaven how do we stop feeling lost in this world and Those are the answers we will seek in our text today

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And so at this point in the fourth gospel the gospel according to John Jesus has now told his his disciples twice

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That he is leaving them He's going away and they can't come with him now.

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They can't join him at this moment and Every single man's head must have gone down Not only will their

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Messiah their master whom they have come to love and follow For three years leave them

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But just in the chapter prior to this in John chapter 13 Jesus told

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Peter that he would betray him that he would deny him three times

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And so it's no surprise that a sense of despair washed over these men as they consider these things they

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Things seem like they're going to fall apart very shortly The Shepherd will be struck the sheep will scatter and so as a wonderfully loving and tenderhearted

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Savior he will reassure them that things are not as bad as they seem There is still hope

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It's going to be alright So you have verse chapter 1. I'm sorry verse 1

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Do not let your heart be troubled Believe in God Believe also in me do not let your heart be troubled

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It's honestly amazing to me That when Jesus ought to receive

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Emotional and spiritual support for for what he's about to go through that he might receive that from others for what he's about to face

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He is still the one who instructs and comforts other people Knowing that his hour has come and he gives these three exhortations in the imperative form the command form do not be troubled believe in God believe in me

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Now what I find also incredible is that this demonstrates a transfer of a troubled heart a

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Troubled heart is being transferred from the Apostles to himself

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Jesus was troubled at the sight of people weeping for the deceased Lazarus He was troubled

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After the Greeks came down Seeking him indicating that his hour had finally come and at the revealing of his betrayer

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Judas He was troubled again each

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Time Jesus has been troubled. They have been one step closer to him facing the cross facing death

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So Jesus can tell his disciples to not be troubled because he has been troubled on their behalf

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He's been troubled for them He's been troubled for you and me you and I never need be troubled for our eternal

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Destinies or or troubled if we'll see Jesus again or anything of the sort

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Because he was troubled for us Isaiah 53 demonstrates this transfer.

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It says that he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief Surely our

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Greece he himself bore and our sorrows he carried

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Jesus Didn't simply brush by grief. He became well acquainted with grief

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He didn't simply recognize it the Hebrew word here demonstrates that Grief was realized in his person in himself

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He experienced it to the fullest degree But it was not without purpose

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He did this to bear ours upon himself He took what troubles you?

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He took what troubles me. It's personal It's your troubles. It's your grief

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And he placed them on himself the Hebrew Gives us an image of a pack animal carrying an incredible load a load that is

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Crippling this animal and that would happen sometimes in those days too much baggage too much to carry

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Legs are shaking energies dropping The countenance is down.

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It can't go any further and then one comes and Relieves the animal of the entire load the complete load off this animal

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But the load must be dealt with You see you can't simply take the pack off the animal and throw it to the ground and keep going

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It must be carried One must carry it. It can't simply be cast away our griefs he bore our sorrows he carried

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He tells the Apostles and he tells you and me You can't carry the trouble You can't carry the griefs

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You can't carry the load He says I have to bear it.

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I must carry it for you. I've got to hold it he says And so a question might be for you and I today, what are you still trying to carry?

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What are you still trying to carry on your own today, what do you need to surrender, you know, it's weird how pain works

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I Some of you might know you prayed for me during this time almost two years ago.

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It was so strange. I found out that I had melanoma skin cancer in my arm and I had to get it cut out right here and now

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I Have a scar and it's been a couple years since it's since it's healed But it's strange how pain works.

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I'm sure some of you have experienced this yourself But even though it's all healed up. I get these phantom pains sometime

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I get these really deep sharp pains in my arm where the where the cancer was cut out

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And you know for some of us We have phantom pains. We have phantom pains

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Jesus took what we couldn't carry but sometimes it still feels like we're carrying it, right?

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It can feel that way we forget We need to constantly remind ourselves, you know

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Back to the pack animal back to the carrying animal. Sometimes these animals were used for work for so long

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Plowing pulling things carrying things and maybe these animals are retired at an old age they're no longer to do that and It's interesting

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They've come to find that when these animals when they're relieved of their duty and they just simply get fed for the rest of their lives

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If you can afford to do that when the master comes to the stable

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That animal who had been doing that for so long will start trotting

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Will start plotting as if it's pulling something it sees the old master the old master of sin was cruel to us

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That was our old master But our new master Took the labor that we could never perform.

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He took the burden we could never carry. He took the punishment We could never survive. He took the trouble and the sorrow that we had no way of dealing with And for these reasons he can say to us do not let your heart be troubled and we can quiet our souls

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We can rest We can have peace It's not just floating in the air somewhere.

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This isn't simply an idea This is something that you can have you can have it now

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About the job loss About the wayward son or daughter about the debilitating disease facing death the worry you're constantly having

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Jesus made this statement in the command form. I told you that He made it in the imperative.

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This means get this That Jesus would never command something of you that you could not do or obtain by the

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Spirit of God You can obey this you can have this this is possible

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You can not be troubled You can have peace our Lord gives it and so Jesus bases this exhortation to his disciples to not be troubled on his father and on himself

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He says believe in God believe also in me And this undoubtedly links

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Jesus and the Father together in a unique way But it also tells us that when we are troubled and we can't see rightly and we are on full -on despair

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Then we're not believing correctly Belief and being troubled or being at peace are often related

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It's recorded five times. Jesus tells them you of little faith. He says why do you doubt?

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On the road to Emmaus he sees the unbelief and hopelessness of these two disciples who were disillusioned after Christ's death

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They couldn't recognize him yet after his resurrection and Jesus sees their despair and says

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Oh foolish men and Slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken

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This shows us That being troubled is related to our belief in God Being troubled is related to your belief in God, and I'm not saying that if we're troubled we don't believe in him

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And our salvation is gone and all is ruined. That's not what I'm trying to say What I'm saying is when we are troubled and we are not when we are troubled

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We are not actively believing or we're not exercising faith the way that he called us to We can look at Jesus's words and think come on Surely you can assuage these despairing disciples better than this.

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He merely commands them Do not be troubled Believe in God believe in me and that's supposed to do the trick.

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Yes, it is It is He says believe in God believe in him and the reality is

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Every wrong action or desire is Accompanied with a wrong belief about God or his word.

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Okay. Let me say that again Every wrong action or desire is accompanied with a wrong belief about God or his word

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We must fill ourselves with belief when we are troubled we must correct wrong beliefs when we are troubled

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Because when we're living in what -if land Who else goes to what -if land every once in a while We all go to what -if land sometimes

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When we go to what -if land We're not operating on the line of what is true and real

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What is true and real and so if you're worrying about tomorrow a lot if you're living in what -if land a lot

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Then you've got to ask yourself what is true and real and what's real is what's actually happening what's actually happening right now and Often telling yourself what is real is also telling yourself.

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What is not happening yet? This has not happened yet This is what actually is at this moment

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Okay, and the other thing is in that moment. You've got to tell yourself what is true.

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What is truth? It's the Bible. It's the Word of God. You've got to speak truth into a situation

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Because often when we veer off the line of what is true and real we create a branch

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It's a maybe in Marvel Multi -universe you create this branch this ripple away from what is true and real

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What is actually happening and what God has said and you go off? Into this branch and we start to believe the branch over believing.

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What's rather true and real does that make sense? and so That's What happens when we're troubled?

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That's what happens When we don't believe God when we don't believe his word

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It makes us believe something God has not done and something. He has not said so tell yourself of course it of course this is this is

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What is really happening now, and this is what God has said notice too that there are proper objects to this belief

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There are proper objects to this belief. He doesn't say don't let your heart be troubled and believe in good things

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He says believe in God believe in me Because just belief in general won't do what it needs to do

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He's narrowing in on who alone can aid humanity and in whom we can find rescue from our sin and That exclusivity will especially peak in verse 6 as you'll see

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Because trouble doesn't go away with drugs Trouble doesn't go away with alcohol trouble doesn't go away with a better career

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Trouble doesn't go away with having many sexual partners trouble doesn't go away by having the best and most hobbies

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Trouble doesn't go away For those especially who transition their sex and mutilate themselves or have same -sex partners in fact their trouble compounds

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Trouble doesn't go away with Satan with Buddha with Joseph Smith Islam Judaism Charles tails

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Russell evolution right prosperity gospel preachers atheism, whatever fill in the box

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Trouble only goes away when we believe the only God and his only Son Belief has a particular object and nowhere or in no one else.

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Can you find this? Not one And so if you are troubled

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Church, you need to look at God again You need to look at God again. You need to look at who he is again

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You need to look at his attributes. You need to study His attributes he is personal.

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He is real He exists. He is sovereign. He is all -powerful. He's all -knowing. He is love.

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He's justice. He's holiness He's caring he's all of it and so often we believe what's in front of us instead of believing

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Instead of what is real and what is true, which is what this says about him and this

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God has a dwelling he has a kingdom and This is radical because part of what should cause us and the disciples to not be troubled is what

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Jesus says in verse 2 go There verse 2. He says in my father's house are

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Many dwelling places if it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you

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This separation from Jesus was a substantial concern for the disciples

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The absence of Jesus is a cause for grief in them right now. Will Jesus go to a place that they can't follow?

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Does he consider the disciples does he consider you and me after his ascension and The answer is he does he absolutely does

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Jesus doesn't go to a heavenly realm in which it's only himself and his father and the angels there is room for many many more

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The King James Version Translates mon I as mansions in my father's house

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There are many mansions So some think that there are varying degrees of houses and land given to the

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Saints Some will get larger and grander while some will receive more smaller and meager living quarters

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But I don't think that these are necessarily separate dwellings this is in the father's house and rooms

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It might be the better translation than mansions or dwelling places This is a place which one dwells or makes their abode and the root word here is may know

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Which is to remain or abide? So there are many rooms to remain in where Jesus is going.

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There's plenty of room Now, of course the father's house could be analogous for a vast domain

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Of course, and the rooms could be simply pointing to inhabiting that domain of course

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But Jesus's point isn't about what we will get or where we will live

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It's about who we will be with and it's with him

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It's with him and there's plenty of room This is this was at least a real concern in the ancient times

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Not many had the space to house 11 men and their families It's not like today at least where I'm from in,

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Utah There's these new houses being built and they're like all 4 ,000 square feet starting. It's unreal for these big families and That's that wasn't the case here in history, of course

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But not only is there enough space for Jesus There's enough space for the disciples and there's enough space for us in fact

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There's enough space for the billions and billions of Christians. God has called to himself throughout time

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The son had nowhere to lay his head We've seen that He had nowhere to lay his head in his earthly ministry at his at his birth

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Maybe you read Luke chapter 2 over the holidays And you saw that there was nowhere to lay his head even as a baby

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There was no room for him in the inn Jesus experienced having no dwelling so that you and I would have one forever

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That's the truth. If there were not many dwelling places

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He would have told us if heaven couldn't hold us. He wouldn't have deceived us This assures us that he's speaking the truth.

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This is no empty promise Not a one Not only will he die upon the cross for us, but afterwards he will go to prepare a place for us place is a tapas in the

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Greek That's where we get the word topography and this is an area of any size possibly

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It's often referred to a large city or a village. I can imagine that the heavenly tapas is huge huge Now in this high inflation world many of us want our own homes

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That's what's going on right now I hear it a lot in my church I'm sure you might hear it a lot in your church.

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Many people are worried They're never gonna get a house of their own. They're never going to be able to afford one

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They're never gonna be able to own one Maybe you've seen that yourself It's not bad to own a home it's not bad to want those things

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Barring it doesn't go into idolatry But there's two things that we must continue to keep in our hearts with this number one as I said

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Even Jesus the Lord of glory had nowhere to lay his head while on earth

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If that was good enough for Jesus Isn't that good enough for us? and number two

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He is gone to prepare a place for us so that we can be with him and That's what it is.

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That's what it's all about The consolation that Jesus is giving the disciples is not that they will finally get all that they feel

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They've deserved from birth. What will we get? What will we have? What will we possess?

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It's not that they and we will finally become homeowners, although that might be the case in heaven

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What is to make them and us feel encouraged is that where Jesus is is where we will go?

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And there's plenty of room for us there That's the promise Being with Jesus is the goal not the dwelling place

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You see what makes heaven heaven is that Jesus is there is that God is there

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Being away from the presence of God is hell John Calvin says in a word

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Christ did not ascend to heaven in a private capacity to dwell there alone but rather that it might be the common inheritance of all the godly and That in this way the head might be united to his members

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Now if you go to verse 3 Preparing a place for us isn't the only promise look at this

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If I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am

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There you may be also Now if you've looked at scripture before this is not unlike the promise of a bridegroom towards his bride in Jewish culture when a man became betrothed or engaged to a woman he would often go and Build a dwelling that was attached to his father's house.

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So they too could start a family of their own and The bride -to -be would wait for when he was done and the wedding ceremony would then begin

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Jesus often uses this sort of language in his parables He speaks of a ceremony in the in the

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Gospels, especially where there will be ten virgins Waiting for the bridegroom waiting for his call

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To bring the assembly together and John chapter 2 at the wedding in Cana What we find is that Jesus is the eternal bridegroom

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John the Baptist said in his I must Decrease while Christ increased speech.

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He said that he was simply a friend of the bridegroom The bride

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John said is not for him But for Christ that he's only helping the bridegroom

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John the Baptist says I'm the best man The bridegroom is someone else Paul says in Ephesians chapter 5 that marriage is a picture of Christ and his church.

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He is head over her and gave himself up for her And then Revelation 19 shows the marriage of the

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Lamb and his bride right all this to say since Christ is our divine bridegroom and you and I as well as the

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Disciples are part of the bride then there is no doubt to whether he or not

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He will prepare a place for you and I it is certain We are part of the bride.

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He is the bridegroom. He will make good on this promise. It is absolute

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Now what does this mean though when he says he will come again What does it mean when he says he will come again?

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Well in the gospel according to John there are several ways that Jesus uses the language of coming back and being with the disciples

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It happens in various places at various times and in different contexts in John Sometimes Jesus is referring to his coming after the resurrection

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Right after the resurrection 40 days he walks upon the earth and he shows himself reveals himself to many people and Sometimes he's talking about that sometimes

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Jesus is referring to coming to them by the Spirit after he has ascended into glory and sometimes

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This language of him coming again is at the end of all things at the final resurrection

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I Think the word may know or remain with Christ Indicates that this might be his second coming

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But I will say this this particular promise of the second coming isn't meant to describe the elements of the end of times

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Or how the cosmos has changed his promise of his coming is meant to be a comfort in this context

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He will return He will come again and his coming shouldn't scare us

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It should relieve us This coming coincides with John chapter 5

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With the promises of a resurrection and a final judgment This is a new state a new beginning the heavenly and earthly kingdoms becoming one

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But does this mean that the disciples and all the others who have died in Christ are not with him now

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Of course not Not at all. They are indeed with him now

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Their bodies are still here though Their bodies have remained here. He will come

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The trumpet will sound Christ his booming authoritative voice will will sound and he'll say rise and all the dead

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Will rise and his voice will be so powerful That those who are still living on the earth will rise in the middle of the air.

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That's what's incredible All the dead will rise all the particles of those who have been

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Burned or lost at sea or even those who have gone to space

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Everyone everyone will reconstitute and they will rise

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It's this already and not yet principle he's with us now and yet there's a future element to this promise

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And I love this phrase He says that where I am you may also be

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There's so many promises wrapped up in this sort of thing you see If you have been alone for most of your life, you will not be alone in the next

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If you have been moving church from place to place Never able to settle anywhere for any given amount of time

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You will have a place prepared for you if people in your life have walked out on you

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If people have deserted you if you've been abandoned before Jesus has not and will not

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That's part of this promise No, you do not see him now. He loves you

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While he is away. He will consider you and I He is our intercessor.

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He is our mediator. He cares for us and he's coming again You know, there's something comforting about someone who says

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I'm leaving and they leave for a short time and they said this is the day. I'll be back This is when

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I'm coming home Maybe someone's even going for a short errand and they said I'll be back at this time and there's something comforting about that, right?

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You know, there's the kind of man who fights for his country and he's worlds away fighting as a soldier and his wife knows at home when his trip has ended and when he will return and She looks forward to that day and she keeps going day by day with the kids knowing he will return

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He'll he'll come back to me. She believes it. She hopes for it every day. She prays for it every day.

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He will return And this is similar for us with Jesus except in the examples that I gave

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Of an errand or someone at war or a business trip or something like that in our situation

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There are no variables in Those situations there are variables that are out of our control and things that can change the outcome of someone's return

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What is so comforting is nothing Nothing can keep Jesus from coming back to us

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Nothing will keep him from returning to us and bringing us to himself.

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Not a thing He made the promise and he'll keep it

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He says he will receive us to himself This is personal This is intimate

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He's coming to us and we're going to him and it's all at once It's not that he will receive us to the dwelling

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But that he will receive us to himself This is very personal

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We're going to Jesus I'm going to heaven

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But ultimately I'm going to Jesus I'm going to be with God. That's what we say

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You see imagine Having a family member or a friend who you haven't seen for years.

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Let's just say you haven't seen someone in many many years and Finally, you've made this this trip and you're going to visit this family member whom you have not seen in many years

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You miss them so terribly They long for you and you arrive to the house and this loved one opens the door

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You walk in and You go nice dwelling place. What do

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I get? Where do I get to go? Where do I sleep? That's not what we do, right?

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If we haven't seen someone in a long time someone whom we love they open the door and we'd run into their arms and tears

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Are going down our faces and we love them. It's them. It's not the dwelling place It's the one who dwells there and we want to be with them

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That's the image that we should see here We're excited for heaven not for heaven's sake but for our

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Savior who awaits us and the picture is beautiful You see

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I don't know about you, but I don't want to dwell in a place that does not have Christ Christ is the treasure

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Christ is the treasure of heaven You know we serve in a

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Mormon context in the state of Utah and there are these multiple levels of heaven

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There's exaltation. There's multiple types of what they mean by salvation and making it to the celestial level you have terrestrial and celestial and These will be great

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They say if you could see these lower levels you would kill yourself and want to go there now

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You know why I don't want to be in a place where God is not I don't want a lower level

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Jesus is the treasure of heaven is he not That's what it's about So go to verses four and five

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Jesus says and you know the way where I am going, you know the way where I'm going then verse five

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Thomas the Apostle speaks up Lord we do not know where you are going.

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How do we know the way? Jesus is speaking has been speaking about how it is his time to leave soon

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Where he's going they cannot join him now But Thomas says how can we know the way to go when we don't even know where you're going

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These men feel lost more than ever before It seems

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Thomas and the disciples have not come to an understanding that he is truly going to his father's house

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They thought the Messiah was gonna rule with an amazing army and destroy the foreign oppressors and occupiers

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How would the Messiah come and build all these followers

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Only to lose the majority of them and then die on a cross and go back to his father's house

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That's what's going on in their mind, how is this possible? How do we know?

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Where to go? How do we get there? Why would you leave so soon? Thomas and the

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Apostles are confused. And so at this moment Jesus makes one of the most divinely powerful statements that he's made in this gospel

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It's one of the most important and glorious statements in all of sacred scripture

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John chapter 14 verse 6 Jesus said to him I Am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father, but through me

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Amazing amazing statement This is one of Jesus is very much intentional.

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I am statements a go a me Yahweh in the

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Hebrew the name of God This is so unbelievably powerful.

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There's so much to unpack in this sort of verse and The first thing we see is

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I am This is a claim to deity We've been going through the gospel according to John for over a year now

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And we we continue to see that John is trying to demonstrate all that he argued in the prologue in chapter 1

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You know John especially verses 1 2 & 3 John has an agenda

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Absolutely. He'll give you the history of Jesus Christ But he wants you to know that Jesus is the

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Word and Jesus was with God and was God and the rest of all of John is expounding on those things

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Here it is. These are the claims and here's the evidence in the rest of John Jesus is

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God And he's not just a God or a mode of God that's heresy but the

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God This verse is just one of a plethora of verses showing

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God is a Trinity you see a mere man or an angel or a demigod or Whatever can't make the kind of promises that Jesus has made

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With this without this divine capacity or authority They could not

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He has the power to do so and he is God's gracious and greatest manifestation to mankind he is the promise of God in the

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Old Testament in the flesh and Think there are so many promises that God makes in the

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Old Testament and often He ends those promises he ends those statements of what he will do with I Am he thus says the

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Lord? I am he I am And so Jesus does the same thing

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Jesus solidifies his promises with his very being Because he is

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God he cannot lie and his word is bonded to that he won't fail us and Saying I am also puts who he is in this verse in concrete it solidifies it meaning

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Because of this he is not just a way He is not just a truth

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He is not just a life He is divinely

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The way the truth and then the life the only one

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So the second thing we need to look at is the way the way

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Previously Jesus said I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world.

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I am the door I am the Good Shepherd I am the resurrection and the life and now this

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Jesus is the way or the road to the new promised land the eternal one

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I See many times in the Old Testament God Called his people to walk in his ways

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Not to turn aside to other ways nor to the right nor to the left to follow the way of God and That's the cry of the psalmist in Psalm chapter 5 verse 8.

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Oh Lord make your way straight before me the way of the wicked shall perish

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The way is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible That the righteous must keep the right way

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There has been a problem though for multiple millennia Psalm 119 verse 9 how can a man keep his way pure?

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How can a man keep his way pure you see there are ways down to Sheol there are ways down to death

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Ways to the adulterous there are the paths of evil there.

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There's the unstable way of folly There's the way of the lazy the way of the treacherous

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You guys have been going through Proverbs Proverbs chapter 5 verse 10 Grievous punishment is for him who forsakes the way

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Grievous punishment is for him who forsakes the way and that's the thing Paul says in Romans chapter 3 all have turned aside from the way

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Destruction and misery are in their paths and his argument is it's not simply

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Jews. It's also Gentiles it's all of us the wrong way

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Has affected every single person since the fall of man Genesis chapter 3 verse 24,

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I'll read it to you So God drove the man out and At the east of the

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Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard what the way?

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To guard the way to the Tree of Life Guard the way to the

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Tree of Life And so what Jesus is saying is he is exclusively the way back to the

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Tree of Life He's the route he's the road

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But he's also the way as in the vehicle that takes us back there Jesus is not just showing us on a map how to get to the

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Father's house He is the way that we get back to the Father's house it's like a bridge a

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Bridge is a road in a sense But it also keeps you up from from falling and dying a horrible death hundreds of feet of what's below you he is the way and Every other way leads you astray.

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Every other way is a dead end physically and spiritually Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18 says for through him we both have our access in one spirit

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To the Father he is our access He is the way Christ is not merely one more way among many

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He is what? The only way he is the only way now the third thing about this statement is that he is the truth the truth

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This might remind you of the prologue of John John chapter 1 verse 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory glory as of the only begotten from the

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Father full of grace and truth truth So how is

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Jesus the truth? I'm gonna give you multiple ways that Jesus is the truth first Truth is a divine attribute of God the only one who can give absolute truth

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The one whom absolute truth flows from is God alone. It's God Everything that truly is and should be all that is right all that is opposite of falsehood is what

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Jesus is that's his nature and John chapter 8

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Jesus said the devil does not stand in the truth as there is no truth in him and When he speaks he can only speak lies because lies are the devil's very nature

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He is a liar and the father of lies And so Jesus in that sense is so very opposite of the devil, okay

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Next Jesus is the truth in his teachings Everything Jesus says and does is truth

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Especially when he starts out the phrase truly truly I say to you This is his sort of formula in the

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Gospels to say thus saith the Lord. This has a 100 % veracity Truly truly

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I say to you listen to the words of God He's truly authoritative and Flies in the face of those who say that there are different truths

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We live in this relative world There are many truths you have one

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I have one but we know and I know your elders have taught you here very well as they've taught me by definition if a is true and B goes against a then

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B is false and the other way around as well and so We can then make the statement here it is

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Jesus is the truth while no one else is He is the truth

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While no one else is he is the source of all truth We can trust that all that Jesus said in Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

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Paul tells us in Titus chapter 1 not to pay attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth

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He says the knowledge of truth is to know Christ and his teachings The next way

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Jesus is the truth is in his identity He is who he says he is He's totally divine and he's totally human.

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He is the Christ He is the Messiah and he couldn't be the truth if he wasn't

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He is the one who has been promised to come back All the way from creation in Genesis 3 15

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His affirmations of messianic identity the heavenly endorsements of the father

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Especially when the father spoke audibly from heaven the I am statements his living out prophecy in real time

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His work on the cross his resurrection and ascension all of these things

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Confirm his identity as the truth And therefore what you and I need to know is that God cannot lie

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He cannot lie. He would not be God if he could And Jesus cannot lie either for that reason numbers 23 19.

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God is not a man that he should lie Nor a son of man that he should repent Has he said and will he not do it or has he spoken and will he not make it good?

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God honors his word In fact Hebrews chapter 6 verse 18 says that it is an it is impossible for God to lie scripture confirms that and This goes with the last way that he is the truth

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He is the truth in that his role is Savior the truth conquers death the truth conquers falsehood

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Because truth is more than just facts church It's more than just facts truth

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Is not something that we act upon simply truth acts upon us

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We can't change truth But truth can change us And that's what

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Jesus does He changes your eternal destiny. He changes your heart. He changes your desires

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He changes everything for us. And so as Savior he made promises to justify us adopt us

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Sanctify us to glorify us to bring us into his presence once again And because he is not merely man because he is

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God and he cannot lie. He's telling you the truth And all these things will indeed happen.

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And so we've talked about how he is the I am He's the way He's the truth and the fourth thing is he's the life

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He's the life Once again the prologue if you want to turn there with me go to John chapter 1 real quickly

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John chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 in The beginning was the

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Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God All things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being in him was

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Life and the life was the light of men What a gloriously

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Exhaustive assertion all things Panta Pass all things. That means every all

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The totality the whole the all of the mass of the object or collective all things

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Agonetto all things were created through him by him everything the totality of all things that were created every single thing that is

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Living or made that would have creature or creation Title ascribed to it everything that required

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God to produce or make it came into being through the

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Son of God the Word everything So, you know what that means that that means in John chapter 1 right here that in the category of uncreated and created if Jesus created all things

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Then he is outside of the all thing category. He is uncreated.

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He must be uncreated He must be the life to create

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If all things were created by him and through him He was not created

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He is the life In him was life forever and ever from eternity and into eternity in him is life

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He will always be life Both the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit share the cell the the same

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Self -existing life in him was life and light They are in him and They did not need to be given to him.

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They weren't applied to him The Father didn't come to Jesus and said for your special ministry for your special mission

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I'm gonna give you the power of life. That's not what he did. He is the life He is outside of all things that did not have life

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This is his self existent nature Where does life begin?

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Where does it originate? from God and In him was life

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You see when God breathed the breath of life into Adam from the dust it happened because Jesus is the life

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He didn't become the life Genesis 1 is about Jesus Christ He was there he's the light and life of all men

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He is also the life in that he takes people who according to the word have all died in Adam who are dead in their trespasses and sins who are like corpses in the valley of dry bones and By him men and women and children are born again

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See throughout the New Testament Salvation is likened to what new life life

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Our new life is hidden with Christ and God we are new creatures in Christ and So the

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Creator has struck again Genesis 1 Jesus created now

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John 1 says he recreated He made us new and then he produces for us eternal life

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What kind of mere man can grant eternal life? none But Jesus who is the life can give creative life

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New spiritual life, and he can give eternal life See that those three categories

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Jesus gives creative life new spiritual life, and he gives eternal life. He is the life

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He is the life forever life never -ending life

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And that power is in his capabilities and he exercises it as he sees fit

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Revelation 22 1 through 2 says Then he showed me a river of the water of life clear as crystal

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And he was coming from the throne of God and of the lamb in the middle of the street on either side of the river

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Was the tree of life? Bearing 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit every month and the tree the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation's

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You see that from the throne of God from the lamb

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Who is the Christ? flows a river and water of life life surrounded on each side of that river of life by trees of life and It goes on to say that there will no longer be any curse

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That death will be over. It will be completely cast away You and I will dwell with God only in and only in forever no life

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You and I will dwell with God and we will only in forever no life from that point forward we will know life and We will know the life to the fullest

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And that's what's coming That's part of the promise here in John chapter 14 you see so many people just skip down to verse 6 and show the

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Exclusivity to Jesus Christ, but it's more than that It's about what he's bringing those who exclusively belong to him, too

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And so let's wrap this up church in many ways

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The psalmist represents you and I He represents humanity

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Longing and waiting for God to act he represents you and I and I specifically had

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Jerry read from Psalm 43 today and if it's still in your mind think about it

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Psalm 43 the psalmist cries out to God and He says this

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Oh Send out your light and your truth let them lead me

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Let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling place And so I find that this goes perfectly with our passage today

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Send out your light What is Jesus called? He's called the light in the life of men.

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He's called the light of the world The psalmist then says send out your truth.

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Oh God Who is the truth? It's Jesus And then the psalmist says and let them lead me.

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What is one led on? They're led on a way. They're led on a road

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They're led on a path Let your light and your truth lead me on the way

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Oh God That's what the psalmist cries to our Lord and to where Psalm 43 continues.

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Oh God to your dwelling place Where you are? to you

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And so what did Jesus promise at the beginning of our passage today? Do not let your heart be troubled

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Believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many dwelling places

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If it were not so I would have told you for I go to prepare a place for you

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Church, I submit to you that the psalmist prayer in Psalm 43 was answered in Jesus Christ He was answered in the one who is the way and the truth and the life

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It was answered in Christ and no one Not a single person comes to the father or to the father's house, but through him him alone

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There is salvation in no one else There is no other name in heaven or on earth that we can call upon to save our souls except the

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Lord Jesus Christ And so I suppose What I want you to remember today church is your life

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Has already changed for the better right now right now if Christ has saved you

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You're already new You're already alive But the amazing thing is is the promises go beyond this

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Jesus will bring you to his dwelling place that he has prepared for you so you know what that means a

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Casket isn't your home a grave isn't your destination Blackness is not your reality

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Hades is not your residence a Place in the father's house is ready for you.

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Do you believe this? We need not fear death any longer

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It's been prepared for us And it's amazing the

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God of the universe will let you dwell with him unbelievable Unimaginable, it's not a short stay.

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It's not a weekend trip It is a place where we will remain forever and ever and ever and live forever and not even

01:04:53

Physical death can keep you from this and so fear death no longer church

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You know where you're going? You know how to get there and you know who is waiting for you you see

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It's like a single word in a large book

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Single word of transition is Like our physical death but so many

01:05:25

Millions of words are the rest of your life prior and the rest of your life after Just a single word of transition compared to the millions of words that are left in the book of your life

01:05:39

So don't devote more time to death than Jesus did

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Put every focus on where you're going and who you're going to And so now, you know

01:05:54

You don't have to be lost You know where to go, you know how to get there.

01:05:59

You don't need to let your heart be troubled You simply need to remember these things when you're troubled again in the 1400s a devotional book

01:06:10

Was written and many believe it was anonymously penned while others believe that it was written by a man named

01:06:19

Thomas a campus and I think honestly that whoever wrote it wouldn't really care if their name was remembered

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They would want its content remembered and I will close out the sermon reading this to you now

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This is from the perspective of Jesus Christ. It says this Follow thou me.

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I Am the way and the truth and the life without the way

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There is no going without the truth There is no knowing

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Without the life there is no living. I Am the way which thou must follow the truth which thou must believe the life for which thou must hope

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I Am the unbreakable way the infallible truth the never -ending life

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I am the straight way the sovereign truth life true life blessed life uncreated

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Church Jesus is the way to the Father's house Let's pray

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Lord We praise you We ask that you would forgive us

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Lord for often not believing this For often letting The troubles of the world blind us from your promises

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Not believing Lord what you have said You told us though Lord that we need not be troubled but believe you believe

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God and Therefore believe your word and so Lord I pray for your people today

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That whatever ails them that whatever causes them to worry that whatever causes them to stumble they would remember what you've said here

01:08:11

I pray Lord That we would not have morbid thoughts and yet we would still have a longing for heaven

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We would have a longing for what's coming. So please put that in our hearts Lord and God I pray today that if anyone here

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Didn't know the way if anyone watching didn't know the way and the truth in life today

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Lord. They would know and You would reveal yourself to them Lord and you would show them

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God Where they can go to find rest and peace and be with you for all eternity

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Because Jesus You are our treasure You are what we want and we'll take nothing less than being with our

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Savior We love you Lord We pray this in the mighty name of your son Jesus Christ.