Invitation to an Untroubled Heart - John 14:1-11 Cody Harlow

It's e for e test are you guys about ready all right hey I'll give you a queue I'm gonna do a quick welcome and be good to well good morning everyone Merry Christmas oh that was weak Merry Christmas Merry Christmas hey there we go it's good to see each and every single one of you here on this wonderful Lord's day this is my Christmas present to you have a preacher wearing a suit today so yeah last for one week just so you know hey praise the Lord we've got a baptism to celebrate today and so and so actually if you open up your bulletin you'll see a little about me about Mitchell Hollingsworth who is going to be participating in one of these ordinances we celebr at two ordinances as baptism as Baptists the first one is baptism and the second one of course is communion and so these are important for us to remember and today just want to invite Dale into U our Waters as he baptizes his grandson welcome him into the Baptist [Applause] room good morning church good morning I'm just a little bit excited this morning I know it's Christmas but even better than Christmas I get to baptize my grandson so I want to introduce to you Rachel hollingworth this is Mitchell and he's mom and his mom and dad Melissa and Brad Hollingsworth are here today and we're just excited to see what God's going to do and is doing in Mitchell's life and what he's got planned for him in the

Future Pastor said this morning as we were praying that this our prayer is that this is just the first step of obedience many things yet to come and pray for Mitchell as he continues to follow his Lord my distinct joy and pleasure Mitchell to baptize you do you know that Jesus is your Lord yes do you know that Jesus is the son of God yes do you know that you were a sinner yes do you know that he is your Lord and Savior yes with that profession I baptize you my brother my grandson in the name of Jesus and praise the Lord for a good Sunday amen am hey a couple of things real quick just so you know if we start up a new series starting on January 7th we're going to be going through the Gospel of Mark and so if you have not picked up one of the Scripture journals that's available at each one of the entrances be sure to get one of those if you don't get one and they're gone then they're gone we're not going to be ordering any more of those and so be sure to grab one write it down I know many of you've got your own commentaries on the book of Ephesians on the book of Exodus on the book of First Timothy on the book of first Peter on Daniel all these different things well now you get to have one on Mark and so grab one of those that's our gift to you as a church because we want you to be equipped and empowered to know the Lord better let's see here this night Christmas Eve night we've got our service at five o'clock be sure to invite your friends your neighbors there'll be our candlelight service looking forward to that it's going to be a great time very simple great special music great carols and a short sermon this evening so there you go praise the Lord another Christmas miracle so and the office will be closed tomorrow and

On Tuesday so that way we can observe Christmas with our families so church I love you so much why don't you to just find a neighbor say Merry Christmas and welcome to First Baptist Church see need w yeah we're doing good e well good morning church it's good to be with you this Christmas Eve morning at this point it's the time of our service where we like to just take a moment and prepare our hearts and our minds for worship and as you can clearly tell it's Family Worship Sunday so we've got all our kiddos in here with us today and so with that Dads Moms families I'd encourage you to pray with one another and over one another if that's something you feel led to do this morning and but I invite you all just to close your eyes bow your heads and ask the Lord to prepare you for worship today e Lord we come before you this morning and we ask that you would prepare us for worship God remind us of who you are and what you've done remind us of your holy word of the accounts that you have given us that we might know you Lord remind us of those things that you've done in our own lives the paths that you've set before us the work that you've invited us into of sharing your Gospel Lord remind us of that and help us to rejoice it God I pray that you would help us not to be distracted this morning by our own agendas as we are preparing for Christmas celebrations I ask that you would help us to not be distracted by maybe some sort some anger that we might be harboring today Lord help us to give

It up to you God help us instead to focus on you and to worship you because you're worthy it's in Jesus name we pray amen I'd like to read to us a verse that I'm sure you know John 3:16 Says this for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him this is the child that we worship at the Christmas season I'd invite you to stand and join us as we sing this morning there it is come on you we come on you thirsty come to the well that never runs dry drink of the water come and thirst no Come All You sin come find his Mercy come to the table he will satisfy Taste of his good find what you're looking for God so loved the world that he gave us his one and only son to save us whoever believes in him will live [Music] forever bring all your failures bring your addictions come lay them down at the foot of the cross Jesus is waiting there with open arm for God so Lov the world that he gave us his one and only son to save us whoever believes in him will live forever the power of heav for deated now it is God L God so loved the [Music] world praise God praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him praise him for the wonders of his love praise God praise God from whom all blessings flow praise him praise him for the wonders of his love for God so loved the world that he

Gave us his one and only son to save us whoever believes in him will live forever the power of Hell forever defeated now it is well I'm walking in Freedom for God so Lov God so love the [Music] world bring all your failures bring your addictions come lay them down at the foot of the cross Jesus is waiting God so L the [Music] world what a great God we serve I'd invite you to be seated as Nancy mcken and nandes bogart come forward to read our Advent candle reading we light the first candles of the Advent wreath the candles of Hope peace and joy today we light the fourth candle of Advent this is a candle of love Jesus demonstrated self-giving love in his ministry as a Good Shepherd Advent is a time for kindness thinking of others and sharing because of the great love that we remember during this time each year it is a time to love others as God Loved Us by giving us his most precious gift in the book of Deuteronomy we find these words for the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords the great the mighty and the awesome God who is not partial and takes no bribe he executes Justice for the fatherless and the Widow and loves the Sojourner giving him food and clothing love the sojer therefore for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt from the Gospel of John we hear a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you also are to love one another by this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another let us pray teach us to love O Lord may we always remember to follow in Christ's footsteps so that we may know your love and show it in our lives as we prepare for our celebration of Jesus's birth also fill our hearts with love for the

World that all may know your love and the one whom you have sent your son Our Savior amen now we'd like to invite our ushers forward good morning church family Merry Christmas Eve and we'll just bow our heads in prayer and let's just thank God for this opportunity to give back a little portion of what he's given us Heavenly Father we thank you for today Lord we thank you for you being the creator of the heavens and the Earth Lord that you loved us so much that you made us in your image Lord we thank you for this time of the opportunity to show our obedience to you on our tithe and offering back to you Lord we just ask you let that multiply and go forth and show the world the glory and your majesty Lord we ask this in your precious son's name amen Jesus sorry about that [Music] long expected Jesus born to set thy people free from our Fe and sins release us let us find our rest in the isra strength and Cal consol hope of all the Earth Thou Art de desire of every nation Joy of every longing [Music] heart born by people to deliver born a child and yet King born to re in us forever now thy gracious kingom bring by thy own Eternal spir rule in all our hearts Alone by thine all sufficient marage raise us to thy Glory glorious [Music] Throne Angels We Have Heard On High Sweet singing The Plains and the mountains in reply echoing their joy as [Music]

Str shall [Music] glor [Music] shall shephers why this JW why your joy prolong what the Glad Tidings be which Inspire your heavenly song [Music] glor shall glor in and shall [Music] St Come to Bethlehem and seeth the Angels Sing Adore uned Me Christ the Lord the newn [Music] king next shall CE St [Music] GL see him in a Manger whom the choirs of angels praise Mary Joseph your while our hearts in love we raise [Music] glor he shall [Music] day [Music] shall you may be seated at this time because it's a family worship Sunday we have our time for Family Worship and so some questions have been asked of me recently like why do we do this so I thought I'd give you a little bit of an explanation of what we're doing here this is an opportunity for parents to just have spiritual conversations with your kids here's the thing that's not normal today I don't know if it was ever really normal but for parents to sit down and have spiritual conversations with their kids is something that we so often miss it's a but we also believe that it's an integral integral part of Christian Living and so this is an

Opportunity for you if you are a seasoned veteran in this it's an opportunity for you to do it again if you're a novice in this is an opportunity for you to start having those conversations but that's not the only thing that we doing here you see it's also a time for Christian Fellowship so maybe for those of you who don't have kids here or your kids are teenagers and don't want to sit near you anymore this is an opportunity for you to go make connections with those that you know maybe it's a good opportunity to make some connections this morning with those that you don't know and have spiritual conversations about who the Lord is and who we're worshiping this morning with one another so at this point I'd like to invite you to do that if you need to get up and move around you're more than welcome to and we'll give you a few minutes to have these conversations [Music] now we're going to close with another classic Christmas Carol What Child Is This and kiddos this is one of those carols that you may say oh I don't know those words so I'm not going to pay attention but here I'm going to give you the short version of it okay we're singing who is this baby you got it I don't know where it came from but you got it you're paying attention yeah we're singing who is this baby and we're going to answer that question in the song too this is Christ the Lord and we're going to sing about the things that he did here on Earth and the things the promises that he has made us the hope of Eternal salvation that we have in him so I'd invite you to stand one last time as we sing together What Child Is This What Child Is This who laid to rest on Mer's lap is sleeping whom Angels greet with Anthem

Sweet while sheers walk are keeping this is Christ the King whom sheers guard and Angels Sing H haste to bring him Lord the bab the son of Mary why lies he in such mean aate where o and lamb are [Music] feeding good chrisan fear for siners here the silent word is bading na fear shall him through the cross be born for me for you hail the word made flesh the bab the son of Mary so bring him in gold and Mer comp King to all him the king of King salv brings let loveing heart and Throne him ra the song on high the Virgin sings her L joy for Christ is born the son of [Music] Mary Lord I pray that you would help us to sing of this Christ child to Proclaim that he has come for us through this Christmas season and Lord even as tomorrow morning comes and goes and we open presents and do our family celebrations Lord I pray that we would continue to sing these Praises that we would continue to tell the world of the Christ that came for us sinners to reconcile us unto you God I pray that this Christmas season would be a reminder of who you are and what you've done and it's in Jesus name we pray amen okay children it's time for children Story Time gather around curious to see if there's as many as there were last time all right well who's excited for Christmas yeah I know me too it's so exciting especially Christmas Eve you

Know I go home and you get to look at the Christmas presents one last time before you go to bed and how many of you guys look at your Christmas presents and you think H that big one that's going to be a good one right okay so I have a little illustration here for you guys if I told you I got a gift for all of you and one of these two boxes or bags or whatever which one would you guys pick this one the Box most of you picking the Box some of you guys are beg why would you pick the box it's h it's big it's big it's got locks on it small presents there just more oh maybe we don't know why would you pick the bag I feel suspicious it's because you know if there's just like one little bread crumb in there and then in the bag is more so you think I'm playing a trick on you oh okay well guys this is a really common thing amongst humans we do this all the time we think that more valuable gifts or items are always come in bigger and better boxes okay right bigger is better right we're we're told this all the time and you know what it's not really any different than what the Jews believed about the coming of the Messiah when the when Jesus was born a lot of them believed that the Messiah was going to be this great great leader this conqueror of Rome someone who would be a military man and be led by a procession of an army you know coming into a great grand city you know clothed with robes and surrounded by crowds of cheering people okay that's what they thought but God had a different way God does not do things the way that humans do things his ways are better you know your mom and dad probably love you and your grandma and your grandparents love you very much and they probably give you guys good gifts but you know what your parents your parents are also Sinners okay and they

Still give you good gifts you know Jesus says he said this that our you know our parents they love us they give us good gifts but they have sined how much better is a gift that comes from our heavenly father who is perfect right so how did God do this well in instead of sending a great military leader he sent us a little baby wrapped not in a robe but in swaddling clothes okay not led by a procession of armies but in a stanky manger surrounded by animals okay not in a great big city but in kind of in a forgotten little town called Bethlehem okay God did it this way and yet this little baby would grow up and he would perform many miracles he would heal sick people and raise the dead he then would go to the cross and he would die because of my sin and because of your sin after his death he would raise from the dead and Ascend into heaven where he now has authority over all of Heaven over all of Earth and not only now is he just the king over this little group in Israel he now is the king of kings over the whole earth is God's way better than man's way yes it sure is and you know what guys we need help we need help to see this we need help to see God's ways because our bodies Our flesh our mindset is always deceived and wants to always hold on to our own ways so let's pray and ask God for help dear heavenly father we thank you so much for these children Lord we thank you for this time and we thank you for sending Jesus to be born in this way in your way Lord give us eyes to see it give us Hearts to receive it pray these things in Jesus name amen okay who's who is curious to know what's in here okay I need someone who knows how to read to come up here can you what's inside what does it say the only thing

The only thing G guaranteed in this world is death and taxes that's right okay I got something here for you guys so you guys come grab this what's in here Wyatt what gold yeah that's right gold they're chocolate it's chocolate gold so mom and dad you it's up to you guys to let them have this if you want even better okay all right grab one just grab one and then go sit [Music] down that I play a you guys get one well now that our kids are all good and sugared up just kidding if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to the Book of John we're going to be back in the Book of John chap 14 verses 1- 11 we are looking at we are learning today about the invitation to an untroubled heart and it's easy it's really easy in our rapidly polarizing world to get upset about literally anything isn't it I was I was talking with someone and you know I was talking about one of my favorite things to eat after Thanksgiving is just a simple turkey sandwich you know I mean it's just doesn't get much better than that I'm a Mayo guy okay some of you might go gross whatever you know but immediately someone piped up they were like well that's disgusting I'm a ham person I'm like I didn't even know this was an issue but we are in a polarizing Society aren't we you just you can't have disagreements and yet we could also look at our headlines and we could look at all sorts of different things that could get our hearts troubled I mean we could look at you

Know what's happening in Israel right now we could look at what's happening in the Ukraine we could look at our economy we could look at our nation's leaders we could look at religious leaders we could look at all sorts of different things and our hearts could very easily and very quickly be prone to be troubled and I know that many of you have had troubled hearts you know but when we get to our deathbed I don't think that we're going to wish that we spent more time being upset about you know our political leaders or you know what the Pope says or you know what Joe Biden said or what Donald Trump said I don't think that we're going to be thinking about that in our last gasps of air those are they're important issues they are important issues and they are issues that Christians should speak to with Christian convictions but we must not allow those things to disturb our hearts to Spur us to worry or even so division among brothers and sisters in the Lord and if we do allow for that then we've allowed for our hearts to be troubled and Jesus he does not want that for his people in our Christmas Eve passage today Christ he invites us to know his comfort his peace pieces he gives not as the world gives and he gives us five reasons to trust him and that's what we're going to talk about today so please stand with me in honor of God's word as we read John chapter 14 verses 1- 11 God's word says this let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many rooms if it were not so would I have told you that I' go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again will take you to

Myself that where I am you may be also you know the way to where I am going Thomas said to him Lord we do not know where you are going how can we know the way Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me if you had known me you would have known my father also from now on you do know him and have seen him Philip said to himl show us the father and it is enough for us Jesus said to him have I been with you so long and you still do not know me Phillip Whoever has seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the father do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me the words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority but the father who dwells in me does his Works believe me that I am in the father and the father is in me or else believe on account of The Works themselves and so God we do thank you for this invitation that we have to trust in you Lord where our burdened and our weary Hearts can take comfort and encouragement to know you to love you more and more each and every day thank you for this invitation and I pray that we would abide in it that we would abide you that we would know you more and more thank you for this passage this morning and I pray that troubled hearts would be put to rest today not simply by being encouraged by the passage today but by repenting of sin and trusting in you father we just lift ourselves up to you today as a simple offerings saying Lord do with us as you would because we are your people you are our God move among us today in Jesus name amen well the passage says and it starts out with let not your heart be troubled don't let it happen and I want you to think about what's happening in the disciples lives at this very moment in the passage the these men these 12 men they had left their their U their families they had left their homes they

Had left their professions they had left everything in order to follow Christ and Jesus he tells them the night before his death he says one of you in this room are going to betray me what one of one of us TW 12 one of the inner circle disciples but Jesus he's the Messiah Jesus the one who's supposed to rule and Reign forever he's the one who is going to bring about an age of peace and prosperity for Israel who would betray Jesus Jesus's teaching it becomes much more urgent the closer that he gets to his death and Jesus tells him that he is going to be leaving the disciples must thought how can he abandon us we've literally given up everything everything for the last three and a half years in order to follow Christ 24/7 Peter he says in John chap 13 ver verse 37 why can I not follow you now I will lay down my life for you now I want you to think of Peter Peter is the most headstrong disciple he is the one who says exactly what's on his mind he is the Reckless one right he is the one that just you know shoot first ask questions later kind of guy he's the spokesman he's the one who has the greatest Faith he's the one who walked on water towards Christ and what did Jesus say Jesus looked at him and he said the rooster will not Crow until you've denied me three times now what hope do people like Thomas and Andrew and Matthew have if Peter is going to deny Christ three times not only that but think about all that Jesus has been dealing with too In This Moment the disciples when they should have been comforting Jesus before he goes to the cross in the time when they should have been the most encouraging the most humble the most teachable well they were arguing who was greatest in the Kingdom they were the ones that were arguing about you know

About everything and Jesus got low and washed their feet and to top it all off Jesus then he turns around and he Comforts him in chapter 14 let not your hearts be troubled isn't he supposed to be the one with the troubled heart I love kids he's the one that's facing the cross he's the one that's going to be taking on the full cup of the father's wrath the father is going to turn his face from his only begotten son but the sheer love and the concern that Jesus has for the disciples outweighs the turmoil that Christ will experience in the coming hours I want you to think about that tremendous amount of love that Jesus has In This Moment he's staring down the cross and yet he is more concerned about bringing peace to his followers and he has that love for you too and this is a direction this is a command let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me I just one I guess this isn't really a point but if you're taking notes I would I do have it down as maybe a big point but not one of the five it's that the cure for a troubled heart is a trusting heart the cure for a troubled heart is a trusting heart if your heart is full of Trouble full of anxiety full of burdens uncertainty do not let your heart be troubled believe in God believe also in Jesus this is what's called a double imperative this means that in the same way that these men these Jewish men grew to trust God the Father they are also to trust Jesus Christ this is a very clear claim to deity Jesus he is fully God fully God with the father not separate Gods there is one God eternally coexisting in three persons revealed as

The Father the Son the Holy Spirit In Christ he invites you to trust in him to believe in him to lay down your weights and your sorrows and place them in his nail scarred hands I mean are you concerned about the issues in your life and the issues of this world then give them over to Jesus and he tells us to trust in him isn't God big enough to handle the situations in our world isn't God powerful enough to take all of the troubles that we experience and put them to rest the answer is yes and one day he will but for now we live in a chaotic world but in the meantime he invites us to trust him and to walk with obedient active faith Faith now Jesus he told the disciples that he was going away and Peter asked that question well where are you going Jesus said you can't follow me now but you will follow afterward so where is Jesus going Jesus is ultimately going to the Cross we know that it is through the cross that we see God's greatest gift to mankind it is in the cross that we see the means of our comfort the means of our peace the means of our security and salvation and Jesus he gives us the answer to where he's going along with five reasons with which we are to trust him the first one is let not your hearts be troubled there is a place for you in the father's house don't let your hearts be troubled there is a place for you in the father's house Jesus is going to the father's house he doesn't say it yet but the disciples will understand it now there's some different views here some of your translations may say Mansions right anybody's translation says Mansions yeah a couple of y'all anyone says rooms rooms rooms Dwelling Places any Dwelling Places there a couple of y'all okay it's it's best understood the reason why

Some of the translations say Mansions is because it comes from the Latin Vulgate but with Greek in the context it's best understood as rooms Dwelling Places the reason is because we're talking about the father's house which is of course heaven and Jesus has said that there is a place for you in the father's house there's a place for you and how comforting is that it always makes you feel good when someone says there's a there's a place for you doesn't it at the table there's a place for you in our group there's a place for you in our church but there's a place for you in the father's house that is the best news that we can hear secondly let not your hearts be troubled Jesus is preparing a place for you now Jesus he is the founder and the perfector of our faith as Matthew Henry said if he has prepared a place for us then he will prepare us for it that's comforting to note isn't it's not like we're we're going to get into heaven and you know all that God wanted to accomplish isn't going to come to pass God will have his way and he will have his way with you as well thirdly let not your heart be troubled Jesus is your dwelling place and he will come and take you to himself that's what the Scripture says he says I that where I am you may be also the hope of the Christian is not to spend eternity in Heaven apart from Jesus if there's no Jesus in heaven then Heaven the hope of the believer is to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus forever and we get to see him and we get to abide in his presence forever the hope of Heaven is Christ Eternal with the father and the Fellowship of spirit now is this an end times hope or is this like an after death hope because there's there's big debate about

That a lot of people feel strongly either way I'm inclined to say it's both we know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord but we also know that Christ he will return and he will receive us to himself in the last day I mean the heidleberg catechism it says what is Our Hope in life and death we are not our own but we belong to God but the question Still Remains where is Jesus going and I love that Thomas asked that question excuse me but the question Still Remains where is Jesus going and Thomas he's he's asking this question because in order to know the way to get somewhere you got to know where that somewhere is in order to get to a place you got to know the place that you want to go to and so Thomas askl we do not know where you were going how can we know the way and so this sets up the tremendous I am statement of Jesus where he says I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me now I w to I want to diverge here a little bit because I think that this will be very I don't know eye openening for you because I want us to go all the way back to Genesis so if you have your Bibles go back to Genesis chapter 3 in the Book of Genesis our first father Adam we call him the first Adam Jesus is the second Adam in the in the Book of Genesis the first Adam he transgressed God's commandment and as a result sin entered the world and Adam and Eve they were driven out of the garden out of God's presence and in Genesis chapter 3 re reread this he drove out the man and at the east of the Garden of Eden he placed the

Cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the Tree of Life why was the way protected by an Angelic flaming sword of judgment well it's because God is a just and a Sinha God but it was also a means of Grace it was designed in such a way that would prevent us from living eternally separated from the love of God how awful would that be Adam he could have tried to go in another way to try to sneak back into garden Adam could have secretly tried to sneak past the Angel's sword which turned this way and that to guard the way to the Tree of Life Of course that never would have worked but Jesus he says I am the way now this is an emphasis of this I am statement because the disciples they've been asking this entire time where are you going what's going to happen to us how can we know the way and so Jesus he says I am the way this is Jesus who left Heaven's throne with the father to open up a way for us to have eternal life so what did he do did Jesus escape the Justice in the Sin hating wrath of God no because what did what did Genesis 3 say it says that the sword turned this way in that way to guard the Tree of Life did Jesus command the swords the Angel's sword to go away and sheath itself no that would have been contrary to the father's will here's what the prophet Zachariah says in chapter 13:7 awake o sword against my shepher Shepherd against the man who stands next to me declares the Lord of hosts strike the shepherd and the Sheep will be scattered that blade of judgment that kept sinners from having a relationship with God fell upon the Lord Jesus Christ it pierced his hands and it went

Deep into his side so that even the worst sinner among us could enter into God's peace over the bloody body of Jesus Jesus he said I am the way and this is a definite article meaning that it's a singular path a singular way for man to be reconciled to God there are no other ways there's just one way and when Christ was on the cross it was on the same day that thousands of lambs were being slaughtered on that day of atonement and on that same day the high priest once a year he would go into the most holy place in the most holiest Inner Room of the temple and there was this luxurious curtain that was made of a of a blue fabric purple white red it was it was a beautiful fabric and Jesus he didn't pull aside the curtain to allow men to sneak in and have a relationship with the father he satisfied the wrath of God in Matthew 27 it says and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his Spirit he died and behold the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom it is finish Christ took the punishment Christ fulfilled the requirements of the law the way is made the veil is torn and now you can come to the father through Jesus Christ you can't come to God through your guilt you can't come to God through a vow to do better you can't give it all away you can't even Hope on the goodness of God toward your sin the hope is in Christ alone because Jesus is the way alone horatius Bonar he's wrote thy way not mine O Lord however dark it be Lead Me by thine own hand choose thou the right path for me smooth Let It Be or rough it will still be best winding or straight it leads right on toward thy rest I dare not choose my lot I would not if I might choose thou God for me so

That I might walk a right take thou my cup in it with Joy or sorrow fill as best to thee may seem choose thou my good and Ill choose thou for me my friends my sickness and my health choose thou my cares for me my poverty or wealth not mine not mine the choice in things or great or small be thou my guide my strength my wisdom and my all Jes Jesus Christ is also the truth he is the truth he's not truth in like the same way that 1 plus 1 equals 2 or that there's other common truths that we hold to be true he is trer than truth you see the unconverted man does not have the truth a lost person they might think very highly of Jesus might think that he's good teacher or a good man maybe he was a prophet but he's not the whole truth is he's not the truth itself well without truth it's all chaos and disorder if the sun were suddenly just disappeared from the center of our solar system what would happen to Earth for eight minutes we would continue to see sunlight for eight minutes and then all of a sudden it would disappear but that our light would still be reflecting the light from the sun for another 8 minutes and then all we would see is the cosmos but guess what for the last 16 minutes we're no longer in the sun's orbit we're just drifting off listlessly into space how much more so when Christ is not the center of our Lives how many times have we as Christians we've we've come to the Lord and we've gotten our hearts right and we've repented of maybe an ongoing sin and you know things are going good and then and things are good and right and God is working in our lives and maybe it's not all sunshine and Roses but we know that we're in fellowship with God and then all of a sudden you know we just we start neglecting our daily habits of prayer and Bible study and reading and evangelism and fasting and things like that and all of a sudden you know before we know it we drifted all the way over here and we're just kind of going our own way and then we're how did I get over here thankfully we can come right back to the father through Jesus Christ and he readily forgives Us in architecture there's this Keystone that's what that is right there they call it a keystone because it's keystone a and what that does is if you take out the Keystone what happens to the whole structure Falls the whole thing crumbles you see Christ is the Keystone of Truth you can have all the worldly truths you can have all the Sciences all the maths all the Earthly wisdom but Christ is the truth and it is having Christ as the Pinnacle of the truth solely that all of the secondary truths come together and Harmony and Order Jesus Christ is also the life now we can feel alive at Christmas because I mean at Christmas things are pretty good for a lot of people people can be kind we can feel alive on vacationing can't we can feel alive traveling we can feel alive by doing good to others it's why a lot of people they are kind is because it makes them feel good Jesus he doesn't say that he is life or a way of living or even the living way he says I am the life it is Christ that reaches down to us in the depths of our sin and he draws us out of our sin and he lifts up our lifeless body and he breathes life into our souls because Christ is the life Galatians 2:20 says I have been crucified with Christ it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me and

The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me Jesus is the way to the father because he is the truth of God he himself the word became flesh at Christmas and God the Father wrote through his son I love you so much Jesus is the life of God the mediator of this way and he is the only one who can say no one comes to the father except through me now that is the jet fuel for Effective evangelism that's it there are no alternate paths it's Jesus Christ Alone four fourth reason here is let not your hearts be troubled Jesus and the father are one so that if you have Jesus you have the father Jesus said if you had known me you would have known my father also this was the litmus test on whether or not the Jews in Jesus's day were children of Abraham doesn't Jesus say while he's debating the religious leaders you neither know me nor my father if you knew me you would know my father also but these disciples they know Christ they don't ful really fully realize the truth of God about who he is because they've yet to receive the Holy Spirit but Philip he speaks up and I love it when Philip speaks up because he just he pours out his heart he just shares exactly what so many people have wanted for so many years even since like Moses he said Lord show us the father it's such a heartfelt desire back in the Old Testament God he appeared in a pillar of Fire by day or Pillar of Fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day he appeared in the burning bush and Moses had never seen God even when he visited with him on the on Mount Si he never got a clear view of God and so he's just he's just asking God one

Day God just Show Me Your Glory show me yourself and God doesn't answer his prayer request exactly but instead what he does offer hey Josiah sh but he says he allows for Moses to get The Passing view of his glory to barely catch the very back of his head and that was enough for Moses that's not the only time that people had seen God in fact God became flesh and while his glory was veiled under skin and muscle and ligaments and swaddling cloths he was still then very God of very God and his name is Jesus Christ and so when someone saw Jesus they saw God himself and Jesus he asked not out of frustration but out of deep love have I been with you so long that you still do not know me Phillip Whoever has seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the father you see it is the love of the father proved by the work of the son empowered by the Holy Spirit that brings about the Eternal Plan of Redemption I want to skip down out of the passage that we read Because this is important and I want to give you kind of this bonus reason as to why your heart shouldn't be troubled it's that the Holy Spirit is with you the Holy Spirit is with you in verses 15 and 16 of John chapter 14 it says if you love me you will keep my Commandments and I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever even the spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you see for every believer every single

Person that has professed faith in Jesus Christ you now have the Holy Spirit we may not be able to see Christ but we have the presence of his spirit with us not as this Mystical Force or this warm fuzzy feeling not as a distant Observer but as the promised helper that empowers Believers for Christian Living today and since we have received the Holy Spirit by the way of Christ it means that we have the power while we yet live in this world to abide in the way and to grow in the truth and to continue in the life of Jesus Thomas Aus he wrote without the way there is no going without the truth there is no knowing without the life there is no living Jesus is the way which you must follow the truth which You Must Believe and the life for which you must hope Jesus is the enable way the infallible truth The Never Ending life Jesus is the straightest way The Sovereign truth Life True Life blessed life uncreated and if you are in Christ then you don't have to let your heart be troubled because God has proven his faithfulness because we can look to the cross of Jesus Christ and because God is faithful we can face each day with gladness and with peace confident that our victory in Christ is secured in spite of all the difficulties in spite of all the dangers in spite of all the noisy headlines in our world we can count on God to work to provide for our needs and his will to be done and so let's not give him any partial trust anymore let's not be apathetic about it but day by day hour by hour serve him and hold on to the faithfulness of Jesus as the way as the truth as the life I want to tell you a story about the death of President William McKinley and then I'll wrap it up on the last afternoon of his life he was surrounded by doctors and nurses and you know he had just had a really rough several weeks and he was just done and he knew that time was

Ending and so he told his doctor doctors he said stop all the treatments let's pray so they got together and they joined hands and they started to pray the Lord's prayer Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name and one by one the all the doctors started joining in that Kingdom Come your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven the nurse she started to started to cry and joined in and give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who's trespassed against us and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil and President McKinley just sat there for a moment just thinking and you know he's crying at that moment he says for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and they all sat down and he dismissed him and his wife came in they held hands and they kissed they hugged and they talked and they prayed and then his last words were goodbye goodbye all it is God's way his will not ours let that be done what a great example that is of not letting your heart be troubled even at the end even though death is staring you in the face that is the confidence and the peace that Christ gives to every person that trusts in him let not your heart be troubled there's a place for you in the father's house Jesus is there preparing a place for you he is your dwelling place and he will come back and take you to himself and don't let your heart be troubled the Holy Spirit is with you walk the way of Christ because he is the way the truth and the life headart hand oh head I want you to know that the way to peace in this world is by faith in

Jesus Christ it's the only way to true and Lasting peace people can make treaties and Accords and all those kind of things but the only way to true and Lasting peace is through faith in Jesus Christ heart I want you to believe that you can have peace by coming to Christ and trusting in Him you can do it today you can do it right now you don't have to go through the pastor did you know that you but you do have to go through Christ and you can do that right now just by simply trusting in Him it's true and it's for you the hand I want should ask the Lord to empower you to walk in the way to show you his truth and give you life that your heart wouldn't be troubled let's pray father thank you so much for this great day that you've given to us help us to not be troubled in our hearts over any of those things that we might be wrestling with right now God your way is better your truth is good your life is eternal and I just thank you that you've come and you've proven that in my heart in the hearts of so many people and I pray that if there's anyone here that maybe they don't know you pray that today would be that day that they get that relationship right that they would believe in the name and the work of the one true Son of God Jesus Christ it's in his name that we pray [Music] amen invite you to stand and join us as we [Music] sing what is Our Hope in life and death Christ Alone Christ Alone what is our only [Music]

Confidence that our souls to him belong who holds our days within his hand what comes aart from his command and what will keep us to the end the love of Christ in which we stand sing Hallelujah oh sing Hallelujah our hop bring Eternal oh sing Hal hallu now and we confess Christ Our Hope in life and [Music] death what truth can come the TR Soul God is good God is good where is his Gra and goodness known in our great Redeemer's blood who holds our faith when fears arise who stands above the stormy Tri who sends the waves that bring us night unto the shore the rock of Christ oh sing hallelu Our Hope Springs Eternal oh sing Hal Hallelujah now and ever we confess Christ Our Hope in life and [Music] death unto the grave what will we see Christ he lives Christ he lives and what reward will Heaven bring everlasting life with him there we will rise to meet the Lord then sin and death will be destroyed and we will feast and endless Joy when Christ is our forever more oh sing Hallelujah our hop brings Eternal oh sing Hallelujah now and ever we confess Christ Our Hope in life and death oh sing

Hallelujah our hop brings Eternal oh sing hallelu now and ever we can Christ Our Hope in life and death now and ever we confess Christ Our Hope in life and death he is our hope hey Mitchell good job up there right great job showing your First Act of obedience and now you can sing all you want even though you had before that but you got them now thank you for letting us know God bless God bless and Pat and Dale congratulations that's awesome let's close in prayer heavenly father I thank you for this family I thank you for the brothers and sisters here that love you that want to serve you Lord I just thank you for a pastor that has the heart to serve you the heart to give the truth Lord I Thank you for all the examples that they've shown us Lord now we just ask you to be with each and every one of us as we go forth and let us proclaim the reason for your This Time of the Season Lord that Jesus is why we want to celebrate Lord in his birth we ask this in Jesus name we pray amen