Sermon Transcript
Hey everyone, thanks for joining us once again. However you’re accessing this service, wherever, whenever you’re accessing, accessing this service, we’re glad that you’re here. And as I begin, I want to give a shout out to a couple important people in my life. One is my daughter Raya, who many of you watching this know. Raya, if you’re watching this on Sunday, June the 14th— I’m recording this before then— but if you’re watching this on June the 14th, you need to know today is my daughter Raya’s birthday.
Raya lives in Texas, and she turns 20 years old today. So happy birthday to you, Raya. We love and we miss you, and I’m super proud of you, and I just wanted to say that. But I also wanted to say my son CJ turned 18 last Sunday. I wasn’t on camera to be able to wish him a happy birthday, but I want to say happy birthday to my youngest son CJ, 18, who turned 18 last Sunday.
Now some of you know my oldest son Tate, and you’re like, well, what about Tate? Well, Tate’s filming this right now, and I’m sorry, Tate, you weren’t born in the month of June, so I can’t say anything to you other than I love you, buddy, and I’m super proud of you for all that you’re doing. But happy birthday to Raya. Happy belated birthday to CJ. I also want to say a happy early Father’s Day because next week is Father’s Day.
And so I want to say happy early Father’s Day to my dad. I don’t often talk about my dad a whole lot in these kinds of settings. My dad is a really soft-hearted individual. He loves God. He loves other people.
He’s incredibly accomplished, but he’s also incredibly humble. And my dad is one of those individuals who’s a man of few words, but there have been occasions in my life where the proverb about the right word being spoken at the right time making a big difference in a person’s life— that’s been the case for my relationship with my dad and some of my conversations. And I was thinking about that just this past week of a couple occasions that weren’t groundbreaking moments at the time, but looking back they had a significant impact on who I am And the right word spoken at the right time and in the right way made a significant difference, and I’m grateful to that. One situation was when I was 16, I had just gotten my driver’s license, and I got into a little fender bender. I think it was my fault.
I don’t really remember, but we didn’t have cell phones in that day, and you young people are like, what? How is that even possible? Trust me, there was a day without cell phones. And so I had nobody that I could call, but I was pulled over to the side of the road And my dad just happened to be driving by about 5 minutes later, and he saw me over on the side of the road. I didn’t know what to do.
I was worried. I was anxious. And he saw that I was greatly troubled. And I thought he was going to come down hard on me, but he actually didn’t. He got out of the car and he saw that I was troubled and he put an arm around me and he said, are you okay?
It’s okay, Steve. And I just remember in that moment that that was just the right word spoken at the right time and in the right way and is exactly what I needed. And I’m grateful for that. I’m also grateful because there have been other troubling times in my life. There’s a situation in 9th grade where I knew an individual through my church, an adult, who lost their temper with me and blamed me for something I didn’t do.
And this individual, this adult, took out their anger and their rage on me in a very verbally and physically aggressive way. And it still scars me to this day. I’m still just stunned by the moment. But I remember afterwards, a couple days afterwards, processing this event. With my dad.
And I don’t really remember the consequences that came to this individual. I didn’t really have many conversations with this individual about what went down. But I do remember my dad sitting me down. We were at James Coney Island Restaurant in Houston and we were sitting down and just processing this. And my dad recognizing that my heart was getting hard towards this individual.
And understandably so in my world. But my dad was helping me to understand the importance even in those early moments after that event to think about forgiveness and to think about what Jesus would do in that situation. And I just remember the right words spoken at the right time made a big difference because they came to me in the right way. So happy Father’s Day to you, Dad. I’m really grateful to you and the difference that you’ve made in my life.
But on a larger scale, the right words spoken at the right time and in the right way can make a big difference for a lot of people. And right now we live in a time, a very troubling time, where people are searching for the right words.
And the right word spoken at the right time can make a big difference in somebody’s life. It could be the difference between them being troubled and staying troubled or not being troubled. The wrong word spoken at the wrong time and in the wrong way can do just the opposite. It can be quite destructive. And so having the right word spoken at the right time in a person’s time of need when they’re hurting can make a big impact.
And that’s what Jesus is gonna help us to understand here in this text that we’re gonna be looking at today from John chapter 14. Jesus says this to his followers, do not let your hearts be troubled. They need the right words spoken to them at the right time because as they’re sitting around the Last Supper table, they don’t realize it’s their last supper with Jesus. They don’t realize that in less than 24 hours Jesus is going to die. He’s going to go to the cross to die for their sins, for your sins, for my sins.
And— but he does know that they’re greatly troubled. Why are they troubled? Because Jesus had, near these last days, been increasingly talking about the fact that he was going to be leaving them. And that’s their conversation here. That’s the context of this conversation.
He knows that they’re troubled by that. They’re troubled because they don’t understand what that means. They’ve been with him for 3 years. Day and night tracking alongside him and being with him and watching him do these incredible miracles. They knew him, and now he says he’s going to be leaving them.
They’re troubled by that, and he knows what’s in their heart and in their minds. They’re troubled because Jesus had also just said that one of them, one of the 12 followers, the closest followers of Jesus, would betray him. They’re troubled by that, understandably. But he also had just told Peter in the chapter right before this who’s arguably one of Jesus’ closest friends and who knew Jesus better than just about anybody and who had spent just about more time with Jesus than just about anybody, that Jesus had told Peter that Peter would deny and disown Jesus. All of this greatly troubling.
We get that. And so Jesus speaks into this moment in that context, in that setting, and says, don’t let your heart be troubled. And he uses a word here for trouble that I think it’s important for us to understand. He’s not just saying, hey, don’t be stressed out. This isn’t just something that, hey, you’re having a bad day, get over it, deal with it.
No, what he’s saying here, he’s using a term troubled that means to be stirred up, to be agitated, to be shaken back and forth. Can you relate to that right now? Whatever it is that you’re going through, can you relate to feeling shaken and going back and forth and feeling agitated? I bet that you can. I bet many of you can.
I know that a lot of people I know can. And even right now, in this season right now, there are things that are troubling to me too. We live in a troubling time. We live in a time that agitates us, that shakes us back and forth. It’s unpredictable.
But nothing is really different. 100 years ago, people were troubled. I came across a message in preparing for this message that was delivered about 100 years ago. And in that time, the pastor had said something to the effect of, don’t let your hearts be troubled. This is a troubling time.
And I’m thinking, that was 100 years ago. That, like, that could be spoken today. And I bet if you go back 1,000 years ago and found whatever sermon on their online service that they had— but that was, of course, before Al Gore invented the internet— whatever services that they were having in whatever languages that they were speaking at that time, you can imagine somebody saying in the year 1,000, we live in a troubling time. Well, hello, nothing has changed. As long as there is sin, in my heart and in your heart and in the world, as long as we are completely and totally depraved and broken and our relationship with God is fundamentally broken because of our sin, there will be great trouble here on the earth.
And so Jesus is speaking that to us. But I want to point out a couple of things here that I think are important before we get into the larger text as to what we can pull out of this text. One is, is that It should say something to us that Jesus on this particular night, on the eve of the most troubling night in human history, would be the one to be focused on other people’s troubled hearts. He wasn’t focused on his own troubled heart. His heart was troubled, but his focus was on his followers.
His focus was on other people. And that’s the character and the love of Jesus. And we shouldn’t just gloss right over that. He’s also saying, though, another thing. Check this out, because we could totally miss this.
In saying, do not let your hearts be troubled, he’s telling us you and I actually have a choice to not be troubled. There’s times when our hearts are troubled and we feel like, I have no choice but to be troubled. That’s not true. We actually have a choice to not be stressed, to not be anxious, to not worry. And he’s, he’s not saying be in denial.
He’s not talking about being in denial of being troubled. What he’s saying here is that you have a choice because you can focus on something else that can help alleviate the trouble that you’re feeling in your heart. He’s not saying don’t begin to be troubled. He’s saying stop being troubled. You can choose that.
I can choose that. Let’s not miss that. So how can Jesus tell us this? What is he getting at? What are the reasons that we can have hope?
Well, let’s look at the larger passage here. He says, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not so, would I have told you that I’m going there to prepare a place for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and I’ll take you to be with me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we don’t know where you’re going, so how can we know the way? And Jesus answered— this is one of the most important passages in all of Scripture— I am the way and the truth and and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
I’m gonna pull out 3 reasons from this text that I think Jesus would tell us that we don’t need to let our hearts be troubled, especially if you’re a Christ follower. You have the opportunity, I have the opportunity to focus on something else and to set our mind on something else and our heart on something else. First of all, he’s saying don’t let your hearts be troubled because of who you know. He says there in verse 1, the second half of it, he says You believe in God, so believe also in me, Jesus. You’ve been with me, followers, for 3 years.
You’ve watched me do miracles. You believe in God who you can’t see, so believe and trust in me who you can see. Remember the time, followers, that there were 5,000 people and they didn’t have food to eat? No problem. Remember the time, followers, when you were in the boat and the storm arose on the lake and you were troubled?
No problem. Remember the time after time when there were people who were sick and afflicted and in physical need or emotional need, and I spoke into those situations and I lifted the burden off of that situation? Think about all of those things, because don’t simply focus on your trouble. Focus on who I have been, Jesus is saying. Why should they distrust Jesus?
And I would ask you, if you’re a Christ follower, why should you distrust Jesus? Why should I distrust Jesus when he says, I’m going to prepare a place and it’s going to be incredible? Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You already know me. And if you know me, then you know the Father.
And if you know the Father, then you know me. And he’s— what he’s trying to do here, I think, is Jesus in this verse is helping us to try to move from being troubled to trusting, from troubled to trusting. He’s helping us to see that the antidote to a troubled heart— friends, don’t miss this— the antidote, the prescription to a troubled heart is a relationship with Jesus. Don’t focus on your trouble. We’re not saying don’t be in denial about it, but we’re saying don’t let that consume you.
If you’re a follower of Christ, Believe in who God the Father is, believe in who Jesus is as the Son of God, and believe in the Holy Spirit who advocates for us and is a comforter and helper in our time of need. Believe in God and know that that trust in him can help alleviate our troubled hearts. If you and I are troubled and we stay there, perhaps it’s because we don’t have a genuine an accurate picture of who God is.
And that’s where we need to go back to say, God, help me to see you as you clearly are and help me to trust you. Because when I do that, I trust that you are preparing a place for me in heaven. I trust that this eternal relationship that you’ve provided for me through Jesus can give me hope and lift the trouble that I feel in my heart right now. You see how the right words spoken at the right time in this context It just made all the difference in the world. Don’t let your hearts be troubled because of who you know.
He also gives us a second reason here of why we don’t need to let our hearts be troubled. It’s because of where you’ll go. He says, my Father’s house has many rooms, and if it were not so, would I have told you that I’m going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, will I not also return and take you to be with me, that where I am, there you may be also? He’s focusing on where they will eventually go, and he’s reminding us that there is a destination for everyone after physical death.
There is heaven and there is hell. There is eternal life with God the Father, or there is eternal separation in hell. And Jesus here is right because he’s talking to his followers. And if you’re a Christ follower, he’s talking to you and to I right now. He, in other places, talks about hell and talks about eternal separation, but here he’s talking about heaven.
And there’s a destination for everybody who puts their faith and trust in Jesus. Now, when a person dies today and we talk about heaven, we often use it in an all-inclusive way, and we get a little bit confused between the idea of the present heaven, where a person, if they were to die today as a Christ follower, would go, and where a person would go in the future. And Randy Alcorn has written volumes about this topic, and it’s really been helpful to me as I think about the difference between the present heaven and the future heaven. The present heaven is far better than anything here in this world, but it can best be thought of as a sort of intermediate state, as a transitional period between our present life here on this earth and the future resurrection of the dead in the future heavens and earth and what that will look like. That This present earth pales in comparison to the present heaven, but even the present heaven is just a temporary lodging or waiting place until we await Jesus’ return to come get his followers, where we will be with him in the future heaven, the new heavens and the new earth.
And that is not the same thing as the present heaven, but there is still great hope if you die today and your relationship is with Jesus, far better than anything that you I could possibly imagine. But I think what Jesus is talking about here in this specific passage is the future heaven. And what is this heaven going to be like? Well, first of all, we know that it’s a real place because Jesus is saying, I’m going to a place. He’s not just going to disappear into the ether.
He’s going to a place. It’s a spatial reality. It’s not just a state of mind or a state of being. It’s a place that can be located. It’s a place that where the Father is right now.
And so many of you may want to know, well, Steve, where is that? Where is heaven if it can be located, if it’s a real place? Well, heaven is where Jesus is right now, seated at the right hand of the Father. Maybe a follow-up question some of you would ask, well, okay, well, where is that? Well, that’s where heaven is.
You can tell I’ve had a philosophy class or two because that’s some circular logic. Look, I can’t point it out to you on a map. But if you want to come to the Coffee with a Pastor today, I’ll do my best to explain it to you. Or better yet, email Pastor Dave at dave.gudgel@connectbcc.org.
I promise he’ll sort all of this out for you. Actually, no, we can’t find this on a map, but we do know that heaven is a real place. It is a spatial reality, and it’s where the Father is, and it’s where Jesus is right now at the right hand of the Father. But it’s not just a real place. Heaven is a prepared place.
He tells us, I go there to prepare a place for you. Well, what is Jesus doing right now? He’s preparing a place for you and for me and anyone who has a relationship with him. He’s not sitting back on a cloud being fed grapes by angels. And imagine this, the scriptures tell us that through him all things— through Jesus all things were made.
He’s the author of creation. So if Jesus could speak creation into being, how awesome is this prepared place going to be that he’s been preparing for you and for me? Don’t let your hearts be troubled because think about where you’re going to go, this prepared place. And he’s drawing on an image here, a very familiar image in that day, because when people would travel, they didn’t have the Travelocity app on their phone. They didn’t have the ability, you know, to go on MapQuest or something like that.
What they would do is if they were traveling, they would send somebody on ahead up to the distant city where they would go and to make arrangements for them, to prepare a place. In fact, that’s Jesus and his followers having the last meal there together. He had sent 2 of his disciples to go to prepare the room. And so that’s kind of the image that he’s using there, that Jesus has gone on to prepare a place for for us, which is ironic because when Jesus came to the earth, there was no room for him. We kicked Jesus out of our world, but he invites us into his.
Isn’t that amazing to think about? Jesus is saying he’s going to prepare a place for you and for me, and that’s what he’s doing right now at this minute. It’s gonna be incredible. First, he had to die in order to prepare that place. And now that he’s died, risen again, and ascended up into heaven, He’s preparing heaven for you and for me.
It’s a real place. It’s a prepared place. He also says it’s a place for you, and by the way, lots of others. The word that Jesus uses here for you is sometimes used in the New Testament in the singular form, like I’m talking to you individually, but it also sometimes was used in a plural sense, like you all, or as we would say in Texas, y’all, or even better yet, y’all. I can’t say it as well as Beth Stockum can.
I’d love to hear her say all y’all right now at this moment. But he’s saying it’s a place for all y’all. It’s a place for those who have faith in Jesus. And this place for all y’all is a spacious place. There’s room to spare.
Now, in the Greek, this is a little confusing to some people here because if you read the King James Version, if you’re one of those people that likes the King James Version, it uses a phrase In my Father’s house there are many mansions. And I wish I could tell you that there will be rows of mansions in heaven. I wish I could tell you that you’re going to get a mansion and that Jesus is going to be like Oprah saying, you get a mansion and you get a mansion and Steve, you get a mansion. I’m afraid that that’s not the best rendering of the Greek. What it really means is a dwelling place or a place to stay.
That’s the focus, really. The The main idea here is, is that your body, my body, is a temporary lodging, and that one day this temporary lodging will pass away. But then we will be in a place that we will be settled in that is lasting and permanent and eternal. And he’s using a concept here that is a place for you to describe home. That’s really what he’s talking about here.
He’s talking about home. Now, a lot of times there are people who don’t travel a whole lot who have this image of traveling as being more than it’s really cracked up to be. And then people who travel a lot will tell you it’s really not all that if you do a whole lot of it. No matter where you go and no matter the company that you’re with, for many people, very often when you’re traveling and you’re away from home, you long for certain aspects of home or you just long for home. I know what I miss is my little flat pillow.
Shannon’s always giving me a hard time because I like a little flat pillow. You don’t get those at other places whenever you’re traveling. I like my little flat pillow. I like to sleep in my own bed. I like to know where things are located so I don’t stub my toe when I’m walking in the dark.
I know where the furniture is located. I like to not have to live out of a suitcase. Jesus, though, is giving us a better picture of home even than that. Now I realize that as I’m talking about home, that some of you are like, hello, Steve, I’ve been cooped up in my house and home for the last several months. I’d like to get out of my home.
Thank you very much. I get it. But what Jesus is painting a picture here is of a place of rest, a settled, permanent, eternal home that is, again, better than anything you or I could ever imagine. And in addition to this idea of home is Really, the emphasis is that Jesus will be there. You think about all the different things that we could look forward to about heaven.
The best thing of all is that Jesus himself is going to be there. It’s not just that he’s going to leave. It’s not just that he’s going to go to heaven and then he’s one day going to come back. It’s that he’s going to take us there and he himself, Jesus, will be there, which is the 4th thing that we know about heaven. It’s a place where we will be with Jesus.
There’s lots to look forward to. I don’t know what you’re looking forward to. One of the things I’m looking forward to, especially given what we’re dealing with right now, is that heaven will be a place of racial unity, a place of racial harmony where there’s no discrimination and there’s no prejudice and there’s no hatred. And we’re not sniping at each other back and forth on social media about saying the right thing and you’re feeling the wrong thing and all of this stuff that, that exists that are very, very real issues right now. Don’t get me wrong.
But we think about heaven. I’m looking forward to that being a place of racial unity. I just am. And Revelation 7:9 really paints a beautiful picture where it tells us that there will be a great multitude of every tribe and tongue and every language and every nation that will be gathered there to worship Jesus. Pastor John Bryson at Fellowship Church in Memphis puts it like this: if you don’t like the diverse church, you’re not going to like heaven very much.
I hope that you like diversity because that’s what heaven is going to be like, and it’s going to be beautiful. There are other things that we can look forward to about heaven. The fact that there’s going to be continual worship. Shannon’s super excited about that. She loves to just worship and to sing all the time.
And guess what? As we’re worshiping, we’re not going to be worried about, is this a traditional service, a contemporary service? Is there going to be a band? Is there drums? Is there an organ?
You people aren’t going to be fast-forwarding through the worship like some of you probably do, and I know who you are, okay? I’m looking at you. Like on these online services, we’re not even going to be thinking about that because the object of our worship is going to so consume us that anything else is going to be secondary at best. It’s going to be a place of continual worship, a place of no pain, a place of no hurt, no sickness, a place of no fear, a place with new bodies. Isn’t that going to be amazing?
Bodies that don’t break down, bodies that don’t need surgery. We will be whole and complete. It will be a place for those here on the earth with physical disabilities. That’s not going to be an issue in heaven because No buildings need to be made ADA compliant. You don’t need to widen doorways and create ramps and all this stuff because there’s gonna be no lack of access for anybody who’s a Christ follower.
That’s a beautiful thought. Hey, guess what? No social distancing, no masks, no gloves, no need for hand sanitizer, no need to talk to people through a video screen and then have people talk over one another and then have to mute people and have noise in the back. You don’t have to worry about that. Heaven’s going to be amazing.
No traffic, no lines. Most of all though, of all of those things, is that Jesus himself will be there. And that’s really the essence and the beauty of heaven, isn’t it? Is that Jesus himself will be there. Wherever Jesus is, that’s where heaven is.
It’s the immediate access and presence of Jesus, and nothing is better than that. The other stuff is just gravy. It’s just good. What’s great, and it’s beyond words, is the fact that Jesus will be there. Heaven is a real place.
It’s a prepared place. It’s a place for you and for lots of others, all y’all. And it’s a place where Jesus will be and we will be there with him. Amazing. There’s a third reason though why Jesus tells us to not let our heart be troubled.
And we don’t want to miss this either. Don’t let your heart be troubled because of who you know. Don’t let your heart be troubled because of where you’ll go, but also don’t let your heart be troubled because of what he’ll show. I know some of you are groaning with all these rhymes. I’m sorry.
But because of what he’ll show, he’s gonna show you and I the way to heaven, to have that relationship with him. He’s not just gonna leave clues and breadcrumbs for us and say, figure it out. He’s not just gonna toss us a map and say, have fun. You guys just try to find the way. No, he’s going to take us to be there with him.
He’s going to show us. He has shown us. He will show us the way. Now, I know that we give Thomas, the guy who said, Jesus, we don’t know where you’re going, a really, really hard time. We have this kind of revisionist history.
I know I do, where I’m like, okay, had I been the one to have been one of the 12, I would have figured out what Jesus was talking about. My heart wouldn’t have been troubled. Maybe you think that too. Had I been there, I would have understood what Jesus was talking about. I would have been tracking with him.
First of all, no. Second of all, we, we can’t even find God sometimes when he’s right in front of our nose. We miss him all the time in small, simple, everyday ways. We miss him in all the big stuff. He tries to get our attention.
We miss that. So do you really think that you and I would be any different than Thomas? The answer to that is no. We would have been just like Thomas. We would have been like, Jesus, we don’t know where you’re going.
Tell us, show us the way. And that’s when Jesus then gives a statement of exclusivity that is really difficult for a lot of us. I am the way and the truth and the life. He’s saying there’s no way to forgiveness, there’s no way to salvation, there’s no way to eternal life, there’s no way to the presence of God, there’s no way to heaven except through Jesus. And that statement of exclusivity causes a lot of people to stumble.
We struggle with that idea of exclusivity, and Tim Keller sort of talks about that. He says we don’t struggle with miracles and prayer and healing and the supernatural. No, what we struggle with is exclusivity. We struggle with the fact that there is one right religion and a bunch of wrong religions. We struggle with the idea of there being one sacred scripture and all others are not.
We struggle with the idea of there being one path to God and that all others are not accurate paths to God. We struggle with exclusivity. And as a result, Christians get a reputation for being narrow-minded. But guess what? It’s because we are.
Jesus was narrow-minded. If you think about it, he talks about this in Matthew chapter 7 in the Sermon on the Mount. There’s this— there’s a narrow path here. There’s a broad road that a lot of people will go on, but it only leads to destruction. There’s one narrow way, and it’s only, only, only through Jesus.
And so the stakes really couldn’t be higher. The question to ask is not, well, what are the ways that I think that I can get to God? It is really, you can’t come to God your way. I can’t come to God in the way that I think is best. We can only come through the way that Jesus has said to come, and that’s only through Jesus.
And so I’m just talking to you here once again We try to do this every week. We’re going to remind you of this once again. If you want a relationship with God, you need to come through Jesus. That doesn’t mean that you’re perfect. What it means is you come to a place in your life and you realize you’re not able to rescue yourself and to deliver yourself into the presence of God.
The only one who has made that possible is Jesus. And it’s not just belief in Jesus. It’s not just belief about Jesus, but trust in Jesus and continual trust that manifests itself in your life that says that when you stand before God, you would be able to say, the only reason I’m here is because of Jesus. That’s how a person becomes a Christ follower. That’s how a person makes it to heaven.
Those aren’t my terms. Those aren’t your terms. Those are Jesus’ terms himself. And we got to get this right. The stakes could not be higher because all of those who do not come through Jesus will be eternally separated from him in hell.
And that’s not what God wants. This is available to anybody. The Bible says anyone who calls on the name of the Lord can be saved. Anyone who puts their faith and trust in Jesus can have a saving relationship and be rescued from their sin. Friends, if you haven’t done that, if you’re not sure you’ve done that, would you do that today?
You can even send me an email and like, let’s talk about this. Give me a call. Like, please, let’s talk about this because we want you to have assurance of life. Because this goes back to something Pastor Dave and I talked— or Pastor Dave and I— actually, Pastor Dave, it wasn’t me. Something Pastor Dave shared last week in our message.
It is this: our view of the future will impact how we live in the present. Well, how does it impact how we live in the present? You can live with assurance of your salvation. You can live with assurance of eternal life and of your hope for heaven by knowing the one in whom you have believed, by knowing the one in whom you have entrusted your life. The one you have asked to forgive you of your sin.
Your view of the future and what heaven will be like will dictate how you live in the present. It also impacts how you and I live in the present because, as we said at the beginning, we don’t have to be troubled. We can give that trouble over to, to God, and we can focus on the fact of the hope of heaven that exists, this real place This place that God himself will be, this incredible place that he’s preparing for you and for me, and that he longs for you to be there with him.
That makes a huge difference in this world. It doesn’t mean that you’re not going to have trouble. There’s a lot of things in our world that are so, so, so troubling, and I don’t mean to minimize that at all. It’s that we have eternal hope through Jesus and the hope of heaven. And one of the things that we can do in talking about the need for justice and equity in our world is to help in some ways to show God’s love to people here on this earth, to give them a taste of heaven.
It’s just a taste. We can’t bring heaven to earth. We can’t because of sin and the presence of imperfect people like me and you. But we can’t— like, we don’t have to wait for heaven for justice to be done. But we do know that when we are in heaven, it will be perfect.
And that’s where God wants you and I to be. How did Jesus’ words give you hope today? Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe in Jesus.
He’s gone to prepare a place for you, and you can be there with him one day. And he is the way, and he is the truth, And he is the eternal life, and no one can get to the Father except through him. Again, friends, don’t let your heart be troubled today. Have hope because of Jesus. Let’s pray.
Father, I want to confess to you my fallenness, and that even in sharing this message of hope, I feel so inadequate because I just can’t put words to it. As it just can’t do it justice as to what heaven will be. But I do know I’m looking forward to it. And I thank you for rescuing me and saving me, Lord, that you brought me to a place when I was younger and showed me that I needed to follow Jesus. And I’m grateful for that.
Thank you for those who helped show me that way through Jesus and who helped teach me. And I pray that today, if anyone within the sound of my voice does not know whether or not they have eternal life and assurance of salvation. Lord, I pray that they would make that decision today. Please, God, many things that are troubling us, may we fix our eyes on you and on eternal life, on heaven. Thank you for speaking the right words to your followers and to us at just the right time and in just the right way.
Lord, we need this today, this week. And we pray in all these things that your Son Jesus would be lifted high for his glory, Lord, that there would be many, many more who would follow you and be in heaven one day. We look forward to that, and we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
