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John 14 Jesus Comforts His Disciples
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
Jesus said, He is The Way.
Notice, Jesus did not say that to stop sinning was the way. He also did not say going to a church meeting was the way, or obeying church leaders was the way. Jesus, Himself, is The Way. The Way is not a formula, or set of rules, but He is a person.
1 Cor 15
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. - In other words, whatever is true in the natural, will also be true in the spiritual; or the natural is a sign of the spiritual. Mere men can not see, hear, or touch the spiritual on their own accord. Men can only sense the spiritual with the help of The Lord.
God has created the natural world so man can see The Truth in the natural and then apply that truth to the spiritual.
We can learn truth by observing The Lord's natural world with His help.
When I was teaching High School back in 1975-1983 there were three other teachers in the school, that I taught in ,that were friends. One night we were having a contest. Whoever won, got to choose an event that we all had to take part in. Well we decided it ended in a four way tie, so we all had to do each other's events. One guy was the national points leader in motorcycle enduro cross country racing. So we all had to enter the Blackwater 100 in Tennessee.
That race is a cross country motorcycles race that is 100 miles long. It does not follow roads or even trails, but goes cross country in a way that few people could even walk. It goes up and down very steep hills, it goes through soupy mud that is three feet deep and hundreds of yards long. This race is only for expert riders. So most of us had no business entering it.
To practice for that race we all went down to a place that was very rough country. We followed Don ( one of the best enduro racers in the US) to a place where he stopped. He had stopped at the top of a hill so steep that most people would call it a cliff. He said, you guys may want to go around a different way instead of going down this hill. I looked down it and inside, yelled in terror. But outside, I said, no problem. I was afraid to admit that it was too much for me. There are many different kinds of cowards. The other two new guys went around, but watched me before they left. That was good decision if one likes to be entertained by the folly of others.
The hill was so long and steep that you had to drag your brake so you did not pick up too much speed. If you braked too hard, the tires would slide and you would lose control. There was a large rock the size of my dinning room with a very narrow path between it and a very large tree ( about 5 feet in diameter). The tree was father downhill than the rock, so I feared hitting the tree more than the rock. Now Don clearly told me NOT to look at the rock or the tree or I would hit the one I was looking at. He said, you have to look at nothing but the path in between them. What made it so difficult was the fact that you had to ride down the hill at an angle instead of straight down the hill.
I heard what he said, but my fear of the tree took over. I tried to look at the path in between them, but could not take my eyes off of the tree. I went down the hill and drove right into the side of the tree as I tried to go in between them. My motorcycle went end over end down the hill and I did the same. I had the wind knocked out of me and could not respond when they asked if I was OK. My bike was flooded by going end over end and it took a lot of kicks to get it started again. It was a Maico 400 and you did not want to kick it half way and get kicked back. I did that ONCE and walked with a limp for a couple of weeks.
So we rode the rest of the course ( with a couple of bad falls on the way) and came to that same cliff that some fools called a hill. This time my fear was not the tree, but I feared falling like that again. It really hurt. So I forced myself to look at NOTHING but the path, and not to even glance for a second at the tree or the rock. Just a glance ,at that tree or rock,for a mirco second would mean disaster. I looked at the path with every ounce of intensity that I possessed, and went right in between the two. I got down the hill without falling and without pain.
I learned a very valuable lesson that day.
YOU HAVE TO FOCUS ON THE WAY, NOT YOUR FEARS
If we focus on our sin, that we fear will defeat us, then it will.
If we focus on Jesus, who is The Way, He will deliver us from that same sin.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
Lou Newton
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
Jesus said, He is The Way.
Notice, Jesus did not say that to stop sinning was the way. He also did not say going to a church meeting was the way, or obeying church leaders was the way. Jesus, Himself, is The Way. The Way is not a formula, or set of rules, but He is a person.
1 Cor 15
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. - In other words, whatever is true in the natural, will also be true in the spiritual; or the natural is a sign of the spiritual. Mere men can not see, hear, or touch the spiritual on their own accord. Men can only sense the spiritual with the help of The Lord.
God has created the natural world so man can see The Truth in the natural and then apply that truth to the spiritual.
We can learn truth by observing The Lord's natural world with His help.
When I was teaching High School back in 1975-1983 there were three other teachers in the school, that I taught in ,that were friends. One night we were having a contest. Whoever won, got to choose an event that we all had to take part in. Well we decided it ended in a four way tie, so we all had to do each other's events. One guy was the national points leader in motorcycle enduro cross country racing. So we all had to enter the Blackwater 100 in Tennessee.
That race is a cross country motorcycles race that is 100 miles long. It does not follow roads or even trails, but goes cross country in a way that few people could even walk. It goes up and down very steep hills, it goes through soupy mud that is three feet deep and hundreds of yards long. This race is only for expert riders. So most of us had no business entering it.
To practice for that race we all went down to a place that was very rough country. We followed Don ( one of the best enduro racers in the US) to a place where he stopped. He had stopped at the top of a hill so steep that most people would call it a cliff. He said, you guys may want to go around a different way instead of going down this hill. I looked down it and inside, yelled in terror. But outside, I said, no problem. I was afraid to admit that it was too much for me. There are many different kinds of cowards. The other two new guys went around, but watched me before they left. That was good decision if one likes to be entertained by the folly of others.
The hill was so long and steep that you had to drag your brake so you did not pick up too much speed. If you braked too hard, the tires would slide and you would lose control. There was a large rock the size of my dinning room with a very narrow path between it and a very large tree ( about 5 feet in diameter). The tree was father downhill than the rock, so I feared hitting the tree more than the rock. Now Don clearly told me NOT to look at the rock or the tree or I would hit the one I was looking at. He said, you have to look at nothing but the path in between them. What made it so difficult was the fact that you had to ride down the hill at an angle instead of straight down the hill.
I heard what he said, but my fear of the tree took over. I tried to look at the path in between them, but could not take my eyes off of the tree. I went down the hill and drove right into the side of the tree as I tried to go in between them. My motorcycle went end over end down the hill and I did the same. I had the wind knocked out of me and could not respond when they asked if I was OK. My bike was flooded by going end over end and it took a lot of kicks to get it started again. It was a Maico 400 and you did not want to kick it half way and get kicked back. I did that ONCE and walked with a limp for a couple of weeks.
So we rode the rest of the course ( with a couple of bad falls on the way) and came to that same cliff that some fools called a hill. This time my fear was not the tree, but I feared falling like that again. It really hurt. So I forced myself to look at NOTHING but the path, and not to even glance for a second at the tree or the rock. Just a glance ,at that tree or rock,for a mirco second would mean disaster. I looked at the path with every ounce of intensity that I possessed, and went right in between the two. I got down the hill without falling and without pain.
I learned a very valuable lesson that day.
YOU HAVE TO FOCUS ON THE WAY, NOT YOUR FEARS
If we focus on our sin, that we fear will defeat us, then it will.
If we focus on Jesus, who is The Way, He will deliver us from that same sin.
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
Lou Newton
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