WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:08.560 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:12.480 Helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.079 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit GrandParkway.org. 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:24.559 Father God, you um you are all the things that we have sung about this morning. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:26.000 You're the Waymaker. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:28.079 God, you're the chainbreaker. 00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:31.839 God, you're the hand taker. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.000 Father, you're the Lord of Lord, you're the King of Kings. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:42.159 And God, we don't want to take that for granted. 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:49.759 That we can come, we can call on you, we can cry to you, we can trust in you. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:52.560 We can come and we can sing things that are true about you. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:55.840 We can open your word and grow closer to you. 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:02.560 So, church, just just take a moment and just let that sink in this morning. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:14.879 That the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Waymaker, the Chainbreaker. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:21.120 He's our God, He's our Father, He's our Savior. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:24.159 He is present with us. 00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:27.599 God, for this, we're thankful. 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:29.439 We ask you to speak as we're listening. 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:30.640 Praise things your name. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:31.439 Amen. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:33.599 If you haven't already, you can grab a seat. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:36.319 And if you haven't already, if you feel comfortable, you can remove your mask. 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:37.439 I forgot that in the first service. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:40.959 And then folks that I think wanted to take their mask off were uh hyperventilating. 00:01:41.040 --> 00:01:42.640 So I'll try not to do that again. 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:46.319 Um if I have not had the pleasure of meeting you, my name is Wade Collier. 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:48.079 I am uh a member here at Grand Parkway. 00:01:48.319 --> 00:01:57.680 Also uh had the pleasure of uh serving as one of your um lay pastors, and from time to time I'm given the honor and the opportunity to come up here and open God's word with you. 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:02.319 Um it's been a while since way before COVID and quarantine. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:04.799 And um, how many of you guys are tired of hearing the new normal? 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:05.439 Raise your hand. 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:06.000 Amen. 00:02:06.159 --> 00:02:07.120 Yes, man. 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:08.719 Okay, it's not normal. 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:10.479 All right, got that out of the way. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:15.680 So anyway, um, if you would, would you turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 14? 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:17.599 John chapter 14. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:25.919 And in case you think you stepped through a time warp and believe that we're back in the two-year span that it took us to get through the book of John the first time, fear not. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.960 We are still going through the book of Daniel as a church. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:32.960 Um, but this morning we're taking a break and looking back at John 14. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:39.199 And also don't worry, I did my due diligence and I looked back um a decade ago when we were in John 14. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.639 I think it was actually April of last year when Neil was in uh John 14. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:46.080 I wanted to make sure I wasn't gonna do a bad rerun of Neil's sermon from then. 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:50.159 Um so we're looking at uh at something in a new way this morning. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:03:04.319 And so while you're finding John 14, um, as a way of reminder of what we're gonna read this morning, right before we pick up in John 14, 1, what's happening in John 13 is they are in the what's what's the upper room, and what's happening is what's called the upper room discourse. 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:07.039 And Jesus has washed the disciples' feet. 00:03:07.120 --> 00:03:12.719 Um, he's given them a new commandment, a new commandment to love one another as he has loved them. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:27.120 And then what happens, what leads us into where we're gonna be this morning is Peter asks the first of several of what have to be at least slightly frustrating questions of Jesus that the disciples ask. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:32.960 As he lays out the kingdom in front of them, then they continue to ask these questions. 00:03:33.280 --> 00:03:43.759 And so this is this is no different in in John chapter 13, verse 33, Jesus says, Little children, yet a little while while I'm with you, you will seek me. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:49.439 And just as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, where I'm going, you cannot come. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:55.199 And if you were to move three verses down, you see Peter asking the question, Lord, where where are you going? 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:57.360 Where are you going? 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:02.719 Now, full disclosure, I often find myself making apologies for Peter. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:08.639 Um, Peter has an amazing ability to know what both of his sandals taste like on regular occurrence. 00:04:08.879 --> 00:04:19.040 Um and even Jesus, his answer implies that he realizes that Peter is asking a question because he wants to accompany Jesus wherever he's going. 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:20.560 He wants to be with Jesus. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:30.639 And Peter's statement was undoubtedly in this question, it was this expression, whether indirect or direct, it was this expression of his affection that he has for Jesus, right? 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:33.680 And it's made from good intentions. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:44.879 Um but this morning, as we walk into this and we look at these questions that are asked, um, as we are looking at a new way to set the trajectory in our relationship with God, I'm struck by how uh D.A. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:47.439 Carson, I know Marcy brought up D.A Carson earlier this morning. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:48.319 I'm struck how D.A. 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:50.959 Carson addresses Peter's question here. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:05:03.360 Um in John chapter 13, he says this sadly, Peter's good intentions in a secure room after a good food are far less attractive in a darkened garden with a hostile mob. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:09.920 What he's making reference to is Peter is making these grand proclamations of, I want to follow you everywhere and I'll never deny you. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:15.519 And then just a few short hours later, as he's faced with threat for his faith in Christ, he backs down. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.399 And it's a little harsh, it's a little harsh from D.A. 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:19.519 Carson, right? 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:27.519 He goes on to say, at this point in his pilgrimage, Peter's intentions and self-assessment vastly outstrip his strength. 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:35.839 Um the reason, the reason I read this and the reason I was reminded of this is as we approach this relationship we have with God, right? 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:43.439 This vertical relationship that we have with God, it can oftentimes be defined with good intentions, right? 00:05:44.399 --> 00:06:08.480 But sometimes our self-assessment of our understanding of yes, I understand what God wants from me, I understand what's available, sometimes our assessment of that, our assessment of understanding of what God wants to be in this relationship, let me say that again, of what God wants to be in the relationship, not what we want Him to be, but what God wants to be in the relationship, these begin to outstrip our comprehension of things, just like D.A. 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:09.920 Carson talks about Peter. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:18.319 Or said more plainly, we miss how much greater and deeper and more dependent this relationship really can be. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:19.199 Right? 00:06:19.680 --> 00:06:23.360 So let's read uh John chapter 14, beginning in verse 1. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:31.040 Let's read this together and let's explore this glorious potential of a deeper, greater, and more dependent relationship. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:34.399 Says this beginning in verse 1 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:37.279 Believe in God, believe also in me. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:39.680 In my father's house are many rooms. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:43.759 If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:48.480 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and I will take you to myself. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.519 That where I am, you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going. 00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:57.600 And Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. 00:06:57.839 --> 00:06:59.199 How can we know the way? 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:04.160 And Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. 00:07:04.399 --> 00:07:06.720 No one comes to the Father except through me. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:10.160 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:14.160 From now on, you do know him and you have seen him. 00:07:14.560 --> 00:07:16.399 This is the word of the Lord. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:24.000 Um, in the first service, or after the first service, rather, um, I had a few um uh friendly suggestions from the congregation. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:25.120 One was to slow down. 00:07:25.199 --> 00:07:27.360 So now you guys are gonna have a much slower version. 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:31.759 Um, the other one was apparently when I pulled um my mask off, my beard went seven different directions. 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:32.800 So am I looking all right? 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:34.879 We're on the live stream this service, is that correct? 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:36.240 So I want to make sure that things on point. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:36.720 I'm good? 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:37.519 All right. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:48.800 Um so this morning, uh, through these seven verses, we're gonna explore um the definition and the depths of being fathered by God. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:54.160 If you're a note taker, um, that's that's the title of the sermon this morning is being fathered by God. 00:07:54.879 --> 00:07:59.519 Um let's let's begin to define what being fathered by God means. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:03.439 Um, you don't have to turn there, these this will be uh on the screens behind me. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:08.720 In David's Psalm of 145, um, beginning in verse one, he says this. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:12.639 He says, I will extol you, my God and king. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.279 Bless your name forever and ever. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:19.680 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:25.839 Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:34.480 Um, later in the 1600s, there was something, uh, a proclamation, a document, whatever you want to call it, that was written called the Westminster Catechism. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:41.039 And it takes Psalm 145 as one of its primary inspirations, and it says this about being fathered by God. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:46.799 It says, Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:52.159 It's my belief that one of the most pivotal pathways, if we were to say, How do I get there? 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:52.399 Right? 00:08:52.480 --> 00:09:01.600 I know Neil um sent this out in the email on Saturday, the tomorrow email of it's man's chief end to glorify God, and we should relate to God as Jesus does, which is as Father. 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:02.720 So how do we get there? 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:12.480 It's my belief that one of the most pivotal ways to glorifying God and enjoying Him forever is to allow ourselves to say, God, what does it look like for you to be my father? 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:17.200 What does it look like for this relationship to be based on you being my father? 00:09:17.600 --> 00:09:25.360 Um and some of us, when we hear that, that immediately resonates because we say, Man, if I was to define my relationship with God, it would be that. 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.480 It would, it would be based on the fact that He's my father. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:33.759 There's other of there's others of us in this room that would say, That's it's kind of weird. 00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:34.960 I don't really get that. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:40.399 I don't get how a creator God who's up there, I don't understand how that could be a father. 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:42.720 And so I don't really have handles for that. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:53.759 And I'm also aware that there's some of us in this room, or some of you in this room, that might have some unresolved wounds as it pertains to your earthly father, earthly authority figures. 00:09:54.080 --> 00:10:02.399 And so when the guy with the long beard starts getting really passionate and starts talking about God being father, you're like, I don't know, man. 00:10:03.039 --> 00:10:09.279 The example of a father I've had doesn't really paint a good picture of God the Creator being father, right? 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:22.879 And and so wherever we land on that, um, here's what I know in the midst of all of that is that we all have the need to grow and deeper in our understanding of the ability to relate to God as Father. 00:10:23.039 --> 00:10:23.759 And hear this. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.559 If you don't hear anything else this morning, please hear this. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:39.919 The deeper that you are willing to get this, the deeper that you are willing to embrace this relationship of God as Father, the more you will cling to it, the more you will understand the character of God. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:45.440 So, so so within with through that lens, let's look back at verse one again. 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:52.399 And I'm gonna, I didn't warn the first service, and I thought, I think they were thinking, dude, are you just gonna preach one verse for the entire sermon? 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:53.039 No. 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:55.279 But for 92% of it, I am. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:59.679 All right, so the first verse is this it says, Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:10:59.919 --> 00:11:02.720 Believe in God, believe also in me. 00:11:03.200 --> 00:11:07.759 There is a whole lot going on in 13 words and two sentences right here. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:13.600 Um, but these 13 words of these two sentences are gonna shape and set the trajectory of where we're headed this morning. 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:14.879 And here's what I mean. 00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:19.440 First, Jesus tells them not to be troubled in this command, commandment. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:21.279 He says, do not be troubled. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:36.240 I believe that Jesus not only knew that they were troubled because he's God and he knows all things, but also I believe Jesus being fully God and fully man, remember that, that he recognized the feeling in his friends that he himself was feeling. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:37.039 What do I mean? 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.759 Remember, this is this is the night in the upper room. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:44.159 Jesus will be arrested, he will be put on trial, he will be crucified. 00:11:44.320 --> 00:11:46.879 Fully God, fully man, he has troubled himself. 00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:47.519 We know that. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:53.600 He stays up at night, he prays, he says, God, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me, right? 00:11:53.679 --> 00:11:54.799 He is troubled. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:57.200 He's troubled because of what lay before him. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:02.799 The eleven that he is speaking to, they're troubled because they didn't understand what lay before him. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:07.840 Jesus is saying these things that they are having a hard time wrapping their mind around. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:15.759 And Jesus just told them that he was going to leave them, the same eleven that had left everything they knew to follow him, right? 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:18.639 And now he's saying, I'm going and you can't follow. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.639 So Jesus says, Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:12:22.799 --> 00:12:25.279 Believe in God, believe also in me. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:31.200 When I say that this sets the stage for understanding what it means to be fathered by God, here's what I mean. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:36.240 Jesus is telling the eleven who are just staring at him and looking for direction. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:41.679 He's telling them to trust in him the very same way that they trust in God. 00:12:42.240 --> 00:12:47.120 The theologians are split, I'm not one, but I'm not a theologian, I might be split, but I'm not a theologian. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:53.039 Theologians are split on are all or are all the disciples convinced that he's a son of God at this point? 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.399 Or some of them are are they there? 00:12:54.480 --> 00:12:55.360 Have they not arrived? 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:06.159 Which, whichever, whichever place you land, Jesus is telling the eleven to trust him in the same way they trust God, and that by doing so, it would begin to extinguish their troubled heart, right? 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:08.080 Why is this a big deal? 00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:09.679 I am so glad you asked. 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:14.080 One, he is reassuring them that he in fact is God. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:16.879 He is looking at them and he is saying, I'm God, right? 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:18.080 It's a big deal. 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:30.240 And in the confirmation that he is God, he is telling the disciples, and he's telling us this morning that everything that the disciples have been following the last three years, remember, these are the guys that laid everything down to follow Jesus, right? 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:33.279 They laid it all down and we're all in. 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:41.440 There's he is telling them that all these things that you've been following in me, they're also available to you with God the Father. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:45.919 I'm gonna say that again so that can maybe sink in a little bit. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:55.200 All those things that we love about Jesus, all those things that we get passionate when we talk about Jesus, those are the same things that are available with God the Father. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:56.720 Does that make sense? 00:13:57.759 --> 00:13:58.399 The two people? 00:13:58.559 --> 00:13:58.879 Yes? 00:13:59.039 --> 00:13:59.279 Okay. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:02.720 All those things, and this is what Jesus is telling him. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:12.639 He's saying everything that caused people to flock in the thousands upon thousands to hear Jesus do and say is available in the Father, right? 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:21.360 Jesus, Jesus isn't the cool teacher who gets you to stand on your desk and quote Walt Whitman and then God's in the hallway angry, right? 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.000 They're not too different, right? 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:31.679 God the Father is dangerous and he's overwhelming, but he's also good and pure and righteous. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:39.919 God's holiness both separates but also bridges this enormous moral gulf between the creator and the created. 00:14:40.080 --> 00:14:42.639 I'm gonna do this a lot this morning, right? 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.000 God's goodness bridges this gap, right? 00:14:46.240 --> 00:14:48.000 A gap that oftentimes we create. 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.000 Now there's sin, and there's implications of that. 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:57.440 I'm not ignoring that, but I'm saying this gap that we create because we want to treat God the Father different than we treat Jesus the Son, right? 00:14:58.879 --> 00:15:02.639 The second implication of this verse, which is our first point this morning, is this is this. 00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:08.240 If we want to relate to God as Father, we need to relate to his lordship, right? 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:09.440 Sounds great. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:10.159 What does that mean? 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:15.919 Jesus is saying that his lordship, the father's lordship, is what it's gonna give us relief. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:17.759 It's what's, I'm sorry, let me say that again. 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:21.039 It's what's going to give the disciples relief in their troubled posture. 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:25.840 Said differently, the father's lordship ensures it's all gonna be okay. 00:15:28.720 --> 00:15:36.559 I would go as far as to say there's a lot of people in this room this morning, and there's a lot of people that are joining us online that need to hear it's all gonna be okay. 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:40.000 If you trust in God, it's all gonna be okay. 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:43.120 So, what is this lordship that's all gonna make it okay? 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:45.679 The theologian Richard Lynz defines it this way. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:47.200 This is gonna be on the screens behind me. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:49.600 It's a lot of big words, but trust me, it's worth it. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:50.559 Maybe it's just me. 00:15:50.639 --> 00:15:51.679 Maybe they're big words for me. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:52.240 I don't know. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:16:00.000 The lordship of God points at the myriad of ways that God exercises his power and authority over creation and across human history. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:16.320 The sovereignty of God carries the connotation not only that God's power is without limit, therefore, having access to him in this relationship is without limit, but that he has all proper authority to exercise that power as he sees fit. 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:27.120 It is a reminder to us that God is the creator who calls everything into being by his word, and who has also called the dead to life by the same word. 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:30.080 He is the Lord of heaven and earth. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:35.039 He is the beginning and the end, he is the Lord of lords and the king of kings. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:37.919 That's our Father, right? 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:43.759 That's our Father who we have this unvetted as Christians relationship with. 00:16:44.320 --> 00:16:50.559 Earlier I mentioned that verse one was a command: this let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me. 00:16:50.799 --> 00:16:54.639 When we, when you and I relate to the Father's Lordship, we submit to him, right? 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:55.360 It's a commandment. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:56.240 We submit to him. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:00.559 We submit to him knowing that he knows what is right. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:06.960 We know that he makes promises and that he keeps them every single time. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:12.559 And by always keeping those promises, this is what God is telling us this morning. 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:16.319 He's telling us that you don't have to treat me like someone who doesn't come through. 00:17:16.559 --> 00:17:23.519 You don't have to treat me like someone who said, Oh, you know, two weeks ago that promise sounded like a good idea. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:29.359 Because some of us have a problem believing that God always comes through. 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:32.319 Because we've had a lot of people not come through, right? 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:34.559 That's not God. 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:36.000 That's not his lordship. 00:17:36.079 --> 00:17:38.079 That's not what he's asking us to submit to. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:47.599 God so seriously takes keeping his promises, and vice versa, by the way, that he equates the commandments to an expression of his love. 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:50.799 Look, if you have your Bibles open, look down at verse 15. 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:55.279 He says this if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:57.599 That's heavy, right? 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:59.519 If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:02.960 In light of that, if verse one is a commandment, look back. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:04.960 Let not your hearts be troubled. 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:07.920 Believe in God, believe also in me. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:10.559 So in this statement, Jesus is saying this. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:13.200 He's saying, I'm acknowledging that you're hurting. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:13.839 I am. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:18.880 But I'm also saying that the relief for your hurt is to obey this command. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:22.000 Believe in God, believe in his lordship. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:25.359 And hear this there is a plan at work. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:29.920 There is a plan at work in the kingdom of God. 00:18:30.400 --> 00:18:40.319 So in the midst of hurt or anxiety, depression, hopelessness, or fill in the blank for whatever can have its foot on your neck in this season of life right now. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:46.880 If we can begin to relate to our Father based on his lordship, based on his control, right? 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:54.400 His power and authority over creation, over all of it, it will begin to bring things into perspective. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:05.279 I believe this comes through making this a habit of creating spiritual muscle memory, right? 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:13.759 Of when we just feel overwhelmed by a number of things, or just, man, insurmountable, or just mundane, right? 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:16.400 The mundane is just, God, is this what? 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:18.079 Is this what I'm called to? 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:20.160 Another day of going to H E B? 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:24.160 Well, I mean, H E B is glorious, but another, have you ever been to a city without H E B? 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.400 That is a forsaken land, by the way. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:28.079 That H E B tortillas? 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:28.960 Uh H E B family. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:29.680 I see you back there. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:30.640 Yeah, all right. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:32.400 Um, where was I? 00:19:32.559 --> 00:19:33.359 I don't know. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:40.000 Um so if we can begin to just say, in the midst of all of this, God, you are in control. 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:46.400 When I am overwhelmed with a troubled heart, like the disciples, that you go, yeah, this is the worst. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:47.519 This is the worst. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:50.079 I've never felt this low, I've never felt this bad. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:50.880 But you know what? 00:19:50.960 --> 00:20:02.640 I have a father I can call on, I have his lordship that I can call on because I have a relationship with him, and I can call on this, and over everything that is weighing me down, like a hundred albatrosses hanging around my neck, right? 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.799 I get I get wrecked by anxiety. 00:20:09.039 --> 00:20:12.720 I'm I'm talking wrecked by anxiety, like a punch in the nose. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:14.480 Has anybody ever been punched in the nose before? 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.160 Some of y'all are lying. 00:20:16.240 --> 00:20:17.200 I know so many. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:18.480 That is the worst. 00:20:18.640 --> 00:20:19.440 That is the worst. 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.079 I mean, it affects your whole body, right? 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:35.599 And when I'm um either in counseling myself or I've counseled other people and we're talking about anxiety, I'm like, when I I don't know about you, but when I have anxiety, oftentimes it feels like I've been punched in the nose physically, like emotionally and physiologically, right? 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:38.160 And and and it's the worst. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:43.440 Um, and and I can begin to what I call drifting out to sea, right? 00:20:43.519 --> 00:20:45.680 And here's here's a picture of what I mean by drifting out to sea. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.400 Back when I was in high school and college, I was an idiot. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:21:00.799 Um still an idiot now, I'm just not in high school or college, but um anytime, pretty much any time a tropical storm would roll into the coast, um, my buddies and I would jump in a truck, surfboards, and go surf the tropical storm, right? 00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:05.039 And let me disfill any um illusions you have that I might be a good surfer. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:05.920 I'm a horrible surfer. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:06.240 All right. 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:07.440 I have friends that are good surfers. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:13.359 I just really liked hanging out with my friends, and I didn't have a mortgage or a wife or kids or a minivan, and so I could just go jump out in the ocean, right? 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:26.160 So if you've ever been at the beach when a tropical storm or anything like that rolls in, um, what happens right there in that immediate surf is it gets super churned up and it is hard to get past even the first sandbar, if not the second one, where you really want to be. 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:34.000 So, those of you who are from this part of Texas or spent any time here know that before the epitome of highway robbery that is called um the pleasure pier. 00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:37.519 Um, and if you have children, you know what I mean by highway robbery. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:43.200 Um before that was there, there was a hotel called the flagship hotel built in the 60s, right? 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:57.039 And it was there and kind of in and out based on storms, and you could go to the inn and you could fish, and there was an angry, angry woman from Vietnam who really, really took the rule of it being illegal to jump off the end of the pier seriously, right? 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.680 And so I'm not saying that we jumped off the pier. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:07.759 A couple dozen times, but I am saying that we had it perfected on how to distract one of us, would distract her, and then the other ones would jump off before she could call the cops. 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:09.119 Don't do that, children. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:27.359 Um, anyway, so one time in particular, we're out, and um, I mentioned I'm not good, and I try to get on a wave, and I just completely just get annihilated, and then all of a sudden I look up once I'm coming up out of the water, and I am being pulled not only by the waves, but by a current into those pylons of the pier. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:32.160 And so I jump on my board and I just paddle, paddle, paddle, paddle, and I'm scared to death. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:33.359 I'm not afraid to tell you that, right? 00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:41.759 And I'm paddling like I'm paddling for my life, which I probably was, and I finally get out of that current and I am free, and I just lay down on my board. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.200 But then there's also a rip tide and there's also a rip current. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:46.640 Look those up, they do two different things. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:49.759 I get caught by the other one and it starts pulling me right over to the jetties. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:53.680 And I am gassed at this point, and I can no longer paddle against that. 00:22:53.759 --> 00:22:57.519 And I am trying, but I got nothing left, and I am getting closer and closer. 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:03.279 And at the point where I am about from here to the media booth back there, I just resigned myself to this is how I'm gonna die, right? 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:05.599 I guess it's kind of cool, except it's Galveston. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:06.480 I don't know. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.000 My mother-in-law is from Galveston. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:10.480 Hi. 00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:18.720 Um but I'm I'm crying out, I'm probably crying, have no idea what to do, no one's around to help me. 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:22.880 There's flags everywhere that say, hey, idiot, if you're in the water, you're on your own. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:27.759 And then out of nowhere, um, some giant waves come and just throw me onto the beach. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:31.440 And I'm about five feet from imminent death on the jetty rocks. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:38.240 And I just lay there and I'm just with with no responsibility of how I was relieved, right? 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:45.119 So when I say, and I'm trying to explain to someone, man, the feeling of being out at sea, that's that's what it feels like. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:46.960 It's just this this hopelessness. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:56.559 And the reason I I share that is I think as Jesus is looking at the disciples and it says that he sees that they're troubled, I think they feel like they're drifting off with no hope, right? 00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:09.359 Oftentimes for me, I can't speak for you, I can't speak for the disciples, but oftentimes for me, not always, but oftentimes it happens because I forget to relate to my father based on his lordship. 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:27.839 I forget to relate to him based on his dominion over all things, including my thoughts, my emotions, my physiology, an election, a world that is just constantly crying to be king of kings of your life. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:33.440 In the midst of all of that, sometimes I'll forget to say, God, you've got dominion over it all. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:39.200 Let not your hearts be troubled, but believe in God, believe also in me, right? 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:40.799 So let's keep reading. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:41.680 Verse 2. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:42.960 I told you. 00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:45.279 A lot of the sermon, one verse. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:47.839 In my father's house are many rooms. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:51.519 If it were not so, would I have told you that I go and prepare a place for you? 00:24:51.759 --> 00:24:55.759 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:25:02.240 Where I am, you may also be, or you may be also, and you know the way to where I am going. 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.000 Thomas said to him, Lord, we we don't know where you're going. 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:07.440 How can we know the way? 00:25:07.759 --> 00:25:14.160 And Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.519 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. 00:25:18.000 --> 00:25:21.119 From now on, you do know him and you have seen him. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:23.839 There's a lot being said here. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:30.880 There's a lot of different directions to go here as far as we talk as far as um God's return and God going to prepare a place. 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:33.039 But but for the sake of brevity, amen. 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:33.680 Amen. 00:25:34.079 --> 00:25:36.559 I want to draw our attention to the last two verses. 00:25:36.720 --> 00:25:37.200 All right. 00:25:37.519 --> 00:25:38.799 First, verse six. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.039 Thomas asked how they could know the way, and Jesus responds. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:46.160 He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:49.359 Thomas, no one comes to the Father except through me. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:53.119 This first aspect that we talked about was God's Lordship. 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:59.519 The second aspect of God's character, which allows us to relate to him as Father, is relating to his accessibility. 00:25:59.599 --> 00:26:00.640 Hey, Mary, you got a good arm? 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:01.839 Will you throw me that water right there? 00:26:01.920 --> 00:26:02.400 Come on. 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:03.119 Oh. 00:26:03.519 --> 00:26:04.880 Who wanted her to throw it? 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:06.240 Yeah. 00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:12.640 We can relate to his accessibility. 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:22.960 At first glance, you might look at verse six and you think, wait, Jesus is saying, no one, he literally says, no one can get to the Father except through me. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:24.079 How is that accessible? 00:26:25.119 --> 00:26:26.000 You have to flip it. 00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:31.119 It's accessible because it couldn't be more straightforward access to the Father. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:32.640 Couldn't be, right? 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:36.880 Jesus isn't saying he's one of the ways to the Father, right? 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:42.240 He's not saying that he's part of a multi-level marketing pyramid that will eventually lead you to God, right? 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:42.960 No. 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:49.119 He says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:51.759 God the Father, hear this. 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:58.240 God the Father so desires a relationship with you that he makes the path to the relationship. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:26:59.759 Hear that again. 00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:05.680 He so desires a relationship with you that he creates the path. 00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:11.359 This is abundantly clear in verse 6. 00:27:11.599 --> 00:27:17.359 And I want us to understand the lengths that God is willing to go to accomplish this relationship. 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:21.359 If you have your Bible open to John 14, put your finger there. 00:27:21.519 --> 00:27:22.720 It'll be on the screen as well. 00:27:23.039 --> 00:27:26.960 Flip over into John 3 and look at verse 16 and 17. 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:32.079 It says this for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:38.400 He gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 00:27:38.640 --> 00:27:45.039 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. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:55.039 Oklahoma City, his name is Sam Storms. 00:27:56.160 --> 00:28:01.599 And he's got uh several books, I don't know, 20-something books, but he has one book um called The Singing God. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:02.960 Highly recommend this book. 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:07.359 It's called The Singing God, and it explores um the immeasurable love. 00:28:07.519 --> 00:28:14.400 I think I took this from the back of his book, but it explores the immeasurable love for his children, and I I highly, highly recommend it. 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:18.640 Um he says this about God's desire to be accessible to us. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:20.319 This will be on the screen as well. 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:27.119 He says this the love of God, then, is the source or cause of the atoning work of Christ. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:29.359 This is this is big. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:32.079 God does not love people because Christ died for them. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:35.759 Christ died for them because God loved them. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:45.119 The death of the Savior is not to be conceived as restoring in people something on the basis of which we might win the merit of God's love. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:45.599 No. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:56.079 The sacrifice of Christ does not procure God's affection, as if it were necessary through his sufferings, to extract love from an otherwise stern, unwilling, reluctant deity. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:57.839 Remember, he's not the mean principle. 00:28:58.640 --> 00:29:04.799 On the contrary, God's love compels the death of Christ and is supremely manifested therein. 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:09.920 In a word, the saving love of God is giving. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:12.640 Remember, he gave us a path. 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:16.319 For God so loved the world that he gave his son. 00:29:19.119 --> 00:29:26.000 If you're struggling, or maybe this is a new way to think about this, um look at these three verses. 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:26.799 These are just three. 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:39.920 There's just three examples of many that we find throughout the scriptures that just begin to underline and shape our understanding of a Father God who is so desiring a relationship with us that he is giving, giving his son. 00:29:40.240 --> 00:29:41.279 He is giving us a path. 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:44.079 Galatians 2.20 says this: I have been crucified with Christ. 00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:47.680 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:55.039 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. 00:29:56.000 --> 00:29:58.079 Ephesians 5 says this. 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:08.559 Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God given. 00:30:09.440 --> 00:30:10.960 First John 4. 00:30:12.160 --> 00:30:15.440 In this, the love of God was made manifest among us. 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:19.440