Way, Truth, Life
“Blind Man sits at the road and he cried,
Blind Man sits at the road and he cried,
Blind Man sits at the road and he cried,
He said Ooh, ooh, ooh...”
Rest will sing, “Show me the Waaaaayyyyyyy,
Show me the Trrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuth.
Show me the Liiiiiiiiifffffffffeeeee.
The way to home baby o,o,o,o,o,o.”
Well, by the way that were singing, you have heard of that song so many times before. We’ve heard the song, and other kid’s songs. We may have studied this verse at Sunday School, or at scripture before...and if you haven’t noticed, we’re studding this at the Net for the last three weeks. But what does it mean? More importantly what does it mean for us? Hopefully I’ll, with God power be able to do this. Let me pray.
[PRAYER.]
So my first point is Jesus Has a Place for you in heaven
Jesus will give you a place. There is much space, in fact space won’t run out. But the thing that I think and will be cool is that we will have a place with Jesus Christ for eternity. Let me show you this, could someone read John 14:1-3. Now some quick context, it has the heading Jesus Comforts His Disciples. Huh? Well, in the previous chapter, the Lord’s Supper has taken place. Now I have some slides to show you what has happened, this by the way were from last years Against the Flow camp, by the way the next one is in September 26-28. But here, Jesus washes the disciples feet, shown here with Tim. Then Jesus says that one of you will betray me. Now in this picture there is something wrong. I’ll give you 5 sec. (Correct answer, Jesus dipped the bread, not Judas.) Then, I couldn’t find a photo of Peter denying Jesus 3 times, nor Jesus saying that Peter will deny him 3 times, but instead I have this. (Click slide)
So, at this point of time, all of the disciples are questioning what has just happened. Therefore, Jesus Comforts his Disciples And he talks about heaven. When we talk about the father’s house, we talk about heaven. There are many rooms in heaven. Space will not run out. When I was in year 7, our school got a phone call from network 7 for some of us to go down to be part of a kid’s game show. Luckily our class got in. But the thing was that some of us would be part of the game itself, contestants as it was. The way to get in was that the school will choose 10 students to go into an audition to see if they filled the part of a contestant. At some schools, they were chosen if you were a school caption, or if you were really really admired at school. We were chosen though a raffle system. We all put our name down, including me, and then waited for each name to be called out. 1 name was called, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. My name was not called out. I did not get my 30 minutes of fame; it was turned into 2 seconds of fame...if you had a widescreen TV. Unlike that instance, we will never miss out, every Christian will be there and room will never run out.
Not only that, but in verse 3, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Not only will we be in heaven, we will spend eternity with Jesus. Remember your last sleepover with friends, or a camp you went to. Did you enjoy it? Was it so fun, with all your friends? Well, it’s like that for eternity, and it’s there with Jesus Christ. Won’t that be a time to remember?
So what? This is going to be great, but so what now? Well, we should be looking towards heaven. This will be hard, because there will be so many distractions around us, but keep looking towards heaven. And the great time we have there.
Okay, you may be thinking, ‘this is great Josh, but how do we get there?’ Well, could someone read verse 4&7? Well, Thomas was thinking the same thing. ‘This sounds great, but what is this way that we supposed to know?” This leads onto my second point; Jesus is the only way to the father. There is only one way to the father, to heaven. Remember Kez talking about Jesus being the Gate? Well it is repeated here. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO HEAVEN, BUT GOD. And the way to the father is through Jesus. Back to the bible. Verse 5, Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so know can we know the way? Verse 6, Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” There is one word that I find striking – THE. It says I am THE way, and THE truth, and THE Life. It doesn’t say I am A way, A truth, A life. It’s THE. Jesus then backs it up “No one come to the father except through me.” It’s like playing netball, with cricket bats, you can’t do it. Or, let’s say playing soccer, with a hacky sack! I played it with a friend the other day, so I got out my hacky sack, it was actually a juggling ball, and it just didn’t work he kept on picking up the ball, which you can’t do, and were trying to play, but it was just a bit...it didn’t feel right. You have to play soccer with a soccer ball! Why the same with religion. Jesus says I am THE Way to the Father.
So what? Well, I’m not saying go out to your non Christian friends and say that you believe in the wrong god. Don’t do that. What I suggest is for you to... treat them as a neighbour. Jesus says, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.’“ Love your neighbour, and invite them to the Net, or Church; either one! Also remember this when you may be persuaded with other things, other idols that are not God. Jesus is the only way to the father.
Let me pray.
Blind Man sits at the road and he cried,
Blind Man sits at the road and he cried,
He said Ooh, ooh, ooh...”
Rest will sing, “Show me the Waaaaayyyyyyy,
Show me the Trrrrrrrrrrrrruuuuuuuuuuuth.
Show me the Liiiiiiiiifffffffffeeeee.
The way to home baby o,o,o,o,o,o.”
Well, by the way that were singing, you have heard of that song so many times before. We’ve heard the song, and other kid’s songs. We may have studied this verse at Sunday School, or at scripture before...and if you haven’t noticed, we’re studding this at the Net for the last three weeks. But what does it mean? More importantly what does it mean for us? Hopefully I’ll, with God power be able to do this. Let me pray.
[PRAYER.]
So my first point is Jesus Has a Place for you in heaven
Jesus will give you a place. There is much space, in fact space won’t run out. But the thing that I think and will be cool is that we will have a place with Jesus Christ for eternity. Let me show you this, could someone read John 14:1-3. Now some quick context, it has the heading Jesus Comforts His Disciples. Huh? Well, in the previous chapter, the Lord’s Supper has taken place. Now I have some slides to show you what has happened, this by the way were from last years Against the Flow camp, by the way the next one is in September 26-28. But here, Jesus washes the disciples feet, shown here with Tim. Then Jesus says that one of you will betray me. Now in this picture there is something wrong. I’ll give you 5 sec. (Correct answer, Jesus dipped the bread, not Judas.) Then, I couldn’t find a photo of Peter denying Jesus 3 times, nor Jesus saying that Peter will deny him 3 times, but instead I have this. (Click slide)
So, at this point of time, all of the disciples are questioning what has just happened. Therefore, Jesus Comforts his Disciples And he talks about heaven. When we talk about the father’s house, we talk about heaven. There are many rooms in heaven. Space will not run out. When I was in year 7, our school got a phone call from network 7 for some of us to go down to be part of a kid’s game show. Luckily our class got in. But the thing was that some of us would be part of the game itself, contestants as it was. The way to get in was that the school will choose 10 students to go into an audition to see if they filled the part of a contestant. At some schools, they were chosen if you were a school caption, or if you were really really admired at school. We were chosen though a raffle system. We all put our name down, including me, and then waited for each name to be called out. 1 name was called, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. My name was not called out. I did not get my 30 minutes of fame; it was turned into 2 seconds of fame...if you had a widescreen TV. Unlike that instance, we will never miss out, every Christian will be there and room will never run out.
Not only that, but in verse 3, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Not only will we be in heaven, we will spend eternity with Jesus. Remember your last sleepover with friends, or a camp you went to. Did you enjoy it? Was it so fun, with all your friends? Well, it’s like that for eternity, and it’s there with Jesus Christ. Won’t that be a time to remember?
So what? This is going to be great, but so what now? Well, we should be looking towards heaven. This will be hard, because there will be so many distractions around us, but keep looking towards heaven. And the great time we have there.
Okay, you may be thinking, ‘this is great Josh, but how do we get there?’ Well, could someone read verse 4&7? Well, Thomas was thinking the same thing. ‘This sounds great, but what is this way that we supposed to know?” This leads onto my second point; Jesus is the only way to the father. There is only one way to the father, to heaven. Remember Kez talking about Jesus being the Gate? Well it is repeated here. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY TO HEAVEN, BUT GOD. And the way to the father is through Jesus. Back to the bible. Verse 5, Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so know can we know the way? Verse 6, Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” There is one word that I find striking – THE. It says I am THE way, and THE truth, and THE Life. It doesn’t say I am A way, A truth, A life. It’s THE. Jesus then backs it up “No one come to the father except through me.” It’s like playing netball, with cricket bats, you can’t do it. Or, let’s say playing soccer, with a hacky sack! I played it with a friend the other day, so I got out my hacky sack, it was actually a juggling ball, and it just didn’t work he kept on picking up the ball, which you can’t do, and were trying to play, but it was just a bit...it didn’t feel right. You have to play soccer with a soccer ball! Why the same with religion. Jesus says I am THE Way to the Father.
So what? Well, I’m not saying go out to your non Christian friends and say that you believe in the wrong god. Don’t do that. What I suggest is for you to... treat them as a neighbour. Jesus says, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbour as yourself.’“ Love your neighbour, and invite them to the Net, or Church; either one! Also remember this when you may be persuaded with other things, other idols that are not God. Jesus is the only way to the father.
Let me pray.