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That's connectwithskip.com. Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Heaven is a personalized place. Your room, your apartment, your mansion is going to be personalized. He's making something for you. He's preparing a place for you. I always love to think of it. I did two funerals yesterday and I always love the thought. That, you know, when I go out of town or when my wife goes out of town and I'm home, if I know she's coming back, I want to prepare the place for her. I want to clean it up and make it nice. So it's a nice surprise when she comes home. It's like, wow, you were clean.
How did that happen? So I try to prepare it. Now my preparation might be a couple hours, maybe even a day if I have a day off to do that. I'm leaving to prepare a place for you. Can you imagine what this place must look like?
If he's been working on that mansion of yours for 2,000 years. Now I will theologically concur that perhaps Jesus, when he said I'm going to prepare a place for you, is simply speaking of the cross. I'm going to make a way for you. I'm going to prepare a way for you or a place for you by allowing you to go there, by me going to the cross and being the spirit.
I'm going to make a sacrifice to allow you to get to heaven. He could simply mean that. Or he could mean I'm personally going to make something for you. Or it could all be what he means by that.
But that is what he'll show. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. You probably should write in your notes or in the margin of your Bible 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, 1 Corinthians 15, both passages there. I'm going to come back for you.
I'm going to get you. And Paul tells us that will happen at a different time than when he comes the second time, the second coming, all the way to the earth, the second coming. Jesus set up his kingdom. It's called the rapture of the church. This is the first hint ever since Jesus spoke these words.
The church has had what Paul called the blessed hope, the blessed hope of Jesus' return for us. He could come at any moment. He could come before the end of this Bible study. Jesus is coming soon.
I'm excited about that. You know, as I look around at the world, I don't have hope in any politician or political party. I'm not holding my breath thinking there's going to be change in four years. I never thought a politician could break change enough to satisfy my heart. I'm looking for Jesus to take every politician, say, move over.
You're doing it wrong. Let me show you the ropes. Verse 4. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. So how can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
I love Thomas. You know, he's probably the only honest guy in the bunch. Maybe a few of them picked up on it because after all, Jesus did say where I'm going. You know, and the way you know.
But at least one of them didn't. And that was Thomas, and he wasn't the kid in class to go, I have no idea what the teacher is saying, but I'm just going to nod my head and look like I'm writing notes down like, this is good. He's the kid who sticks his hand up and goes, I have no clue what you just said. Where are you going? And if we don't know where you're going, how can we know how to get there? And I'm glad he said that because he opened the door for Jesus to give the answer, which is the gospel in a nutshell.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. So I know Thomas had flaws. Thomas had a question mark for a brain. He was always questioning things. Huh? Why?
How? So he had a question mark for a brain, but Jesus was in the process of turning the question mark into an exclamation point. Before the ascension into heaven, Thomas will be at the exclamation point. And after Jesus goes to heaven, Thomas will carry the gospel to India and share his faith to transform a nation. But he's questioning this. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He holds it right there. That sounds very narrow, doesn't it? Doesn't that sound awfully dogmatic? Have you ever been accused of being narrow minded?
Raise your hand if you have. Okay. I get accused of that all the time in my line of work. People say, you are narrow minded. I'm thinking all the time, you have no idea how narrow minded I am. You're a closed minded. Uh-huh. Because when I received Christ, he closed my mind.
I was open before that. And then he made sense and shut the book. And it is dogmatic. It's dogmatic because Jesus was dogmatic. He said this in the Sermon on the Mount.
Difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Now he says, no one comes to the Father but through me. That eliminates every other belief system but believing in him.
Every other belief system. Oh, but they're so sincere. Granted, I was so sincere at one time. I'm sincere still, but I mean, it was pure sincerity at one time. But I was sincerely wrong. And Jesus said, I am the way and he is the way because he takes you there.
Let me give you an example. If you went to a city that you had never been to before and you didn't know how to get around and you asked someone for directions and they said to you, okay, I know where you want to go. So go down the street to the first stop light, turn right, go down three blocks, take a left. When you see the Taco Bell right behind it, you'll find a little street, go two blocks and you'll find where you're looking for. So if you don't remember those instructions, you'll get lost. Right? Think pre-cell phone.
But imagine a person saying, you know what, it's too complicated. I'll take you there. Now he's not just giving you directions to the way. Now he's not just telling you the way. He's showing you the way. Or in fact, he is the way.
The way is just stay attached to him. Just follow him and he'll take you there. So Jesus says, I'm the way. I'll take you where you want to go. I'll take you to my father's house. I'll take you to heaven.
You can't get there by following instructions anyway. But I can get you there. I am the way because I embody God's truth. I am his truth. In fact, his only truth. I have known my father also. And from now on, you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father.
And it is sufficient for us. I like Philip. I like Philip, sort of for the same reason I like Thomas.
Only a little different. Philip was a pragmatic person. He was a pragmatist. He was the guy who had a calculator for a brain. He tried to figure it all out first.
It's not like he automatically questioned everything like Thomas. He was just trying to sincerely figure out what was going on. So when Jesus had the multitude at Galilee and Jesus posed a question to his disciples, he goes, where are we going to buy food to feed these people? Philip comes up with an amount. He must have surveyed the crowd and kind of figured out how many people were there and what the very lowest amount of food necessary and the price to purchase it locally to feed the crowd. Because he goes, 200 denarii worth of bread won't even be enough to give them just the basic necessities just to have a little bit.
Now, that's eight months worth of a working man's wage. He figured that out in the conversation. He's very pragmatic. The problem with him figuring it out is he did the math without adding Jesus. When you do the math, it's okay to do the math, but you have to add Jesus because it changes what the calculations are going to be. He calculated apart from God. And when you bring God into the equation without God, nothing is impossible, changes everything.
Philip says, oh, you know, you bring up the Father, you keep talking about the Father. Would you just show us your Father? And that's all we need.
Yeah, it would be enough for anybody. But I got to say, I understand that. I understand it. Because what he is saying is, you know, you want us to believe in God by faith, and we do, and we believe what you just said by faith, but it would be awfully good to actually see God the Father. Now, I say why that is good is because the basis of worship is that we always want more.
No matter how well informed you are theologically, no matter how mature you are spiritually, you still want more than what you've experienced now. Moses, though he had seen the Red Sea open, manna come from heaven, water come from a rock, pretty sizable, notable miracles. He said, Lord, just show me your glory. Well, let's see, you've seen some pretty cool things already. You've seen more than any of us have ever seen. Thanks for watching. We'll see you in the next video. people with God's love through Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Go to connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888 and request your copy when you give. Now let's get back to Skip for more of today's teaching. So this is the basis for worship. And we were made for eternity. That's why you're never going to be totally satisfied till you get to heaven and see him face to face, which you will one day. But this is the basis for it.
So I understand as long. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long? And yet you have not known me, Philip, he who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Now, I'm not going to go much in depth on this, because Jesus has been saying things like this through the whole Gospel of John.
Anybody who says, you know, the Bible never says that Jesus is God, or Jesus never claimed to be God. I am immediately asked what Bible are you reading? Read the Gospel of John, you'll stumble over it in every chapter. Chapter 10, they took up stones to kill him because he said God was his father making himself equal with God. Jesus said, I've done many works, which work do you stone me for? And he said, not for any good work you've done, but for blasphemy, because you being a man, continually make yourself out to be God.
Even Jesus own enemies knew that he claimed to be God. And with his own disciples in that upper room, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, because Jesus is the perfect representative, invisible form of the Father in heaven. Do you not believe verse 10, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. Now, the author of this book is who? John and the author of 1st John is who?
John, very good. Okay, so you know how John opens this book. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. When we get to 1st John, it's as though John is now writing the same thing, but after looking back on the personal experience of this night, and all those years he was with Jesus, those three years, and it like dawns on him.
It's just like, it just settles on him, who he's been hanging out with. And he begins 1st John chapter one, verse one, saying, The God which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have actually handled. The Word of life. We hung out with the Word of life. God in human flesh, we were there, we saw, we heard, we touched. God in flesh.
Wow. They heard his word, they saw his works. Most assuredly, verse 12, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to the Father.
Has that promise ever thrown you for a loop, ever put a question in your mind? What does that mean? Jesus did some pretty amazing works. Now he says, you're going to do greater works, for those who believe in him will do greater works.
How is that possible? Do you know there are 40 miracles recorded in the Bible that Jesus performed, raising the dead, giving sight to the blind, unstopping deaf ears, walking on the water, multiplying food, 40 miracles recorded that Jesus did. And those are only recorded. He did many more. John says at the end of his book in chapter 20, and many other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ and believing you might have life in his name.
40 miracles and amazing miracles. Now I've never done any of those things. Somebody asked me, Pastor, have you ever raised the dead?
Nope, probably never will. I'm not planning on it. If you died, I wouldn't want to raise you from the dead.
You'd be in heaven. You don't want to come back here. I would not do you a service. And if you happen to have that gift and ability, please don't do it to me. I'll haunt you forever.
I'll make your life miserable. So what does it mean? What is this problem? What on earth could it possibly mean?
Well, there's three options. Number one, he's saying to his disciples, you disciples in this upper room, in this upper room, are going to perform miracles like I have done and more. Now you could look in the book of Acts and you could see that miracles are recorded in the book of Acts.
Those apostles did some of them, but there were others not in the upper room like Paul and others who also did miracles in the book of Acts. And besides that, notice what it says in the verse. It didn't say just you guys. He says, he who believes.
Now the door is open to anybody, right? Not just them, but anybody who believes. So it probably doesn't just mean the disciples doing miracles in the book of Acts. Second possible interpretation, he is referring to everyone, but the emphasis now is on your faith, your ability to believe enough to pull off a miracle. Now this is how those who are involved in the word of faith movement interpret the verse.
So they will say, you can have a miracle today, hallelujah. And if you don't have a miracle, it's because you didn't have enough faith. And so the onus is on you to manufacture the right level of faith. And if you can't do it, well, you're a bad little Christian.
You didn't have enough faith. Jesus didn't say he who believes might, but he who believes will. So I'm going to dismiss those first two interpretations and think there's got to be a third and correct meaning. And I believe it can be seen by a phrase that you cannot take out of the verse, but I think it unfolds the verse for you. Notice what he says in verse 12, because I go to my father.
In other words, I'm looking father. In other words, I'm leaving this earth, I'm going to my father. And when I go to the father, that's going to be the signal that something else is going to happen for you through you with you.
And what would that be? Holy Spirit, verse 16, even though we haven't read between them, but look at it. And I will pray the father and he will give you another helper, that he may abide with you forever, the spirit of truth.
Then, if you turn over to chapter 16 for just a moment, it's the same evening, same message, same time frame, verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you.
But if I depart, I will send him to you. Why is this important? Because the disciples were troubled.
They were agitated. Jesus is leaving. Oh, no, it's over.
That's what they're thinking. This whole cool miracle thing, this whole cool messiah thing, it's over. And what Jesus is saying, it's not over.
It's just beginning. And what you're going to see in the next phase when I leave and I send the Holy Spirit, send the Holy Spirit, is greater works than these. Not greater in magnitude, not greater in power, not greater in those things, but greater in extent and greater in number.
Not greater qualitatively, but greater quantitatively. So go back and notice what he says. He who believes in me, that would be you or I or anybody the last 2,000 years who believed in him, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father. I believe he is speaking of the spreading of the Gospel and the miraculous transformation to salvation that the Gospel message brings. He came to install that, first of all, by his death on the cross, to call people into the kingdom, to call people to follow him.
But just think, think of what happened when he left. As soon as he left, the day of Pentecost happened and 3,000 people came to faith in Christ. And in the first few months, thousands upon thousands upon thousands came to believe in Jesus Christ.
Their lives were transformed. More came to follow Christ in the few months when Jesus left and the Holy Spirit came than all of Jesus' years in ministry put together. In the first 30 years of Christianity, millions of people in the world, millions came to believe. Jesus never left Israel.
Paul the Apostle is going to go through Asia Minor, parts of Europe, all the way to the heart of the Roman Empire, Rome itself. The spread of the Gospel. Every single day, I can't get my mind around this number, but I've checked it.
Every single day in sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated every day, how often? Every day 20,000 people come to faith in Christ right now. That's Greater Works. We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember that when you give $50 or more to help reach more people with the Gospel through Connect with Skip Hub, we'll send you Pastor Skip's book, The Bible from 30,000 Feet, and companion workbook to help you dive into scripture in the coming year. This sweeping aerial view of God's Word will help you understand the big picture with greater clarity and gain a deeper appreciation for God's timeless truths. To request your copy, call 800-922-1888.
That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate. For more from Skip, be sure to check out the many resources available at connectwithskip.com slash store. Come back next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times. Now we want to let you know about an exciting opportunity coming up soon in Southern California.
Hi, Pastor Skip here. I'm heading to Menifee, California to teach at Revival Christian Fellowships Nuts and Bolts of Expository Preaching Conference in January. I'll be teaching alongside my very good friend and fellow expositor, Pastor John Miller. Join us to deepen your knowledge and ignite, or reignite, a lasting passion to teach the Bible expositionally. I hope to see you there, so check out the link and claim your spot. To learn more about the nuts and bolts, and to register, visit expositorypreaching.org. That's expositorypreaching.org.
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