Sunday Sermons – Pace Campus

The Bible is not a book you read and then put on the shelf. Whether you read the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John... the Jesus’ story doesn’t end there...

I left you with a teaser last week saying that there’s only one thing more sure than the death of Jesus… Well, we come to that today.— It is the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus Christ fulfilled hundreds, even thousands of years of prophecies...

As we come across the finish line of the Gospel of John, we realize that this is the greatest love story ever told. — Jesus has brought His message to the Jewish people, and now it is time for Him to die. He has prepped His disciples for the fact that He’s gotta die… it is the will of the Father, but there’s no way they really comprehend the way things are going down. - We’re now at the point in the story where He’s made it through the Kangaroo Court. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate could tell that Jesus was obviously no criminal, and these were a bunch of trumped-up charges.— So he tries to dissuade the angry Jewish mob to no avail. They are determined to crucify Jesus, or there will be a revolt, and Pilate can’t (won’t) take that chance. So we pick up in Chapter 19 as Jesus is delivered for crucifixion.

At this point, Jesus could not have told His disciples anymore to encourage or prepare them for all that was about to occur. It’s time. We’re going to do something a little different as we make our way through chapter 18. We will look at all the questions and answers mixed inside the passage.

After putting the disciples on notice that life was about to be turned upside down, causing them to be visibly “troubled”, He said, “I have overcome the world.”—We pick up in the aftermath of that conversation...

John 16 //

Last week, we went over the last of the “I am” statements from Jesus and read where He told them to abide in Him so they could persevere in ministry. Our “intro” today will be from the last half of Chapter 15.

John 13-17 was Jesus' private teaching to His disciples taking place in the Upper Room less than 24 hours before He was crucified. So, we are looking at some of Jesus’ most important words to His inner circle. All

believers should read and meditate deeply on these promises. In general, John 14 deals with our Hope in Heaven, and John 15 deals with our Help on Earth. The location of the talk in John 15 and the following is debated. Because of Jesus' last words in John 14 "Get up, let us go from here,” some think the words in John 15 and following were spoken as they walked through Jerusalem on the way to Gethsemane. Others feel they

didn’t leave the room right away. It was a slow go, and they didn’t actually leave the upper room until John 18:1, which says, "When Jesus had spoken these words, He went with His disciples over the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden, in which He entered with His disciples." So whether they are slowly getting up to go…or milling around outside, Jesus begins with the last of the “I am” statements recorded in John...

We have been talking a lot about Jesus… the Gospels tell His story. But as His time on earth comes to a close…He lets His disciples know that the mission does not end with His departure…in fact, things are just getting started. The best is yet to come.

As Jesus is troubled in spirit…He knows what looms. The disciples don’t know exactly, but I bet they do not like the way He is beginning to talk. Surely, they could see in His body language that He was visibly troubled. I suspect He wasn’t one to hide His feelings. So, He has told them that He is about to go away, and they can’t go with Him. In fact, He told them that things were about to get so bad Peter would deny Him three times

before the night is over.