Sermon Notes

The upper room discourse with Jesus and His 11 disciples continues. As we have already learned, Jesus is telling the disciples that He will be going away but they do not understand. None of us would have understood what Jesus was talking about. Thomas expressed his concerns with Jesus’ words (vs. 5), and later, Philip does the same by asking Jesus to show them the Father (vs. 8). Our lesson last week (ice storm edition) expounded on Philip’s statement and what all that entailed.
As the chapter continues, Jesus offers encouragement in 7 ways:
7 Encouraging Statements from Jesus
“I will not leave you as orphans.”(vs. 18)
“You will see me.” (vs. 19)
“Because I live, you will also live.” (vs. 19)
“You will know that I am in the Father…” (vs. 20)
“The Holy Spirit will teach you.” (vs. 26)
“I will give you My peace.” (vs. 27)
“Don’t worry.” (vs. 27)
I can’t help but think of how confusing all of this must have been for the disciples. Jesus is telling them that He must go away, and that He must be sacrificed for the sins of the world, but there is no doubt that all of this must have been rocking their worlds because there was no way for them to understand.
 But after 3 years of dedication to the work of Jesus, can you imagine how lost the disciples must feel after Jesus tells them that He is going away? Surely there was a part of them that felt like they were being deserted and abandoned. But Jesus reassures them that they will not be abandoned, and He explains why and how.
Guess what? These words of Jesus also apply to you!
I’m praying for you, Bro. Joey