Have y'all ever experienced your dad or mom leaving to go to work and you didn't want them to leave? You ever had that happen to you before? And maybe you said something like, I don't know, like, no, I don't want you to leave, stay, something like that. Maybe you may have even like pulled on their shirt, said I want you to stay home. And if you did, they probably said something to you like, well, I know you want me to stay, but if I don't leave and go to work, I can't make any money. And if I can't make any money, then we can't have things. And if we can't have things, we can't enjoy things together, all the stuff we want to do together, right? Something like that. Well, where we've come to in John today, in John 14, 1-3, we see that the disciples were feeling the same way you did when you didn't want your dad or mom to go to work. They didn't want Jesus to leave. And basically what he tells them is, he knows they don't want him to leave, but if he doesn't leave, he can't get the work done. And if he can't get the work done, then he can't purchase the new creation for them to enjoy. Listen to him say it. Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. So these verses tell us why Jesus is literally not here right now. He had to leave and do the work of dying and rising again from the dead and seated at the right hand of the throne of God to earn everlasting life for us, the new creation. So that's the reason he's not here. That's what we learned here. But actually, in another way of thinking about it, what I learned here is another reason for me to trust in him. And so in the Gospel of John, it's been written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing may give life in His name. So here's another reason for you today to believe in Him, to depend on Him, to put your hope in Him. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this simple reason. And I, even as an adult, pray that I would have this reason, a place situated in my heart. Here's another reason why Jeffrey should trust in my son. He has left. to do the work of salvation, and leaving to do that work is another reason for me to trust him. Lord, we pray you'd be with us as we sing, as we hear your word read, preached, sung, Lord, that our hearts, like Mary, even if we're sitting silent, it may be said that we treasure these things in our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.