Thanks, Eddie. This is a little easier since I'm sharing the word this morning to kind of separate the two hats. So first, let's do our calendar. Not a lot going on this week. I assume men's Bible study is not on tomorrow. But prayer meeting on Wednesday at 7 p.m. And then a week from tomorrow, the 23rd at 1.30 p.m. is Brookside. So that's the immediate items coming up. I just want to mention a couple of other things. I want to welcome Ruth Hable. I haven't seen you in a little while. Nice to see you. And then I just want to mention, I mentioned this on Wednesday, you probably noticed the road closed signs and stuff. 39th Avenue from 52nd Street to 60th Street is going to be repaired or worked on, resurfaced and all that stuff that began last week. That's going to last through the summer, supposedly into November. So just make you aware of it that different points are going to be closing off different parts of it and all that. So just be aware of that. Also mentioned, I talked to Blackburn yesterday and he's doing better. He's getting up and doing some walking. His PT person said that he's improving. Continue to pray for him. Pray for John Bernard, couldn't make it this morning. So Sharon's here, it's smiling. So John's fine, just wasn't able to make it this morning. And then one last item here. Just wanted to share, I sent a prayer request that you probably saw this morning. I sent yesterday regarding Rob Linstead, and this is just an update. He's in Israel, for those that know him. His wife says, just talk to Rob. They have been spending a lot of time in their bunker in Jerusalem. The bridge to Jordan will be open tomorrow, only way to catch a flight. The group is split up so they can find enough seats to get everyone out. Some to Chicago, Dubai, Canada, Cairo. Believe me. They don't care what path just get out of the bunker Rob says he's super claustrophobic Glad my feet are in concrete and didn't go on this, that's her saying, she didn't go on this trip. But please keep praying that the border stays open long enough to get to the Amman airport, and so on. So I'll just continue to pray for Rob Linstead and other believers and other folks that's trying to get out of Jerusalem right now. I think that's it. All right, guys, for our last song, we'll be singing in 554. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 554. 554. I'm sorry guys, but can we just start at verse one, please? For though are you weary and troubled, no light in the darkness you see, there's light for a look at the Savior, and life will work wonder and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strange to you. In the light of His glory we embrace, On Christ God has placed all our burdens He bore all our sins on the cross The riches of grace ever flowing He's given new life now to us Turn your eyes upon Jesus, robed full in His wonderful face, and the things of all earth will grow strangely dim. In the light of its glory and grace, through death into life everlasting, He has them, we follow Him there, O'er us He'll know more as dominion, O'er more than on earth we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you, He promised, We live and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying. It's perfect salvation to hell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Let's pray. Father God, we are thankful that you are who you say you are, Lord. Help us to hear your word. that have changed hearts and changed lives, Lord. Help us to continue living for you. Give Mr. Jim the words to speak, Lord. Help him speak from your word to give us what we need to hear. Father, we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. Thank you, Eddie. It's always tough without the accompaniment there. And thank you, Wendy, for providing that accompaniment. So our daughter, Mallory, and her new husband, Jack, packed up. They got home from their honeymoon on Friday, and Mallory packed up her stuff yesterday. And bright and early this morning, about 5-ish, Marianne was waking me up to be able to say goodbye to them as they were finishing packing up to head to Georgia. So anyways, they're gone. And so are the chickens. But so anyways, so Wendy, can you hear me all right? Yeah. OK. I can hear you real well. Very good. Very good. I can't hear you. Uh-oh. Yeah, I'm sad for her. So we may need a little extra volume. But anyways, well, good morning to everyone and happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. It's interesting, I think, how the spirit moves. And, you know, I've said this and many others have said this before, how the spirit moves in different ways. Things that I have here were not prepared during the break. And there's going to be some things this morning that I talk about that were discussed this morning by other people, people other than me. And I think it's just a really neat thing how God does this. And for those that were here for the first meeting, being able to, you know, maybe kind of an introduction, if you will. And by the way, it's nice to see Wally here this morning also. I just saw you back there. Very good to see you too. So I'm sure that we all have memories of the place or places we lived when we were growing up. Some people were in families that moved around to different places for any number of reasons, while others lived their entire lives in one place for the most part. For example, my mom says that her family moved around a lot when she was a child. between Missouri and Arkansas. And in fact, I think it was fifth grade, she went to, or whatever grade it was, she attended four or five different schools during one grade because the family moved so much. On the other hand, My mother-in-law, Ruth Pollack, lived in the same house from the time that she was born until she was married, and then even after they were married, they lived in that house. Her husband, Carl, moved into the house, and they lived there for another roughly 17 years or something like that. At which point they built a new house on Pleasant Prairie and Ruth moved there and that's where she was living when she passed away. So Ruth only lived in two different houses her entire life. The first place I remember living in as a child was an upper flat over on 25th Avenue just a few houses down from St. Joseph High School. I don't know how old I was when we moved there, but it was before I started kindergarten, because I remember going to kindergarten from there. And we lived there until after I finished seventh grade. It was an older house, and I remember that it was always so cold in the winters because, and these are my memories, mom, they might not be right. But it was always so cold because there was just this one stove in the living room, and it was one of these ones, and I don't know that it radiated to the rest of the house. I just remember in the mornings gathering around that stove, the stove that had lots of colors on it, because as kids we figured out that crayons melt really well on a hot stove. But, you know, thinking back on it, it seems like it was probably a real fire hazard. But I remember all of us, you know, us four kids being huddled by this stove or furnace or whatever it was, trying to keep warm while mom was in the kitchen making us breakfast. And one of the things I remember about living there was my dad always playing his records. And it was through these records that I actually first began hearing and learning the word of God. And it wasn't because these were gospel records, although I do have some recollection of Elvis Presley singing Crying in the Chapel or Peace in the Valley. But rather, it was a song from another record where I memorized my first Bible verses. In 1971, when I was about seven years old, if you can do math and figure out when I was born or how old I am, Johnny Cash released an album called Man in Black. And it seems that my dad played that record a lot, I just remember it. It had songs, it had The Man in Black, another song called Ned Kelly and a couple other songs. And one other song on that record was a song called The Preacher Said. And it had used the voice of Billy Graham quoting Bible verses. And I remember, you know, listening, you know, I didn't really know what they were at the time. All I remember is this voice of Billy Graham coming in between Johnny Cash said, and Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And, you know, and there's, you know, and so there was four different verses that he said on there, which I learned listening to that record. And two of those verses come from John chapter 14. And those are the verses that I want to look at this morning. Those are going to be the primary source of my message. You know, and whatever our memories are of our childhood homes or other places we have lived, God has promised something even better for us to look forward to going to. I've entitled today's message, Our Father's House. So let's turn to John chapter 14. John chapter 14, and we're gonna read verses one through six. John 14, verse one. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 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. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way? And Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. You know, we worry about lots of things in our lives. You know, we worry about our health and our finances. We worry about our children and our loved ones. We worry about the uncertainty of the chaos in the world around us. You know, right now the Lindstedt family is worrying about Rob over there in Jerusalem. and others are just worried, you know, I am worrying a little bit and Marianne probably a little bit more than me, that Mallory and Jack are going to make it safely to Atlanta pulling a big trailer and two things of chickens sitting in between them in the cabin. You know, we worry about different things. And even in this land of religious freedom or so-called religious freedom, we find it becoming more and more hostile toward God and toward righteousness. And we worry about what are we going to do when we really have to face persecution. In chapter 13 of John, just before this here, Jesus had announced his death to his disciples. He had also told them that one of them is going to betray him and another is going to deny him. And so all of a sudden, you know, these guys are, you know, oh, what's going on? What's going to happen? And so on. And so Jesus starts here, don't be troubled. Don't let your heart be troubled. I'm here with you. Most of us are troubled by various things, but Jesus tells us trust in God, trust in him. He says, don't worry. These things are temporary. There's something better coming. And he says, and I'm making it for you. I'm preparing a better place to live. So in our verses today, Jesus encourages his disciples by telling them that despite what is going to happen, they can have peace. He tells them that his father has a heavenly house that is being prepared for them. And there are four things about this place that they need to believe that will help them set their hearts at ease. So first of all, he tells them, you need to believe in a person. Turn to Hebrews 11, 8. Hebrews 11, 8. We're gonna be looking at some other verses coming back and forth here. Hebrews 11, verse 8. says, by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance and he went out not knowing where he was going by faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise for he waited for the city which has foundations whose builders whose Therefore, Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore, by him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips. And so on. Do we see? We live in a place now but it's a temporary place and we're going to talk a little bit more about that in a moment but that place is being built by God and we're told here in chapter 13 of Hebrews that the Lord Jesus suffered outside the camp that he is the one that's building this new place for builder, and this is his house that the Lord Jesus is getting ready for us. Jesus says, believe in God, the master builder, and believe in me, his son. His comfort in our lives with his very identity Jesus is not saying that there is God and then there is me so trust in him and trust in me he is saying just as you trust in God trust in me because I am God God I am the father he says in another place believe that I can do these things. You know, there's a story of a little boy who sat quietly in a chief coach seat on a train, just looking outside as the train chugged to its next destination. The boy had been on this train for a few days and had a couple more days to go. It was mid-August, and the train was hot and dusty and uncomfortable. The boy had boarded a couple days earlier and still had, as I mentioned, another day or so to go. But this young man sat patiently just watching the fields and the cattle and the tumbleweeds roll past as the train chugged along. The conductor had been watching him and said, you have behaved so well on this trip, but aren't you tired of it all? And the boy looked up at him and smiled and said, yes, sir, a little. But I don't mind it so much because my father is going to meet me when I get to the end of it. This little boy believed in his father and that things would be better when he finally saw him. Our earthly fathers are imperfect and sometimes, even often, they let us down. But we have a heavenly father who never will. Jesus says that he is the way to the father and we are to trust him as God. Jesus was asking them to believe in a person, to believe in Him. Do you trust Him? Do you believe that Jesus is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do? Have you placed your faith in Him? Have you placed your faith in Him for salvation, to guide you through life's troubles and to open up the doors of heaven for you? That's what Jesus is saying to us when He says we should place our trust in Him. So he says, first of all, believe in a person. But then he says, believe in a place. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter five. 2 Corinthians chapter five. Then we're gonna begin at verse one. 2 Corinthians five, verse one through eight. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven. If indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now, he who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well-pleased rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well-pleasing to him. and he goes on to talk about the judgment scene and so on. Right now we are in a transitory phase in our bodies in which our spirits are housed are just temporary dwellings like tents that are just for temporary use. They are not our permanent home. Tents are meant to be used for a short time. They are designed to be set up and taken down quickly so that you can move from one place to another. You don't decorate your tent with pictures and flowers or by painting the walls. It's a temporary dwelling place. Over time, a tent will become worn out. It may not stand as straight as it once did. It's going to show signs of wear and tear. It might require a patch to cover a hole in the canvas. But the person who is using the tent may be as strong as ever. The tent is wearing thin, but the person inside the tent remains unchanged. Joe Stoll, former president of the Moody Bible Institute wrote, I have heard a lot of older people reflect that sentiment, not feeling older on the inside. Could it be that their feeling is a reflection of the eternal nature of the soul? Our souls do not grow old, but continue in our eternal bodies. A fascinating thought. Eternity is already within us as a pledge of the world to come. It now becomes our privilege to groom our souls for the world to come. Our souls preserve our personal identity and guarantee recognition on the other side. You know, our bodies may be falling apart, you know, aches and pains and this and that, but inside is who we are. Inside is that eternal spirit and God is That is who he wants to commune with. This body is just a temporary thing while we move through this world. But one day, that body will be changed. We will go from corruptible to incorruptible. And he will give us that perfect body. We will be made as like unto him. Turn also back to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, 13, says, these all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country, Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them. These faithful folk, they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. In other words, the world here is not to be our home. We are just pilgrims. We're just passing through. A pilgrim is a person who moves from one place to another. It's not just a person with a black hat and this rifle that shoots turkeys. A pilgrim is a person who travels to one place to another. Larry Norman had wrote and sung a song called Only Visiting This Planet. One line of this song, he says, what a mess this world is in. I wonder who began it. Don't ask me. I'm only visiting this planet. This world is not my home. I'm just passing through. Peter, in his first epistle, he calls us sojourners and pilgrims. Now, if this is not our home, then we shouldn't be looking for ultimate fulfillment here. We shouldn't be looking for ultimate satisfaction. So often we spend all our time, so much of our time, trying to satisfy ourselves, trying to make things so much better. And that's not necessarily wrong with having better things and having comfortable things. But when those things get in the way of planning for our real home, then they become a problem. when we reach our final destination. The author G.K. Chesterton, who not only wrote some theological books, but was also the author of the Father Brown Mysteries, if you happen to like mystery novels. Chesterton wrote, the modern philosopher had told me again and again that I was in the right place, and I still felt depressed, even in acquiescence, which basically means he was accepting what the philosopher told him. But when I heard that I was in the wrong place, my soul sang for joy like a bird in spring. I knew now why I could feel homesick even at home. We are to believe in a place, a place that God, that the Lord Jesus is preparing for us. Next, he tells us to believe in a promise. Jesus tells us to trust him as we go through this world and to keep our heart focused on where we are going. He tells us to believe in his promise. Jesus says in verse three, that when everything is ready, he will come and get us and bring us to that place where he is. When he says, or when I say when everything is ready, it's referring to more than just heaven. It includes the timing of his return. When God's purpose for this world is over, when everything is ready, Jesus will come back. Nobody knows when, but he will return because he has promised to return. And we are to believe that promise. Turn over to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And we're gonna read verses 23 through 26. 1 Corinthians 11, 23. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered, this is Paul speaking, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. God desires that we should dwell with him, and he has given us the promise that Jesus will return. But until that time, he has given us the remembrance that we celebrate every Sunday, that first meeting, that he's given us this remembrance that we might proclaim his death until he returns. You know, John chapter 1 tells us and that the Lord came among his own, but was not received by them. It's God's desire, even, you know, I mean, go back to Genesis. God put man in the garden and walked with him and communed with him. God desires that we be with him, that we have fellowship with him. And though he was rejected when he came as a man to save us, and be with him. And it's not that we have to figure it out that, you know, how are we going to get there? He's told us and he's told us that he is going to come again and bring us unto himself. So we are to believe in that promise. And then finally, there's also a plan that he has that we are to believe in. To get through the troubles that are in this world, Jesus tells us to believe in a person, to believe in a place, to believe in his promise, and now to believe in his plan. The strategy is simple. God's plan is Jesus. God's plan is his person. Jesus is the only way to the Father's house. Only in Jesus Because He is the truth. And only in Jesus do we have eternal life. Because He is the life. This is God's plan. This is His design. Jesus is the way, the truth, the life. And no one goes to the Father except through Him. We have to believe that plan. We have to follow that plan and obey it. You know, Isaiah, Paul, and John, they all had the experience of being brought to heaven and they experienced marvelous things. Isaiah and John both fell down, when they were before the Holy God, they fell down. John says, I fell down as a dead man. Isaiah said, woe is me. Paul, he could not even speak of the wonderful things that he saw. And so it's, you know, side note, it's amazing to see these people write these books about their 60 minutes in heaven or whatever it is. You know, they can come back and, And even though Isaiah, Paul, and John are not able to talk about it, I mean, John obviously did, but he was told to do so. These people come back and they tell all these things that most of the time aren't even scriptural, but they're probably making big bucks selling those books. But anyways, These three men of God went to heaven. They had this experience. This experience had to move them. When we read Revelation chapters 4 and 5 and see this description of heaven and the Almighty God and John witnessing the Lamb of God who is the thousands upon thousands singing the praises. You know, if you could imagine for a moment, and this was mentioned this morning, that if you could go there, have that experience, how would it change you? What if you heard those same words that John heard, come up here, and had that privilege to go into heaven? How would your life be changed? How do you think that vision of heaven would affect your life? Would you have new peace about all the events going on around you? Would you be less concerned about all the trivial things? Do you think you might have a decreased interest in worldly advancement and prosperity and a new desire to use your time and your gifts and your resources to advance Christ's kingdom? Would there be more appreciation for praise and worship and a renewed passion for the lost. I think you would have a richer, a deeper prayer life and that you would be spending more time in his word. And it could be argued that other things being equal, the degree of real service we render to Christ's kingdom is determined by the degree to which we view Christ's kingdom as real. again quoting Joe Stoll, eternity for many of us holds little relevance to our everyday affairs. We live as though it is theologically real, but irrelevant. In fact, one of the reasons we fail to impact our world may be that for a long time, heaven has seemed unimportant to us personally, and has nearly disappeared from our liturgy, sermons, hymns, prayers, thoughts, dialogue, and writing. C.S. Lewis observed, A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not, as some modern people think, a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one. If only we knew, if only we were able to be caught up in the heaven and could get a glimpse of it and then come back to finish life here. But you know what? We do know, we can know. We have it on the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself said, if it were not so, I would have told you. He has told us these things are real. He just asks us to believe him. He says, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, you may be also. We can know it's true because the Lord Jesus said it. We don't have to go there. We have the word. God has provided us with all that we need to know. So we need to start living like it's true. You know, are we living like heaven is a reality? Are we looking forward to going to our father's house? The way to his house is not through a church or a set of doctrines or by our works. The way to the father's house is through a person. It's through Jesus Christ. Only Jesus lived a sinless life. Jesus died for our sins on the cross. Only his works were acceptable to a holy and righteous God. And only Jesus can bring us to the Father's house. We need to follow him and follow him alone and he will lead us to that house, to that final perfect place where we will dwell with him. And if you don't know him as Savior, do so Right away. We don't know when he's coming back. We don't know when he will call us to himself. But he will, because he's promised to. So let's be thankful for what he's promised us. Let's be thankful for that future house, that future home that is being prepared. The Lord Jesus, in the terms of our own time, has been preparing it for 2,000 years. It's gonna be nice. Gonna be nice. Look forward to it. Live like you're looking forward to it. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are concerned with our concerns. You tell us, cast all your care upon me. You say, to put our burdens on you and to take on your burdens, which are light. You tell us to believe in you, to believe in the way. You tell us that you are preparing a place in the Father's house, a place where there's plenty of room, a place where we can go live forever. Our mortal bodies are decaying, corrupting, but you have promised new bodies. You have promised eternal bodies. We will one day set aside these tents and take on permanent residency in the house of our Father. We thank you for these promises. We thank you for that promise that one day you will come again and take us to yourself. That one day we will be where you are. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for leading us to the Father.