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The Only Way · Exploring The Holy Scriptures with Rev Dr David Wright

• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, sisters and brothers, and peace be with you.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: May the words on my lips and the meditations in our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: In February of this year, Kim and I landed in Singapore without my luggage.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: The airport was crowded.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was sent from one desk to another, and after a long delay, we eventually got to our hotel, still without my luggage, but with growing frustration, knowing only that my luggage had never left New Zealand.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: During the night I received a text message from someone at the airline apologizing for the lost luggage, but also telling me that this was the plan.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: They had found my bag, put it on another flight, and would deliver it to the hotel the next day.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Something changed in me.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: The situation hadn't improved.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: The lack of the bag and all its contents was still there.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: However, now I trusted that someone knew the way.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: I went to bed not with all the answers, but with enough assurance to rest.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: That moment between confusion and trust is exactly where we meet the disciples in today's gospel John chapter fourteen verses one through fourteen.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus speaks on the night before his crucifixion.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: The room is heavy.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples sense that something is wrong.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: The world built around him feels like it's about to collapse.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And into that fear Jesus says Do not let your hearts be troubled.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Trust in God.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Trust also in me.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus does not deny the reality of the situation.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he invites them into trust not in circumstances, but in him.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: He continues In my father's house there are many dwelling places.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: I go to prepare a place for you.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is not just about heaven some day.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: It is about belonging.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: It is about knowing that no matter how uncertain the journey feels, there is a place already prepared, already waiting, already secured.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: But then Thomas speaks up, and we should be grateful that he does.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Lord, we do not know where you are going.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: How can we know the way?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thomas gives voice to what all of us feel at times, and it goes something like this.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand the plan.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't see the path.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how to move forward.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus responds with one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: I am the way and the truth and the life.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is not I will show you the way, not I will give you directions, but I am the way.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is Jesus telling us that faith is not about having a perfect map of life.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: It is about walking in relationship with the one who really does know the way.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: The one who really does have the plan.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: Human beings often want clarity and certainty before they move.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus offers himself instead.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Think about how much of our anxiety comes from not knowing.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Not knowing what will happen next.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not knowing will things work out?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Not knowing am I making the right decision?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: We want certainty.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus offers presence.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: I am the way.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Walk with me.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: I am the truth.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I am the life.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Remain in me.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then Philip asks another question Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's such an honest request.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Just show us God clearly.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Give us something visible, something undeniable.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus replies Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus, his compassion, his mercy, his patience, his willingness to suffer for love.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: God is not distant or abstract.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: God has a face, and it is the face of Jesus Christ.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus says something that has always had the power to stop me in my tracks.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do and greater ones than these to me, to you.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying My life will continue through you.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Jesus is saying my life will continue through you.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: The disciples frightened and uncertain are being told that they will carry forward his mission.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so are we Which brings me back to my lost luggage.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't need every detail of the recovery.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I needed someone I could trust, someone who knew the way and would not forget about me, and on the greatest scale of life that is exactly what Jesus offers us.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not a life free of delay or disruption, not a guarantee that everything will go as we expect, but a deep, deep promise.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: You are not alone.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: I know the way.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: I am with you.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: So what does this mean for us today?
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: It means that when our hearts are troubled, when life feels uncertain, when the future is uncertain and blurred by worry and by doubt, we are invited to trust.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not blindly, but in a relationship with Christ, trusting the one who says I go to prepare a place for you.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: I am the way.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Do not let your hearts be troubled.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps the most practical question is this.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Where in our lives right now are we waiting for clarity, for certainty before we trust?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a decision, a relationship, a change of job, a change of location, a fear about the future?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, Jesus does not always answer those questions directly.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he offers himself.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: That should be enough for us.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because when we walk with him, we are already on the way, even if we cannot yet see the destination.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: So when you feel that familiar uncertainty rising in you, remember the voice of Christ speaking into your life.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Stay near me, trust me, I will come and get you.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And in that trust may your troubled heart find restonga itengoa oteatu tematu atapu Amine.