John 16:25-33

Dear TVCC Students,
We all made it to spring break!! As we said on Wednesday, even though it is Spring Break we will be having Life Service and small groups as normal. This past Wednesday Sonny taught us from the end of John 16. It was encouraging to be reminded that even when we are weak and faithless, He remains faithful and that we have direct access to the Father through faith in His Son Jesus. What an indescribable gift!! Here is a recap...

~John 16:25-26: Jesus is revealing something new to His disciples. Since the instatement of the priesthood, the Jewish people did not have direct access to the Lord. They would have to go to a priest, have him offer a sacrifice for forgiveness of sins, and usually wait for the priest to reveal what the Lord was desiring to say. It was a lengthy process. Jesus, as the fulfillment of the law, the sacrificial system, and righteousness made a way for us to have direct access to the Father. When we believe in His death and resurrection on our behalf, we are now able to come directly to the Father as Jesus' righteousness is imputed to us (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Q: Have you trusted in the death and resurrection of Jesus on your behalf that you might have direct access to the Lord? If so, what things in your life do you feel that He is calling you to change so that you might have a closer relationship with Him? Are you spending time daily with Him in prayer and in His Word so that you might have a closer relationship with Him?

~John 16:27-28: Jesus tells the disciples that because they have loved Jesus, they are loved by the Father (John 3:35-36). Just as in our lives, when people love our children, it is very easy for us to love them.

~John 16:29-30: After all of His teachings, the disciples FINALLY get it! They affirm that He knows all things and that He is from God. They are here confessing that the believe Jesus for who HE and the Father say that He is. They are laying aside all of their notions of how God would do things and affirming that they believe in Him fully as the Messiah. It is important that we realize that when we pick and choose things about God that we would like to believe we are making a god in our own image (Deut 4) and serving an idol, not the true God. Authentic, life giving faith is rejecting all of our false views of God and submitting fully to Jesus as the Lord (and thus submitting to the Word of God to reveal to us the character of God).

Q: Do you believe that the Word of God is our standard to reveal the true character of the Father and Son? Are you submitting yourself fully to the Word and ready to reject any of your false views of God that might go against Scripture? Just as it would be impossible for us to have a relationship with someone while not accepting anything about who that person really is, we cannot have a relationship with the Lord if we do not take Him entirely for who He says He is in His Word. We encourage you to make sure that you have not created a god in your own image and that you are serving the Living and True God!

~John 16:31-33: Jesus was encouraging the disciples that though their faith in Him was strong at the moment, they would soon be tempted and fall away. In this life we will fail often but Jesus' encouragement was that He has overcome the world! Our faith does not depend on us but on the Lord. He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion, despite our failures (Philippians 1:6)! We will do well to remember this too- we will be weak but thanks be to God that our salvation does not depend on our goodness but His grace (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Q: Not long after the disciples professed great faith in Jesus did they turn from Him in a moment of weakness. In what ways have you turned from Him in moments of weakness this week? We encourage you to remember that He is the Author and Perfecter of faith (Hebrews 12:2). Confess your shortcomings and doubts this week and return to Him.

Dear students,
We are so thankful to get to worship with you on Wednesdays and Sundays. We pray that you will remember that even though we all stumble and fail at times, His grace is not dependent on us. Once we have trusted in the death and resurrection of Christ on our behalf, we are eternally secure and nothing can take us from the Father's hands. Do not let satan tempt you this week to feel that your weaknesses make you unable to come to the Father. Confess your sins and return to Him, claiming His righteousness as your own through faith. This is the desire of that Father- that you would be near to Him through faith in His Son! We love you and are praying for you this week!

With hope,
~Sonny and Casi