Deciphering the Divine: John 14 and the Power of Prayer

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Okay, here we are,

we are here, all right, Chris, I'm so I am too,

And we have a brand new segment today. It's called Guess the Gibberish.

It says, I'm going to bring a strand I'm going to read a

string of random words easy for me to say, and you will see if

Jeff can figure them out of what the phrase is supposed to be, can

give me an illustration? Yes, So the illustration that she gave us is

the word bay bay, and then beach beach, and then arc Bay beach,

arc baby chark, Babe baby baby shark, baby Shay's that's okay,

so baby beach. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to

actually put the words in. We're gonna see We're gonna put the words on

the bottom of the screen. So if you're watching right, if you're watching,

we're gonna put these words on the bottom of the screen and then we're

going to see if you can get it. And if you're listening, then

just listen with us. Okay, And here it is Jeff. You can

look and I can look with you. Yeah. So here it's ready talk

ode oos hey talk ode tacoos hay Taco Tuesday, Taco Tuesday. The okay,

I got all right, Here we go ode. Here's the next one.

Yeah, yeah, ear puck picture, your ear puck picture, your

ear puck picture. Oh I know it. What is it? Your book

picture? Your book picture? Yes, your book picture. Okay, all

right, very good, all right, all right, here's the third one.

Can can you keep Passigret? Canoe keep passing? Gret? Can you

keep a secret? No? Way? Good job? Yeah, there you

go. That's really good one. All right, here's the fourth one.

Doodle a golds do a coup gold serge? Who goals? Hurts? Who

golds do it? Who? I don't know? Okay, do a Google

search, wow a, who goals? Okay, okay, here's the last

one. He's owner whole, He's owner whole. He's owner hole. I

don't know he's owner whole. I don't know he's owner a roll. Oh

boy, that's a hard one. I don't know. But he's okay.

Well, we got a couple. We've got a couple of those. One.

Yeah, yeah, you know what. That game is fun if it

makes sense, like Taco Tuesday makes sense. You're a picture I got right,

he's owner hole. Yeah yeah, yeah, he's on a roll.

He's owner roll, he's on the rule whatever. Yeah, okay, well

hey, interesting, yes, interesting. I don't know what it has to

do with I mean literally anything. Well, it's just gibberish. Maybe she's

sending a message. No, maybe that's her passive aggressive way to say.

What you guys do is gibbers See you can connect anything, Jeff here,

let me let me preach this, Okay, okay, good, okay.

Sometimes when Jesus says things the disciples didn't understand and it seemed like gibberish to

them, they're, oh, wow, yeah, there's such a good Bible

teacher. Yes, yes, and that's why it's a privilege for me to

join you on your show. You may kiss the rain. Okay, Well

we are in my mom's favorite chapter in the Bible. Wow. John chapter

fourteen, and Jesus is the way to the Father is what this is all

about. So John chapter fourteen, verse one through fourteen through fourteen, Jesus

says, don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also

in me. There's more than enough room in my father's house. If this

were not so, I would have told you that let me see that again.

If this were not so, would I have told you that I'm going

to prepare a place for you. When everything is ready, I will come

and get you so that you will always be with me where I am.

And you know the way to where I'm going? No, we don't know,

Lord, Thomas said, we have no idea where you're going. So

how can we know the way? Jesus told him, I am the Way,

the Truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father

except through me. If you had really known me, would you would know

who my father is? From now on? You do know him and have

seen him. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and we will

be satisfied. And Jesus replied, have I been with you all this time,

Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am. Anyone who

has seen me has seen the Father, So why are you asking me to

show him to you? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and

the Father is in me. The words I speak are not my own,

but my Father, who lives in me. Does his work through me.

Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,

or at least believe because of the work you've seen me. Do I tell

you the truth, Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I

have done, and even greater works, because I'm going to be with the

Father. You can ask for anything in my name, will do it so

that the son of man, so that the son can glorify the Father.

Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

There you go, yeah, and uh, and again that it is

uh. That's those less comments that Jesus makes really can put a bunch of

confusion in somebody's literal receptors. Right, ask me anything in my name,

and I will do it. I want a salami sandwich right now. You

see what I'm saying. It's like the genius in Jesus name. In Jesus

name, it's it's what you think you mean, it's the genie wish thing.

Well, I do think that I have heard, over my thirty years

of being a pastor of people saying, hey, we could do anything.

Yeah, right, I mean anything we come up with, you know,

as long as God isn't against it, which I don't think he is.

So why would God not want this right? Because you know, God wants

people to be healed. God wants this to happen, or this happen,

or this to happen, or good or justice or whatever, and so this

is going to happen. So sometimes people think that praying in Jesus name means

that if we say it in Jesus name, Jesus name is the lucky word,

right, And that's not what he means. In that day oftentimes,

you know, they didn't have email, they didn't have cell phones and telephones.

So a leader, a king would send his ambassadors out and they would

go and speak in his name. They would take the message, he'd write

out a speech and they'd go into the villages and they would declare the speech

of the king speaking in his name. K he's here. You hear ye,

so says the king. Right, And so that ambassador wasn't saying his

words. That ambassador was not saying what he remembered. The king was thinking.

He goes and he gives the words the king said. So when you

do it in the King's name, and that's what So he if you can

pray that prayer representing Jesus. Then he says, of course I'll do it.

So if you would pray the prayer I would pray. That's what he's

saying. If you would pray for the thing I would pray for, of

course I'm going to give it to you. So it's not whatever you want,

it's whatever I need to do. There's a big gift between those two

things, right, but people would use it. There's a really great note

here, John fourteen fourteen says, for when Jesus says we can ask for

anything, we must remember that our asking must be in his name, that

is, according to God's character and will. God will not grant requests contrary

to his nature or his will, and we cannot use his name as a

magic formula to fulfill our selfish desires like salami sandwiches. Right, if we

are sincerely following God and seeking to do his will, then our requests will

be will be in line with whatever he wants. And that's really it.

Right. So it's not just that he's saying, I'll give you everything you

asked for. I'll you know, remember Napoleon Dynamite, vote for Pedro.

He'll make all your wildest dreams come true. Yes, right, that's kind

of dreams comes through. Right. It's so funny. That's what a lot

of people think Jesus is is he's the genie in Aladdin. Yes, right,

And that's not how it works. Instead, when you're praying in Jesus

name, you're praying the way Jesus would pray, and then of course you

can expect him, expect him to answer it. But anyways, all of

a sudden, I got all these Napoleon dynamite quote, all these always quote

you come here dinner. Yeah, sorry, it's very funny. Yeah,

so so it is if you wanted to, I see you drinking one percent?

Is that because you think you're fat? Because you could totally be drinking

whole milk if you wanted to. Which is which is such a thinkers that

they say, is it you's trying to give her a compliment? Anyway,

that's so dumb. So so it is. It is a funny thing,

you know, when we try to pray God's will, because in other parts

of the scripture, you know, we you know, like in James it

says, hey, man, you pray and you don't get it because you

ask with the wrong desires. Jesus also talks about you know, not your

will, but my will be done on earth as it is in heaven,

and so we should always surrender to God's will. But the problem is sometimes

we don't know God's will, and sometimes God's will is I mean, like

it seems so right to us, you know, heal my mother in law,

right, and sometimes Jesus does. Peter was on the benefiting end of

that, you know, and then sometimes he doesn't, and people pass away,

people die, and so you're just like, jeez, what is God's

will and what isn't God's will? And sometimes we just pray for God's will,

go will I don't know. Yeah, But all I'm saying is that

the literal receptors in everybody's brain hears ask me for anything in my name,

and I will do it right, ask me for anything, which means it

seems to indicate that like, uh, you know, okay, you do

the asking and whatever you can come up with in my name, which is

the extreme version of yeah. Yeah. So it's it's a it's a human

centric view of that passage, and Jesus never invites us to a human centric

view of anything that's right. So, so the keywords, the keywords are

not you ask me. The keywords are in my name, as I would

ask to ask for what I would ask for, and I'll give it to

you. That that's so. So he never invites us to human centric worldview.

So surely it means something other than what I what I wanted to mean.

What I wanted to mean is, man, I want a Mercedes,

and I want to win the lotto, and I want right. I don't

want to want something like God. Uh you know Hill, that lame guy

on the side of the road, right right, which you know, which

I believe God can do, can has done, he can and and you

see Peter James and John H. Paul literally laying hands up people, healing

people. Right. So I do believe that that is still a thing.

I still believe that we can do that. I don't know that I think

that that's what this verse means, right. I don't think that this verse

just means that anything you want to do like that that's through the power of

the Holy Spirit is what's happening there. But in this way, I genuinely

believe that he's saying, what are the things Jesus would pray for. Well,

we've heard Jesus pray several times. Jesus has prayed that God would be

glorified. Jesus prays that Jerusalem would come to faith. He's praying for the

whole world would come to faith. Jesus is praying for He prays for them

in just a little while. He prays that they would love each other and

that they would be on mission. Right. So if we pray the way

that Jesus prayed, we pray the lord's prayer. Right, God, you're

hollowed, keep me from temptation, You provide my daily needs. Right,

Those kinds of things we've heard Jesus pray a lot. So if we pray

like Jesus prayed for the things Jesus prayed for, not unreasonable to ask him

to expect him to answer our prayers. James, Jesus brother, when he

writes about prayer, he says, you have not because you ask not.

And then sometimes the things you ask for are just for your own lusts.

Right. So you know, as these guys matured, the ones who walked

with Jesus every day, as they matured, what they what they wind up

giving us is again, pray in line with his will. And so I

find myselves a lot of times people ask me to pray for a thing,

and I don't know. I'm not sure what I think God's will is on

that, And so I'll just say, Lord, I don't even know what

you want to do in this situation. I don't know what your will is,

but I'm just praying that you would be glorified in your decision. Here's

what we want, and if that aligns with your will, then God be

glorified. If not, give us peace knowing that your will is being done.

Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in

heaven. You know, at the beginning of this chapter, we haven't talked

about this yet, ye, Tony says at the very beginning, and he

says, don't let your hearts be troubled, trusting God and also trust in

me. On tomorrow's podcast, I want to capitalize on that word don't let

your hearts be troubled, because he mentions it at the very end of the

chapter two. But he says, if it were not so, would I

have not You know what I've not said that I'm going to prepare a place

for you, And and in other versions it says, there's in my father's

house. There's many rooms, there's many mansions. Right, And how could

you hear that passage first of all and be a part of our generation and

not think of that song by Big Tent Revival. Oh right, A big

big house that was a room, was it? Audio? Big big table

with lots and lots of food, big big yard, we can play football,

A big big house. It's my father's house. So you know,

back then. It's interesting to know in that culture that when a family expanded,

they actually just added on rooms. So they would have have a house

that was made of you know, some sort of a thatched roof which was

very very temporary, and then the walls would have been made either by stone

or mud, and they would have these structures. And if it depends on

where they are, it could have been a tent structure as well, right,

could have just been all cloth. Right, But it was a permanent

house. Uh, you know, chances are it was. It was.

It was a permanent structure like that with walls. Well, you know,

if the family expanded it instead of instead of just saying, hey, we're

gonna send you away like Americans do, right, Americans. You know,

what do we do. We raise our kids they turn eighteen, and then

what we do is we say, okay, time to leave the nest.

And then the Western thinking is now you're off, and now you have your

own home and go raise your own family. That is literally the opposite of

what they used to do in Old Testament times, right, which, by

the way, I always see I always drive by and see these different cultures

in our area. In fact, Deans are famous for this, and I

always admire it. But I always think, like, jeez, you must

really have to love your family to live with them so long. Right.

But what they do is instead of building like three houses for three hundred thousand

dollars each, they'd be a one big million dollar house and it has like

the west wing and the east wing right right, And they're like, okay,

you live on the west wing, we live on the east wing.

And then they get the benefit of living in this million dollar mansion, right,

But the drawback is they got to live together. You got to get

along. You got to get along, which is which is what Jesus just

said. You know, here's the command. You guys got to get along,

love each other. But that's that was the picture. The picture is

is that in that mindset, nobody left it was just in fact, in

a lot of ways, it was actually seen more of a blessing of God.

The bigger your family was, and the bigger your flocks and herds and

wealth were. You know, they would come across somebody with a large family

with many sons and you know, with lots of cattle, and they would

say, you know, God has blessed you beyond measure, and that was

sort of the that was sort of the big thing, wasn't it. Yeah,

And they would just add rooms on and then he says, and you

know the way And Thomas goes, we have no idea where you're going.

What are you talking about? And Jesus said, I am the way right,

He's already talked about narrow is the way right that leads to God.

And he says, I am the way. I'm the Truth and I'm the

Life. And then he makes a bold statement, no one can come to

the Father except through me. You know, a lot of people would just

want to say, oh, you know what, I think all faiths lead

to God. You know, it's just you got to have faith, that's

what. And Jesus says, no, there's no way to the Father.

So sometimes Christians will get accused of being narrow minded, and Jesus was very

narrow on this. There is no other way. Jesus is the only way

to the Father. And he says, and by the way, Philip says,

show us the Father will be satisfied. Jesus says, have I been

with you all this time, you still don't know who I am. If

you see me, you've seen the Father. Right, that's a really big

one. Jesus is declaring now his deity. This is maybe the clearest place

in the whole Bible where Jesus just declares his deity to his disciples. I

am God. I'm God in the flesh. So remember remember just a few

minutes ago when I told you I'm the sacrificial lamb. Remember it's my sinless

body that's going to be sacrificed for you. It's my sinless blood that's going

to pay the price for your sin. What I'm trying to say is you

can't get to Heaven except through me. And if you've seen the Father seen

me, you've seen the Father. Right where one he's saying, I'm God

in the flesh, and I'm the one paying the price for your sin.

Yeah, And I've said this a few times before, I think, but

I can't hear this verse without saying this because if everybody thinks that Christians are

narrow minded, because Jesus made a quote unquote narrow minded claim, if you

think about all the other world religions in the whole world, Christianity's the only

one that actually God is the one that paid the price. Yeah, right,

everybody. Every other world religion has to do with your good deeds.

And so the three statements are Christianity's the only world religion where number one,

everybody gets in heaven the same way. Number two, everybody can meet the

requirements, and number three, everybody is invited. And so in all the

other world religions, those three things are not true. So instead of being

narrow minded, it's actually the broadest invitation that exists in the world. Right,

everybody is invited, everybody can meet the requirements, and everybody gets in

the exact same way. And if you think about that, that levels the

playing field for everybody, which means it has nothing to do with how good

you are or who you are or the eliteness or anything, or the chosenness

or whatever it is. It is the same invitation. It is the same

invitation of hope, and it is offered to everybody, and it's offered at

any time during their lifetime that they can make a decision, regardless of past,

regardless of where you're born in the world, regardless of anything. So

it is not narrow minded. It is quite literally the opposite. Yep,

yep. And then Jesus finishes up with that, and maybe one of my

favorite I love John fourteen six. I love John fourteen twelve. I tell

you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I

have done, and even greater works because I'm going to be with the Father

and I love that. Right, He's going to send them on a mission

just a few minutes. And it's the same the idea, because I look

at it and go, Jesus raised people from the dead. How how are

you going to do greater works than raising somebody from the dead. And I

have a friend and he's a global worker, and he refers to this passage

a lot, and he says, hey, you remember, Jesus seemed to

live in both the physical and the spiritual all the time, right, Bible

would say, the angels would come and minister to him when he was off

alone right in the mountains, praying and things like that. After the after

the temptation out in the desert, angels came administered to him. So Jesus

kind of lived in both the physical and the spiritual. You and I.

Because of sin in our life, we are not living. We don't see

the spiritual. But Jesus did. He wasn't affected by sin. He lived

in both. And so my friend talks about the fact that Paul later on

tells us that we are dead in our sins, and then we're raised to

walk in a brand new life. Right, We're raised to life when our

spirit comes alive in Christ. And so literally, then this mission that he's

going to send us on is to go raise the dead. That's what we're

doing. We're bringing them out of death into life, not physical but spiritual.

It's eternal life and death. And so a lot of times heales say,

before we go out to go preach or share the gospel somewhere, he

say, hey, let's go raise the dead today. Right, And so

there's a note here it says when raising the dead is about as amazing as

you can get. How could the disciples do greater things than that? That

even greater works would come because the disciples, working in the power of the

Holy Spirit, would carry the good news of God's Kingdom out of Palestine and

into the whole world. Jesus entire ministry was in a space a little smaller

than the entire state of New Jersey. Right, and then, which is

which is often the thing that we forget. And for two thousand years now,

christ followers have been raising the dead, spiritually dead all over the entire

planet, go into everybody and every village, every town, everywhere. And

so you and I get focused on the immediate. Oh wow, he healed

a person, Oh wow he fed some people. Well, Jesus is saying,

listen, go out and raise the spiritually dead, and you'll go everywhere.

You'll go so much further than I could go. You will reach so

many more people than I could reach. And that's what he's saying in that

passage. It's really a cool, cool phrase. So that's really cool.

Yeah, So that means at work today, go raise the dead, at

school today, go raise the dead, right, bring him out of death

into life spiritually. That's a great invitation. Yeah, so as long as

you know what it means. Yeah, yes, otherwise you're thinking zombous,

so so weird. Well, I mean, you know, if you don't

know the meaning behind that slogan, I think I just did. I don't.

So those people knew it, yes, yes, and now they know

it. That's right. But if you champion it without explaining, might not

want to tell your boss. I don't worry about I'm just raising the dead

today, that's what That's what I'm thinking. So hey, that's a great

place to end. Great challenge, and we'll see you next time on the

Bible. Guys,