This week's Scripture is John 16:31-33:   ³¹Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe? ³²But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when you will be scattered, each one going his own way, leaving me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. ³³I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:31-33 NLT  Those words come from a conversation Jesus had hours before His crucifixion.

How do you think Jesus could say, "Take heart, because I have overcome the world," moments before His arrest, which led to His eventual crucifixion?  He could do it, because He knew His death was the only avenue to our salvation.  He came precisely for the purpose of dying in our place.  He had known that for a LONG time.  Now, the time had come.  This week, we're going to take Jesus' overall comments in John 16:31-33, break them down and look at them a sentence or a phrase at a time, to see how we can take heart no matter what's happening in our lives right now.

Being able to take heart in any situation requires what the disciples finally did in John 16:31:  ³¹Jesus asked, “Do you finally believe?   In order to be able to "take heart" when life stinks we have to believe Jesus is the Son of God, that He HAS died and risen again on our behalf, and that even if we "lose" here and now, we are eternal winners.  That's a lot to believe.  I'll grant that.  The alternative is to live without hope, or to live with hope that "human nature" will eventually evolve or improve to the point we can place our hope in each other.  Not trying to play the pessimist here, but I've been around for 54+ years and human nature has NOT improved in those five plus decades.  In fact, apart from the work God has done in my life in those 54+ years, I haven't improved either. 

In order for life to have ultimate meaning and purpose, we have to believe life HAS ultimate meaning and purpose.  The one person who made it clearest that life has ultimate meaning and purpose is Jesus Christ.  As we read His words in the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in the Bible, we come to understand Jesus was no ordinary person.  His consistent ability to speak the truth in love, and to stand up to evil wherever He saw it--without fail--puts Jesus in a class all by Himself.  Some would say He was the greatest teacher, possibly the greatest person who ever lived.  While that's true as far as it goes, it isn't enough.  Jesus never claimed to be a great person.  He claimed to be God. 

A person who claims to be God is either a liar, a lunatic, or as He claims--Lord.  As we'll see tomorrow, even with their belief in Jesus as God finally materializing, the disciples were about to find out that even that belief is not always enough.  For now, I challenge each of us to ask this question:  What do I  REALLY believe about Jesus?  How we answer that question determines whether we have ultimate hope, and whether our lives have the meaning and purpose God intends. 

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Jesus to give us life now and forever!  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may not only believe in Jesus, but be empowered to live His truth in love.  This we ask in Jesus' name.  Amen.  

P.S.  See you at worship at 8:45 or 10:15 this morning at the South Butler Primary School on Knoch Road in Saxonburg!!!