Monthly Archives: August 2022

John 14:12-14 – Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

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(PRT) John 14:12-14

v. 14:12 In all certainty, I say this to you: those who put their trust in me will do the works that I do, and even greater works than what you see me do, because I am going to the Father. v. 13 Then, whatever you might need and ask in my name this I will do so that the Father might be glorified in the Son. v. 14 If you ask me anything you need in my name, I will do it.

v. 14:12 In all certainty, I say this to you: those who put their trust in me will do the works that I do, and even greater works than what you see me do, because I am going to the Father.

Truly, truly – amen, amen. It’s the way Jesus said something firmly and with resolve. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, doubtlessly. He is speaking to his disciples and extended followers. He is looking beyond those in the room to whomever.

“The works” is those deeds or activities that occupy Jesus that reflect His Kingdom. He is continuing the conversation that began with Philip’s question: “Show us the Father.” He and the Father are one. If you haven’t gotten that yet, believe the works that demonstrate the Father’s love, that show the Father to the world.

The works we do are done like He did them, with the compassionate heart of the Father.

Works is what occupies Jesus in showing the Father to those who will believe: compassion, feeding the poor, caring for the grieving, opening your life to hospitality, giving your gifts and self, going out of the way for someone else’s good, and yes, inviting the Kingdom to come in power and glory for Signs and Wonders.

Greater is the word “megas:” A general word for greater or bigger.

When? Time – related to Kairos, for the moment as in greater works as in the miraculous at points that call for a greater evidence of God’s kingdom.

Where? Spatial or where. Instead of on the paths of Judea and Galilee, greater and around the globe.

Who? Not just Jesus, not just the twelve, not just the surrounding followers listening. Whomever.

What? The very works that show the Father in ways that point to Jesus and demonstrate the Kingdom. John 16:7 – “If I don’t go away, the Father can’t send His promised Spirit.”

Going to the Father indicates a leaving and a going, it’s a journey.

v. 13 Then, whatever you might need and ask in my name this I will do so that the Father might be glorified in the Son.

Whatever we need and ask is a continuation of “The works he does” in the previous verse. Whatever works you need.

The word here for ask is directly related to a need or required desire. The defining work here is not “whatever” or “anything” – it is you might ask because  you need or require.

Again, remember the context: what will show the Father to the world. You are asking on behalf of a required answer that will show the Father, demonstrate the Kingdom and point to Jesus.

In my name means that what you need and ask for is rightly fit to who Jesus is. It’s not a formula to get whatever you require; it is a promise that God will meet you at the point of need that will glorify the Father. We ask out of our need or required desire for what will show the Father to the world, demonstrate the Kingdom values, and point to Jesus.

This is the first “in my Name” command and promise. Defining what this means is crucial. It isn’t a magical formula. It doesn’t invoke God’s blessings on what won’t point to the Father’s love. It is what is needed and requested that shows the Father to the world, brings the values of the Kingdom, and points to Jesus.

v. 14 If you ask me anything you need in my name, I will do it.

This is Jesus making it clear by saying it again in another form. The “if” is the conditional. The condition is anything you or I need that will demonstrate the Kingdom, show the Father to the world and point to Jesus.

I will do it. Because the Father is in Jesus and He is in us by the Holy Spirit, He will do it. He will make it happen or manage it.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

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Acts 11:15-18, Romans 15:7-9

(PRT) Acts 11:15-18, Romans 15:7-9

Acts 11:15-18 (PRT)

v. 15 However, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just like on us, also, when this first started. v. 16 Then I remembered how the Lord spoke to us and said: “John certainly baptized in water; you, however, will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” v. 17 Since, then, God gave them the same gift as he gave to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way? v. 18 After the leaders in Jerusalem heard this account they dropped their criticism and gave God praise and said “Then it has happened: God has given to the nations the repentance that brings life.”

Romans 15:7-9 (PRT)

v. 7 Therefore, embrace and accept one another just like Christ embraced and accepted you for God’s glory. v. 8 For I assure you that Christ became the servant to the Jews by being among them for the sake of God’s truth; he did this so he could confirm the promises given to their forefather. V. 9 This also is for the nations for mercy to give glory to God, just like it is written: “Because of this, I will declare you to the nations; to your name I will sing.”

v. 15 However, as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just like on us, also, when this first started.

“in the beginning,” or when this first started, as in when the Holy Spirit came at the first of the birth of the church, when God started it all by pouring out His promised gift at Pentecost.

“fell” could mean “embraced” – that makes an interesting parallel to the Father’s love for us.

And here it begins – the nations are invited in.

v. 16 Then I remembered how the Lord spoke to us and said: “John certainly baptized in water; you, however, will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.”

“in, with, by” – but in the case of being immerse, it means in. He baptizes us in the full and present Spirit of God.

There are two words for immerse – bapto, and baptidzo – though Luke uses the the second word in both places. Baptidzo is a repeated action. We are immersed and we keep being immersed in the Holy Spirit. Imagine each day we choose to step into the vast ocean of God’s presence for another day of baptism.

Jesus expands Peter’s and now the apostles’ horizon. They heard Jesus say “water and Holy Spirit” and thought, God’s chosen people, the Jews; now they hear and see that God’s chosen people are from among both Jews and the nations around the globe.

v. 17 Since, then, God gave them the same gift as he gave to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to stand in God’s way?

When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are given His Spirit. Shouldn’t we ask for the Spirit to come in the same power and demonstration as they experienced?

The Spirit is the gift, the promise of the Father. With Him comes His gifts to build up the body, to reach the lost, and to fellowship with Him.

We believe and receive God’s gift of the Spirit. They believe and receive the gift, too.

“Who was I to stand in God’s way?” where did Peter hear this before? When they were close to being condemned and Gamaliel spoke up and said the same. Peter was there.

v. 18 After the leaders in Jerusalem heard this account they dropped their criticism and gave God praise and said “Then it has happened: God has given to the nations the repentance that brings life.”

This is such a key verse since it encapsulates what those who first became Jesus-followers saw when the world was invited to the same experience in Jesus. At the first, they were critical and questioning. How dare Peter taint his life by fellowshipping with other nations? But after the account, after hearing that the Spirit fell and embraced the Gentiles, they were silent. They stopped their protests and replaced it with praise and glory.  “Apa” means therefore or so then with the meaning of a conclusion awaited, “it’s finally happened.” God’s Holy Spirit within reminded them that His plan all along was to win a world, to dethrone the usurper not just in Jerusalem but throughout the globe. If the offer is given, those who take it experience the life that comes through turning from sin and self-centeredness and turning to Jesus.

Romans 15:7-9 (PRT)

v. 7 Therefore, embrace and accept one another just like Christ embraced and accepted you for God’s glory.

Accept or receive with the goal of opening one’s life up to the other. There is a transparency factor to this word “accept.” Jesus demonstrated this when he accepted us, even while we were sinners and knowing that we would forever need his “embrace” of forgiveness.

We are embraced for and to God’s glory and praise and honor. Our willingness to forgive and embrace those who miss the mark should reflect Christ accepting us while we were yet sinners. And this is to point to God’s glory. This is radical in relationships.

v. 8 For I assure you that Christ became the servant to the Jews by being among them for the sake of God’s truth; he did this so he could confirm the promises given to their forefather.

Paul is speaking truth to help the church understand why Jesus did what He did. He came as a Jew, circumcised, and a part of the nation specifically to make certain what the Father promised in the Old Testament was true. They are invited in to the holy nation, the royal priesthood, the chosen people in Jesus. Let no one say God lies. He is fully truth and his promises are yes.

These promises are the message, the announcement, to the founders of Judaism. And because He chose this way, he fulfilled the law’s requirements for us, too.

V. 9 This also is for the nations for mercy to give glory to God, just like it is written: “Because of this, I will declare you to the nations; to your name I will sing.”

Because Jesus came and lived among the Jews to fulfill all the promises, we get in on the mercies of God so we can worship Him. Those who were without mercy and apart from the covenant relationship are now invited in.

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

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Ecclesiastes 3:9-15, Romans 8:28

Pastor Rick’s Study Notes:

(PRT) Ecclesiastes 3:9-15, Romans 8:28

Eccl. 3:9-10 What profit does a person accomplish from laboring? I have seen the grind God has given to people as vocations.

In these two verses, Solomon uses four different words having to do with work. What does a man profit in the work he is working? The first is work as in create, craft, fashion, make. The second is the hard laboring, the toiling. And in v. 10, the work as in occupation or business, and the exercising is that humble embracing of the occupation presented. We are creative and we have hard days sometimes; but we continue to embrace the activity God places in front of us.

All we do to labor, to grind out our work, to seek gain in our vocation, apart from God being at the center – is empty. What is missing? The Eternal One on the throne. The “stuff of eternity” God has placed in our hearts focused in a personal walk with the Father.

In the midst of change, in the swirl of what often doesn’t make sense, when the cultural grid for what is right and wrong seems to flip upside down; we can center our lives on what is eternal.

v. 11 Yet, God has made everything beautiful in his time and he has set eternity in the hearts of people. Still, no one can discover everything God is about from beginning to end.

Here is the counterpoint to the four words for labor; but God has made it all beautiful in season; he has set hope/eternity in our hearts. Appropriate time, season, timeliness, each is beautiful in the time we face it. And in the midst of this beautiful season, we know there is more. A longing to know more, to experience more is a gift. We long for more. We get a glimpse as His kids.

In his time is the emphasis of the first half; in our hearts the second. His time comes together in a beautiful way when the stuff of eternity leads the way.

Romans 1:19 God has put inside us a knowledge that He is and He created, thus deserves our lives. Yet, we stay small in our minds and perspective and focus on horizon on ourselves.

This word for eternity is also used for “world” and is use 300 times in the OT for eternity, but this is the only place the writer puts “the” in front of it. Perhaps it could be translated “the stuff of eternity” or “things everlasting.” The meaning changes in perspective to mean not just eternal but all things that are valued eternally. The contrast is all we do “in time” and “all that matters for eternity.” How do we connect these two cries?

Psalm 1:3,

We don’t get it all; but who would want to worship a God who can fully be comprehended? We see through a clouded mirror when we look at God’s work.

vv. 12-13 I know fully that there is lasting treasure only in finding joy and doing good in this life; for everyone to eat, drink and enjoy the reward of their hard work; truly this is the gift of God.

Solomon, the narrator, searcher for truth, and teacher here, brings his own conclusion. It is the same: he cannot know everything about God’s plans either. So, he recommends; pursue joy where it is found, do good wherever you can, work hard and enjoy what comes. Make the most of each day and moment.

Joy, rejoicing, happiness. God has given us a gift. Our work brings joy.

Romans 8:28 And we know that, for those who love Him, for those who are invited into His plans, God works all things together for good.

It’s not just the bad or the hard things that God uses for our benefit; it’s the good and beautiful things, too. We are invited into his purposes in every season, in every trial, in every rejoicing, the bring a full and beautiful life.

“we know that…” It’s what the first century church knew. If you love and follow God, and have said yes to his plans for your life, God the Father will take what you go through for our benefit. All will work together for good.

The context of this verse is the suffering we go through and the protective covering of the Holy Spirit and His readiness to answer our cries, even more, to lead us in those prayers.

“invited into His plans” is the calling to His purposes, mainly the redemptive story.

This passage emphasizes the free action and choice of each of us but acknowledges that, threaded through it all is God’s design and purpose to bring us to Him, to deepen our love for Him, and to accomplish His good works.