Connect with Skip - Skip Heitzig

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Connect with Skip Heizig. We're glad you've joined
us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig exist to
connect you to God's never changing truth in ever changing
times through verse by verse teaching of His Word. That's
why we make messages like this one today available to
you and others on air and online. Before we kick
off today's teaching, we want to let you know that

(00:22):
you can stay in the know about what's happening at
Connect with Skip Heitzig when you sign up for email updates.
When you do, you'll also receive Skip's weekly devotional email
to inspire you with God's Word each week. So sign
up today at connect with Skiff dot com. That's Connect
with Skip dot com. Now let's get into today's teaching
from pastor Skip Heitzig.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Heaven is a personalized place. Your room, your apartment, your
mansion is going to be personalized. He's making something for you.
He's preparing a place for you. I always love to
think of it. I did two funerals yesterday, and I
always love the thought that you know, when I go
out of town, or when my wife goes out of
town and I'm home, if I know she's coming back.

(01:07):
I want to prepare the place for her. I want
to clean it up and make it nice so it's
a nice surprise when she comes home. It's like, Wow,
you were clean. How did that happen? So I try
to prepare it now. My preparation might be a couple hours,
maybe even a day if I have a day off
to do that. Jesus made the promise two thousand years ago,

(01:31):
I'm leaving to prepare a place for you. Can you
imagine what this place must look like if he's been
working on that mansion of yours for two thousand years now,
I will theologically concur that perhaps Jesus, when he said
I'm going to prepare a place for you, is simply
speaking of the Cross. I'm going to make a way

(01:52):
for you. I'm going to prepare a way for you
or a place for you by allowing you to go there,
by me going to the cross and being the sacrifice
to allow you to get to heaven. He could simply
mean that, or he could mean I'm personally going to
make something for you, or it could all be what
he means by that, But that is what he'll show.

(02:13):
I go to prepare a place for you, and if
I go, I will come again and receive you to myself,
that where I am there you may be also. You
probably should write in your notes or in the margin
of your bible first Thessalonians chapter four one, Corinthians fifteen,
both passages that speak of what Jesus spoke of first,

(02:33):
or hinted at first, and that is the rapture of
the Church. He is talking here not about coming to
the earth to judge the earth and set up his
kingdom Revelation nineteen. But he's saying, I'm going to come
back for you. I'm going to get you. And Paul
tells us that will happen at a different time than

(02:55):
when he comes the second time, the second coming all
the way to the earth to set up his kingdom.
It's called the rapture of the Church. This is the
first hint ever since Jesus spoke these words, the Church
has had what Paul called the blessed hope, the blessed
hope of Jesus' return for us. He could come at

(03:16):
any moment. He could come before the end of this
Bible study. Jesus is coming soon. I'm excited about that,
you know, as I look around at the world. I
don't have hope in any politician or political party. I'm
not holding my breath thinking there's going to be changed
in four years. I never thought a politician could break

(03:37):
change enough to satisfy my heart. I'm looking for Jesus
to take every politician say move over, you're doing it wrong.
Let me show you the ropes verse four, and where
I go you know, and the way you know? Thomas

(04:00):
said to him, Lord, we do not know where you
are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus
said to him, I am the Way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
I love Thomas, you know, he's probably the only honest

(04:23):
guy in the bunch. Maybe a few of them picked
up on it, because after all, Jesus did say where
I'm going, you know, and the way you know, But
at least one of them didn't, and that was Thomas,
and he wasn't the kid in classical I have no
idea what the teacher a saying, but I'm just gonna
nod my head and look like I'm writing notes down

(04:44):
like that is good. He's the kid who sticks his
hand and goes I have no clue what you just said,
where are you going? And if we don't know where
you're going, how can we know what to get there?
And I'm glad he said that because he opened the
door for Jesus to give the answer, which is the Gospel.
In a nutshell, I am the Way, the Truth, and

(05:07):
the Life. So I know Thomas had flaws. Thomas had
a question mark for a brain. He was always questioning things,
huh why? How so he had a question mark for
a brain. But Jesus was in the process of turning
the question mark into an exclamation point. And at the end,

(05:30):
before the ascension into heaven, Thomas will be at the
exclamation point. And after Jesus goes to heaven, Thomas will
carry the gospel to India and share his faith to transformation.
But he's questioning this. Jesus said, I am the Way,

(05:52):
the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. No, that right there, that sounds
very narrow doesn't it? Doesn't that sound awfully dogmatic? Have
you ever been accused of being narrow minded? Raise your

(06:12):
hand if you have. Okay, I got accused of that
all the time in my line of work. People say
you are narrow minded. I'm thinking all the time. You
have no idea how narrow minded I am. You're closed minded?
Uh huh. Because when I received Christ, he closed my mind.

(06:36):
I was open before that, and then he made sense
and shut the book. And it is dogmatic. It's dogmatic
because Jesus was dogmatic. He said this in the Sermon
on the Mount. He said, enter into the narrow gate.
For broad is the way that leads to destruction, and
many enter therein. But narrow is the gate, and difficult

(07:01):
is the way that leads to life, and there are
few who find it. Now. He says, no one comes
to the Father, but through me. That eliminates every other
belief system. But believing in him every other belief system. Oh,
but they're so sincere. Granted I was so sincere at

(07:23):
one time. I'm sincere still, but I mean it was
pure sincerity. At one time I was sincere, but I
was sincerely wrong. And Jesus said, I am the way,
and he is the way because he takes you there.
Let me give you an example. If you went to
a city that you had never been to before, and

(07:44):
you didn't know how to get around, and you ask
someone for directions and they said to you, Okay, I
know where you want to go. So go down the
street to the first stop light, turn right, go down
three blocks, take a left. When you see the taco
bell right behind it, you'll find a little street. Go
too blocks and you'll find where you're looking for. So

(08:04):
if you don't remember those instructions, you'll get lost. Right
think pre cell phone. But imagine a person saying, you
know what, it's too complicated, I'll take you there. Now.
He's not just giving you directions to the way. Now,

(08:26):
he's not just telling you the way. He's showing you
the way, or in fact, he is the way. The
way is. Just stay attached to him, Just follow him,
and he'll take you there. So Jesus says, I'm the way.
I'll take you where you want to go. I'll take
you to my father's house. I'll take you to heaven.
You can't get there by following instructions anyway, but I

(08:47):
can get you there. I am the way because I
embody God's truth. I am his truth, in fact, his
only truth. If you had known verse seven, if you
had known me, you would have known my father also,
And from now on you know him and have seen him,

(09:08):
Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and
it is sufficient for us. I like Philip. I like
Philip sort of for the same reason I like Thomas,
only a little different. Philip was a pragmatic person. He

(09:28):
was a pragmatist. He was the guy who had a
calculator for a brain. He tried to figure it all
out first. It's not like he automatically questioned everything like Thomas.
He was just trying to sincerely figure out what was
going on. So when Jesus had the multitude at Galilee,
and Jesus posed a question to his disciples, he goes,

(09:50):
where are we going to buy food to feed these people?
Philip comes up with an amount, which means he must
have surveyed the crowd and kind of figured out how
many people were there and what the very lowest amount
of food necessary and the price to purchase it locally

(10:11):
to feed the crowd. Because he goes, two hundred denari
worth of bread won't even be enough to give them
just the basic necessities, just to have a little bit. Now,
that's eight months worth of a working man's wage. He
figured that out in the conversation. So he's very pragmatic.

(10:31):
The problem with him figuring it out is he did
the math without adding Jesus. When you do the math,
it's okay to do the math, but you have to
add Jesus because it changes what the calculations are going
to be. He calculated apart from God, and when you

(10:52):
bring God into the equation without God and nothing is impossible,
changes everything. So Philip says, oh, you know, you bring
up the Father. You keep talking about the Father. Would
you just show us your Father and that's all we need? Yeah,
it would be enough for anybody. But I got to

(11:16):
say I understand that. I understand it because what he
is saying is, you know, you want us to believe
in God by faith, and we do, and we believe
what you just said by faith, but it would be
awfully good to actually see God the Father. Now, I say,
why that is good is because the basis of worship
is that we always want more. No matter how well

(11:39):
informed you are theologically, no matter how mature you are spiritually,
you still want more than what you've experienced. Now, Moses,
though he had seen the red sea, open manna come
from heaven, water come from a rock, pretty sizable notable miracles,
he said, Lord, just show me your glory. Well, let's see,

(12:01):
you've seen some pretty cool things already. You've seen more
than any of us have ever seen. Yeah, but I
want more. I just want to see God.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig before we return
to Skip's teaching Start twenty twenty five off Right exploring
the richness of God's Word with Pastor Skipp's book The
Bible from thirty thousand Feet and accompanying workbook. These resources
offer an aerial view of scripture, covering all sixty six
books of the Bible with a unique flight plan, facts, landmarks, itinerary,

(12:33):
gospel history, and travel tips. They're a perfect tool to
help you enrich your Bible study and apply its teachings
to your daily life. You'll explore every book of the
Bible with Pastor Skip's insightful flight plan, while the workbook
provides exercises and questions to guide your reflection. We'll send
you The Bible from thirty thousand Feet book and workbook

(12:56):
as our thanks for your gift of fifty dollars or
more to reach more people with God's love through connect
with Skip Heiitzig. Go to connect with Skip dot com
slash offer or call eight hundred and nine two to
eighteen eighty eight and request your copy when you give.
Now let's get back to skip for more of today's teaching.

Speaker 2 (13:16):
So this is the basis for worship, and we are
made for eternity. That's why you're never going to be
totally satisfied till you get to heaven and see Him
face to face, which you will one day. But this
is the basis for it. So I understand his longing.
Jesus said to him, have I been with you so
long and yet you have not known me? Philip, He
who has seen me has seen the Father? So how

(13:38):
can you say, show us the Father? Now? I'm not
going to go much in depth on this because Jesus
has been saying things like this to the whole Gospel
of John. Anybody who says, you know, the Bible never
says that Jesus is God, or Jesus never claimed to
be God. I am immediately asked, what Bible are you reading?

(14:03):
Read the Gospel of John. You'll stumble over it in
every chapter, chapter ten. They took up stones to kill
him because he said God was his father, making himself
equal with God. Jesus said, I've done many works. Which
work do you stone me for? And he said, not
for any good work you've done, but for blasphemy, because you,

(14:26):
being a man, continually make yourself out to be God.
Even Jesus' own enemies knew that he claimed to be God,
and with his own disciples in that upper room, if
you've seen me, you've seen the Father, because Jesus is
the perfect representative invisible form of the Father in heaven.

(14:50):
Do you not believe verse ten? That I am in
the Father and the Father is in me. The words
that I speak to you, I do not speak on
my own authority, but the Father, who dwell in me
does the works. Believe me that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me, or else believe
me for the sake of the works themselves. Now, the

(15:11):
author of this book is who John, And the author
of First John is who John? Very good? Okay, So
you know how John opens this book in the beginning
was the word the words with God? The word was God.
When we get to First John, it's as though John
is now writing the same thing. But after looking back

(15:33):
on the personal experience of this night and all those
years he was with Jesus the three years, and it
like dawns on him. It's just like a It just
settles on him who he's been hanging out with. And
he begins First John, chapter one, verse one, saying that
which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which

(15:54):
we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,
and our hands have actually handed the word of life.
We hung out with the word of life God in
human flesh. We were there, We saw, we heard, we
touched God in flesh.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
They heard his word, they saw his works most assuredly.
Verse twelve. I say to you, he who believes in me,
the works that I do, he will do also, and
greater works than these he will do, because I go
to the Father. Has that promise ever thrown you for

(16:42):
a loop? Ever put a question in your mind? What
does that mean? Jesus did some pretty amazing works. Now
he says, you're going to do greater works, or those
who believe in him will do greater works. How's that possible?
Do you know? There are four thirty miracles recorded in
the Bible that Jesus performed, raising the dead, giving sight

(17:04):
to the blind, unstopping deaf ears, walking on the water,
multiplying food. Forty miracles recorded that Jesus dead, and those
are only recorded. He did many more, John says at
the end of his book in chapter twenty, and many
other signs did Jesus in the presence of his disciples,
which are not recorded in this book. But these are

(17:27):
written so that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ and believing you might have life in his name.
Forty miracles and amazing miracles. Now I've never done any
of those things. Somebody asked me, Pastor, have you ever
raised the dead? Nope, probably never will I'm not planning

(17:48):
on it. If you died, I wouldn't want to raise
you from the dead, you'd be in heaven. You don't
want to come back here. I would not do you
as service. And if you happen to have that gift ability,
please don't do it to me. I'll haunt you forever.
I'll make your life miserable. So what does it mean?

(18:11):
What is this problem? What on earth could it possibly mean? Well,
there's three options. Number One, he's saying to his disciples,
you disciples in this upper room are going to perform
miracles like I have done and more. Now you could
look in the Book of Acts, and you could see
that miracles are recorded in the Book of Acts. Those

(18:37):
apostles did some of them, but there were others not
in the Upper Room, like Paul and others who also
did miracles in the Book of Acts. And besides that,
notice what it says in the verse. Didn't say just
you guys. He says he who believes. Now the door
is open to anybody, right, not just them, but anybody
who believes. So it probably doesn't just me in the

(19:00):
disciples doing miracles in the Book of Acts. Second possible interpretation,
he is referring to everyone. But the emphasis now is
on your faith, your ability to believe enough to pull
off a miracle. Now, this is how those who are
involved in the Word of Faith movement interpret the verse.

(19:20):
So they will say, you can have a miracle today, hallelujah.
And if you don't have a miracle, it's because you
didn't have enough faith. And so the onus is on
you to manufacture the right level of faith. And if
you can't do it, well, you're a bad little Christian.
You didn't have enough faith. Jesus didn't say he who

(19:42):
believes might, but he who believes will. So I'm going
to dismiss those first two interpretations and think there's got
to be a third and correct meaning. And I believe
it can be seen by a phrase that you cannot
take out of the verse. But I think it unf
holds the verse four. You notice what he says in

(20:02):
verse twelve, because I go to my father. In other words,
I'm leaving this earth. I'm going to my father. And
when I go to the Father, that's going to be
the signal that something else is going to happen for you,
through you, with you. And what would that be? Holy Spirit?
Verse sixteen, even though we haven't read between them, but

(20:24):
look at it, and I will pray the Father and
he will give you another helper that he may abide
with you forever, the spirit of truth. Then, if you
turn over to chapter sixteen for just a moment, it's
the same evening, same message, same timeframe. Verse seven. Nevertheless,

(20:44):
I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage
that I go away, for if I do not go away,
the helper will not come to you. But if I depart,
I will send him to you. Why is this important?
Because the disciples were troubled, they were agit Jesus is leaving.
Oh no, it's over. That's what they're thinking. This whole

(21:07):
cool miracle thing, this whole cool messiah thing, it's over.
And what Jesus is saying is not over. It's just beginning.
And what you're going to see in the next phase
when I leave and I send the Holy Spirit is
greater works than these. Not greater in magnitude, not greater

(21:31):
in power, not greater in those things, but greater in
extent and greater in number. Not greater qualitatively, but greater quantitatively.
So go back and notice what he says. He who

(21:52):
believes in me, that would be you or I or
anybody the last two thousand years who believed in him.
The works that I do, he will do also, And
greater works than these he will do. Because I go
to the Father, I believe he is speaking of the
spreading of the Gospel and the miraculous transformation to salvation

(22:13):
that the Gospel message brings. He came to install that,
first of all, by his death on the cross, to
call people into the kingdom, to call people to follow him.
But just think, think of what happened when he left.
As soon as he left the day of Pentecost happened,
and three thousand people came to faith in Christ. And

(22:36):
in the first few months, thousands upon thousands upon thousands
came to believe in Jesus Christ. Their lives were transformed.
More came to follow Christ in the few months when
Jesus left and the Holy Spirit came than all of Jesus'
years in ministry put together. In the first thirty years

(22:59):
of Christianity, millions of people in the world. Millions came
to believe. Jesus never left Israel. Paul the Apostles is
going to go through Asia, minor parts of Europe, all
the way to the heart of the Roman Empire, Rome itself.
The spread of the Gospel every single day. I can't

(23:24):
get my mind around the number, but I've checked it
every single day in Sub Sahara, Africa, it is estimated
every day, how often every day twenty thousand people come
to faith in Christ. Right now, that's greater works.

Speaker 1 (23:49):
We're glad you joined us today. Before you go, remember
that when you give fifty dollars or more to help
reach more people with the Gospel through connect with skip Heitzig,
We'll send you past your Skipp's book book the Bible
from thirty thousand feet and Companion Workbook to help you
dive into scripture in the coming year. This sweeping aerial
view of God's Word will help you understand the big

(24:10):
picture with greater clarity and gain a deeper appreciation for
God's timeless truths. To request your copy, call eight hundred
nine two two eighteen eighty eight. That's eight hundred nine
two two eighteen eighty eight or visit connect with Skip
dot com slash donate for more from Skip. Be sure
to check out the many resources available at connect with

(24:33):
skipp dot com slash store. Come back next time for
more verse by verse teaching of God's Word. Here onconnect
with Skiff Heitzig, Make it.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Next, Make a Connect, The cross Chatsong makes Connect.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
The Skift Heidzik is a presentation of connection communications connecting
you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Now, we want to let you know about an exciting
opportunity coming up soon in Southern California.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Hi, pastor Skip here, I'm heading to Menefee, California to
teach at Revival Christian Fellowships Nuts and Bolts of Expository
Preaching conference in January. I'll be teaching alongside my very
good friend and fellow expositor, Pastor John Miller. Join us
to deepen your knowledge and ignite or reignite a lasting

(25:42):
passion to teach the Bible expositionally. I hope to see
you there, so check out the link and claim your spot.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
To learn more about the nuts and bolts, and to register,
visit Expository Preaching dot org. That's expository preaching dot org.