John 12:12-19; 14:1-31; 16:5-23.

In moments of distress and bewilderment, John shows us Jesus as the giver of comfort and hope. Jesus showed His own distress as He approached Jerusalem (see Luke 19:41), yet was soon surrounded by crowds of people jubilantly celebrating that He was there. Soon after, emotions would swing back to distress as His disciples realised that Jesus was serious when He declared that He wouldn’t be with them much longer. Jesus spoke words of comfort and hope into times of distress, declaring that grief will be turned to joy through the power of the Holy Spirit. The importance of those words of comfort and hope may not have seemed to be of much help at the time – it’s often as we look back that we can see the relevance of such words. Yet, as we include the gospel as comfort and hope over every aspect of our lives, and hold tightly to it even through the most distressing seasons of our lives, we’ll realise how fully faith in Jesus gives us life.

The sermon includes short clips from the following recordings.

Michael Bublé – Feeling Good https://youtu.be/Edwsf-8F3sI 
Billy Ocean – There’ll be sad songs https://youtu.be/KLjpJZbxkAU
Gloria Gaynor – I will survive. Lyrics by Freddie Perren, Dino Fekaris. Interpreted by Gloria Gaynor – 1978
© Polydor https://youtu.be/gYkACVDFmeg