WEBVTT 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:08.099 After two days he left there for Galilee. Jesus 00:00:08.099 --> 00:00:11.000 himself had testified that a prophet has no honor 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:13.919 in his own country. When they entered Galilee, 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:16.679 the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen 00:00:16.679 --> 00:00:20.160 everything he did. in Jerusalem during the festival, 00:00:20.339 --> 00:00:23.440 for they had also gone to the festival. He went 00:00:23.440 --> 00:00:26.039 again to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned 00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:28.640 the water into wine. There was a certain royal 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.620 official whose son was ill at Capernaum. When 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:34.640 this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:37.600 into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:40.039 him to come down and heal his son since he was 00:00:40.039 --> 00:00:43.320 about to die. Jesus told him, unless you people 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:45.539 see signs and wonders, you will not believe. 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:48.880 Sir, the official said to him, come down before 00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:53.219 my boy dies. Go, Jesus told him, your son will 00:00:53.219 --> 00:00:55.899 live. The man believed what Jesus said to him 00:00:55.899 --> 00:00:58.259 and departed. While he was still going down, 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:00.560 his servants met him, saying that his boy was 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:03.399 alive. He asked them at what time he got better. 00:01:03.740 --> 00:01:05.939 Yesterday at one in the afternoon, the fever 00:01:05.939 --> 00:01:08.739 left him, they answered. The father realized 00:01:08.739 --> 00:01:11.439 this was the very hour at which Jesus had told 00:01:11.439 --> 00:01:14.140 him, Your son will live. So he himself believed, 00:01:14.260 --> 00:01:16.819 along with his whole household. Now this was 00:01:16.819 --> 00:01:19.819 also the second sign Jesus performed after he 00:01:19.819 --> 00:01:31.400 came from Judea to Galilee. Good morning, church. 00:01:33.540 --> 00:01:37.299 So last week when we finished up, I told you 00:01:37.299 --> 00:01:39.000 that you better come back because you're going 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:41.420 to not want to miss what's coming. And what's 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:45.299 coming is a guy named Ryan Griffin. And I want 00:01:45.299 --> 00:01:46.780 to tell you a little story about him before I 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:50.140 introduce him to you, why he's here. I first 00:01:50.140 --> 00:01:53.840 met Ryan on a stage. It's kind of a weird place 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.900 to meet somebody. We were both at a church planting 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:02.319 conference. This was before Radiant Matsu existed, 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:05.569 but we knew that God was calling us to... Moved 00:02:05.569 --> 00:02:07.549 from Fairbanks to come down here. I think we 00:02:07.549 --> 00:02:11.590 knew a total of four people. My parents were 00:02:11.590 --> 00:02:15.550 two of them. And then Garrett and Savannah, because 00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:17.090 they had been a part of our church in Fairbanks. 00:02:17.189 --> 00:02:20.069 And so that's all we knew. We were going to come, 00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:22.110 but we were at this church planting conference, 00:02:22.389 --> 00:02:25.310 and they asked me to stand up and share the vision 00:02:25.310 --> 00:02:29.889 of seeing a church planted in the Mat -Su. So 00:02:29.889 --> 00:02:31.430 I go, yeah, that's cool. I can do that. So I 00:02:31.430 --> 00:02:33.449 get up on stage, and I'm standing on one side. 00:02:33.949 --> 00:02:37.310 And Ryan's on the other, and that's how I first 00:02:37.310 --> 00:02:39.889 met him, is he's talking about the vision of 00:02:39.889 --> 00:02:43.150 planting Living Stones South Reno. Now, our stories 00:02:43.150 --> 00:02:45.990 are different in how that all happened. He was 00:02:45.990 --> 00:02:48.389 part of another Living Stones church in Reno 00:02:48.389 --> 00:02:52.270 that sent out him with a group of 80, and they 00:02:52.270 --> 00:02:54.449 started off and charging, and that church is, 00:02:54.530 --> 00:02:57.849 by God's grace, not because Ryan's amazing, he 00:02:57.849 --> 00:03:01.039 is, but, you know. God's been growing that church. 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:03.159 And I've been able to preach there multiple times 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.560 and watch that growth happen. They're now at 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:08.580 a church that's swelled to over 1 ,000. And by 00:03:08.580 --> 00:03:10.560 God's grace, people are coming to Jesus on a 00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:14.080 regular basis. And I appreciate Ryan because 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:17.520 he takes no credit for that. It's all by what 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:21.419 God is doing. But early on, as we were planting, 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:27.150 because we had to move here. We didn't know what 00:03:27.150 --> 00:03:28.590 we were doing, trying to figure out how do we 00:03:28.590 --> 00:03:32.270 start a church in the valley? Ryan came to me 00:03:32.270 --> 00:03:34.370 and said, hey, we'd love to support you guys 00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:37.689 and what you're doing. And so they began to get 00:03:37.689 --> 00:03:41.629 behind us financially and support this church 00:03:41.629 --> 00:03:46.150 plant at the time. And so recently I was down 00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:48.629 there and told the church, hey, we don't need 00:03:48.629 --> 00:03:51.710 your support anymore. We put our big boy pants 00:03:51.710 --> 00:03:54.169 on. We grew up a little bit. We're able to do 00:03:54.169 --> 00:03:56.770 this. And they said, we want to keep investing 00:03:56.770 --> 00:04:00.909 in you. And so we have launched Convergence, 00:04:01.009 --> 00:04:03.629 which is a leadership development process, and 00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:06.949 they're helping fund that. So we've got this 00:04:06.949 --> 00:04:09.990 relationship with this network of ten churches 00:04:09.990 --> 00:04:12.810 called Living Stones and all the five Radiant 00:04:12.810 --> 00:04:15.750 churches. And we, you know, so we jokingly call 00:04:15.750 --> 00:04:19.979 it the Radiant Stones just because of. Yeah, 00:04:19.979 --> 00:04:24.120 because of that relationship. Yeah, yeah. So 00:04:24.120 --> 00:04:26.319 anyway, if you remember a number of weeks ago, 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.120 the executive pastor from the same church, Brad, 00:04:30.300 --> 00:04:34.240 was here, and he preached. So Ryan said he's 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.939 coming up to Hunt Bear with his son, Sam. That's 00:04:36.939 --> 00:04:39.160 why they're here. And I said, well, you're preaching. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:41.660 If you do that, you've got to preach. So you 00:04:41.660 --> 00:04:43.339 were like, you haven't been up there for a couple 00:04:43.339 --> 00:04:44.920 weeks now, Caleb. I'm like, yeah, that's good 00:04:44.920 --> 00:04:50.870 for you. Ryan, come on up here and let me guys 00:04:50.870 --> 00:04:56.769 welcome him. The cool thing is that they're walking 00:04:56.769 --> 00:04:58.930 right to the gospel of John just like we are. 00:04:59.050 --> 00:05:02.850 Yeah. And it's been just an honor to have you. 00:05:02.889 --> 00:05:04.709 Can I pray for you? Please. Yeah, I need it. 00:05:05.009 --> 00:05:06.930 Father, thank you for Ryan. Thank you for his 00:05:06.930 --> 00:05:12.730 friendship, the brotherhood that we have as we 00:05:12.730 --> 00:05:17.259 attempt to lead. Or see new churches and see 00:05:17.259 --> 00:05:20.139 many people come to Jesus across different states 00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:23.379 and across North America. So, Lord, I'm just 00:05:23.379 --> 00:05:25.680 thankful for his friendship. And thank you that 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:30.959 he, as a qualified brother, elder in his church, 00:05:31.019 --> 00:05:35.120 that we get to listen and learn from your word 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.459 today. And so I pray you empower him by your 00:05:37.459 --> 00:05:41.199 spirit. And you might be glorified today. Amen. 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:45.790 Amen. Thank you. All right, what's up, Radiant? 00:05:46.829 --> 00:05:49.110 You guys good? Oh, look at that, I was stealing 00:05:49.110 --> 00:05:53.110 a sticker and it just fell out. It's gonna go 00:05:53.110 --> 00:05:57.470 on my water bottle, Caleb. Well, you know, I 00:05:57.470 --> 00:06:01.750 tell people in, so as Caleb said, I'm from Reno, 00:06:01.949 --> 00:06:06.170 Nevada, and I tell people in Nevada, when we 00:06:06.170 --> 00:06:09.769 talk about Radiant, I said that it's like the 00:06:09.769 --> 00:06:14.579 living stones of Alaska. That's how close our 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:17.300 churches are with you. And from a distance, I've 00:06:17.300 --> 00:06:19.139 met some of you. Actually, some of you, I even 00:06:19.139 --> 00:06:22.060 recognized me from two years ago when I was up 00:06:22.060 --> 00:06:23.839 here preaching for you guys back at Palmer High 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:28.459 School. But you guys, it may seem, and you actually 00:06:28.459 --> 00:06:31.160 may prefer to maybe have some distance from the 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.399 lower 48, but I'll tell you, there are churches, 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:38.220 ours specifically, but other Living Stones churches, 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:40.839 there's 10, that are literally praying for you 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:44.730 guys. in Nevada of all places, in Reno, Nevada. 00:06:45.029 --> 00:06:47.490 And so even across the country, there's people 00:06:47.490 --> 00:06:50.310 praying for you guys. And so I think that hopefully 00:06:50.310 --> 00:06:52.410 is encouraging to you. It's encouraging to our 00:06:52.410 --> 00:06:54.370 people when Caleb comes down and they can see, 00:06:54.430 --> 00:06:57.589 oh, it's not just some fairy tale happening in 00:06:57.589 --> 00:07:00.910 Alaska. There's actual people up there and they're 00:07:00.910 --> 00:07:04.209 encouraged by seeing him. But with that, let's 00:07:04.209 --> 00:07:07.480 get started with the passage. What we're going 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:09.759 to see today with, what was the name of the little 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:11.779 girl who just, the young girl who just read? 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.680 What was your name? Izzy? Yeah, I met you earlier. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:18.019 Was that awesome? Can we give a round of applause 00:07:18.019 --> 00:07:24.199 for Izzy? You're awesome. 99 % of people in the 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:27.139 world will not come up on a stage and talk to 00:07:27.139 --> 00:07:29.720 people at all. And we have Izzy. And how old 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:34.000 are you? 12. coming up here and doing the most 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.079 pure thing. I believe even more pure than preaching, 00:07:37.220 --> 00:07:39.660 because in preaching, we're interpreting God's 00:07:39.660 --> 00:07:42.040 word and trying to share it. She's just reading 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.980 it for what it is. And that is the most, that 00:07:45.980 --> 00:07:47.939 was incredible, Izzy. Good job. You're awesome. 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:53.699 Well, that passage is about faith. And faith 00:07:53.699 --> 00:08:00.620 isn't about waiting for the perfect sign or undeniable 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:09.269 proof. It's not. It's about knowing who God is. 00:08:10.470 --> 00:08:16.269 And even when your senses say otherwise, right? 00:08:16.310 --> 00:08:19.810 In today's passage, Jesus invites us into a type 00:08:19.810 --> 00:08:25.100 of radical trust. It's so easy for us. to look 00:08:25.100 --> 00:08:28.860 at this passage about a boy who gets sick, and 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:32.759 we think it's some miracle passage. This passage 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:36.720 is not about a miracle story. It's not. When 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:38.460 you first glance at it, it feels like it, but 00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:42.059 it's not. This is about, it's a revolution of 00:08:42.059 --> 00:08:46.960 who you trust. See, the first, like Caleb said, 00:08:47.139 --> 00:08:49.519 we're studying the book of John just like you 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:51.399 guys, and I like to use the word investigate. 00:08:52.429 --> 00:08:55.269 We're investigating the book of John in Nevada, 00:08:55.610 --> 00:08:59.129 like you. In fact, Caleb and I organized that 00:08:59.129 --> 00:09:01.590 over last summer, talking about what our church 00:09:01.590 --> 00:09:06.629 is to do. The first half of John, this guy named 00:09:06.629 --> 00:09:09.250 John, the Apostle John, he's writing to the Greeks, 00:09:09.330 --> 00:09:14.429 and he's explaining to them who Jesus is. The 00:09:14.429 --> 00:09:16.450 second half of John, which you guys will get 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:20.740 to soon, John explains. what it looks like to 00:09:20.740 --> 00:09:24.759 be a Jesus follower. In this passage, though, 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.639 it looks like it's a miracle. It's all about 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:33.080 who Jesus is. That is the foundation of our faith. 00:09:33.139 --> 00:09:37.759 We get faith so screwed up. We get faith so twisted. 00:09:38.990 --> 00:09:41.730 And it's why so many of us have been disappointed 00:09:41.730 --> 00:09:45.590 in God. So many of us are uninterested in God. 00:09:45.690 --> 00:09:48.309 So many of us are confused by God because we 00:09:48.309 --> 00:09:53.090 don't approach things as he's actually revealing 00:09:53.090 --> 00:09:55.190 to us. I'm going to break this passage down into 00:09:55.190 --> 00:09:58.330 two sections today. These are going to be our 00:09:58.330 --> 00:10:01.549 guardrails as we go through. The first section 00:10:01.549 --> 00:10:03.970 that we're going to see is that we need to break 00:10:03.970 --> 00:10:08.210 our vending machine faith. And then what we'll 00:10:08.210 --> 00:10:11.250 see at the end is once we break our vending machine 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:16.009 faith, how do we develop anchor deep faith? That's 00:10:16.009 --> 00:10:19.330 what this passage is going to show us. Now, I 00:10:19.330 --> 00:10:22.509 do something in South Reno. You know, Caleb just 00:10:22.509 --> 00:10:24.929 prayed for me. When he comes to our church, we 00:10:24.929 --> 00:10:28.110 always pray for the preacher. And what I want 00:10:28.110 --> 00:10:30.649 to do, actually, I want to invite you. You don't 00:10:30.649 --> 00:10:32.909 have to do this if this is weird to you. But 00:10:32.909 --> 00:10:34.490 let's just take a moment. Let's just pray for 00:10:34.490 --> 00:10:36.840 you. Because it doesn't really matter what I 00:10:36.840 --> 00:10:39.440 say unless our hearts and our ears are open. 00:10:40.539 --> 00:10:43.820 And let's do this. We're going to do it silently 00:10:43.820 --> 00:10:46.320 and privately so it's not weird. All right? Don't 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:48.899 do anything weird. Just silently and privately. 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:53.779 Just pray right now. Just say something like, 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:57.500 Holy Spirit, help my faith. Just silently and 00:10:57.500 --> 00:10:58.840 privately say something like that. Holy Spirit, 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:03.799 show me deeper faith. Holy Spirit, show me. What 00:11:03.799 --> 00:11:07.960 do I need? How do I have faith? Change my faith. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:17.340 Strengthen my faith. All right. Before we go 00:11:17.340 --> 00:11:19.080 any further, I do want to just give my official, 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:21.600 I said what's up to the Radiant family. Just 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:24.799 want to say welcome to you guys again. And like 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:27.000 Caleb said, my name is Ryan. I'm the lead and 00:11:27.000 --> 00:11:29.419 preaching pastor at Livingstone South Reno. We're 00:11:29.419 --> 00:11:31.700 about 20 minutes from Lake Tahoe. Has anyone 00:11:31.700 --> 00:11:33.279 ever been to Lake Tahoe? I just got to know. 00:11:33.419 --> 00:11:36.019 Am I a total alien here? We got some. All right. 00:11:36.220 --> 00:11:38.879 So we're about 20 minutes from Lake Tahoe. I've 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:45.960 been married for 23 years now. And we have four 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:48.179 sons. So we have a little fraternity. It would 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:50.240 fit well into this church with all the kids running 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.759 around. That's one of my sons right there, Sam. 00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:55.659 His goal is to kill a bear starting tomorrow. 00:11:55.860 --> 00:12:00.139 Is that right? That's right. We'll pray for Sam. 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.940 Well, I do want to give a shout out to you guys 00:12:03.940 --> 00:12:08.940 about Pastor Caleb. He's legit. I was talking 00:12:08.940 --> 00:12:11.460 to somebody in the back. Trying to remember his 00:12:11.460 --> 00:12:17.019 name. Was it John? Anyhow, he was saying how 00:12:17.019 --> 00:12:19.159 much he liked Pastor Caleb. But I just want to 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:21.820 tell you guys from an outside perspective. All 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:23.460 right, he doesn't pay me. I actually give him 00:12:23.460 --> 00:12:28.340 money. He's a stud. And if you're looking for 00:12:28.340 --> 00:12:32.139 a church that doesn't want to play stupid religious 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:35.200 games, man -made religious games, if you're looking 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:38.039 for a church that wants to investigate the Word 00:12:38.039 --> 00:12:40.659 of God and not play games and just find the real 00:12:40.659 --> 00:12:43.259 Jesus, that's the pastor to lead you. I tell 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:46.639 you, I call him up, and all he does is talk about 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:51.500 how much he loves you guys. That's unique. That's 00:12:51.500 --> 00:12:53.740 uncommon, and I really want to encourage you 00:12:53.740 --> 00:12:56.159 guys, you know, you have an awesome pastor in 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.559 him, all right? And the other guys, too, that 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.340 I've been getting to know, you know, Jared running 00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:04.539 the tech and doing all his magical work. Craig, 00:13:04.620 --> 00:13:09.519 you're a great guy, too, man. But Josiah, killing 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:13.720 it up here, singing for you guys. And so I do 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.000 want one last disclaimer before we go. You ready 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:21.450 for this one? Biblically. The Apostle Paul says 00:13:21.450 --> 00:13:24.549 in the book of Corinthians that churches, biblical 00:13:24.549 --> 00:13:28.990 churches, will have skeptics in them. The church 00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:31.309 is not designed, the church is actually the people, 00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:34.509 not a building. But the gathering of the church 00:13:34.509 --> 00:13:37.049 is not designed to be only Christians alone. 00:13:37.289 --> 00:13:39.590 It's not meant to be just a holy huddle. It's 00:13:39.590 --> 00:13:42.970 not biblically. The Apostle Paul says there should 00:13:42.970 --> 00:13:46.750 be non -believers within that gathering. And 00:13:46.750 --> 00:13:49.399 so, Hopefully you're inviting your friends and 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:52.059 family. And if that's you, if you're a skeptic 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:54.139 and you're here today, I want to say just to 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:56.600 you in particular, I respect you and we love 00:13:56.600 --> 00:13:58.980 that you're here. In fact, I'll say on behalf 00:13:58.980 --> 00:14:02.460 of Caleb, you belong here even before believing. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:06.460 All right? So let's do it. Whether you are a 00:14:06.460 --> 00:14:08.700 Jesus follower or even someone who's investigating, 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:12.200 let's get to the text. I'm actually going to 00:14:12.200 --> 00:14:14.740 preach out of the ESV translation. You guys, 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:16.840 a lot of you read from the CSB. That's great. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:19.519 Some of you have an NIV, whatever. You guys want 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:23.940 to know what the best translation is? The one 00:14:23.940 --> 00:14:26.320 that you're going to read. whichever one that 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:29.620 is, all right? So here we go. The text will also 00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:32.500 be up on the screen. Let's start with verse 46. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:38.059 It'll be up on the screen here. You guys got 00:14:38.059 --> 00:14:41.139 that for me? You got my slides for me? Awesome. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:43.960 I'll just cue you as we go along. So look at 00:14:43.960 --> 00:14:47.200 verse 46. It says, so he, obviously that's, we're 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:50.000 talking about Jesus here, came again to Cana 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.019 in Galilee where he had made... The water wine. 00:14:54.059 --> 00:14:56.799 A lot of you guys know that story. That's Jesus, 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.740 one of his first miracles, where he turns water 00:14:59.740 --> 00:15:03.899 into wine. So Jesus returns to Cana, all right? 00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:09.500 Word at this point has spread. He's drawing crowds 00:15:09.500 --> 00:15:14.919 wherever he is going. People are buzzing, not 00:15:14.919 --> 00:15:19.679 because of the wine. They're buzzing about Jesus 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:23.389 and who he is. He's come back. all right? And 00:15:23.389 --> 00:15:27.429 it says, and at Capernaum, now Capernaum, if 00:15:27.429 --> 00:15:33.590 modern or archaeologists have found Canaan, all 00:15:33.590 --> 00:15:35.870 right? And so Canaan is actually, it's up on 00:15:35.870 --> 00:15:39.750 a hill. Capernaum is down a hill and about 20 00:15:39.750 --> 00:15:45.049 miles away, okay? And so it says, and at Capernaum, 00:15:45.049 --> 00:15:49.370 there was an official. One thing that's really 00:15:49.370 --> 00:15:51.710 important to know is the context of what are 00:15:51.710 --> 00:15:53.929 we reading, what type of official. This word 00:15:53.929 --> 00:15:57.610 official in the Greek that John is writing means 00:15:57.610 --> 00:16:02.509 a king's man. So we have a government official 00:16:02.509 --> 00:16:07.669 who's a king's man. He's working for Herod, who 00:16:07.669 --> 00:16:11.490 is the acting, let's say, king, government official 00:16:11.490 --> 00:16:15.379 of... this Galilee of this area. This official, 00:16:15.500 --> 00:16:18.240 we know that he would be wealthy. We know he's 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:22.759 not a Jew. We know that he is a Roman. All right, 00:16:22.779 --> 00:16:25.519 so he doesn't have the same faith as the Jews. 00:16:26.620 --> 00:16:31.779 Okay, now it says this official whose son was 00:16:31.779 --> 00:16:35.259 ill. Verse 47, when this man heard that Jesus 00:16:35.259 --> 00:16:39.419 had come, From Judea to Galilee, he went to him 00:16:39.419 --> 00:16:42.299 and asked him to come down and heal his son, 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:50.940 for he was at the point of death. Now, obviously, 00:16:51.059 --> 00:16:58.519 this boy dying is a problem. But that's not the 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:03.460 biggest problem. There's a bigger problem in 00:17:03.460 --> 00:17:08.480 Jesus' eyes. See, the bigger problem is that 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:12.099 in this moment, the official, this government 00:17:12.099 --> 00:17:21.460 guy, now he believed Jesus, but he did not believe 00:17:21.460 --> 00:17:28.339 in Jesus. There's a difference. In fact, there's 00:17:28.339 --> 00:17:31.500 a lot of Christians who play religion and we 00:17:31.500 --> 00:17:37.660 believe Jesus, but we don't believe in him. We 00:17:37.660 --> 00:17:40.380 don't believe what he is, who he is, the words 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:46.079 that he say. We believe he's there. Now this 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:48.859 official, we know that he had status, he had 00:17:48.859 --> 00:17:52.740 money, he had connections, but none of that could 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:55.619 save his boy. And you better believe he tried 00:17:55.619 --> 00:18:01.190 to use it all. He had the money to pay for doctors. 00:18:01.589 --> 00:18:05.750 He had the connections to have doctors. He had 00:18:05.750 --> 00:18:08.789 the best of what society could have in this moment, 00:18:08.869 --> 00:18:16.869 but nothing could save his son. And now he's 00:18:16.869 --> 00:18:26.559 desperate. But don't be confused here. He did 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:33.660 not come to Jesus because he had faith that he 00:18:33.660 --> 00:18:42.440 was God in the flesh. He came to Jesus with vending 00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:49.039 machine faith. You know what I'm talking about? 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.269 Vending machine faith. I'm coming to get something 00:18:54.269 --> 00:18:59.589 from him. I need this Sprite. I need this Snickers 00:18:59.589 --> 00:19:02.950 bar. I have vending machine faith. I can come 00:19:02.950 --> 00:19:05.690 to this thing. I can come to this person. Don't 00:19:05.690 --> 00:19:07.869 really know this person. Don't really have an 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:10.390 intimate relationship with that machine. But 00:19:10.390 --> 00:19:12.990 I know I can go to that machine and I can get 00:19:12.990 --> 00:19:19.029 what I want. It's vending machine faith. Now 00:19:19.029 --> 00:19:23.039 the Jews. who were experienced to or exposed 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:26.039 to Jesus, they had the same thing. There was 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:29.420 a lot of vending machine faith going on. In fact, 00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:31.559 if you go and look at verse 46, if you can put 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:34.359 40, there it is. Verse 46 is up on the screen 00:19:34.359 --> 00:19:37.700 as well. The Jewish crowds were the same. They 00:19:37.700 --> 00:19:41.660 were drawn to the spectacle, not the Savior. 00:19:50.599 --> 00:19:52.859 Because they loved what Jesus could provide, 00:19:53.039 --> 00:20:02.400 but not who he was. They loved what Jesus could 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:12.859 provide, but not who he was. So Jesus calls it 00:20:12.859 --> 00:20:14.660 out. Look up on the screen here in verse 48. 00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:23.789 So Jesus said to him, Unless you see signs and 00:20:23.789 --> 00:20:34.309 wonders, you will not believe. I'll give you 00:20:34.309 --> 00:20:36.529 a nerd nugget here in this translation. The CSB 00:20:36.529 --> 00:20:38.650 does a good job. I know to say put a parenthesis 00:20:38.650 --> 00:20:40.430 and put people there, but I'll give you a nerd 00:20:40.430 --> 00:20:43.069 nugget in the Greek for you. It's actually plural. 00:20:43.490 --> 00:20:47.349 Jesus is not talking just to the Roman official. 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:52.299 He's talking to everybody. That word you is plural. 00:20:52.539 --> 00:21:02.180 He's saying all y 'all. And by extension, he's 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:09.940 even speaking to us. Unless you see signs and 00:21:09.940 --> 00:21:20.599 wonders, you will not believe. Let's just be, 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:23.079 listen, I said it earlier, I'm not into religious 00:21:23.079 --> 00:21:25.519 games or religious holy huddles. I want the truth. 00:21:25.599 --> 00:21:28.599 I want Jesus. And let's be transparent. Let's 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:31.720 be authentic. Isn't that, maybe not you. You're 00:21:31.720 --> 00:21:33.859 probably more holy than me, but I'll tell you, 00:21:33.880 --> 00:21:37.099 that's a lot of me. That's a lot of us. Don't 00:21:37.099 --> 00:21:44.740 we all want proof before we trust? A lot of times, 00:21:44.740 --> 00:21:46.440 most of the time, if we're honest with ourselves, 00:21:46.660 --> 00:21:52.029 we want proof before we trust. We all want to 00:21:52.029 --> 00:22:02.589 see before we believe. How often have you thought, 00:22:02.769 --> 00:22:06.650 right? We've all had these thoughts. God, if 00:22:06.650 --> 00:22:13.690 you'll fix it this time, then I'll believe. God, 00:22:13.750 --> 00:22:19.700 just do it, do it, and then I will. Show me this 00:22:19.700 --> 00:22:22.859 thing, just pull it off, and then, and then, 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:29.640 and then. What in your life right now are you 00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:34.759 saying that about? God, if you just change my 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:36.880 husband a little bit, and then I know that you 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:40.440 want this marriage. God, if you just would do 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:44.319 this for my child, then I'll know you care. God, 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:47.539 if you just show me, then I'll know you're real. 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:54.500 I mean, the list goes on and on. What is your 00:22:54.500 --> 00:23:09.019 list? What is your thing? So what Jesus does 00:23:09.019 --> 00:23:11.779 next, it's radical. Look at verse 49 up on the 00:23:11.779 --> 00:23:14.079 screen here. It says, the official said to him, 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:19.880 sir, just come down. Sir, come down before my 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:23.220 child dies. Verse 50, Jesus said to him, go, 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:34.240 your son will live. That's it. Don't we want 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:38.859 some wild, crazy story? Oh, we want the heavens 00:23:38.859 --> 00:23:41.599 to part, this chariot to come down, Jesus to 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.440 get in, rolls down, there's a hole. We want to 00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:49.680 see it. Just like in the miracles that we need 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:52.880 in our life, we want the heavens apart. We want 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:57.039 it all. We want to see it. We want this experience. 00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:03.160 Whatever miracle that you need, you're saying, 00:24:03.220 --> 00:24:12.359 God, just do it. But this is even more radical. 00:24:12.400 --> 00:24:18.359 Jesus just says, go. Just go. Go? Go. Your son 00:24:18.359 --> 00:24:30.980 will live. Jesus calls for simple faith. No trip 00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:36.140 to the house. Jesus didn't mount up with a thousand 00:24:36.140 --> 00:24:38.880 angels and zoom over to the house where the boy 00:24:38.880 --> 00:24:54.400 was. Just a word. Just a word. Right? Let's get 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:56.559 into some context here. This is radical for even 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:59.279 then. In this world, to a Roman, we're talking 00:24:59.279 --> 00:25:02.539 about a Roman, to a Roman, a pagan Roman who 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:06.079 had Greek influence in his religion, you know 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:08.460 what they would do for physical healing? They 00:25:08.460 --> 00:25:11.680 would go to a pagan temple where there was a 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:16.799 healing God. You would have to spend the night 00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:20.359 in the temple and hope that the pagan god would 00:25:20.359 --> 00:25:24.859 heal you, and you'd wake up healed. You had to 00:25:24.859 --> 00:25:31.579 impress the gods. To the Jews, healing came through 00:25:31.579 --> 00:25:34.779 a priest who would actually lay hands. He had 00:25:34.779 --> 00:25:37.799 to be present to physically lay hands on the 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:40.279 sickness or whatever that may be. There had to 00:25:40.279 --> 00:25:43.779 be this interaction, but this was all backward 00:25:43.779 --> 00:25:52.500 to everybody, and it's even backward to us. Jesus 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:57.339 simply answers faith with a promise. spoken from 00:25:57.339 --> 00:26:05.900 a distance. What is the miracle that you need? 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:16.160 Would you accept a spoken word from a distance 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:27.049 from God? That's not vending machine faith. This 00:26:27.049 --> 00:26:33.890 faith that this Roman has, it's faith. It's believing 00:26:33.890 --> 00:26:37.450 in the authority of the Son of God. It's faith 00:26:37.450 --> 00:26:46.230 in who God is. Look up on the screen here. This 00:26:46.230 --> 00:26:48.109 is my question for you that I want you to really 00:26:48.109 --> 00:26:52.210 think deeply about. What situation in your life 00:26:52.210 --> 00:26:56.589 are you holding back faith? Because you want 00:26:56.589 --> 00:27:20.609 to see a sign first. I told somebody earlier 00:27:20.609 --> 00:27:25.009 out in the hallway. That I do not believe in 00:27:25.009 --> 00:27:32.430 luck, chance, or coincidence. Because God tells 00:27:32.430 --> 00:27:39.769 us there's no such thing. And I believe that 00:27:39.769 --> 00:27:43.470 you are here not by accident this morning. Just 00:27:43.470 --> 00:27:46.549 like I believe I'm not here by accident. You 00:27:46.549 --> 00:27:48.369 are not here by luck. You're not here by coincidence. 00:27:49.210 --> 00:27:54.640 I believe. That the people in this room, you, 00:27:54.839 --> 00:27:57.420 the souls in this room, you, the people who came 00:27:57.420 --> 00:28:00.500 this morning are here for this. And I believe 00:28:00.500 --> 00:28:03.180 God is asking you, the Holy Spirit is asking 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:06.119 you, what situation in your life are you holding 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:10.740 back faith because you want to see a sign first? 00:28:14.519 --> 00:28:17.200 And I believe that God is speaking to you this 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:20.359 morning through his word. And he's giving you 00:28:20.359 --> 00:28:22.220 an answer right now. And he's saying, don't. 00:28:23.920 --> 00:28:29.420 in the sign. He's saying, remember who I am. 00:28:34.619 --> 00:28:38.680 Some of you are investigating who God is for 00:28:38.680 --> 00:28:44.400 the first time. He doesn't demand that you earn 00:28:44.400 --> 00:28:50.529 responses from Him. Some of you are coming back 00:28:50.529 --> 00:28:52.569 to investigate because you've been hurt before. 00:28:52.849 --> 00:28:55.289 Whatever it may be, you're here to rediscover 00:28:55.289 --> 00:28:58.910 the true Jesus. Not the made -up religious, man 00:28:58.910 --> 00:29:01.250 -made religious Jesus. You want to know the real 00:29:01.250 --> 00:29:06.730 Jesus. And he's saying to you, don't look for 00:29:06.730 --> 00:29:09.230 the sign. Don't put your hope in the sign. Put 00:29:09.230 --> 00:29:12.089 your hope in who I am. Do you know who I am? 00:29:16.970 --> 00:29:19.250 Some of you have been Jesus followers for a long 00:29:19.250 --> 00:29:24.750 time. And it gets easy to fall in love with the 00:29:24.750 --> 00:29:27.890 spectacle and to fall out of love with the Savior. 00:29:29.170 --> 00:29:39.630 And he's saying, remember who I am. That thing 00:29:39.630 --> 00:29:41.410 that you need faith in, that you're struggling 00:29:41.410 --> 00:29:43.049 with right now, I don't know what it is for you. 00:29:43.130 --> 00:29:46.700 We all have something. You're not here by luck, 00:29:46.740 --> 00:29:48.400 chance, or coincidence. He's speaking to you 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:54.039 right now. You need someone you can trust beyond 00:29:54.039 --> 00:30:08.619 what you can see. And he's saying, it's me. Our 00:30:08.619 --> 00:30:11.539 second point. Up on the screen, you'll see the 00:30:11.539 --> 00:30:15.000 two points. That we're working through. We're 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:18.440 going to talk about, okay, well, how then? How? 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.259 I want this. I think you agree with me. You want 00:30:22.259 --> 00:30:26.220 faith like this. We want faith like this. It's 00:30:26.220 --> 00:30:30.920 not random, but this Roman guy. Wouldn't that 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.579 be great if we could have faith? You could just 00:30:33.579 --> 00:30:36.480 trust who Jesus is. You could just trust his 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:39.079 simple word. And you could just go, oh, he said 00:30:39.079 --> 00:30:41.759 my son's healed. Let's go. Let's go. I don't 00:30:41.759 --> 00:30:45.299 know about you, but that wouldn't be me. I would 00:30:45.299 --> 00:30:47.259 say, no, no, no, no, show me a sign before I 00:30:47.259 --> 00:30:51.579 travel all the way home again. Like, do some 00:30:51.579 --> 00:30:56.200 magic. Vending machine faith. How do you have 00:30:56.200 --> 00:30:59.059 deep faith like that? How can you? We see that 00:30:59.059 --> 00:31:01.480 in the second part. Verse 50, here we go, up 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:04.779 on the screen. Jesus said to him, go, your son 00:31:04.779 --> 00:31:08.099 will live. Look at this, the man believed the 00:31:08.099 --> 00:31:12.539 word that Jesus spoke to him. and went on his 00:31:12.539 --> 00:31:17.680 way. How do we deepen our faith like this? Let 00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:23.279 me give a quick warning. There are prosperity 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:26.859 teachers out there. By the way, don't believe 00:31:26.859 --> 00:31:31.400 everything you see from preachers online or on 00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:34.039 TV. Make sure your Bible is open. Even right 00:31:34.039 --> 00:31:35.900 now, you shouldn't even believe what I'm saying. 00:31:36.519 --> 00:31:38.660 You've got to always have your Bible open. Check 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:41.400 these things. Many of you probably know there's 00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:48.140 a movement in North American Christianity, prosperity 00:31:48.140 --> 00:31:52.160 teachers. They will pick this exact passage, 00:31:52.220 --> 00:31:55.599 and they will say to you, hold on, hold on, no, 00:31:55.640 --> 00:31:58.839 no. They'll say, what this shows you is that 00:31:58.839 --> 00:32:03.299 if you have enough faith, like the Roman official, 00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:07.359 He walked a long way. He didn't know that much, 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:11.720 but he had enough faith and he believed enough. 00:32:12.240 --> 00:32:15.039 There's some magic line of faith that you've 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:19.039 got to have enough. And if you have enough of 00:32:19.039 --> 00:32:23.009 this, then you will get whatever you want. And 00:32:23.009 --> 00:32:26.009 they use this exact passage to say, see, this 00:32:26.009 --> 00:32:29.589 guy had enough faith. He was strong enough and 00:32:29.589 --> 00:32:32.329 he got what he wanted. That's what you need to 00:32:32.329 --> 00:32:37.730 do. You know, I'm not ripping on Bible preaching 00:32:37.730 --> 00:32:42.809 churches. In fact, I got baptized at a charismatic 00:32:42.809 --> 00:32:46.230 church. So don't, I'm not tearing anybody down 00:32:46.230 --> 00:32:49.130 as long as it's a Bible preaching church. There's 00:32:49.130 --> 00:32:51.759 very good. Different forms of those out there. 00:32:51.859 --> 00:32:54.119 But I'll tell you because I have personal experience 00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:58.019 in prosperity style churches, in charismatic 00:32:58.019 --> 00:33:00.839 churches, that one of the most famous phrases 00:33:00.839 --> 00:33:04.339 is, believe and you shall receive. You know, 00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:06.440 they say it with that type of an accent. Hope 00:33:06.440 --> 00:33:08.160 I'm not insulting anyone here, but I'm just saying 00:33:08.160 --> 00:33:11.940 that's the thought process. Believe and you shall 00:33:11.940 --> 00:33:16.980 receive. Not at all. That is not biblical. It's 00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:21.130 not up to you. God is sovereign in all things. 00:33:23.170 --> 00:33:28.670 This is not a magic potion. This is not some 00:33:28.670 --> 00:33:32.910 magic faith formula. So you can go believe and 00:33:32.910 --> 00:33:36.069 get your Corvette, believe and go get your miraculous 00:33:36.069 --> 00:33:38.470 healing, whatever it is. That's not what this 00:33:38.470 --> 00:33:42.589 is about at all. Jesus' choice to heal from a 00:33:42.589 --> 00:33:46.890 distance and by his word alone was a demonstration 00:33:46.890 --> 00:33:54.640 of Who he is. This isn't how to get things from 00:33:54.640 --> 00:34:00.960 God. This is when we have needs and we need miracles 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:03.779 and we need God to reach in and touch parts of 00:34:03.779 --> 00:34:06.799 our lives. This is showing us that it falls back 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:10.000 on trusting, not in the vending machine, but 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:13.800 trusting in who he is. That's what he's saying 00:34:13.800 --> 00:34:16.059 to us this morning. Do you remember who I am? 00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:26.699 Do you know who I am? Put your hope in me. Up 00:34:26.699 --> 00:34:29.659 on the screen here, this is a good point I wanted 00:34:29.659 --> 00:34:33.099 to share with you. This is to go from shallow 00:34:33.099 --> 00:34:38.900 faith to deep faith is to put your faith in who 00:34:38.900 --> 00:34:49.480 Jesus is, not the magic that he can do. And by 00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:53.199 the way, that's why John ends this whole story. 00:34:54.579 --> 00:34:59.119 The peak of this story, the climax of this story, 00:34:59.219 --> 00:35:03.719 the end of this story is verse 53. And how does 00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:09.219 it end? It ends with the Roman official and his 00:35:09.219 --> 00:35:14.639 entire household coming to faith in who Jesus 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:20.300 is. It doesn't end with this celebration that 00:35:20.300 --> 00:35:23.539 they got their Corvette, or they got the job 00:35:23.539 --> 00:35:26.119 they always wanted, or they got the healing. 00:35:26.239 --> 00:35:29.880 They did get the healing. Praise Jesus. But it 00:35:29.880 --> 00:35:33.079 ends with all of them putting their faith in 00:35:33.079 --> 00:35:35.820 who he is. That's the point of this passage. 00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:43.400 Not the miracle, but who he is. That is how we 00:35:43.400 --> 00:35:55.150 move forward with our faith. Finding faith in 00:35:55.150 --> 00:35:59.030 the one who doesn't just give or heal physical 00:35:59.030 --> 00:36:05.590 life, but the one who gives eternal life. The 00:36:05.590 --> 00:36:09.309 one who at the cross offered his perfect life 00:36:09.309 --> 00:36:15.320 for your and my imperfect life. Whose blood was 00:36:15.320 --> 00:36:18.099 shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Who redeemed 00:36:18.099 --> 00:36:20.119 and reconciled our relationship with God the 00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:23.000 Father. Who brought us back together. Who shows 00:36:23.000 --> 00:36:26.420 us. When the Jews said, what does God the Father 00:36:26.420 --> 00:36:29.059 look like? What is he like? Jesus says, look 00:36:29.059 --> 00:36:34.639 at me. If you've seen me, you know him. Jesus 00:36:34.639 --> 00:36:38.460 is the one. It's all about who he is and what 00:36:38.460 --> 00:36:42.179 that means for you. You know, this reminds me 00:36:42.179 --> 00:36:45.079 of... I'll tell you a really quick story. I was 00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:53.599 in Oxford at Oxford University, and I was working 00:36:53.599 --> 00:36:58.159 on my master's degree. And I said to my wife, 00:36:58.300 --> 00:37:01.559 I said, hey, it's our 20th anniversary. How about 00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:03.739 you fly over? It's one of those things like when 00:37:03.739 --> 00:37:05.659 my flight's paid for, I only have to pay for 00:37:05.659 --> 00:37:07.079 her half type deal. You know, I'm like, hey, 00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:09.539 let's take advantage of this. You fly over, hon. 00:37:09.900 --> 00:37:13.059 I said, you come over. Fly into London. I'll 00:37:13.059 --> 00:37:15.500 take a train down from Oxford. I'll meet you 00:37:15.500 --> 00:37:17.360 in London. We'll have the weekend in London. 00:37:17.480 --> 00:37:19.719 We'll take the train back up to Oxford. You can 00:37:19.719 --> 00:37:22.420 see the university. It's incredible. It's beautiful. 00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:26.659 And then we'll fly to Rome, and we'll go to Italy 00:37:26.659 --> 00:37:30.039 for our 20th anniversary. And so she was in. 00:37:30.380 --> 00:37:31.920 Does that sound like fun? Tracy, would you like 00:37:31.920 --> 00:37:35.019 to do that with Caleb? Yeah, yeah. So we did 00:37:35.019 --> 00:37:39.000 this, and I take the train. So I have an Airbnb. 00:37:39.900 --> 00:37:43.059 in Oxford, and I got to get a new one because 00:37:43.059 --> 00:37:45.179 my wife was coming, a bigger one, and so I have 00:37:45.179 --> 00:37:47.139 all my suitcases. I get on the train in Oxford. 00:37:47.199 --> 00:37:49.420 I take the train from Oxford down to London. 00:37:49.599 --> 00:37:52.199 I meet my wife there for the weekend. We have 00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:54.760 a great time. We get back on the train from London 00:37:54.760 --> 00:37:58.699 to Oxford. It's Sunday evening, late afternoon, 00:37:58.860 --> 00:38:02.800 and it is jam -packed full of students, hundreds 00:38:02.800 --> 00:38:05.360 and hundreds and hundreds of students. The train, 00:38:05.380 --> 00:38:08.739 there is nowhere, and I have all these Huge suitcases 00:38:08.739 --> 00:38:11.199 for being in Europe for a couple weeks. So I 00:38:11.199 --> 00:38:13.400 got everything, right? And it's blocking the 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:15.320 way, and I kind of put my suitcases toward the 00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:17.800 end, and everyone's standing. We happen to get 00:38:17.800 --> 00:38:20.059 two seats, and we're taking the train. We get 00:38:20.059 --> 00:38:22.340 to Oxford. If you guys have ridden any of the 00:38:22.340 --> 00:38:24.199 trains in Europe, they're at the train station 00:38:24.199 --> 00:38:26.360 for a millisecond. You get on and get off. Like, 00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:28.820 they're gone. You got to go quick. So I'm grabbing 00:38:28.820 --> 00:38:31.159 the suitcases. All these students are, we're 00:38:31.159 --> 00:38:33.380 jamming, and we get out, and we're at the station 00:38:33.380 --> 00:38:36.260 in Oxford. We have to, now it's evening time, 00:38:36.320 --> 00:38:38.199 and we have to walk. about a mile to our Airbnb. 00:38:38.380 --> 00:38:40.400 There's light drizzle coming down. It's like 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:43.880 this beautiful little European dark Oxford scene, 00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:47.260 if you could imagine. And we get to the Airbnb. 00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:49.900 I'm like, oh, okay, we made it. We're putting 00:38:49.900 --> 00:38:53.320 everything away. We're going to bed. And I look 00:38:53.320 --> 00:39:04.320 around and I say, where's my backpack? I had 00:39:04.320 --> 00:39:08.050 left my backpack on the train. Now you may say, 00:39:08.090 --> 00:39:10.090 well, that's not a big deal. This is a backpack. 00:39:10.269 --> 00:39:16.489 Listen, my backpack had my passport in it. So 00:39:16.489 --> 00:39:18.449 if we were to go on this next part of the trip 00:39:18.449 --> 00:39:20.690 to Italy and all this stuff, we ain't going nowhere. 00:39:21.230 --> 00:39:24.730 Had my passport. It had my laptop on it that 00:39:24.730 --> 00:39:28.730 has everything for our church that I do. It's 00:39:28.730 --> 00:39:31.489 like everything to me. You know what else I had 00:39:31.489 --> 00:39:36.630 on it? It had my presentation. for the next morning 00:39:36.630 --> 00:39:41.309 that I was to give at Oxford. And I had everything. 00:39:43.190 --> 00:39:48.750 It's gone. Left it on the train. So I'm trying 00:39:48.750 --> 00:39:53.349 to Google the train company, whatever. I mean, 00:39:53.369 --> 00:39:55.429 what in the world am I going to do? So my wife 00:39:55.429 --> 00:40:02.190 says, she goes, hey. She goes, let's walk back 00:40:02.190 --> 00:40:05.340 down to the train station. And let's just pray 00:40:05.340 --> 00:40:12.000 the whole way. And I looked at her and I said, 00:40:12.139 --> 00:40:20.119 that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Right? 00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:22.719 Oh, a pastor said that? Yeah, I did. I was like, 00:40:22.760 --> 00:40:24.679 that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my 00:40:24.679 --> 00:40:32.500 life. Worst idea, stupidest idea ever. Right? 00:40:33.029 --> 00:40:36.170 Those trains are there for a millisecond. It's 00:40:36.170 --> 00:40:38.610 gone. We have been in this place for a couple 00:40:38.610 --> 00:40:40.449 hours now. It's late at night. It's raining. 00:40:40.769 --> 00:40:44.230 The train is gone. I'm like, dumbest idea ever 00:40:44.230 --> 00:40:48.750 to pray to God and ask for that. So what do we 00:40:48.750 --> 00:40:52.269 do? She says, get up. We're going to go. And 00:40:52.269 --> 00:40:55.510 we're going to pray all the way there. So we 00:40:55.510 --> 00:40:57.869 get up. We're walking down. And guess who's praying 00:40:57.869 --> 00:41:03.840 all the way there? She is. Not me. I'm just like, 00:41:03.880 --> 00:41:08.219 this is stupid. We get to the train station, 00:41:08.500 --> 00:41:14.559 and guess what? The train's gone. It ain't there. 00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:17.659 There's no trains there. It's like 11 o 'clock 00:41:17.659 --> 00:41:21.579 now at night. No train. The train's probably 00:41:21.579 --> 00:41:25.599 halfway across Europe. It's gone. I said, I told 00:41:25.599 --> 00:41:28.219 you, stupidest idea ever. She's like, let's just 00:41:28.219 --> 00:41:31.510 keep praying. I'm like, stupid. There's one worker 00:41:31.510 --> 00:41:33.510 there, he's got a vest on, and I'm like, hey, 00:41:33.550 --> 00:41:36.030 hey, can I ask you a quick question? I go, I 00:41:36.030 --> 00:41:39.929 left my train, I mean, I left my backpack on 00:41:39.929 --> 00:41:43.090 the train from London. He goes, what train from 00:41:43.090 --> 00:41:46.510 London? We've got hundreds of trains from London. 00:41:47.579 --> 00:41:50.440 I said, I don't know. It got here a couple hours 00:41:50.440 --> 00:41:53.340 ago. He goes, let me check. Let me radio in. 00:41:55.119 --> 00:41:57.820 It's an outside train station. The tracks are 00:41:57.820 --> 00:41:59.480 in front of us, and there's another building 00:41:59.480 --> 00:42:02.880 on the other side of the train tracks. He radios 00:42:02.880 --> 00:42:06.039 in. He's like, hey, did we find anything on this 00:42:06.039 --> 00:42:10.480 train? I can hear it on the walkie -talkie. The 00:42:10.480 --> 00:42:12.659 guy on the other end says, oh, yeah, we found 00:42:12.659 --> 00:42:15.260 something. He goes, oh, what's your backpack 00:42:15.260 --> 00:42:18.900 look like? I said, oh, it's easy to spot. It 00:42:18.900 --> 00:42:22.320 says videopoker .com on the outside. He goes, 00:42:22.420 --> 00:42:24.780 it says videopoker .com on the outside. What 00:42:24.780 --> 00:42:27.280 do you have? He goes, I have a backpack. He goes, 00:42:27.300 --> 00:42:30.880 what's it look like? He goes, it says videopoker 00:42:30.880 --> 00:42:35.480 .com on the outside. Literally, my backpack was 00:42:35.480 --> 00:42:37.699 there of a million trains, a million students, 00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:42.960 everything, it was there. And see, that whole 00:42:42.960 --> 00:42:48.159 story is exactly how we walk in faith. If we 00:42:48.159 --> 00:42:52.059 see it, oh, we'll believe it. I could not see 00:42:52.059 --> 00:42:54.820 it. The only thing I could see was an empty train 00:42:54.820 --> 00:42:59.940 station. But just like that situation and my 00:42:59.940 --> 00:43:02.539 wife trying to remind me, you know who he is. 00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:08.719 You know what he can do from a distance? Just 00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:11.840 like this boy who was healed from a distance. 00:43:13.300 --> 00:43:16.110 She was saying to me, You know what he can do 00:43:16.110 --> 00:43:19.630 from a distance in your life? You remember who 00:43:19.630 --> 00:43:28.670 he is? That's the type of faith. Let's close 00:43:28.670 --> 00:43:32.349 with this. Up on the screen. I want to give you 00:43:32.349 --> 00:43:35.789 three ways to help move your faith from bending 00:43:35.789 --> 00:43:37.769 machine faith to anchor deep faith. Here we go. 00:43:38.070 --> 00:43:40.309 This is what we're going to end with. One of 00:43:40.309 --> 00:43:43.889 these is for you. Number one. Number one, don't 00:43:43.889 --> 00:43:49.579 treat... faith like a vending machine. Trust 00:43:49.579 --> 00:43:53.760 God even when you can't get something right away. 00:43:56.440 --> 00:44:00.860 When life is silent, when the train has left 00:44:00.860 --> 00:44:08.059 the station, whatever it is, lean on who He is. 00:44:10.800 --> 00:44:15.789 He is a real God, he can move from a distance. 00:44:15.949 --> 00:44:19.510 He's not waiting for you to earn it or to prove 00:44:19.510 --> 00:44:23.670 it. He has unconditional love and favor for you. 00:44:23.989 --> 00:44:27.590 You belong to him. You are a son or a daughter 00:44:27.590 --> 00:44:35.690 of the king all the time. Lean on who he is, 00:44:35.809 --> 00:44:40.050 not what you see. Number two up on the screen. 00:44:40.869 --> 00:44:45.989 Maybe this one's for you. Let God deepen you, 00:44:46.130 --> 00:44:53.289 not just hype you. What I mean is don't chase 00:44:53.289 --> 00:44:59.489 spiritual hype or emotional highs or quick inspirations 00:44:59.489 --> 00:45:02.630 like the official in this story. Maybe for you, 00:45:02.730 --> 00:45:07.550 you are just to simply believe the simple word, 00:45:07.710 --> 00:45:16.380 go. You want... Trust me, we all want this. No, 00:45:16.380 --> 00:45:19.760 no, no, no, no, no, no. Let God renew your mind 00:45:19.760 --> 00:45:24.539 through his word and let that bolster your faith. 00:45:24.860 --> 00:45:30.659 Believe in who he is and what he says. Hold steady. 00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:41.159 Stay the course. The last one. How to deepen 00:45:41.159 --> 00:45:43.800 your faith? Make it personal, not just churchy. 00:45:46.539 --> 00:45:51.920 What I mean is don't rely only, only. We gather 00:45:51.920 --> 00:45:54.619 because we need this on Sundays. We gather on 00:45:54.619 --> 00:45:59.679 Sundays, right? But don't rely only on services 00:45:59.679 --> 00:46:03.679 or worship experiences. Build a daily personal 00:46:03.679 --> 00:46:08.610 connection. Be part of your gospel. groups the 00:46:08.610 --> 00:46:11.090 community groups that as you meet during the 00:46:11.090 --> 00:46:17.769 week plug in personally with other people build 00:46:17.769 --> 00:46:23.889 that connection with jesus at work on the water 00:46:23.889 --> 00:46:30.429 on the road wherever because one day you're either 00:46:30.429 --> 00:46:33.110 going to have to have you're gonna you got to 00:46:33.110 --> 00:46:35.789 know who he is like my wife knew who he is as 00:46:35.789 --> 00:46:41.389 we're walking those dark streets of Oxford. Somewhere 00:46:41.389 --> 00:46:43.190 in your life, you're going to be on a dark street 00:46:43.190 --> 00:46:46.230 somewhere, figuratively. You've got to know who 00:46:46.230 --> 00:46:51.570 he is. So my last question to you is this, up 00:46:51.570 --> 00:46:55.110 on the screen, this week, how will you do that? 00:46:56.110 --> 00:46:59.289 How will you step out in deeper faith in Jesus? 00:46:59.809 --> 00:47:03.750 Don't let today be a waste. You are not here 00:47:03.750 --> 00:47:08.230 by luck, chance, or coincidence. God is inviting 00:47:08.230 --> 00:47:12.909 you to a deeper faith in Him. With what and how 00:47:12.909 --> 00:47:18.610 will you do that with Him? Don't waste today. 00:47:21.349 --> 00:47:27.409 The last screen up behind me. Faith isn't trusting 00:47:27.409 --> 00:47:38.420 outcomes. It's trusting a person. Jesus. Amen? 00:47:38.420 --> 00:47:42.139 Amen. Well, what we're going to do now is we're 00:47:42.139 --> 00:47:45.079 going to take communion. And you guys know we 00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:47.159 do it every week at Radiant. We do it every week 00:47:47.159 --> 00:47:50.900 at Living Stones. Because Jesus says every time 00:47:50.900 --> 00:47:56.940 you gather to do this, why? Why? He says to do 00:47:56.940 --> 00:48:01.420 it in remembrance of me. Why? Is it a ritual? 00:48:01.980 --> 00:48:04.340 Are we earning his favor? No, no, no. He says 00:48:04.340 --> 00:48:11.340 do it to remember. Who I am. That it was me on 00:48:11.340 --> 00:48:14.239 the cross. It was Jesus who put his body and 00:48:14.239 --> 00:48:17.300 sacrificed his body for you. His life for your 00:48:17.300 --> 00:48:20.679 imperfect life. His blood was shed for the forgiveness 00:48:20.679 --> 00:48:22.579 of your sins. You take that bread and you remember 00:48:22.579 --> 00:48:25.699 his sacrifice. You drink the wine, the juice. 00:48:25.800 --> 00:48:27.980 You remember his blood shed for you. All of it 00:48:27.980 --> 00:48:32.159 unconditional. Remember who he is and how much 00:48:32.159 --> 00:48:35.550 you mean to him. that you belong to the king, 00:48:35.710 --> 00:48:39.269 and if you remember who he is, that is how you 00:48:39.269 --> 00:48:43.610 can walk in faith. And that's what we're going 00:48:43.610 --> 00:48:45.730 to do with communion. Now, I do want to say this. 00:48:45.789 --> 00:48:47.570 If you don't believe in anything that I said 00:48:47.570 --> 00:48:49.889 today, if you don't believe that Jesus is your 00:48:49.889 --> 00:48:52.010 king, if you don't believe he's your Lord and 00:48:52.010 --> 00:48:53.630 Savior, if you're not there yet, if you're a 00:48:53.630 --> 00:48:56.349 skeptic, guess what? We love that you're here. 00:48:57.670 --> 00:48:59.889 I don't want to make you a hypocrite, right, 00:48:59.989 --> 00:49:03.340 and ask you to come take communion. that would 00:49:03.340 --> 00:49:05.079 make you a hypocrite. I don't want you to do 00:49:05.079 --> 00:49:06.519 that. What I'm going to invite you to do is just 00:49:06.519 --> 00:49:08.340 to stay in your seat while the Jesus followers 00:49:08.340 --> 00:49:11.860 take communion, and you just, you're welcome 00:49:11.860 --> 00:49:13.599 here, like I said, for as long as you want to 00:49:13.599 --> 00:49:18.699 come here. And in that moment, and in this moment, 00:49:18.780 --> 00:49:21.420 just say silently and privately to God, if you're 00:49:21.420 --> 00:49:25.199 real, show me. If you're real, call me. If you're 00:49:25.199 --> 00:49:30.500 real, draw me. And just keep coming back to Radiant. 00:49:31.340 --> 00:49:33.000 In investigating who Jesus is.