Don’t Miss This!

Kids. That's aside, but still, I'm excited to see what God will continue to do. We've been in a series called March Madness. There's no real meaning to it other than it seems like a fun excuse to say what I want to say. But we're actually going through John chapter 5 and John chapter 6.

John 5 · chapter mention John 6 · chapter mention

And what happens in John chapter 5 and six is that Jesus begins to intensify the teachings about what it looks like to follow him, And I started off this series with the end in mind. In the latter part of John chapter 6, Jesus loses a lot of followers because he gives what is called a difficult teaching. All that teaching was is: you've got to commit your entire lives to following Jesus. But the people didn't like that and so they stopped following him. And I think for many of us, we find ourselves in a similar position.

John 5 · chapter mention John 6 · chapter mention

We might see what God wants in front of us, but the reality of what that looks like causes us struggle. It makes us tentative or hesitant when it comes to following Jesus, And my hope, through this series, is to embrace the difficulty of this message and lead us all to this place where we're cool, hammering through, grinding through the difficult areas of faith so that we can continue to hear the words of eternal life that come from Jesus. And so last week we talked about one of my favorite stories from Scripture in all four gospels is the feeding of the 5000. And I told everyone that John actually takes a different take or a different viewpoint. He tells the story differently, if you will, And so it was fun to teach.

And this week is very similar because right after he feeds the 5000, we go into another story in history that is very familiar. Anyone. Just quickly raise your hand if you've heard of the story of Jesus walking on water. No ashame, no shame if you haven't, but most of you have heard about that story of Jesus walking on water in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. That's what like.

It just reminds me of that song that came out in like 2015. Spirit lead me where my morning walk upon the call me Love that jam, Thinking about Jesus walking on the water. I don't sing just for that. I. I just do it cuz I sing.

I can't help it. Carz knows He's like: "That's why he didn't put me on the worship team. I just sing too much all the time". But that story is very familiar. It is in Matthew, It is in Mark.

It's not really detailed in Luke, But then John discusses it. And as I was prepping to preach this message out of John, I got a little frustrated. But in order to articulate my frustration, I have to kind of give you a little bit of theological understanding of how the Bible works. Do I have permission to do that? Just say yes, Okay.

So the gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Literally, that means good news of Jesus or the kingdom. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are your gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke share a very similar telling of the story. They're all different and they have variations within them, but they're very similar in the way the story is told.

But when John comes around about 15 to 20 years after these other gospels were written, he tells the story in a way that incorporates items that Matthew, Mark and Luke likely didn't articulate. So that's what John is trying to do. He is adding a theological flare to his retelling of the Gospel story. And when I got to the walking on water story, which I know really well from Mark, I know it so well from Matthew, When I get to John, I'm kind of like I love it. It's the word of God.

I'm not allowed to stand up here and say I'm not in love with it. But I'm so familiar with the other stories that I'm like, well, how am I going to teach this? And I was talking to some people this week and they were like, well, just just go to Mark and Matthew. But there's this thing- it's called biblical theology, where you want to understand what is in the book. Right, we want to understand the way that John tells the story before we immediately pars that out through.

How Mark and Matthew tell the story. We want to read it within the context of this John story. And so, as I was prepping to preach this, I struggled because he doesn't give as much detail in specific areas, and I prayed- and the Lord really gave me something as I was prepping for it- that there are details in this passage that are extremely valuable and can help you in your life. But, but sometimes- anyone with me on this- We miss the details, right? Don't you miss the details?

Sometimes, I miss the details of my calendar. When my wife schedules events in Google Calendar, sometimes, she reminds me you're the best wife ever, Better than all these other wives in here. You just. I love you. I got eyes only for you.

You're amazing. I'm not good with the details And many times when we read Scripture or when we walk through our lives, we struggle with the details. But some of you might know this through your life as you look back on it: God works in the details. We're looking for some macro, big sign that God's going to, just like this billboard that God's going to blow up in our face, And the only person I know that that's worked for was Kaylee. When she was trying to consider whether she was coming out here, she saw a billboard that said something like move west.

I don't know what it said. Are you in here, Kaylee? It said Phoenix, Phoenix. It said Phoenix on it. So to her, that was it.

I'm sitting there listening to this story. I'm like I'm glad God spoke to you, because I'm pretty sure it was just a billboard, right? Many of us want this huge billboard that God puts in front of us to tell us the big picture of our lives, But God works in the details. Don't you know that God works or speaks, sometimes in a still small voice, And many of us miss the voice of God because of all the loud things around us. So I want to give you my sermon title.

It's: don't miss this. Don't miss this. There are things that God is doing that you might not be attuned to because you're on a different frequency, but God wants you to meet him, He wants you to experience him, He wants you to. Galatians 5 says: keep in step with what he's doing, And so I want to read this passage. It's: it's 20 whole verses, So I'm not going to make you stand up and I'm not going to read them all.

Before I explicate some of these, I'm going to. I'm going to keep you. Keep you going. It's good. We got through all of them in the first service, So I think we'll get through all of them this time.

John, chapter 6, starting in verse 16. If you have your physical Bible and it's a different version, that's totally fine. I love that you have your Bible. That's a good thing to have. Someone came up to me in between services and they're like: "I'm excited to show you my Bible.

John 6 · chapter mention

I'm going to be standing right up here right afterward. I want you to come show me your Bible". Some of you have it on your phone. I'm in the NIV version so you can follow along. Verse 16, when evening came- this is the same day as the feeding of the 5000.

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark and Jesus had not yet joined them. Now someone tell me what time of day is it? Is it morning, afternoon or evening? It's evening, It is nighttime, It is dark.

Now I just want to give you something that many scholars articulate about the book of John. When John talks about light and dark, yes, he's talking about it being in the evening, but John almost always has a double meaning, And when he talks about light and darkness, in this case, most scholars would say he's referring to kind of a double meaning. Yes, it was the evening, but also it was dark. The disciples weren't with Jesus, They were isolated and there was going to be chaos that ensued later into the evening. John indicates this in the way that he tells us the story, Verse 18, .

A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. Now, there's nothing crazy significant about this in any level different from the other stories that you have heard before, But when you hear wind and waters and you know that they're on the Sea of Galilee. If you lived in the ancient world, you would know that a physical sea is almost always compared metaphorically to chaos or things that you don't fully comprehend or understand. And so we have a strong wind blowing. There's likely waves, rain and wind.

In verse 19, . When they had rode about 3 or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat walking on the water, and they were frightened. I know I'm breaking it down a little bit. Try to bear with me here When it says frightened. I found it interesting that they weren't frightened by, you know, the wind and the waves.

They were frightened by the dude walking on water. This echoes many other circumstances in Scripture called a. I will give you a big word Y'all. Y'all say it. After I say it, Say theophony.

Y'all ain't ready for today All these big words. Theophony. A theophony is simply a moment where God reveals himself. It's a theological epiphany, God revealing himself Right. When God reveals himself, it's usually through an angel of the Lord, through some messenger like Gabriel or Michael, or, in this case, through Jesus.

Commanding the wind and waves and walking on top of them, and they were frightened. What John's trying to indicate here is: this is a very clear God moment. It is supernatural, miraculous, that Jesus is walking on water. And they were frightened, But he said to them: "It is, I Do not be afraid. I don't know if he did it with a big, booming voice, but if it's a God moment, I feel like it has to be a big, booming voice.

Could have been a still small voice. Hey, it's, I don't, don't be scared. No, it's not that We don't like that, do we? Verse 21. Then just some, you got to stop and read and think about how this is.

Then they were willing to take him onto the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. Then they were willing. The guy who's walking on water, not scared of the wind and waves, does not need your permission to get on your boat. But isn't God so gracious that often he allows us to be hostile to him and invites us to invite him into our lives? He's patient, loving, long-suffering, willing to wait on you until you finally figure out that receiving him is the best thing for you.

He's gracious. God could overpower us spiritually in a moment and get us to the place where we, like, know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God exists, that he has a plan for my life, and then he would give me the very specific direction for my life. He could do it, But God is gracious enough to allow us to choose him in our own free will. God is good like that And I just want to. I want to invite you, since we serve a good, loving God who is also all powerful and authoritative, You should invite him into your boat.

He'll make your boat work a lot better. Amen, somebody. Yeah, My boat doesn't work well when I'm commanding it. Yours doesn't either. Let's be real.

I mean, if if I were left to my own devices and decisions, I would not be in a position I am now. Now, if it were all God, I would be in a much better position than I am now. In fact, the mediocre state that I find myself in sometimes is the problem's all my fault, and God helped me a whole lot in the process. So the reason I get to be here is because God helped in the midst of all my screw-ups and bad decisions. But at some point I let him onto my boat And I'm not taking credit for the progress I've made.

I'm giving God credit for what he's done in my life And I want to give you the opportunity and I'll do it several times by the end of this. I don't feel any pressure right now, but you got to invite them onto your boat because you'll notice a couple things happen in this passage. It says this: , they were willing to take him into the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading. I wrote this down. I said: when Jesus shows up immediately, the storm calms Immediately.

That problem can fix Immediately. There is calm in the midst of chaos. When Jesus shows up into your life, that might be your sign that you're missing. You're looking for a sign, but you're missing this component. There's sometimes in my prayer life specifically.

Now I could speak to so many other things: right Decisions in my marriage, raising my kids. I'm speaking specifically about my prayer life. I have noticed in my prayer life that when God kind of shows up like I might be like beaten against a wall for a while, but then at some point I'll feel a peace that surpasses understanding. I'll be in a different mental place than I was when I started. I've learned that when I think on the things that are true, right, honorable, pure, lovely and of good repute, that the peace of God overflows into my life.

In other words, one of the ways that you know you're connecting with God is when that peace that surpasses understanding flows into your life And many of us are stuck in anxiety. I want to encourage you to diligently seek the Lord where he may be f found, Whether it's in his word, whether it's being around God's people. When he showed up to their boat- we see this in Mark and Matthew- the waves ceased And many of us, we got chaos ensuing all throughout our lives because Jesus is waiting for us to invite him onto our boat, metaphorically speaking, and we just won't. We got other stuff to do. We got other things on our mind and we are leaving him to the side.

We are unwilling to let him come in and reorient our lives so that we would do better. But if you can invite Jesus in immediately, immediately, things would start to shift. Am I saying you'll be perfect? No, You go look at me for 5 minutes in a personal conversation. You will realize I am anything but perfect.

I am simply some weirdo who got saved trying to tell a bunch of other weirdos that God works. That's my testimony. I almost I said it in the first service, but when I had Connor up here I said: God can use a 12-year-old, He can use a 22-y old And I learned in the Old Testament he can use a donkey. The reality is, when we look back on our lives, we have the opportunity. Sorry, let me rephrase that: When we look back on our lives, we see a whole lot of the wreckage that we caused.

But when Jesus comes into our lives and then you look back, you see all of the beauty that he's creating And when he shows up at the boat, the storm ceased. But here's another thing, and don't miss this: It says immediately they were on shore. I mean I could probably pull the room and maybe one or two people would raise their hand that they've ever thought about the fact that they're in the middle of the, the Sea of Galilee. Jesus shows up and then immediately they're on the shore. I mean, John the Baptist does this quite frequently in his text.

I learned this from a friend when I was in college, that John the Baptist, just like like low-key, throws in miraculous occurrences that he doesn't even talk about, And I think this is one of them. The Sea of Galilee at its widest is about eight miles. Eight miles at its width If you went from north to south. I think it's something like 12 to 20. I, I didn't.

I didn't memorize that one for this sermon. I memorized the width. Right, It's about 8 miles wide. And let's just be real, If they're traveling, it says 3 or four miles in theory. Right, They were in the middle.

And then Jesus shows up at the boat, storm ceases and immediately. Now you can't re-ransate the word outhouse, which means immediately, many other ways. Every time you translate it, it's going to be at once, immediately, Just then, right, then. That's what it means. You can't like, like, re-ransate or interpret it in such a way that it said "Okay, Jesus showed up on the boat and then they dillydallyed for a bit and eventually they ended up on shore" Says "Immediately they ended up on shore".

And God spoke this to me. This is not what the text is trying to get at. This is something that I believe God spoke to me- Is that when Jesus jumps onto your boat, he helps you navigate to your destination much more effectively, As he shows up and immediately they're on shore. And you're sitting here beating your head up against the wall, You're spinning your wheels. You're trying to figure out all of these spiritual components in your life by fitness or getting better sleep.

These are good things, but they are not eternal things, And so you can beat your head up against the wall until you die and you will never figure out the very thing you could figure out the moment he steps onto your boat. He's a much better navigator than you are. He's much more efficient and effective than you are. A word from him will calm a storm physically. What do you think a word from him can do to your spirit and to your mind?

Invite him onto your boat, Invite him into your life, Invite him into your family, Invite him into your conversations. For me, I try to navigate my day very poorly on my own. Let me ask you, because I'm about to, I'm about to go into explicit detail, about my day and how I navigate it terribly. But. But anyone else navigate their day terribly without the Lord.

And if you're not sure about this, if you commute to work here's, here's your sign that you don't navigate the beginning of your day with the Lord. You get into your car and you start driving, and as soon as someone drives poorly, you honk at them or shout at them. Literally, I had my blinker on yesterday. I know it was a person behind me- didn't start their day with the Lord. They just held on to that horn cuz I slowed down when they wanted to go faster.

Now I'm not judging them. I'm just saying if you start your day with the Lord, you're a little bit less anxious and angry. Sometimes I start my day and I look at Instagram first, I look at Facebook, I look at my inbox first. I decide that I'm going to get up and feed my kids first. I don't get enough, sleep the night before.

So I press the snooze button first. I do all these things first. And then guess what happens? I get up, go downstairs and realize one of my kids or my spouse or my mom, she lives in our NextGen suite. They left their shoes somewhere And all of a sudden the house I tried to keep clean feels, because I didn't start with the Lord, much messier than it probably is Now.

I look at it, say "Whose shoes are these" And then everyone's stressed because I didn't start my day with the Lord. I mean, come on, Don't just judge me for that one. Y'all got your own thing. I the silent judgment. I felt it.

It was crazy. Don't judge me, There's a log in your eye too. That's what the That's what the Bible says, not me. And Jesus jumps onto the boat and immediately they were on shore. If you want to get to where you want to be more quickly, invite Jesus first, not last You wasting your time, Don't you want to be an efficient American citizen?

We pride ourselves on efficiency, Yet we're one of the most anxious countries out there. I think it. In terms of happy countries, I think we were 28th, yet we're the richest. Tell me about that. It's because we're moving away from Jesus.

We're trying to. We're trying to put other things first. We're trying to put our career first, Trying to put our kids first, Trying to put our family first, Trying to put the president first, Trying to put other stuff first. Put Jesus first, See what happens, Be much more happy, Much more happy. But there's another way you can interpret this passage.

I think at least, on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, there's a place that they were likely doing the feeding of the 5000. And it was a place called Bethada, And now Besada was on the west- sorry western- side of the Sea of Galilee And they went to Capernaum, which is on the west side of Galilee. I believe it's on the southern side. Now when you cross at the closest point, it's about 3 to four miles. Now I found that information interesting cuz a lot of scholars think they were in the middle of the sea, and then there's kind of a miraculous moment where they immediately show up on shore, But there's a, there's a logical construct where it's only 3 or four miles that they're going in general.

So it makes sense that when Jesus shows up walking on water, gets onto their boat and the waves cease, that they're right there at shore. And so I just want to tell you this: There are a lot of times in your life where Jesus is going to do something powerfully and it looks common. This is a common grace that we all have These normal things in our life that other people don't have but we neglect to think about because enough other people have them. God has blessed you in ways that you're forgetting about, And I don't want you to miss that. No, I don't want you to miss the miraculous occurrences, but I also don't want you to miss these seemingly mundane occurrences that are clear common grace from God.

How many of you got kids in this room? You got grace from God. There are people in this room who could tell you how good God has been to you. Anyone married in this room, I could. Anyone got a job in this room.

I could keep going. You think these things are common, but if you go to the rest of the world, you're going to find out that the things you considered mundane and common are not actually that common in the rest of the world. And we are like relegating these things, as if God cares about everyone the same way. No, you have been specially blessed. If you have a job, if you have a family, if you have kids, if you're not enslaved in some form or fashion, if you got a house over your head, you have been blessed.

And just because you consider it common doesn't make it a lesser blessing. And in the same way, maybe they were at shore as soon as Jesus got on the boat Doesn't change the fact that he walked on water, Doesn't change the fact that he calmed the storm, And it doesn't change the fact that they were a little bit farther than they thought they were because they were anxious, yet right there on shore. In this interpretation, And many of you are much farther than you thought you were, but you're anxious about it because you haven't invited Jesus onto your boat. Once you invite Jesus onto your boat, you're going to realize that God's going to take the things that you've already acred in life: your job, your family, your giftings, your talents, everything in your life. When he comes onto your boat, he's going to say "Hey, I got a better way for you to do this" And you're going to realize he's been building you up for this moment for a long period of time, because God is gracious.

I don't want you to miss that, But let me move on. Verse 22. The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake- you got to listen to this. This is fun details, And if you miss it- like you're going to miss this whole point- The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there and that Jesus did not enter it- His disciples did, but he didn't, But that they had gone away alone. Verse 23.

Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Now, I don't know much about these boats. My interpretation of it is that they're like fairies, right, They're from Tiberia. So the Romans had different fairies going across the Sea of Galilee. Again, don't, don't go home on that one, cuz I'm just, it's just my interpretation.

No one really knows exactly what this means. But some boats landed. Let me let me give you this visual picture. After the feeding of the 5000s, the discip disciples get onto a boat and they cross to Capernaum. They go across the sea.

It's three to four miles minimum when they're crossing. If you wanted to go around it, it's going to be a lot further. Jesus does not get on the boat, but they come the next morning near Beth Betha, and Jesus isn't there. But they're looking for Jesus, Verse 24. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

So here's a kind of a logical thought. If I'm a crowd member, I wake up in the morning, go there, I'm trying to get some more loaves. You know what I'm saying. Trying to get some more bread, some more shrimp, more fish. If he's got grits, I'm going to eat them too.

That's what I'm trying to do. That's what these guys are trying to do. They're not necessarily into who Jesus is, They're into what he provides them. And they show up like "More bread, Where's Jesus". And they get there and they're like: "He didn't get on the boat, though His disciples got onto the boat".

And then this next verse indicates that they're thinking about "Well, the disciples aren't here and Jesus isn't here". So maybe the disciples came back in the middle of the night, got him and then went back over to Capernaum. So they get on these boats that, like the Romans sent over, and then they head over to Capernaum because they're looking for Jesus, because they want the benefits- Verse 25. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him: "Rabbi, when did you get here". And- and I'm a geek, like a Bible nerd, if you will- I see these kind of details and I'm like like I want you to get them at the same level that I got them, And sometimes it's just not going to happen, But I hope you're tracking with where I'm going.

Because when they found him, they asked him a question. It echoes a question that Philip and Andrew asked in chapter 1. It just reminds me: when they meet Jesus, they say: "Where are you staying". It's a dumb question. They say: "When did you get here".

Another way you can translate that is: "How did you get here". They're not wrong for wondering. It's an interesting question. He didn't get on the boat. He's not here.

He's over here. Huh, Like when? When did this happen? Like how did all of this occur? They're wondering.

They're asking a logistical question to a supernatural reality and it's not getting them anywhere right. So they ask him that question. Now, I applaud the fact that they asked Jesus's question. I applaud the fact that they're thinking about it, But what they're essentially trying to do in their pursuit of finding bread is they're trying to logicize their way into the supernatural, And I mentioned this last week. It's not going to work.

It's not going to work. Trying to describe things that God is doing with just logical means will not get you where you want to be. Don't bring logistical questions to a spiritual conversation, because there are more things occurring than we can explain through empirical aspects. And Jesus answered. He said: "Very truly, I tell you, you're looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fell".

Now, if I'm hanging out with Jesus. That's a, that's a shot right there. It's pretty intense. You're not looking for me because, because of who I am, You're not looking for me for a real sign. I've been showing you signs all day.

If you would, if you would think through what actually happened, you would wonder how I got across the ocean in a supernatural way like this. It doesn't just logically happened. The ferry didn't come late, in the middle of the night, and the disciples got over here, and there was a squall on this sea last night. You like, if you, if you were looking, you would have seen the sign that you're looking for. And he says: "You didn't come for signs, you came cuz you wanted more food, more loaves, And so I asked this question.

I don't know how it's going to come across, but it's just what came into my ADHD brain when I was prepping this message And I think it'll be memorable for you. I think a lot of us look for the benefits, that Jesus provides, without actually looking into who Jesus is and allowing him to be our savior. So I wrote this. I said: , are you looking for a sugar daddy or a savior? You'll remember it.

You going to remember it. I hope there aren't too many kids in here, But, if you don't know what a sugar daddy is, a sugar daddy is someone who has a lot of money, who provides all that you want, but you don't really have a ne like necessarily a relationship with this person. So are you looking for that? A lot of people are. They're.

Lord, bless me, Lord, help me make this shot. Lord, give me what I'm asking you for, And if you don't, I'm probably never going to show back up at church or open your word again, because you know, if you don't answer this time, then I'm done with you. I'm asking four things from God, And the best thing for you is the very thing that God wants you to ask for. Instead, He wants a relationship with you, a connection with you, And- and here's the grace of God on hand- A lot of times, like my kids, they'll- they'll say "Hey, I was, I was praying this morning, I was trying to like, like understand how Jesus feels when we come to him, like a sugar daddy rather than a savior". And, and I was, I was thinking about my kids.

Like my kids will come to me all the time. Like last night, is Micah in here, Hannah, Is Hannah in here, Hannah? All right, Micah's not in here. So Micah comes to me last night and she said: "Hey, hey, hey, can I sleep in the loft". And we have a loft upstairs and I'll let them sleep in there on the weekends.

Makes it easier to get them up for church in the morning. So, anyways, there's that, And so I let. I said: "Yeah, yeah, you can sleep in the loft". She said: "I love you, daddy". I said: "Well, did you?

Did you love me, even if I said no". And she said: "So she did". And my posture in that moment- this is how I understood God a little bit better, I think, my posture in that moment I knew exactly, of course she loves me Of, of course she's going to love me. Regardless of that, She's just trying to figure out how to articulate this stuff. And God is patient enough with you that if you're asking him for sugar daddy things and he wants you to understand savior things, he's patient enough with you to help you ponder through that.

But the way we mature and what he really wants is for you to come to him as savior, Someone who can redeem you from your sins. Someone who has power over the wind and waves, Someone who has authority over all things, Someone, when you look at, you recognize nothing is impossible with God. Luke 1:37 tells us this: that when we look to him, we're not looking for just these physical and material benefits. We're looking to him to help us navigate our life in such a way that he is honored and we actually have enjoyment. And by enjoyment I don't mean the things that you think you want, I mean connection with him.

Luke 1:37

And so, anyways, these people, they say, they. They say "How did you get here". And Jesus answers: "You're looking for me, not because you saw signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves". In verse 27, he says: "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, For on him, God, the Father, has placed his seal of approval". Catch this, Verse 28.

Then they asked him: "What must we do to do the works God requires". Jesus answered: "The work of God is this to believe the one he sent. And I- I just put right here- I said: "It's that simple". Like, if you want to know how to connect with God, he doesn't require something from you other than simply receiving the free gift he's giving you. It doesn't take work, It doesn't take crazy amounts of ambition.

All it takes is a recognition of who he is and where you stand in the mix, Open up your hands and receive the good news of Jesus. And then, in verse 30, they asked him this question. And I hate this question. I hate it. They said: 'What sign will you give that we may see it and believe you?

What will you do? It's like we see it here. We don't see it how it occurs in our life, but we see it here, don't we? What will you do? They're like: give us a sign And if I'm Jesus, I'm not Jesus, never will be Jesus.

But it's like you thought about it, didn't you? How did he get over here, to this side of Galilee H? How did he feed 5,000 people? Like? How is he healing the?

How did he turn the water into wine? How did he heal the paralytic guy at the pool of Silum? How did he do these things that you're hearing about? And you're still looking for a sign that he is who he says he is. That's why I said they're just looking for food, And when we look for what we're consumed in, be it food, be it desires.

Outside of that, when we are consumed in search for our own pleasure, we're always going to miss him as our savior, Always. But they ask him for a sign And I just I felt convicted of the times where I asked God for a sign when he's already done work that I'm neglecting to think about. Like he gave me life, And not only did. Was I born, he kept me alive. Eventually I got into the place where someone brought me to church and then I trusted in Jesus.

And then he gave me a calling. And then he gave me a wife who was amazing and loves Jesus. And then he gave me kids who, for some reason, don't completely rebel at the fact that we get up and go to church every single Sunday, way longer than some of you like. It's a long time And they're chill about it. He gave, he gave you that job when you lost the other one.

He gave you Revelation from him when you asked for it. He gave you his word when others don't even have literacy. Do you realize it? Like you can read and you have his Bible accessible. He gave that to you.

He gave you a free country to live in. Like I know it seems common and you're thinking, "But I need a real sign. But he's given you real signs". He does it daily but we, we miss it. How many of you, at the year end, chose a word during our year end offering Just quick show of hands?

I always get scared to ask for an amen on something that only God can really accomplish in your life. How many of you have seen God work through that faith step? It's about the same number of hands, I'm thinking. I chose the word momentum And it was interesting because there were a lot of things that shifted. I didn't realize what it was going to mean.

It was very simple for me. I believe God's calling me to hustle and embrace to the full extent my calling, trusting that when I bring it to him he's going to multiply it. We had no plans of a, an Easter, big Easter event. I had no plans of a March Madness thing. We, if we were better, we would have had plans.

But like these things are occurring, not because I'm just doing something crazy, It's because the Lord is, is working in the hearts and minds of his people in such a way that I'm actually just seeing, fulfilled what we started lightly to walk in at the end of the year. And, and many of the people who said the same thing, you're seeing it. Many of you gave for the first time or you started tithing and you're starting to see what God does as you take those faith steps and some of you are like "Yeah, he's, he's, he's made it clear, He's given me signs, He has revealed himself to me". Most people I talk to have an experience cuz they want to tell me this story And I love hearing the story how God spoke to them at some point, Maybe not audibly, but he made it clear You've got signs that you can look back to. The problem is you're so consumed in what you're presently dealing with that you're missing the very thing God is already using to draw you to himself.

Don't miss it, Look for it, Embrace it. In verse 31, they say this: "Our ancestors ate the mana in the wilderness. At is as it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat". And many of us are still looking for those types of miracles And I give you this kind of as as a big idea. I think mo much of the reason that we miss what God has and the things that he's doing is because we're looking at the old way he did it And, I think if you keep shopping for the old, you'll regularly miss the new.

It says his mercies are new every morning, Like even Jesus here, and I'm going to summarize it because, we're running short on time. Jesus right here, what he indicates is, yeah, that's how he worked, but I'm the bread that comes from heaven, And so if you would permit God to work differently than he did in the past, you're going to start seeing the miracles. New. God doesn't want to just work through the old thing. He wants to work through a new thing.

He wants to turn you into a new thing. He wants to give you a new heart. Ezekiel tells us that he wants to bring us a new covenant, a new birth, a new self, turn us into a new creation, give us a new way and enable us to live a new life in Christ Jesus. But many of the reasons we're missing it is because we just we're looking for. We're looking for mana, We're looking for him to walk on water, We're looking for the giant billboard that happened for somebody else.

We're looking for all these big things. But if you seek him where he may be found, Bible says he will be found and you'll see the signs I have. And as I close, I want to tell you: next week I think I feel compelled to go into a place where I talk about what has happened in the past and delineate it from what God is going to do in the future. You could call it a vision Sunday if you will, but I'm really excited about that next week. So definitely definitely come hang out and check it out.

But as we move into next week, I want to give an opportunity for those who, this week, you're ready to start putting Jesus first in your life. I mean, if you look at this scene, clearly he's authoritative, So I want to invite you to make him authoritative in your life. The Bible says if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. So I want to give you right now an opportunity to trust in Jesus. There are those of you who are planning to make your faith public through baptism today.

Now is a great time for you to head out those doors and get get changed. I'll meet you out there in a few moments, But for some of you, you're just trusting in Jesus today. So if you would bow your heads, close your eyes and repeat this prayer after me, You might say something like "God, I believe. I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, That Jesus Christ is the son of God, That he died on the cross. He died on the cross, He rose from the grave.

He rose from the grave. Father, forgive me of my sin. Father, forgive me of my sin. Give me a new heart, Give me a new heart And I will follow you. And I will follow you for the rest of my life.

It's in Jesus's name that we pray, And God's people said "Amen", Heads bowed, eyes closed. I want to give you an opportunity to let us know about the decision you just made to trust in Jesus. If that was you today, I'm believing that somebody in here is trying to put Jesus at the center of their life. So if that was you, on the count of three, just shoot your hand up really quickly. No one else is looking around.

1, 2, 3. Amen, Amen. And if you did make that decision and you're ready to make that faith public, feel free to head out those doors. We got a shirt for you, We got towels for you. We're ready to help you make that faith public through baptism.

Heavenly Father, again I thank you for today And as we worship, you be glorified and honored in this place. It is in Jesus's name that we pray. Amen And amen, You may stand.